Ollie Gone

hertfordseasider said:
Too many people in glass houses here. He was ace, end of. The Stains were vermin, end of, VB is a legend end of. it was an incredible time in our history and actually instigated the end of the tyrannical rule and why we now have a great owner, manager etc.,

It's very unchristmasy place this at the moment, too many miserable fuckers.
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"...too many miserable fuckers."
I wonder why! 😜
 
Music definitely, I haven't had an alcoholic drink for nearly 3 weeks, just not fancied it. Watching the Pool has been great though.
 
I agree with the comments about his achievements and also his limitations, especially his support for the Os.

There was certainly a different way. If you want an example of how a manager could deal with the Family without upsetting the boycotting fans, then you need look no further than Gary Bowyer.

A remarkable and underrrated achievement in very difficult circumstances IMO.
 
Scaramanga said:
He should never of backed the Os but I suppose they paid his wages. Other than that he will always be fondly thought of from me. Best football I’ve eve watched at Bloomfield road and fulfilled a dream I never thought I would see in my lifetime. (Even if the greed league drives me nuts)
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The Stains paid Gary Bowyers wages as well as Terry McPhillips, both kept a dignified silence. Holloway on the other hand couldn't keep his ever eager mouth shut.
 
I wish he'd stayed in the job as it had helped to ensure that he kept relatively quiet. T5he way is now clear for him to be back on tv and radio spouting his particular line in cod-homespun bullshit. I'll never forgive his pro Oyston anti protest diatribes.
 
Mark_GT said:
He had a choice to just say nothing. It would have been a better choice than the one he knowingly made.
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He has a right to express his opinion and just cos we don't like it it doesn't undermine what he delivered here. He clearly appreciated something about the relationship with Karl, probably Karl's lack of interest in the football team, meaning he got less interference than elsewhere. I don't have a problem with it, despite having a 30 year problem with the Oystons. And Ollie is no way perfect, but I'm not arsed about that either. The squad from that time speak really highly of Ollie, they lived him. Shame the fans don't all feel the same really.
 
20togo said:
Never had a woman break your heart Voy?
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Hell yeah! But I never fancied Ollie. 😉

I was always pragmatic about the club when the Oystons owned it. the fans judged people who worked for the club under very difficult circumstances - like Larry when he walked away to his boyhood club. I never felt that way. I would never have wanted to work in an Oyston company and I would never criticise anyone for leaving one and I never have done. Success was always time limited with them in charge. I was really disappointed at Wembley at the end of the West Ham game - but I took it, cos I knew that the Oystons were only interested in the money and would take the lion's share. Same when we lost at United last day - we had a great season but the next one would have been really tough, no investment in the squad. Ollie was working flat out and stressed to pieces, it was obvious. And yeah, people then wonder why he didn't criticise KO. But as far as I'm concerned that;'s up to him. He did much more than we could ever reasonably have expected, he worked his knackers off for it, he inspired people. I'm not going to quibble about some crap he said after. You have to et the woman go and accept she has freedom of movement - and look back fondly at the good times.
 
hertfordseasider said:
Too many people in glass houses here. He was ace, end of. The Stains were vermin, end of, VB is a legend end of. it was an incredible time in our history and actually instigated the end of the tyrannical rule and why we now have a great owner, manager etc.,

It's very unchristmasy place this at the moment, too many miserable fuckers.
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Holloway had a decent 6 months or so getting us promoted and the start of the Prem season he then started to believe his own hype and was found out mentally and tactically

VB invested in our club and walked away with 30 million

Legend's??

Nah not in my book
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Holloway had a decent 6 months or so getting us promoted and the start of the Prem season he then started to believe his own hype and was found out mentally and tactically

VB invested in our club and walked away with 30 million

Legend's??

Nah not in my book
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Some of the best performances were start of 2012/3 season, with a totally new team but unfortunately could not be sustained for whatever reason. So even though he spouted a lot of crap he must have had something special at that time.
For all we know Simon Sadler may have wanted sole ownership. VB did enough in getting rid of the Oystons to be well thought of by most fans
 
I reckon the Holloway/Koko relationship went deeper. Something was definitely afoot there. He had him up at his estate blasting away at animals too I recall. Straight red for me.
 
hertfordseasider said:
Too many people in glass houses here. He was ace, end of. The Stains were vermin, end of, VB is a legend end of. it was an incredible time in our history and actually instigated the end of the tyrannical rule and why we now have a great owner, manager etc.,

It's very unchristmasy place this at the moment, too many miserable fuckers.
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Holloway had a decent 6 months or so getting us promoted and the start of the Prem season he then started to believe his own hype and was found out mentally and tactically

VB invested in our club and walked away with 30 million

Legend's??

Nah not in my book
 
tangysider said:
Some of the best performances were start of 2012/3 season, with a totally new team but unfortunately could not be sustained for whatever reason. So even though he spouted a lot of crap he must have had something special at that time.
For all we know Simon Sadler may have wanted sole ownership. VB did enough in getting rid of the Oystons to be well thought of by most fans
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I haven't forgotten the following season at all

Holloway was in a mood for most of it and our form was inconsistent

Think we lost about 12 games
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
I haven't forgotten the following season at all

Holloway was in a mood for most of it and our form was inconsistent

Think we lost about 12 games
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And walked top six to another final where we were ultimately robbed by a team on a much higher budget.

The managers who followed didn't exactly thrive under the same conditions.
 
Will forever be grateful of Ollie and the magical style of football we were blessed to watch. The only thing I questioned was the part of his deal where he got a cut on transfers. It seemed to go against the grain of building and maintaining the squad. I wonder if he had something similar at Grimsby which their prospective new owners wouldn't have allowed?
 
BigHandsOliverKahn said:
Will forever be grateful of Ollie and the magical style of football we were blessed to watch. The only thing I questioned was the part of his deal where he got a cut on transfers. It seemed to go against the grain of building and maintaining the squad. I wonder if he had something similar at Grimsby which their prospective new owners wouldn't have allowed?
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Maybe had Oyston paid the going rate there would have been no need for the deal.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Holloway had a decent 6 months or so getting us promoted and the start of the Prem season he then started to believe his own hype and was found out mentally and tactically

VB invested in our club and walked away with 30 million

Legend's??

Nah not in my book
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Have to totally agree with Phil on this one 👍
 
He did a good job when he came but it seems It was the perfect storm just then which he was fortunate to inherit. He has though shown his limitations as a manager both previously and subsequently. His persistent support for KOKO suggests thatif Olly could help him get his greedy hands in the till KOKO was happy to offer Olly incentives to do so ,sod the interests of the team.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Holloway had a decent 6 months or so getting us promoted and the start of the Prem season he then started to believe his own hype and was found out mentally and tactically

VB invested in our club and walked away with 30 million

Legend's??

Nah not in my book
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He had 3 good season's not 6 months. Got us up, 39 points in the prem and reached the play off final. The moment he left everything collapsed. All facts not opinion.
 
1950`spoolfan said:
He did a good job when he came but it seems It was the perfect storm just then which he was fortunate to inherit. He has though shown his limitations as a manager both previously and subsequently. His persistent support for KOKO suggests thatif Olly could help him get his greedy hands in the till KOKO was happy to offer Olly incentives to do so ,sod the interests of the team.
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Generally agree with all that. Yep, he inherited a lot of decent players but he also improved them and it was Holloway that moved Vaughan from playing out wide to the centre of the park.
 
1950`spoolfan said:
He did a good job when he came but it seems It was the perfect storm just then which he was fortunate to inherit. He has though shown his limitations as a manager both previously and subsequently. His persistent support for KOKO suggests thatif Olly could help him get his greedy hands in the till KOKO was happy to offer Olly incentives to do so ,sod the interests of the team.
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Disagree with 20s here. He got lucky and then he went into a pact with KO to make money? That's a pretty twisted reading of events I think. And completely erases what he did to take a struggling team, the favourites for relegation, to the premier League, and some victories over teams we will probably never beat again in League matches. It amazes me how easily some people just dismiss what happened as a bit of luck. And you combine it with corruption. Poor show, I reckon. Not a fair assessment of what happened. Under playing what was achieved. Imagining a corrupt motive. Wanting to believe the worst of somebody.
 
It's less a question of wanting to believe the worst of somebody - more a question of being thoroughly disappointed by the behaviour of somebody in whom we believed for a while. You make your choices......
 
Great debate on views on what we think of ollie. For me he gave me my best football moments on and off the pitch (some great away weekends) and that I will be forever grateful. (This year has made be realise even more how you need to cherish these times)

Yes not happy with his koko love in or how he didn't come out and tell some home truths but the happy memories well out weigh this.

So tainted yes, would i have him back..no but them memories cant be bought with all the money in the world.

I was excited with Ollie's reign but sadler/ critchley/calderwood partnership is on another level. Let's get vaccinated and when we have the chance let's homecoming part 2 organised. Utp
 
voyeur said:
I think it's more about his mental condition. He's bipolar if you ask me. And that affects how he deals with situations. Managing a football is a huge and intense task, and he gets intensely involved and burns out. And the relationships suffer.
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That is exactly what I was going to post. I have thought for a few years that he is bipolar or something similar. It would certainly explain a lot about his behaviour.

For me I see nothing wrong with appreciating everything he gave us in his time at the club, whilst also being very disappointed in his stubborn support, then, after he left, and especially during the NAPM years, his defence of the Oystons, combined with his, IMO, unjust criticism of fans from afar. It doesn't have to be one or the other, we are all capable of "good and bad".
 
Bispham_Seasider said:
That is exactly what I was going to post. I have thought for a few years that he is bipolar or something similar. It would certainly explain a lot about his behaviour.

For me I see nothing wrong with appreciating everything he gave us in his time at the club, whilst also being very disappointed in his stubborn support, then, after he left, and especially during the NAPM years, his defence of the Oystons, combined with his, IMO, unjust criticism of fans from afar. It doesn't have to be one or the other, we are all capable of "good and bad".
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Spot on. Good ..... and bad. Perfect summary.
 
Bispham_Seasider said:
That is exactly what I was going to post. I have thought for a few years that he is bipolar or something similar. It would certainly explain a lot about his behaviour.

For me I see nothing wrong with appreciating everything he gave us in his time at the club, whilst also being very disappointed in his stubborn support, then, after he left, and especially during the NAPM years, his defence of the Oystons, combined with his, IMO, unjust criticism of fans from afar. It doesn't have to be one or the other, we are all capable of "good and bad".
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excellent summary, my thoughts entirely.
 
PNENIL said:
He had 3 good season's not 6 months. Got us up, 39 points in the prem and reached the play off final. The moment he left everything collapsed. All facts not opinion.
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He had a good 6 months

The rest was just average

Some great performances followed by some absolute dross

The 2nd half of the Premier league season was awful with some very poor defeats against teams near us in the league

Villa away still bugs now with all those changes

We should have stayed up given the start we had

The following season with arguable a better squad we also lost key games

2 thrashings by Fat Sams West Ham along with poor defeats against Burnley, Leicester, Reading and Derby and they are just off the top of my head along with a bizarre team selection away at Everton in the cup with 6,000 Pool fans

And dont get me started on the 3rd season when he left on a day of a match after throwing his toys out of his pram after spending years defending the Oystons and criticising the fans
 
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Phil, 2nd half of season koko the clown in nets cost us... if the other koko had gone out and got given (or anyone of note in jan window) we would have stayed up... not that im arsed as if we had we might still have that family.
 
hertfordseasider said:
Too many people in glass houses here. He was ace, end of. The Stains were vermin, end of, VB is a legend end of. it was an incredible time in our history and actually instigated the end of the tyrannical rule and why we now have a great owner, manager etc.,

It's very unchristmasy place this at the moment, too many miserable fuckers.
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You'd struggle to find a more ungrateful bunch of whingers than on here would you?

It doesn't really matter who you put up for discussion on AVFTT they get shot down and shit on. Rarely a positive thread or positive comments these days.

It's like a pack mentality too. One tears a strip and then they are all in like a pack of hyenas.
 
TangerineArmy said:
Phil, 2nd half of season koko the clown in nets cost us... if the other koko had gone out and got given (or anyone of note in jan window) we would have stayed up... not that im arsed as if we had we might still have that family.
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He also won us points at Stoke and Sunderland

But like you say in hindsight it was probably for the best that we went down
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
He also won us points at Stoke and Sunderland

But like you say in hindsight it was probably for the best that we went down
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True with Sunderland but how is anyone's guess... well lots of poor finishing, luck and some good saves. Sure they had 21 shots that day! Another great away weekend
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
He had a good 6 months

The rest was just average

Some great performances followed by some absolute dross

The 2nd half of the Premier league season was awful with some very poor defeats against teams near us in the league

Villa away still bugs now with all those changes

We should have stayed up given the start we had

The following season with arguable a better squad we also lost key games

2 thrashings by Fat Sams West Ham along with poor defeats against Burnley, Leicester, Reading and Derby and they are just off the top of my head along with a bizarre team selection away at Everton in the cup with 6,000 Pool fans

And dont get me started on the 3rd season when he left on a day of a match after throwing his toys out of his pram after spending years defending the Oystons and criticising the fans
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The third season was when we made the play offs not when he left.
Your just focusing on every negative possible in that post. I could argue against it all but i just cant be arsed with you.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
He had a good 6 months

The rest was just average

Some great performances followed by some absolute dross

The 2nd half of the Premier league season was awful with some very poor defeats against teams near us in the league

Villa away still bugs now with all those changes

We should have stayed up given the start we had

The following season with arguable a better squad we also lost key games

2 thrashings by Fat Sams West Ham along with poor defeats against Burnley, Leicester, Reading and Derby and they are just off the top of my head along with a bizarre team selection away at Everton in the cup with 6,000 Pool fans

And dont get me started on the 3rd season when he left on a day of a match after throwing his toys out of his pram after spending years defending the Oystons and criticising the fans
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A good six months. Which ones out of interest.

I could give you the second half of season 1, the first half of season 2, or most of season 3.

I reckon that's substantially more than 6 months by anyone's reckoning.

I've been supporting this club for 55 years and his reign was the best spell of it all. I've no issue with people picking up on the way he left. I was on my way to Derby and was appalled.

However, the good memories far and away outweigh any of that. If I met him, I'd shake his hand and thank him for the good times.
 
He once said that at the end of his life he would remember with great fondness those special days at Blackpool as I think most of us would though at the same time I`d rather forget his very warped opinion of the Oystons and his probable reasons for that.
 
Wizaard said:
A good six months. Which ones out of interest.

I could give you the second half of season 1, the first half of season 2, or most of season 3.

I reckon that's substantially more than 6 months by anyone's reckoning.

I've been supporting this club for 55 years and his reign was the best spell of it all. I've no issue with people picking up on the way he left. I was on my way to Derby and was appalled.

However, the good memories far and away outweigh any of that. If I met him, I'd shake his hand and thank him for the good times.
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Funnily enough I had no issue with the way he left. If your going your going. The impact from it hurt us greatly not the timing. It was one game and there would still have been the fallout on the Monday after Derby if he'd have waited till then. There's 2 sides to anybody leaving in football. Managers being sacked in the tunnel after a game to turning up at the training ground in a morning to be potted. Works both ways.
Ollie was going anyway and we still had a capable number 2 to take the team. Not ideal but that's life. We've all seen people in our own working careers just vanish. It's how it is sometimes.
 
"He had a good 6 months"


With respect - and ignoring any deals with Koko, Bipolar, baboon grinning etc, etc - that's utter horschite.

In his first season, we were in the Championship and started the season with only Scunny below us in the betting and we got promoted.

In his second season, we very nearly survived in the Premiership despite the fact he had both hands tied behind his back.

In his third season, we finished in the play-offs in the Championship yet again and very narrowly missed out on promotion back to the Premier League.

In his last season we started very well with some great performances before things started to go a bit pear.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not asking anybody to like Ollie and I am not suggesting that he is beyond criticism but I think that to claim that "he had a good 6 months" is seriously understating our on field performances during his reign.
 
For the most part, it was a magical 3 and a bit seasons from Holloway.
To suggest anything else is disrespectful, underplaying attempt to re-write BFC history.
That period was our zenith of football during my lifetime. Many won’t have seen better outside of archive film. I can’t help but look back on those years with the fondest of memories and a desire to see those good times return.
 
I read an Olly newspaper article a few weeks after our defeat to West Ham at Wembley.
He mentioned that if he was not financially backed by Oystons then he would have to reconsider his career.Apart from the signing of Osbourne, freebies and a few loans he had little backing. I believe he wanted DJ Campbell back on loan and maybe the last straw.
 
Whether or not Holloway is bipolar, he is certainly a Contrarian (with a capital C). He takes pleasure in asserting an opinion that runs against the generally accepted view. In fact that is often the first thing that comes out of his mouth before he starts thinking. He cannot help himself.

Maybe, because of his admitted lack of education, he wants others to appreciate him as clever. Which is a very human and touching weakness in my opinion. If you agree with society’s norms you are seen as run of the mill. If you take strongly opposite views you are either mad or a genius.

Sometimes it works; certainly his attitude woke something special in our squad in those years to turn good players into great players for us. Sometimes being a Contrarian fails and Holloway deciding to run against the prevailing fans’ opinion on the Stains is the most glaring. We saw the very best of Holloway and a little of his weaker side, not just in regard to money but other things as well.

On the whole though, everyone involved with the Pool got very lucky for a few years as a result of Holloway’s involvement with us. Though it has to be said that without the pressure caused by the Stains’ malign influence that luck could have extended longer. However, without Holloway, that incredible series of events that led to the removal of the Stains by Belokon and our rebalancing as a decent, proper club under Sadler would never have happened.
 
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The stars aligned. His curious contrarian style worked with a chairman who was contrarian for his own reasons, coupled with a way of playing that he wanted to implement and access to players who could implement it. He never could recapture that moment in time and he just feeds his own legend to a diminishing audience and diminishing returns.
 
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