Matt Dean

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Not often I disagree with you pal but I'm not so sure about that.
Jolley got lucky, we got penalties we didn't deserve, which certainly helped our cause massively, and I'm not so sure Barrow fans would agree that of you gave Jolley money he can build a squad, he wasted thousands, lasted 6 games and was shown the door with P45 in hand

I think you’re doing the bloke a slight disservice there. When he came in, we hadn’t won for 15 games and had lost 11 of them. After a sticky start, he ultimately won 4 and drew 3 of his 10 games to keep us up that season. The Cardwell penalty at Swindon was fortuitous, yes, though I’d argue the one against Chesterfield was at least “borderline”, and we were unlucky not to get something away at promotion winning Wycombe on Easter Monday.

We were actually 14th on PPG when he eventually got sacked; we just hadn’t played for 3 weeks due to a string of unfortunate postponements. Ultimately, his rant did for him.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to rewrite history and paint him as some sort of messiah. He was just a lot better than most of the dross we’ve had in charge in recent years.

Quoted from Poojah

I think you’re doing the bloke a slight disservice there. When he came in, we hadn’t won for 15 games and had lost 11 of them. After a sticky start, he ultimately won 4 and drew 3 of his 10 games to keep us up that season. The Cardwell penalty at Swindon was fortuitous, yes, though I’d argue the one against Chesterfield was at least “borderline”, and we were unlucky not to get something away at promotion winning Wycombe on Easter Monday.

We were actually 14th on PPG when he eventually got sacked; we just hadn’t played for 3 weeks due to a string of unfortunate postponements. Ultimately, his rant did for him.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to rewrite history and paint him as some sort of messiah. He was just a lot better than most of the dross we’ve had in charge in recent years.

He didn't even get sacked. I guess he probably would have considering his negative comments about the club in it, but more so how bad the football was. We were absolutely awful to watch, and I recall results had gone worse than you say, because we seemed to pick up under AL and he didn't win a game.

He predicted he'd get sacked and took a mutual consent departure. The rant wasn't even in the public domain at the time. It got released after his statement about it being a mutual decision for him to leave and then made a few comments about the club. Cynically, you might think somebody in the club released the audio after that statement to settle the score.

Quoted from Poojah

For me, the basic litmus test of a manager is; “did they leave the club in a better place than they found it?”. Of all of our managers this century, I think there’s only Hurst and Jolley that can make a good argument that they did.

Incidentally, the situation Jolley inherited is much like ours now; a few points above the relegation zone but unquestionably plummeting towards it. I realise it’s not going to happen, but I’ve said previously that I’d be interested to see how he would have got on working with our current owners and a bit more money. I’d genuinely feel more comfortable with him in the dugout right now than Artell.  

Jolley was appointed manager with us 20th in L2 and engineered his departure with us 18th in L2. I mean, he did leave us in a better position than he inherited us but…

Quoted from GollyGTFC

Jolley was appointed manager with us 20th in L2 and engineered his departure with us 18th in L2. I mean, he did leave us in a better position than he inherited us but…

Did hurst leave us in a better position than he inherited second time round?

Quoted from pen penfras

He didn't even get sacked. I guess he probably would have considering his negative comments about the club in it, but more so how bad the football was. We were absolutely awful to watch, and I recall results had gone worse than you say, because we seemed to pick up under AL and he didn't win a game.

He predicted he'd get sacked and took a mutual consent departure. The rant wasn't even in the public domain at the time. It got released after his statement about it being a mutual decision for him to leave and then made a few comments about the club. Cynically, you might think somebody in the club released the audio after that statement to settle the score.

We took 7 points from his last 6 games in charge - albeit that did include a 4-0 hammering at home by Swindon. It took 9 games for Limbrick to amass 7 points, though I acknowledge he was a little unlucky not to get a win sooner than his last game against Salford, with Holloway watching on from the stands.

Quoted from Poojah

I think you’re doing the bloke a slight disservice there. When he came in, we hadn’t won for 15 games and had lost 11 of them. After a sticky start, he ultimately won 4 and drew 3 of his 10 games to keep us up that season. The Cardwell penalty at Swindon was fortuitous, yes, though I’d argue the one against Chesterfield was at least “borderline”, and we were unlucky not to get something away at promotion winning Wycombe on Easter Monday.

We were actually 14th on PPG when he eventually got sacked; we just hadn’t played for 3 weeks due to a string of unfortunate postponements. Ultimately, his rant did for him.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to rewrite history and paint him as some sort of messiah. He was just a lot better than most of the dross we’ve had in charge in recent years.

He achieved 1 point from his final 4 league matches. To imagine a league table where those 2 cancelled matches had been played and yielded positive results might be considered a bit far fetched.

What were the 2 matches that were postponed?

Plymouth away and Newport at home? Given our form at the time of those matches I’d say 1 point maximum from those.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

Jolley was appointed manager with us 20th in L2 and engineered his departure with us 18th in L2. I mean, he did leave us in a better position than he inherited us but…

We were in grave danger of going down when he arrived; we weren’t when he left. As I pointed out, what would have been Jolley’s last three games were all postponed; we were 14th on PPG.

Most Town managers in recent years have left us in a tangibly worse position that the one they inherited. Newell, Woods, Bignot, Slade, Holloway - and now likely Artell. Jolley’s reign as at least respectable for the most part.

Quoted from Poojah

We took 7 points from his last 6 games in charge - albeit that did include a 4-0 hammering at home by Swindon. It took 9 games for Limbrick to amass 7 points, though I acknowledge he was a little unlucky not to get a win sooner than his last game against Salford, with Holloway watching on from the stands.

1 point from 4. 7 points from 6.

The 2 wins were 6 weeks before his departure. Does genuine form go that far back?

Quoted from GollyGTFC

1 point from 4. 7 points from 6.

The 2 wins were 6 weeks before his departure. Does genuine form go that far back?

His record here was always streaky - flitting from unbeaten runs into winless ones. Ultimately, he left the club almost 3 weeks after his final game - he didn’t leave over results.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

1 point from 4. 7 points from 6.

The 2 wins were 6 weeks before his departure. Does genuine form go that far back?

It's the gospel according to Artell. Salford away was his Eureka moment, albeit they were a basket case (like we are now) at the time.