Matt Taylor - 2 Years As ECFC Manager...

[Oldsmobile-88]

.needs to find a goal scoring striker to avoid possible turbulent waters ahead.

Messi wants to move from Barcelona..

 

[iscalad]

Messi wants to move from Barcelona..

Old news old boy

 

[SEA Grecian]

I am an unapologetically huge fan of Matt Taylor. It’s always possible to quibble about the occasional duff signing or odd tactical decision but overall I think he’s done a tremendous job. It’s always hard to judge on-field performances when we don’t know the budgets of our competitors but my gut feeling is we are over-achieving more than many of us realise. I also get the impression he is very highly thought of within the game.

 

[Red Devon]

Messi wants to move from Barcelona..

Time to slash the cash then

 

[STURTZ]

Got to question some decisions. Richardson is a great prospect but very one footed, playing him on the left was a disservice to him and us especially with the plod happy Sweeny continually favoured at right back.

 

[chrisw]

MT has been the right decision for the Club - very open and understands the limitations we have financially.

 

[Martin Lawrence]

I would say he has done exactly as expected.

Got us in the play offs last season, although got it massively wrong in the final.
Has made some good signings and some not so good.
He plays a cautious way and can be pretty boring to watch at times, but he seems to get some decent results.

I think it should be a case now of see what happens next season, when he now has to play youth players and maybe have to think about the style of football more.

If he doesn't make the play offs then questions will have to be asked.

What questions would need to be asked? Serious question!

 

[Bootroom]

I feel MT Performance is a 6/10 at best! I don’t understand all this fanfare about him.
He comes across as honest and I have no issue with that in a day to day sense, but football doesn’t do honesty and integrity in spades and I feel that will wind some players up, we know some players respond to a rocket - whilst others need an arm around them. He has been backed in the transfer market in terms of wage budget and hasn’t delivered I believe....

As a character he is a top feller, but he has to be judged on performances over the last 2 seasons and I believe he has fallen short! This season is a big season for him.

 

[benjisheps]

I feel MT Performance is a 6/10 at best! I don’t understand all this fanfare about him.
He comes across as honest and I have no issue with that in a day to day sense, but football doesn’t do honesty and integrity in spades and I feel that will wind some players up, we know some players respond to a rocket - whilst others need an arm around them. He has been backed in the transfer market in terms of wage budget and hasn’t delivered I believe....

As a character he is a top feller, but he has to be judged on performances over the last 2 seasons and I believe he has fallen short! This season is a big season for him.

I think to say MT has fallen short is a little harsh! Let's not forget Tis (who I was a fan of and appreciate all he did for the club) had 6 seasons to try and get us out of this division and couldn't manage it. The final two seasons of his reign you could arguable say he fell short with the teams that he had.

For what it's worth here is my take on MT's 2 years in charge.

Season 1:
Was always going to be difficult taking over from Tis who had been at the club for so long. Look at what has happened at both Arsenal and Man Utd when a long serving manager leaves. Added to the fact that MT lost both his CB's in Storey and JMT as well as Harley and the backroom staff it was a tough situation to navigate. It's was also a difficult scenario due to City having been in the playoffs which also puts you behind other clubs in terms of recruitment and planning etc.
To start the season so well was credit to MT after such a disappointing playoff defeat and all the upheaval that ensued and he should get credit for that. Losing Stockley in January was obviously a massive loss as the team (largely by Tis) had been built around him and ultimately this was the main reason why we just missed out on the playoffs.
Some may say that bringing Bowman in to replace Stockley wasn't the answer, but MT wasn't given much money to replace him and we were never going to replace a forward worth 750K. Let's not forget the only reason we got him was because Tis was allowed to break our transfer record and spend 100K to get him. I'd be surprised if this transfer record is broken within the next 10 years!!
If we had made the playoffs I think it would have been an excellent season for MT, and by narrowly missing out I would say it was still a very good season and we also saw the emergence of Archie Collins and he managed to sign Randell Williams.

Season 2:
We were in and around the top 3 for most of the season and missed out on going up automatically through exceptional circumstances. it's a shame we had our dip in form right before lockdown which ultimately cost us. I'd also argue that due to our lack of finances we were not really able to strengthen in January like Plymouth and Swindon which helped to push them on to promotion. Both of these teams were able to bring in real quality and were spending considerable amounts of money whereas we needed to offload Tillson just to get in Dickenson due to Sparkes injury.
Obviously the playoff final was a huge letdown and MT didn't get his tactics right that night which was hugely disappointing and an opportunity missed. However; I don't think (however disappointing it was and still is) that one game should overshadow the season as a whole.
Many talk about the need for us to score more goals etc, and while I agree with this we were still the 5th highest scorers in League Two last season.

Some people seem to forget that even with the club putting in an extra 500K to the budget for the past few seasons our budget still only ranks around between 9-12th in the division so we are still overachieving in terms of our league position based on finances.

The criticisms that I would have of MT is that in the past two seasons we have started well and he seems to have had a very clear picture of his best 11 and then at times during the midpoint of the season we have seemed to lose our way and identity to some extent. This could obviously just be down to players form etc, but it is something that we need to address.
The other criticism is the handling of Nicky Ajose as rightly or wrongly I still believe he could really be an important player for us but it seems as though something has clearly gone on and MT does not trust him in the side. With MT having made this signing only a year ago and publicly expressing what an excellent signing it was it all seems a bit strange and doesn't reflect overly well.

Overall I would give MT a 7.5/10 and if he is able to have us contending for a playoff spot again this year with all the experience that we have lost I would be more than happy.
It will be a tough start to the season with only 2 home games out of our first 6 league games against good sides who have invested heavily in their squads. Hopefully we are able to be patient and Exeweb doesn't go into meltdown if we have some difficult results early on

Up the City!!

 

[IndoMike]

I think to say MT has fallen short is a little harsh! Let's not forget Tis (who I was a fan of and appreciate all he did for the club) had 6 seasons to try and get us out of this division and couldn't manage it. The final two seasons of his reign you could arguable say he fell short with the teams that he had.

For what it's worth here is my take on MT's 2 years in charge.

Season 1:
Was always going to be difficult taking over from Tis who had been at the club for so long. Look at what has happened at both Arsenal and Man Utd when a long serving manager leaves. Added to the fact that MT lost both his CB's in Storey and JMT as well as Harley and the backroom staff it was a tough situation to navigate. It's was also a difficult scenario due to City having been in the playoffs which also puts you behind other clubs in terms of recruitment and planning etc.
To start the season so well was credit to MT after such a disappointing playoff defeat and all the upheaval that ensued and he should get credit for that. Losing Stockley in January was obviously a massive loss as the team (largely by Tis) had been built around him and ultimately this was the main reason why we just missed out on the playoffs.
Some may say that bringing Bowman in to replace Stockley wasn't the answer, but MT wasn't given much money to replace him and we were never going to replace a forward worth 750K. Let's not forget the only reason we got him was because Tis was allowed to break our transfer record and spend 100K to get him. I'd be surprised if this transfer record is broken within the next 10 years!!
If we had made the playoffs I think it would have been an excellent season for MT, and by narrowly missing out I would say it was still a very good season and we also saw the emergence of Archie Collins and he managed to sign Randell Williams.

Season 2:
We were in and around the top 3 for most of the season and missed out on going up automatically through exceptional circumstances. it's a shame we had our dip in form right before lockdown which ultimately cost us. I'd also argue that due to our lack of finances we were not really able to strengthen in January like Plymouth and Swindon which helped to push them on to promotion. Both of these teams were able to bring in real quality and were spending considerable amounts of money whereas we needed to offload Tillson just to get in Dickenson due to Sparkes injury.
Obviously the playoff final was a huge letdown and MT didn't get his tactics right that night which was hugely disappointing and an opportunity missed. However; I don't think (however disappointing it was and still is) that one game should overshadow the season as a whole.
Many talk about the need for us to score more goals etc, and while I agree with this we were still the 5th highest scorers in League Two last season.

Some people seem to forget that even with the club putting in an extra 500K to the budget for the past few seasons our budget still only ranks around between 9-12th in the division so we are still overachieving in terms of our league position based on finances.

The criticisms that I would have of MT is that in the past two seasons we have started well and he seems to have had a very clear picture of his best 11 and then at times during the midpoint of the season we have seemed to lose our way and identity to some extent. This could obviously just be down to players form etc, but it is something that we need to address.
The other criticism is the handling of Nicky Ajose as rightly or wrongly I still believe he could really be an important player for us but it seems as though something has clearly gone on and MT does not trust him in the side. With MT having made this signing only a year ago and publicly expressing what an excellent signing it was it all seems a bit strange and doesn't reflect overly well.

Overall I would give MT a 7.5/10 and if he is able to have us contending for a playoff spot again this year with all the experience that we have lost I would be more than happy.
It will be a tough start to the season with only 2 home games out of our first 6 league games against good sides who have invested heavily in their squads. Hopefully we are able to be patient and Exeweb doesn't go into meltdown if we have some difficult results early on

Up the City!!

Good summary.