Worse Derby Managers

[Andicis]

Paul Jewell was absolutely terrible. The worst manager in the time I've been watching Derby, even if you don't like some of the ones we've had since, nobody was as utterly useless as Jewell. Billy Davies would have gotten more than 11 points if he stayed. 

[Andicis]

29 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Phillip Cocu - I almost feel bad about putting him on the list, I liked him but what he was trying to do wasn't going to work with the players he had or was likely to be able to work with and the football was usually pretty dull. Managed to arrive just as Mel's money ran out....

I think Cocu has some valid justifications for his performance such as Joinersgate which definitely impacted our season. Think this one is a little harsh....

[May Contain Nuts]

...and Covid, and Bielik's injury, and Martin deciding to sod off to Bristol, and the failure to sign Dursun, and nearly all the attacking players stating the season in the physio room rather than on the pitch, and CKR needing to get match fitness up to speed (he looked terrible his first few appearances)

Edited May 26, 2023 by Kokosnuss

[Ghost of Clough]

12 hours ago, ziggyram59 said:

1. Paul Jewell. 2. Phil Brown. 3. Tommy Docherty. 4. Billy Davies. 5. Nigel Pearson. 6. Colin Murphy. 7. Paul Clement. 8. Colin Addison. 9. Peter Taylor. 10. Colin Todd. 

Harsh on Clement. Only Wassall and Rosenior have a better ppg record since him. Meddling Mel had a bigger impact on Clement's downfall than you think.

Surely John Gregory and John Newman are stronger contenders for the 'top 10'. Jack Barker was also the first manager to get us relegated to the 3rd division. 

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Paul Jewell was absolutely terrible. The worst manager in the time I've been watching Derby, even if you don't like some of the ones we've had since, nobody was as utterly useless as Jewell. Billy Davies would have gotten more than 11 points if he stayed. 

We'll never know if Billy would have got more than 11 points or not. Billy was a horrible man, a narcissist. He only cared about Billy. His interview after we won at Wembley spoiled the day but it was the pinnacle of his whole football career. He saw the writing on the wall and wasn't going to have a relegation on his CV so he manipulated his own sacking. Justice was done with the 5-0 hammering of Forest; Billy was sacked and it finished him in football. I've still got the whole game on my hard drive and I love the bit where he retreats standing-up and out of sight into the away dugout as the South Stand sing "Billy, Billy what's the score?"

As they say, revenge is a dish best eaten cold. I had salad that night.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Brailsford Ram

[Andicis]

3 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

We'll never know if Billy would have got more than 11 points or not. Billy was a horrible man, a narcissist. He only cared about Billy. His interview after we won at Wembley spoiled the day but it was the pinnacle of his whole football career. He saw the writing on the wall and wasn't going to have a relegation on his CV so he manipulated his his own sacking. Justice was done with the 5-0 hammering of Forest; Billy was sacked and it finished him in football. I've still got the whole game on my hard drive and I love the bit where he retreats standing-up and out of sight into the away dugout as the South Stand sing "Billy, Billy what's the score?"

As they say, revenge is a dish best eaten cold. I had salad that night.

He was a horrible man, who is denying it? He isn't one of our worst managers. He got 7 of our 11 points and Jewell managed more games than him. It's a reasonable assumption that Davies would have gotten more than the 11. Jewell was TERRIBLE. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Andicis said:

He was a horrible man, who is denying it? He isn't one of our worst managers. He got 7 of our 11 points and Jewell managed more games than him. It's a reasonable assumption that Davies would have gotten more than the 11. Jewell was TERRIBLE. 

Jewell got Bradford and Wigan promoted to the Premier League and they both stayed up. At Derby he inherited a poisoned chalice; Paddy Power had already paid out on bets for us to be relegated before the end of August. I have no time for Jewell and his contribution to Derby but he should have listened to David Moyes' advice and not taken the job because Derby won't win another game all season. Jewell inherited a pile of crap left by Billy and he was insane if he ever thought  he could turn it around; maybe he just came for the money but who could blame him? Billy built the worst team in history and when he left the position was irrecoverable; the manager who could have saved us from that position hasn't been born yet.

[Andicis]

16 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Jewell got Bradford and Wigan promoted to the Premier League and they both stayed up. At Derby he inherited a poisoned chalice; Paddy Power had already paid out on bets for us to be relegated before the end of August. I have no time for Jewell and his contribution to Derby but he should have listened to David Moyes' advice and not taken the job because Derby won't win another game all season. Jewell inherited a pile of crap left by Billy and he was insane if he ever thought  he could turn it around; maybe he just came for the money but who could blame him? Billy built the worst team in history and when he left the position was irrecoverable; the manager who could have saved us from that position hasn't been born yet.

I don't care what Jewell did at other clubs. He was a s*** Derby manager. Period. 

[jono]

From a personal perspective as a real fan for only the last 10 years it has to be Pearson. I remember a dearth of goals, players with body language that spoke of fractured ego’s, lost spirit and rudderless. I almost wept for Vydra, a loan striker without support but busting a gut every time he turned out. There was a midweek game, dour drizzle and cold. The extent of our creativity was a defensive ball played out wide to Anya level the 18 yard box. Think we lost 1-0 but can’t remember, I was so depressed.

I know a bit of Doherty’s rep a Derby but not the full story. It makes me sad because he had produced such an exciting post Busby babes side at Man U. So what happened ? What went wrong, was he bent or just horribly incompetent ? 

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I don't care what Jewell did at other clubs. He was a s*** Derby manager. Period. 

And if you'd been born a Leeds fan you'd have said the same about Brian Clough 😂

[BondJovi]

1 hour ago, Andicis said:

I think Cocu has some valid justifications for his performance such as Joinersgate which definitely impacted our season. Think this one is a little harsh....

 

55 minutes ago, Kokosnuss said:

...and Covid, and Bielik's injury, and Martin deciding to sod off to Bristol, and the failure to sign Dursun, and nearly all the attacking players stating the season in the physio room rather than on the pitch, and CKR needing to get match fitness up to speed (he looked terrible his first few appearances)

Got us to 64 points in his first season. Very good when you consider everything that happened. 10 points less than Lampard, who had a better squad and Tomori, Mount and Wilson... Yes we had Rooney come in but he was finished after lockdown.

I have said before. But no Derby manager should be judged on what happened during the 20/21 season. 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, jono said:

From a personal perspective as a real fan for only the last 10 years it has to be Pearson. I remember a dearth of goals, players with body language that spoke of fractured ego’s, lost spirit and rudderless. I almost wept for Vydra, a loan striker without support but busting a gut every time he turned out. There was a midweek game, dour drizzle and cold. The extent of our creativity was a defensive ball played out wide to Anya level the 18 yard box. Think we lost 1-0 but can’t remember, I was so depressed.

I know a bit of Doherty’s rep a Derby but not the full story. It makes me sad because he had produced such an exciting post Busby babes side at Man U. So what happened ? What went wrong, was he bent or just horribly incompetent ? 

As he said himself he had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus. But he was only successful at his first club - Chelsea where he got them promoted from the Second Division - and then United where he won the FA Cup. It was the only trophy he won.

[RoyMac5]

45 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Jewell got Bradford and Wigan promoted to the Premier League and they both stayed up. At Derby he inherited a poisoned chalice; Paddy Power had already paid out on bets for us to be relegated before the end of August. I have no time for Jewell and his contribution to Derby but he should have listened to David Moyes' advice and not taken the job because Derby won't win another game all season. Jewell inherited a pile of crap left by Billy and he was insane if he ever thought  he could turn it around; maybe he just came for the money but who could blame him? Billy built the worst team in history and when he left the position was irrecoverable; the manager who could have saved us from that position hasn't been born yet.

That is rubbish. We were performing at our limit. We had a very average squad that wasn't equipped for Prem football. Jewell made us worse and then carried on when he got us relegated. He did nothing right for us at all except leave.

[Guest]

Just now, RoyMac5 said:

That is rubbish. We were performing at our limit. We had a very average squad that wasn't equipped for Prem football. Jewell made us worse and then carried on when he got us relegated. He did nothing right for us at all except leave.

Our limit was hopeless for the Premier League. We were shockingly hopeless.

We had a very below average squad that wasn't equipped for the PL. Davies assembled it by persuading the League of Gentlemen to invest in building a promotion team beyond what they intended to spend. They succumbed and Billy spent poorly in the January on Macken, Fagan and Mears. We got worse and scraped through, regrettably, in the play-off final against West Brom. The board recouped the money we'd spent on promotion from what we reaped from the PL but we couldn't then afford the type of investment we needed to  improve and make a fight of it.

By the time Davies manipulated his departure we were an irretrievable basket case. I watched every single minute of that season and it was pitiful from start to finish. We never had a hope from the start.

[Andicis]

23 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

And if you'd been born a Leeds fan you'd have said the same about Brian Clough 😂

Jewell doing an ok job at other clubs doesn't work as a defense for the absolutely horrible job he did here. He did a horrible job with our admittedly bad squad in the premier league and an even worse job in the championship. We had a 22% win rate under him. Dreadful. 

[RoyMac5]

10 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Our limit was hopeless for the Premier League. We were shockingly hopeless.

We had a very below average squad that wasn't equipped for the PL. Davies assembled it by persuading the League of Gentlemen to invest in building a promotion team beyond what they intended to spend. They succumbed and Billy spent poorly in the January on Macken, Fagan and Mears. We got worse and scraped through, regrettably, in the play-off final against West Brom. The board recouped the money we'd spent on promotion from what we reaped from the PL but we couldn't then afford the type of investment we needed to  improve and make a fight of it.

By the time Davies manipulated his departure we were an irretrievable basket case. I watched every single minute of that season and it was pitiful from start to finish. We never had a hope from the start.

Davies wanted to sign players for our Prem squad that we wouldn't pay the price for and/or who didn't see the point in coming to play for us.

How much did Jewell squander?! Who did Jewell assemble?!

Edited May 26, 2023 by RoyMac5

[Jourdan]

Since 2001-02 when I got my first season ticket:

1. Jewell (second half of 2007-08 and first half of 2008-09)

2. Gregory (2002-03)

3. Brown (2005-06)

4. Cocu + Rooney (particularly the end of 2019-20 and all of 2020-21)

5. Clough (particularly second half of 2010-11 and much of 2011-12)

Those spells stand out as being the most depressing times to be a Derby fan in my match going time.

I don’t think you can really put Pearson and Clement here as Mel had the patience and longevity of a three year old watching an opera.

Neither finished the season, so who knows what would have happened had both been given the time to reverse poor runs that Lampard and Rowett were granted, for instance?

[IslandExile]

[Carl Sagan]

2 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Phillip Cocu - I almost feel bad about putting him on the list, I liked him but what he was trying to do wasn't going to work with the players he had or was likely to be able to work with and the football was usually pretty dull. Managed to arrive just as Mel's money ran out....

Felt Cocu was completely undermined by the bizarre arrival of Rooney, who he then had to play, so every game was effectively with 10 men. That's a pretty tough gig. It's impossible for the football not to have been dull with Rooney in the team, slowing everything down to walking pace. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

3 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

Felt Cocu was completely undermined by the bizarre arrival of Rooney, who he then had to play, so every game was effectively with 10 men. That's a pretty tough gig. It's impossible for the football not to have been dull with Rooney in the team, slowing everything down to walking pace. 

There's been some fair points made on this.

Perhaps it was because the realisation he wasn't working out was so hard for me to make at the time I've clouded my view of it. And I'll always respect him on a personal level, he carried himself well.