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Post by stuart1974 on Feb 10, 2017 23:06:27 GMT
In my time without a doubt Gerry Francis first time around, fantastic team spirit and something really special about his teams. Shame it went so wrong second time around Never did get the whole John Ward thing First time, never felt excited watching his teams or games like I did under Francis. Always had a soft spot for Dennis Rofe and his teams although not successful. Glad someone mentioned Denis Rofe, I was at AG for the second leg shortly after his appointment and we turned round a 3-1 deficit even after conceding an early goal for 4-1. Somehow still knew we'd do it. Also enjoyed Malcolm Allison for the few games he was here. Some great football. Favourite was David Williams in terms of football, would have been two play off places had they existed then. At the moment, I'd still have Francis in first from those I watched (Bobby Gould first time round onwards) but DC will be above him pretty soon, especially if we make the top 10 this season.
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Post by 2nd May 1990 on Feb 10, 2017 23:48:31 GMT
Having seen all the managers since WW2 its a very close race to judge. Some points. In BT's days if you ended up in bottom spot you could apply for re-election in place of relegation,so BT and Bill Dodgin never really had that threat hanging over them as most clubs successfully re-applied.On the other hand only 1 team was promoted in their day,so it should be easier to be promoted now with 2 from the National and 4 from league 2. So many factors can and could be used in order to make this judgement that I feel we need to assume we have a level playing field if we are to get close to a fairly accurate result.Also we could argue that DC should not be included until the end of his tenure. (but that would alter the original question). The game is now far more professional/ruthless/cynical (Taylor)/International (agents a cancer) than ever before so my maths equation is to, divide their succes by the timescale in the job then,add the speed of the fanbase recovery and then see what it equals. I get more than 1 answer,but-----DC wins every time. Because fact into doubt won't go!
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Post by perryfenwick on Feb 11, 2017 0:14:15 GMT
I've been going for 22 years and in that time it's Darrell Clarke by a stretch.
I think only Tann, Megson, Francis, Trollope and Clarke can be mentioned really - how can you be our best manager if you've never won us anything?
It's so hard to compare eras though.
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Post by Dr Gas on Feb 11, 2017 1:08:41 GMT
Having seen all the managers since WW2 its a very close race to judge. Some points. In BT's days if you ended up in bottom spot you could apply for re-election in place of relegation,so BT and Bill Dodgin never really had that threat hanging over them as most clubs successfully re-applied.On the other hand only 1 team was promoted in their day,so it should be easier to be promoted now with 2 from the National and 4 from league 2. So many factors can and could be used in order to make this judgement that I feel we need to assume we have a level playing field if we are to get close to a fairly accurate result.Also we could argue that DC should not be included until the end of his tenure. (but that would alter the original question). The game is now far more professional/ruthless/cynical (Taylor)/International (agents a cancer) than ever before so my maths equation is to, divide their succes by the timescale in the job then,add the speed of the fanbase recovery and then see what it equals. I get more than 1 answer,but-----DC wins every time. I like your thought process but would disagree with your comparisons for achievement: I believe that the standard of football has levelled out a lot more and now a 4th Division team (League 2) and even many Conference teams are better than most teams in the old third division North/South, and also those in the old 4th Division. Indeed, some of the teams that still exist today and are doing well sailed very close to being voted out, e.g. Watford, Bournemouth, Swansea.......and even the mighty Bristol Rovers. Other teams were perennial vote seekers. e.g., Bradford Park Avenue (who I used to have an obscure liking for, due to their name being that of our greatest ever player., IMO), Hartlepool, Halifax etc. BTW, I was going to post about The Beard being DC's Norbert in another thread but you beat me to it. The most meek looking, inoffensive bloke off the pitch: In fact, it is hard to believe he was even a footballer, let alone a World Cup winner, but an absolute animal on the pitch: The memory of his dance around the pitch after the World Cup win will remain with me for ever. It gave him cult status at the time. Norbert: Nobby
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