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Post by avfo on Apr 14, 2020 13:26:29 GMT
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Post by iandychesterfc on Apr 15, 2020 13:37:12 GMT
I think he will forever regret tearing up that 12/13 championship winning team.
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Post by g1 on Apr 15, 2020 15:30:17 GMT
A great guy and a top manager but did sign a lot of players who didn't hang around for long but he loved chester and will always cheer him
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Post by agl on Apr 15, 2020 15:44:06 GMT
The three best players, Sarcevic, Brown and McGinn chose to leave.
Of the rest, none went on to play at a higher level after leaving us. It was the right move to break up that squad but unfortunately some poor signings were our downfall..McIntyre, Ben Mills, Jamie Reed, Jarrett, Danny Harrison. Primarily we didn't have a goalscorer. Ash Williams was great in that promotion team but not good enough for national league. Horan stayed but seem to recall he found it tough.
But I'm struggling to see how any of the players that were allowed to leave...Powell, Baynes, Howard, Brownhill, Simm, Taylor...would have improved our chances. Neil's problem, having taken us through the Evostiks and had a big budget in NLN was a lack of knowledge of the type of player who might have given us a better chance. It was a shame Higginbotham lost interest and jumped ship, as think we might have stood a chance if he'd committed.
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Post by Si on Apr 15, 2020 17:33:50 GMT
The three best players, Sarcevic, Brown and McGinn chose to leave. Of the rest, none went on to play at a higher level after leaving us. It was the right move to break up that squad but unfortunately some poor signings were our downfall..McIntyre, Ben Mills, Jamie Reed, Jarrett, Danny Harrison. Primarily we didn't have a goalscorer. Ash Williams was great in that promotion team but not good enough for national league. Horan stayed but seem to recall he found it tough. But I'm struggling to see how any of the players that were allowed to leave...Powell, Baynes, Howard, Brownhill, Simm, Taylor...would have improved our chances. Neil's problem, having taken us through the Evostiks and had a big budget in NLN was a lack of knowledge of the type of player who might have given us a better chance. It was a shame Higginbotham lost interest and jumped ship, as think we might have stood a chance if he'd committed. A lot of sense in that. He lost players through no fault of his own, with some lads not fancying the travelling and others moving on to better things. His downfall was the recruitment at a level he’d not managed at before and recruited wrongly. I can see he wanted some experienced pros but whilst Seddon worked to an extent there was others like McIntyre and Jarrett who’s legs had gone at that level. From what I recall, we had a couple of reasonable results around Xmas time, and then the Southport game on NYD got postponed and then we sacked him. Still feel it was the wrong choice to this day, as I felt like he was starting to get to grips with it and deserved the transfer win down to right some of the wrongs of the summer. We still went down anyway, albeit staying up on a technicality. He is rightly a legend for me, and whilst he did have a great budget I think people underestimate how hard it is to create an entirely new team from scratch and go on to win 3 titles. That’s some achievement, and no other reformed club managed that. He comes across as a really good guy with the club at heart, and he lived and breathed Chester FC whilst he was with us. |
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Post by rcb on Apr 15, 2020 18:18:36 GMT
Some interesting quotes from Neil‘s article...
” An extensive pre-season recruitment drive saw eight players, all known to Young, drafted in.”
”The subsequent arrival of Chester-born George Horan and prolific striker Michael Wilde proved a masterstroke, with the duo playing an integral role in the success that followed.”
“I was quite lucky in that I'd done a lot of recruitment within the game previously and went into the job with ideas of which players were available and who I wanted to bring in.”
“It was a building job, but we got the players I wanted in and we were able to hit the ground running.”
The key to our success was in Neil’s intimate knowledge of the player market, at that level, and the recruitment of George Horan and Michael Wilde, not to mention Antoni Sarcevic. By the time he came to the Conference his knowledge of players at that level was insufficient, both in terms of recruitment and man management. It also needs mentioning that the likes of George, Michael, and Antoni are rare.
Starting again in 2010 was a unique situation, and the current lockdown sadly presents another unexpected unique situation. Best wishes and stay safe to all who have Chester FC in their life in any capacity, and let’s all get together in support of the managers and their team when we eventually start again.
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Post by agl on Apr 15, 2020 19:49:25 GMT
The three best players, Sarcevic, Brown and McGinn chose to leave. Of the rest, none went on to play at a higher level after leaving us. It was the right move to break up that squad but unfortunately some poor signings were our downfall..McIntyre, Ben Mills, Jamie Reed, Jarrett, Danny Harrison. Primarily we didn't have a goalscorer. Ash Williams was great in that promotion team but not good enough for national league. Horan stayed but seem to recall he found it tough. But I'm struggling to see how any of the players that were allowed to leave...Powell, Baynes, Howard, Brownhill, Simm, Taylor...would have improved our chances. Neil's problem, having taken us through the Evostiks and had a big budget in NLN was a lack of knowledge of the type of player who might have given us a better chance. It was a shame Higginbotham lost interest and jumped ship, as think we might have stood a chance if he'd committed. A lot of sense in that. He lost players through no fault of his own, with some lads not fancying the travelling and others moving on to better things. His downfall was the recruitment at a level he’d not managed at before and recruited wrongly. I can see he wanted some experienced pros but whilst Seddon worked to an extent there was others like McIntyre and Jarrett who’s legs had gone at that level. From what I recall, we had a couple of reasonable results around Xmas time, and then the Southport game on NYD got postponed and then we sacked him. Still feel it was the wrong choice to this day, as I felt like he was starting to get to grips with it and deserved the transfer win down to right some of the wrongs of the summer. We still went down anyway, albeit staying up on a technicality. He is rightly a legend for me, and whilst he did have a great budget I think people underestimate how hard it is to create an entirely new team from scratch and go on to win 3 titles. That’s some achievement, and no other reformed club managed that. He comes across as a really good guy with the club at heart, and he lived and breathed Chester FC whilst he was with us. I should have added that NY will always be a legend in my eyes. Incredible achievements. Over 5000 for that Northwich game. Remarkable really for step 6. And we weren't far off being a half decent side in that first national league season, once the early mistakes were rectified. The Turner brothers were both good players and I thought Seddon got unfair criticism. Linwood was also pretty solid and will never forget THAT goal. Reed looked like a good signing but was a total disaster. I think that's where it went wrong. If he'd chipped in with 10 goals we would have been OK. |
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Post by Anders on Apr 15, 2020 21:04:26 GMT
A lot of sense in that. He lost players through no fault of his own, with some lads not fancying the travelling and others moving on to better things. His downfall was the recruitment at a level he’d not managed at before and recruited wrongly. I can see he wanted some experienced pros but whilst Seddon worked to an extent there was others like McIntyre and Jarrett who’s legs had gone at that level. From what I recall, we had a couple of reasonable results around Xmas time, and then the Southport game on NYD got postponed and then we sacked him. Still feel it was the wrong choice to this day, as I felt like he was starting to get to grips with it and deserved the transfer win down to right some of the wrongs of the summer. We still went down anyway, albeit staying up on a technicality. He is rightly a legend for me, and whilst he did have a great budget I think people underestimate how hard it is to create an entirely new team from scratch and go on to win 3 titles. That’s some achievement, and no other reformed club managed that. He comes across as a really good guy with the club at heart, and he lived and breathed Chester FC whilst he was with us. I should have added that NY will always be a legend in my eyes. Incredible achievements. Over 5000 for that Northwich game. Remarkable really for step 6. And we weren't far off being a half decent side in that first national league season, once the early mistakes were rectified. The Turner brothers were both good players and I thought Seddon got unfair criticism. Linwood was also pretty solid and will never forget THAT goal. Reed looked like a good signing but was a total disaster. I think that's where it went wrong. If he'd chipped in with 10 goals we would have been OK. Felt a bit sorry for him with regards to the Reed signing. There was huge clamour from sections of our fanbase to sign ‘Chester lad’ Reed and I think he got swayed by it a bit. I thought at the time of his signing that his goals had dried up a bit. He also lost Danny Williams through no fault of his own. Looking back, the recruitment that summer ended up being desperate. In fact after releasing Marc Williams, he brought him back again only to release him again two games later. |
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Post by Hannibal on Apr 16, 2020 10:53:04 GMT
The three best players, Sarcevic, Brown and McGinn chose to leave. Of the rest, none went on to play at a higher level after leaving us. It was the right move to break up that squad but unfortunately some poor signings were our downfall..McIntyre, Ben Mills, Jamie Reed, Jarrett, Danny Harrison. Primarily we didn't have a goalscorer. Ash Williams was great in that promotion team but not good enough for national league. Horan stayed but seem to recall he found it tough. But I'm struggling to see how any of the players that were allowed to leave...Powell, Baynes, Howard, Brownhill, Simm, Taylor...would have improved our chances. Neil's problem, having taken us through the Evostiks and had a big budget in NLN was a lack of knowledge of the type of player who might have given us a better chance. It was a shame Higginbotham lost interest and jumped ship, as think we might have stood a chance if he'd committed. You can include Gareth Seddon in that. Top goal scorer with 7 in 35 and an apparent half-arsed approach at times. |
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Post by agl on Apr 16, 2020 13:42:08 GMT
I deliberately left Seddon off the list. I thought he did well for us, overall. He was never brought in to be the main goal threat.
He got a lot of unfair stick over his modelling, but I know he turned down work to play football.
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Post by Si on Apr 17, 2020 8:37:58 GMT
I deliberately left Seddon off the list. I thought he did well for us, overall. He was never brought in to be the main goal threat. He got a lot of unfair stick over his modelling, but I know he turned down work to play football. I'd agree with that. The modelling thing was disclosed to the club before signing him so NY knew that was an issue, and as you say in the end he was turning down work so he could play for us, which was no doubt less money than what he'd have been earning for getting his kit off or whatever he was doing. I actually think 7 goals in a side that had a chronic lack of creativity for 3 quarters of the season isn't a bad return, and could tell he genuinely cared and gave 100%. We've had plenty of wage thief's over the years, but would never class Seddon as one. |
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Apr 17, 2020 9:54:10 GMT
He also brokered the Bern and Jonno deal.
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Post by midfieldgeneral on Apr 18, 2020 20:57:02 GMT
Absolute legend. Echo what other people have said, in that his knowledge of players and recruitment didnt go as far, as the Conference.
Remember he won the Conference North at the first time of asking.
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