Our Worst Ever Manager

[Scoffers]

I agree that it's difficult to judge. I cannot believe that some people are suggesting Barry Lloyd as the worst manager. He had his faults (no doubting that) and I agree that we hardly managed to win a cup game under him in 7 years, but he took us to the brink of the Premiership with a negative goal difference and very little cash. The Millwall away leg will long remain in my memory. The first time for me, when I could genuinely sing "We're Going to Wembley"

If you judge it purely on results, then it's Wood or Hinselwood, whether that is fair, is another matter.

 

[Zeitgeist]

I can only echo much of what ex shelton seagull has said. There were times when I wasn't keen of Barry Lloyd. Anyone who says he's the worst manager is talking out their arse though. In hindsight, he was probably one of the BEST managers we've had considering the constraints and awful chairman he had to try and work with. He inherited a team that was on the slide with his main brief being to cut the wage bill, rather than avoid relegation. Few managers would have been able to work a miracle in that situation. The fact he gained instant promotion and managed to survive in the old division two for four seasons is to his credit. Sure he brought in some rubbish. What manager doesn't? The bargains EASILY outweigh the rubbish though. Both relegations he suffered, his hands were tied financially. Towards the end he was trying to wear two hats and it became too much. Sacked by Bellotti no less?! How many thought Bellotti a saviour at the time? As for his personal style, he was his own man. He wasn't a cup thrower or a quote-a-minute type manager. I have it on good source, he came close to punching Archers lights out one day. For that alone he is an Albion legend!

One promotion and a play of final doesn't merit being worst all time manager.

 

[Blackadder]

Jimmy Case. Probably.


(or anyone with a wood in his name).

 

[Ex Shelton Seagull]

Let's look at the obvious candidates that most of us remember.

Martin Hinshelwood -

Obviously appointed as the cheap option after Coppell gave an honest assesment of our squad. As caretaker he never lost a game, had been with the club for years and had been involved in coaching for years.

Off to a flyer against Burnley with a very young side but all downhill from there on in. Failed to add to a squad that really needed experienced players adding to it. When he finally did bring in players it was an unfit Guy Butters and a half crippled Paul Kitson. If both those players had been fit then he might have had a chance but both were well off the pace. I still don't know how Kitson passed his medical.

My Dad is of the opinion that he lacked the contacts in the game. That he couldn't get hold of the players we needed. As soon as Coppell came in he brought in those players and we began our season roughly 3 months late. Hinsh seemed incapable of turning things around and an air of malaise settled over Withdean. As we've seen the young players have come good (except for Wilkinson and Marney, the two young players he played the most) but it's taken time, time which we didn't have back then.

Jeff Wood -

Popular appointment at the time after two wins. Was expected to carry on the reconstruction that Horton had started. We were placed well for a play-off place that season but by the end of his 12 gane tenure we were worrying about the Conference. That must be some sort of record?

Took a team that was in good form and contained players like Rod Thomas, Gary Hart and Richie Barker and played them in a 5-3-2 formation. We promptly lost 6 in a row, reaching it's nadir in a 4-0 "home" defeat to Darlington.

Lacked any contacts in the game (can't remember any signings of his) and any kind of disicipline. The team had been shit scared of pissing off Horton, he used to rant at them after they lost, but Wood never showed any real emotion after terrible displays. As a result the team couldn't be arsed anymore and the whole Gillingham attitude from the previous season came down again. We went into games expecting to get beat and Wood couldn't get rid of that attitude.

Jimmy Case -

OK here's my vote for worst manager. Hinsh was inept, Wood was woeful but neither of them had had much success as players. They certainly were'nt renowned for their hard man image like Case was. If anyone could inspire a team it would surely be a proven winner like Case right?

Wrong. By the time he took over the poisoned chalice back in 1995 we were a club heading hell for leather towards extinction. Liam Brady told him when he left that he (Case) would be offered the job. and Case was in no position financially to turn it down.

I can forgive him for Ashley Neal, David Adekola, Christer Warren, his persistant playing of Andrews. But the way those teams played was unforgivable. Relegation was by no means certain in 95/96 but we just put up the white flag about 2 months after he took over.

The first half of 96/97 still ranks as the worst half season EVER in my book and the thing that really gets me is that we should NEVER have got into such a bad position as we did. Gritt proved that that team was a good one by Division 3 standards. Baird and Maskell were proven goalscorers, Minton was a good creative midfielder and Peake had got rave reviews for his Rochdale performances the previous season. Storer and McDonald were good wingers and Gary Hobson wasn't a bad defender.

Under Case the team never performed. God knows what formation he played them in or what he said to them at half time. Nearly every game was conceded to dire oppposition before kick-off. Even old battlers like Ian Baird seemed to fall victim to the air of despair around the club. Case never looked like fighting against those in charge. He never even looked like forming an air of defiance amongst the players. He had surrendered back at the start of 1996 and the rest of the time he just let things slip.

I know he had to be manager at the most difficult time in our history but he just failed as a manager on every level. Steve Gritt didn't do anything drastic, he just got the team playing 4-4-2 and focused their minds on winning games. Sadly he couldn't maintain that mindset into the following season and he fell victim to the air of depression around the club at the time.

It's just so sad the way it worked out for Case. A battler and a fighter on the pitch, a champion who won top trophies, by the end of his time here he was a wreck. I never got to see him as a player so my only memories of him are those terrible ones of 1996. That is such a shame.

 

[Ex Shelton Seagull]

Would any old timer fans care to comment on the managerial prowess of George Curtis?

He was in charge from 1961 til 1963 during which time he took us down from Division 2 and into the relegation zone in Division 3 (we were eventually relegated to Division 4). Taking over an average team in Division 2 and leading them to Division 4 takes some doing surely?

Jimmy Case's record was:
Played - 60
Won - 12
Drawn - 15
Lost - 33

George Curtis' record was:
Played - 75
Won - 16
Drawn - 20
Lost - 39

 

[Zeitgeist]

Would any old timer fans care to comment on the managerial prowess of George Curtis?

Well before my time, but according to John Vinicombe's original book, his tactics we're hopelesly inept. His style of play would appear to have made Mike Baileys tactics seem attacking....

 

[On the Left Wing]

Hinshelwood or Case ... can't decide as two VERY different regimes and failures

 

[perseus]

Barry Lloyd for breaking up the Cattlin squad, for being miserable, for playing percentage football, for signing rotten players, for playing boring football, and ....... not being very lucky.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Barry Lloyd for breaking up the Cattlin squad, for being miserable, for playing percentage football, for signing rotten players, for playing boring football, and ....... not being very lucky.

I think it is very hard to blame Lloyd for breaking up the squad, the financial constraints meant it had to happen. Agree on some of the other points, but he did also sign some gems.

Did you not like him as he wanted the ground at Upper Beeding rather than your fantasy land?

 

[Stinky Kat]

Jeff Wood for me. Hinchelwood, he was poor but we tried to do it on the cheap, I blame the board for the poor start to that season.

Off to the nuclear shelter now for saying something against the board

 

[Uncle Buck]

Off to the nuclear shelter now for saying something against the board

Any chance of borrowing it at some point? My Anderson Shelter is looking a bit battered post McCammon....

 

[Storer68]

Brian Clough in my book.

Absolute clown while he was here. (which wasn't often apparently)

 

[dougdeep]

George Curtis was useless. To join a club and take them down two years running proves it.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Barry Lloyd would never win a popularity contest. His scowling face peering out of the dug-out whilst smoking a fag was not an easy one to like. I don't think he was ever liked whilst he was manager, not even during 87/88 or 90/91.

He was given a shitty job when he took over from Mullery. He was ordered by the board to get shot of the high earners at the club, who were mostly our best players. Now my memory of that time is hazy 'cos I was only a kid at the time but I can still remember the depression that was present at the Goldstone at that time. Several members of my family pretty much gave up on the Albion, even my Dad was disillusioned with the whole set-up. My Uncle knew that Bryan Bedson wasn't the slightest bit interested in the Albion and gave up attending games.

As a result of this, Lloyd was associated with depression, relegation and the release of several good players. He sold Dean Saunders (seemed to like Tiltman anyway) but the board were the ones who failed to add any sell-on clauses. When we were relegated to Div 3 a lot people expected us to fall straight through to Div 4 like Wolves and Swansea.

Instead Lloyd constructed a new side with Bremner and Nelson as a goal scoring strike partnership. We finished 2nd after an amazing undefeated run-in and thus finished ahead of good sides like Bristol City, Notts County, Bristol Rovers and Port Vale. Nobody had expected that promotion before the seasons start.

Once back in Div 2 he managed to keep us in that division for the next 4 seasons while having precious little to spend on players. He brought in the likes of John Keeley, Mike Small, John Byrne Mark Beeney, Mark Gall, Mark Barham, Sergei Gotsmanov and Nicky Bissett and managed to sell most of them on for a large profit. Greg Stanley said when appointed Lloyd to the board that if it hadn't been for the profits he got from his transfers we would have gone under.

It was when he started to get involved at board level that things really went bad. He made really bad purchases (Farrington, Meade, Kennedy) and the team went to pieces after one sale too many. Relegated in 92 we looked alright in 92/93, he got Kurt Nogan from Luton's reserve team and made good loans like Moulden and Cotterill, but were inconsistent.

When the shit hit the fan financially in 93 he had to pretty much abandon managing the team and had to work on the "rescue" package that we eventually got. We were pretty much half an hour from going bust in the high court. As a result the team disintegrated and the first half of 93/94 was one of the worst this club has had which pretty much ruined all the good work that Lloyd had done previously.

It's not easy for me to defend him. I never like him as a kid, and when he froze out Nelson I loathed him. With time though i've begun to realise that whilst he got off to a bad start and had an awful ending, the bits in between weren't bad at all.

i have to agree.

we all sang "barry who" but in reality he did not do a bad job considering he was brought in as a yes man. i do beleive that he tried his best and also apreciated the fans anger thet was evident at the time but was powerless to deal with it because of his personnal situation.

 

[FamilyGuy]

hinshelwood. No questions

got to agree

 

[FamilyGuy]

It's just so sad the way it worked out for Case. A battler and a fighter on the pitch, a champion who won top trophies, by the end of his time here he was a wreck. I never got to see him as a player so my only memories of him are those terrible ones of 1996. That is such a shame.

Good point, well made - he was a great player for us (special memories of the FA Cup Semi Final), sad how he ended up in the club's history.

Let's drink to the good times that he gave us.

 

[Northstander]

Hinsh for me, out of his depth!!

 

[Weezle]

There are some real quality posts on this thread

There is NO WAY Barry Lloyd is our west manager - least charismatic maybe - but the man got us promoted and took us to our highest league in the last 20 years under very very difficult circumstances. I believe in the right environment he may have proved to have been one of our best ever. I think it would be sad if history was to prove unkind to him - It was only because he took his eyes off team affairs in order to keep the club afloat that we suffered. He did so much for us.

I'm afraid for me, as much as i liked the man, Jimmy Case was the worst ever manager. He had money to spend and had some good players. To take us down from the second division was just about forgivable, but to have us cut adrift at the bottom of division three my xmas of that year was unforgivable. Steve Gritt's efforts showed just how terrible he had been!

 

[Brady's Old Lady]

Jimmy Melia - worst selection decision in the history of football. Cup final replay - Left Stevens in Central Defence put Gatting at Right back!!!

Spot the deliberate mistake!!

 

[bhaexpress]

Jimmy Case was deadful as the reserve team manager so why was he promoted to first team manager ? He was useless but there again that clown Melia was a joke too.