That Hoddle article is a complete load of s**t

It dismisses his time at Swindon out of hand, which was very impressive. The club had been embroiled in financial scandal and their promotion annulled when he came in, they lost a lot of their players. He kept them up, then got them 9th, then got them promoted. Shows me he can build a team under difficult circumstances and show continual improvement. He did a great job there.

Chelsea were owned by Ken Bates and incredibly tight, IIRC, when he went there. He got them to an FA cup final and a cup-winners cup semi final (lost to the winners). He got them to the semis of the FA cup as well the season after, finished midtable, which was exactly the type of club Chelsea were and not bad considering his budget. Also got Ruud Gullit to the club. He did well there, the article makes out he was poor.

He had a good record at England (3rd best win-rate of all time) and I don't think he should have been sacked. Can't draw a lot from his time though. I mean, the atticle says "Hoddle shows us that a crap club manager can, in the right circumstances, succeed at national level" that's just a complete load of s**t.

The article then states "He moved to Southampton were he did reasonably for a short while but left for Spurs"

It hilariously glosses over his achievements whilst exaggerating his failings. When he was hired, they were 2 points off the drop, when the season ended, they were 11th off and the next season he was on course for 10th in March (their highest ever league finish). He did a great job there. What more could he reasonably have been expected to do?

The article make out he was terrible at Spurs but the reality is he was average. They weren't a top side and hadn't finished in the top 5 for ages. They were inconsistent under him and finished midtable each year. Spurs are a much bigger club than us though so not really that relevant to me.

He was definitely a bit average at Wolves, couldn't get them promoted but the fact is he's never been relegated, done well in cups and had impressive seasons in the PL. He's a good manager.

Posted By: bjg123, Feb 20, 13:59:57