Post by QPR Report on Apr 7, 2010 6:04:46 GMT
Hmmmm!
Guardian
Posh discover the heavy cost of a season of managerial turmoil
Having appointed their fourth manager of the season today, Peterborough must hope Gary Johnson can bring them straight back up after their sorry relegation
Thought for the Week
While the job of clearing away the empty champagne bottles and leftover cheese-and-pineapple-on-sticks begins in earnest in Newcastle today, the mess left by a season of havoc at Peterborough will take more than a couple of bin bags and a pair of marigolds to tidy up. Yesterday's draw with Barnsley means that Posh are relegated back to League One after just a season in the Championship. This afternoon they unveil their fourth manager of a season racked by infighting, uncertainty and, most importantly, defeat after defeat.
It's all a far cry from the optimism that surrounded the club last summer. Posh had just yomped their way through League One, securing a second successive promotion under Darren Ferguson. Craig Mackail-Smith, Aaron McLean and George Boyd, scorers of a combined 49 league goals in 2008-09, were tipped to trouble Championship defences, while in Joe Lewis many at London Road reckoned they had the best young goalkeeper in England. The chairman had his eyes on the Premier League and few were predicting anything other than a season of comfortable, uneventful acclimatisation in the second tier.
Things began to go wrong quickly. The first eight games passed without a win before Reading were beaten in mid-September, a result followed by six defeats in eight that led to the kneejerk departure of Ferguson in November. A fortnight later Mark Cooper arrived, having done sterling work with Kettering in the Blue Square Premier, but there was no improvement on the pitch.
In January, in what will surely go down as the rant of the season, the Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony apologised for a season that had been "nothing short of a disaster", bemoaned "greed, skulduggery, tapping up and disloyalty from within", blasted the players and tore into Ferguson ahead of Posh's meeting with their former manager, now at Preston. With fans discontented by performances under Cooper MacAnthony leapt to his manager's defence: "Nobody has given the bloke a chance since he was appointed 10 games ago and he has had to deal with one fiasco after another. I am of course unhappy that the results have not changed but at the same time I am not ready to throw the towel in as quick as others appear to be." Six days later Cooper was sacked, after winning one of his 13 games in charge. The same day Jim Gannon was appointed.
That at least saw an improvement. In Gannon's spell in charge he won more games – four – than his predecessors combined, though yesterday's result ended a run of five straight defeats. He also had to cope with the departure of Boyd to Nottingham Forest. Fans, though increasingly resigned to relegation, were optimistic of a promotion bid next season under the former Motherwell and Stockport manager. Last month, though, Gannon turned down the offer of a four-year deal, citing family reasons, leaving Posh searching for manager No4 of the season.
After fielding 68 applications for the position, according to the director of football Barry Fry (the target for much of the Posh fans' ire this season), the former Bristol City manager Gary Johnson has been confirmed as United's new manager today. All in all, Ferguson took charge of the first 16 Championship games, Cooper had a stint of 12, Gannon 14 and now Johnson will look after the final four – it's hardly a recipe for success.
Johnson faces a rebuilding job – just two players of the starting XI that lined up on the opening day against Derby, Gabriel Zakuani and Tommy Rowe, were in the side that drew at Oakwell – though it's a task made easier by Gannon's admirable stewardship through waters churned up by months of madness. He cut his teeth in the lower levels with Yeovil and City and, given the space (and time) to do the job properly, is a sound appointment. Anyone who clicked the link in the second paragraph will have noted the Mystic-Meg-like accuracy of my predictions (the Championship ones at least, but check out League Two!), but don't be surprised if Posh are back in the Championship come 2011-12.
Goals of the weekend
These are from Saturday, as, alas, I've yet to see the goals from Easter Monday (so apologies for any absent crackers) but two teams produced four superb goals at the weekend. Liam Fontaine's rocket had given Bristol City the lead against Nottingham Forest, but his effort was bettered by Forest's Guy Moussi. And at Adams Park Jordan Rhodes's overhead effort and Theo Robinson's cracking run and finish helped keep Huddersfield in the League One play-off pack.
Ones to watch
Reading Last year the Royals crawled into the play-offs like half-squashed roadkill and were quickly put out of their misery by Burnley. This year I've a feeling they'll thrust themselves into the top six in tip top form. Victories in their two games in hand would see Brian McDermott's side just three points behind Leicester and within striking distance of out-of-form Swansea. Their fixture list, after a crunch game this weekend, looks kind.
The police A slightly odd one this, but interesting nevertheless. As the Guardian's Daniel Taylor pointed out on Twitter over the weekend, there's a strong possibility of the play-off semi-finalists in the Championship and League One lining up as Forest v Leicester, Swansea v Cardiff, Huddersfield v Leeds and even Millwall v Charlton – not the dream line-up for our boys in blue.
And Rochdale They're finally going to do it. Surely ...
Games to look forward to
Cardiff v Reading If the Royals are to make a late play-off charge they probably need to win in South Wales. City are buzzing after coming from behind to beat Swansea and ending Forest's record-breaking run, and a win for the Bluebirds would all but secure their play-off place, but Reading have won six and drawn two of their last nine.
Watford v Plymouth The Hornets were denied at the death by West Brom yesterday, while Plymouth were beaten at home by Middlesbrough. It leaves the two sides 21st and 23rd, separated by four points and sandwiching Sheffield Wednesday. Argyle have won their last two away from home.
Crystal Palace v QPR Neil Warnock returns to Selhurst Park, with both sides very much in the relegation mix.
Leeds v Southend A League One fixture of great import at the top and bottom.
Southampton v Charlton The Saints seem destined to run out of games in their chase for the play-offs, but they could still put a dent in Charlton's automatic promotion hopes.
Northampton v Notts County The Cobblers are one of a gaggle of teams still clinging to the hope of catching the top three in League Two. County are one of those three.
Hereford v Grimsby Grimsby kept their survival hopes alive yesterday, winning 3-2 after trailing Accrington 2-0 10 minutes into the second half. With Torquay and Cheltenham facing tough ties against Rochdale and Bury respectively, this could be a chance to narrow the gap.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/06/posh-heavy-cost-season-turmoil
Guardian
Posh discover the heavy cost of a season of managerial turmoil
Having appointed their fourth manager of the season today, Peterborough must hope Gary Johnson can bring them straight back up after their sorry relegation
Thought for the Week
While the job of clearing away the empty champagne bottles and leftover cheese-and-pineapple-on-sticks begins in earnest in Newcastle today, the mess left by a season of havoc at Peterborough will take more than a couple of bin bags and a pair of marigolds to tidy up. Yesterday's draw with Barnsley means that Posh are relegated back to League One after just a season in the Championship. This afternoon they unveil their fourth manager of a season racked by infighting, uncertainty and, most importantly, defeat after defeat.
It's all a far cry from the optimism that surrounded the club last summer. Posh had just yomped their way through League One, securing a second successive promotion under Darren Ferguson. Craig Mackail-Smith, Aaron McLean and George Boyd, scorers of a combined 49 league goals in 2008-09, were tipped to trouble Championship defences, while in Joe Lewis many at London Road reckoned they had the best young goalkeeper in England. The chairman had his eyes on the Premier League and few were predicting anything other than a season of comfortable, uneventful acclimatisation in the second tier.
Things began to go wrong quickly. The first eight games passed without a win before Reading were beaten in mid-September, a result followed by six defeats in eight that led to the kneejerk departure of Ferguson in November. A fortnight later Mark Cooper arrived, having done sterling work with Kettering in the Blue Square Premier, but there was no improvement on the pitch.
In January, in what will surely go down as the rant of the season, the Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony apologised for a season that had been "nothing short of a disaster", bemoaned "greed, skulduggery, tapping up and disloyalty from within", blasted the players and tore into Ferguson ahead of Posh's meeting with their former manager, now at Preston. With fans discontented by performances under Cooper MacAnthony leapt to his manager's defence: "Nobody has given the bloke a chance since he was appointed 10 games ago and he has had to deal with one fiasco after another. I am of course unhappy that the results have not changed but at the same time I am not ready to throw the towel in as quick as others appear to be." Six days later Cooper was sacked, after winning one of his 13 games in charge. The same day Jim Gannon was appointed.
That at least saw an improvement. In Gannon's spell in charge he won more games – four – than his predecessors combined, though yesterday's result ended a run of five straight defeats. He also had to cope with the departure of Boyd to Nottingham Forest. Fans, though increasingly resigned to relegation, were optimistic of a promotion bid next season under the former Motherwell and Stockport manager. Last month, though, Gannon turned down the offer of a four-year deal, citing family reasons, leaving Posh searching for manager No4 of the season.
After fielding 68 applications for the position, according to the director of football Barry Fry (the target for much of the Posh fans' ire this season), the former Bristol City manager Gary Johnson has been confirmed as United's new manager today. All in all, Ferguson took charge of the first 16 Championship games, Cooper had a stint of 12, Gannon 14 and now Johnson will look after the final four – it's hardly a recipe for success.
Johnson faces a rebuilding job – just two players of the starting XI that lined up on the opening day against Derby, Gabriel Zakuani and Tommy Rowe, were in the side that drew at Oakwell – though it's a task made easier by Gannon's admirable stewardship through waters churned up by months of madness. He cut his teeth in the lower levels with Yeovil and City and, given the space (and time) to do the job properly, is a sound appointment. Anyone who clicked the link in the second paragraph will have noted the Mystic-Meg-like accuracy of my predictions (the Championship ones at least, but check out League Two!), but don't be surprised if Posh are back in the Championship come 2011-12.
Goals of the weekend
These are from Saturday, as, alas, I've yet to see the goals from Easter Monday (so apologies for any absent crackers) but two teams produced four superb goals at the weekend. Liam Fontaine's rocket had given Bristol City the lead against Nottingham Forest, but his effort was bettered by Forest's Guy Moussi. And at Adams Park Jordan Rhodes's overhead effort and Theo Robinson's cracking run and finish helped keep Huddersfield in the League One play-off pack.
Ones to watch
Reading Last year the Royals crawled into the play-offs like half-squashed roadkill and were quickly put out of their misery by Burnley. This year I've a feeling they'll thrust themselves into the top six in tip top form. Victories in their two games in hand would see Brian McDermott's side just three points behind Leicester and within striking distance of out-of-form Swansea. Their fixture list, after a crunch game this weekend, looks kind.
The police A slightly odd one this, but interesting nevertheless. As the Guardian's Daniel Taylor pointed out on Twitter over the weekend, there's a strong possibility of the play-off semi-finalists in the Championship and League One lining up as Forest v Leicester, Swansea v Cardiff, Huddersfield v Leeds and even Millwall v Charlton – not the dream line-up for our boys in blue.
And Rochdale They're finally going to do it. Surely ...
Games to look forward to
Cardiff v Reading If the Royals are to make a late play-off charge they probably need to win in South Wales. City are buzzing after coming from behind to beat Swansea and ending Forest's record-breaking run, and a win for the Bluebirds would all but secure their play-off place, but Reading have won six and drawn two of their last nine.
Watford v Plymouth The Hornets were denied at the death by West Brom yesterday, while Plymouth were beaten at home by Middlesbrough. It leaves the two sides 21st and 23rd, separated by four points and sandwiching Sheffield Wednesday. Argyle have won their last two away from home.
Crystal Palace v QPR Neil Warnock returns to Selhurst Park, with both sides very much in the relegation mix.
Leeds v Southend A League One fixture of great import at the top and bottom.
Southampton v Charlton The Saints seem destined to run out of games in their chase for the play-offs, but they could still put a dent in Charlton's automatic promotion hopes.
Northampton v Notts County The Cobblers are one of a gaggle of teams still clinging to the hope of catching the top three in League Two. County are one of those three.
Hereford v Grimsby Grimsby kept their survival hopes alive yesterday, winning 3-2 after trailing Accrington 2-0 10 minutes into the second half. With Torquay and Cheltenham facing tough ties against Rochdale and Bury respectively, this could be a chance to narrow the gap.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/apr/06/posh-heavy-cost-season-turmoil