Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by martin_p » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:25 am

Devils_Advocate wrote:Thats a different argument (and getting into a circular one) which I think has a lot more merit than saying the rot had set in because we had a bad run.

You used a bad run for your argument so I was just showing that bad runs are common for good bad and all the teams in between and it has happened often with Dyche but its the overall picture you have to look at.

When Coyle left we were in a better position than most would have expected going into the season and we had a real fighting chance of staying up
Maybe ‘rot set in’ was a little hyperbolic, but it’s a fact that once the euphoria of winning the play-offs had worn off and teams had worked us out at home there was a definite downward trajectory and that this happened before Coyle left. I think that’s one of the reasons he went, he’d realised that he didn’t know how to turn things round.

Essentially all I was trying to demonstrate is that it wasn’t a sudden change in form when Coyle left that sent us down, it’d started to go wrong before then. Of course the sour taste left at the way Coyle left didn’t help us either, I’d have better memories of the second half of that season if he’d stayed and we’d gone down.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Colburn_Claret » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:41 am

Devils_Advocate wrote:We had some good professionals in that team who dont just change overnight plus I though there was a real fight and siege mentality the first 3 or 4 games under Laws. Unfortunately Laws was just completely out of his depth in the Premier League.

I would say in terms of management appointments from Ternant onward he is the only mistake the board have ever made which is a measure of their massive success but boy was he a big mistake.
I felt for Laws then, i still do now.
Youre right about the appointments though, but its easy to forget we had 8 days, if that, to advertise the job, carry out interviews, make an appointment, then let him assess the squad. He really did get the shitty end of the stick. Add to it the lax attitude Susan promoted outside matchday, and it was almost certainly doomed to failure.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Devils_Advocate » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:43 am

martin_p wrote:Essentially all I was trying to demonstrate is that it wasn’t a sudden change in form when Coyle left that sent us down.
I agree with this part. It was always going to be a struggle and the only chance we had was with Coyle in charge (and we did have a chance)

I think we'd have gone down with a good appointment although with a good appointment I think we'd have been a lot better the following year than we were under laws

Had Dyche left after that 1 win in 6 or had he left after Boxing Day last season I think on both occasions we'd have gone down not because things were going so wrong under Dyche but because the only one capable of turning things round was Dyche (and Coyle in 09/10)

We had an awful run under Coyle in the promotion season and the team bounced back and following the Spurs game really pulled together and dragged us home so I disagree that Coyle and the team could not have picked up again in the new year had Coyle stayed.

As people have stated in that bad run there were very good performances against Arsenal and Villa plus the 3-3 draw at Man City

I dont think we're a million miles apart on our views on this and messageboards arent always easy to discuss the finer points of a pretty subjective topic

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by TVC15 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:44 am

martin_p wrote:Maybe ‘rot set in’ was a little hyperbolic, but it’s a fact that once the euphoria of winning the play-offs had worn off and teams had worked us out at home there was a definite downward trajectory and that this happened before Coyle left. I think that’s one of the reasons he went, he’d realised that he didn’t know how to turn things round.

Essentially all I was trying to demonstrate is that it wasn’t a sudden change in form when Coyle left that sent us down, it’d started to go wrong before then. Of course the sour taste left at the way Coyle left didn’t help us either, I’d have better memories of the second half of that season if he’d stayed and we’d gone down.
Not sure that the rot had started.
We were very poor away from home from the outset and during November and December that continued - we got hammered down at West Ham I remember and lost all the other away games.
The difference was that at home we drew 4 games in a row 1-1. We played well in all of them and should have beaten Arsenal, Villa and Bolton - only Fulham deserved a draw against us.
There is no comparison to the form we had after Coyle left.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by martin_p » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:47 am

Devils_Advocate wrote:I agree with this part. It was always going to be a struggle and the only chance we had was with Coyle in charge (and we did have a chance)

I think we'd have gone down with a good appointment although with a good appointment I think we'd have been a lot better the following year than we were under laws

Had Dyche left after that 1 win in 6 or had he left after Boxing Day last season I think on both occasions we'd have gone down not because things were going so wrong under Dyche but because the only one capable of turning things round was Dyche (and Coyle in 09/10)

We had an awful run under Coyle in the promotion season and the team bounced back and following the Spurs game really pulled together and dragged us home so I disagree that Coyle and the team could not have picked up again in the new year had Coyle stayed.

As people have stated in that bad run there were very good performances against Arsenal and Villa plus the 3-3 draw at Man City

I dont think we're a million miles apart on our views on this and messageboards arent always easy to discuss the finer points of a pretty subjective topic
Yep, don’t disagree with any of that, we’d certainly have had a better chance had Coyle stayed.

Just to put my posts in context they were in response to someone saying we should have stayed up whatever the appointment.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Devils_Advocate » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:47 am

Colburn_Claret wrote:I felt for Laws then, i still do now.
Youre right about the appointments though, but its easy to forget we had 8 days, if that, to advertise the job, carry out interviews, make an appointment, then let him assess the squad. He really did get the shitty end of the stick. Add to it the lax attitude Susan promoted outside matchday, and it was almost certainly doomed to failure.
I agree it was a no win situation for pretty much everyone involved. I actually dont blame Laws or have too much criticism around him taking us down.

For me where the disaster of the appointment was truly shown was in what he did with the parachute payments and our golden chance to bounce back because after 6 months to assess the team Laws should have made a much better fist of mounting a challenge on promotion back to the top league
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Bordeauxclaret » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:49 am

Sliding doors moment was Wigan away.
Nugent misses a sitter late on to put us 1-0 up, they go down the other end and score.
Had we won it 1-0 we’d have stayed up
(On the long assumption that ever other result for us and then remained the same).

If we had stayed up I think we’d have rivalled Derby’s infamous points tally the season after.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Quicknick » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:53 am

Claretforever wrote:That side should have stayed up regardless of appointment. They downed tools!

We had 20 points at the half way stage, something we’d be glad of right now, and to only get 10 points, 3 of which came v Spurs in the final game when already relegated, was shocking.

Our players weren’t good enough for the Premier League as some of our batterings show, especially away from home, but the team could have kept us up.
The first part of the last paragraph contradicts the first paragraph.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Spijed » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:57 am

TVC15 wrote:Disagree - the board made a big mistake in appointing Laws. He had no experience in the top league and whilst he had been a manager for a long time and enjoyed bits of success he had not had a good time for a couple of years at least prior to him coming to Burnley (Sheff Wed ?).
What has lack of experience in the Prem got to do with it?

Aside from Frank Lampard, Graham Potter didn't have any before becoming Brighton manager, likewise David Moyes.

Edit: I'll also add Daniel Farke at Norwich. It's so hard to tell whether a manager will be good enough, unless you give them a chance.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Longside4evr » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:04 pm

Laws didn't fit into the mantra or of the matrix of the club
Did well here when we won the the 3rd division championship but his better playing days was with Forest.
He did managed very well at Scunthorpe with a limited budget and this is what attracted us to him and the fact he played for us
The players he signed like Leo Cort was well a head wobble not sure who signed Fox and the coyle signings Diego Penny Fernando Guerrero Brian Easton Richard Eckersley
Them players wern't even championship material
I remember walking to the ground it was our first home game after losing i think 3 away on the spin we were playing Chelsea.
And a group of there fans the first thing they said was why have your club appointed Laws it only going to send you one way.
I said we will find out soon enough on recollection we played extremely well that night losing 1-2 Chelsea were tied on Champions that season

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by gandhisflipflop » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:07 pm

He is right it was a bad appointment however as has been mentioned on this thread the team downed tools. A sort of modern day damned united if you will. A lot lost a lot of respect from me with their unprofessionalism, and although I thought we should have stayed up the first season, that team would have suffered a second season syndrome imo and gone down the next.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:09 pm

Spijed wrote:What has lack of experience in the Prem got to do with it?

Aside from Frank Lampard, Graham Potter didn't have any before becoming Brighton manager, likewise David Moyes.

Edit: I'll also add Daniel Farke at Norwich. It's so hard to tell whether a manager will be good enough, unless you give them a chance.
You forgot the big man himself, Dyche.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by gandhisflipflop » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:10 pm

Added to my post, I'm sure Andre Villas Boas applied at the time, he really couldn't have done much worse or failing that I would have offered it Stan until the end of the season.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by gandhisflipflop » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:11 pm

Spijed wrote:What has lack of experience in the Prem got to do with it?

Aside from Frank Lampard, Graham Potter didn't have any before becoming Brighton manager, likewise David Moyes.

Edit: I'll also add Daniel Farke at Norwich. It's so hard to tell whether a manager will be good enough, unless you give them a chance.

Agree with the lack of prem experience not coming into it. For me it was his abject failure with a team in the division below that worried me a lot.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by TVC15 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:36 pm

Spijed wrote:What has lack of experience in the Prem got to do with it?

Aside from Frank Lampard, Graham Potter didn't have any before becoming Brighton manager, likewise David Moyes.

Edit: I'll also add Daniel Farke at Norwich. It's so hard to tell whether a manager will be good enough, unless you give them a chance.
I agree that on its own premiership experience is not necessary and of course with the likes of Lampard etc then until they have had the chance then you don’t know.

But....and it’s a very big but....in the case of Laws with so many games as a manager under his belt you need to ask the question why throughout his career he had never got a job in the Premier League.
Farke at Norwich was like Dyche - he got his team promoted and therefore deserved the chance to prove himself. I’m struggling to think of any manager who gets his team promoted who doesn’t get a chance the following season.
Lampard did brilliant at Derby and the circumstances and reasons for his appointment could not be any more different to Laws.
Potter has done well overseas.

For Laws not only had he never managed in the Premier a league but he had also not got a team promoted from the championship....his record in the period prior to coming to Burnley was dire....so he wasn’t even coming off the back of doing well at a club.

I am not saying experience of managing a club in the premier league guarantees you success - clearly it does not. I am saying it is very difficult to understand the rationale for the Laws appointment - most people at the time said so and it was not a surprise what followed. And even less surprised that he no success after Burnley.

And I’ve not even mentioned the signing of Leon Cort !!

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Spijed » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:46 pm

TVC15 wrote:And I’ve not even mentioned the signing of Leon Cort !!
That's a poor point to make.

Every single club in the Premier league has made very poor signings. In SD's case would you say Vydra or Drinkwater (wages wise) have turned out any better?
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by houseboy » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:48 pm

Bosscat wrote:Ah but Eddie didn't lie to everyone house... his wife not moving with him, them having a baby and his Mum dying had a huge influence on his move.

Nobody disputes what Owen did for us ... taking a team of misfits and making them into a Premier League side. Its the method of his departure and what he has said afterwards that wrankle with a lot (me included).

Brian Laws is a great bloke and was a great player for us but he was massively out of his depth taking on a PL team used to getting "krispy kreme donuts" and "Irn Bru" as a reward when they did well..... joking apart..... The players could have done more but they will have been instructed to play Brians way.

One thing I will always thank Laws for is Dean Marney one of my favourite Clarets in recent times.
Hi Boss, quick reply to both you and MartinP above. Take both your points and agree that Howe's ties were the greater but nevertheless Coyle had a considerable history with Bolton. And people who criticise him should think on this; if you are in a job and someone offered you a similar job on more money, at a place that, at the time, looked more stable and a better prospect, a place were you have worked before and had some ties with, would you have turned it down? I think people, football fans that is, expect too much loyalty from players and managers because it is, in the final analysis, a job, and no-one can be criticised too much for wanting to better themselves, even though with hindsight this turned out to be a bad move. Just like no-one should be too harsh on Laws (as I have been I admit) because it is not his fault he was offered a dream job that he simply wasn't cut out for. I believe both us and Sheff Wed were relegated at the end of the season. After all he had got sacked (by mutual consent :lol: ) from them before he joined us.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by SalisburyClaret » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:00 pm

TVC15 wrote:Disagree - the board made a big mistake in appointing Laws. He had no experience in the top league and whilst he had been a manager for a long time and enjoyed bits of success he had not had a good time for a couple of years at least prior to him coming to Burnley (Sheff Wed ?).
It was a very strange appointment - and nothing to do with hindsight. There is no way in a million years he would have got another job in the Premier League at this time or even been considered for one. TBH there weren’t any championship clubs knocking his door down either.

But the board are entitled to make mistakes. They have got a hell of a lot more right than wrong in the last 20 years or so.

As for Robbie Blake - absolutely loved him as a player but he is out of order still holding this grudge 10 years later. This is the same Robbie Blake who sat on our bench one Saturday afternoon whilst he was waiting for Wigan or Birmingham to buy him.

Not sure how the board can be blamed - not too many meet the basic criteria at the time -
Burnley connection
Experienced in the championship
Available

Oh and you have a week or so to find someone

The list of contenders would not have been long - Laws/Alexander was as good as could be found in be found in the circumstances

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by IanMcL » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:01 pm

Mr Laws has a better reputation as a plate breaker, than a plate spinner.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Ric_C » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:02 pm

Think we'd have had a good change of staying up if Coyle had stayed.

Add to that potential signings that January of Wiltshire, Weiss and Holden, then I think we'd have made it.

We ended up with Laws, Leon Cort and Danny Fox.

Remember we only were relegated in the end due to us not beating wigan at the JJB.

In hindsight though I'm glad he left, as it paved the way for Dyche and what we have now.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by TVC15 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:15 pm

Spijed wrote:That's a poor point to make.

Every single club in the Premier league has made very poor signings. In SD's case would you say Vydra or Drinkwater (wages wise) have turned out any better?
It was tongue in cheek but since you have brought it up Vydra was the leading scorer in the championship and Drinkwater’s record speaks for itself (and we have not signed him).
I have said many times that all club make mistakes in the transfer market and I notice that Boysie has liked your comment. This is the same guy who has done nothing but criticise SDs signings that haven’t worked out and can’t name a team that has made less expensive mistakes in the last few years than Burnley.

I mentioned Leon Cort because it was just another thing which showed how far out of his depth Laws was. He didn’t have much money to spend in January but the bit he did he spent on Cort and gave him a 3 year contract. This is a guy who had not been in the Stoke team for ages and looked marginally less injured than Joe Gallagher when we signed him.

If you think the Laws signing was justified then maybe say why - many fans have racked their brains for years to understand why we appointed him.
So far you have pointed out that all managers make bad transfers and premier league experience is not necessary - I agree with both but neither are a reason to appoint him !

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by martin_p » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:22 pm

Ric_C wrote:
Remember we only were relegated in the end due to us not beating wigan at the JJB.
That's stretching it a bit, there were still seven games to go after that match!

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Hipper » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:22 pm

It would be nice to hear the full story of Coyle leaving and Laws being appointed but I suppose we never will.

Some of the points I recall, probably incorrectly, were:

+ Coyle wanted to bring in certain players to address our shortcomings - Wilsher, Weiss and Holden (all on loan, and all of whom ended up at Bolton), others perhaps - but there was disagreements in how much he could spend which may have in part led to him leaving. Maybe these players would have given our attack a bit more spark but would have done little for our defence.

+ I still don't know what options there were instead of Laws. There was a story that someone wanted £1 million down and a further £1 million if we stayed up.

+ Laws quickly and correctly identified the shortcomings at left back (pace) and centre back (Caldwell injured, Bikey!!!!) and brought in Danny Fox and Leon Cort as well as Nicky Weaver for goalkeeping cover and Jack Cork. I thought that was a pretty good effort at short notice. Agreed Cort was a disappointment, but then so was Bikey, Blake....

Blake himself proved again he was not good enough for the Premier League except perhaps as an impact sub.. Yes he could do spectacular things but for a team that would be largely pushed back he was a waste of space as he couldn't defend. He and Coyle seemed to try and work on this shortcoming but never succeeded.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by jrgbfc » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:23 pm

Let's face it the players didn't exactly cover themselves in glory the second part of that season did they? Downing tools the way they did just because you don't like the manager was unacceptable.
Laws didn't have the guts/authority to stand up to the senior players so he took it out on the likes of Kev McDonald and dished out contract extensions to a donkey like Clark Carlisle, no doubt on stupid money.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Darthlaw » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:49 pm

Hipper wrote: + Coyle wanted to bring in certain players to address our shortcomings - Wilsher, Weiss and Holden (all on loan, and all of whom ended up at Bolton), others perhaps - but there was disagreements in how much he could spend which may have in part led to him leaving. Maybe these players would have given our attack a bit more spark but would have done little for our defence.
I think all three were on their way to Burnley, even as far as Holden being sat on our bench (before signing) for one game.
Hipper wrote:+ I still don't know what options there were instead of Laws. There was a story that someone wanted £1 million down and a further £1 million if we stayed up.
I think Coppell was the one who wanted the £1m + £1m staying up. Given it was Coppell, the chances are he might have given up again after a few games. Had relegation still occured though, we would have only been out of pocket by £1m!
Hipper wrote:+ Laws quickly and correctly identified the shortcomings at left back (pace) and centre back (Caldwell injured, Bikey!!!!) and brought in Danny Fox and Leon Cort as well as Nicky Weaver for goalkeeping cover and Jack Cork. I thought that was a pretty good effort at short notice. Agreed Cort was a disappointment, but then so was Bikey, Blake....
Definitely one issue we had was attracting players. I think only a superstar manager (Keegan was mooted) would have had any impact on this. Can't hold Laws accountable for a lack of options. Taking the options, like Cort, however...

Hipper wrote:Blake himself proved again he was not good enough for the Premier League except perhaps as an impact sub.. Yes he could do spectacular things but for a team that would be largely pushed back he was a waste of space as he couldn't defend. He and Coyle seemed to try and work on this shortcoming but never succeeded.
He was shot as a 90 minute PL player going into the season. I still think he would have done well back in the Championship but as Coyle had offered him another chance in the PL, it was unlikely he'd stay.

I think it's important to note in all this that Coyle did an exceptional job of torpedoing BFC as he left. Feck sake, he even took the kit man with him! His job was to keep Notlob up and he made sure one of the relegation places would be filled before he got to Middlebrook.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Lancasterclaret » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:02 pm

Still don't understand why Laws wasn't just given to the end of the season to prove himself.

Basically, Coyle was a **** for leaving, but we appointed the wrong man and even then, you can't get away with that in the premier league and hope to stay up.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Dyched » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:29 pm

Who else was in the frame for the job instead of Laws??

Pointless saying it was a **** appointment and not writing up lists of names we rejected for him.

AVB apparently did. Wtf has that clown ever actually done in football?

Coppell? Last thing he ever did was take Reading to the Play offs against us.

Nobody wanted it then, like they won’t when Dyche goes.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Hipper » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:31 pm

Laws didn't do too bad a job in The Championship. We were just outside the playoffs most of the time. We even won at Barnsley but the next game, a disappointing home defeat to Scunthorpe, saw him sacked.

Howe did a little bit worse, and certainly so in goals conceded!

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by fidelcastro » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:34 pm

ClaretTony wrote:Is this the same Robbie Blake who walked out of a game at half time and the same one who went running to Coyle at Bolton?
Out of interest, what was the game where he walked out at half time?

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by ClaretTony » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:34 pm

fidelcastro wrote:Out of interest, what was the game where he walked out at half time?
Man City - he and Kevin McDonald although, to his credit, McDonald came back
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Lord Beamish » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:41 pm

It was an error to appoint Laws, and an even bigger one not to pot him at the end of the season. He was utterly hopeless.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by DAVETHEVICAR » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:47 pm

What Brian Laws gave us was not only Dean Marney but our club’s best signing in the last 30 years
Billy Mercer—-Priceless
UTC
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Goobs » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:48 pm

Funny how so many slate Laws and yet don't equally slam Howe who did no better, if not worse.

Yes, Howe brought in some very good players which eventually Dyche made into a promotion team (with a couple of his own signings), which makes Howe's failings even worse really.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by houseboy » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:54 pm

SalisburyClaret wrote:Not sure how the board can be blamed - not too many meet the basic criteria at the time -
Burnley connection
Experienced in the championship
Available

Oh and you have a week or so to find someone

The list of contenders would not have been long - Laws/Alexander was as good as could be found in be found in the circumstances
I apologise in advance for maybe seeming like I am missing something but can someone remind me why we only had a week to find a manager? Genuine not a p!ss take.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by fidelcastro » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:55 pm

Goobs wrote:Funny how so many slate Laws and yet don't equally slam Howe who did no better, if not worse.

Yes, Howe brought in some very good players which eventually Dyche made into a promotion team (with a couple of his own signings), which makes Howe's failings even worse really.
Indeed.

When you consider that Howe had Austin, lngs, Rodriguez and Vokes as his choice of strikers we should have done much better!

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by fidelcastro » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:57 pm

houseboy wrote:I apologise in advance for maybe seeming like I am missing something but can someone remind me why we only had a week to find a manager? Genuine not a p!ss take.
It was close to the end of the transfer window.

Any new manager had limited time to bring in new players.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by TVC15 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:58 pm

Goobs wrote:Funny how so many slate Laws and yet don't equally slam Howe who did no better, if not worse.

Yes, Howe brought in some very good players which eventually Dyche made into a promotion team (with a couple of his own signings), which makes Howe's failings even worse really.
Plenty of people criticised Howe when he was here. But generally everyone was happy and could understand his appointment. He had done brilliant at Bournemouth and we were in the championship so it looked like a bit of a coup to get him here at the time. His signings were excellent (some of the best in our history) and whilst he couldn’t get the team playing to it’s potential I don’t think you can doubt he was a talented manager - proof is in the pudding since he left.

Laws was appointed when we were in the premier league and as already said was coming of a pretty dire period with his previous clubs.
If we had been a championship club with parachute payments in the championship it would still have been a strange decision to appoint Laws given his track record. It was even stranger to appoint him when we were in premier league

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Local cricketer » Mon Nov 18, 2019 3:01 pm

Very good at jumping canals though

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by houseboy » Mon Nov 18, 2019 3:05 pm

fidelcastro wrote:It was close to the end of the transfer window.

Any new manager had limited time to bring in new players.
Thanks for that mate - all clear now.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Devils_Advocate » Mon Nov 18, 2019 3:16 pm

Goobs wrote:Funny how so many slate Laws and yet don't equally slam Howe who did no better, if not worse.

Yes, Howe brought in some very good players which eventually Dyche made into a promotion team (with a couple of his own signings), which makes Howe's failings even worse really.
Its not a fair comparison cos Howe had to manage the shambles Laws had left behind

Laws picked up the team in the Premier League and had a transfer window to attract players for money Howe never had to spend. Laws then had 6 months to work with the team before having a summer transfer window with the Parachute payments and the Fletcher money to build a new team to challenge.

Howe had to pick up the mess Laws left and we were in a far worse state when Laws left than we were when Coyle left. Howe might not have kept us in the Premier League but if we'd have had him to come in and get a grip on the side and then spend the money to rebuild in that first summer I would bet my last penny we would have been a lot better off than we were when he took over from Laws
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by TVC15 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 3:29 pm

Howe signed Charlie Austin, Danny Ings, Jason Shackell, Sam Vokes, Kieran Trippier and Ben Mee....for a total of less than £5m

We quadrupled our money on Austin
The rest all played massive parts in getting us promoted under SD.
Shackell ended up captain and we still made money when sold him.
We made £8m profit from Vokes and he was brilliant for us.
Tripps and Ings are 2 of the best players we have ever had and we made another £10m profit.
Ben Mee has been worth a fortune to us - and he again was made captain

Let’s not even talk about Laws in the same breath as Howe.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Belgianclaret » Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:21 pm

Owen Coyle was a busted flush when he jumped ship.
Anyone coming after him - bar from an experienced and well-known gaffer - was just a stand in captain on the Titanic.
Laws clearly was an uninspiring appointment, and Brendan Flood should shoulder at least part of the blame for that.

Anyway, its history and we should at least enjoy the positive history that's being made now.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Rowls » Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:59 pm

Darthlaw wrote:I think it's important to note in all this that Coyle did an exceptional job of torpedoing BFC as he left. Feck sake, he even took the kit man with him! His job was to keep Notlob up and he made sure one of the relegation places would be filled before he got to Middlebrook.
This is the reason I'll be celebrating #TenYearsAheadDay come 11th January.
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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Claret-On-A-T-Rex » Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:15 pm

Bordeauxclaret wrote:We weren’t that far away from staying up, a half decent appointment may well have done it.

The attitude of the players was a disgrace though.
So Robbie Blake is pretty much spot on then?

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by HB Claret » Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:52 am

Robbie Blake - scored some good goals, gave us some good moments but also had his share of poor games and in my opinion he gains nothing by dragging this stuff up now. He was a part of our history - as was Coyle, Laws and Howe but the club is bigger than any of them.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by SussexDon1inIreland » Tue Nov 19, 2019 1:25 am

Coyle can be forgiven but it can never be forgotten!!
He lied and he took the whole coaching team with him mid-season which completely screwed us and unsettled players like Blake and Eagles and Laws was probably the only candidate and he did his best and we should all move on

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by jdrobbo » Tue Nov 19, 2019 7:04 am

With hindsight, asking Martin Dobson to take us to the end of the season, probably would have been a far better option.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Healeywoodclaret » Tue Nov 19, 2019 7:25 am

Burnley1989 wrote:From what I was told Blake was one of a few players who behaved very unprofessional towards Laws. I don’t like my boss but he’s the manager so you just get on with it.
Not really. Keep a professional lid on things yes.... But respect must be earned and clearly Blake did not respect Laws.

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by jtv » Tue Nov 19, 2019 9:40 am

Hipper wrote:
+ Coyle wanted to bring in certain players to address our shortcomings - Wilsher, Weiss and Holden (all on loan, and all of whom ended up at Bolton), others perhaps - but there was disagreements in how much he could spend which may have in part led to him leaving. Maybe these players would have given our attack a bit more spark but would have done little for our defence.


I think all three were on their way to Burnley, even as far as Holden being sat on our bench (before signing) for one game.

And Coyle left us with that donkey Nimani (remember him) and the equally useless Guerrero and Penny. Some PL type players those!!!!!!!

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Re: Robbie Blake on Brian Laws appointmemt

Post by Lord Beamish » Tue Nov 19, 2019 10:10 am

jdrobbo wrote:With hindsight, asking Martin Dobson to take us to the end of the season, probably would have been a far better option.
Not even with hindsight, anyone but Laws would have done. If Brian Laws was the answer, what the hell was the question?

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