Mark McGhee - Brighton legend or bellend?

[portslade seagull]

Good for the club!!! - his teams played such dire football that the crowds vanished, and are still to return, how was that good for the club?

we got promoted, yes but we were top when he took over and scraped into the play-offs in the last game or two, so hardly convincing.

He did well to keep us up but had a terrible habit of falling out with the clubs experienced, better players who did want to play for the club but felt his style and public statements made it difficult to stay, eg. CKR scores in a match, and in the following press conference, he states that the club has no strikers, how does this give players confidence or make them feel wanted?

One moment a player can be the difference between survival and relegation (mcCammon) and the next never to play for the club again.

Tactically bad (long, high balls to the shortest striker in the league for example)
Moneywise, he had money to spend, (we offered £100K for a striker from Scotland for example who turned us down) transfers weren't forced on him, just the players no longer wanted to play for him.

I feel he left the club in a far worse condition than he began. - Total bellend

knob jockey..so the missing fans are nothing to do with the SHIT football we played week in week out last season..mainly at home....OH NO that Mcghee's fault must remember that....

 

[Skaville]

knob jockey..so the missing fans are nothing to do with the SHIT football we played week in week out last season..mainly at home....OH NO that Mcghee's fault must remember that....

Wilkins wasn't left much of a squad was he? Are you happy with the football this season because I think it pisses over anything that Scottish clown served up.

 

[Icy Gull]

Wilkins wasn't left much of a squad was he? Are you happy with the football this season because I think it pisses over anything that Scottish clown served up.

I'll reserve judgement on that until after we have got promoted and spent two seasons in the Championship, which will be a totally different ball game, no pun intended.

The squad that McGhee left was doing a reasonable job in League One before he was sacked and now urban myth has it as a decimated and useless squad...I take your point about the quality of the football although it's a season on and League 1, not the Championship where most of MM's games were played.

 

[cattlin'srockshop]

more legend than bellend, but not one of the Albion Greats for me

 

[NMH]

Well, after getting ousted from lowly BHA, in the wake of some of other club's disgruntled fanbases, and a few mere weeks at Motherwell getting them to one place above mid-table - the sweaties have hinted at him for the Scotland National team manager.

......

ffffnnnnnargh! (sorry, I just couldn't stifle it)

That would rate alongside putting, say, an ex-Middlesborough manager with no particular great achievements to his CV as manager of England!


oh.

 

[Buzzer]

I was thinking that. Great quote from one of the candidates yesterday, too.

"For a scotsman, managing the Scottish national team has to be the ultimate dream job".

Not for Alex McLeish, eh?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

slightly more than a hint, he's evens favourite

 

[Icy Gull]

a few mere weeks at Motherwell getting them to one place above mid-table - ......

/QUOTE]

Another way of looking at it, is that he's got them 3 points off 3rd place in a league where the top two places nearly always go to Celtic and Rangers and 11 points off 2nd bottom and 18 points off bottom. Oh no, hang on that looks pretty good, and there's no way Magoo should be made to look like he's doing a good job.

Midtable mediocrity sounds so much better when looking through a jaundiced eye though.

 

[NMH]

a few mere weeks at Motherwell getting them to one place above mid-table - ......

/QUOTE]

Another way of looking at it, is that he's got them 3 points off 3rd place in a league where the top two places nearly always go to Celtic and Rangers and 11 points of 2nd bottom and 18 points of bottome. No hang on that looks pretty good, and there's no way Magoo should be made to look like he's doing a god job.

Midtable mediocrity sounds so much better when looking through a jaundiced eye though.

Yes, in a division where, out of 12 teams, half of them are total shite, his team have managed to be above them so far (14 games).

We can't have YOU looking at his great achievements in Scottish football with too jaundiced an eye - much as you do try to find the permutations that work for you.

 

[NMH]

Don't the Scots Prem sides play each other 4 times a season or something?

So, Gretna 'should' be a fairly good bet to get 12 points off this season, and since only one side gets relegated - not many ways to feel insecure unless you ARE a member of Gretna (already 7 points adrift with 5 points)

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

NMH - oh how the mighty have risen, a year ago he had to make do eating in your local pub with you looking on disapprovingly and now he will be eating in the finest hostelries and restaurants in Scotland.

 

[NMH]

NMH - oh how the mighty have risen, a year ago he had to make do eating in your local pub with you looking on disapprovingly and now he will be eating in the finest hostelries and restaurants in Scotland.

Top quality haggis!

I'll stick to munching the local pheasant served with nut stuffing, and venison and saffron potatos, thanks.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I'll reserve judgement on that until after we have got promoted and spent two seasons in the Championship, which will be a totally different ball game, no pun intended.

The squad that McGhee left was doing a reasonable job in League One before he was sacked and now urban myth has it as a decimated and useless squad...I take your point about the quality of the football although it's a season on and League 1, not the Championship where most of MM's games were played.

McGhee stated before his sacking that the season after relegation from the championship was going to be a battle against relegation, NOT a team looking to seek instant promotion. so no wonder Wilkins team struggled either, and Wilkins was appointed after the transfer window shut, and also had to contend with a major injury crisis affecting alot of his senior, experienced players.
McGhee should have left when there was no chance of staying up, or when there was uncertanty over his future at board level, unfortunatly by staying on (coupled with his poor man management skills) he damaged the club IMO

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Mr Fawkes

Don't want to make you look like a total BUFOON but by the time McGhee took over we were nowhere near the top of the table after Booker had taken us on a massive losing streak and down the table as caretaker manager.

Crowds were still fairly healthy under Mcghee at the beginning of last season.

We were second when McGhee took over on 28th Oct 2003, we only slipped off the top spot after the 1-0 defeat to Stockport which was the last game of Bookers spell as caretaker. We actually slipped to 4th after McGhees first game in charge a 2-2 draw with Peterboro. Although McGhee had only been in-charge 3 days by the time of this game so may not have been totally hands on for that match.

 

[Skaville]

I'll reserve judgement on that until after we have got promoted and spent two seasons in the Championship, QUOTE]

Eh? McGhee inherited Coppell's squad. Wilkins inherited a pile of shite. That's like saying I'll judge any Brighton manger against Jimmy Melia's cup record!

 

[Yorkie]

Eh? McGhee inherited Coppell's squad. Wilkins inherited a pile of shite. That's like saying I'll judge any Brighton manger against Jimmy Melia's cup record!

That's twice you've said it in the same thread. Say it enough times and people may start believing it.
Once again I will remind you that 5 out of the current regular squad were playing regularly for McGhee and a year ago Wilkins had us within 3 points of the playoffs. I even posted the link to the table when we'd won away at Bradford.
It all went pear shaped over the Christmas period when we fell down the league and then were in a relegation battle saved only by the goals of Bas Savage.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

It is a rule of NSC that McGhee must never be praised for his time here didn't you know that ?. Still NSC knows better than the Scottish FA

 

[Skaville]

That's twice you've said it in the same thread. Say it enough times and people may start believing it.
Once again I will remind you that 5 out of the current regular squad were playing regularly for McGhee and a year ago Wilkins had us within 3 points of the playoffs. I even posted the link to the table when we'd won away at Bradford.
It all went pear shaped over the Christmas period when we fell down the league and then were in a relegation battle saved only by the goals of Bas Savage.

Wilkins has managed to replace the majority of McGhee's squad with youth team players or low cost signings (including Bas Savage) and we are on a magnificent run. What's your point?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

That's twice you've said it in the same thread. Say it enough times and people may start believing it.
Once again I will remind you that 5 out of the current regular squad were playing regularly for McGhee and a year ago Wilkins had us within 3 points of the playoffs. I even posted the link to the table when we'd won away at Bradford.
It all went pear shaped over the Christmas period when we fell down the league and then were in a relegation battle saved only by the goals of Bas Savage.

firstly 5 out of how many? and secondly, yet again you fail to mention the massive injury crisis Wilkins faced, if fact there was one game when we had to play 10 players aged under 23, and the only really experienced player that match was Kerry Mayo!!!, Wilkins was unable to call upon players like: Carpenter, Oatway, Reid, Hart, Butters, but to name a few.

Maybe Wilkins needed to go out week in, week out and say that his players (including the 5 McGhee had that you mentioned) are not good enough, and come up with poor excuses, play people out of position, and make subs that make no sense like when losing, take off your fowards and replace them with defenders, then not even look to equalise, and wonder why you are struggling and getting relegated. Then people would think of him as a legend too?

As another poster put, that in second championship season under Mcghee, relegation was always going to happen, my question was, why stick with someone who seemed more interested in finding someone else to blame, or fall out publically with your key players, rather than working on ways to get points from games and the best out of the players he had available to him, the same way that Coppell gave us a fighting chance of survival that went down to the wire after taking over from Hinshelwood? If McGhee was managing that season knowing full well he was unable to keep the team up, as some fans knew, weakening the squad on the way (only a couple were sold because we recieved a good offer, the others became unsettled and unhappy with McGhee and his tactics / PR) why wasn't he replaced and someone brought in to give the side a better fighting chance.

 

[beorhthelm]

why do people have to be so polarised about mcghee? his reign was clearly one of two halfs. he done well, got promotion, built up a strong team and brought in strong players. but, he has a big ego himself, and he clashed with some of those egos he brought in, ultimatly loosing the dressing room.

the wierd tactics, teams and substitutions seemed inspired when winning, but some only remember them when we lost. the funny thing is, according to my Millwall work mate, it was exactly the same there.

i cant see how, on balance, any Brighton fan can not simply sit on the fence over McGhee, got the results that mattered but then f***ed it up himself. but comparing playoffs and adam virgo up front (remember the leicester goal?) vs relegation and falling out with Knight and CKR, id rather remember the good.