danboyb
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Post by danboyb on Nov 2, 2024 10:20:33 GMT
I would rank Beck’s second coming as considerably worse than anything we produced under McFarland. Alcide, Prokas, Walling are just 3 of the dreadful signings that I can remember off the top of my head. The football was dire and he bullied and ridiculed some of our younger players at the time. The way he was appointed was very underhand too. Not one of Reg Smarts finest moments.
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Post by cufctheparrot on Nov 2, 2024 10:21:09 GMT
Coconuts before a match would be bad luck, and I agree that playing it before getting inevitably thumped wouldn't have been correct. The fact it wasn't Daydream Believer is the real crime. But we lost anyway, so not playing it was ‘bad luck’ in the same way as forgetting to wear your lucky socks on match day is. |
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Post by Funky Monk on Nov 2, 2024 10:22:50 GMT
Dunno, I think playing your victory anthem before a match is a tad more obvious than that!
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Mark of Carnage
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Post by Mark of Carnage on Nov 2, 2024 10:24:14 GMT
I think it is really unfair to label McFarland as a poor manager. Some of the best football I've seen the Us play was under his tenure in the 99/00 season when we signed Zema Abbey. I think McFarland's legacy was tarnished by how incredibly poor we were following Zema Abbey's strop in the 00/01 season when he clearly felt he was too good to play for us and eventual sale to Norwich have way through the season. I don't think Zema Abbey did that well at Norwich IIRC but I may be wrong. I think what shocked everyone at the time was the seemingly overnight change from the Us playing awesome football to some of the worst performances ever seen at Abbey Stadium in the 00/01 season. As others have said, McFarland got us promoted to what is now the Championship and kept us up there which was quite an achievement considering the competition. He was rightly replaced as his tenure had clearly run out of steam and Beck kept us up in 2001. It was under Taylor's tenure that we got relegated in 01/02 but if any manager was responsible for that relegation it was Beck. It may be fair to say the demise started in the last season of McFarland's tenure but he was far from the worst manager we have had.
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MartinL
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Post by MartinL on Nov 2, 2024 10:26:36 GMT
I think it is really unfair to label McFarland as a poor manager. Some of the best football I've seen the Us play was under his tenure in the 99/00 season when we signed Zema Abbey. I think McFarland's legacy was tarnished by how incredibly poor we were following Zema Abbey's strop in the 00/01 season when he clearly felt he was too good to play for us and eventual sale to Norwich have way through the season. I don't think Zema Abbey did that well at Norwich IIRC but I may be wrong. I think what shocked everyone at the time was the seemingly overnight change from the Us playing awesome football to some of the worst performances ever seen at Abbey Stadium in the 00/01 season. As others have said, McFarland got us promoted to what is now the Championship and kept us up there which was quite an achievement considering the competition. He was rightly replaced as his tenure had clearly run out of steam and Beck kept us up in 2001. It was under Taylor's tenure that we got relegated in 01/02 but if any manager was responsible for that relegation it was Beck. It may be fair to say the demise started in the last season of McFarland's tenure but he was far from the worst manager we have had. McFarland never took us to the Championship! |
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Post by cufctheparrot on Nov 2, 2024 10:28:12 GMT
Dunno, I think playing your victory anthem before a match is a tad more obvious than that! The victory was a getting to the final and a John Taylor team managing not to concede a goal in the second leg away to Bristol City! |
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Mark of Carnage
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Post by Mark of Carnage on Nov 2, 2024 10:35:37 GMT
I think it is really unfair to label McFarland as a poor manager. Some of the best football I've seen the Us play was under his tenure in the 99/00 season when we signed Zema Abbey. I think McFarland's legacy was tarnished by how incredibly poor we were following Zema Abbey's strop in the 00/01 season when he clearly felt he was too good to play for us and eventual sale to Norwich have way through the season. I don't think Zema Abbey did that well at Norwich IIRC but I may be wrong. I think what shocked everyone at the time was the seemingly overnight change from the Us playing awesome football to some of the worst performances ever seen at Abbey Stadium in the 00/01 season. As others have said, McFarland got us promoted to what is now the Championship and kept us up there which was quite an achievement considering the competition. He was rightly replaced as his tenure had clearly run out of steam and Beck kept us up in 2001. It was under Taylor's tenure that we got relegated in 01/02 but if any manager was responsible for that relegation it was Beck. It may be fair to say the demise started in the last season of McFarland's tenure but he was far from the worst manager we have had. McFarland never took us to the Championship! I did say 'what is now the Championship'. Division 2 and it was called then became Division 1 in 01/02 so you could say John Beck did actually get us to the 1st division albeit only for that one season  |
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MartinL
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Post by MartinL on Nov 2, 2024 10:35:39 GMT
No ones knows how things would have panned out after McFarland but I said it at the time bringing Beck back was one of the biggest mistakes the club have ever made.
To my mind that’s when the decline started.
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MartinL
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Post by MartinL on Nov 2, 2024 10:36:51 GMT
McFarland never took us to the Championship! I did say 'what is now the Championship'. Division 2 and it was called then became Division 1 in 01/02 so you could say John Beck did actually get us to the 1st division albeit only for that one season He didn’t. He got us to the level we are now whatever it was called. |
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Mark of Carnage
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Post by Mark of Carnage on Nov 2, 2024 10:45:55 GMT
I did say 'what is now the Championship'. Division 2 and it was called then became Division 1 in 01/02 so you could say John Beck did actually get us to the 1st division albeit only for that one season He didn’t. He got us to the level we are now whatever it was called. Oh yes you are quite right. Apologies. Was a long time ago. Still McFarland did well keeping us up there in the 3rd tier whatever it was called back then. Is disappointing though now that I know we are not now in the 2nd tier  |
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Post by Andrewlang on Nov 2, 2024 10:58:52 GMT
"No ones knows how things would have panned out after McFarland but I said it at the time bringing Beck back was one of the biggest mistakes the club have ever made.
To my mind that’s when the decline started"
It unfortunately led to Smart leaving and the absolute shitshow that was Harw*od so, yeah, I guess. Although I'd tend to think making him chairman was the worst thing to ever happen to us rather than the events that led to it, the events could have led anywhere with better choices. Hate. Him.
Anyway, I love Roy Mac. One of our best for me, anyone who gets us promoted deserves legend status forever. Thoroughly good bloke too.
Shaggy was used by the board for me. I think they knew appointing him would appease the fans for long enough that they could avoid any hard questions about the finances.
Andrew
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Post by martinjohn on Nov 2, 2024 13:34:28 GMT
The late 90s are a haze to be honest. Exiled (self-exile in the hope to escape the teenage boredom of 90s fen life) in Lancaster it was a lot harder to follow the Us from afar in those days. Through the haze I have always blamed McFarland for the slow and then rapid demise of the team performance. Whilst living in Brum it led to a minor argument with him at a Halesowen v Burton Albion game. I wonder now if this was fair? He certainly protested his innocence This is a crazy post. It's like saying Bonner was a bad manager because of our last 3 results under him. |
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MartinL
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Post by MartinL on Nov 2, 2024 13:42:51 GMT
He didn’t. He got us to the level we are now whatever it was called. Oh yes you are quite right. Apologies. Was a long time ago. Still McFarland did well keeping us up there in the 3rd tier whatever it was called back then. Is disappointing though now that I know we are not now in the 2nd tier Comes to us all. I started doubting my memory too! |
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Post by texaspete on Nov 2, 2024 16:40:53 GMT
Trolling surely? Definitely in our top 5 managers post-1970.
Extra points for so nearly sabotaging Burton’s run-in 2008/09 to throw away a massive points advantage over us even though we couldn’t get it over the line
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Post by Russ Greaves on Nov 2, 2024 16:47:19 GMT
Terrible clickbait but I’ll chomp, if only to say in amongst all the many conversations I’ve had with Cambridge players past and present, I’ve never known a U’s manager so universally loved and respected as Roy McFarland. Andy Duncan admitted he, along with perhaps a few others, was close to tears when Roy came into the dressing room to say his goodbyes.
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