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Flitcroft

Postby StagsForLIFE » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:32 am

You know, for the all the stick he has got over his tenure here so far, I feel that David has overcome those barriers and proved (most of) the doubters wrong. The guy generally comes across as a nice guy and someone who cares about his job, he wants to improve players and make them better people, but also is aware of their mental health.

He has got Mansfield playing the best football which hasn't been seen for many years, best ever in my case only being 20, I started coming to the games in the 05/06 season so caught the team on their demise to NL.

Anyways the point of this thread was just putting some appreciation out there for Flitters and hopefully he will be here for many years to come.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby tmwilson » Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:08 am

I was very critical of Flitcroft last season. Do I think I was wrong ? No . He made a pig's ear of it but I never wanted him sacked . I have fully backed him this season. Players like Hamilton and Mellis have improved . He has brought in some very good players.
The style and quality of play is up there with the teams under Curle and Deaden. The club as while is the best it's ever been . It's professional run and that has filtered down to the manager and players . Afrer the preseason and a few games in the league , I haven't attended one game where I thought we couldnt win . I haven't feltike that for years . Flitcroft is slowly becoming one of my favourite managers of all time .
Saying that . We have a long way to go and if we do fail to get promotion with the players he has inherited, players he's signed and the backing of Radford , then it will be the biggest ba##'s up since Curle failed to gets us promotion . So far , I've enjoyed the ride and im very hopeful.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby pemill » Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:19 am

tmwilson wrote:I was very critical of Flitcroft last season. Do I think I was wrong ? No . He made a pig's ear of it but I never wanted him sacked . I have fully backed him this season. Players like Hamilton and Mellis have improved . He has brought in some very good players.
The style and quality of play is up there with the teams under Curle and Deaden. The club as while is the best it's ever been . It's professional run and that has filtered down to the manager and players . Afrer the preseason and a few games in the league , I haven't attended one game where I thought we couldnt win . I haven't feltike that for years . Flitcroft is slowly becoming one of my favourite managers of all time .
Saying that . We have a long way to go and if we do fail to get promotion with the players he has inherited, players he's signed and the backing of Radford , then it will be the biggest ba##'s up since Curle failed to gets us promotion . So far , I've enjoyed the ride and im very hopeful.


Just for the record Curle inherited his team from Deardon/Watkiss, Curle gradually messed it up
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby gazza1988 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:50 am

Thing is, looking at the evidence so far, he was always going to balls up last season.

Evans doesn't do much fitness work with the players. He signs a high amount so he can rotate the team. Anyone remember Evans claiming Mellis can't do 2 games in a row?

Look at Peterborough. Early pace setter and now the wheels have fell off around the time he jumped ship from us.

Flitcroft is big on fitness and it shows. He doesn't need to chop and change because players are tired. He gets them to a very high level of fitness. Last season you could tell players were getting a bit "leggy". Who here can honestly say that players have looked exhausted near the end of 90 minutes? I can't say I have.

We are in a strong position. Let's enjoy it.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby PEAR CIDER » Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:37 am

gazza1988 wrote:Thing is, looking at the evidence so far, he was always going to balls up last season.

Evans doesn't do much fitness work with the players. He signs a high amount so he can rotate the team. Anyone remember Evans claiming Mellis can't do 2 games in a row?

Look at Peterborough. Early pace setter and now the wheels have fell off around the time he jumped ship from us.

Flitcroft is big on fitness and it shows. He doesn't need to chop and change because players are tired. He gets them to a very high level of fitness. Last season you could tell players were getting a bit "leggy". Who here can honestly say that players have looked exhausted near the end of 90 minutes? I can't say I have.

We are in a strong position. Let's enjoy it.


Spot on.

A bit leggy over the xmas period, but that was to be expected with the amount of games and more or less the same side. but after a bit of a break, they look fine again
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Rob » Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:51 am

tmwilson wrote:I was very critical of Flitcroft last season. Do I think I was wrong ? No . He made a pig's ear of it but I never wanted him sacked . I have fully backed him this season. Players like Hamilton and Mellis have improved . He has brought in some very good players.
The style and quality of play is up there with the teams under Curle and Deaden. The club as while is the best it's ever been . It's professional run and that has filtered down to the manager and players . Afrer the preseason and a few games in the league , I haven't attended one game where I thought we couldnt win . I haven't feltike that for years . Flitcroft is slowly becoming one of my favourite managers of all time .
Saying that . We have a long way to go and if we do fail to get promotion with the players he has inherited, players he's signed and the backing of Radford , then it will be the biggest ba##'s up since Curle failed to gets us promotion . So far , I've enjoyed the ride and im very hopeful.


It wasn't wrong to be critical of him last season, even those who have continued to support him were critical of the way we ended the season and the blame was shared across the players, the manager and of course the former manager. What was wrong was those calling for him to be sacked, he had not had any chance to fix what was clearly a squad with major weaknesses and as time has shown, the faith shown in him by JR and the majority of fans (remember the poll showed two thirds supported him at the end of last season) has been repaid with a season full of terrific football and a side firmly placed inside the top 3.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby tillydog123 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:32 am

I was one who criticised him a lot for the slide down the table which was very bad with virtually the same players and any decent manager would have coaxed us over the line so for that he does deserve some stick.
However, he has built on that failure big time and seems to talk the talk and walk the walk currently so all credit to him
I think Flitcroft is a bit of a thinking man and is quite academic deep inside and likes to have a plan and be highly organised all in his own time and way and won't be put off or knee jerked by events or changes.
Good for the long term and JR may have appointed wisely this time after the sweaty fat Scottish Judas Evans.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby wardy12345 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:29 am

Last season I thought he would lead us to the conference, but he’s turned things around and now looks like taking us up
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Tippy Tappy Football » Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:19 am

I think DF is more of a coach than our previous managers and really enjoys spending time on the training ground coaching players and trying to improve them. This is why he has brought in Greg Abbott to help him with recruitment which will be key for the future as we cannot just keep relying on loan players. If DF is good at developing players then I'd prefer them to be our players which will be easier on JR's pocket and better for the club's finances.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby PEAR CIDER » Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:27 am

I think Futch may also need a bit of praise. Generally speaking, we have been quite solid defensively this season. I like to think he has had something to do with it
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby tmwilson » Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:32 am

Chander Lear wrote:I think Futch may also need a bit of praise. Generally speaking, we have been quite solid defensively this season. I like to think he has had something to do with it


Great point . Futch is rarely mentioned . He deserves a song of his own .
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby MTFCMusings » Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:36 am

Chander Lear wrote:I think Futch may also need a bit of praise. Generally speaking, we have been quite solid defensively this season. I like to think he has had something to do with it


The Futcher's bright, the Futcher's amber.

Apologies in advance :getmecoat:
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Vice President » Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:01 pm

In terms of the players he has brought in, the style of football, league position and the way he conducts himself in interviews etc. he has been very impressive this season.

No team has an automatic right to promotion. The fact that DF has strengthend the team in all areas this season adds weight to my belief that we weren't quite good enough last year. By the same token - impressive though we are at the moment, there is a lot of competition for promotion - and even with our budget and great loan signings, we can't take anything for granted.

I hope DF can get us promoted this year, as I think he could become a long term manager for this club and the stability and direction of travel is all consistent with the Radford's bigger picture.

DF might not have had as many promotions as SE, but he is a better manager. In many respects, he is possibly the best manager that we have had since Ian Greaves. Let's hope his success here can substantiate that claim.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby pemill » Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:12 pm

In the main great managers have a great No.2, it's teamwork.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Sneag » Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:25 pm

Vice President wrote:In terms of the players he has brought in, the style of football, league position and the way he conducts himself in interviews etc. he has been very impressive this season.

No team has an automatic right to promotion. The fact that DF has strengthend the team in all areas this season adds weight to my belief that we weren't quite good enough last year. By the same token - impressive though we are at the moment, there is a lot of competition for promotion - and even with our budget and great loan signings, we can't take anything for granted.

I hope DF can get us promoted this year, as I think he could become a long term manager for this club and the stability and direction of travel is all consistent with the Radford's bigger picture.

DF might not have had as many promotions as SE, but he is a better manager. In many respects, he is possibly the best manager that we have had since Ian Greaves. Let's hope his success here can substantiate that claim.


I agree with that VP. DF has certainly win me over this season.

However we shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves yet. County my stay up we may fail to go up. Football has a habit of kicking you squarely in the plums.

Who can forget Neil Kinnock celebrating his 1992 election win a week before the polls opened.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby bellwhiff » Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:40 pm

Sneag wrote:
Vice President wrote:In terms of the players he has brought in, the style of football, league position and the way he conducts himself in interviews etc. he has been very impressive this season.

No team has an automatic right to promotion. The fact that DF has strengthend the team in all areas this season adds weight to my belief that we weren't quite good enough last year. By the same token - impressive though we are at the moment, there is a lot of competition for promotion - and even with our budget and great loan signings, we can't take anything for granted.

I hope DF can get us promoted this year, as I think he could become a long term manager for this club and the stability and direction of travel is all consistent with the Radford's bigger picture.

DF might not have had as many promotions as SE, but he is a better manager. In many respects, he is possibly the best manager that we have had since Ian Greaves. Let's hope his success here can substantiate that claim.


I agree with that VP. DF has certainly win me over this season.

However we shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves yet. County my stay up we may fail to go up. Football has a habit of kicking you squarely in the plums.

Who can forget Neil Kinnock celebrating his 1992 election win a week before the polls opened.

Go back to your constituencies and prepare for promotion :)
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Dave Wayne » Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:46 pm

I think Flitcroft took a gamble that failed last season but it was the right thing to do.
He could have carried on playing 'evans style' football and we may have got promoted but long term he wanted to play his own style. To do that he needed to find out who of last years squad were not capable of playing his style so that suitable replacements could be found. The successes so far this season are thanks to that gamble.
We all wanted to go up, but surely it is better to delay that by a year and go up with the quality of players we have now than going up playing up last years style and not having the right players in league one ?
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Marky Mark » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:10 pm

The problem is that he was still the same nice guy, and someone who cares about his job, wanting to improve people and make them better people, and aware of their mental health at the end of last season when people were all over him. These aren’t attributes that he’s gained by being 3rd in the league, winning games has given him the space for people to realise that he is all of those positive things for the club. If we go through a bad patch like last season will there be posts praising him as an individual? Doubt it.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby bellwhiff » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:12 pm

Marky Mark wrote:The problem is that he was still the same nice guy, and someone who cares about his job, wanting to improve people and make them better people, and aware of their mental health at the end of last season when people were all over him. These aren’t attributes that he’s gained by being 3rd in the league, winning games has given him the space for people to realise that he is all of those positive things for the club. If we go through a bad patch like last season will there be posts praising him as an individual? Doubt it.

Exactly. The disrespect shown on here was pretty poor. He’s proved he can put a good footballing side together. Last season was a poison chalice
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby MutinyOnTheCounty » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:31 pm

Chander Lear wrote:
gazza1988 wrote:Thing is, looking at the evidence so far, he was always going to balls up last season.

Evans doesn't do much fitness work with the players. He signs a high amount so he can rotate the team. Anyone remember Evans claiming Mellis can't do 2 games in a row?

Look at Peterborough. Early pace setter and now the wheels have fell off around the time he jumped ship from us.

Flitcroft is big on fitness and it shows. He doesn't need to chop and change because players are tired. He gets them to a very high level of fitness. Last season you could tell players were getting a bit "leggy". Who here can honestly say that players have looked exhausted near the end of 90 minutes? I can't say I have.

We are in a strong position. Let's enjoy it.


Spot on.

A bit leggy over the xmas period, but that was to be expected with the amount of games and more or less the same side. but after a bit of a break, they look fine again



Careful dude - i mentioned some time ago that Evan's squad were unfit compared to now. Thankfully i was corrected by others and now see it was all in my imagination!! :P
I daresay that person was perhaps Evans (Baron Harkonnen), or some chubby lovechild resembling him......

Image

:P


As for the best since Dearden & Curle - i'd say we almost have the best of both? We have much of Dearden's quality play, mixed with most of Curle's fitness and 'never say die' attitude
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby mousemousemouse » Mon Jan 21, 2019 2:43 pm

The thing is, if he carried on the “Evans style” and got us up, we would be the whipping boys if we didn’t have a clear out. Look at our fitness at the end of last season, it took us a little while to get into shape this seasons

League 1 wouldn’t have allowed us do that without losing those 17 we have drawn.

We are building for life in the next league, not just to get up and hope and pray
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby MutinyOnTheCounty » Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:19 pm

mousemousemouse wrote:The thing is, if he carried on the “Evans style” and got us up, we would be the whipping boys if we didn’t have a clear out. Look at our fitness at the end of last season, it took us a little while to get into shape this seasons

League 1 wouldn’t have allowed us do that without losing those 17 we have drawn.

We are building for life in the next league, not just to get up and hope and pray



Was also another of my arguments at the time.


IMO....... :P
Assuming we'd have gone up playing Evans's style, DF would have spent the summer finding out which players couldn't adapt to his style / regime. We'd then end up going to the market late for replacements, bought the 'end of line clearance' bargains who would have probably struggled and ended down near the foot of L1 staring at relegation. Without the required players we'd probably not have this style of football, nor have the inclination to try when L1 survival is paramount. We'd be fed up with DF, calling for his head, and JR would probably be looking at whether he could afford a new manager, or keep the squad in L2 but at L1 wages. And possibly, none of us would have been any the wiser about how far we could really develop our play.


Plenty of maybes, but for me i reckon going up last May would have probably ended in disaster this season
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Sedgwick » Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:40 pm

His bury side ripped us apart and went up....

His Mansfield side are ripping other teams apart in what I think is a stronger league.... I want him to be here for a long time and be responsible for developing the next gen of youth. No more new managers every one or two seasons.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby ST4GS » Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:54 pm

Sedgwick wrote:His bury side ripped us apart and went up....

His Mansfield side are ripping other teams apart in what I think is a stronger league.... I want him to be here for a long time and be responsible for developing the next gen of youth. No more new managers every one or two seasons.
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Re: Flitcroft

Postby Jamie » Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:09 pm

mousemousemouse wrote:The thing is, if he carried on the “Evans style” and got us up, we would be the whipping boys if we didn’t have a clear out. Look at our fitness at the end of last season, it took us a little while to get into shape this seasons

League 1 wouldn’t have allowed us do that without losing those 17 we have drawn.

We are building for life in the next league, not just to get up and hope and pray


Agree we would have been whipping boys if we had gone up and if he continued the 'Evans style' with those players... but there is no reason he couldn't have cleared house and got them fit and doing his thing his way in the summer after we had actually got up... He messed up last season, no two ways about it, he should of done whatever it took to get that team promoted. He changed too much, too soon, mid-season and blew an excellent chance to go up or at least get in the play-offs.

I think the stick he got last season was fully justified. This is a results business and we saw our team go from top of the form table, looking good for top 3 (with the game we had in hand) to not even being in the shout for the play-offs . It was a failure and people (myself included) were rightly very worried about what he was doing and if it would work this year.

I'm sure we all agree a manager needs a bit of time to stamp his authority and get the squad fire and singing to his tune. This season has shown that, but fans were always going to be very nervous about him and his approach this year after he messed up last season... This year he's taken the side from being hard to beat but not winning enough games, to now winning games and moving in the right directly. All credit to him, Futch and his coaching staff.

He's won me over already, but it is a results based business and if he loses 4 of the next 5 you can guarantee a lot of fans will start to wobble.
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