Derek Mountfield

With the recent run of bad form I've seen DM mentioned on a few threads. He's usually been held up as an example of how bad management can get, the consensus on here seems to be we were lucky to get rid of him.

I actually have good memories of the man, I thought he was very professional and tried to instill a real work ethic at the club. In many ways I think he was probably ahead of his time at the club and was eventually forced out by a little clique who weren't ready to move towards a more professional set-up.

We played good football under him, and he got the sack after a run of three losses (three games which, had we won, would have seen us a point off first in the league and in the FAI cup semi, if memory serves), we've had worse runs since with little comment.

I know it's all in the past, but I was just wondering if I was the only person that had a positive memory of the man? :confused:

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Originally Posted by tiktok

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I know it's all in the past, but I was just wondering if I was the only person that had a positive memory of the man? :confused:

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No, you're not the only one.

Donie

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Originally Posted by tiktok

With the recent run of bad form I've seen DM mentioned on a few threads. He's usually been held up as an example of how bad management can get, the consensus on here seems to be we were lucky to get rid of him.

I actually have good memories of the man, I thought he was very professional and tried to instill a real work ethic at the club. In many ways I think he was probably ahead of his time at the club and was eventually forced out by a little clique who weren't ready to move towards a more professional set-up.

We played good football under him, and he got the sack after a run of three losses (three games which, had we won, would have seen us a point off first in the league and in the FAI cup semi, if memory serves), we've had worse runs since with little comment.

I know it's all in the past, but I was just wondering if I was the only person that had a positive memory of the man? :confused:

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You are dead right .... And to top it off, sacking the guy at half time was just too much to be honest.

I do think the club has moved since having had that kind of mentality.

The guy was shafted pure and simple. He tried to bring professionalism to a club (management, directors and players) who were happily anchored in the "fags at half time and a skinful of pints at full time" days of amateurism. If he had arrived 2 years later i think he'd still be here and be very successful. Lovely fella too

In the next FFO, there's an article asking to vote for best City manager of 20 years of the club. There's a profile of each manager there. While writing the article I came across this interview with DM.

"Blue Kipper: What did you think of your time managing Cork City and what did you think of the league in Ireland?

Derek Mountfield: Cork City was a learning curve for me. I got the job and went in there with all the best intentions of doing it right. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and there were things that I would have liked more support over and there were things I did wrong, but everyone in life makes decisions and you learn from your mistakes. The league of Ireland is a very, very competitive league and there are quite a lot of very good players who have come over here, Roy Keane and Dennis Irwin who come from Cork who have made good careers out of the game. But Irish football has to make that next step and become more professional as a league and as individual clubs. If there’s one problem with Cork it’s that it’s so isolated down south – any trip to Dublin takes 4/5 hours so I didn’t have the chance to watch enough games while I was there, which I regret. I did things wrong, I did things right, I tried to make them more professionals and tried to introduce things to them but it was a learning curve for me. I tried to do my best but sometimes your best isn’t good enough."


http://www.bluekipper.com/interviews...mountfield.htm

good read actually.

Sounds like he's doing a typical "try not to insult anyone" interview there. I can't really comment on Mountfield's skills as a manager (he struck me as fairly sound, but that doesn't count for much), but I reckon he wasn't given much of a chance to prove himself. Managers should be given a season and a half minimum imho.

I wouldn't have expected any better of the operators of the club at the time though, and to be honest that's where I lay a lot of the blame for Mountfield's performance. They were both hobbyist and control freaks, which is an idiotic mix.

adam

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Originally Posted by shedite

http://www.bluekipper.com/interviews...mountfield.htm

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Not being a CCFC fan, I have no particular views on Mountfield, but I must say that's a very classy interview. Even though he must have known that few people associated with Cork City would come across the interview, he still doesn't take a pop at anyone (I seem to remember there was some acrimony involved in the way he left.) Given the bitterness certain
Irish managers (Dolan, Collins etc) have displayed towards their former clubs, it's very refreshing to read.

Mountfield was shafted. What he was trying to do was make the club more professional, basically a toned down version of what Dolan has done since he took over. Certain people were not happy with this and wanted things to stay the way they were and so Mountfield was driven out.

In the Shed the other night, I noticed that it was the same few indivduals who gave Mountfield dogs abuse that were giving Dolan a bit of stick. You'd wonder do these fellas ever want the club to move forward.

the guy is a real pro. the interview proves as much

I remember talking to a guy in a pub about Mountfield ad he kept saying to me the guy was crap......it turns out he was mistaking him for that donkey Hindmarch.....Mountfield was shafted alright and not given the time that others were

I think we all agree that Mountfield was a nice guy but therin lies the problem. As a manager being a nice guy is not enough. Mountfield brought in a lot of new ideas on the training front and most of them worked. Problem was he couldn't control the dressing room. He lost the respect of the senior players. As soon as that happens a manager is a dead duck. Before anyone starts on about the gang of 5 etc just look at the facts. We lost 3 or 4 games in a row and Mountfield is sacked. Then Gunther takes over and leads us to 7 or was it 8 wins on the trot with the same players. Mountfield would probabley be a very good coach / or no. 2 but he couldn't cut it as a manager.

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Originally Posted by tiktok

I know it's all in the past, but I was just wondering if I was the only person that had a positive memory of the man? :confused:

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No. He was a gentleman and the only thing he did wrong was that he worked for a useless bunch of w@nkers.

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Originally Posted by patsh

No. He was a gentleman and the only thing he did wrong was that he worked for a useless bunch of w@nkers.

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That just about sums it up. It's also worth noting that at the time Moses actually was thought of as some sort of mouthpiece for City fans. Now he's just regarded (like a lot of his cronies) as a sad has been.

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Originally Posted by yiddo

Before anyone starts on about the gang of 5 etc just look at the facts. We lost 3 or 4 games in a row and Mountfield is sacked. Then Gunther takes over and leads us to 7 or was it 8 wins on the trot with the same players. Mountfield would probabley be a very good coach / or no. 2 but he couldn't cut it as a manager.

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and just cause ginther won "7 or 8on the trot" doesnt and didnt prove he was a good manager :)

anyway wasnt gunther in that so called "gang of 5"

Never said winning 7 or 8 games made Gunther a good manager. One thing I do know though is that it makes him a better manager than Derek Mountfield. Then again being better than Mountfield isnt a great recommendation. Is it ?What did he do before City and how has he done managerially since he left City ?

As regards Gunther being in the gang of 5 I dunno about that but the gang of 5 by all accounts had about 10 members (depending on who you talk to ) he might have been in there somewhere.

Lads if all this praise that is being heaped on Derek Mounfield is converted to votes in the 451 poll he might actually win the vote for best city manager ;)

i thought the splendiferous and sometimes eloquent meanderings of a Damian Richardson programme note message more then elevates his cause in the pantheon of city supremo's and iluminated many a dull match watching city.

fair play rico

[QUOTE=tiktok]With the recent run of bad form I've seen DM mentioned on a few threads. QUOTE]

I certainy used DM's name in a post - but it was more to do with the spiritless performances on the pitch than anything about him per se.

Hadn' the spiritless performances something to do with the players??? especially those who 'refused' to play under Mountfield - including our beloved Ollie Cahill.

I agree with most of what has been said on the thread except this;

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Originally Posted by tiktok

We played good football under him

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Not a hope.