Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
City not good enough - Megson
We may not be there yet but we will be. That is City manager Gary Megson's verdict after his first week in charge.
Megson is still gauging the personnel he has taken over, and when he was asked whether the squad has what it takes to get City into the top flight this season, his answer was brutally frank.
“Not as it is at the moment, not from what I have seen. But we have got to cope with that, and find a way of playing that suits everybody.
“People have got to accept that they will be judged on what they do, not what they have done or what they say. I have not changed it too much, and I certainly haven't changed it by choice as yet, but that will come.
“Right now they have the chance to stake their claims but, if they don't produce, they will be out and someone else will get the chance. That is not just football but life in general.
“The squad itself is too big, the quality is not there at the moment, and that is not a criticism of anyone else. It is the same at a lot of football clubs.
“This is a Premiership club in everything but status and the squad needs improving. We have 45 players and they are much of a muchness.
“It is not the squad but the team you can get out of it, and we have chucked away two points against QPR and, after a really good first half at Forest, we didn't play anywhere near as well.
But we won thanks to a couple of players coming on with a point to prove, and a bit of fortune. But mainly a tremendous desire to get through the tie.
“What we have to do is be successful short term which gives you the opportunity to take your time. You can't just say we want to be in the Premiership, you have to have a method of how to actually do that, and it is early days for me to say €˜Yes we can,' or €˜No we can't', but there are things that are decent, some things that have to change.
“I have been here only a week, a full week time wise, but not in the sense that I could make them do the work we need to do and would want to do.”
It was bizarre even by modern-day standards for a new manager to come in after only four games, and Megson joked at the time that his contract was “long-term, six-weeks”.
Now there is a new M&M, Megson and Mandaric, but the manager said: “It is not just the two of us. There is a lot of input from some very good people here. There is a demarcation line where everyone has their responsibilities, but there is always input.
“The ambition has to be all the same. I don't think anyone would disagree this club wants to be in the Premiership as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, 23 other clubs in the Championship feel the same and, rather than give a target, the question is can the team
actually achieve that? Will the team be good enough? We will see. We want to be successful short-term and long term. That is the target that has been set.
“It is like having a ladder and you are on the bottom rung and you want to get to the top, which means the Premiership, so how are you going to get there?
“You can't just state your intentions, you have to get a method and plan of what you want to do to climb that ladder to the top.”
If that's the fella's assessment after one week, I'm very optimistic. He's spot on.
We may not be there yet but we will be. That is City manager Gary Megson's verdict after his first week in charge.
Megson is still gauging the personnel he has taken over, and when he was asked whether the squad has what it takes to get City into the top flight this season, his answer was brutally frank.
“Not as it is at the moment, not from what I have seen. But we have got to cope with that, and find a way of playing that suits everybody.
“People have got to accept that they will be judged on what they do, not what they have done or what they say. I have not changed it too much, and I certainly haven't changed it by choice as yet, but that will come.
“Right now they have the chance to stake their claims but, if they don't produce, they will be out and someone else will get the chance. That is not just football but life in general.
“The squad itself is too big, the quality is not there at the moment, and that is not a criticism of anyone else. It is the same at a lot of football clubs.
“This is a Premiership club in everything but status and the squad needs improving. We have 45 players and they are much of a muchness.
“It is not the squad but the team you can get out of it, and we have chucked away two points against QPR and, after a really good first half at Forest, we didn't play anywhere near as well.
But we won thanks to a couple of players coming on with a point to prove, and a bit of fortune. But mainly a tremendous desire to get through the tie.
“What we have to do is be successful short term which gives you the opportunity to take your time. You can't just say we want to be in the Premiership, you have to have a method of how to actually do that, and it is early days for me to say €˜Yes we can,' or €˜No we can't', but there are things that are decent, some things that have to change.
“I have been here only a week, a full week time wise, but not in the sense that I could make them do the work we need to do and would want to do.”
It was bizarre even by modern-day standards for a new manager to come in after only four games, and Megson joked at the time that his contract was “long-term, six-weeks”.
Now there is a new M&M, Megson and Mandaric, but the manager said: “It is not just the two of us. There is a lot of input from some very good people here. There is a demarcation line where everyone has their responsibilities, but there is always input.
“The ambition has to be all the same. I don't think anyone would disagree this club wants to be in the Premiership as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, 23 other clubs in the Championship feel the same and, rather than give a target, the question is can the team
actually achieve that? Will the team be good enough? We will see. We want to be successful short-term and long term. That is the target that has been set.
“It is like having a ladder and you are on the bottom rung and you want to get to the top, which means the Premiership, so how are you going to get there?
“You can't just state your intentions, you have to get a method and plan of what you want to do to climb that ladder to the top.”
If that's the fella's assessment after one week, I'm very optimistic. He's spot on.
