Growler wrote:Wigan and Blackburn both went straight back up from tier 3 with better players than the other teams, as we did.And a few weeks into the season, both look strong enough to stay up.T.R.O.Y wrote:Normal clowns coming out against PP, give me another manager who’s achieved what he has in the last 2 seasons - exceeding expectations with no budget, a players strike and losing their best player twice.
Promotion from tier 3 was expected on the budget Parky had to work with.We had the money to tempt Beevers up north from play off winners Millwall.
There is no chance that clubs such as Gillingham, Rochdale, Southend, Bristol Rovers, Port Vale, Shrewsbury etc could afford to hand out the contracts given to the likes of Wheater, Beevers, Spearing, Madine, Le Fondre and Pratley.We had better, higher paid players than all but Sheffield United and should have been one of the 3 promoted teams in my opinion.
Last season we would have been working on a similar budget to Burton and Barnsley, but credit to Parky for finishing above Sunderland.I think this was more about Sunderland being very poorly managed rather than Parky being a genius however.
Hell of a stretch to say Wigan and Blackburn look stronger than us, very similar so far IMO. Think Wigan are lacking depth in attack and at the back - I haven’t seen as much of Blackburn to be honest though.
Its easy to say how good Madine or Wheater are now- they absolutely weren’t before Parky turned up. ALF wasn’t with us when we started the season - he replaced Clough (a downgrade for the way we played in league 1 IMO). Similarly surprised Pratley and Spearing make your list as examples of the latent we had, both playing league 1 now - and not with any particular distinction.
Our transfer spend was lower than Barnsley or Burton, the wages probably higher but we still had the likes of Amos and Pratley on the books do that distorts somewhat. Either way, to keep us up after having his best player sold again, with no money spent on transfers was a massive achievement.
Dismiss his achievements as much as you like but they’re there on paper alongside what he’s spent and the constant goings on behind the scenes. I just think he deserves credit regardless of his style of play.