Jose Riga

[OhSitDown]

Strangely came up on my Twitter feed this morning - now managing in Algeria

When we all think back, what was it about this guy which sent fans in to a worship meltdown? Never understood why so many wanted him at the club, so many had this blinkered appreciation of him and (despite the fact he was working with the O’s who were utter shite bags) why no one put any blame on him for our demise? He was useless, his signings were useless and he was one big con artist .. whose only redeeming feature was he contributed to the O’s departure.

José Riga - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Lala]

Strangely came up on my Twitter feed this morning - now managing in Algeria

When we all think back, what was it about this guy which sent fans in to a worship meltdown? Never understood why so many wanted him at the club, so many had this blinkered appreciation of him and (despite the fact he was working with the O’s who were utter shite bags) why no one put any blame on him for our demise? He was useless, his signings were useless and he was one big con artist .. whose only redeeming feature was he contributed to the O’s departure.

José Riga - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

He wore a nice suit I think ‘‘twas it.

 

[Chunkylad]

I’d have taken Rose West as manager if she called out Bowlhead for what he was like Riga did.

 

[Junior_BentsPlatformShoes]

I think we all felt a bit continental at this point in time, what with having played ultimate football and having had players like Silvestre, Martinez and Gomez in our team, it felt like Riga brought a bit of class in a decidedly classless situation.

 

[foggy]

Easy to forget but he had just done really well at Charlton (albeit only half a season) so he was coming off some very real success in the Championship. Of course there was some more irrational excitement, a European manager who had worked at AC Milan turning up at Blackpool wearing smart suits and talking about playing good football was a bit of a novelty (and something still new at the time, now they are ten pence a penny all the way through the Football League). He didn't get a real chance but he's clearly done nothing since either, so seems pretty safe to say he isn't up to much as a manager.

Shameless plug here, but I got good access to Riga, his agent and Karl talked to me a lot about him (nothing positive). The chapter on this season is maybe the most detailed in my book if anyone hasn't read it yet. Loads of alleged dodgy stuff going on with the transfers at the start of the season.

 

[fcblackpool]

He'd done very well at Charlton and had an air about him.

 

[April13th1970]

useless waste of space who tried to use our club to further his own agenda, just like the Oy***ns did but in a different way.

For me one of the 6 worst men to ever set foot in Bloomfield Rd

 

[The_Busted_Flush]

Because sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

 

[Seasider1953]

To be honest I thought he did very well , with no help from the Oystons. He hardly had any players to start with but I do remember that his team tried to play football in the right way, not just hoof ball.

 

[Hockaday’s Quiff]

One key was effectively refusing to sign players thus exposing the shower by us having 2 subs for a league game and struggling to muster a team to play Penrith! Others like Muggers covered the tracks by acquiescing to signing garbage.

 

[Far north tangerine]

He was the first manager to front up to the regime (apart from maybe mcmahon) and he wasn't afraid to show hiw utterly useless Karl was
Yes it was to the clubs detriment but I feel ultimately he played a part in lifting the lid on the disgraceful way the club was run
He should not be hated for that

 

[Trammo]

Last game of the season Barry Ferguson was in temporary charge of the team. Riga was Charlton boss and they won 3-0 at Bloomfield Rd. I believe if Pool had won Ferguson may have been offered the job permanently. Riga left Charlton in the close season. The Stains asked Jimmy Armfield and others for advice on who should be manager and Riga's name was put forward. To be fair he had done a reasonable job at Charlton but faced with having to deal with The Stains and by making some not very good signings it all went tits up.

 

[glasshalffull]

Cubero

 

[WIZARD OF TANGERINE]

The bloke was absolutely shafted by Oyscum and as far as I can see did nothing wrong . It was public knowledge that Oyscum was shafting him and I can't see why he is being blamed at all for our demise.

 

[Mark_GT]

Great song - silver hair. The rest is history

 

[King Billy]

The only people who didn’t like him at the time were the Oyston apologists.

 

[Lost Seasider]

Last game of the season Barry Ferguson was in temporary charge of the team. Riga was Charlton boss and they won 3-0 at Bloomfield Rd. I believe if Pool had won Ferguson may have been offered the job permanently. Riga left Charlton in the close season. The Stains asked Jimmy Armfield and others for advice on who should be manager and Riga's name was put forward. To be fair he had done a reasonable job at Charlton but faced with having to deal with The Stains and by making some not very good signings it all went tits up.

I seem to remember that BF made it clear at the time he didn't want the job, and having spent 3 years at the club you can see why.

That said, he might've done a better job than Riga, I guess we'll never know.

 

[SeasideKurt]

The bloke was absolutely shafted by Oyscum and as far as I can see did nothing wrong . It was public knowledge that Oyscum was shafting him and I can't see why he is being blamed at all for our demise.

Only by thick people tbh.

Imagine a manager wanting Championship standard players in the Championship.

 

[Satriale's Pork Store]

The fact that he got under KOCK's skin endeared him to a lot of Seasiders...

We really were a car crash of a club at that time; I recall going to Penrith for a pre-season friendly with a depleted squad and eight triallists.

To think, where we are now with SS and bellends are giving him stick!

 

[Lytham_fy8]

If you blame Riga you have to blame Appleton as well.

 

[Lost Seasider]

Deleted at ElBurro's request.

And the source for those claims?

 

[tangerinespud]

That Zenjov character he signed ……

 

[LimerickTangerine]

Strangely came up on my Twitter feed this morning - now managing in Algeria

When we all think back, what was it about this guy which sent fans in to a worship meltdown? Never understood why so many wanted him at the club, so many had this blinkered appreciation of him and (despite the fact he was working with the O’s who were utter shite bags) why no one put any blame on him for our demise? He was useless, his signings were useless and he was one big con artist .. whose only redeeming feature was he contributed to the O’s departure.

José Riga - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

He had a big part of it in the season he was appointed & his stand off against the oystons although i was happy in a way that someone stood up to them, but on the other hand none of the 2 parties put the Club 1st only their own interests.

 

[Lytham_fy8]

José Riga on Blackpool: ‘They were the very worst circumstances’

The former Charlton manager endured four difficult months under his chairman, including using trialists for practice games

www.theguardian.com

 

[glasshalffull]

I wonder what would have happened if Brian Flynn had been appointed?
If memory serves he had been already just about made manager by the O’s when Karl pulled the plug seemingly in part at least because of our fans disapproval at the time?
Maybe things would have been different and we would still have been fighting our battles with them to this day?

 

[Alfie Conn]

He had a big part of it in the season he was appointed & his stand off against the oystons although i was happy in a way that someone stood up to them, but on the other hand none of the 2 parties put the Club 1st only their own interests.

Agreed,by the end of that stand off we were as good as relegated,you would of thought two grown men would of been able to come to a compromise, but we are talking about Karl Oyston here.

 

[Killingmesoftly]

I remember the “Riga revolution” ..and the cheap 2 year season tickets…which was when I think a lot didn’t renew due to the lack of investment…the ..bought into it though…

 

[CGP1]

I saw his team play twice, he was a huge improvement on what Ince had been trying to do. We were at least trying to play decent stuff.

 

[Poolview]

I'm sure that was the season we didn't have a full team registered at 8 o clock the first day of the season
Riga's stand against K O finally made my mind up not to renew and consequently support N A P M next season
Impossible to assess him given the conditions he had to work under,
Though his Charlton team played us off the park the previous season

 

[AngelBFC]

Strangely came up on my Twitter feed this morning - now managing in Algeria

When we all think back, what was it about this guy which sent fans in to a worship meltdown? Never understood why so many wanted him at the club, so many had this blinkered appreciation of him and (despite the fact he was working with the O’s who were utter shite bags) why no one put any blame on him for our demise? He was useless, his signings were useless and he was one big con artist .. whose only redeeming feature was he contributed to the O’s departure.

José Riga - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

You are making some serious allegations here about this man

Anything to back them up ?

 

[WIZARD OF TANGERINE]

I seem to remember that BF made it clear at the time he didn't want the job, and having spent 3 years at the club you can see why.

That said, he might've done a better job than Riga, I guess we'll never know.

Riga was lied too by Oyscum right from the start . He was going to be given investment and a new training ground . Once he signed he was given nought and Oyscum had used his name and limited success to fool pool fans into investing in the RIGA REVOLUTION.

 

[tangerine_neil]

Don’t blame his choice of signings when Karl and Rapey didn’t allow him to sign any of his 1st choice list or 2nd choice list. The players we did sign were not his fault. By then he was already massively disillusioned

 

[mull]

Cubero

I liked Cubero . Wasn't he the Costa Rican international who wrote a fairly witty blog whilst here . ? Always enjoyed the fake Riga spoof blogs too... Or were they spoof Karl blogs . Anyway it was a pretty weird time all told

 

[glasshalffull]

I liked Cubero . Wasn't he the Costa Rican international who wrote a fairly witty blog whilst here . ? Always enjoyed the fake Riga spoof blogs too... Or were they spoof Karl blogs . Anyway it was a pretty weird time all told

Wasn’t really trying to knock the player TBH. I am sure he would have been OK. He was just hardly ever available to play presumably because that would have cost Karl extra?
He was over hyped as well because he had just played in a World Cup, None of it his fault!

 

[TangerineYfronts]

Riga was well and truly shafted by the scum. Did they not travel down to London once on the train and had to transfer across London by Underground? Hardly professional. Seem to recall Riga had to use his own credit card on one occasion to pay for something for the team.

 

[AngelBFC]

I liked Cubero . Wasn't he the Costa Rican international who wrote a fairly witty blog whilst here . ? Always enjoyed the fake Riga spoof blogs too... Or were they spoof Karl blogs . Anyway it was a pretty weird time all told

Wasn’t that Andrea Orlandi ?

 

[seaside7]

How can anyone be critical of the man who introduced us to Jeffrey Rentmeister...

 

[Qblock]

Sod the football (which we can’t fairly judge him on anyway)
He was the beginning of the end, and the new beginning. He’ll do for me

 

[Wizaard]

How can anyone be critical of the man who introduced us to Jeffrey Rentmeister...

Karl thought he was getting someone to sort the pre lets with a name like that.

 

[TonyEllisTopBins]

Riga and his agent were absolutely bent as nine bob notes.

 

[TonyEllisTopBins]

Sod the football (which we can’t fairly judge him on anyway)
He was the beginning of the end, and the new beginning. He’ll do for me

He wasn’t though

 

[TonyEllisTopBins]

You are making some serious allegations here about this man

Anything to back them up ?

He’s completely correct. All the foreign signings were made with extra incentives

 

[Charlie Gracie]

Strangely came up on my Twitter feed this morning - now managing in Algeria

When we all think back, what was it about this guy which sent fans in to a worship meltdown? Never understood why so many wanted him at the club, so many had this blinkered appreciation of him and (despite the fact he was working with the O’s who were utter shite bags) why no one put any blame on him for our demise? He was useless, his signings were useless and he was one big con artist .. whose only redeeming feature was he contributed to the O’s departure.

José Riga - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Stupid and irresponsible post! Completely wrong! You owe the man an apology…

 

[AngelBFC]

He’s completely correct. All the foreign signings were made with extra incentives

According to who ?

Karl Oyston ?

 

[mightybfc]

Let's be honest, Zenjov and Rentmeister were never players Oyston will have targeted. I think one of the Oriol brothers were okay but can't remember which. In general, his foreign signings were woeful which, even with a decent owner, would see him have less say on signings.

The football was okay but we were very soft and didn't really threaten opposition teams much.

 

[mull]

Wasn’t that Andrea Orlandi ?

I think you re right there . It was an excellent read tho in difficult times

 

[Seasider1887]

He felt like one of us and came on the back of some relative success. Anyone anti the scum is ok by me and most of us I suspect.

 

[clappers]

He was sold a pup…agree they should build a proper development squad…made a few signings for the development squad…then a KoKo told him there was no money left for actual signings for the first team, and went AWOL. No wonder Riga was pizzed off and effectively down tools.

You can’t judge him by what happened at Blackpool.

 

[AngelBFC]

Riga was lied too by Oyscum right from the start . He was going to be given investment and a new training ground . Once he signed he was given nought and Oyscum had used his name and limited success to fool pool fans into investing in the RIGA REVOLUTION.

This is probably the best summary of what actually happened

 

[BFC76]

Riga was in it for himself. Wanted players who he would get commission for. His agent mates put forward all the players. Oyston didn't fall for it and by then he didn't give a flying feck about the club and where it would go and so just left him to stagnate. Riga was Oyston's downfall but let's face it he was an appalling decision (although Clark and McDonald showed he wasn't the worst manager!).