London Irish

Landing Gannon is a magnificent coup for Boyle, potentially as big as getting McGhee. Absolutely fantastic work, once again I think we can looking upwards to top 6 rather than worrying about the scrap at the bottom. I think the transition will be seamless, McGhee and Gannon are both very similar in their approach to the kind of football they want played by their teams. There is a real fire-sale going on at Stockport at the moment, wonder if Jim will pick anything up (although many of the good ones have already been taken).

Irish!

Sorry you feel that way - I don't post on here to upset people. It won't happen again.

I'm sorry, that's ridiculous. People should be allowed to have an opinion on whether minutes' silences are an appropriate way to respect the dead. I don't have a strong opinion myself, but will respect others' right to have one. Phil O'Donnell's legacy should be to celebrate all that is good about football, not demonise someone like Calderwood who happened to express an unpopular opinion. Why can't supporters be rational, are we idiots or savages or something?

No, I don't think that's similar at all - Leeds under McAllister had to put together a long record of winning consistency to reach a play-off final. You don't need that for a run to a cup semi-final, where there is much more an element of chance involved in who you play. You'll have to explain to me a rational basis for your dislike of Colin Calderwood, he has a very good track record, of promoting both his clubs. Northampton Town October 9 2003-May 29 2006 P 154 W74 D40 L40 W% 48.05 Nottingham Forest May 30 2006-December 26 2008 P136 W57 D42 L37 W%41.91

Sure - we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think saving Wycombe from League 2 is much of an achievement, I think that is a club that should be competing at the other end of the table if managed well and they really didn't in any meaningful way under his guidance, even though he was given plenty of time. Fulham, similarly, he didn't have to do a great deal to secure their Prem status, and if you look at their record under both Chris Coleman and Roy Hodgson, I don't think it shows him in a particularly good light. I wouldn't dispute he did an OK job with the Irish, but it has been slightly flattered by their ridiculous underperformance of the early-2000s, and perhaps can now be seen in a more realistic light with what Nigel Worthington is achieving also.

My view is that Gary M did OK at Leeds - he got them one match away (play-off final) from the Championship. He was only sacked because of the enormous expectations on managers at that club. Compare with Sanchez, who never achieved anything at Wycombe and was useless at Fulham. Colin Calderwood actually has acheived more in club management than both those two put together and would not be a terrible choice. He acheived with low expectations and no money at Northamption and (eventually!) acheived with high expectations and some money at Forest.

It's a joke that people even mention the word "harm" to the club when discussing McGhee. Honestly, football fans

Indeed - perhaps some people think McGhee should have raided his own bank account to pay them to stay. Reality check, owners and shareholders provide the financial wherewithal to keep and sign players, all McGhee can do is lead them to the little water we have.

He's already got a job though, and a fairly big one http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/page/Who...1501753,00.html

Jim Gannon remains the outstanding name mentioned so far, probably the only one that has shown he has the capacity to emulate what McGhee acheived here, and his side played good, passing football too that will take forward McGhee's coaching legacy. But I think it's a long shot to expect us to get him while he is at the top of his market value. Jimmy Calderwood seems to be the best of the SPL candidates. McAllister and the other Calderwood are probably on a par, but I think they would be fairly decent bets to keep us away from relegation trouble. It's good news that McAllister is now interested in the job when he was pretty scathing last time round. That obviously reflects his experience at Leeds, but I don't think that was as bad as some have claimed, play-offs games are always a lottery and but for that he would now be riding high. Certainly Simon Grayson has done no better at Leeds since. Someone of McAllister's high profile putting himself forward will raise the level of competition for the job and may even influence other names out there.

But how can you say that when his wages would have spiralled by moving to Hearts? And his reputation too, given that their players performed better than we would have liked this past season.

Yes, that is the case I am making. He turned down Hearts last summer, putting Motherwell first rather than his own personal financial advantage. He told the SFA he would only accept the Scotland job with preconditions about not leaving Well mid-season, hence protecting Motherwell's interests rather than maximising his own prospects of getting the job. And he has now decided he wants to move on after 2 years. There is no disrespect there whatsoever. And on that subject, I'd be grateful if you could show me some respect by not making jibes like "you Mark McGhee", just because I happen to have a different view on these matters to you. Yes, I am aware of that. His decision to sign a new contract last summer when he knew he was a very marketable managerial commodity protected Motherwell's interests, and the club are now £200,000 better off for that. Who knows, it may well have got close to paying for his entire contract for the past two years. Not bad that, given the success he brought the club. Regardless of this, this money can now be beneficially used to take the club forward. Admirable conduct as far as I am concerned.

The why bring it up? You are right, it's entirely undeserved and relates back to a period very early in his managerial career that he learned from. It's an example of the low quality of argument that his critics use that it keeps getting recycled. I'd be happy to go through it club by club post-Leicester but it would be dull stuff. As I said earlier, I don't think the parallel you made with Porter holds much water but I'd be interested to hear others on here try and defend that case. Almost as unfair alas is this "touting" stuff. This is something I've seen labelled at a lot of managers in my time following football besides McGhee, always the ones who excell in short spaces of times and become the subject of media speculation and interest. It is not McGhee's fault that he bacame a target of such media speculation so early in his time at Motherwell, that was an inevitable consequence of his outperformance in the job. He always answered such specualtion with honesty and dignity. What outrageous private thoughts did he express? I never saw them - it was just malign critics reading the worst into what were usually very anodyne comments made to deflect away media attention. There is a very immature streak of arrogance in a lot of football fans that expects people like McGhee to behave like a football fan, rather than a football professional, ie. to express some kind of lifeling passion and devotion to an employer. McGhee never did that and was right not to do so - he would have been a justified target of fan anger if he ever promised to be here for years and did not live up to that promise. Instead, he was honest about his career ambitions and that he did not see Well fulfilling them at career-end. Good for him, all I want is honesty in a manager, not some kind of fake, cheap, lowest-common denominator-pleasing expressions of loyalty. I think McGhee benefited from Well but Well benefited a hell of lot from McGhee. I think the job now is seen throughout British football as a more attractive proposition for ambitious managers given the soild top 6 efforts of the past two years, we have McGhee to thank for that. If we get quality applicants applying, it will be partly due to the higher profile he has given the club and its talented players in his time here.

There is clearly a problem with the reproduction of that quote because it doesn't make grammatical sense. But he's not saying he believed Well was a sinking ship a year ago, he is saying this would have been the view of malign critics. Worth highlighting that just before this "sinking ship" thing gets too stuck to him by those critics thowing mud at him on here and becomes a chinese-whispered accepted fact.

That's one way of putting it. The other more generous way is that he realised that he is still someone learning his trade in management, and who may have not been ready for a job where there would have been too few resources at his disposal and where there would have been too much expectation given a good past two years. Why humility should be held against someone I don't know, but there you go, football messageboards, hardly bastions of fairness.

Yes, he'd be a brilliant appointment, some of the things he's done at Stockport with no money have been remarkable. Unfortunately, his acheivements are widely recognised down here and he a very marketable name right now. He has already turned down a number of jobs and appears to be waiting for a big club.

That is a surprise. I saw a game of his when he was in caretaker charge of Swindon, bit of a drubbing. Dare I say he was one of the ones that Malpas beat to get the Swindon job.

I think that's a rather droll rewrite of history. In fact, in his first official press conference for the club, Porter mentioned his ambition to play for the Old Firm. People who think like you (ie. who are overly critical of good club servants with a professional outlook) lambasted him for those comments as being disrespectful to his new employers, Motherwell. I don't know if the thread still exists after the Flow changeover, but hunt it out if you don't remember it. These critics were quietened by Porter's performances on the pitch. So in fact, Porter and McGhee are very similar. Porter never made any secret of his ambition to leave here as soon as a good opportunity arise and did so well before McGhee. To hold himn up as a paragon of loyalty/professionalism to Well and lambast McGhee as lacking those qualities is pretty absurd. If we're talking about operating in a classy way, that applies to fans too. Good club servants who achieve things for Motherwell don't deserve to have their character and good name dragged down.

Well speaking as a Brighton fan, that's clearly not the case. He had the opportunity to go to the club (that finished 3rd this season) for more money last season but turned them down. The time would have been right for him then, but he put Motherwell first - and the thanks he gets is your post and dozens like it. I can accept fans being bitter about a difficult transition period ahead without the certainty of a high performing manager at the helm, but to blacken the name of an excellent club servant is plain wrong.

Although it's not good for Well, McGhee has made the right decision. During his two years here, he has created high expectations for this club and to be honest will find it very difficult to keep matching them with the playing resources it has to offer. The criticism he got in some quarters for 7th this year, which for me is still overachievement, would have been a useful straw in the wind for him. He faced a similar decision at his last club Brighton, when after two years in charge there, he led them to their highest place league finish in about 15 years. He had the opportunity to leave then (the rumours were to take the assistant job at Celtic), but decided to stay - and it proved a big mistake because he could not match the absurdly inflated expectations of fans and some board members there, and they hung him out to dry. Going to Aberdeen, he starts with a new slate and will have a fair-sized honeymoon period. Yes, he will eventually get pressure from the Dons fans if they are not top 4, but that will be a little way down the road - and I would imagine is still a more appealing prospect than the presure that will come if Well do not shape up early season. These are now difficult times ahead for the club and good luck to Boyle because he now has a hell of a choice to make. As for McGhee poaching former players, not sure he has much of a record of that. There was the brief tilt for Virgo here which came to nothing. At Brighton he picked up a Millwall cast-off that was not wanted by the south Londoners. Can't remember any former Wolves players at Millwall, although haven't done a thorough check on that. Good luck Mark and thanks for a superb two years

For me, trying to play some football and not kicking other teams off the park is eminently meritorious. Plenty of clubs would want the place.

Not the politically correct thing to say, but you are right, McGhee did make a mistake for him personally by not going to Hearts. The concept of loyalty in football is dead - fans are so fickle that to base any career decision on loyalty to them or to a club is just laughable. McGhee got little credit for sticking by the club last season, so he should do the sums. Naturally, I hope he has another misguided attack of conscience and sticks by a team that can offer him much less in terms of career prospects and reward. I actually there are strong prospects that he will be daft enough to do this! But if he doesn't, then good luck to Boyle in finding anyone near as good as him. I did see Plymouth's progress after Williamson took over from Sturrock and it was not pretty, not pretty at all.

If you were offered the deal at the start of the season that we would be top 6 if, in a one-off game, we can beat the Buddies at home, would you have taken it - I'm guessing yes?

That's probably Mark revising history a bit - I think he was desperately disappointed to get sacked and had been hoping to lead Brighton out into its new stadium. He remains a clear affection for the place and can always be spotted out and about down here on the sunny south coast. But Brighton fans are a funny old bunch - recently they have just chewed up and spat out probably the most popular manager they have had in recent history in Micky Adams, so it was hardly surprising that Mark got some very negative treatment when he was always regarded as something of an outsider at Brighton because of his nationality. Brighton fans did get a little bit ahead of themselves imagining themselves to be a Championship level club, and that's why they punished Mark so badly. Reality is biting now that we are struggling to stay out of League 2. Those of us who supported Mark very strongly while he was Brighton are hardly happy to be proved right though