By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions. We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
I'm not averse to giving a lower league manager the chance, but there needs to be some unambiguous evidence that the manager genuinely favours a possession-based brand of football and has a track record statistically that backs that up. I didn't see anything in the League Two play-off final to suggest that Tranmere have been schooled in possession football.
When the likes of Monk, Guidolin, Clement, Carvahal and even Bradley came in, they all paid lip service to the Swansea Way. All proved to be imposters. Let's make sure we get the genuine article this time.
It seems to close to Tranmere just gaining promotion for the bookies to all of a sudden have him as nailed on favorite. Unless we were in talks with him beforehand and he'd agreed to come to us us whatever.
I'm not averse to giving a lower league manager the chance, but there needs to be some unambiguous evidence that the manager genuinely favours a possession-based brand of football and has a track record statistically that backs that up. I didn't see anything in the League Two play-off final to suggest that Tranmere have been schooled in possession football.
When the likes of Monk, Guidolin, Clement, Carvahal and even Bradley came in, they all paid lip service to the Swansea Way. All proved to be imposters. Let's make sure we get the genuine article this time.
I wont have a bad word said about Guidolin on this forum!
Mellon has got Tranmere playing a style of attacking, confident football which the passionate “Super White Army” are lapping up.
Tranmere completed 72% of passes into the final third.
I was going to ask if anyone saw Tranmere in the playoffs and if so what's his approach like. We have to have someone who will build on what Potter did imo. For me, that's far more important than a big name.
<<<More than anything, though, Mellon wants to help his players. Make them better. He has studied the ‘people-powered’ management techniques at Toyota and reads widely into leadership figures.
‘I’ve just finished The Godfather. Brilliant. Talk about leadership and how he did that. I don’t like the bull. I like to know about people.
‘I’ve read loads on Ernest Shackleton. I got right into that and his leadership style. How can a guy get the trust of a crew when he keeps getting it wrong? They’re stuck on an iceberg in the middle of the Antarctic, they don’t know where the f*** it’s going and he’s got them there, and they still believe in him.
‘I like Kennedy and his speeches. Believe it or not, I know it’s very controversial, I read about Hitler. How’s he done that? What was he saying to these people? I’m about to start a book about Abraham Lincoln. I try and use it in my language and use it as a manager. That’s football management. Very little is tactics. It’s mentality and we’re only scratching the surface.
‘Let me pick a player. Wayne Rooney. Ability-wise he’s always a good player so why does he have bad games? It’s got to be mentality. It’s the only thing that fluctuates. Wayne, all of a sudden, doesn’t wake up one morning and have a really s*** touch and he can’t run.
‘The biggest thing we talk about is confidence. So that’s mentality. You never hear of a team saying: “We’re not going out on the grass today, we’re going into the classroom to have a right good think about things!”.
‘Really, it’s the biggest part of the game and the least practised. We don’t practise the mind.’
Taking Fleetwood Town into the Football League for the first time in their history before winning promotion at the first attempt with Shrewsbury. Mellon’s time in charge at Fleetwood was also notable because he gave Jamie Vardy his break in professional football.
The future England striker was signed from Halifax Town for £1 million before moving to Leicester.
‘There was a lot of interest in him but nobody wanted to make that jump,’ recalls Mellon. ‘I’ve heard some people say they were going to buy him. Well, why didn’t you?
‘I went to my chairman and told him it was worth taking a gamble on this kid. A million was a lot of money for Fleetwood but the chairman never even blinked. It was probably the best decision the two of us made because look at what the boy has gone on to do.
‘When he came in and got among us, it became clear he could go further. I actually said to his agent he could play for England. He was greyhound-quick. And when I say aggressive, he was really aggressive.
‘When people get angry they lose their focus, but he had this ability to turn anger into energy. So probably the worst thing you can do is make him angry. It’s no surprise to see what he’s done.
‘I worked with John Stones (as assistant manager) at Barnsley as well. He was the same. They have this calmness about them that nothing is going to stop them getting the most out of their ability.’>>>
I know Wikipedia isn’t the best source but his career has far more ups than downs and some good cup runs to boot. I don’t think he’d have got 5 promotions in 10 seasons if he didn’t have the tactics. Reading what some of his Tranmere players say he seems to favour a passing game with as much time possible spent in the opposition half. Brendan was on the scrap heap hen we appointed him so this lad deserves a chance. We could give him a two year contract so it doesn’t kill us if it goes wrong. I’d prefer him over CT and the likes ofBatistuta at the moment.
Each time I go to Bedd - au........................
Would be a bizarre appointment in my opinion. Seen a few Tranmere fans on Twitter saying it would be a weird fit given his style is more pragmatism than possession-based. Very strange.
Birch said we have received applications from around the world. Surely we can do better.
Must be on my own as I’ve never heard of him before about 2 days ago, have no idea what Tranmere play like and therefore have no idea whether or not he’d be any good for us.
The amount of football from lower leagues, overseas lower leagues, overseas mid table teams’ reserve sides etc some seem to watch is incredible.
Must be on my own as I’ve never heard of him before about 2 days ago, have no idea what Tranmere play like and therefore have no idea whether or not he’d be any good for us.
The amount of football from lower leagues, overseas lower leagues, overseas mid table teams’ reserve sides etc some seem to watch is incredible.
He was in the WBA side that beat us in the play off semi in 1993-94 - Colin West - gate
Each time I go to Bedd - au........................
I can't be sure if he would be good for us or sht. I can say that with the Swans promotion to the 1st, if you check at 4 minutes odd, Toshack says about people asking the same question, can he cope in a higher division.
So could Mellon cope with going up 2 leagues higher? His record shows he may have what it takes, he is adaptable and can change the style of play during the game.
Warnock has excellent man-management skills, so this is hardly a discriminatory factor when deciding a Swansea manager. Also, when words like "pragmatism" and "hoof ball" are being bandied around then things are not looking good. Didn't our time with Monk in charge not demonstrate unequivocally the corrosive effect of pragmatic football?
Give me idealistic possession football every day of the week.
<<<There’s no should in football. The only way we’ll get back there is through our own hard work and determination.” “Nobody has a divine right,” says Mellon. “Clubs find the level they deserve to be. If you’ve got a good team that level is going to be higher than when you haven’t, simple as that.
Mellon spent much of his peripatetic playing career studying the managers under whom he worked. Ossie Ardiles, Sam Allardyce, Brian Little: it was an intriguingly varied set of tutors he encountered as he moved from West Brom to Blackpool to Tranmere.
“You take little bits from everybody, learn what will help you sleep at night,” he says. “You remember how you felt when they spoke to you, remember what they said that made you feel good and bad. Ultimately what I think I learned is you have to stick to your principles. And you have got to keep learning, keep improving, keep picking things up. That’s how you get better: don’t stay still.”
One thing above all he has learned, he says, is not to become too obsessed with a set playing style. He is no fan of the modern insistence on “philosophy”. At the level he is coaching, flexibility is everything.
“The gap between the football you want to play and the football you can play will be measured in results,” he insists. “If we are able to play the football I want to play and get results, then that’s what we’ll do. Ultimately, though, I’ll do what I have to do to get results.”>>>
<<<More than anything, though, Mellon wants to help his players. Make them better. He has studied the ‘people-powered’ management techniques at Toyota and reads widely into leadership figures.
‘I’ve just finished The Godfather. Brilliant. Talk about leadership and how he did that. I don’t like the bull. I like to know about people.
‘I’ve read loads on Ernest Shackleton. I got right into that and his leadership style. How can a guy get the trust of a crew when he keeps getting it wrong? They’re stuck on an iceberg in the middle of the Antarctic, they don’t know where the f*** it’s going and he’s got them there, and they still believe in him.
‘I like Kennedy and his speeches. Believe it or not, I know it’s very controversial, I read about Hitler. How’s he done that? What was he saying to these people? I’m about to start a book about Abraham Lincoln. I try and use it in my language and use it as a manager. That’s football management. Very little is tactics. It’s mentality and we’re only scratching the surface.
‘Let me pick a player. Wayne Rooney. Ability-wise he’s always a good player so why does he have bad games? It’s got to be mentality. It’s the only thing that fluctuates. Wayne, all of a sudden, doesn’t wake up one morning and have a really s*** touch and he can’t run.
‘The biggest thing we talk about is confidence. So that’s mentality. You never hear of a team saying: “We’re not going out on the grass today, we’re going into the classroom to have a right good think about things!”.
‘Really, it’s the biggest part of the game and the least practised. We don’t practise the mind.’
Taking Fleetwood Town into the Football League for the first time in their history before winning promotion at the first attempt with Shrewsbury. Mellon’s time in charge at Fleetwood was also notable because he gave Jamie Vardy his break in professional football.
The future England striker was signed from Halifax Town for £1 million before moving to Leicester.
‘There was a lot of interest in him but nobody wanted to make that jump,’ recalls Mellon. ‘I’ve heard some people say they were going to buy him. Well, why didn’t you?
‘I went to my chairman and told him it was worth taking a gamble on this kid. A million was a lot of money for Fleetwood but the chairman never even blinked. It was probably the best decision the two of us made because look at what the boy has gone on to do.
‘When he came in and got among us, it became clear he could go further. I actually said to his agent he could play for England. He was greyhound-quick. And when I say aggressive, he was really aggressive.
‘When people get angry they lose their focus, but he had this ability to turn anger into energy. So probably the worst thing you can do is make him angry. It’s no surprise to see what he’s done.
‘I worked with John Stones (as assistant manager) at Barnsley as well. He was the same. They have this calmness about them that nothing is going to stop them getting the most out of their ability.’>>>
Given I know nothing about him, as I’ve said, that article makes him sound like a moron.
‘Reading widely into leadership figures’ isn’t evidenced by reading the Godfather!
Given I know nothing about him, as I’ve said, that article makes him sound like a moron.
‘Reading widely into leadership figures’ isn’t evidenced by reading the Godfather!
And ‘very little is tactics’?
Good point, and it is probably because you know nothing of him that he comes across as sounding like a moron to you. But what if it had been Pep Guardiola who had said this?
I can't defend him, he may not do well for us, but he does have an excellent track record of motivational management. if reading all these books has helped him achieve this, well it's nearly 3 years since that article so he will have read a lot more books by now.
I know nothing about the chap. If the League two play off final is any guide, I'm not sure how he fits into the aim of continuing Potter's work and the stated aim of appointing a manager that fits "the Swansea way".
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
