Gary Caldwell Apraisal

[grecIAN Harris]

Decent season on the whole, but not enjoyable for me at all. Two decent spells bookending some of the worst football I’ve seen following city. Also, other than cox the state of the youngsters and gcs approach to the academy is worrying, especially given how crucial player sales are to us (as demonstrated by the recent accounts)

You can only promote the Academy products if they're there and they're good enough. I don't think some people realise how bloody lucky we were to have that batch of players that came through under Taylor in such quality and quantity at the same time. Sometimes you'll get the numbers but the lack of quality means they'll fall by the wayside pretty quickly (I seem to recall a similar spell during the 90's with the likes of Holloway, Pears, Breslin and Pears to name but a few) or you'll get the quality but that many that good......... we'll be lucky to get that again. Yet seem people think The Academy grows on trees out the back of The Cat and Fiddle.

 

[Bat Fastard]

I don’t think GC is deliberately disregarding our academy and why would he if we have some good players there?
He frequently selects Cox and on occasions Cheick and today brought a 16 year old (Richards) on.
Contracts have apparently been offered to Alex which he appears to have rejected.
Harry Kite seems to have been left out in the cold but I guess it’s more difficult to transition from our academy to an upper mid-table L1 team.

i also don't think it's deliberate bridgy, but I think he buys into it noticeably less than our previous 2 managers (as demonstrated by ryan's chart above). other than sonny in perhaps a years time, I'm not sure where the next big player sale will come from. if you remove player sales, we were operating on a loss last year

 

[Bat Fastard]

You can only promote the Academy products if they're there and they're good enough. I don't think some people realise how bloody lucky we were to have that batch of players that came through under Taylor in such quality and quantity at the same time. Sometimes you'll get the numbers but the lack of quality means they'll fall by the wayside pretty quickly (I seem to recall a similar spell during the 90's with the likes of Holloway, Pears, Breslin and Pears to name but a few) or you'll get the quality but that many that good......... we'll be lucky to get that again. Yet seem people think The Academy grows on trees out the back of The Cat and Fiddle.

true, plenty of players who are now playing at this level and higher prior to that group under taylor however

 

[dontpassback]

We see too little of Les these days. Sign of the Chimes (or Chimesy as he should now be known) is a wonderful addition to Exeweb.

Genuine question,is les ok ?

 

[Bridgy 81]

i also don't think it's deliberate bridgy, but I think he buys into it noticeably less than our previous 2 managers (as demonstrated by ryan's chart above). other than sonny in perhaps a years time, I'm not sure where the next big player sale will come from. if you remove player sales, we were operating on a loss last year

I’m also aware and a bit concerned that as the majority of our income comes from player sales we need a thriving academy but it’s obviously tougher to bring young players through into a L1 team than it is to a L2 or National League one.

 

[Moomin Grecian]

I wanted him gone back in November/ December but fair play to him, he’s done a fantastic job since Christmas.

I do feel he’ll be under pressure again should we hit a rocky patch, though. Hopefully he can recruit well this summer and keep us progressing. I like him and want him to succeed so I’m currently behind him. UTC.

 

[JGrecian23]

Easy to sum up. Good league finishing position. Awful matchday experiences watching us at home every week play dire football.

 

[dontpassback]

Gary Caldwell inherited a team from Matt Taylor,who left at the first decent offer (which didn’t end well)and players like sparkes,key and Collins decided to move on,so he had to gel a squad together and as a result,the results were inconsistent,combined with a tough run in,he kept City up,and this season after a good start we went on a very bad run,but despite this,Caldwell kept to his programme and despite a lot of flack being dished out ,we got some very good results on the road,and he has put us into a mid table position,so I think he has done a good job,considering what was left to him by Taylor !

 

[Bridgy 81]

I wanted him gone back in November/ December but fair play to him, he’s done a fantastic job since Christmas.

I do feel he’ll be under pressure again should we hit a rocky patch, though. Hopefully he can recruit well this summer and keep us progressing. I like him and want him to succeed so I’m currently behind him. UTC.

I feel a bit for GC, although I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to.
He came in early/mid season last year when Matt left for a ‘better job’ (fair enough) when it was obvious all our best players were about to leave the following summer.
GC stabilzed us (whilst simultaneously losing the majority of the coaching team) and kept us up.
After a massive rebuild (which was cocked up in terms of strikers) we went again in January and are now sitting pretty at 12th place in L1.
Let’s be honest, what’s wrong with that?

 

[Bridgy 81]

Hello Isca,
Hope the wedding went well, sorry you missed another win