We had a decent thread a while back discussing Evatt’s philosophies and approach to the game (think it got tainted and pulled)

So not a bad time to start it up again at the beginning of the season.

In the main he’s done a fantastic job. A minority lost patience round about Xmas/New Year in both seasons. 

But surely now he has the large backing of the majority of fans and the brand he talked about implementing here is now well and truly established.

Good article above highlighting how he’s using Sport Science to get the squad performing to it’s optimum level.

A young, meticulous, intelligent and passionate individual, who we are very lucky to have leading our club.

I hope he gets what he deserves with promotion to the Championship. 

17 minutes ago, HomerJay said:

and fat evatt being much better than thin evatt

Slimming by shaggathon.

I'm just glad it didn't get proper toxic.

He got away with it tbf and fair play to our fans for being pretty impeccable.

One away game and one home where it was en masse. Pretty light stuff really.

It could've turned a hell of a lot more and much earlier.

I'm fine with it all

I'd have been happy had he gone post Huddersfield

but I get that Sharon wanted to give him as much as a chance as she possibly could so fair play

I genuinely thought he'd be here till the end of the season though I did also expect more than 1 point from Cambridge and Charlton

the only whinge is that had he gone sooner a new manager could probably have done more with Charles and £1M to spend on someone else other than Randall

hopefully we get someone in with enough time to assess the squad and see that we need that bastard in midfield and physical presence up top and bring them in, and then maybe drop GT as captain so he doesn't have to start every game

in any case, we're 3 points off the play offs with 20 games left so a decent manager should be able to get us in them

6 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Forgot about O'Neil. 

Thought he did well at first with Wolves, but it went sour.

Then he seemed to have a pop at his players. 

Sounds familiar!

Anyway, whoever they go for will have plus points and negative ones.

If the options were O'Neill or Evatt to set up our defence at set pieces, I'd struggle with who is worse.

Watch Wolves defending under O'Neill and ask if you want that.  The reason it went sour for him is the same reason it went sour for IE - tactically clueless (defensively).

Edited January 22, 20251 yr by Johnnyrotten

21 minutes ago, Zico said:

I'm fine with it all

I'd have been happy had he gone post Huddersfield

but I get that Sharon wanted to give him as much as a chance as she possibly could so fair play

I genuinely thought he'd be here till the end of the season though I did also expect more than 1 point from Cambridge and Charlton

the only whinge is that had he gone sooner a new manager could probably have done more with Charles and £1M to spend on someone else other than Randall

hopefully we get someone in with enough time to assess the squad and see that we need that bastard in midfield and physical presence up top and bring them in, and then maybe drop GT as captain so he doesn't have to start every game

in any case, we're 3 points off the play offs with 20 games left so a decent manager should be able to get us in them

I think Randal will be fine, some glimpses of quality in the snippets we've seen so far, and it's hardly been a great settling in period 

Streets ahead of the likes of Mcatee 

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

I'm just glad it didn't get proper toxic.

He got away with it tbf and fair play to our fans for being pretty impeccable.

One away game and one home where it was en masse. Pretty light stuff really.

It could've turned a hell of a lot more and much earlier.

last night wasnt bad considering the result. seems all the cnuts who like a catchy tune to baaaa to, stayed away.

8 minutes ago, L/H White said:

I think Randal will be fine, some glimpses of quality in the snippets we've seen so far, and it's hardly been a great settling in period 

Streets ahead of the likes of Mcatee 

lads deffo got quality, but also a face i wouldnt get tired of punching.... sorry joel.

keep him out of midfield though, scared of his own shadow.

5 hours ago, Eddie said:

Gary O’Neill still had Craig Dawson playing 5 yard passes across his box well after it was apparent that it was causing them problems.

I like the guy, but from what I saw at Wolves he’s very much in the Martin, Evatt, Van Nistelrooy camp of style of play and I’m not sure we’re ready to see that again so soon.

Can you imagine the first game, fans buzzing that Evatt has gone and the first goal kick Santos knocks it 3 yards to Southwood… it’d be over for him from that point!

Spot on, I've no idea what any suggestions of O'Neill are based on, other than he's a nice bloke and was a top player for us considering his age, surely nobody has watched his Wolves team this season and still wants him.

7 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Spot on, I've no idea what any suggestions of O'Neill are based on, other than he's a nice bloke and was a top player for us considering his age, surely nobody has watched his Wolves team this season and still wants him.

He did a very good piece on Monday night football with Neville and Carragher, just after Wolves had beaten someone and he talked them through the tactics as to how they went about it. It was very good, and was a clear example of the ideology working to its best - he got a lot of praise in the media following it and it was really clear that he has an unbelievable footballing brain. I genuinely think a lot of the positivity around his managerial ability came from that (plus he’s highly regarded here from his playing stint with us).

However, roll forward 6 months and he’s losing matches left right and centre with his team making the same mistakes as he tries to find that same perfect formula. He’s not able to address it and be pragmatic to switch things up, he doubled down on the philosophy and ultimately lost his job because of it.

I like the guy but it would be frying pan and fire for me. I don’t think the club, and definitely the fan base, is ready for the same stuff from a different person - it would not go down well!

17 minutes ago, HomerJay said:

lads deffo got quality, but also a face i wouldnt get tired of punching.... sorry joel.

keep him out of midfield though, scared of his own shadow.

aye, didn't half shit out of a challenge just before HT

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

He did a very good piece on Monday night football with Neville and Carragher, just after Wolves had beaten someone and he talked them through the tactics as to how they went about it. It was very good, and was a clear example of the ideology working to its best - he got a lot of praise in the media following it and it was really clear that he has an unbelievable footballing brain. I genuinely think a lot of the positivity around his managerial ability came from that (plus he’s highly regarded here from his playing stint with us).

However, roll forward 6 months and he’s losing matches left right and centre with his team making the same mistakes as he tries to find that same perfect formula. He’s not able to address it and be pragmatic to switch things up, he doubled down on the philosophy and ultimately lost his job because of it.

I like the guy but it would be frying pan and fire for me. I don’t think the club, and definitely the fan base, is ready for the same stuff from a different person - it would not go down well!

I think I watched that too, talks very well, he would do great at an interview.  But all the out of work managers do the Monday night football thing - Lampard and Potter for eg - and they come across as intelligent, sharp, insightful, tactically spot on, and it can be good viewing (if Carra lets them get a word in).  Evatt could be doing the same in a few months, he talks well and is convincing.  Russell Martin the same.

But its all about what they do on the pitch, and Wolves were a defensive disaster (still are).

6 hours ago, little whitt said:

Nout on SSN 

just Borussia Dortmund sack there Manger 

his he any good 

 Not that good.. He got sacked 

First time I've managed to get on here since seeing the news this morning. 

What a blessed relief. I can start properly supporting the club again now. 

We're at Ground Zero in some ways but that squad has talent in it even if it has no balance and has not been managed with any pragmatism. Short term the players just need someone to build their confidence and keep it simple for them. 

We're not going up this year and we'd have been bombed out of the Championship if we'd beaten Oxford at Wembley. We need to focus on building a squad with lot of capabilities now, under the stewardship of a management team who are able to adapt and think laterally. It's all about hitting the ground running for 2025/26 season.

 

4 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

First time I've managed to get on here since seeing the news this morning. 

What a blessed relief. I can start properly supporting the club again now. 

We're at Ground Zero in some ways but that squad has talent in it even if it has no balance and has not been managed with any pragmatism. Short term the players just need someone to build their confidence and keep it simple for them. 

We're not going up this year and we'd have been bombed out of the Championship if we'd beaten Oxford at Wembley. We need to focus on building a squad with lot of capabilities now, under the stewardship of a management team who are able to adapt and think laterally. It's all about hitting the ground running for 2025/26 season.

 

Daft thing is, we're still well within a play off shout. If the new man can put out a modicum of consistency, then we've every chance of getting in them, and then who knows.

A free shot if you like, no one will be too worried if we didn't make it, given the start.

The new man then has time to assess in the summer and build accordingly.

Just now, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Daft thing is, we're still well within a play off shout. If the new man can put out a modicum of consistency, then we've every chance of getting in them, and then who knows.

A free shot if you like, no one will be too worried if we didn't make it, given the start.

The new man then has time to assess in the summer and build accordingly.

Aye, you're right. It's just if by some miracle we got to the Championship with this squad I don't think we'd have enough time to evolve it to be ready for that level. It'd take a miracle worker.

1 minute ago, paulhanley said:

Aye, you're right. It's just if by some miracle we got to the Championship with this squad I don't think we'd have enough time to evolve it to be ready for that level. It'd take a miracle worker.

Back to what we've said before: don't worry about next season, just get up.

Too much planning has been our downfall arguably. 

As for its quality going forward- we simply can't tell as of the moment, as they've been completely deflated.

All work for the new man.

9 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Aye, you're right. It's just if by some miracle we got to the Championship with this squad I don't think we'd have enough time to evolve it to be ready for that level. It'd take a miracle worker.

Didn’t Sunderland change at a similar time, from a similar position, go up in the play-offs, then stay up?

I’m not expecting it and nor should the new manager be judged on this, but I don’t think it’s completely off the table! 

5 wins gets anyone pushing for the play offs.

Said it before but Blackpool were fucking diabolical last season. In total meltdown and wanted their manager sacked half the season.

They were one win away from making the play offs after a bit of a decent patch of form.

It's a turd league. We are more than capable of having a go.

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

I'm just glad it didn't get proper toxic.

He got away with it tbf and fair play to our fans for being pretty impeccable.

One away game and one home where it was en masse. Pretty light stuff really.

It could've turned a hell of a lot more and much earlier.

It was pretty bad last Sat, as bad as I can remember since Megson's last days. The away stuff not in Megson at Blackburn territory, though if he'd stayed on till Sat and we'd got pasted if could have been.

Online stuff has been the modern day exaggerating factor with Evatt that Megson wouldn't have had to tolerate 

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

However, roll forward 6 months and he’s losing matches left right and centre with his team making the same mistakes as he tries to find that same perfect formula. He’s not able to address it and be pragmatic to switch things up, he doubled down on the philosophy and ultimately lost his job because of it.

same happened to Howe at Bournemouth

he's not doing bad now off the back of that experience

if managers learn from the mistakes of their last job and improve and all that, then they can become better managers

and lets face it, most managers get sacked, and they get sacked because things turn shite

Evatt hadn't faced any turmoil at Barrow before we got him and has had 5/6 seasons of upward progression doing things his way - then like most managers he came unstuck, but he'd only ever done it his way

I'd like to think he'd learn from it and do well wherever he goes next

I'm not sure many managers are so pragmatic mid-tenure, certainly in the first few jobs

 

5 minutes ago, gonzo said:

5 wins gets anyone pushing for the play offs.

Said it before but Blackpool were fucking diabolical last season. In total meltdown and wanted their manager sacked half the season.

They were one win away from making the play offs after a bit of a decent patch of form.

It's a turd league. We are more than capable of having a go.

see Iain Dowie at Palace and Steve Cooper at Forest

Mad day at work & barely looked at my phone 

Did not see that one coming at all. 

 Fair play to the board & all the best to Mr. Evatt. 

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

I'm just glad it didn't get proper toxic.

He got away with it tbf and fair play to our fans for being pretty impeccable.

One away game and one home where it was en masse. Pretty light stuff really.

It could've turned a hell of a lot more and much earlier.

 

1 minute ago, ianofcleveleys said:

It was pretty bad last Sat, as bad as I can remember since Megson's last days. The away stuff not in Megson at Blackburn territory, though if he'd stayed on till Sat and we'd got pasted if could have been.

Online stuff has been the modern day exaggerating factor with Evatt that Megson wouldn't have had to tolerate 

Me too, so pleased the toxicity levels were not given an opportunity to increase. 

And I’m pleased I was there on his final day, with a crowd that was more forgiving and appreciative.

I think he leaves with a good impression of us, generally, with him having enjoyed the majority of his days with us.

There must be part of him that feels like a load has been lifted from his shoulders.

 

Genuinely gutted it's ended in this "death by a thousand cuts" fashion. Farewell Ian, and thanks for the memories. That glorious day at Wembley with my kids will be engraved in my brain till I pop my clogs.

probably been posted already, but this guy is considered reliable I think(?)