Evil Les

[Alanwycombe]

Christ, I didn't think question would cause this furore! I'm no fan of the DOF idea at a club like ours but maybe, as Westy will gladly tell anyone in earshot, that's because I'm old school. Managers manage the football and directors/owners do the finances....simple. I don't buy the continuity argument. If a club with a DOF brings in a Guardiola or a Mourinho they bring in their own staff and spend squillions. SMC brought his own staff and got four loans in - same principle, different planet. I don't blame Les for Ramsey being here - well pleased he is - but it was a mistake making him manager, granted. I don't blame Les for going for JFH. So what if he's black, he was tipped by many in the game who supposedly know more than we do to be the next big thing, and he's a foreigner - which many seem to think is the way forward. I would have been disappointed if we had gone for Powell. Nothing to do with being black, just not a good enough manager for us in my opinion. If we'd gone for Hughton would there have been the same thinly veiled comments? I doubt it. I don't blame Les for Holloway. No smoke without fire and all that suggests TF wanted him not Les. This stacks up with opinion on here that TF has no idea about football. He clearly hadn't seen him in panto on Sky. So, if we do need an interface between boardroom and bench, IF, then Les seems to have learnt from mistakes. As I said earlier, if we get promoted we'll see.

[brightonr]

Christ, I didn't think question would cause this furore! I'm no fan of the DOF idea at a club like ours but maybe, as Westy will gladly tell anyone in earshot, that's because I'm old school. Managers manage the football and directors/owners do the finances....simple. I don't buy the continuity argument. If a club with a DOF brings in a Guardiola or a Mourinho they bring in their own staff and spend squillions. SMC brought his own staff and got four loans in - same principle, different planet. I don't blame Les for Ramsey being here - well pleased he is - but it was a mistake making him manager, granted. I don't blame Les for going for JFH. So what if he's black, he was tipped by many in the game who supposedly know more than we do to be the next big thing, and he's a foreigner - which many seem to think is the way forward. I would have been disappointed if we had gone for Powell. Nothing to do with being black, just not a good enough manager for us in my opinion. If we'd gone for Hughton would there have been the same thinly veiled comments? I doubt it. I don't blame Les for Holloway. No smoke without fire and all that suggests TF wanted him not Les. This stacks up with opinion on here that TF has no idea about football. He clearly hadn't seen him in panto on Sky. So, if we do need an interface between boardroom and bench, IF, then Les seems to have learnt from mistakes. As I said earlier, if we get promoted we'll see.

Two reasons I am happy with Les’s role Alan, neither of which are intended to say I think you’re wrong.

Firstly, because it seems to me that these days, possibly mainly in the top two divisions, the owners / directors are in it for reasons other than purely the love of their football club, the way it always used to be. And even if TF does love the club, he has been a bit over eager to please a lot of the time, with the lack of football experience being only too evident.

And secondly, logic would suggest that the more time the likes of Mac has to coach his players and get them to understand his philosophy, the better. Plus I’m sure he’d rather take his wife out for dinner than negotiate with an agent.

[qprjeff1882]

Blimey. What a lovely cheery thread. Seems most are vilifiying Les for the Ramsay and Jfh appointments. We all know it was TF that wanted Holloway and Les has come out and stated that he tried to warn him against it. How do we know that it wasn't TF that also wanted Ramsay and JFH too and Les just went and negotiated the deal. People seem to be forgetting that TF bought in Hughes amd Redknapp and what about Tango and Cash? how many did they appoint that were disasters and even going back to Paladini. You can appoint the best in the business doesn't mean it'll be a successful appointment. People just love to moan for the sake of it without knowing the full facts. And lets face it. None of us know the FULL FACTS of the last 10/15 years of what happened behind closed doors

[davieqpr]

Two reasons I am happy with Les’s role Alan, neither of which are intended to say I think you’re wrong.

Firstly, because it seems to me that these days, possibly mainly in the top two divisions, the owners / directors are in it for reasons other than purely the love of their football club, the way it always used to be. And even if TF does love the club, he has been a bit over eager to please a lot of the time, with the lack of football experience being only too evident.

And secondly, logic would suggest that the more time the likes of Mac has to coach his players and get them to understand his philosophy, the better. Plus I’m sure he’d rather take his wife out for dinner than negotiate with an agent.

Totally agree. The system of Management that has evolved seems to be working just fine,

[Alanwycombe]

Two reasons I am happy with Les’s role Alan, neither of which are intended to say I think you’re wrong.

Firstly, because it seems to me that these days, possibly mainly in the top two divisions, the owners / directors are in it for reasons other than purely the love of their football club, the way it always used to be. And even if TF does love the club, he has been a bit over eager to please a lot of the time, with the lack of football experience being only too evident.

And secondly, logic would suggest that the more time the likes of Mac has to coach his players and get them to understand his philosophy, the better. Plus I’m sure he’d rather take his wife out for dinner than negotiate with an agent.

Fair points, can see that.

[Gtleighsr3]

Anyone changed their mind now?

psychotic people have,

[West Acton]

Just see Joe Cole has been appointed technical academy coach at Chelsea!!! Wonder if there fans will turn on him saying he’s not qualified

[1973 ranger]

I am glad Les, Ramsey, Amit, Hoos are just ticking things over with very little fuss. All doing decent jobs and long may it continue.

[JeanD]

I think Old R touches on this to an extent, if you are of a certain generation, if you saw Les play for us and his development as a centre forward during his time here it's very difficult to #### him off. Some of the younger members won't have seen him but trust me he is one of our own
Gonna go out on a limb here and say the second reason he has attracted such vitriol is that in our heart of hearts all of us would love the DOF job, it's a dream and most would like to think they would do well.
Be nice to the chairman, be nice to Tone, know the club. Know the culture, give an intelligent view when asked, go to every game, check out 'gentleman' CR re the youngsters. Contact negotiations? See what the peer group are on for guidance and pay what we can afford.
Dream job.

[West Acton]

Good post Jean

[Gtleighsr3]

He more qpr than that dog Clive allen

[JeanD]

It always annoys me that people consider Clive Allen to be Spurs. So he was their employee for a while. But when I was a kid (from north London so we didn't have local west London press)
you would monitor his progress alongside Paul Goddard in the back of the program, all the goals they were scoring through youth & reserves till they both made their respective debuts.
Once again, one of our own

[Gtleighsr3]

It always annoys me that people consider Clive Allen to be Spurs. So he was their employee for a while. But when I was a kid (from north London so we didn't have local west London press)
you would monitor his progress alongside Paul Goddard in the back of the program, all the goals they were scoring through youth & reserves till they both made their respective debuts.
Once again, one of our own

One of our own don't run length of pitch and stick his fingers up at us when he banged a hat trick in

[dogsrrs]

Yeah he's a dog just like
les
Martin
Bradley

[JeanD]

Yeah, not one of his best moments.
Also one of the dullest pundits you could ask for on the radio. Bit of a tw@t tbf
But the good he did for the Rs outweighs the bad,