ClockworkOrange
Well-Known Member
The recently bumped thread on last year's reactions to being beaten by Hearts and Hamilton got me thinking about the lessons that Gerrard has learned from his last two seasons as manager that has put us within touching distance of the title this year.
Appointing a "new" manager was always going to come up the proviso that he learned on the job and that it would take a few seasons to potentially get it right - so what are the biggest lessons that he has learned that meant he was able to bring in about unprecedented improvement in the team?
One of the most notable things about this year's team is the lack of loan signings, particularly younger players from EPL and Championship clubs. Taking jobbing players from England was a characteristic of Warburton (Ball, Oduwa), Pedro (Hyndman, Toral), Murty (Goss, John, Nemane) and Gerrard (Worrall, Ejaria, Ojo), though Kent was of course a massive hit. A look at this year's team and there's been no signings in that profile and, in fact, the only loan player at the club is Zungu, who's played a more peripheral role than those other loan players but who was older and more experienced in any case.
What else could you add to the list?
Appointing a "new" manager was always going to come up the proviso that he learned on the job and that it would take a few seasons to potentially get it right - so what are the biggest lessons that he has learned that meant he was able to bring in about unprecedented improvement in the team?
One of the most notable things about this year's team is the lack of loan signings, particularly younger players from EPL and Championship clubs. Taking jobbing players from England was a characteristic of Warburton (Ball, Oduwa), Pedro (Hyndman, Toral), Murty (Goss, John, Nemane) and Gerrard (Worrall, Ejaria, Ojo), though Kent was of course a massive hit. A look at this year's team and there's been no signings in that profile and, in fact, the only loan player at the club is Zungu, who's played a more peripheral role than those other loan players but who was older and more experienced in any case.
What else could you add to the list?