Gerhard Struber/ Manchester United

I think he’s an outstanding coach, he very quickly brought on lots of young players & had them playing comfortably in two different systems.

There’s plenty on here that don’t rate him because he didn’t pick the players in the same positions that they would have but for me that makes his achievements even greater. He was able to come up with solutions that baffled many on here but they worked.

If you asked the majority of fans if they’d want to see Thomas, Simoes, Palmer, Halme, Chaplin etc starting regularly for us they’d say no they aren’t good enough but he got results with them.

 

It's also basically the same squad that stayed up on the last day of that season - minus 2 significant players.

Looking back, Val was an utter miracle worker.

 

No but it's about time somebody did love .

 

He was indeed a miracle worker.

He's made the best of the squad of players he had.

Danny did better when he took us up with his mix'n'match ragbag of players, but after that he's probably next best in terms of results.

That however is not a reason to slag off the job that Struber did.

If Struber had been down the pub with the lads and Stendel had stayed at home, many would see things differently.

 

Fair points, well made.

Although I do disagree.

 

I can imagine you rescuing Gerhard from his stranded car in a snow storm north of NYC, dragging him to the refuge of your home. You, his biggest fan, nurse SuperTyke . Tucking him up in bed and proceeding to whack his ankles with the sledgehammer They used to call it hobbling, break the ankles so they can't walk. It's almost like a movie!

 

Wigan saved us.

 

This is true

 

Supertyke doesn't connect me with Misery.

"Til I see Mads emerging on the pitch . Then I remember the curse of obsession.

 

By cheating in spending too much money and playing that bloke that they got from us up front who you described as passing when he meant to shoot and shooting when he meant to pass.

Mr Moore, the bloke who within half a week of your post went on to score a hat trick for us at Rochdale.

He has since become a mainstay of a decent Welsh national team.

Playing by the rules saved us.

 

that’s actually a step down for the lad

 

so we agree not GS. On performances and results on the pitch we were relegated. Like you I think GS did a good job but only the Wigan meltdown kept us up.

 

Struber did an amazing job. Yes we needed Wigan to lose points,but there weren't many managers who could have got the points he got that season. Weren't we top 6 since he arrived?
He had us in top 6 form, Ismael had us in top 6 form... A decent coach and we should be succeeding.

 

No we don't agree.

I'm not sure where you get the idea of"performances" from. Unless you want to look at how well Struber had us passing the ball about. Which I'm all for.

If you want to look at how many points per games we got under Struber, over the course of a season, he'd have easily kept us up. So it was what went on before he turned up that handicapped him.

His own points tally was fine. And the rules helped him make his own luck.

 

That period after lockdown under Gerhard is probably my favourite spell in six years. We'd been locked up for three months, there were so many fears and worries surrounding everything. Coming back without fans, cut well adrift at the bottom of the league. What occurred was the stuff of fiction. Roy of the Rovers. And whilst I've seen us achieve so-called 'bigger things' in my years as a Red, nothing tops that moment at full-time at Griffin Park. It was like we'd climbed Everest.

 

Some cracking quotes in that film. One that always springs to mind.. 'my penguin always faces due South' when she notices he made a break for it while she was out also, 'he didnt get out of the cocker doody car'

 

Very different when you're actually there though and part of it mate

 

I wish I'd been working in that environment. It would have been the epitome of my career.

 

Exactly!