Gannon Sacked! Motherwell Part Company with Manager

[El Grew]

I don't want to play the age card but I've been watching the 'Well for more years than I care to remember and the one thing that our club has been consistently excellent at, is making a right roaring c*nt of things.

 

I believe Jim Gannon thought in coming to manage a club in the SPL he would be stepping up to a much higher level of football than he had been at. However, he was genuinely shocked at what he had taken on at FP in terms of the poor quality of the playing staff. He did try really hard to improve things in that respect but obviously stood on the egos of a few players whose opinion of their own football ability is vastly greater than it actually is.

 

In my view Gannon was right - the standard of player at FP when he arrived was about as low as I can ever recall, and I've seen some pretty awful ones. Players lacking in physical stature, physical conditioning, lack of ability and unable to take on board simple instructions. He rightly decided a clear out was needed and some of the players would not do and brought in a number of younger players plus some loan signings to try and jump start things. Yes he was ruthless but sometimes that's called for and I think it was the right call.

 

However, during the last 3 games in particular when we shipped 12 goals the cold light of reality finally dawned on him and he knew that with a large number of the playing staff he was wasting his time. We do have far too many players o our books who just will not do for SPL level for many different reasons and maybe he felt that the rebuilding job was going to be too much without having the freedom to get rid of all the dead wood and a bit of cash to strengthen the team.

 

So I think that whoever comes in will be faced with exactly the same problems as Jim Gannon.

[postiejim]

According to the ever reliable Chick young John Boyle is in Australia ,the decision to let Gannon go was made last week even before the St Johnstone game .

[tree]

I don't want to play the age card but I've been watching the 'Well for more years than I care to remember and the one thing that our club has been consistently excellent at, is making a right roaring c*nt of things.

 

I believe Jim Gannon thought in coming to manage a club in the SPL he would be stepping up to a much higher level of football than he had been at. However, he was genuinely shocked at what he had taken on at FP in terms of the poor quality of the playing staff. He did try really hard to improve things in that respect but obviously stood on the egos of a few players whose opinion of their own football ability is vastly greater than it actually is.

 

In my view Gannon was right - the standard of player at FP when he arrived was about as low as I can ever recall, and I've seen some pretty awful ones. Players lacking in physical stature, physical conditioning, lack of ability and unable to take on board simple instructions. He rightly decided a clear out was needed and some of the players would not do and brought in a number of younger players plus some loan signings to try and jump start things. Yes he was ruthless but sometimes that's called for and I think it was the right call.

 

However, during the last 3 games in particular when we shipped 12 goals the cold light of reality finally dawned on him and he knew that with a large number of the playing staff he was wasting his time. We do have far too many players o our books who just will not do for SPL level for many different reasons and maybe he felt that the rebuilding job was going to be too much without having the freedom to get rid of all the dead wood and a bit of cash to strengthen the team.

 

So I think that whoever comes in will be faced with exactly the same problems as Jim Gannon.

 

 

That's it for me and since this realisation he has been engineering his escape.

[nethertonwellfan]

According to the ever reliable Chick young John Boyle is in Australia ,the decision to let Gannon go was made last week even before the St Johnstone game .

Wel in that case it's Ian Ferguson with Bob Malcolm as his assistant.

[Yir Elder]

I'm sure that Boyle, Gannon and perhaps some players will have their say over the next few days, and that much more will surface about this story.

 

What we need to do is back the team 100% on Wednesday and against Accies next weekend, the rest will take care of itself.

[Finlay]

Great post El Grew!!!

[Well Well]

I don't want to play the age card but I've been watching the 'Well for more years than I care to remember and the one thing that our club has been consistently excellent at, is making a right roaring c*nt of things.

 

I believe Jim Gannon thought in coming to manage a club in the SPL he would be stepping up to a much higher level of football than he had been at. However, he was genuinely shocked at what he had taken on at FP in terms of the poor quality of the playing staff. He did try really hard to improve things in that respect but obviously stood on the egos of a few players whose opinion of their own football ability is vastly greater than it actually is.

 

In my view Gannon was right - the standard of player at FP when he arrived was about as low as I can ever recall, and I've seen some pretty awful ones. Players lacking in physical stature, physical conditioning, lack of ability and unable to take on board simple instructions. He rightly decided a clear out was needed and some of the players would not do and brought in a number of younger players plus some loan signings to try and jump start things. Yes he was ruthless but sometimes that's called for and I think it was the right call.

 

However, during the last 3 games in particular when we shipped 12 goals the cold light of reality finally dawned on him and he knew that with a large number of the playing staff he was wasting his time. We do have far too many players o our books who just will not do for SPL level for many different reasons and maybe he felt that the rebuilding job was going to be too much without having the freedom to get rid of all the dead wood and a bit of cash to strengthen the team.

 

So I think that whoever comes in will be faced with exactly the same problems as Jim Gannon.

 

Nail on the head...!! Without a doubt in my mind Gannon realised what he had to work with and went into a deep depression which he never came out off really. I suppose he didn't commit his future to the club as he wasn't given any money to rebuild and pure speculation again here that the Ruddy situation where JB was willing to part with the cash for a quick profit and unwilling to invest on lower league players was probably the straw the broke the camels back for Gannon.

With his vision out the window he was probably quickly demotivated as he knew he did not have the quality of player he knew he required to turn us around.

 

Again I stress given time I have no doubt he would have turned us into a young free flowing football team. If only we had a board to match his ambition. If only we employed Gannon when we were able to purchase the Spencers and Gorams of this world.

 

I know there is a lot of ifs and maybe in my argument but modern football has no room for visionaries and clubs want top league short term survival. I can see also the chairman side of things but if you have no faith in your manager by not providing them with the funds to do the job then you will get a few more demoralised managers like Gannon on the future.

 

I know we are living in more austere times but I feel we have lost someone with great ability and vision who one day with the right chairman funding his young team will run riot in whatever league he manages.

 

No arguments from me about his strengths and weaknesses we know what they are and he has not been shy in showing both off at times, just feel that if JB had shown a wee bit more faith by releasing some funds then Gannon would have signed that contract. Its all hindsight now and no doubts there will be strong arguments against in the coming hours and days but this is only my humble opinion.

 

I, as always support the team no matter who manages it or owns it. Club survival is everything just wish we had more faith in this guy as I firmly believe he would have turned us into a very attractive team challenging regularly for honours for little outlay.

[jk2205]

If he's over there, then get on the phone to Ernie Merrick and see if he's bored with Melbourne and fancies a wee jaunt back to scotland

[ross_mfc91]

Bit of a shocker but im not completely surprised. His post-match interview at the weekend, along with the treatement of players and the constant changing of match selections were all starting to becoming a bit baffling along with the constant disuputes with the ref's and the media.

 

Sounds like the best choice for MFC and we can now look forward to an interesting January. Lets just hope the new manager gets enough time to bring in any players.

[jk2205]

Nail on the head...!! Without a doubt in my mind Gannon realised what he had to work with and went into a deep depression which he never came out off really. I suppose he didn't commit his future to the club as he wasn't given any money to rebuild and pure speculation again here that the Ruddy situation where JB was willing to part with the cash for a quick profit and unwilling to invest on lower league players was probably the straw the broke the camels back for Gannon.

With his vision out the window he was probably quickly demotivated as he knew he did not have the quality of player he knew he required to turn us around.

 

Again I stress given time I have no doubt he would have turned us into a young free flowing football team. If only we had a board to match his ambition. If only we employed Gannon when we were able to purchase the Spencers and Gorams of this world.

 

I know there is a lot of ifs and maybe in my argument but modern football has no room for visionaries and clubs want top league short term survival. I can see also the chairman side of things but if you have no faith in your manager by not providing them with the funds to do the job then you will get a few more demoralised managers like Gannon on the future.

 

I know we are living in more austere times but I feel we have lost someone with great ability and vision who one day with the right chairman funding his young team will run riot in whatever league he manages.

 

No arguments from me about his strengths and weaknesses we know what they are and he has not been shy in showing both off at times, just feel that if JB had shown a wee bit more faith by releasing some funds then Gannon would have signed that contract. Its all hindsight now and no doubts there will be strong arguments against in the coming hours and days but this is only my humble opinion.

 

I, as always support the team no matter who manages it or owns it. Club survival is everything just wish we had more faith in this guy as I firmly believe he would have turned us into a very attractive team challenging regularly for honours for little outlay.

 

Exactly.

 

Just feel we've missed a trick here

[postiejim]

I, as always support the team no matter who manages it or owns it. Club survival is everything just wish we had more faith in this guy as I firmly believe he would have turned us into a very attractive team challenging regularly for honours for little outlay.

 

 

Sad thing is Well Well that things like this will turn some fans away from firpark and who can blame them if what you say is right ,a charman and a board with no vision .Why should a punter who works hard all week then plough his cash into what imo is fast becoming a sinking ship- Motherwell football club.

[Big Stall]

I have no inside knowledge, no contacts etc and only know the same as every other punter that attends FP, reads the website and these boards.

 

But, to Wellgirl, emmajay and the others who think this is a bad decision, I think its important to point out that Motherwell don't sack managers for being 6th. Theres plenty more to this.

[David]

got mine already mate, whit do you think?

 

I'm hoping your new avatar doesn't last long!

[trafficlight]

I have no inside knowledge, no contacts etc and only know the same as every other punter that attends FP, reads the website and these boards.

 

But, to Wellgirl, emmajay and the others who think this is a bad decision, I think its important to point out that Motherwell don't sack managers for being 6th. Theres plenty more to this.

 

 

You'll be right on that, and I don't know whether it was an unavoidable decision, but I think it's a sad day for Motherwell because Gannon could have been a fantastic manager for you. It's sad things didn't work out.

[Mic2904]

Do we have a right to find out? Will we find out? Not sure about both, tbh.

 

But everything has a bitter taste. I do rate Gannon and his ideas and certainly was refreshing, something I havent seen since I bought my first Season ticket in 2004! I had the feeling that Gannon was going into the right direction..

 

Apart from that, I dont want to say who is right and who is wrong, cos I dont know the story. All the romours are strange...

 

I have learned not to judge a situation until you heard from both sides... Thats what I will do!

[Ya Bezzer!]

When Tommy McLean went I was gutted, when Mark McGhee went I was disappointed, when Eric Black went I didn't really care and when Alex McLeish and Maurice Malpas went I was ecstatic.

 

So when I came home today to read the news my reaction was closer to the McLeish/Malpas one than McLean.

 

While his career at Motherwell was open ended it was unfair to be too harsh on Gannon, although I've been a critic for some time, but now that it's over we can judge him on his record. It was mediocre tailing off to poor. Anyone can promise a 'plan for the future' it's something else to actually deliver in the here and now. The very fact that he would not commit to the club shows it was only so much hot air to fool the guilable who really ought to know better by now. In professional football 99.99% are out for themselves.

 

The last couple of months have been dreadful and most of the blame can be attached to Jim Gannon and his ludicrous tactical changes. Most of the good that came out of his time here, the emergence of some potential good young players, wasn't even down to him since all of them were already at the club and most of them had already sampled first team football.

 

His record, despite a long unbeaten run, was not good. 7 wins in 24 matches was nothing to write home about especially since 2 of them were against pub teams and another against an average 1st division side which was only won with virtually the last kick of the ball in extra time.

4 wins in 17 SPL matches was garbage. Even Maurice Malpas had won 6 by Boxing Day.

 

And when all is said and done he has left us with one good player - Tom Hateley. His other English lower division signings have so far failed to shine. The loan players most likely won't be back in 2010 leaving the squad as bare of quality as when Gannon arrived.

 

Overall he will not be greatly missed and the way he's mishandled and treated the club actually leaves a bitter aftertaste.

[DosserJoe]

El Grew

 

I agree and disagree with your post to an extent.

 

From talking to Gannon and listening what he had to say at the Trust Fans Forum a few weeks ago I can see the philosophy he was trying to get across to his players. Take just two elements of it, the lack of fouls & passing the ball from the back forward rather than hoofing it. I reckon he didn't like players like Lasley and Craigan as he couldn't stop them fouling, playing long balls and their positioning would often fall back to how they were taught to play the game, not how Gannon wanted it played.

 

The issue is that Gannon wanted to start almost an entire team of youngsters as he felt he could mould them and teach them how to play under his philosophy. The trouble is you have a player in Saunders who is having a nightmare run of form and needs a break.

 

Gannon should have focused on individual areas of the park, or three young players max to blood at the one time. Instead he cut out the experienced players who could have helped the team still deliver decent results on the park, while the Saunders and Forbes of this world dropped back for a couple of weeks to regain their form.

 

I actually think we have enough quality in the team to maintain 4th or 5th... Under Gannon I believe we would have been bottom 6 but due to his lack of faith or tolerance in the experience.

[GraniteCityMFC]

Rumours from Edgeley Park is that Gary Ablett has offered to leave.

 

 

 

 

So, no prizes as to where Gannon will end up.

 

According to the Radio 5 commentator at Stockport v Leeds, Gannon was sitting in the stand at Edgeley Park today!

[Special aka]

It's done .......................... time to move on.

[trafficlight]

Ya Bezzer, bear in mind what he started with - wasn't it twelve professionals or so? He was forced into using a youth/loan signing strategy yet still managed to get some very good results. Yes, recent results were poor, but looking at Gannon's squad it seems inevitable there would be some setbacks, and I think he would have kept Motherwell mid-table this season and then pushed on. I think he's a talented guy and his approach would have paid off, and although I know nothing about what went on behind the scenes, I'm still sorry he has left Fir Park. The next few years could have been very exciting.

[Welldaft Mk1]

When Tommy McLean went I was gutted, when Mark McGhee went I was disappointed, when Eric Black went I didn't really care and when Alex McLeish and Maurice Malpas went I was ecstatic.

 

So when I came home today to read the news my reaction was closer to the McLeish/Malpas one than McLean.

 

While his career at Motherwell was open ended it was unfair to be too harsh on Gannon, although I've been a critic for some time, but now that it's over we can judge him on his record. It was mediocre tailing off to poor. Anyone can promise a 'plan for the future' it's something else to actually deliver in the here and now. The very fact that he would not commit to the club shows it was only so much hot air to fool the guilable who really ought to know better by now. In professional football 99.99% are out for themselves.

 

The last couple of months have been dreadful and most of the blame can be attached to Jim Gannon and his ludicrous tactical changes. Most of the good that came out of his time here, the emergence of some potential good young players, wasn't even down to him since all of them were already at the club and most of them had already sampled first team football.

 

His record, despite a long unbeaten run, was not good. 7 wins in 24 matches was nothing to write home about especially since 2 of them were against pub teams and another against an average 1st division side which was only won with virtually the last kick of the ball in extra time.

4 wins in 17 SPL matches was garbage. Even Maurice Malpas had won 6 by Boxing Day.

 

And when all is said and done he has left us with one good player - Tom Hateley. His other English lower division signings have so far failed to shine. The loan players most likely won't be back in 2010 leaving the squad as bare of quality as when Gannon arrived.

 

Overall he will not be greatly missed and the way he's mishandled and treated the club actually leaves a bitter aftertaste.

 

Here here - of all the posts I have read this afternoon - this is the one I would have typed myself if I had the energy. Not the first time I might add.

 

No great loss - looking forward to seeing who we get in his place.

[gordy]

3 points out of a possible 21 in the past 7 games is relegation form.

 

Sorry I didn't buy in to the bigger picture theory.

 

The constant changing of his starting 11 then changing players and tactics when we were winning (sometimes after teams had a man sent off).

Moaning about referees and not giving interviews, showing a total lack of respect to our senior players.

How long was this revolution going to take? Until we reached the 2nd division?

 

Contract deadline or not, the guy was not good enough.

Well done John Boyle (I never thought I would ever say that)!

 

Lets get a manager with some passion and get some fight into our team.

[punk_in_drublic]

3 points out of a possible 21 in the past 7 games is relegation form.

 

Sorry I didn't buy in to the bigger picture theory.

 

The constant changing of his starting 11 then changing players and tactics when we were winning (sometimes after teams had a man sent off).

Moaning about referees and not giving interviews, showing a total lack of respect to our senior players.

How long was this revolution going to take? Until we reached the 2nd division?

 

Contract deadline or not, the guy was not good enough.

Well done John Boyle (I never thought I would ever say that)!

 

Lets get a manager with some passion and get some fight into our team.

 

 

Got to agree with you, its been a microscopic disaster, thankfully its not been allowed to brew into a more significant tangled mess.

 

Edit - Im not solely talking results, more so the mess that seems to have generated between players and manager and board and manager.

[fatcalf]

What a lot of hypocritical bullshit I read on here

[Coatsy]

I'm disappointed to see Gannon, go when he arrived I thought we had captured an young manager with fresh ideas and a forward thinking attitude promoting youth and lets be honest saw through some players that were picking up a good wage and not producing.

 

Sadly things have deteriorated since the refereeing comments as have the results. It's clear he was loosing the dressing room, his strange selection's for the old firm games and the total collapse in the 2nd half against StJ. so there must have been some back room unrest.

 

My guess is that he was sacked before there was a full scale revolt.

 

I hope that we have not been put off with this experience and find ourself with a quality manager with fresh idea's that can get everyone pulling in the right directions. Not one off the old merry go round

 

Don't lose the faith we've still got some great young players, hope the new manager uses them sensibly