Rubbish midfield since relegation from Premiership (6 Viewers)

Sick Boy

Super Moderator
His does deserve the credit for his signing, but the upturn in form has to be down to Wise, I was actually one of the few who thought he'd be great and he was. It was just after that punch up at Leicester weren't it, so it was made oh so much sweater. :p

I think it was 4 years after the Leicester incident, they still hated him though! :) He had been in charge at Millwall and taken them to the cup final. It was still a masterstroke by Adams, I didn't understand why so many were against the signing.

His managerial record is pretty good, he achieved a 40%+ win ratio at Millwall, Swindon & Leeds. Would love him in charge here.
 

Marty

Well-Known Member
I think it was 4 years after the Leicester incident, they still hated him though! :) He had been in charge at Millwall and taken them to the cup final. It was still a masterstroke by Adams, I didn't understand why so many were against the signing.

His managerial record is pretty good, he achieved a 40%+ win ratio at Millwall, Swindon & Leeds. Would love him in charge here.

Me too, hes currently out of work. Just need to push Thorn down the stairs, make it look like an accident :p ;)

You're right, it was 2002 it happened, I thought he was sacked then signed for us, but looks like i'm wrong.
 
C

Clive Plattini

Guest
For me, Michael Doyle is the poster boy of the dreadful Coventry City post 2001. He was generally dreadful, corners never beat the 1st man, couldn't play a basic pass. Ok, he worked hard but that was not enough.
 

oakey

Well-Known Member
I agree. Doyle is emblematic of our decline.
We have had poor midfielders throughout our time since the turn of the millennium.
As I've said before we are far too critical of midfielders on the whole and tend to pick on individuals ... And argue about whose fault everything is.
They should operate as a unit and the whole team is responsible for being CREATIVE, yet we always blame the midfielders or the formation.
The whole team defends, the whole team creates.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
I agree. Doyle is emblematic of our decline.
We have had poor midfielders throughout our time since the turn of the millennium.
As I've said before we are far too critical of midfielders on the whole and tend to pick on individuals ... And argue about whose fault everything is.
They should operate as a unit and the whole team is responsible for being CREATIVE, yet we always blame the midfielders or the formation.
The whole team defends, the whole team creates.

Doyle was very limited and I was not a huge fan but of had played 46 games last season we may have had a shout at survival. We should have god rid of the useless shirker Clingan instead.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
Oh well. Opinions are what forums are about.

Doyle despite his limitations had energy and drive. Also he did not hide. Clingan was terrible when the going got tough. He hid. He and Eastwood as players must shoulder a lot of responsibility for our decline. Two senior pros who let is down Eastwood by just not playing and clingan for just looking like he wanted his contract to end. Frankly I hope he doesn't get another.
 

oakey

Well-Known Member
The fact that you bracket Sammy with Freddy means that a reasoned debate is unlikely. Freddy was overweight, unfit, refused to go out on loan etc. Sammy performed underpar according to his critics. No other criticism of him like he didn't try or didn't care can be substantiated with evidence, only opinion. No comparison.
 

SkyBlue_Bear83

Well-Known Member
The fact that you bracket Sammy with Freddy means that a reasoned debate is unlikely. Freddy was overweight, unfit, refused to go out on loan etc. Sammy performed underpar according to his critics. No other criticism of him like he didn't try or didn't care can be substantiated with evidence, only opinion. No comparison.
You won't get much sense out of Grenduffy I am afraid, I suspect he read your defence of Clingan in the other thread and only initially bought him into the discussion to wind you up
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
You won't get much sense out of Grenduffy I am afraid, I suspect he read your defence of Clingan in the other thread and only initially bought him into the discussion to wind you up

Outrageous slur that CCFC. As if I would and this is one of my 1.8% of posts which is not anti-thorn and still you complain. Some people are never happy.
 

1nilandwe...

Well-Known Member
I actually agree with you Grendel. Doyle didn't have tons of ability but he never hid. Clingan had the ability, but didn't want to put the hard yards in. God loves a trier, and Doyle was certainly that.
 

aodea

New Member
well we have had other midfielders who i liked, Gunnarrsson(he gets a lot of stick her but i liked him). Tabb know he played all over the place but liked him.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
I actually agree with you Grendel. Doyle didn't have tons of ability but he never hid. Clingan had the ability, but didn't want to put the hard yards in. God loves a trier, and Doyle was certainly that.

And I am genuine in the belief he would have helped the cause more than Clingan who was lamentable all season.
 
Perhaps, but are you just not saying that - overall - Doyle was marginally less shit in his 300 games for us than Clingan was in the games he played last season? Would Doyle have offered more? Perhaps. Was he a better player..? If you had the luxury of completely disregarding last season, no chance. Clingan was a disappointment when we needed him most last season, but has previously looked ten or fifteen times the player Doyle had ever looked. Kind of a moot point, but that would be my angle. I think there could be real merit in a 'midfield' featuring Jennings, Barton and Fleck... on paper and reputation I think they could tick several boxes this season and I am hopeful they gel and get a big number of games under their belt.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
I don't agree he looked 10 or 15 times the player I really don't. My point of reference mainly is last season. At a guess I would say bell clingan and eastwood were 3 of the big earners last year and you'd struggle to name a real game changing moment from any of them.
 

1nilandwe...

Well-Known Member
Oh, Youseff Safri was a good player. Would have loved to have had him for longer. And did Chippo play in Div 1 briefly?
 

Nonleagueherewecome

Well-Known Member
Perhaps, but are you just not saying that - overall - Doyle was marginally less shit in his 300 games for us than Clingan was in the games he played last season? Would Doyle have offered more? Perhaps. Was he a better player..? If you had the luxury of completely disregarding last season, no chance. Clingan was a disappointment when we needed him most last season, but has previously looked ten or fifteen times the player Doyle had ever looked. Kind of a moot point, but that would be my angle. I think there could be real merit in a 'midfield' featuring Jennings, Barton and Fleck... on paper and reputation I think they could tick several boxes this season and I am hopeful they gel and get a big number of games under their belt.

Did Clingan ever win our Player of the Year award? No, but Doyle did. I'd wager that if you compare our league finishes with Doyle as opposed to Clingan, Doyle would be slightly on top (bearing in mind there is a slight overlap).
 

Nick

Administrator
Did Clingan ever win our Player of the Year award? No, but Doyle did. I'd wager that if you compare our league finishes with Doyle as opposed to Clingan, Doyle would be slightly on top (bearing in mind there is a slight overlap).

I can't see the big hate in for Doyle either. Yes sometimes he was bad, he was no Pirlo but he did the job and gave us a bit of grit in midfield. He might not have been playing 100 yard passes without looking but he was always on peoples ankles trying to get the ball or forcing them into errors. He would be in their ear winding them up to put them off their game and did break play down quite well sometimes.

I do hope Jennings is the same sort of player.
 
Did Clingan ever win our Player of the Year award? No, but Doyle did. I'd wager that if you compare our league finishes with Doyle as opposed to Clingan, Doyle would be slightly on top (bearing in mind there is a slight overlap).

I would suggest that the League finishes is largely irrelevant in the discussion as to whether Clingan was a better footballer than Doyle (up until last season, when he was not up to scratch). It discounts all context, not least the fact there are ten other players who start every single league game. When did Doyle win player of the season? I would imagine he had been at the Club for a few seasons beforehand and was pretty much an ever-present during the season he did? This is perhaps not wildly different to Clingan last season, but I am actively distancing the statement from last season's evidence. My assertion is that Clingan is and was better with a football than Doyle, and hugely so if last season could be irradicated from memory.
 

Nick

Administrator
I think he was better WITH a football than Doyle, but a lot worse WITHOUT the ball which showed when we needed to chase games.
 
I can't see the big hate in for Doyle either. Yes sometimes he was bad, he was no Pirlo but he did the job and gave us a bit of grit in midfield. He might not have been playing 100 yard passes without looking but he was always on peoples ankles trying to get the ball or forcing them into errors. He would be in their ear winding them up to put them off their game and did break play down quite well sometimes.

I do hope Jennings is the same sort of player.

No hate for Doyle here, just pointing to his limitations. The comparison with Clingan had been mentioned and I was focussing completely on ability with the football (excluding last season, because it suited the point I was making, probably). I hope Jennings is the same sort of busy, difficult, snappy player. I hope he plays as many games. I hope he is better than Doyle, a player who I appreciate - given his service and relative affinity with the Club - but did not mourn for long when he left.
 

Nick

Administrator
I did used to like watching him off the ball as he would be constantly be niggling at other players, standing on their feet, saying things in their ear, little snipes at them. I remember a game where we had a drop ball and he took a good whack.
 

Nonleagueherewecome

Well-Known Member
I think he was better WITH a football than Doyle, but a lot worse WITHOUT the ball which showed when we needed to chase games.

Exactomundo!
 

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