West Brom plan talks with Swans boss Williams

[bakajack]

I am on the fence about this.

On the one hand keeping him would be good as whether you could argue its effectiveness he is dedicated to a possession based game and is a known quantity to us.

On the other hand some of his formation choices and player selections can be downright baffling and he does have an extremely poor track record when it comes to positively influencing games with his substitutions.

The rumour mill saying that the new owners would like a new man at the helm isn't surprising, very few clubs get taken over and the new ownership is happy to leave things as they are rather than bringing in their own man to put their stamp on the way the club is progressing.

 

[FearOfAJackPlanet]

I am on the fence about this.

On the one hand keeping him would be good as whether you could argue its effectiveness he is dedicated to a possession based game and is a known quantity to us.

On the other hand some of his formation choices and player selections can be downright baffling and he does have an extremely poor track record when it comes to positively influencing games with his substitutions.

The rumour mill saying that the new owners would like a new man at the helm isn't surprising, very few clubs get taken over and the new ownership is happy to leave things as they are rather than bringing in their own man to put their stamp on the way the club is progressing.

I'm not 100% clued up on the new ownership breakdown, but isn't Coleman still a major party in the ownership, as well as the Chairman, and Williams is his guy, right? I doubt any of the other co-investors know enough about Championship football to be pushing for change.

 

[Pentyrchjack]

The Board could pour cold water on this straightaway IF they want to keep Luke. Just tell WBA to go and take a hike because Luke is under contract and they are refusing permission.

Otherwise, it will diminish our next home game agaunst WBA into a sideshow.

 

[FearOfAJackPlanet]

The Board could pour cold water on this straightaway IF they want to keep Luke. Just tell WBA to go and take a hike because Luke is under contract and they are refusing permission.

Otherwise, it will diminish our next home game agaunst WBA into a sideshow.

LW can pick the WBA team and give their pre-match and halftime team talks as Coach Grimes has that covered for us anyway; a try before you buy scenario for them.

 

[LeonWasTheDogs]

Are you serious?

We’ve progressed massively in the last 12 months in my opinion.

Yes, serious. They’ve just lost a manager to Valencia. None of them will have heard of Luke. He’s done ok for us so far, but they won’t know that and ‘ok’ is only pulling us away from worrying about relegation (which is great for us, but unlikely to make him a household name).

 

[ABSwan]

Been reading their forum, this post by one guy made me snigger, does he not realise what he's saying.

"Voted for Williams . Tough choice between him and Cooper but just think he may be more interested in a longer term project and less likely to jump ship part way through if somebody else came a knocking !"

He's in a longer term project now, which is basically just started, he came to us from another longer term project lol.

 

[AusinIsOurHero]

The Board could pour cold water on this straightaway IF they want to keep Luke. Just tell WBA to go and take a hike because Luke is under contract and they are refusing permission.

Otherwise, it will diminish our next home game agaunst WBA into a sideshow.

I agree that they probably should.
But equally, LW could just say, thanks but no thanks. But he didn't. That's going to add fuel to the fire.

 

[monmouth]

I agree that they probably should.
But equally, LW could just say, thanks but no thanks. But he didn't. That's going to add fuel to the fire.

Why would he though? He'll see it as a step up if he can get more money and publicity. He knows his time here is probably ticking away as he has a year of non achievement behind him, but can't be said to have definitively failed yet, so why risk that?. Go there and he gets a fresh start and they are a bigger club more likely to yo yo soon, like it or not. West Brom could be as good as it gets for him, and he might get really lucky.

 

[Swanjaxs]

If WBA offer Williams the job hes offski, it really is as simple as that.

 

[Magic_Michu]

Why would he though? He'll see it as a step up if he can get more money and publicity. He knows his time here is probably ticking away as he has a year of non achievement behind him, but can't be said to have definitively failed yet, so why risk that?. Go there and he gets a fresh start and they are a bigger club more likely to yo yo soon, like it or not. West Brom could be as good as it gets for him, and he might get really lucky.

Bit harsh to say he’s had a year of non achievement - he’s taken us from a team dicing with relegation to on the edge of the play offs with an average squad - playing lovely football at the same time.

 

[Smurph]

Bit harsh to say he’s had a year of non achievement - he’s taken us from a team dicing with relegation to on the edge of the play offs with an average squad - playing lovely football at the same time.

Lovely football is questionable.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I've left the ground thinking I really enjoyed that game.

 

[Dr. Winston]

Bit harsh to say he’s had a year of non achievement - he’s taken us from a team dicing with relegation to on the edge of the play offs with an average squad - playing lovely football at the same time.

We were ten points clear of the bottom three and eight points short of the playoffs when he was appointed. We are currently twelve points clear of the bottom three and four points shy of a playoff spot. Not a huge difference, although the league position is a lot better.

Tend to agree with Smurph about the quality of the football too. There have been far, far more dull games than fun ones, but that is a byproduct of the type of football modern coaches all seem obsessed with trying to play rather than an issue specific to Williams IMO.

Jonathan Northcroft is one of the few "major" journalists to stick his head above the parapet and comment on it.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

We were ten points clear of the bottom three and eight points short of the playoffs when he was appointed. We are currently twelve points clear of the bottom three and four points shy of a playoff spot. Not a huge difference, although the league position is a lot better.

Tend to agree with Smurph about the quality of the football too. There have been far, far more dull games than fun ones, but that is a byproduct of the type of football modern coaches all seem obsessed with trying to play.

Jonathan Northcroft is one of the few "major" journalists to stick his head above the parapet and comment on it.

The reason coaches try to ape Pep is because let's face it he's the most successful manager of all time. His methods work. The emphasis is on controlling games by having the ball.

Some coaches are really good at aping it. Some not so much.

I quite like it, I like seeing a team have control of the ball and keeping it away from the opposition. I mean, our Roberto and Brendan teams were modelled on it, and they did alright.

But if you prefer a more end to end, up and down, fast paced game with loads of shots and crosses going in the box - like Klopp's teams for example - then it probably isn't for you.

It all depends what your taste is, I guess.

 

[Swanjaxs]

The reason coaches try to ape Pep is because let's face it he's the most successful manager of all time. His methods work. The emphasis is on controlling games by having the ball.

Some coaches are really good at aping it. Some not so much.

I quite like it, I like seeing a team have control of the ball and keeping it away from the opposition. I mean, our Roberto and Brendan teams were modelled on it, and they did alright.

But if you prefer a more end to end, up and down, fast paced game with loads of shots and crosses going in the box - like Klopp's teams for example - then it probably isn't for you.

It all depends what your taste is, I guess.

I get what your saying about teams having control of the ball and keeping it away from the opposition, but it's how you go about implementing it.
Not much point in having 75+% possession and hardly 2 shots on target all game, all that does is making it easy for your opponents to sit in and wait for thier opportunity to pick you off, which in fairness has been our downfall more often than not under Martin and Williams especially.

 

[Dr. Winston]

I quite like it, I like seeing a team have control of the ball and keeping it away from the opposition. I mean, our Roberto and Brendan teams were modelled on it, and they did alright.

But if you prefer a more end to end, up and down, fast paced game with loads of shots and crosses going in the box - like Klopp's teams for example - then it probably isn't for you.

I don't think the way we play now resembles the kind of football we played under either Martinez or Laudrup at all other than the emphasis on passing. Brendan perhaps to a certain degree (he was the first manager I can remember who started talking about possession figures), but there was plenty of room for flair and initiative inside those teams. One of Laudrup's first public comments was to mock the idea of possession for possession's sake.

Now it all seems a bit robotic and slow. Flair players tend to get stifled and micromanaged. Play the percentages. Do the same things over and over and over again and eventually it'll pay off. Effective enough I suppose, but boring.