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Jim Gannon


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After keeping quite (nae comments please fae you know who :lol: ) since JG came on board with us, I feel I would like to say.

 

Welcome Jim, he is going about his business in the correct manner and I'm loving what he is saying and doing with the club.

 

Looking forward to the season now, although I feel we may not klick until maybe a few months into the season, not bothered too much about that, just can't watch to see the boys in league action.

 

Shug

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Todays Sunday Mail...

Jim Gannon: I became a professional player after paying £250 to leave the army

 

MOTHERWELL boss Jim Gannon has revealed how his dreams of football glory were almost shot down by the army.

 

The new Fir Park gaffer was in the Irish Forces as a teenager when he started his playing career at Dundalk.

 

Gannon credits military service with giving him the fitness and discipline to eventually attract the interest of English club Sheffield United in 1989.

 

But he had to stump up £250 before the Army would free him to move across the Irish Sea in search of fame.

 

Speaking to MailSport, Gannon recalled: "Work was scarce in my teenage years and I joined the army.

 

"I was training twice a day in the army while I was a recruit then going to training in the evening with Dundalk.

 

"I had never been so exhausted but at the end of that six-month period I had also never been any fitter.

 

"I credit that for my transformation from a League of Ireland reserve player into someone who played in England and was sold for £60,000.

 

"While I was in the army they asked me to go on an elite training course with the Irish Rangers for 18 months which meant giving up football.

 

"I decided against it and made the right decision because I eventually became a professional footballer - although it cost me £250 to buy myself out of the army to join Sheffield United!

 

"In war time it's harder to buy yourself out but it's difficult at the best of times. It all depends on the length of service and things like that but the army don't encourage it because they've invested a lot of money in your training.

 

"However, I'd always dreamed of being a professional footballer and Sheffield United was a great opportunity.

 

"I'd like to think I was mentally strong before I went into the army and coming through that training proved it.

 

"I came from a modest, working-class background. My dad was a painter and decorator, my mum a cleaner.

 

"That environment helped shape me and the man I am is very much down to my parents."

 

Gannon, 40, has enjoyed his first taste of European football as a manager this season with Motherwell.

 

But Europa League qualifying ties with Llanelli and Flamurtari can't compare to his continental debut as a player.

 

And he also needed army permission before facing the great Red Star Belgrade with Dundalk in the 1988 European Cup.

 

Gannon finally got the green light and manmarked the legendary Dragan Stojkovic in Yugoslavia as Dundalk lost 3-0, sealing an 8-0 aggregate defeat.

 

The Well boss saw his Motherwell side match that with an 8-2 aggregate Europa League win over Flamurtari in midweek.

 

But he will never forget the technical brilliance of the Belgrade side.

 

He said: "I didn't play in the first leg but played in Yugoslavia and Red Star were a fantastic team.

 

"It was a unique experience playing in what was to become a war zone but I have great memories.

 

"That match was the first time I made a name for myself. Dundalk were the big-money team and full of the best players from the League of Ireland.

 

"One got injured before that Red Star game so I broke in to the team. And I never looked back.

 

"But I nearly never got to play because the army wouldn't let me come out.

 

"We did special training for two or three weeks at The Glen of Imaal but it coincided with the match. So they had to give me special leave.

 

"When I got back the army guaranteed I made up for it - I was marched round fields for quite a while.

 

"In the Red Star match the thing that jumped out was the outstanding athleticism and quality of their footballers. I was the same age as Robert Prosinecki but I'd never seen a player as gifted as him.

 

"I was fortunate enough to see him playing in England many years later and he still had amazing quality.

 

"At Dundalk we tended to play a sweeper system with two strong central defenders man-marking. It was like a 5-2-3 but it was a 5-4-1 that night."

 

After his spell in England with the Blades, Stockport and Crewe, Gannon enjoyed more European experience as a player with Shelbourne.

 

And he hopes to use the lessons he learned to help the Motherwell players adapt to the European game.

 

Gannon said: "One of the exciting things about the Motherwell job was European football. There's a chance to play in Europe regularly in Scotland - nearly half of the teams in the SPL qualified for this season - and that appealed.

 

"I've always been a manager who wants to be tactically different, not for the sake of it but just to give the players a chance of being competitive.

 

"The tactical systems I used at Stockport County gave us great success and they can be of great value in Europe.

 

"Too many Well players don't have enough experience of playing in different systems and being able to change roles within the team. Hopefully I'll be able to give the lads a good education.

 

"I want them not only to play in different roles in different systems but also to understand the strengths and weaknesses of playing those different systems."

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"Too many Well players don't have enough experience of playing in different systems and being able to change roles within the team. Hopefully I'll be able to give the lads a good education.

 

"I want them not only to play in different roles in different systems but also to understand the strengths and weaknesses of playing those different systems."

Interesting. I know it's a completely different game, but this is the same philosophy that Bill Belichick adopted with the New England Patriots that led to a lot of success.

 

I also remember the Red Star Belgrade team he talks about. They were one of the best and eventually won the European Cup in 1991 (albeit, they decided to approach the final very negatively that year).

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Interesting. I know it's a completely different game, but this is the same philosophy that Bill Belichick adopted with the New England Patriots that led to a lot of success.

 

I also remember the Red Star Belgrade team he talks about. They were one of the best and eventually won the European Cup in 1991 (albeit, they decided to approach the final very negatively that year).

 

Co-incidentally Red Star could await in the next round :evilgrin:

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  • 2 weeks later...

There are many rumours doing the rounds that JG is not well liked by some of the current squad - probably those who are not getting a game?

 

It appears as if he takes no bullsh#t and reputations count for nothing. That there is some disharmony is hardly surprising given the reputation he came up the road with. Having fallen out with and frozen out players down at Stockport.

 

I hope it does not come to this at Motherwell, but it would be nigh impossible for him to keep everyone happy.

 

After all Brian Clough was not that well liked either but if we get a modicum of that kind of success then go Jimbo.

 

It is a fine line however and I hope we get through the season without any major disruptions. A few of the current squad will move on McGarry, Fitzy, DLS? But I hope Hammell and Craigan stay put.

 

It sure wont be boring this season.

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Where did you hear these rumours mate?

 

Truth is that since everything is at least 3rd hand it is difficult to know how true it is!

 

But I don't have to as it has also been stated on the 'other' well fans website apparently by someone else also in the know.

 

You can tell though that he was always going to ruffle some feathers. If he is like a Mourinho then he can probably make amends with some tactful man management. But I am not sure that is his approach.

 

I think it is a case of it's my way or the highway. But if it gets results then I am sure the Well fans will be quite happy.

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There are many rumours doing the rounds that JG is not well liked by some of the current squad - probably those who are not getting a game?

 

It appears as if he takes no bullsh#t and reputations count for nothing. That there is some disharmony is hardly surprising given the reputation he came up the road with. Having fallen out with and frozen out players down at Stockport.

 

I hope it does not come to this at Motherwell, but it would be nigh impossible for him to keep everyone happy.

 

I heard that the other day off a mate. He was talking to someone close to the club. He told me who it was but I really don't want to cause any negativity. We've got a big game coming up and we should be rallying the team to come out and make a game of this. But at the end of the day aslong as Motherwells playing good football and winning games thats all that matters.

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Some of these players have needed a good kick up the arse for some time. JG is the boss and in any walk of life it means that his bollox are on the line if the team fails. We are talking about well paid professional footballers and they have to get their big heads around the fact that you have to do as the boss says - just like the rest of us!

Good luck JG and I hope you bring us the success we deserve :nod:

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JG is the boss and in any walk of life it means that his bollox are on the line if the team fails.

but alienating players he may have to rely on to do a job is risky business, we don't have a big squad and can't afford the luxury of losing a good player from the team, or bringing someone in when we get injuries. it's a balancing act for JG, but that's what he's paid for.

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but alienating players he may have to rely on to do a job is risky business, we don't have a big squad and can't afford the luxury of losing a good player from the team, or bringing someone in when we get injuries. it's a balancing act for JG, but that's what he's paid for.

Indeed. This is the concern with JG's abrasive nature. It's not like he's Alex Ferguson telling Stam or Beckham to get knotted knowing fine well he has the wherewithall, if not within his squad then within the bank, to replace them. I find it hard to believe that we'll go through a season without needing pretty much every individual in the squad at some point. The only thing I would say is that the experienced guys we're perhaps talking about (Lasley, Hammell, McGarry) all know that if they're brought in from the cold and seen not to be giving 100%, the East Stand will turn on them. The problem for Gannon is if he has to rely on these guys and they give 100% but don't adhere to his gameplan, what does he do...?

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Some of these players have needed a good kick up the arse for some time. JG is the boss and in any walk of life it means that his bollox are on the line if the team fails. We are talking about well paid professional footballers and they have to get their big heads around the fact that you have to do as the boss says - just like the rest of us!

Good luck JG and I hope you bring us the success we deserve :lol:

 

 

Couldn't agree more, well said :D

 

Its JG show now, he makes the decisions now and if you dont like it you know what you can do. I would give my right arm to play for the well and at times I think some of our guys forget that. Very luck to be in the position that they are in and as such should be thankful for the chance. Try working in a factory where if you dont do as your told your out on your ear.

 

In JG we trust. B-) 'Mon the WELL!

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