... NA is simply under-playing the situation. No need to raise expectations unnecessarily. Calm down ...
Elite and I are well apart in our views on Ardley, but his views are always well-supported by thought-out reasons. To call him boring is an observation of last resort and he's quite right that putting forward YOUR views in a non-boring way would be a better way to counter him.
... NA is simply under-playing the situation. No need to raise expectations unnecessarily. Calm down ...
Why keep regurgitating last season, completely different set of circumstances. No comparison to this season.
In terms of the interview. The starting point is players released. Although he moves onto different topics, it wouldn’t be right to come across as excited. Also, considering the current situation away from football, maybe the right tone.
Finally, how do we know that the tone of interviews reflect the image he portrays to the players.
I've often thought this myself about many managers past and present as to what they are like away from the media interviews they give. The key thing is does the manager have the respect of the players, do they listen to him and follow instructions? In Neal Ardley's case I believe he does have the players respect and they do listen to him.
Over the last 9 months I'd agree with you. In that time there is no doubt that Ardley has the respect of the players and that they are trying to play to his instructions. I don't want to add to my reputation as being 'anti-Ardley', but to add a sense of balance it just wasn't like that last season.
In many of his post-match interviews he would say something along the lines of "we've worked really hard on marking at set pieces all week, but the players didn't take it on board today". Maybe that was the reason, that the players didn't listen but now he's replaced them with a squad that does. If that's the case, the future is looking good.
I think he's aware that he's not the kind of manager to inspire players by ranting and raving which is why he places a lot of emphasis on the kind of characters in the dressing room (Doyle and JoB spring to mind) who either won't need any geeing up or will do the geeing up for him.
Which is fair enough.
I do appreciate that football doesn't offer managers much time to get their feet under the table but when you start a new job it can take time to get results. However it can also mean that the results stop after a time as well. I was pro Ardley for some time then pretty much gave up on him and he started getting results, however he does have an embarrassment of riches for this level in the squad. If the play offs happen I fear for us as the team will in my opinion need a high level of motivation to get over the line. He is not the man to deliver that.