Felix Maggath was in a nearly identical situation to Bradley at Fulham: staring down relegation, no transfer window and a squad of depleted quality. He fared nearly identically, 27 goals conceded in 12 games, to Bradley's 29 in 11. Maggath has won the Bundesliga three times, with two different clubs. Fulham got relegated.
They probably know Reagan from "Bedtime for Bonzo." I kid you not, that movie is referenced by a whole bunch of modern Euro films. No idea why.
No. In Brit speak the phrase "His staff" means the coaching staff. To be honest, I am gonna trust my definition over yours. If they meant the playing staff they would have said "The playing staff" Simple.
That makes sense to me, but reading the article comments from the UK-based posters they either have reading comprehension problems, or staff refers to players as superdave suggests.
It's because the journalists at the Mail are barely literate and they have updated the article as well. "His staff" clearly refers to the coaching staff, if the Mail thought it was the players they would have specified it - Would be a better story than whoever the coaching staff was/is People who read the Mail and comment on it would have reading comprehension problems.
In typical DM fashion they confuse, if not contradict themselves, within an article - they say the squad mocked him and later that his staff called him Reagan. The players may not have given or used the nickname, but it sure seems the players didn't respect his methods.
One key detail you omit to mention is Fulham kept Magath on after relegation and he had them in free fall in the Championship, despite spending huge money in the summer, before being fired. He said he wanted another English club to prove himself in England, he never got one and he never deserved one. He didn't get a sniff of a job in Germany either, his methods are seen as a bit harsh and old school. Regan was a prominent global figure, you don't need to be highly educated to be vaguely familiar with who he is and make the US manager with archaic methods = old school US president joke. Some of their English players may well be too stupid/ignorant to know who the current UK prime minister is, but of course most Spanish/English people could name him as a former US president. And I love that watch article. If Bradley's choosing to avoid the garish watch endorsements I respect that.
He had to keep the games closer. He was in a way too cocky, maybe a bit arrogant. He did not sacrifice his style for substance. This is where Arena differs in a startling way. He would have kept each game close.
“Nobody likes to see a manager lose their job. He was probably under pressure from the off because he was American, but nobody could have given more in terms of commitment.He was the first in at 7am and the last out at 6pm. The work and time he put in was as good as I have seen, if not the best." Alan Curtis, Swansea City interim manager
http://www.football365.com/news/premier-league-winners-and-losers-51 Bob Bradley You could argue that 11 games is insufficient time for a manager to implement their plans. You could argue that Swansea’s defence (having lost Ashley Williams) is Championship standard. You could argue that the media furore (which the manager chose to address) over his nationality and accent was a strong strand of football snobbery bordering on xenophobia. You could argue that this was a sitting duck appointment. All of those arguments have merit. That there was even a discussion in some quarters about whether an American manager can truly ‘get’ English football only highlights the resistance to difference that threatens to hold back the development of our game. That Jamie Fulton, Modou Barrow, Stephen Kingsley and Mike van der Hoorn have shared 34 league starts this season indicates that Swansea’s squad is simply not up to Premier League standards. We’ve said it before, but there needs to be some sort of freedom mission to extricate Gylfi Sigurdsson from South Wales. Bob Bradley was dealt a hand of twos, threes and fours and asked to come up with royal flush. Yet let’s not pretend that the American was blameless. Swansea conceded three or more goals in eight of his 11 league games, and the players never warmed to his methods. If that raises an accusation against them, it says plenty about the manager too. He was guilty of naivety in believing that Swansea could attack the opposition and be successful, rather than focusing on clean sheets and defensive solidity. Bradley’s replacement should not make the same mistakes, and will have January to bolster their options. “I knew exactly what I was getting into when I came to Swansea and realised the hardest part was always going to be getting points in the short run,” Bradley said after his sacking. “But I believe in myself and I believe in going for it. That’s what I’ve always told my players. Football can be cruel and to have a chance you have to be strong. I wish Swansea the best and look forward to my next challenge.” In glorious hindsight, Bradley was the right appointment at the wrong time. Given the chance to build a squad, and afforded transfer windows to do so, he could still be successful in England. Given a squad that needed an instant fix, he was helpless. Both club and manager will feel the lasting effects of that mistake. The worry is that so too may Bradley’s countrymen, battling to be taken seriously by a footballing culture that struggles with open-mindedness. We can only hope that the failure of one does not tar all others, but the reality may be very different indeed.
Man but I thought Bradley was the reason Swansea was leaking goals. He must still be managing today in disguise.
A few days ago some were saying 11 games wasn't enough to judge a manager, now 45 minutes under a caretaker is more than enough to decide that manager wasn't the problem.
0-2 minute 48 against Bournemouth. Both goals are defensive lapses in marking and attention. Must be Reagan's fault. If Levien is smart he and Kaplan will sell at a loss to get out of Swansea, because this is not going to get better this year. No this was not only a problem with the manager.
There's 20 games of sample size that says the Swansea roster sucks. Regardless of who the manager is.