Now he's gone, who's next?

[Always hopeful]

I reckon he'll be great. Based on f-all, obviously.

[Prufrock]

Aye, we're owed a good un!

[The Berlin Bear]

I'm not convinced about this but he will have my full backing nonetheless.

[DJBlu]

Palace got 21 clean sheets last year. Just saying like.

[Harry Genshaw]

I feel for Palace though. They're a good club who I consider to be pretty much on a par with us, so easy to see why their fans would be upset.

On a par with us? In what way?

I could be wrong but arent palace a team that generally have been around championship level with a few not too distant years in the top division with crowds not dissimilar to ours according to how successful they are at the time. In terms of recent history we have been a bigger more successful club but long term we're not that far apart.
Besides i thought we liked to moan about the fans of clubs like massive city etc when they get all big and bold about the size of their clubs.

We're a club with a Premier League training set-up and stadium, not to mention parachute payments and arguably a better squad. That's all that matters to prospective managers. The rest is just bollocks but in terms of our 'long term' history there is no comparison. We are a miles bigger club.

[Always hopeful]

Remember what it was like towards the end of Allardyce's reign and for the majority of Megson's? Boring, turgid stuff. Yes, we were strong at the back and we're in a reasonably safe position in the league, but I for one was very bored with it.

Stopping the rot is important and a change is as good as a rest and all that, but from the Palace fans description of the man, I'm more than a little concerned that he's not necessarily got anything to offer. Particularly when you take away the Saha effect.

Lets see what happens.

There's a balance to be had somewhere. Solidity and flair can be had together but it will mean some of our flair players who dont defend being on the bench.There are a lot of things about freedman that sound positive to me. Having a team that is fit and less tolerance of players who cant work for the team would not be a bad thing. Likewise a commitment to developing and integrating youngsters which coyle seemed to say but never did. It's a bit of a leap of faith but were this McCarthy or Souness etc we'd all be moaning anyway. Fact is we cant have a proven top manager,there arent any on the market so Freedman is perhaps as good a bet as any. You have to trust that the noard have looked closely at what he has to offer and decided it's good enough.[/quote]
Yep, I can't disagree with anything you've said there. I guess he won't be any better/worse than anyone else. Time will tell.

[Lord Kangana]

What was it, 1 clean sheet in a whole season? Boring and turgid, yes. Solid, no.

[Harry Genshaw]

This tickled me on the BBC

Dougie. Take some advice from someone who knows and negotiate a better deal with Palace. Consider the following about life in the North: Colder, Can you afford the extra heating? You won't fit in unless you have a whippet. Double Diamond not sold here. Cheesecake doesn't have icing and shredded coconut on it. Fish and Chips is Haddock, not Rock, Might have to travel a long way to find a Waitrose.

[CAPSLOCK]

What was it, 1 clean sheet in a whole season? Boring and turgid, yes. Solid, no.

You do your man a dis-service

It was 3

QPR, Arsenal and Stoke

Wasn't boring, either

How could it be with 2 goals a game flying past us

[IggyTheDawgster]

According to the DM Freedman is as good as a done deal.

[FaninOz]

This tickled me on the BBC

Dougie. Take some advice from someone who knows and negotiate a better deal with Palace. Consider the following about life in the North: Colder, Can you afford the extra heating? You won't fit in unless you have a whippet. Double Diamond not sold here. Cheesecake doesn't have icing and shredded coconut on it. Fish and Chips is Haddock, not Rock, Might have to travel a long way to find a Waitrose.

Some good points there, at last a post with some decent analysis and incite.

But as I said many pages back I don't understand why he would consider jumping ships in our direction. I thought the same about Coyle as well. However, it could be the personal money or the significant challege or just that he is pissed off because Palace haven't yet offered him a new contract (may be for very good footballing reasons though!).

Can't see it being a large transfer budget as we don't have any money, or the aged players we have no matter how good/bad they are, but it could be that we have a few very good young players on the fringe of the team and even more on the way up with our "reserves" top of their league by 8 points at present.

He may see an opportunity to build a new young team from within and may have the inner confidence that he can make it work, but then Coyle felt that as well I guess.

If he does come the best of luck to him as we need our new manager to be successful or the crowd will soon get at him.

A very big risk for him and us in my humble opinion.

[Phil Browns Fake Tan]

Hi all - This is my first post, bit of a long one but....

I do think Dougie is a risk, but then any manager that we appoint will have some element of risk to it, but he worth taking a chance. From what I have seen Freedman managed to keep clean sheets in around a third of the matches he managed, thats with a team struggling the the Championship. He tends not to loose too many games but draws more than he wins. This is with a Palace team that nearly disapeared from football three or four years ago. Bolton will always score goals with that team in the Championship, I think once the defence leaking goals is resolved then the points will really begin to clock up. In fact now that Coyles gone I believe that this will be resolved on the training pitch under Jimmy and Sammy. More match prep and game analysis is occuring, plus taylored training plans re-introduced and this can really only be a good thing.

I was under the impression that Sammy was to be kept as first team coach / assistant under the new manager, hopefully Jimmy and Julien are kept there too. The passion that they showed on Saturday can only rub off onto the players plus they are top coaches that know the club inside out; some rate Sammy as one of the best coaches around which I can only wonder why Coyle never untalised him.

I think this proposed management structure is strong and can deliver short term promotion whilst putting into place a long term plan that involves both integrating our promising youth players and provide stability for the club. The academy is begining to prosper under the various ex-Wanderers teams and I do believe that in all the future is bright. Think that if we have the right team in place who can bring OUR youth through, what we can produce in three or four years time when our current under 18's team is ready to step up.

Dougie, Jimmy and Sammy all care about youth and integrating and nuturing young players into the first team, I am hoping this is our next management trio. Dougie definately has many positive attributes that is what I would look for in our next manager (solid defence, youth integration, organisation, match prep, working on a low budget, long term planning etc), he has demonstrated these with a low budget struggling team, imagine what he can do with a team full of talent with more financial flexability.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I'm bewildered by us trying for Freedman. He has achieved little if anything that I can see. In fact, if he wasn't a bit of a Palace legend I'm not sure he'd still be there looking at his record. This has disaster written all over it and goes against Gartside's "we must get promoted this season" mantra

[Joggers Nipple]

Funny really but I feel just as I did when we appointed Rioch 'Uninspired' - and look what a disaster he turned out to be!

You just never know..

[Leyther_Matt]

I'd actually be quite impressed if we persuaded him to come here. As mentioned previously in the thread, he's got it pretty cushy at Palace so it would be a decent 'sell' to get him.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I'm not a happy bunny.

[BWFC_Insane]

Heard a few rumours that Palace are planning on making him a counter offer. So this deal may not be done and dusted yet.

My gut feeling IF he does come is that we might have bagged ourselves a younger version of Rioch. Hearing his approach to running the club from top to bottom and his attitude to fitness and discipline.....

Clearly its a big step for him to take, and if he takes it, I hope that he can cope with the extra expectation and probably a group of more "highly strung" players.

[David Lee's Hair]

I'm not a happy bunny.

Leopard?

[Martin_Cruise]

Heard a few rumours that Palace are planning on making him a counter offer. So this deal may not be done and dusted yet.

My gut feeling IF he does come is that we might have bagged ourselves a younger version of Rioch. Hearing his approach to running the club from top to bottom and his attitude to fitness and discipline.....

Clearly its a big step for him to take, and if he takes it, I hope that he can cope with the extra expectation and probably a group of more "highly strung" players.

I'd rather have a young Allardyce. Rioch was great at Middlesbrough and Bolton in the 2nd and 3rd tiers but in two seasons of top flight management he was sacked by Arsenal and relegated with Middlesbrough.

[BWFC_Insane]

Heard a few rumours that Palace are planning on making him a counter offer. So this deal may not be done and dusted yet.

My gut feeling IF he does come is that we might have bagged ourselves a younger version of Rioch. Hearing his approach to running the club from top to bottom and his attitude to fitness and discipline.....

Clearly its a big step for him to take, and if he takes it, I hope that he can cope with the extra expectation and probably a group of more "highly strung" players.

I'd rather have a young Allardyce. Rioch was great at Middlesbrough and Bolton in the 2nd and 3rd tiers but in two seasons of top flight management he was sacked by Arsenal and relegated with Middlesbrough.

Well indeed. But I'm sure he's his own man. Just a sort of feel I get from what people say about him.

I think its a bit of a step into the unknown.