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Scott Laird/Graham Westley

Yes the stories are funny. Yes he did well at Stevenage. But funny how the passing of time is making Westley into a cult hero.

Make no mistake, he was a dire manager for PNE. And he wouldn't admit it either, he tried everything possible to portray his statistics as successful, when they were anything but.

He was a PR disaster too. He dragged the reputation of the club further down.

That said, I will be tuning in.
 
IanBogie9 said:
Yes the stories are funny. Yes he did well at Stevenage. But funny how the passing of time is making Westley into a cult hero.

Make no mistake, he was a dire manager for PNE. And he wouldn't admit it either, he tried everything possible to portray his statistics as successful, when they were anything but.

He was a PR disaster too. He dragged the reputation of the club further down.

That said, I will be tuning in.
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The Westley defenders point towards him "cleaning out" the club through the inspirational and difficult task of NOT offering some players new contracts, most of which were never going to be affordable anyway.

Well done Graeme. What a tool he was.
 
Doc Brown said:
Graham Westley is the worst PNE manager in history.
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TBF when we where almost bottom of the bottom Division it would be difficult to claim that they where better.
He was though undoubtedly up there, or should that be down there, with the worst.

John Beck was the one i personally would always pick as my favourite Worst Manager (now there's an Oxymoron) since the early 60's.
They sacked Les Chapman because we where non descript and 'going nowhere' appointed Big Sam as interim, still mid table obscurity, appointed Beck who took a Team in mid Table down by playing crap long ball football with barely 6 footers, who sold our best Player to Stockport on deadline Day, and had visions of being the hero to take us back up - and that didn't happen either. Gary Peters had to do that, and by changing the style of play (that's if it was ever a 'style of play'
Beck gets far more kudos than he ever deserved because of the switch to the Town End, mainly instigated by the PSG anyway!
Beck and Westley, then.
 
For the same bloke to be compared & contrasted, - his record as a Top First Division Manager with Manchester United, ( only leaving Old Trafford because of VERY personal reasons! ) - and then joining the SAME Club with which he had served with so much distinction as a player, and to make such a Right Muck of it - I think '' The Doc' s " performance takes some beating !
 
noelpne said:
For the same bloke to be compared & contrasted, - his record as a Top First Division Manager with Manchester United, ( only leaving Old Trafford because of VERY personal reasons! ) - and then joining the SAME Club with which he had served with so much distinction as a player, and to make such a Right Muck of it - I think '' The Doc' s " performance takes some beating !
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He didn't exactly cover himself in glory, did he, as Manager of PNE, but because of those highly distinguished Years @ PNE as a top Player, i/we should cut him some slack for the very brief latter time he had here.
And TBF he wasn't here long enough to do the long term damage that Westley or Beck did.
 
deepdaledreamer said:
Beck gets far more kudos than he ever deserved because of the switch to the Town End, mainly instigated by the PSG anyway!
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Beck gets no kudos from me for this.

I guess that it's one of those things, The Kop or Fulwood End, whichever you choose to call it is the historical home of PNE fans.

Just another of those damned opinions I suppose.
 
As much as the guy was an egotistical, narcissistic, chaotic psychopath... he was the ideal man for a system reset of our club when we really did need it. He did not give two shits who you were, he was doing it his way and that isn't necessarily a bad thing for what we needed at that time.

Some players have said he probably tried to be too much too soon, but I don't think he was capable of filtering what he was or wasn't doing. He was completely and unapologetically himself. He's literally the David Brent of football management.

I can't wait for the Westley UTC podcast to come out, it'll be fucking carnage!
 
MattPNE17 said:
As much as the guy was an egotistical, narcissistic, chaotic psychopath... he was the ideal man for a system reset of our club when we really did need it. He did not give two shits who you were, he was doing it his way and that isn't necessarily a bad thing for what we needed at that time.

Some players have said he probably tried to be too much too soon, but I don't think he was capable of filtering what he was or wasn't doing. He was completely and unapologetically himself. He's literally the David Brent of football management.

I can't wait for the Westley UTC podcast to come out, it'll be fucking carnage!
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Me neither :D
 
Mancunian White said:
Miles worse. At least Westley was entertaining.
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Hated both. But westley made a few good signings who I enjoyed seeing play.

Under brown I had to watch Steven smith (the worst left back I’ve ever seen), Iain turner who was dreadful and that fat waste of space Ian ashbee. He didn’t make a single good signing. Useless manager.

His managerial record is abysmal at any club.
 
RibbletonWhite2.0 said:
Hated both. But westley made a few good signings who I enjoyed seeing play.

Under brown I had to watch Steven smith (the worst left back I’ve ever seen), Iain turner who was dreadful and that fat waste of space Ian ashbee. He didn’t make a single good signing. Useless manager.

His managerial record is abysmal at any club.
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Don't forget Tsoumou... made Chris Beardsley look like Alan Shearer.
 
RibbletonWhite2.0 said:
Hated both. But westley made a few good signings who I enjoyed seeing play.

Under brown I had to watch Steven smith (the worst left back I’ve ever seen), Iain turner who was dreadful and that fat waste of space Ian ashbee. He didn’t make a single good signing. Useless manager.

His managerial record is abysmal at any club.
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Still can't believe he took us down. Rank mismanagement that we even considered bringing him in. Fergie Jr was pathetic too, but I think he'd have had a better chance of keeping us up than Brown.
 
IanBogie9 said:
Yes the stories are funny. Yes he did well at Stevenage. But funny how the passing of time is making Westley into a cult hero.

Make no mistake, he was a dire manager for PNE. And he wouldn't admit it either, he tried everything possible to portray his statistics as successful, when they were anything but.

He was a PR disaster too. He dragged the reputation of the club further down.

That said, I will be tuning in.
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He's the sort of manager who's simply successful at building up underdog club hence his incredibly good first spell at Stevenage. It's pretty much the same as what Steve Evans is doing now (and he massively flopped at Leeds).

After Westley left he went back to Stevenage and it didn't quite work out second time. Then he somehow wrangled a decent gig for himself at Peterborough but again didn't last long (compared to Fergie Jr who's had about 6-7 spells there and pretty much always gets them promoted).

Then went to Newport right at the bottom of league 2, lasted 5-6 games and that is pretty much it for his managerial career.

With the trajectory the club are on now I just find it comforting to listen back to a spell just over 10 years ago when things really were dire so have to appreciate these times now even if up to two months back the direction at the very top can be very frustrating with transfers.
 
RibbletonWhite2.0 said:
Controversial but I actually think Phil brown was worse.
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The thing with Brown is he was the one who inherited endless failed championship signings who were still there. Carter had been inactive for about a year and suddenly came back into the fold as one last gamble and Mellor was really crocked by that stage so had to gamble on guys like Leon Clarke and Nathan Ellington with very limited results. Also guys like Barry Nicholson, Darel Russell and Paul Parry on big wages still around.

He was never going to keep that squad in the championship given how bad the defence was (that South African CB from Spurs on loan was a good pick up but miles too late in the season). Keith Tracey also played his best football under Brown but again too late in the season to keep the team up.

Fergie Jr (and senior given the recall of the loans in December) were far more architects of relegation in 2010/11 than Brown. And the general state of the club.

The next season...no idea. Signing Ashbee (who'd been excellent for him at Hull) was a massive error as everyone knows but it was still a very good start.

Shocker of an opener v Colchester and then 7 wins from the next 8 league one games. Took the lead after two minutes at Orient, lost and then it all spectacularly fell apart afterwards. Mellor getting injured again at Walsall was also a massive blow as he still had goals in him at league one level, think that was the last game he ever played so the promising partnership with Hume was lost.

Brown would've been a better manager around the time Simpson took over. He proved as much taking Hull into the prem for first time in that period.
 
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