Browsing through twitter this morning I came across an interview with Freedman in the guardian by Henry Winter.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/bolton-wanderers/11117237/Bolton-Wanderers-manager-Dougie-Freedman-relishing-tough-apprenticeship-ahead-of-League-Cup-test-at-Chelsea.html
Now I am firmly in the 'Freedman Out' camp, but this was quite a good read and makes you wonder why he doesn't speak like this in his press conferences or to the BN.
I know interviews and articles can be spun and twisted to sound a certain way, but for me, one thing that came through was that I think he does genuinely want to do well for us and does care about the club. I don't think he sees us as a stepping stone to further his career, I think he does want to be here long term.
While I don't agree with his tactics or team selection most of the time, I will give him some credit. He hasn't given up the challenge and you have to commend his belief, however blinded, in himself to turn things around. I don't think many managers would be willing to work with the financial constraints that limit us at the moment. A lot would have walked by now, but he is sticking by us. This may be due to pure stubbornness or the fact he knows that his stock is pretty low and he has security here, I don't know, but you have to credit him a bit for that.
Freedman Interview
posted on 25/9/14
Brian kidd, mike phelan, phil brown, steve mclaren. All good coaches
posted on 25/9/14
He is say yes to all of Eddie and PG demands any of the bigger managers would not put up with that and walked away. The board have low ambition so what they demand he agrees with
posted on 25/9/14
Just face it, he's neither a good coach or a good manager.
posted on 25/9/14
Low ambition is a bit of a mystery to me. We have high ambitions of bein a premier leaugue club with 1st class academy etc all in good time
posted on 26/9/14
Am I missing something?
DF did a bit of coaching with Palace's reserve team while still playing for their first team. He also did a bit of coaching while he played for Southend. He pretty much became Palace manager as soon as he stopped playing.
So where is all this 'good coach' coming from? Good Player he was. But he hasn't really ever had time to prove any sort of coaching ability. The guy is only 40 now!!!
posted on 26/9/14
I agree with the comment by CEF. He hasn't proved anything but to reiterate my other comments I doubt we are in a position to command much better.
posted on 26/9/14
The "good coach" comment from me came from the snippets I've read about his coaching techniques, things I've heard from players he's coached before (albeit not direct from source), and a few articles when he arrived and was not labelled a stupid dunce with no clue - that was the end of his 1st half season here.
Sadly I haven't seen his coaching 1st hand so I can't really personally mark him 100%. If someone wants to organise a JA606 day trip to see Dougie do coaching so we can finally nail this down then I'll be up for going along.
posted on 26/9/14
I see dougie as very much learning the trade as manager at bolton with lennie as the real power behind the throne.
posted on 26/9/14
...and therein lies the problem Benny. I see DF as more of a frontman. The coaching and improving of players is left to LL et al and pretty much explains why we have been so woeful this season and last. A total inability to get the best out of what we have.
LL should never be allowed near a 1st 11. If only we had secured Tony Popovic, then we would have had the same coaching set up as what drove Palace to the top of the league. What a coincidence that TP doesn't follow Dougie to us and Dougie's whole managerial ability falls apart. It was also evident how much Palace valued Tony Popivic because they tried to get him back from Oz when Ian Holloway quit.
No, the dummy PG got duped by DF and his team that they would be as good without TP and that's one of the reasons why I detest DF so much. They, like the players are on the bwfc gravy train and could be the reason why Eddie decided to stop giving them money to blow on midfielders.
Bwfc are gradually getting into a stronger position as we haven't renewed his contract. DF will have to get something better out of these players or we just won't renew. I can't see any other team in the top 3 divisions giving this con-artist another job.
posted on 27/9/14
" .. but he is sticking by us ". Who wouldn't? £72.40 a week on the dole is a far cry from the money he's earning every week ...so he'd be an even bigger fool than he is, to go before he was pushed ...