Lee Clark sacked
- Thread starter Azza
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My mates housemate, a journalist reckons he was talking to Leeds prior to the sacking.
Hence being shown where the door is.
Hence being shown where the door is.
Very strange decision, I didn't think he'd spent a fortune at Huddersfield and they are once again having a very good season they have been so unlucky not to get promoted he last couple of seasons and also terribly unlicky with the number of much bogger clubs that have fallen on hard times and bombed out into League 1. For a club the size of huddersfiled to compete with the likes of the two Sheffield clubs, Southampton, Charlton, Norwich, Forrest and Leicester is asking a lot.
The Leeds story could certainly play a role in this, but to be fair I've always thought of him as an average manager. He's undoubtedly had the most to spend in League One whlst he's been there (3 seasons now I think) and he's failed to get them promoted each time.
Budgets in League One are odd. A few teams have nothing, the majority of the teams have some whereas there are three or four teams that have loads - I'c reckon the budget of Huddlesfield to be at least five times that of someone like Bury or Rochdale.
Their squad is certainly rpetty strong with arguably the best striking prospect outside of the Premier League, yet he can't get the to play without Rhodes. They lucked out against us, and really rode their luck on their 40-odd game non-losing streak (they drew plenty of games that most teams would have lost). That said, the 40 game streak is one of the most impressives things to come out of English football in the last few years and I'm very shocked that the chairman sees now as the right time to get rid of him. He may not be a great manager, but he does come across as a smart and approachable guy and it's a shame to see him go.
Budgets in League One are odd. A few teams have nothing, the majority of the teams have some whereas there are three or four teams that have loads - I'c reckon the budget of Huddlesfield to be at least five times that of someone like Bury or Rochdale.
Their squad is certainly rpetty strong with arguably the best striking prospect outside of the Premier League, yet he can't get the to play without Rhodes. They lucked out against us, and really rode their luck on their 40-odd game non-losing streak (they drew plenty of games that most teams would have lost). That said, the 40 game streak is one of the most impressives things to come out of English football in the last few years and I'm very shocked that the chairman sees now as the right time to get rid of him. He may not be a great manager, but he does come across as a smart and approachable guy and it's a shame to see him go.
Their wage bill is the second highest in the league - higher than some Championship squads
They spent:
1.8m in 11/12
750 in 10/11
1.5m in 09/10
900k in 08/09
That's a heck of amount for League 1 team! let's not forget wages...
How much did they make from player sales in the same periods?
08/09 - 200k
09/10 - 0
10/11 - 1m
11/12 - 2.7m
So overall in - 3.9m. Out - Nearly 5m.
They got 2m for Pilkington in the Summer, good job really.
They will get Grayson and he will get them promoted without spending masses of cash in transfer fees and wages.
I thought Stockport (?) had a chunk of sell-on clause in that. The above transfer fees paid are absolutely ridiculous for League One, and also their wage bill is pretty damn massive too. Unfortunately, Lee Clarke was the perennial underachiever in the division.
That is clearly not true, look at the transfer spending of a club like Southampton in the same period and I think you'll find they spent considerably more, I believe two years ago it was the most spent by any club outside the premiership.
The wage bill is as a result of the success they have had it is very difficult to retain players at that level but the board have backed the manager by giving very good contracts to the top players in the hope of promotion.
The margins by which they have lost out have generally been tiny and they have played some of the best football in that league over the last few years, yes there budget dwarfs some of the tiny clubs in that league but in the last three years they have been forced to compete with much much bigger clubs dropping down from the Championship you only have to look at the two Sheffield clubs and Charlton to realise how topugh the competition is along with other seasoned League one sides like MK Dons it is not an easy league to get out of.
I wouldn't bank on a new manager getting them promoted and I do think this season is the finaly shot for the current squad (surely Rhodes will be snapped up in the summer among others) I hope for the sake of the club that the board haven't blinked at the wrong moment.
I think I phrased that wrong - obviously Soton spoofed far more on players (wasn't Lambert on just shy of £20,000 per week last season). What I was refering to was that they are a League One club, competing with Championship clubs who are currently in League One (if that makes sense). They far outpay the likes of Preston and Scunthorpe, and I'd be genuinely surprised if their squad was cheapre than Wednesday's.
I agree, I don't think it was right to sack him at the moment, however his tenure really hasn't amounted to much since he's been there.
Edit - on the MK Dons note, a recent conversation between our CFO and the Dons Chairman would suggest that MK Dons have massively cut back their salary expenditure this season and are seemingly running on empty. I don't necessarily believe this (especially as they picked up a nice fee for Baldock) but I'd say Huddlesfield have a much weightier budget than that of recently promoted teams (Brighton, Peterborough, Millwall, etc.)
That does make more sense but I would be very surprised if there is a significant difference bettween Huddersfield budget and Wednesdays! I also think you are seriously underestimating the amount Brighton were investing in their squad.
For me he has done a very good job there, he is stuck bettween a rock and a hard place yes his club have spent well by League 1 standards and have racked up a wage bill to match but he has always been competing against clubs that were that little bit bigger and had that little bit more pull. He really wanted to Buy Rickie Lambert before he went to Southampton but his manager refused to pay north of a million quid for a 28 year old who had never played above league 1. Saints purchase several players for over a million quid a pop during there time in league one and certainly didn't keep hold of young stars like Lallana buy paying him peanuts. It is a similar situation with other clubs like Wendesday and United this season and before that Leicester and Norwich.
Wouldn't surprise me, to be honest it's about time a lot of clubs tightened there belts in the lower leagues continual gambling leaves you in the situation that clubs like Portsmouth find themselves. MK Dons have been spending reasonably large for League 1 for a number of years and must have a decent sized wage bill to keep the squad together.
Agree.
Unless he's been sacked for something dodgy going on with Leeds its a truely barmy decision!