uRRRs blogPaul Hart: diamond geezer |
Posted: December 18th 2009
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Yet more column inches of the wrong kind for the Rs in the last fortnight. Fleet Street has even wheeled out big guns like Jim White & John Inverdale to run the rule over the sorry carcass of our calamitous club.
They’ve all had their checklists handy...not just Flavor Flav’s revolving managerial door, but also the guns in the boardroom, the tragic deaths of two of our teenage players, the brawl with the Chinese Olympic team...some have just plain sniggered, others have bothered to bemoan the decline to comic status of a once proud and actually quite popular club.
We’ll probably never know exactly what happened in the away dressing room at Vicarage Road, if for no other reason than none of those present will ever become famous enough to write a serialised biography. That there was a fracas involving a stressed manager, Jim Magilton, and a bemused playmaker, Akos Buzsaky, is certain. That it was intense, and at least verging on the physical also seems beyond doubt; as does the likelihood that at the root of the dispute was a Northern Irish / Hungarian culture clash.
On Planet Magilton, a head butt probably means at the very least a broken nose and copious amounts of blood for the victim. Going head to head like rutting stags, as players so often do on the field, is simply being passionate about the game. My guess is that on Planet Buzsaky, any physical contact crossed a line...and his exit from the dressing room and, surely unwittingly, into the arms of the assembled media hacks, was the post-match equivalent of the player who collapses dramatically to the floor clutching his head when forehead to forehead contact is made.
The players sided with Buzsaky, every ‘eye witness’ leak noting the part played by the night’s goalscorer, the burly Patrick Agyemang. Magilton’s coaching staff backed their man, referring to “a storm in a tea cup”. This actually put our much-maligned board in a very difficult position. Not only were no doubt differing definitions of what constitutes a head butt at the centre of the ’internal investigation’; but also there was a clear them & us situation between players & management. Easy to back your manager against one, maybe two disruptive players...but a squad’s worth?
Call it player power if you will...debate whether it would’ve come to this six short weeks earlier when we were flying, with flowing football taking us to fourth spot in the table...but at some point in the November international break, it seems Magilton managed to ‘lose’ the dressing room in quite spectacular fashion...and ultimately his position became untenable.
I tried to convince myself that Magilton’s legacy from his brief reign was that, unlike in the summer when he got the gig, being QPR manager was no longer the poisoned chalice it had been. This wasn’t Briatore’s fault, the manager only had himself to blame for his dismissal – but those respected names who haven’t wanted to touch us with a barge pole in the last year or so would look at our position tucked in just outside the Play Offs, look at the fantastic stuff we’d played in October, and think “I quite fancy giving this a shot”.
Alas no. It barely took 24 hours for the conspiracy theories to start, that after two capitulations in 48 hours, one in front of Flav & Bernie’s mates (5-1 vs Boro), the other live on Sky (3-1 vs Watford), “buttgate” was just a convenient smokescreen for our trigger happy power brokers to get shot of another hapless coach.
That the usual leaks soon started about who we were lining up only served to reinforce this version of events...every QPR fan knows where these odious leaks come from, but with the source’s previous for taking legal action, I’m saying nothing other than that they’ve become as tedious as “the club will be making no further comment” line rolled out by our Pravda-esque official site as another managerial casualty bites the dust.
When you change manager every six months, each successive appointment less inspiring than the last, the novelty soon wears off. Scanning the messageboards depresses rather than excites. And this is the backdrop to the latest underwhelming appointment, Paul Hart.
My glass, though, is remaining resolutely half full. We have a squad that is well capable of a Play Off push at the least...Hart has a great reputation as a coach...the players will be chuffed (and equally owe us and their paymasters) having got what they wanted with Magilton...over half the season to go and we’re very much in touch...Hart actually did a fair job at Pompey and was simply a victim of circumstance...he made the right noises in his press conference about QPR’s traditional footballing style...and the hastily signed six month contract makes sense for both parties (and possibly hints that the Board hadn’t envisaged Magilton’s hasty departure).
The glass half (totally?) empty brigade have been falling over themselves in the rush to Hart’s Wikipedia page, pointing out that he has been sacked from every managerial post he’s had. So, seeing as I’m exiled in Nottingham, I emailed a load of mates who support Forest (all regulars, mostly season ticket holders), as this was the club with which Hart was most synonymous, and where he had at least one genuinely successful season. I asked them for their views not on what he did with their Academy, but with the first team...and asked what sort of reception he could expect when we visit the City Ground in January (always a telling sign). Here are some of the responses:
Tim: “Well as your 10th manager in 6 months I'm sure he'll do well...... to emulate any of the nonsense that has gone on before.
Initially he was excellent at Forest - played properly, nurtured the young guys, brilliant play off season, astute buys - Darren Huckerby etc - but wasn’t massively flexible tactically if the beautiful game didn’t work - which by the time he went it wasn’t. Struggled to motivate the team...
Look on the bright side - it could be worse - Souness? Graham etc - he will at least try and play.
And he's not quite a nutter.”
Ben: “Best Forest Team we had in the last ten years under Hart - great believer in the passing game. Definitely no hoofing it up front
I'd have him instead of Billy any day”
Lee: “OK - he's a great youth team / development manager.
He's a reasonable first team manager, but never seems to get a long enough run. Tactically he's one-dimensional. The old 4-4-2 diamond midfield formation is his favourite. Which makes for pretty passing but as I recall, can leave you with a soft-centre.
And when the opposition suss it out, you're doomed.
I can't see him making much difference, but what do I know!!!
He'll get a great reception I would have thought.”
Pete: “Dynamic, charismatic, flexible tactics, good with the media, solid in the transfer market...but enough about Billy Davies.
Harty will get a great reception at Forest, not necessarily because of his record but because of what went after - particularly Megson, relegation, Calderwood, dour defensive football etc. He brought through some excellent players from his academy team and was more likely to play young guns than rely on older proven players
We played some great, flowing football but as Lee said, tactically he always played the same way (diamond) which I recall worked very well at home but wasn't so good on the road. Let's face it, Gareth Williams looked like a nailed on international in that formation and hasn't exactly done a Dawson, Reid or Jenas since. So Harty will get the best out of players who trust him - question is, how will your squad of egos react?
He doesn't get long enough that's for sure - he's a team-builder not an instant impact man I'd say. If your board can stick with him and allow him to mould a team it might be a good thing. However, if he hadn't been at Pompey (and ultimately not done very well there) would he even have been considered for the job?
Personally I wish him well and hope he succeeds. I imagine you Hoops not over the moon though...”
...and with that, my glass remains just about half full...though I’m not sure our current squad, overladen as it may be with midfielders, really suits the diamond formation (which resulted in some pretty drab football when employed by Paulo Sousa last season).
How I’ll feel at 4.50 tomorrow afternoon, other than bloody freezing, is anybody’s guess...still, never a dull moment...
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