Thimble Keegan
Remy LeBeau
Firstly, if he is going to go then hurry up and do it. This hanging about is ridiculous and does no us no favours. It is not so bad for Reading as their game is called off on Saturday due to international call-ups so they do not play for ages. But we need to know so we can set about getting ourselves a new manager before we have a Reading-esque managerless slide down the table. Believe me this can happen and the last thing we want is to end up wallowing in mid-table and starting to glance over our shoulders.
If he decides to join Reading it will slightly baffle me. We can argue about who are potentially bigger until we are blue (& white) in the face but Reading are in division 1...End of...
That said and I mean no disrespect to Reading but is it really that much a better job than ours? The bald one said live on Sky after the game against Blackpool that he is "ambitious and wanted to test himself at the highest level". But in my eyes he has been there and done all that. He finished 2nd in the old first division with Palace and would have been in Europe if was not for the ban on English clubs. He has also been to the FA Cup Final with Palace, so what more is there? Unless he is suddenly given the managers job at either Man Utd or Arsenal and therefore the chance of winning the Premiership but I cannot see that happening. So what more can he reallistically achieve managerially? Anything he can achieve at the Albion with all our constraints will outweigh any achievements made at Reading. So again, what is the point?
He wants to test himself at the "highest level" but how many higher level clubs came knocking down his door (except us) when he was left sitting around after leaving Brentford? Also, why then accept our job if he wanted to be at the highest level? Now that we are established at the top and someone else is taking an interest he wants to go at the first opportunity.
Another point is money. I cannot honestly believe money is an issue and he must have made enough to see him comfortably out. I do not know how old he is but he seems to have been around (managerially speaking) a long time so I was thinking that this would be his last job. I expected that unless he does a Bobby Robson he would have comfortably seen out his days at the Albion. So again, if there is not much more he can achieve and money does not come into it then why go?
He cannot use Withdean as an excuse. Firstly even if Dick Knight lied and said was Falmer was only 6 months away he is clever enough to work out this was not truth. I also believe Dick Knight would have told him the truth with Falmer. Secondly he has not come into Withdean 'cold'. Mickey Adams and Peter Taylor both did. Mickey moved there from Priestfield with us and despite what we say about them it was a proper football ground. Peter Taylor had never been before unless he paid a scouting visit. The bald one is totally different as he has been before with Brentford so he knew exactly what he was walking into. Also our record at Withdean is excellent.
The chairman cannot be an issue as every manager we have had under him except perhaps for Jeff Wood (somehow Hinshlewood is still at the club) love him to bits. They say how great he is and Mickey Adams really gushed about him on Goals On Sunday yesterday. There are plenty of rubbish interferring chairman about and Dick Knick is not one of them.
Is it the Albion-Palace thing? I remember reading an interview with Ian Chapman after he was booted out and Palace offered him a deal, he said: "I could not bring myself to look myself in the mirror each morning knowing I played for Palace". Does the bald one have similar feelings? I doubt it.
So if it is not achievements, not money, not the chairman and not the rivalry then what is it? Why, bloody why?
Albion & England forever.
Thimble Keegan
Worthing BHA
If he decides to join Reading it will slightly baffle me. We can argue about who are potentially bigger until we are blue (& white) in the face but Reading are in division 1...End of...
That said and I mean no disrespect to Reading but is it really that much a better job than ours? The bald one said live on Sky after the game against Blackpool that he is "ambitious and wanted to test himself at the highest level". But in my eyes he has been there and done all that. He finished 2nd in the old first division with Palace and would have been in Europe if was not for the ban on English clubs. He has also been to the FA Cup Final with Palace, so what more is there? Unless he is suddenly given the managers job at either Man Utd or Arsenal and therefore the chance of winning the Premiership but I cannot see that happening. So what more can he reallistically achieve managerially? Anything he can achieve at the Albion with all our constraints will outweigh any achievements made at Reading. So again, what is the point?
He wants to test himself at the "highest level" but how many higher level clubs came knocking down his door (except us) when he was left sitting around after leaving Brentford? Also, why then accept our job if he wanted to be at the highest level? Now that we are established at the top and someone else is taking an interest he wants to go at the first opportunity.
Another point is money. I cannot honestly believe money is an issue and he must have made enough to see him comfortably out. I do not know how old he is but he seems to have been around (managerially speaking) a long time so I was thinking that this would be his last job. I expected that unless he does a Bobby Robson he would have comfortably seen out his days at the Albion. So again, if there is not much more he can achieve and money does not come into it then why go?
He cannot use Withdean as an excuse. Firstly even if Dick Knight lied and said was Falmer was only 6 months away he is clever enough to work out this was not truth. I also believe Dick Knight would have told him the truth with Falmer. Secondly he has not come into Withdean 'cold'. Mickey Adams and Peter Taylor both did. Mickey moved there from Priestfield with us and despite what we say about them it was a proper football ground. Peter Taylor had never been before unless he paid a scouting visit. The bald one is totally different as he has been before with Brentford so he knew exactly what he was walking into. Also our record at Withdean is excellent.
The chairman cannot be an issue as every manager we have had under him except perhaps for Jeff Wood (somehow Hinshlewood is still at the club) love him to bits. They say how great he is and Mickey Adams really gushed about him on Goals On Sunday yesterday. There are plenty of rubbish interferring chairman about and Dick Knick is not one of them.
Is it the Albion-Palace thing? I remember reading an interview with Ian Chapman after he was booted out and Palace offered him a deal, he said: "I could not bring myself to look myself in the mirror each morning knowing I played for Palace". Does the bald one have similar feelings? I doubt it.
So if it is not achievements, not money, not the chairman and not the rivalry then what is it? Why, bloody why?
Albion & England forever.
Thimble Keegan
Worthing BHA
