www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/11770239.Dougie_Freedman_on_his_time_at_Bolton_Wanderers_____I_made_mistakes____there_were_difficult_decisions____the_debt_was_huge/?ref=rssstaggering, just staggering this article. i shouldn't be surprised, as me & several others used to chip away at articles like this all the time when he was our manager.
2 stand-out lines for me are :
1."
It was difficult for a young coach. But I had to do it for the sake of the club. I had to keep that in mind the whole time."
“We had to make tough decisions and we had to make sure the financial state of the club was in order. We had to make sure the club was run right, while bringing young players through. “
We are seeing those players coming through now, but I am not there, unfortunately, to oversee that.
he's trying to take credit for our young players coming thru.!!!!!!!! .mainly clough, vela & kellett i guess..none of whom he signed..2 of of which he actively discouraged. you wouldn't expect any better from this con-man. those same players would probably be walking out on frees if it were left to him . it's one thing to not bring youth through, if you have a decent team but to simultaneously snub youth while moaning about budgets is sheer madness.
2."
But he defended his time in the North West, saying his actions had helped to ensure the club did not slip into League One.
“I had to work extremely hard at Bolton, but you have to do that in any walk of life,” he said.
“I knew the decisions were right for the football club, even if they were not right for the team.
“We worked very hard to make sure the club did not go the way that some clubs – Wolves for example – do, when they come down from the Premier League.
“We wanted to stabilise and make sure we did not go down that path"
? seriously. we were below Blackpool when NL got the job. we were shipping goals at an average at 2 per game, and failing to score in most games.
how can he possibly have the nerve to say otherwise. how there can be even 1 poster saying he might do ok elsewhere is beyond me. mind you the same person was defending DF virtually to the last week of his reign. kind of sums up why i don't come on the forum much, when some of the so-called better posters are spouting such utter tripe, there ain't much down for the rest of 'em.
DF's charge sheet is as long as my arm :
-worst start to a lge season ( last year ) for 100+ years
-captaining Zat. you should be ditching your weakest link, not captaining it. !! ( & of course the crazy rotation never applied to him !!)
-crazy rotation tactics..dropping goalscorers & ensuring no cohesive understanding through regular playing together built up.
-snubbing class youth products like clough and vela
- horrendous man management kd, baptiste, vela, eagles..or contrast to NL talking up Chungy instantly as a class act
- inability to work well with academy coaches...JP & D lee
-10% win % this season, compared to 50% for NL
- slates entire squad as not being good enough....despite him signing approx 40% of it and controlling exits for 2 yrs ( i.e thereby choosing who to retain )
- contrast to NL saying we could make top 6 , just days after DF saying squad not good enough.
- negative tactics..having 40% possession ..even getting the run around by lower lge sides like Bury. contrast to NL he gets the same sqaud having 55%+ possession most games.
- inability to switch formations. NL has had loads so far played with back 3, m/f diamond, 4231 & 442.
- inability to innovate solutions...unlike NL who played Vela at rb . this point was made about BSA converting campo in front of def, or pedersen to l/b, gardner to l/b from wing. yet DF would just moan about budgets if he had a gap in the team,
- inability to get tfr deals done unless they were with the same 3 or 4 clubs... cardiff, palace, millwall etc
- pays money for beckford who doesn't suit a lone striker role..yet Df's preferred formation is 4231 !?!!?
- inability to sign players to fill weaknesses in the team... eg signing a shed load of midfielders then moaning about lack of funds for other positions. has he heard of the concept of "opportunity cost" ??
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost-joyless for players and fans. NL instantly brought his kids to the training ground and told his players to remember the joy of playing that a 10 yr old kid feels.
even in the brief spell when his results were good in that play off run, i can remember people like julie, joanna, rtf, ws63 ( i guess) and me all saying these are the flukiest wins i've ever seen in my life. for any odd game this is perfectly ok and can happen under any manager including NL but to have a consistent run based on so very little was extraordinary. defending deep at home to poor sides like peterboro, and nicking a 1-0 win. much credit in those games was down to Craig Dawson but of course dopey Doug-loss wrongly thought Zat was leading that partnership, so the next season when we didn't land Dawson, Df had no back up targets. played zat and wheater while virtually forcing ream and mills out of the club. ream went on to be player of the year and now Mills is vice captain. more great judgement from DF !!
-hopeless in pre-seasons 2 years running. the writing was on the cards. you can say pre-season don't matter but why should weaker sides be beating us and playing us off the park. hardly builds confidence does it. apologists who say its all about fitness should remember the oppo is trying to get fit too.
-i'll leave it there but i'm sure there several more i've forgot !!!... please add below !!