Fenlon -how do you rate him?

Lads,
How do you rate Pat Fenlon as a manager? Bearing in mind that he has the best overall squad in the league ( Cork fans be quiet!!! ) I think that other managers could do better.

In truth I'm still sore about being knocked out by Hibs and by Fenlons comments every time Shels play in europe e.g. 'People will have forgotten about these matches in 5 or 6 weeks' or 'We're hardly going to win the UEFA Cup' etc -well they certainly won't with that attitude ( do you think Cork would have progressed if they had that kind of attitude in their european games? Hardly ). To me, ( and this should be fairly obvious ) Europe HAS to be more important than domestic competition as you are rewarded for winning the league, FAI Cup ( or runner up etc ) by a spot in europe. Some people are always saying that the league is very good etc but this must be proven by winning in europe.

Ratings: 1-Brutal, 5-Excellent etc.

He has done well in the league. His European record is brutal, too cautious, poor tactically & no ambition.

League is always more important than Europe as you won't get to play in Europe without it.

Ho can people rate him as a poor manager, Poor managers do not win league titles ans manage to sign class players

Can only go Ok - the best squad in the country and biggest budget in the league, so they should win it every year. However, he can only do the job infront of him, and he's doing that well...

Its a very tough league to win so he has done well to win it and to be so far out in front this time around. I know he's got a bigger budget than the rest of the league and shels prob have the psychological edge over other teams. But having said that you still have to go out and do it.
His attitude to Europe is dissapointing but I think he could be covering his own @ss by saying the league is more important. But if this league is to progress all teams need to be winning in Europe so the League of Ireland can move up the UEFA coefficient rankings.

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Originally Posted by pete

He has done well in the league. His European record is brutal, too cautious, poor tactically & no ambition.

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couldn't agree more. so, i can only rate him as ok

Considering the money and players at his disposal, Shels should probably be a better outfit than they are, the Euro results really go against him.

That was trying to keep my personal dislike for him out of it btw. :D

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Originally Posted by pete

He has done well in the league. His European record is brutal, too cautious, poor tactically & no ambition.

League is always more important than Europe as you won't get to play in Europe without it.

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good call Pete as I mentioned in a previous thread there was a distinct lack of width on the left side against Reykavik which is a basic thing that any manager should spot

Progression to 2nd qualifying rounds are the minimum expected of Bohs & Shel$ this year & shel$ haven't exactly done it in style so far...

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Originally Posted by pete

Progression to 2nd qualifying rounds are the minimum expected of Bohs & Shel$ this year & shel$ haven't exactly done it in style so far...

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But Shels still made it, i would care if it was an own goal in the last minute that got them there, just as long as they got there !

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Originally Posted by Roo69

But Shels still made it, i would care if it was an own goal in the last minute that got them there, just as long as they got there !

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exactly as long as the coefficient keeps rising all EL fans are happy

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Originally Posted by tarzan_bray

exactly as long as the coefficient keeps rising all EL fans are happy

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EL would have got even more points if Shels had actually won a game. One goal would have done :rolleyes: Would have done too if J Byrne had his shooting boots on. Missed oppertunity IMO.

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Originally Posted by sullanefc

EL would have got even more points if Shels had actually won a game. One goal would have done :rolleyes: Would have done too if J Byrne had his shooting boots on. Missed oppertunity IMO.

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I agree, Shels didn't exactly cover themselves in glory when you consider that they scraped through on away goals against an Icelandic team. What will the barstoolers say to that? They'll say that the eL is only marginally better than Icelandic football. Let's hope the Longford don't get knocked out by Vaduz!!! :eek:

I think that a better manager would get even more out of his players. Shels have been brutal in Europe compared to Bohs, Pat's and now Cork. Rovers have also been good recently.
I'd sooner see Shels finish in the top three every year provided they do well in Europe.
It's not just the Hibs game that haunts me but also Tony McCarthy's double hand ball letting Rangers back in to the match when Shels were 3-0 up -I'll never forget that either, and never forgive him as a Shels player ( not as a person, I'm sure the guy has a life outside football ). I'd have given him a free transfer after that game! :mad: :D

He's only had one awful result in Europe, the Slovenian crowd were a very good side and marginally beat us there was no shame in that, the match could have gone either way and they have Liverpool a very good go in the next round. This year were through and that's what matters, only the Hibs result was really awful, the Slovenian one was bad but not nearly on the same level. I don't like his comments on Europe either but I think it's a case of trying to take the pressure off his players, all managers do it, I really hope he doesn't mean what he says and that he doesn't give the players the same attitude.

As for this year, I can't believe anyones complaining. We knocked out a side that was in the seeded part of the draw, that was a team full of internationals and was from a league ranked higher than our own. It doesn't matter how you get there all that matters is that you get there and we got the result needed to get through to the next round. Anyone who saw the match, or even the highlights on Sports Tonight would have seen we created enough chances to win the match easily but were just off form on front of goal, hardly Fenlons fault.

In the league you can't argue with him. Ran Bohs close when we, in reality, had a far inferior team to them in his first season. Beat them in his second and could be the first Shels manager to do two in a row by his third. He's had the budget, yes, but he's used it very well. Look at Jamie Harris, probably his finest signing. Harris was going nowhere with Pats and could barley get into the team but Fenlon still saw enough in him to sign him when pretty much everyone doubted his sanity for considering buying some Pats reserve, including myself I will say. Harris went on to become one of the most important players in our title charge, scoring many goals when played up front and is one of the finest defenders in the league. That's not just having the budget, that's useing it very very well. In his time he has made very few bad signings and I can't understand people doubting his tactics.

In the big league matches, he's gotten it right. When we lost 3-1 at home to Bohs he saw the problem was we were overrun in mid field. He decided in the away match to put an extra man in there to swamp Hunt and not give him the space to operate, the result was we dominated and won the match, that was one of the biggest matches of his managerial career, he showed that night that he was far from a bad tactican.

he's not a bad manager, he's stuck to the dermot keely style of kick and rush football which works in the league, but not in europe. shels have the players to be playing better football and the talent in the squad is wasted on a manager with so little tactical ambition. oh, and he's a horrible little ****e

Can I vote again. The Hibs result is why I thought poorly of him but after tonights 2-0 (4-3agg) win things are looking a bit different- Shels first home win in Europe in 11 year :eek: now thats better :)