Welcome Gary Caldwell - new manager

[Radio Free Skaro]

It’s still so early - I’ve been really surprised at how quickly people have jumped on GC given how docile a lot of people were with Tisdale, probably shows how much he zombified half our support. I guess Taylor always had backing early on because he was/is a club legend and we wanted him to do well (there were still a couple of dissenters, having nailed their colours to the flag of Tis and too embarrassed to admit defeat)

Anyway, we’re here and back to being a relatively normal fan base which is welcome for discussion at least. When he was appointed I was neither concerned or excited, I do believe the club made the right appointments in Taylor, Tis, Ingethorpe and Dolan so deserved the trust.

I have an underlying feeling that Caldwell might end up being an “ok” appointment, neither awful nor defining… which might well be ok in terms of League 1 over the next couple of years. However you have to give him a chance to get his own ideas on the pitch and the squad and there is a minimum amount of time to that I think. To genuinely be able to do that. MJP has complained a few times about GC not doing a Nicholson and just con thing exactly as MT had it set up - that’s not going to work long term just mimicking the previous person. I see a managers job as a creative role, it’s a chessboard each week - not a role where you tick some boxes and hope for the best.

If we’re on a right sooner come end of Feb/March and end up either going down or pushing it then I think the discussion has merit and would hope the board would act swiftly - sadly I know this wouldn’t be the case so we really need this to work.

I’d personally score him a 7/10 thus far.

Good post but I clearly remember that there was not a huge amount of love for Tis when he first arrived , I recall the 'Tisdale out' banner on the big bank as perhaps being the most famous example at some unhappiness dating from the early part of his tenure. People grew to love Tis when we starting wining football matches!

 

[angelic upstart]

Another GC snippit. I am not sure has been mentioned before:

Caldwell applied for the Scotland job when Gordon Strachan departed the national team and although he concedes he was unlikely to get the job, he feels he's actually better qualified to be the national team's top man than in the Thistle hot-seat.
He said: "I don't think I was ever going to get it but I feel like I could do it.
"I feel like I'm more qualified to do that than I am to manage Partick Thistle.
"I've never played a game in the Championship in my life but I've played 55 games for Scotland. I know how international players think. I don't know how Championship players think. I do now but I didn't when I went in (to Partick Thistle)."

Gary Caldwell defends Partick Thistle management style and explains 'unanimous' Kris Doolan departure Daily Record October 2019

I think it demonstrates his willingness to learn and adapt. This is incredibly important at a club like ours.

 

[Bridgy 81]

It’s still very early days with Gary and as has been said numerous times on here his arrival coincided with a very tricky run of fixtures and a mainly injured and makeshift back line.
But as I’ve learnt a bit more about him and his career to date I wonder whether he’s our most decorated Manager?
Playing wise, 2 Premier League Championships and 2 domestic Cups in Scotland, numerous Premier League appearances and an FA Cup in England as well as 55 full international caps.
Managerially, a League One title.
Granted there have been some blips (no doubt for various reasons) at Chesterfield and Partick, which I suppose in part enabled us to secure his services and in turn made us a good opportunity for him, but as the bloke is still only 40 I think that’s a very decent body of work to date with tonnes of various experiences in football.
I hope his thoughts on the game and how it should be played can be translated to a club who’s perhaps punching a bit above it’s historical weight, or he can adjust and adapt accordingly.
Time, which I expect and hope he’ll get, will tell I suppose.
I’m a bit concerned about some impending player departures but am intrigued to see how Gary uses his first significant opportunity in January to reshape the squad to implement his plans.
Exciting isn’t it.

 

[andrew p long]

If Gary thought the fixture list for the first 9 games was tough, he's now finding out how tough managing transfers at Exeter City is. Its become obvious that three of the best players (Collins,Key,Brown) will be off in the summer. So to keep the squad even at the same level is going to need some spectacular work on transfers in 2023.

 

[DB9]

If Gary thought the fixture list for the first 9 games was tough, he's now finding out how tough managing transfers at Exeter City is. Its become obvious that three of the best players (Collins,Key,Brown) will be off in the summer. So to keep the squad even at the same level is going to need some spectacular work on transfers in 2023.

TBF if MT was still here he'd have the same problem, We are who we are, A relative small fish who has to sell to survive and if a player doesn't want to sign a new/extended contract, it is up to the club to get the best deal for ECFC. Even Tisdale had the same problem when last in L1, After finishing 8th, Virtually the whole spine of the team were on their way, Tisdale though ended up with "Inferior" L1 replacements and were back in L2 PDQ, I'm hoping that if we lose players in January/Summer GC is somehow better at finding replacements.

 

[Grecian Max]

Good post but I clearly remember that there was not a huge amount of love for Tis when he first arrived , I recall the 'Tisdale out' banner on the big bank as perhaps being the most famous example at some unhappiness dating from the early part of his tenure. People grew to love Tis when we starting wining football matches!

I'm fairly certain that a Tisdale out banner, if there ever was one (being a regular at the time I don't remember it) would have been pos-2011

You are right, however, that he did receive some early pressure, particularly after a result against Droylsden (?) at home - after a fairly unspectacular start.

 

[SEA Grecian]

I'm fairly certain that a Tisdale out banner, if there ever was one (being a regular at the time I don't remember it) would have been pos-2011

You are right, however, that he did receive some early pressure, particularly after a result against Droylsden (?) at home - after a fairly unspectacular start.

Yes, that Droylesden game was at the start of April of his second season just before we won the play-offs. I think if we hadn't beaten Cambridge he would have found himself under a lot of pressure.

 

[Grecian Max]

The interesting bit is "However you have to give him a chance to get his own ideas on the pitch."

Why is that a given? Surely his role is to get the best out of the players he has got until he can sign some new players?

I know someone who was involved in football management and they said it is amazing how easy it is to confuse players with unfamiliar changes. I can even remember an England game under Hodgson that was farcical in that players were openly asking the management on the side line where certain players were supposed to be playing.

How is it not a given?

Like I say, a football manager is a creative role, you need to think around so many different scenarios and get a result every Saturday. The most successful take a core idea and run with it - we saw that in Matt Taylor himself, who quickly moved on from tippy tappy into the football that was more logical in league 2 for us to get promotion. Tisdale also, imposed a new style follow AI's Allardyce-lite tactics board.

The talk is as if he's had an horrific start, which isn't the case.

There is always, with every change over of manager an adaptation period. We can't just set the course on auto-pilot, it doesn't work like that - which is why KN didn't get the role.

 

[SEA Grecian]

It’s still very early days with Gary and as has been said numerous times on here his arrival coincided with a very tricky run of fixtures and a mainly injured and makeshift back line.
But as I’ve learnt a bit more about him and his career to date I wonder whether he’s our most decorated Manager?
Playing wise, 2 Premier League Championships and 2 domestic Cups in Scotland, numerous Premier League appearances and an FA Cup in England as well as 55 full international caps.
Managerially, a League One title.

I think Alan Ball's world cup winner's medal probably just about outdoes Gary's admittedly impressive achievements.

 

[Bridgy 81]

I think Alan Ball's world cup winner's medal probably just about outdoes Gary's admittedly impressive achievements.

Good point.
Plus I also overlooked Terry Cooper’s playing record at Leeds and England and winning the title with us as Manager.