No. Danny Cowley deserves to keep his job. Here are my reasons why…
He inherited a mess
It was well documented that Danny Cowley turned down the Town job when he was first approached. Despite a rumour that our offer would increase his salary by a factor of 10 he still said no. Imagine howtoxic Town must have looked to be able to initially walk away from adding an extra zero to your earnings.
It’s clear Cowley turned down the initial approach because the club was so obviously in a negative spiral and had not yet hit the bottom (despite being bottom end of the league at the time).
Cowley is notorious for carrying out detailed opposition research. So he will have discovered, when researching for Lincoln’s League Cup trip to Huddersfield, just how crap our team were. He’ll have known that we had a disjointed and unbalanced squad that weren’t fit enough to keep running for 90 minutes. A squad filled with high earning players that didn’t want to play for the club. A team that had made losing a habit.
Rather than the Premier League money leaving a legacy of better quality players and higher ambition, we had a team of players either haunted by getting hammered every week or desperate to leave.
Few Town fans expected Town to avoid relegation at the point the Cowley brothers joined the club because we were in such a mess. Things feel more stable now but many of Town’s current problems stretch back to the damage caused well before Danny Cowley arrived.
He should only be judged once he has a squad of his own players
Town had one of their busiest January transfer windows this year and we brought in players that genuinely strengthened our squad. However, the majority of the town team are not Cowley’s choices and he needs time to build a squad.
Given how badly this season has gone, I would like to see a huge overhaul if the playing staff in the next transfer window. Most of the squad has now underperformed for three different managers, I think it is time for big changes.
With a bit of back from Phil Hodgkinson, I think Danny Cowley will be able to vastly improve the squad this summer while also lowering the wage bill. Too many of our players are operating nowhere near the levels of their reported wages and need to be moved on and replaced by players willing to fight hard for the team every week.
Danny Cowley regularly talks in the press about his faith in the group of players he has but privately, I suspect he will be bitterly disappointed by some of the attitudes he has had to deal with. With more of his own choices at the club we should see significant improvements.
He needs a preseason to get fitness right
I’ve never felt too bad about Town getting beaten by teams with better quality players. Sometimes you have to accept being beaten by the better team (we had lots of experience of that in the Premier League). However, it is awful to watch your team fail because they haven’t worked as hard as the opposition (Wigan and Luton being recent examples).
At times this season, Town have been criticised for not working hard enough in games. For not wanting it enough. While attitude may be responsible, I think this comes back to a lack of fitness across the squad.
Danny Cowley recently commented that Leeds were the fittest team in the division, meaning they can run for further and with more intensity than other teams. That should be our ambition for next season.
If we get our next preseason right then we may see players that can keep running aggressively for 90 minutes. I’d say Lewis O’Brien is the only player we currently have that looks capable of this.
He’s actually done OK so far
If Town were to go down then it would be hard to find Danny Cowley responsible. Since he’s taken over at Town we’ve played 37, won 12, drawn 10 and lost the rest. Not a great record but it works out as 1.24 points per game which would easily be enough to keep us in the division.
When you consider the troubles Town have had off the pitch and the lack of balance in the squad they inherited (no right back, one young left back, one injured number 10) the Cowley’s have done OK.
If we finish next season with a similar or worse points per game tally then it may be worth thinking about the manager’s position but at this stage it would be an overreaction to bin off a manager that is actually doing OK.
The style of play will come in time
I’ve seen criticism about how Danny Cowley hasn’t developed a consistent style of play with Town since he arrived. I think there is some truth to this but there are reasons why too, most have them have already been discussed above.
Pragmatism has meant our tactics and formation have regularly changed, often to cancel out the opposition rather than play to our own strengths.
Jan Siewert was heavily criticised for dogmatically sticking to the same tactics, even when they obviously weren’t working. So maybe it’s not such a bad thing that Cowley has shown some flexibility in his approach to help get the points on the board.
Next season will bring a fresh start, more of his own players and a full preseason to get his ideas across. Therefore, I think we’ll start to see an identity develop that can consistently get positive results.
Danny Cowley is the kind of manager that likes to tinker and tries to outthink his opposite number, so there will always be an element of adjusting the team midgame, but our Plan A should start to become more obvious.
He’s still learning
Despite the fact I’ve said above that Danny Cowley is doing OK, I still think there’s more to come from him. He’s a relatively young manager and is still learning about managing in the Championship.
He arrived at Town as one of the most promising managers in the football league, following successes at all his previous clubs. This season will have tarnished Cowley’s reputation somewhat but he’s a better manager for having experienced adversity this year.
Football is a cut throat business and managers are the frequent scapegoat. They’re the easy thing to blame when things aren’t going right but in Town’s case I think the Cowleys are not the problem. Showing some patience with them and letting them develop could bear fruit.
What if Town go down?
It’s often expected that managers leave a club after relegation but I would keep the current managerial team if Town do go down (though I think we’ll just do enough to be safe.
Dropping down a league would be awful in a lot of ways but it would have some positives. We could properly clear out the squad, give the youth players a chance at a level they can compete and potentially start winning more games. Keeping the continuity of the manager, particularly one that already knows that league, would give us a good platform to launch a promotion bid.
What do you think? Are the #CowleyOut shouts coming from just a small minority or am I being blindly loyal to a manager that has had enough time and not produced? Put your thoughts in the comments.
Excellent article.
There is a strange disease at Huddersfield Town which seems to affect the managers. David Wagner brought it to the club and it infected Jan Siewert and now Danny Cowley’s got it. It’s called the FOL virus or its full name is Fear Of Losing. It manifests itself in the team never passing forwards, only sideways and back. This virus also prevents shots on goal in case they miss and making all the team defenders so that no-one ventures forward. The managers attempt to cover up the fact that they’ve got it by saying “We have to keep a clean sheet” and “Everyone performed well in training”. Unfortunately a side effect of the virus is whilst you’ve got FOL it actually makes losing more likely as there is no confidence in attacking and if you do concede a goal, there is no plan B. It could be that it is transmitted by the players who have played for all the 3 managers. Hogg and Schindler are probably the worst affected. So we need a cure. Dropping both these players may seem harsh but as yet unaffected players should be brought in who actually can’t do any worse. So that means Stearman and Chalobah at the back and O’Brien for Hogg and Duhaney at right back.
An excellent and very fair assessment. It would be another big error of judgement if the Cowleys are sacked if we are relegated but I do not think they will be. I think you have summed up the current situation very well.
i think they need to have a proper crack at it with their own squad whatever division we’re in. Hopefully of course it’ll be in the Championship. I think we’ve got enough to hold on, then there are the Sheff Wednesdays & Wigans who could help our cause even more. Not the best way to stay up, but at this juncture i’ll take it i’m afraid. I’d rather they went down than us! Sorry. Then we need to regroup and revamp the whole club. We need to remove the dross from the squad and there is an awful lot in there. Talented players no doubt but just turning up collecting their handsome pay packets and not putting the 100% effort in needed at this club, their hearts are clearly not in it and that was evident against Luton. Luton in the second half were a different animal and they wanted all the points and would stop at no cost, and deservedly got them all with 2 great goals. We offered nothing in response! Like we couldn’t be bothered, like we were already safe and looking forward to their holidays!!! I don’t rate Lossl, i am not keen on Stearman (i know he’s a freebie and a Danny Cowley signing) might be worthy of keeping for experience and squad rotation, we need a right back, a proper one, love Harry Toffolo and think he’s got massive potential, its time perhaps for Jonathan Hogg and Chris Schindler to move on, they’ve been fantastic servants for the club, but clearly haven’t got what they had, they aren’t making a difference and are making mistakes that are costing us points, no disrespect but we need to get over the emotional ties they both have and let them move forward elsewhere. Grant will more than likely go whether we stay in Championship or not. I just hope we don’t let him go on the cheap! Brentfords Said Barahana (or whatever he’s called) has same goals and he’s touted at £20m, so Grant should be the same or perhaps slightly more given that he has played and scored in PL for us. We need a proper keeper, one we can call our own, not a loanee – I like John Ruddy at Wolves, or perhaps Kieran Westwood wouldn’t mind signing for us this time? There are some decent keepers out there: Alex Smithies return perhaps? Daniel Bentley? We should be able to secure the services of a decent No1? Perhaps get Ben Hamer back and give him a go, he’s already on our books and done okay at Derby this season is it worth giving him another chance? It would certainly save money that we could use in other areas of the pitch? Kongolo, Brockhorn, Hadergjonaj will all go. What we’ll recoup is beyond me, it’ll be a fraction of the £23m we paid for these 3 players! We’ll be luck to get £7m!! Midfield wise, Hogg, Bacuna (rumoured to be on his way to Turkey anyhow), Kachunga (not good enough), Diakhaby, Mbenza, Pritchard, mostly disasterous and expensive signings – we paid a reported £40m for this little lot, what on earth will we recoup here?! Pritchard has struggled (but showed some energy when he came on against Luton) but injuries have not helped, would we get £5m for him? Mbenza – what an absolute waste of £11m!! and we knew he was shit as he was on loan, but we still bought him! Why!!????!!! Poor recruitment time and time again! Diakhaby might sneek into the Forest squad if we keep our fingers and toes crossed and speak to them ever so nicely – he’s done ok to be a squad player there i think but we will be lucky to get half the £9m we paid for him, i bet it’ll be more like £2m!! Hogg will move on a free transfer, Schindler probably won’t go? Bacuna will still go for less than we paid for him i bet! Then there is the forgotten man Sobhi!! a £6m signing from Stoke City. In fact he scored his only goal for them against none other than ‘Town’! So we bought him, Stoke were rubbing their hands. He barely played for us and was moved out back to his home country of Egypt for the best part of the last 2 years. He will probably stay there and move on a free transfer – fabulous business yet again!!! Most of our players these days do, even the brilliant ones, remember Mooy – we paid £10m and he had 3 fantastic years with us, and was deemed good enough to stay in PL with Brighton after they loaned him for a season and then we gave him a new contract so he’d be worth something and only got half what we paid!??? Bizarre! It wasn’t much earlier there was possibility that he could have returned to Man City for £20m and we were all up in arms saying how cheap that would have been!? So it brings me onto the forwards! Well what can i say: Campbell tries hard, but has no pace, he gets into some good positions, and takes players with him, has a good eye but is well past it at Championship level – i’d let him move on. Josh Koroma, perhaps some promise, we’ve not seen enough of him he was only £500,000 so worth keeping and seeing what he can do. He did okay on a loan spell i think in League 1. Collin Quaner release as soon as possible, he’s never been that good if we are all honest. He’s never even a Championship player. He has scored some great and important goals, but more luck than judgement was involved. He’s not anywhere near good enough. Should have been released long ago. He’s only getting a bit part now to put himself in shop window i suspect. Keep onto Rekeil Pyke had some great loan spells and again might be hungry to do better at higher level. Keen to show what he can do. Steve Mounie – well he’s tried, but for £11.5m has not really been a particularly successful striker has he? He can’t even do it at Championship Level and i don’t think he’d do it at League 1 either. He was overrated when he arrived and never reached the heights of that first PL match away at Crystal Palace when he bagged a brace. Be nice if we could recoup at least £6m but i suspect we’d be lucky to get him off the wages bill on a free transfer. Which in fact annoys me because some of our players have a lot of experience and the likes of Peterborough’s Ivan Toney who hasn’t played in PL, or the Championship and has 1 great year in League 1 and they say he’s worth £10m!!!! In his dreams!!! But no doubt even in this climate someone will pay it. Rant over so over who am i keeping. well the squad would look like this: (Decided at last minute to keep Schindler and release Elphick).
BEN HAMER
JOEL COLEMAN
RYAN SCHOFIELD
CHRIS SCHINDLER
HARRY TOFFOLO
RICHARD STEARMAN
JADEN BROWN
RARMANI EDMONDS-GREEN
CHRIS WILLOCK (would like to sign if we can)
REECE BROWN
LEWIS O’BRIEN
MATTY DALY
JOSH KOROMA
REKEIL PYKE
what would be achieved by sacking them? nothing only more upheaval. there will be enough as it is
What signings can we realistically expect for next season given the prevailing financial mayhem. How can we possibly pay the money for players who are proven to be better than we already have when next seasons money has already been realised ( and probably already spent). Do we know anybody prepared to sink x million into the club in the hope of keeping us in whatever division we find ourselves in next season? My guess is kids, loans and hopeful cheap signings – if we are lucky.
What signings can we realistically expect for next season given the prevailing financial mayhem. How can we possibly pay the money for players who are proven to be better than we already have when next seasons money has already been realised ( and probably already spent). Do we know anybody prepared to sink x million into the club in the hope of keeping us in whatever division we find ourselves in next season? My guess is kids, loans and hopeful cheap signings – if we are lucky. If anyone has already posted this comment, it’s only because you continue to promise great things for the transfer window. How realistic are you being. If you censor this comment it says a lot about the way you run your blog.
What signings can we realistically expect for next season given the prevailing financial mayhem. Do we know anybody prepared to sink x million into the club in the hope of keeping us in whatever division we find ourselves in next season?
I genuinely want to hear your answer. You continue to promise great things for the transfer window. How realistic are you being. If you censor this comment it says a lot about the way you run your blog.
Hi Gavin, nobody is censoring your comments. They should publish as soon as you submit them.
I doubt we’ll spend big in the next window but I hope we’ll move on a lot of the jaded and incompetent players we have and replace them with hard working and fresher players. The transfer market is likely to be odd because of the fallout from Coronavirus. It’s hard to know what the squad will look like after the next window closes.
Absolutely no way should they be sacked. Obviously this has been a dire season, but frankly what many of us expected. The Cowleys have been successful at every club they’ve managed, that’s not a coincidence, even though this is their highest level. There could well be a lot of out of contract players who find they can’t command the high wages they have to date. So we may have a chance of picking up some experienced players as well as some young talent. Ever the optimist! The Luton performance and result were dreadful, but we have been very fortunate with results over the weekend, other than Stoke. So I’m reasonably optimistic we’ll still be in The Championship next season. Even if that is a result of a points deduction for Wigan.