Woody on Carraghers' 'The Greatest Game' Podcast

I’ve just read the stuff about the agenda which I think is harsh as the reason for it was prob gibbo telling us all that he would scour globe for the best possible candidate then give it to the bloke down the corridor all along.

Disappointed is prob not the right word for underwhelmed would be more accurate.

It’s like being told you are getting a flashy small red Italian car ...

And the next week a red fiat punto turns up
 
I really wanted him to succeed - he wasn't a player I thought would make the jump into management. But I saw a completely different side to him when he returned for his second spell at Middlesbrough. He was highly responsible and focussed and listening to him you could hear how he had distilled so much information and influences and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had a plan. I also loved the way he really cared about Middlesbrough, the club, the town, the players, the people. And that matters to me.
I found him to be a very good communicator. Very friendly, open and likeable, despite all the negativity surrounding him. Much of that was his own fault and much of it wasn't. People constantly spread rumours about him that seemed so wide of the mark. I knew from talking to a former reporter in Newcastle or the parent of a youngster at Hurworth that they both had Woodgate marked down as very special with his knowledge and ways he could put it across. The report he gave that youngster before his debut for the U23s is the most detailed and practical I have ever heard. And again what that parent and what the reporter said was here was a player (and he was just a player at the time) who watched everyone in his club and thought carefully about their development.
Hopefully as Warnock said this week, Woodgate bounces back someday having added further knowledge from this experience because I believe he could go on to achieve big things just as Southgate has. Woodgate is the not the football person or indeed the person that many people take him for. He has a lot to offer in football.
 
Disliked him as a player, out of his depth as a manager and a complete ****** as a person. Embarrassed that he represented our club and pleased to see the back of him. He was taking us down no question.
 
fmttmadmin said:
I really wanted him to succeed - he wasn't a player I thought would make the jump into management. But I saw a completely different side to him when he returned for his second spell at Middlesbrough. He was highly responsible and focussed and listening to him you could hear how he had distilled so much information and influences and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had a plan. I also loved the way he really cared about Middlesbrough, the club, the town, the players, the people. And that matters to me.
I found him to be a very good communicator. Very friendly, open and likeable, despite all the negativity surrounding him. Much of that was his own fault and much of it wasn't. People constantly spread rumours about him that seemed so wide of the mark. I knew from talking to a former reporter in Newcastle or the parent of a youngster at Hurworth that they both had Woodgate marked down as very special with his knowledge and ways he could put it across. The report he gave that youngster before his debut for the U23s is the most detailed and practical I have ever heard. And again what that parent and what the reporter said was here was a player (and he was just a player at the time) who watched everyone in his club and thought carefully about their development.
Hopefully as Warnock said this week, Woodgate bounces back someday having added further knowledge from this experience because I believe he could go on to achieve big things just as Southgate has. Woodgate is the not the football person or indeed the person that many people take him for. He has a lot to offer in football.
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Sorry Rob, but I disagree with almost every word. He I wasn’t good enough when we hired him, he still isn’t now and he won’t be in 10 years. I’m sure there is a job for him in football out there in some scale but as long as it isn’t at the boro that will do me. I don’t see him having a successful management career at any level though.
 
fmttmadmin said:
I really wanted him to succeed - he wasn't a player I thought would make the jump into management. But I saw a completely different side to him when he returned for his second spell at Middlesbrough. He was highly responsible and focussed and listening to him you could hear how he had distilled so much information and influences and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had a plan. I also loved the way he really cared about Middlesbrough, the club, the town, the players, the people. And that matters to me.
I found him to be a very good communicator. Very friendly, open and likeable, despite all the negativity surrounding him. Much of that was his own fault and much of it wasn't. People constantly spread rumours about him that seemed so wide of the mark. I knew from talking to a former reporter in Newcastle or the parent of a youngster at Hurworth that they both had Woodgate marked down as very special with his knowledge and ways he could put it across. The report he gave that youngster before his debut for the U23s is the most detailed and practical I have ever heard. And again what that parent and what the reporter said was here was a player (and he was just a player at the time) who watched everyone in his club and thought carefully about their development.
Hopefully as Warnock said this week, Woodgate bounces back someday having added further knowledge from this experience because I believe he could go on to achieve big things just as Southgate has. Woodgate is the not the football person or indeed the person that many people take him for. He has a lot to offer in football.
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He had a plan?!

And he cared about the club, the town, the people? So do I, but I'm not sure that should qualify you for managing the football team!
 
Pog said:
Here’s the clip below.

I didn’t think it was possible to dislike him more than I already do, but here we are.

The bloke was just totally and utterly incompetent, out of his depth and should never have got the job.

If it wasn’t for Neil Warnock being parachuted in and salvaging the mess he left, I have no doubt whatsoever that we’d be in League One this season.

Will rightfully go down as the worst manager in MFC history.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1334461107826733057
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This 'Agenda' Woodgate had no experience of being a footballer manager. The fans wanted an experienced manager to come in an get us promoted to the premier league. Not accepting that he was inexperienced and putting forward his 3 years of coaching down is embarrassing.

As for us not replacing Randolph, Flint, Hugil, Downing & Braithwaite.

Randolph: Pears did pretty well for him, £1m is a decent wedge to spend on a Keeper in the championship too. (Stojanovic)

Flint: He could have played McNair in defence (his natural position) and he was full of praise for Moukoudi

Hugil: who was on loan) he didn't have to bring in Nmecha or Morrison

Downing: A whole Powerpoint presentation was built around Marcus Browne and his roll in the team moving forward.. binned pretty quickly. Tav, Spence & Coulson all seem able to make a contribution.
Patrick Roberts wasn't bad either.

Braithwaite: did we ever really have him? can you replace a player that wasn't there to start with.

Management: Woodgate folded so quickly on his new style of high pressing football. No experience behind him, no steady hand to guide him and sticking with Gestede.. shot himself in the foot.

Biggest Regret in Football - 'Signing for Middlesbrough' - tough to hear as a boro fan, surely throwing his international career away outside of Majestyk in Leeds would be the big one? Maybe how he was viewed after that? How he never really put that one to bed. No point trying to reinvent the past, Real Madrid didn't want woody and they sent him out on loan to us. He signed for us April 2007 and signed for Tottenham 28th January 2008

Still good enough to come back to boro and pick up wages for four seasons despite only really playing two.
 
fmttmadmin said:
I really wanted him to succeed - he wasn't a player I thought would make the jump into management. But I saw a completely different side to him when he returned for his second spell at Middlesbrough. He was highly responsible and focussed and listening to him you could hear how he had distilled so much information and influences and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had a plan. I also loved the way he really cared about Middlesbrough, the club, the town, the players, the people. And that matters to me.
I found him to be a very good communicator. Very friendly, open and likeable, despite all the negativity surrounding him. Much of that was his own fault and much of it wasn't. People constantly spread rumours about him that seemed so wide of the mark. I knew from talking to a former reporter in Newcastle or the parent of a youngster at Hurworth that they both had Woodgate marked down as very special with his knowledge and ways he could put it across. The report he gave that youngster before his debut for the U23s is the most detailed and practical I have ever heard. And again what that parent and what the reporter said was here was a player (and he was just a player at the time) who watched everyone in his club and thought carefully about their development.
Hopefully as Warnock said this week, Woodgate bounces back someday having added further knowledge from this experience because I believe he could go on to achieve big things just as Southgate has. Woodgate is the not the football person or indeed the person that many people take him for. He has a lot to offer in football.
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Have to disagree with that, in his interviews he came across as extremely arrogant and very disrespectful towards the people asking him questions.
 
The worst attribute you can have as a manager is failure to back yourself. The best managers have a system, pick players that fit that system and are resolute in their belief. Of course the ability to tinker a little with that system and rotate players is the realm of the very best coaches.

poor managers, can’t make a system work, can’t settle on their best starting formation and struggle to have an identity.

I was alarmed with Monk after a dozen or so matches, I didn’t know what he was doing, I saw the players struggling with his game plan and could see no justification in some of his signings.

Woodgate made Monk look like Klopp, it was a totally flabbergasting appointment. It was 100% without merit and the reason the fans in the whole were against it is because it was apparent where it would and did lead.

Furthermore, you have to look at the management and spending philosophy of the club over the last 15 years - asking the fans to get behind Woodgate after a decade and half of poor decision making off the pitch was a step too far.
 
JM14 said:
Have to disagree with that, in his interviews he came across as extremely arrogant and very disrespectful towards the people asking him questions.
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Yes the lady reporter from sky he was rude to on more then one occasion. If anyone dared questions his tactics he just became arrogant and deluded. There is a theme here
 
Block21 said:
Yes the lady reporter from sky he was rude to on more then one occasion. If anyone dared questions his tactics he just became arrogant and deluded. There is a theme here
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Awful quality in a person to try to belittle someone in the way he often did to someone who was just doing her job. Only made one person look daft and it wasnt the reporter
 
JM14 said:
Awful quality in a person to try to belittle someone in the way he often did to someone who was just doing her job. Only made one person look daft and it wasnt the reporter
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Remember one of his lines ‘ you should be a manager you’ total arrogance
 
I must say as soon as it became apparent Woodgate was on route to relegation there was only 1 man I wanted and it was Warnock. Then when he kept us up and how much I grew to like him I was delighted to see him stay on for the ride this season.
 
Alzi said:
If Woody was still here we'd likely be struggling at the wrong end of League 1 rather than 4 points off the top of the Championship.

It is amusing that he uses Klopp taking a few years to win the league as an example as to why he needed more time. My memory isn't what it was but I can't seem to remember Klopp taking Liverpool to the brink of League 1.
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by that logic as well, Roy Hodgson should have been given longer at liverpool... think if that had happened klopp wouldn't even be at liverpool now.

Its weird with Woody for me, I've got to be honest some of the stuff he has come out and said I'm not convinced he is a "massive" boro fan or ever was. If he was he'd understand why some things he's said and done wouldn't exactly endear himself to boro fans.

Sacking us off for spurs after a season and a half, then when becoming manager blows a load of smoke up Leeds united's bum after we've just got an absolute shelacking off them. Then say the biggest mistake he ever made was staying at boro after his loan - which for me was a season which he'd played his best ever football and got back in the england squad.

I just don't think he'd say any of that if he was as big a fan as he made out. I think he loves his home town, but I can't remember him being much of a boro fan when he was at Leeds.

Regardless of that though, he was given a tough gig and failed at it. Its taking all of warnocks experience to get the team going and this summer he's had more resources than woody got. I don't think woodgate will make a good manager, but I'm not going to give the lad a kicking on the internet, I don't think he really deserves that - he just took a great job that he wasn't qualified for, we'd all do the same if we were offered it.
 
Far too arrogant for someone with such limited ability as a manager. If he gets another job in football management I would be flabbergasted. I look on the Woodgate era with total horror and try to erase it. Nmecha and Gestede up front together! Tells me everything.
 
"Leeds needed to finish 3rd and they finished 4th so everybody had to be sold. Ridsdale just tried to push it too far"

I'm sure Woodgate & Bowyer antics didn't effect the results what so ever. It wasn't the first time he'd been in bother either.
a little bit like Joey Barton in the mix with the very top players in his position but issues outside of the game having a detrimental effect on his international career.

Mind you John Terry & Steven Gerrard seemed to do well after any trouble they got themselves into.. maybe they just had better advisors?
 
Pog said:
Here’s the clip below.

I didn’t think it was possible to dislike him more than I already do, but here we are.

The bloke was just totally and utterly incompetent, out of his depth and should never have got the job.

If it wasn’t for Neil Warnock being parachuted in and salvaging the mess he left, I have no doubt whatsoever that we’d be in League One this season.

Will rightfully go down as the worst manager in MFC history.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1334461107826733057
Click to expand...
He calls it an agenda but it wasn't. Most on here didn't want him as it was likely he would fail. After the Luton away most fans got behind him too.

Ultimately he proved us all correct and was a disastrous appointment.
 
Alzi said:
If Woody was still here we'd likely be struggling at the wrong end of League 1 rather than 4 points off the top of the Championship.

It is amusing that he uses Klopp taking a few years to win the league as an example as to why he needed more time. My memory isn't what it was but I can't seem to remember Klopp taking Liverpool to the brink of League 1.
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Yeah. Its like saying Ferguson needed 7 years to turn United into Champions. Woody was never turning us into promotion contenders, I really don't think. We'd have been relegated before he did that.

That said, I was glad he said he might need to be an assistant again and learn again. I actually think he could be a fine assistant at a top club. Whether or not he goes back into head coach/management remains to be seen, but if I was to guess I'd say probably not, and probably not with success.
 
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To be honest while he was a disaster for us, he will never say I hadnt a clue and was rubbish. He was to have a future career in management and has to sell his belief in his ability to do the job.

Good luck to him when he learns the job.
 
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