CS & CR: The Untold Story

I know Nev has a level of disdain NP and won't credit him with anything, while possessing complete adulation for CR and as such believes he's the genius behind our success and won't accept that he's not all that.

I've defended Ranieri's credentials as much as anyone and prior to his sacking he had my full backing but I'm not stupid enough to let personal feelings cloud my judgement. His likeability won't prevent me from acknowledging the roles of others and it won't make me dismiss the unfolding reports as untruths. As much as others think they're just stories, I don't believe anyone would openly say these things if they weren't true because CR could easily bite back and speak his truths. He's not and he won't because what's being said is true. If he comes out and counters any of this then that's another story and then who knows but until then anyone denying them is just living in denial.

At the end of the day it could be CS that we need to credit for NP's success too, maybe he is the man and we just didn't know it? Now everyone knows I'm an NP fan but again I'm not letting that blind my judgement.

We credit NP for creating our team spirit but was it actually CS? This is another interesting read and gives a little more insight into the man we know nothing about. Some are dismissing him because they've never heard of him but nobody truly knows and only now are we beginning to get an idea of who he really is. He's clearly a bit of a darkhorse and is a lot more astute than I imagined.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/03/13/making-craig-shakespeare-emerged-shadows-take-centre-stage/

^ there was something in addition I read about him being close to the players but not too close and if necessary, he has a seriousness about him to put people in line. It doesn't suggest he'll be all pally like others no.2's have been and will actually be able to make that step. The more I learn about this guy the more I like him.

When you two have quite finished i have opinions BS about the backroom staff as well as you have opinions about CR. Neither is based on fact and can't be its either jouno's selling papers and has beens making trouble and the odd bit of gossip.

I defend CR because you and your mate jump on every bit of anti CR rhetoric as fact and believe the players and the Ambitious Mr Shakespeare to take his chance are completely innocent in all this and hard done by.

I state for the record the manager lost the dressing room for what ever reason and had to go.
The whole team was built on NP's rein won the PL and the whole team lost its way this season.

I will always comment on anything i feel is unjust or ridiculously biase as i always done.
If i had not you two would of turned CR into Macbeths wife.
Enough of this BS i got a plane to catch.

enjoy your meltdown

comment by Nevsaysagoal2city (U5194)
posted 1 hour, 17 minutes ago
When you two have quite finished i have opinions BS about the backroom staff as well as you have opinions about CR. Neither is based on fact and can't be its either jouno's selling papers and has beens making trouble and the odd bit of gossip.

I defend CR because you and your mate jump on every bit of anti CR rhetoric as fact and believe the players and the Ambitious Mr Shakespeare to take his chance are completely innocent in all this and hard done by.

I state for the record the manager lost the dressing room for what ever reason and had to go.
The whole team was built on NP's rein won the PL and the whole team lost its way this season.

I will always comment on anything i feel is unjust or ridiculously biase as i always done.
If i had not you two would of turned CR into Macbeths wife.
Enough of this BS i got a plane to catch.

enjoy your meltdown




----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thing is Nev this isn't journos making stuff up to sell papers, not anymore. This could have been called the case when rumours of unrest started leaking out but not now. Now we're getting people in the know, from inside the club, coming out and commenting publicly. They're not going to speak untruths out in the open when CR can easily respond if untrue. He won't respond because it is true and unless he does say something to counter these comments I don't see how you can possibly deny them?

He lost the dressing room because he tried to change everything that made us successful. His changes resulted in the players not knowing what they were doing and playing a style they weren't good enough to play. Fair enough trying to change the style but come on how did he not recognise it didn't work? How did he not think hmm maybe I'll just give playing how we used to play a go and see if that makes a difference? If he'd done that and not been so stubborn about enforcing his changes then he'd probably still be here.

You're keen to blame the players but if you were a player and had just pulled off the great escape and won the league by playing a certain way, and were then being asked to play in a style you can't and are just embarrassing yourself every week, meaning you're not enjoying your football, would you still want the manager in charge? I wouldn't. How can you blame them for not being able to take on changes and not blame CR for trying to enforce them? He was in the wrong, not the players, because it's the managers job to play to the strengths of his players. Players saying "we don't know what the f*** we're doing" after the United games rings alarm bells doesn't it?

As for laying blame at CS's door, that's reached a new level even for you. CS has found himself in this position because of CR's absolutely piiss poor performance this season. We're just fortunate that we have got CS otherwise CR could have properly left us in the shiitt.

I'll further add that just because Ranieri needs to take some blame for this, that doesn't excuse the players.

I still have a sour taste from some of their performances.

I try to read between the lines in all these articles. But one thing I think is apparent, is that when Ranieri starts tinkering, he doesn't do it in a controlled and planned way. As a result, I can see why it starts to unravel.

I hope he learns from this in his future roles. Find the best formula and make it work. Save tinkering for second half subs!

And as a footnote, Pearson, Walsh and Shakespeare were clearly a dream team for creating a squad and building a team spirit. They all played a role.

Question is, can shakespeare do it alone?

At the moment it sounds like CS is a mix between NP and CR, which would be perfect.

Since the ugly player power coup in Seville and subsequent sacking of Ranieri at the airport arrival there was a steady stream of condemnation from independent football commentators with inside football experience.

This culminated in a no punches pulled debate with Neville and Carragher on Sky and endorsed by Keown on BBC saying clearly that lines had been crossed in this sacking which should not be allowed and does not fit comfortably even with abysmal standards in football.

This was also followed by widespread condemnation from the major international managerial figures like Mourhino, Conte. Guardiola and even the doyen of UK managers Pulis expressed contempt.

These are not people who go out of their way to comment on sackings –which are almost everyday events- but there was wide inside knowledge of the mechanisms involved here= which were deemed extraordinary and unacceptable.

It is extraordinary to me that senior board members at our club seemed unprepared for this and is I believe a result of the lack of overall high level experience from Rudkin who would have been closely involved advising the owners.

Even the laughable approach to Mancini immediately after the sacking was unbelievable in the circumstances- read the Italian press at the time and Mancini’s complete contempt of the offer was understandable.

Since then there has been a concerted program of press release and professional PR advice from the club to manipulate the situation which was likened to tax avoidance and tax evasion parameters as sound bites and carefully worded press conferences held.

Players stressing they had no part or interest in management changes – coaches saying their relationships were the same this season as last season (could have been a fractious relationship of course!!).

Independent voices like Gerry Taggart –Kevin Phillips trotted out …. Well almost independent after all the fact that they had close working ties with previous management is superfluous.

Meanwhile those same players who professed no involvement in management affairs or desire to be so –suddenly appeared on camera advocating the appointment of the eventual beneficiary of the Seville coup- one Craig Shakespeare ( we call him Shakey said the players with a nod and a wink).

Meanwhile this one way traffic of media manipulation continues as Ranieri is apparently subject to a confidentiality agreement under terms of his contract termination.

So it is not the event – managers come and go – but the manner of events which sit uneasily and players should remember that they should play for the shirt and the fans and not just turn up when they feel like it.

The problems lie ahead of us – firstly in the forthcoming games when things do not go as well perhaps and decisions have to be made….
By Shakepeare –no hiding place…..

Sorry John, that sounds like a conspiracy theory and I don't believe most of it. The idea that people like Jamie Carragher - a man who recently got into a childish back-and-forth Twitter spat with Danny Simpson - has some sort of intellectual footballing superiority is ridiculous. The "player coup" I'm pretty convinced is misreported rubbish and the idea that people like Gerry Taggart and Kevin Phillips could be convinced by the club to somehow toe the official line makes no sense.

The thing that I do believe is that Ranieri's firing was handled badly and disrespectfully. The fact that he had to return to the training ground to wish people goodbye is a testament to that. I suspect that episode, which Rudkin surely could have prevented whether his plan or not, is what got out in the "internal" footballing world and left a very sour taste in the mouth. Everything else looks made up based on half-information and Chinese whispers.

At least Pearson's still here in spirit through Shakey being in charge, always a time to be optimistic.