Sir Alan Buckley

Quoted from headingly_mariner

I listened with great joy to Alan Buckley before the game on Tuesday night. He spoke wonderfully about his philosophy on the game, I particularly enjoyed him saying if he was in charge he’d fine Hanson £100 every time he turned his back and started running so we could launch the ball.

He was then asked if he’d been interested in a director of football position and he confirmed he would be. Is this such a silly suggestion? For me it would say we are Grimsby Town and whoever the manager is, this is how we want to play football.
Growing up outside the town whenever I mentioned to people that I supported Town, it was always “they always play good football” “we always get played off the park there” it’s not something people say anymore. We are unlikely to be a top flight side, we are unlikely to win a cup, surely our ambition should be to play football and entertain from our youth team to our first team.

Twenty minutes uninterrupted chat with Matt Dean in the run up to the kick off. It was the best football conversation I have ever heard on RH, and was indeed a pleasure to listen to. As has already been mentioned on here, his recommendation for the manager’s job was Danny Wilson on account of his experience and past success. He felt we should be very wary of taking on a young, inexperienced manager from non-league, and before anyone accuses him of hypocrisy on the grounds that he himself came to Grimsby from Kettering, the fact is that he took Walsall to promotion and a League Cup semi- final as player- manager before he ever went there. As regards the quality of his Town teams, the football correspondent of the Independent newspaper wrote that Grimsby were the only team in the English game that played in the style of the then all conquering AC Milan. I also remember David Pleat saying on the radio that Paul Groves should have been in the England team. If Lennie Lawrence can do a job for Newport, you’d have thought that Alan could make a useful contribution at Grimsby.

Quoted from Abdul19

What does a Director of Football do? Genuine question.

Quoted from pen penfras

I'm not sure. At premiership clubs, they seem to be in charge of which players get bought, which seems like a daft idea that the manager doesn't choose who plays for him.

If it's to do with recommending a new manager and Danny Wilson is the best idea he has, then I think he's a bit too out of touch with the current game

Quoted from pen penfras

I'm not sure. At premiership clubs, they seem to be in charge of which players get bought, which seems like a daft idea that the manager doesn't choose who plays for him.

If it's to do with recommending a new manager and Danny Wilson is the best idea he has, then I think he's a bit too out of touch with the current game

Quoted from Wrawby_Mariner

I think you present a great point that Alan Buckley is off the pace of the modern game, that was clearly obvious during his third spell as the manager.  But you could say the same about Lenny Lawrence. Not being a manager for a considerable length of time etc.

However, I’ll make the same point I made 10 years ago when Mike Neil left, having somebody with a deep footballing knowledge both of the industry and of the role you are appointing is invaluable.

Having a director of football at our level would be much like having an assistant manager, but he is somebody who can  link the first team to the youth team to the non-footballing side of the football club i.e. the board of directors. I think it would be worth knowing what exactly Lenny Lawrence does with Newport because it appears to be working.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Clubs seem to define the job according to the person they give it to. Norwich have Stuart Webber as Sporting Director but he does not Interfere on the playing side although Daniel Farke is called head coach.

I think the point with Buckley is that he is a figurehead for so many fans. Even just being involved at the club would have some effect if only psychological.

Quoted from moosey_club

My only gripe with A.B is that he has almost become a parody of himself, when you listen to his co-commentary he is so pro "pass and move" its almost to the detriment of anything else..like scoring goals for instance.
There have been games where we have comfortably won and his post match comments would be almost derogatory because the goals weren't fashioned from pass and move style.
Even when the opposition have the ball and passing backwards, sideways in their own half he oozes enthusiasm just because they are keeping the ball even if they are posing no threat at all...."they played the better football"....but they lost 4-0 Alan??

His part one team for me was sensational, maybe because of what we had been served by Lyons and Roberts before him but that football was his best for me,  his part two team very succesful, by part 3 his way was not suited to that era but he wouldnt budge from it.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

If his only contribution was to increase off the ball movement by 20% then he could be Lord God of all Creation for me. It’s the aspect of the game that virtually every team we’ve played this season has been better than us. Green and Rose have been particularly poor and our midfield have been pretty woeful in making supporting runs.

Quoted from moosey_club

My only gripe with A.B is that he has almost become a parody of himself, when you listen to his co-commentary he is so pro "pass and move" its almost to the detriment of anything else..like scoring goals for instance.
There have been games where we have comfortably won and his post match comments would be almost derogatory because the goals weren't fashioned from pass and move style.
Even when the opposition have the ball and passing backwards, sideways in their own half he oozes enthusiasm just because they are keeping the ball even if they are posing no threat at all...."they played the better football"....but they lost 4-0 Alan??

His part one team for me was sensational, maybe because of what we had been served by Lyons and Roberts before him but that football was his best for me,  his part two team very succesful, by part 3 his way was not suited to that era but he wouldnt budge from it.

Quoted from buckstown

Sir Alan could be a club ambassador easily but not Director of Football
He’s been out of the professional game for two long and his later transfer dealings were awful. In fact his dealings anywhere other than GTFC were poor
Remember he thought Haywood and Hope were going to be good

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

You can pick shite players out of any team we've had in the last 20 years, I think people are judging stint 3 through the lens of stints 1 and 2, rather than what else happened at our club that decade.

For example Anthony Williams and Ronnie Bull under Slade 1;
Beagrie and Harkins under Roger;
Pick any number of players under Newell but Colgan, Linwood and Leary stand out to me;
Tommy Wright, Forecast and Hudson under Woods;
Even recently look how shite Slades recruitment was.

There were some good points in amongst the bad during Buckleys later spell e.g. his willingness to blood young players, his willingness to work within a very tight budget (didn't we make record profits that year?), and unlike what before and after (except under Slade  1) we never looked disorganised on the pitch.

What I'm getting at is that I  don't think Buckleys third stint as manager should particularly colour our view of whether he'd make a decent director of football or not, he wouldn't be doing any of the day to day management stuff, but rather working on setting a consistent framework within which all aspects of the playing sides are expected to operate.

Quoted from moosey_club

My only gripe with A.B is that he has almost become a parody of himself, when you listen to his co-commentary he is so pro "pass and move" its almost to the detriment of anything else..like scoring goals for instance.
There have been games where we have comfortably won and his post match comments would be almost derogatory because the goals weren't fashioned from pass and move style.
Even when the opposition have the ball and passing backwards, sideways in their own half he oozes enthusiasm just because they are keeping the ball even if they are posing no threat at all...."they played the better football"....but they lost 4-0 Alan??

His part one team for me was sensational, maybe because of what we had been served by Lyons and Roberts before him but that football was his best for me,  his part two team very succesful, by part 3 his way was not suited to that era but he wouldnt budge from it.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

You can pick shite players out of any team we've had in the last 20 years, I think people are judging stint 3 through the lens of stints 1 and 2, rather than what else happened at our club that decade.

For example Anthony Williams and Ronnie Bull under Slade 1;
Beagrie and Harkins under Roger;
Pick any number of players under Newell but Colgan, Linwood and Leary stand out to me;
Tommy Wright, Forecast and Hudson under Woods;
Even recently look how shite Slades recruitment was.

There were some good points in amongst the bad during Buckleys later spell e.g. his willingness to blood young players, his willingness to work within a very tight budget (didn't we make record profits that year?), and unlike what before and after (except under Slade  1) we never looked disorganised on the pitch.



What I'm getting at is that I  don't think Buckleys third stint as manager should particularly colour our view of whether he'd make a decent director of football or not, he wouldn't be doing any of the day to day management stuff, but rather working on setting a consistent framework within which all aspects of the playing sides are expected to operate.

Quoted from dicko995

As above, with you all the way Pete

Quoted from grimsby pete

Sir Alan should have 2 roles,

1.  To advise  AL  its up to AL how much he listens to him but his advice would be helpful.

2.  To sit in on the interviews of future managers and advise the boards on his thoughts.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Sir Alan should have 2 roles,

1.  To advise  AL  its up to AL how much he listens to him but his advice would be helpful.

2.  To sit in on the interviews of future managers and advise the boards on his thoughts.

Quoted from rancido

What would concern me in point 2 is that AB would view any applicant on his own playing ethos and things have moved on a lot since he last managed.

Quoted from SomeSanity

For the record, Lennie Lawrence last managed in 2005, before Buckley III and is having an effect with Newport. Regardless of whether it be Buckley or anyone else and their job title, someone to guide a young manager could be what is needed.

Quoted from Bigdog

I'd like to see AB as an honarary member of the GTFC boardroom if the takeover happens. I wouldn't like him to get involved with the dying embers of a long standing regime, he'd be much more useful as part of a fresh start. More of a footballing advisory role rather than a hands on Director Of Football. Some of his principles still hold weight today and whatever you say about him, he's a shrewd operator and extremely good at man management, not just players, he does have a gift of knowing what makes people tick. One to one he's very engaging and he has the knack of not saying too many words, but when he speaks, people listen. We need more football people on the board in the future..