Yes absolutely, I think both Whitney and keates have had really tough jobs coming in just as top players are leaving. But there is plenty of history of teams nearly winning promotion and then having dreadful seasons straight afterwards so I don’t think that made it easier for the previous manager.
Anyway, he’s gone and the question will be whether keates can step up and learn fairly quickly. I like some of his signings and, as you’ve also mentioned, I like the balance and backup we’re now getting in the squad, something we haven’t had over the last couple of seasons
Makris, Edwards, Oztumer, Vassell, Hallwood, Moussa, Laird, Cuvelier, McCarthy, Jackson, O’Connell. Toner, Ginnelly, Butterfield, Dobson and Will Randall.
So while he lost players, to claim Keates has recieved more backing than Whitney isn’t really fair. There is some proper dross in there and one of them was a 300k record signing.
I’m still fully behind Keates. He’s made some stupid and repeated mistakes but he’s still learning.
We’re about where I expected us to be. I think if we’d started the season poorly and then the last 2 months had been like August & September were (the opposite way round to how it has been) then I believe we’d mostly be happy with our league position.
Let’s see what he can do next season, keeping in mind the whip round that passes as a playing budget at Planet Walsall.
Whether he did or he didn’t I made the same point about Deano and all the ex players we are linked with and told well Deano needs to man up if that’s the case and refuse the player or take the blame. Same for Whitney/Makris then.
Under the current regime staying up is all that is required. To stand out like Graydon, Smith and to a certain extent Dickie Dosh you need to be able to turn the some of the parts in to something greater. At the moment Keates is not achieving anything spectacular and thus my reasoning his performance so far is pretty average.
I don’t get what you are saying here. Does “only” staying up with the current restraints represent a good job or a bad job? Because at the minute we are bottom half and exceeding that? If you expect every manager to come in and perform like Ray Graydon we will cycle through managers at a pace, frankly.
For me it looks like Dean Smith’s early years, but there are some differences. DS couldn’t have some players, DK has now and similar, DK would never used some players, who were very important, when DS was in charge. Results? Similar I would say, so no big difference. Style of play? 10 persons and 11 opinions how team should play. Both gaffers have some philosophy, some blueprint, general idea how ‘their’ team should be playing. But it needs time and all signed contracts have to expire. Because little can be done, when there are players with signed contracts. So now yes, full support. If in one year time team will be in similar position, we can start thinking about change. Now it’s way premature.
Definitely behind him. But as Scott says, he is making mistakes and isn’t beyond a bit of criticism.
He’s spent actual money on fees for four players, has wheeled and dealed in the loan market and has brought in a bus load of support staff. He’s slow to make changes in games and the lack of clear strategy in seeing games out is as much him as the players he slates.
None of that means I want him gone and he’s done lots of good things too, not least the signings of Cook and Jarvis.
100% behind him. At the risk of repeating what others have said, it’ll be next season, at least, before we see the fruits of his labours. The foundations Smith laid, although that’s a hindsight view, were allowed so much to decay under Whitney that’ll it take longer than Keates as had to put right.
He will get there. He’ll insist on being backed.
And I know its not a typical Walsall fan thing to do but we must show patience and allow Deano time to reassemble the mess he was left.
Good times are coming.