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Welcome Gary Caldwell - new manager

Banksy

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Crostwight Norfolk
Get that midfield enforcer and brick ****house centre back in in early January and we’ll walk it.
 

lamrobhero

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May 31, 2018
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Hangingstone Hill
I have polluted other threads with my opinion of Gary Caldwell. So I thought it best to express my view here and then remain silent because I know that he will be here for a very long time.

I have no knowledge of tatics, formations nor operations in the transfer market - so I will not remark about them.

In my opinion there are warning signs about leadership:
  • "Forget tactics, forget quality, if you want to be a top football player and a top football team you need character,"
  • "We tried to change the mentality of the group in terms of character and resilience" - re time at Partick Thistle
  • Partick Thistle were kidnapped by the SAS. But how much did Gary Caldwell know? BBC 30th Nov 2018
  • In a recent podcast interview he talked about what he himself did/does and then talked about the players doing the same (Though to be fair to him he did also talk about individuality).
  • The pre Portsmouth interview made me uneasy too.
Maybe he is just the sort of leader that I personally would not respond to which reflects more on me than him, but there it is.
 

SaintJames

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Dec 3, 2020
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I have polluted other threads with my opinion of Gary Caldwell. So I thought it best to express my view here and then remain silent because I know that he will be here for a very long time.

I have no knowledge of tatics, formations nor operations in the transfer market - so I will not remark about them.

In my opinion there are warning signs about leadership:
  • "Forget tactics, forget quality, if you want to be a top football player and a top football team you need character,"
  • "We tried to change the mentality of the group in terms of character and resilience" - re time at Partick Thistle
  • Partick Thistle were kidnapped by the SAS. But how much did Gary Caldwell know? BBC 30th Nov 2018
  • In a recent podcast interview he talked about what he himself did/does and then talked about the players doing the same (Though to be fair to him he did also talk about individuality).
  • The pre Portsmouth interview made me uneasy too.
Maybe he is just the sort of leader that I personally would not respond to which reflects more on me than him, but there it is.
I'm no clearer after reading your post exactly what you feel the problems with GC are except you didnt like his last interview very much. Are you just looking for anything and is that is rounded assessment of his time thus far. Would you judge people in your workplace after two months?
 

Cowshed Grecian

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Mar 9, 2022
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1,499
The ridiculous thing is even if we had appointed Pep as manager, GC has had one hell of a hard run of games since he took over. Who the hell could of done better? He’s done ok…let’s not judge him just yet.
 

lamrobhero

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Hangingstone Hill
I'm no clearer after reading your post exactly what you feel the problems with GC are except you didnt like his last interview very much. Are you just looking for anything and is that is rounded assessment of his time thus far. Would you judge people in your workplace after two months?
The last interview point was a throw away with no proper explanation becasue it is what prompted me to post. But it and the other points are all supposed to be of a piece. If you read those quotes and the SAS incident and you view them as unconcerning thats fine. If you want me to explain why they concern me I guess that I would have to venture into my limited understanding of psychology which would be too much. But my gut feeling is that something is concerning. Sorry I can't do better than that.

I am not just looking for anything. I don't often post on football matters and I wouldn't post this unless I felt it.
It is not a rounded assessment and not intended to be.
I do not believe I am judging him after two months. I am highlighting a particular issue that struck me right from the start.
 

Egg

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Apr 6, 2004
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I'm no clearer after reading your post exactly what you feel the problems with GC are except you didnt like his last interview very much. Are you just looking for anything and is that is rounded assessment of his time thus far. Would you judge people in your workplace after two months?
Think you’re being a little harsh. Passing comment on ExeWeb is rather different from judging people in the workplace - that said, I’m sure there are many places were new staff are evaluated after less than two months. To be clear, as things stand I’m in the pro Caldwell camp, but am not sure it’s especially helpful to harangue anyone who dares to voice any concerns.

On a not entirely unrelated note, I always thought Tisdale would have enjoyed more success if he hadn’t adopted quite such a siege mentality and refused to hear any criticisms.
 

Grecian Max

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May 6, 2005
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Exeter
It’s still so early - I’ve been really surprised at how quickly people have jumped on GC given how docile a lot of people were with Tisdale, probably shows how much he zombified half our support. I guess Taylor always had backing early on because he was/is a club legend and we wanted him to do well (there were still a couple of dissenters, having nailed their colours to the flag of Tis and too embarrassed to admit defeat)

Anyway, we’re here and back to being a relatively normal fan base which is welcome for discussion at least. When he was appointed I was neither concerned or excited, I do believe the club made the right appointments in Taylor, Tis, Ingethorpe and Dolan so deserved the trust.

I have an underlying feeling that Caldwell might end up being an “ok” appointment, neither awful nor defining… which might well be ok in terms of League 1 over the next couple of years. However you have to give him a chance to get his own ideas on the pitch and the squad and there is a minimum amount of time to that I think. To genuinely be able to do that. MJP has complained a few times about GC not doing a Nicholson and just con thing exactly as MT had it set up - that’s not going to work long term just mimicking the previous person. I see a managers job as a creative role, it’s a chessboard each week - not a role where you tick some boxes and hope for the best.

If we’re on a right sooner come end of Feb/March and end up either going down or pushing it then I think the discussion has merit and would hope the board would act swiftly - sadly I know this wouldn’t be the case so we really need this to work.

I’d personally score him a 7/10 thus far.
 

fred binneys head

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Exactly how I feel about it Max, great summary.

And as for copying the previous manager, there were plenty on here who said that’s exactly what they didn’t want, they wanted someone with new ideas.

What they should have said was they wanted someone with new ideas that meant he would take a small, under-strength squad with injuries to key players, at a relatively small club, and beat all the ex-Premier League clubs and our top-of-the-league bitter rivals away from home, within his first two months.

But because we only drew away at Morecambe in a game when we absolutely dominated, they’re writing him off.

I’m giving him plenty of time, geddon Gary.
 

tonykellowfan

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Dec 6, 2004
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Buckingham
The interesting bit is "However you have to give him a chance to get his own ideas on the pitch."

Why is that a given? Surely his role is to get the best out of the players he has got until he can sign some new players?

I know someone who was involved in football management and they said it is amazing how easy it is to confuse players with unfamiliar changes. I can even remember an England game under Hodgson that was farcical in that players were openly asking the management on the side line where certain players were supposed to be playing.
 

lamrobhero

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Another GC snippit. I am not sure has been mentioned before:

Caldwell applied for the Scotland job when Gordon Strachan departed the national team and although he concedes he was unlikely to get the job, he feels he's actually better qualified to be the national team's top man than in the Thistle hot-seat.
He said: "I don't think I was ever going to get it but I feel like I could do it.
"I feel like I'm more qualified to do that than I am to manage Partick Thistle.
"I've never played a game in the Championship in my life but I've played 55 games for Scotland. I know how international players think. I don't know how Championship players think. I do now but I didn't when I went in (to Partick Thistle)."

Gary Caldwell defends Partick Thistle management style and explains 'unanimous' Kris Doolan departure Daily Record October 2019
 
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