Anger turning to remorse?

Nuttalls Mint Toes

Nuttalls Mint Toes

Well-known member
I think like a lot on here, I spat my dummy out when Critchley left, called him all the names under the sun, joined in with every Critchley-baiting thread, wished him nothing but ill will at Villa and he was like the other half in a relationship who had done the dirty on you and if I could have done I'd have ripped up all his trousers!

A few weeks on and with the season just round the corner, I'm missing the guy. That Brunskill interview shows the attention to detail, the planning, the preparation and how clever he is as a coach. The fact he got us promoted and then kept us comfortably in the Championship, his relationship with fans (I now think he was genuinely embarrassed to speak to the press because he knew the response he'd get) and the fact at full time in the first home game we won't see the fist pump.

I miss him! I have no love for Appleton. I can't get excited by him and this pre-season is not helping to heal the pain of Critch going. Sorry guys but I miss him!
 
He has undoubtedly sullied his legacy, no amount of time will heal that.

There was no way people wouldn't be angry at him leaving, but even a relatively quick message of thanks to the club and supporters would have done wonders in maintaining his legacy at Blackpool but saying nowt then giving us one line in his Villa video over a month layer just means he'll always be remembered for the manner in which he left rather than what he achieved.

He could have salvaged some of his legacy/achievements with just a little bit of effort but has tarnished it through either cowardice or ignorance.

Oh and I hope Villa are bottom by Christmas and the coaching staff gets potted, replaced and Villa stay up in May 👍
 
Dougall said:
I get it @Nuttalls Mint Toes - probably one of only three managers in my time supporting 'Pool who'll be genuinely missed (and no, one wasn't Nigel Worthington
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Ollie and Billy were different gravy.

They worked miracles.

Worked wonders with nothing.

They turned water into wine .

NC does not fall into that category . He got us promoted on a decent budget. He was good but didn’t stay long enough to prove he was in their league.
 
It's looking like we are going to get to see exactly how competent NC was, as we kick off the season with the exact same squad.
 
AngelBFC said:
Ollie and Billy were different gravy.

They worked miracles.

Worked wonders with nothing.

They turned water into wine .

NC does not fall into that category . He got us promoted on a decent budget. He was good but didn’t stay long enough to prove he was in their league.
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I wouldn't say Ollie worked wonders with nothing. We had finished the 2008/9 season well ,with Charlie settling in , only losing one of the last ten games
 
Are we annoyed with ourselves for getting drawn in? I bloody loved last season even started going to away matches again, first time for a good few decades. So with Appy is it a case of Won’t Get Fooled Again? As we don’t want to feel stupid again?
 
Critchley will certainly go down as one of the top Managers that have graced Bloomfield Road during my time supporting the Club. Like pretty much every other decent manager we've ever had, he was off when opportunity came calling and I don't blame him for that...

I was and still am sad to see him go... It's a long time (since Holloway really) where I've seen a Blackpool side play such good quality and well organised football. It wasn't as expansive as we saw under Holloway, but IMO that had more to do with the Players that we had available to us, than the Manager. I'd like to have seen us develop further with Critchley, because I think his meticulous approach and attention to detail would have paid dividends over time, but it wasn't to be.

Obviously we now have Appleton at the helm, who comes with a great deal of experience and is quoted as having a wealth of contacts within the game. Personally, I'd be extremely surprised if we start next season with Appo still at the helm, but I hope that he manages to prove himself at this level and get the most out of the resources he has available.... If he manages to make me eat my words, then I'll be a very happy man 👍
 
SquiresGateTango said:
Are we annoyed with ourselves for getting drawn in? I bloody loved last season even started going to away matches again, first time for a good few decades. So with Appy is it a case of Won’t Get Fooled Again? As we don’t want to feel stupid again?
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Don’t think we will be in that position

MA won’t be going over the top with the fans with all the badge patting and three fist pump yes yes yes nonsense .

He won’t allow you to get drawn in .

He ‘ll want to win and that’s it .
 
I though Critchley did a great job here and the football was great too even if it wasn't as attacking as we would like. I don't hold any ill will towards him at all and he did what most people would do in a career even if it should have been handled better. To say I wasn't and still am actually really disappointed that he went would be a lie and I think our pre season to date has just made things worse in that there's is nothing to be excited about at all so far which keeps you on a downer.
Hopefully things liven up a bit soon
 
TangerinePeel said:
He has undoubtedly sullied his legacy, no amount of time will heal that.

There was no way people wouldn't be angry at him leaving, but even a relatively quick message of thanks to the club and supporters would have done wonders in maintaining his legacy at Blackpool but saying nowt then giving us one line in his Villa video over a month layer just means he'll always be remembered for the manner in which he left rather than what he achieved.

He could have salvaged some of his legacy/achievements with just a little bit of effort but has tarnished it through either cowardice or ignorance.

Oh and I hope Villa are bottom by Christmas and the coaching staff gets potted, replaced and Villa stay up in May 👍
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When we talk of his legacy though what was it going to be anyway ?

He only did what Gary Bowyer did ie get us promoted to a higher division and kept us up .

No one raves about Bowyer and say they missed him a man who did the same as NC in far more difficult circumstances .
 
AngelBFC said:
When we talk of his legacy though what was it going to be anyway ?

He only did what Gary Bowyer did ie get us promoted to a higher division and kept us up .

No one raves about Bowyer and say they missed him a man who did the same as NC in far more difficult circumstances .
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We've only been promoted to the second Tier twice (once with Larry and once with Niel Critchley) in our history.... It's significantly more of an achievement than being promoted from L2 to L1, which ought to be a given for a Club of our stature.
 
More like anger turning to relief. We didn't end the season at all well (I know some think we finished OK, but apart from Brum we played poorly imo and were lucky at Luton to get a point). Thommo said in a recent interview that he thought we'd be "found out" in our second season, and I was concerned about the same.

NC did very well for us, and I thank him for it, as BFC says it's an excellent achievement to get us up to the championship at his first attempt. But to me he never looked comfortable as a nr 1, even in interviews after we'd won. I don't get "emotionally involved" about our managers (apart from King Billy), I was over my anger very quickly and look forward to next season under MA.
 
AngelBFC said:
When we talk of his legacy though what was it going to be anyway ?

He only did what Gary Bowyer did ie get us promoted to a higher division and kept us up .

No one raves about Bowyer and say they missed him a man who did the same as NC in far more difficult circumstances .
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Gave us a return to the Championship on our 2nd full season without the Oystons. Kept us up comfortably in our first season back. Legacy mighty be a strong term but leaving in a more appropriate manner would allow people to eventually focus on what he achieved rather than the way he left.

Bowyer got us promoted from the bottom division when none of us were even going to games. A great achievement in hindsight which meant the rebuild post-Oyston was not as large a task, but still not on par with a promotion from the division higher during the beginning of that rebuild.

Now the dust has settled I can thank Critchley for the promotion and such, but the way he handled leaving is a joke and I'll never be able to see past it unfortunately.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
We've only been promoted to the second Tier twice (once with Larry and once with Niel Critchley) in our history.... It's significantly more of an achievement than being promoted from L2 to L1, which ought to be a given for a Club of our stature
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I think it’s comparable we will have to agree to disagree

Bowyer did it when the club was in crisis no proper home support no one backing the team apart from a few mushies and joke ownership

You say league 1 was a given for a club of our stature but not necessarily at the time when most people werent going and there were protests at virtually every home game

NC got promotion albeit to a superior division with massive home support and an extremely supportive owner .

Remember we only just beat Appleton’s Lincoln City in the play off final by a goal yet Appleton isn’t rated by many on here yet many think Appleton isn’t anywhere near as good as Critchley

Not sure what they are basing that on.
 
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AngelBFC said:
I think it’s comparable we will have to agree to disagree

Bowyer did it when the club was in crisis no proper home support no one backing the team apart from a few mushies and joke ownership

You say league 1 was a given for a club of our stature but not necessarily at the time when most people werent going and there were protests at virtually every home game

NC got promotion albeit to a superior division with massive home support and an extremely supportive owner .

Remember we only just beat Appleton’s Lincoln City in the play off final by a goal yet Appleton isn’t rated by many on here yet many think Appleton isn’t anywhere near as good as Critchley

Not sure what they are basing that on.
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You can disagree all you like but to suggest that a promotion to a lower division is equivalent to promotion to a higher one is nonsensical.
 
I dont care he left. He did well.but at the same time didn't learn from his mistakes. I couldn't.stand his cringe ' I love the fans' bollocks and I certainly never joined in the cringe fisting thing that most on here did.

I'll never applaud him if he returns. He's left with a sour taste in the mouth.

Seriously it's time to move on from constant threads about the bloke. He's an ex manager that I've no time for
 
I would never miss a Judas.
But as my old mum used to say - "if you don't have anything nice to say about him, best say nothing" - I'll leave it at that.
MA is a tough character with a strong backbone and I'm fully behind him 🧡
 
AngelBFC said:
Not necessarily

A club like fleetwood town getting into league 1 is a bigger achievement than West Ham being promoted to the prem I would suggest
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I disagree, particularly from a Managerial perspective...

I very much doubt that the Manager (forgive me I've no idea who it was) who managed to get Fleetwood promoted to L1 would have managed to guide West Ham to the Premier League....
 
Yes he did well getting us up and staying up comfortably, but anyone else think he was losing his way a little.
Did some strange selections mainly the nob end game, and very poor end to the season.
Maybe he felt it and jumped ship to learn more for himself.
 
I was rather shocked & disappointed when Critch left, but not angry. Let's see how Appleton does with this squad & perhaps a few incomings/loans. Meanwhile the weather's looking good & we've plenty of trips lined up, I'm afraid football will have to take a back seat until about October, but I'll be going to Bloomfield Rd if we are around.
 
PNENIL said:
Yeah of course they are. Thats why when any manager goes for a job he doesnt even ask about the wage budget.
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What are you talking about?

What difference does the wage budget make?

If you spend £20M on your wage budget is it easier to win a L1 title with that budget or a Premier League Title?
 
As each day passes without a signing I can see more and more why he left. He got us to the Championship and kept us in there, but knew you cannot stand still and must continually improve, as have Coventry and Luton. With the budget at his disposal he could see this coming season was going to be a struggle and didn't fancy the flak he would inevitably receive from our fans, so in a way I cannot blame him!
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
What are you talking about?

What difference does the wage budget make?

If you spend £20M on your wage budget is it easier to win a L1 title with that budget or a Premier League Title?
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I'm not explaining myself very well here but I'll try again.
If everything is equal then of course it's a bigger achievement to get promotion at a higher level as a manager. Sometimes circumstances matter though. Just as an example I would say Gareth Ainsworth getting Wycombe promoted has more sway than Daniel Farke doing it a league up with parachute payments.
I
 
PNENIL said:
I'm not explaining myself very well here but I'll try again.
If everything is equal then of course it's a bigger achievement to get promotion at a higher level as a manager. Sometimes circumstances matter though. Just as an example I would say Gareth Ainsworth getting Wycombe promoted has more sway than Daniel Farke doing it a league up with parachute payments.
I
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It’s not more of an achievement though…

You could give a shit manager all the money in the world and he still wouldn’t outperform a great manager on a lower budget.

Having loads of money to spend can bring its own problems and ultimately you still have to compete against other sides with plenty of spending power.

Reality is that average sides with average managers regularly achieve promotion from L2 to L1. As an achievement, it doesn’t feature anywhere near a promotion from L1 to the Championship…(regardless of funds)…
 
AngelBFC said:
I respect what he did for us.
I don’t miss him.
Managers are hired guns.
They want to do well for a club mainly to further their own careers.
They are no different from most ambitious employees in any industry.
Don’t get emotionally involved.
The only permanents in football clubs are fan owners and fans.
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Sorry Angel, you're right but I I really hoped that with Sadler and Critchley something uniquely new was happening. It's not naivety - I know how the business works - but just once, before I get called to the Great Gig in the Sky I'd like football to do something clean and uplifting. If that could have been done at Blackpool, all the better.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Sorry Angel, you're right but I I really hoped that with Sadler and Critchley something uniquely new was happening. It's not naivety - I know how the business works - but just once, before I get called to the Great Gig in the Sky I'd like football to do something clean and uplifting. If that could have been done at Blackpool, all the better.
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There’s still time - keep the faith!
 
To be fair I’m warming to Appleton quite a lot since he took charge, could argue Critch might be tactically better but at the end of the day Apples would absolutely web him in a fight
 
I'm over it now, and think it's time to look forward. NC did a good job imo, and it was disappointing how it ended, but I'm not really missing him. I wasn't keen on Appleton, and I'm still not. However, I thought it was ridiculous when people judged Critchley after only a handful of games, and said on here that managers should be given at least one full season, if not a couple, before we can really make an informed judgement. The same applies to MA - it would be hypocritical of me to think otherwise. So I'll reserve judgement and let's see what he can do with what I personally think is actually a very decent championship squad (with some obvious weaknesses that will hopefully be addressed over the next couple of weeks).
 
AngelBFC said:
When we talk of his legacy though what was it going to be anyway ?

He only did what Gary Bowyer did ie get us promoted to a higher division and kept us up .

No one raves about Bowyer and say they missed him a man who did the same as NC in far more difficult circumstances .
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You can’t even compare the two. Bowyer scraped 7th in L2. How difficult is it to finish halfway up L1 compared with 62 points in the Championship??
The two are completely different and Critchley’s achievements are massively more impressive.
 
Nope. Still angry at the way he handled it.
I’m not angry at the fact of him moving, as it’s completely and utterly understandable- he’s a coach who likes to coach. It’s his shithousery that riles me, and his completely unprofessional manner in dealing with things. Complete silence.
 
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