Phil Parkison

Great read that OooM

We HAVE to change
Looking at the names for next Birmingham manager and if we don't get a move on we could lose out!
Karanka
Cotterill
Forget Nolan, we can't apparently afford to sack this ejit so we've probably not got enough in the piggy bank to release Kev from his recent 3 year deal. Thing is with Kev, it's like when Keith Hill was doing a great job at Rochdale and Barnsley came in for him, he turned out to be crap in the Championship just like Parkinson, only Barnsley knew early on so they turfed him out
Wish J F Hasselbaink hadn't gone to Northampton as I think he'd have kept us up.

I don't understand Kens decision to sign Parkinson up for longer at that time. I get that he was very appreciative of the work he did and no doubt the players sang his praises. He is a low maintanance not one for banging on the chairmans door but wouldn't a more sensible approach be to ask Phil to get to January. If we're looking like we're surviving we give him a better deal and maybe even cash to spend? If caveman Phils job/career did depend on these games I can't see him putting up with system

This is a post from AndyL a year or so ago and I thought I'd re-ignite it to throw Parky in the mix...

"In 1982/3 some three years after relegation from the top division we finished bottom of Division One and were relegated. John McGovern an ex European Cup Winner was given the job of player manager. He had no significant managerial experience.

We had some good players who appeared for us including Paul Jones,Peter Reid,Jim McDonagh, Chris Thompson,Mike Doyle, Steve Whitwoth,Jeff Chandler and Ian Moores. It was not a team that should have been relegated but resources were tight. Some felt Ian Moores did not do as well as expected and would dispute 'good'. Others were quite late in their careers or injury hit.

The record was

Played 42 Won 11 (10 at home) Drawn 11 (2 at Home) Lost 20 (11away) Goals for 72 Against 87 Pts 44


Currently Neil Lennon's side

played 33 Won 4 (4 at home) Drawn 13 (9at home) Lost 16 Goals For 31 Against 54 Pts 25

John McGovern is sometimes recalled as our least successful manager and was blamed for his results.His appointment tends to be viewed as a mistake?

Neil Lennon is struggling to match the 1982/3 record with 4 more games. Is Neil Lennon worse than John McGovern. If not why not?"

Great thought provoking post Andy, so given that Parky had most of his success in L1, if he carries on the way he has done in this championship, he will most certainly upstage all other managers before him and most definitely be our worst ever manager, regardless of the promotion in my view, which incidentally, he nearly blew.
Question is, is Ken brave enough to allow him to continue or is he brave enough to axe him??

Well there's been 4 managerial casualties this morning and so far Parky ain't one of em!!!
Sheridan is tho at Oldham

On the BBC web.

"He has left with the Latics bottom of the table after taking only four points from their opening nine games.

A statement on the Oldham website said the board had "not seen the progression we hoped with what was felt to be the nucleus of a good squad".

Wonder whether Oldham fans are thinking that the sacking was pointless as no one would have made any difference anyway?

He's doubled Parkys tally this season too.

The Chairman's comments on the BWFC web site make interesting reading:-

"Much has been said and reported about the result against Brentford at the weekend and generally speaking, l would agree with most of it and say it was probably our worst performance since l have been at the club. Now however is not the time to waver in our efforts and support of the manager and the team. We must all be even more determined to help them come through this and get things right on the pitch."

So no sacking of the manager


"I believe some of the quotes attributed to the manager post-Brentford are very much being taken out of context and were said in the heat of the moment, immediately after the match."


No managerial resignation either.


We are stuck with the manager and, presumably, the tactics.

I wrote on Saturday words to the effect that I believe it will be very difficult for Phil Parkinson to survive. Yes what he said after the match is perhaps to be excused . We were all flat and despondent. And if KA supports him publicly now what else should he do but support him? But a chairman's vote of confidence in a manager should be 'written on the wind and the rushing water' - (original c 55/4 BC). I suspect that KA is doing his best to sell the club and not keen on distraction?

However anything remotely comparing to the debacle of two years ago at Bristol City might result in a different staement.

The central argument here is probably as to whether the players are just not good enough ( and this includes depth of squad to ride injuries, suspension etc) or whterh the manager and his staff are either in training and preparation getting inadequate returns or making the wrong judgments

I would argue that the first proposition cannot be true. The squad came second in the division below with Spearing the only significant loss. Various good players have been added notably Karacan with a full pre- season; Armstrong; Ameobi; Buckley and Noone- the three last all with significant good experience in the Championship. OK Vela has been injured and ditto Ameobi and Buckley and latterly Derik. But all clubs have faced these problems- not least Brentford- who in passing finished 5th ( ?) last season so were in a false position as we all saw. We did well enough at Millwall and Birmingham, more realistic relegation rivals alongside Burton?

There are also strange gaps between perception and practice. Dougie had the self professed reputation as a rotator of players and experimenter with systems- which I regularly tried to debunk arguing that his selections and approaches were in fact entirely predictable and if he did the odd strange thing eg Hall v Blackpool nevertheless his teams were easily predicted. Neil Lennon loved wingers, Feeney and would take odd gambles, eg Mills at centre forward but after Chungy could not hold his approach together.

I don't think Phil P is inflexible. I think he researches oppositions to a fault and plans methodically. I think he has proved willing to experiment with three at the back, diamonds, five at the back, two or one holding players and so on. He has tried a range of permutations on the right of defence , Darby, Dervite, Little and now Burke. He has given the defensively naive Robinson frer rein and asked Beevers to cover. He has fielded two wingers and sometimes one. He has used Morais at right back, centre midfield, left midfield, right wing and left back. He has alternated Armstrong and Le Fondre. He has given Pratley a go but when it was obvious he was struggling withdrawn him. And in our odd glimpses of Buckley he has featured at right wing, upfront, left midfield and left back. He has used both Alnwick and Howard. To date he has selected Madine when fit but even that commitment must surely be wavering as more and more of us suggest alternatives at this level

Within it all he has put considerable trust in Burke and Cullen and they are promising players but no more so than was say Vela two years before he was picked or Mooy or Djemaili when in our reserves. Re these last three the managers of the day took a stern and consistent and often challenged line that they just weren't experienceded enough or ready for extended first team involvement. PP has been human, popular , sensitive and he has listened to argument. I should imagine that until recently he has been better liked than his recent predecessors but I have to wonder if that liking extends to respect

Some of you above allude to managerial experience and the topic of what makes a good manager in any walk of life. Well our best three in recent memory ( Rioch, Todd and Big Sam) have been stubborn, opinionated, steadfast and consistent in their approach. And more famous managers still eg Ferguson, Mourinho, Conte, Guardiola, wenger have been charismatic figures and very spiky when crossed or challneged.

I think PP is failing because he is trying too hard and experimenting too much. Yes we may call for change but hehas to find consistency and a way of using a squad. I don't mean sticking to a settled team necessarily but I do mean sticking with an intelligible approach and one players can understand- keeping players in their correct position. I may not have agreed with him. Nor might OOM, rftr, whitessince 63, david m or abny of thee rest of us but to hell with us he could think- he is the football manager and he will stand or fall on results. So had he been brave enough to go with a preferred keeper, a consistent back four and a way of playing even if with an emphasis on hoofball ( better not that for me ) I think we might be doing better than with all the change and a good manager would perhaps not have put so much faith in untried, unproven young players at least to start with

So Alnwick, Dervite, Wheater, Beevers, Taylor ( back four) Derik and/or Vela at the base of midfield Morais on the right, Vela, Karacan, Pratley (left)  Le Fondre, Madine become our first choice 11(2) and if he sticks to it from game varying it only with substitutions. Had he travelled this path we might just have had fewer injuries but he would have backed experience. It's not my team but I bet Big Sam would make something of it. Were Farrelly, O' Kane and various others of the time notably better than now?

Yes we are not on a par with richer clubs and the embargo etc but if this were a valid excuse no non -league team would ever challnege a league team, no Burnley woujld survive by home form in a top league, no Leicester would win a Premiership. No- this manager has mixed everything up, confused us all and demoralised himself and Yes the players could be doing better.

I have seldom argued for managerial dismissal. I think PP is not beyond the pale. I think we could pull round to finish fourth bottom but not to put too fine a point on it we won't do that without consistency and the manager showing some firmness of direction it sin't going to happen, not even if a billionaire takes us over tomorrow! So to repeat I think the manager is going to find it difficult to survive!