Sick Boy
Well-Known Member
His inept tactics were largely to blame.
10 years ago today… (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dimi_Konstantflapalot
- Start date
rob9872
Well-Known Member
I still think we would have won at VP if Derby weren't losing. 2nil and coasting it at HT, Hadji amazing.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
If I remember correctly G in his previous guise said Thorn was too busy ‘cashing in his pay cheque for worshipping at the temple of Sepalla’
ajsccfc
Well-Known Member
What a debut! Followed by What the hell is this?
KenilworthSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
I don't even necessarily blame Thorn. The only aspect of his tenure that truly annoys me is that he lacked self-awareness to call it a day when the time was right.
The decisions made by SISU/Dulieu over that entire season were appalling and would've put any manager in a hugely difficult position. From letting our best players all leave on frees in the summer, appointing a manager that couldn't be less qualified, giving zero backing in the window to replace those that had left and then to sell Jutkiewcz, without bringing in a suitable replacement in January.
Thorn may have taken us down in terrible fashion but to put the blame solely on him is nonsensical. As lets be honest, we would've gone down the season after anyway if we had somehow avoided relegation as more sales would've been made and cheap replacements, or none at all, would've been inevitably brought in.
Sick Boy
Well-Known Member
I don’t only blame Thorn either, no other club would have employed him as a manager, the club was a shambles at the time and it was made even worse by the idiot fans who trotted out endless excuses for him.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
To be fair to Thorn he had a brass neck. Its pretty obvious Delieu sat on the bench to embarrass him to resign but he wasnt having any of it - he knew no other idiots would employ him
Well there was one other idiot and his subsequent job at Kidderminster was even worse.
Promotion favourites and owner recruits him as a big name. Collapses - he blames the owner for forcing him to play negative football - owner forced to leave as family are threatened, Thorn is sacked whining players were sold beneath his feet and then the club went on something like a 12 game unbeaten run
KenilworthSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
Exactly no other club would've employed him as a manager yet our owners thought it was some kind of coup giving him a permanent contract. And what's worse tried to brainwash the fans to agree with that line of thinking.
I think that's always going to happen with fans though. It's no different to the idiots who think Biamou could still do a job for us despite him bombing out at Dundee United, or defending him to the hilt last season.
skybluesam66
Well-Known Member
It was clear from Leicester h 1st game. They went down to 10 and instead of taking the initiative the clown - fans favourite because he posted on social media - Carl baker got sent off. We never recovered all season
Legia Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
The 'fans favourite' thing always seems to get pushed by people with an axe to grind about him. There were as many people giving him stick as there were that supported him, the same as with Doyle.
Personally I thought Baker was a good league 1 player and served us well in that league. I don't think he warrants the stick he gets because some people get uppity with a social media presence. He wasn't so effective in the Championship, but to blame us going down on one incident in a 46 game season is ridiculous and unbalanced.
You maybe correct that the writing was on the wall for us from that 1st game, as I remember feeling the same at that time, but that had more to do with starting the season with three 17 year olds in the team, and having lost Westwood, Turner, Gunnarsson and King, with only a keeper being brought in as a replacement. All with a rookie manager in charge too.
Sick Boy
Well-Known Member
The embodiment of post-truth.
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
Baker wasn't a fans' favourite in the Championship tbf, he became one once he got to his level
Sick Boy
Well-Known Member
I thought he was on about Thorn; agree about Baker.
13th_choice_seamer
Well-Known Member
I was there too, miserable day out all round. Bad pub, crap food, poor beer, knackered old stand pre-redevelopment, got soaking wet walking to the ground in the rain across a field and through some grim underpasses. Woeful game left us set up for relegation. We needed to win and we went down like a sack of potatoes. Bank holiday Monday as well if I remember rightly.
13th_choice_seamer
Well-Known Member
What happens when you sell Turner and Juke, having allowed Westwood, Gunnar and King leave on fees - none of the 5, the spine of our team, was replaced. We were doomed from the summer and the bile that was launched at Thorn was entirely misplaced.
Sick Boy
Well-Known Member
He was way out of his depth and should have resigned from September. He was a dreadful manager.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Sick Boy
Well-Known Member
Think he’s a scout at West Brom.
Liquid Gold
Well-Known Member
I think given that MR had our L1 relegation team playing at upper mid table form it isn't bat shit to suggest he'd have had this team putting up more of a fight than it did.
13th_choice_seamer
Well-Known Member
I was always shocked by the degree of spite and bile he attracted from a small minority of fans - as I remember, he was a generally popular figure amongst the fanbase. A minority hated on him as a means of deflecting criticism from the owners. When he left, they did the same with Wasps, the council, etc etc. "It's everyone's fault except Sisu....."
Liquid Gold
Well-Known Member
That's a weird take.
The only reason Sisu appointed him was because there would have been a riot amongst fans after he kept us up the season before.
He was hated because he was a useless shithead. Our second worst manager ever behind Slade.
skyblue025
Well-Known Member
He kept us up the season before and he was on peanuts. Ch ching right up SISU's alley. Wasn't it around this time we got the "We're unsustainable in the Championship " speech from Timmy?
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
That’s definite revisionism here. The majority of the supporters wanted us to hire Thorn because he did well as caretaker.
In another dimension where we get relegated that season without Thorn as manager, you bet he’d have had an Eric Black type aura.
It was a short Honeymoon period and Thorn overstayed his welcome.
slowpoke
Well-Known Member
Let’s not forget we had a chairman (still have) Tim Fisher and that faggot Waggot driving the club down with their plans, pre-Northampton, it’s a wonder we are still here at all, trying to run any sort of team here with those two planks steering the club must have been a nightmare.
Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
A fit Willis would get into our current side - in fact a speedy centre back is what we need. His distribution was very suspect though.
Tommo1993
Well-Known Member
I dunno. Maybe on the bench. But he certainly wouldn’t get ahead of Fadz, Hyam, JCS or even wobbly Rose.
NorthernWisdom
Well-Known Member
Probably. Only to be sacked as a failure the following season when we struggled again, mind you.
NorthernWisdom
Well-Known Member
Yep, giving Thorn the job wasn't the wrong move, it was being overly loyal to him once he had it. I'd even excuse him relegation really, as the club was on a long decline and intrinsically rotten, but staying on for the next season he managed to trash any chance of us going straight back up by doing so.
Although Richard Shaw managed the rare achievement of being even worse when caretaker!
Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
He was better than L1 imo, but he played alongside a lot of average players, and injuries did for him. Hope he made a few quid at Sunderland.
The Philosopher
Well-Known Member
When you look back, the squad at the start of the season looked good enough to at least not get relegated.
Selling Juke left us with only one tall striker - Clive Platt. We had a 6 foot 3 Icelandic International over on trial who wasn’t taken on.
No big striker meant that we had limited options as to how to play and a front line of short strikers is ok for some situations but a team needs to be able to mix it up a bit.
Technically we still had Freddy Eastwood who, for whatever reason, flopped.
Thorn was hopeless. Started well with his diamond formation but as soon as opponents worked out how to nullify then he had no plan B. Any decent, experienced manager, I think, would have kept us up. Thorn was totally inexperienced and that was the problem.
KenilworthSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
It's not revisionism at all. I'd happily admit I didn't share the same thoughts at the time, as we'd indeed nosedived in form to such an extent that season that when Thorn came in it was a refreshing change.
However, once the window was finished and we'd lost the majority of our best players, only three signings made, and we'd ended August with no wins and only a couple of goals scored, my attitude quickly shifted and I began to think that we'd probably made a fundamental error in bringing Thorn on full time. Even then I gave it until probably November/December time before I truly lost all hope.
It wasn't very long before it became very apparent that Thorn was completely out of his depth and was simply brought on because SISU had turned the tap off and he was the cheapest option available.
Appointing a caretaker manager off the back of a handful of 6 reasonable results is idiotic and rarely ever works, especially under the same constraints Thorn was under.
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The Philosopher
Well-Known Member
Can’t compare Black to Thorn.
Eric Black had loads of coaching experience and learned under Fergie. Just as important was Archie Knox who was a renowned Asst Manager.
Today we have Ade - and that’s a huge reason as to why we are doing rather well.
Andy Thorn had no experience, and I can’t even think who the assistant manager was; Carsley? Shaw? No experience at all.
Either way, the fundamentals of comparing Thorn / Carsley with Black / Knox are simple:
Eric Black & Archie Knox were experienced coaches.
Andy Thorn was anything but.
KenilworthSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
I'm not so sure.
He's never consistently played higher than League One and his height, or lack there of, would pose a pretty sizeable issue.
The fact he's not particularly technically astute with the ball and his distribution was poor would only highlight his flaws and expose him terribly.
