Hoddle: Burying the myth??

[Arcadius]

The one thing that puzzles me more than anything on this forum is the negative comments and apathy aimed at Hoddles time at Wolves. I thought the footrball we played under Hoddle was technically superb and if we only showed a bit mors clinical finishing we would have stormed the league! He had no money to improve the team and the jigsaw was only ever a budget signing which didn't come off! He left because there was no ambition to take the club forward. I would love him back at Wolves, a great coach who wants to play football the right way! If you doubt this just look at his stats as England manager, remember that great performance when we drew in Italy!!

 

[Ponty]

The one thing that puzzles me more than anything on this forum is the negative comments and apathy aimed at Hoddles time at Wolves. I thought the footrball we played under Hoddle was technically superb and if we only showed a bit mors clinical finishing we would have stormed the league! He had no money to improve the team and the jigsaw was only ever a budget signing which didn't come off! He left because there was no ambition to take the club forward. I would love him back at Wolves, a great coach who wants to play football the right way! If you doubt this just look at his stats as England manager, remember that great performance when we drew in Italy!!

The man was a complete $$$$ and I can’t think of anyone I’d like less as manager!

 

[EGGASVAN]

most boring football i have watched as a as a season ticket holder for over 30 years

 

[The Weasel]

He sucked the very lifeblood out of our club and took the joy completely out of going to matches. The absolute lowpoint in my time supporting Wolves was his last few 1-1 draws....and I've watched us in all four divisions.

 

[WV10Wolf]

The one thing that puzzles me more than anything on this forum is the negative comments and apathy aimed at Hoddles time at Wolves. I thought the footrball we played under Hoddle was technically superb and if we only showed a bit mors clinical finishing we would have stormed the league! He had no money to improve the team and the jigsaw was only ever a budget signing which didn't come off! He left because there was no ambition to take the club forward.....

...and the way he left the club in the lurch when he resigned was completely disrespectful and unforgivable in my book.

 

[long ball man]

The one thing that puzzles me more than anything on this forum is the negative comments and apathy aimed at Hoddles time at Wolves. I thought the footrball we played under Hoddle was technically superb and if we only showed a bit mors clinical finishing we would have stormed the league! He had no money to improve the team and the jigsaw was only ever a budget signing which didn't come off! He left because there was no ambition to take the club forward. I would love him back at Wolves, a great coach who wants to play football the right way! If you doubt this just look at his stats as England manager, remember that great performance when we drew in Italy!!

It's all about opinions they say but this type of post really makes me wonder if the term football 'club' means anything whatsoever.

This man ripped the soul out of Wolverhampton Wanderers, played a style of football entirely at odds with the traditions of the club, dishonoured the memory of Peter Broadbent, fsiled to engage with local media and didn't live in the area. He treated Wolves as a laboratory to test his theories on coaching and playing style.

I despise the man.

I can't believe that anyone with Wolves at heart would have any other opinion.

We may all have criticisms of Moxey, Morgan, SJH, Jones, McCarthy, Taylor, McGhee, Connor et al but none of these guys, none of them, with the obvious exception of the Bhatti Brothers ever did as much damage to Wolverhampton Wanderers as this guy did. As a collective we became ambivalent about Wolves under his stewardship.

Let that never, ever be forgotten.

 

[SimplyTheWolves]

Arcadius let's not go there.

 

[WonderWolf]

I have to admit that I was pleased by his appointment.

Things didn't work out for him but I feel it was because of the limitations in the quality of player he worked with....his ideas were of and for a higher level.

He was excellent as England manager, I can't understand why a PL club has not taken a chance on him again.

 

[-MTW-]

After begging for his job in May Hoddle decided to resign. Instead of being a man about his change of heart he decided to announce his resignation half an hour before England played Portugal in a world cup game. Thus hiding the news from the media.


He is a $$$$e house.

 

[wanderer24]

Unfortunately he tried to play top level international football with league one players who weren't technically able to carry out his plans. Although the squad is without doubt more technically gifted than the team was back then, I'm still unsure they have the ability to play to the level that Hoddle aspires to.
I think his problem is that he tries to coach players to his level of ability when it's just not possible.
He did a very good job for England and for a touch of luck and discipline and the foresight to shut his mouth occasionally he might have been much more successful.

 

[Arcadius]

OK, I admit I'm being controversial...but tactically he was streets ahead of Mick and TC!!

 

[long ball man]

I think his problem is that he tries to coach players to his level of ability when it's just not possible.
He did a very good job for England and for a touch of luck and discipline and the foresight to shut his mouth occasionally he might have been much more successful.

There is something in that. Whilst I wouldn't want him within a thousand miles of Molineux again, I actually think his cold, aloof personality actually works rather well in international management where you need to be somewhat detached and ruthless.

 

[Ponty]

Playing Cort and Miller on the wings was not my idea of a manager suited to a higher level. Playing the ball in an arc from one corner flag to the other and back again (repeat at will) wasn’t a sign of tactical nous. His football was the equivalent of the Emperor’s New Clothes!

 

[The_Blade]

One of the reasons I gave up my season ticket.

 

[Hatch End]

I liked him, I used to bet on a draw for home games and I made money!

As a supporter, of course, I hated him. It wasn't that his idea of how football should be played was wrong, just that he hadn't got the players with the ability to do so.

lt's well known in football circles that he was impatient with any players who weren't as technically gifted as he, "The Great Man" himself!
So he was happy at Chelsea and England, but a Chump club like Wolves was beneath him.

 

[SimplyTheWolves]

OK, I admit I'm being controversial...but tactically he was streets ahead of Mick and TC!!

So's my budgie, and he only gets let out once a day.

 

[Dorset DeWolf]

The one thing that puzzles me more than anything on this forum is the negative comments and apathy aimed at Hoddles time at Wolves. I thought the footrball we played under Hoddle was technically superb and if we only showed a bit mors clinical finishing we would have stormed the league! He had no money to improve the team and the jigsaw was only ever a budget signing which didn't come off! He left because there was no ambition to take the club forward. I would love him back at Wolves, a great coach who wants to play football the right way! If you doubt this just look at his stats as England manager, remember that great performance when we drew in Italy!!

Have you gone mental!!???

'would love Hoddle back' $$$$ing hell I cant think of much worse, why doesnt he appoint Halford as his assistant & keep Connor on the coaching staff, then we'll have all the $$$$s of the past few seasons in one place!!!

 

[Waggy's Boots]

Sadly for such a gifted footballer he had us playing the most turgid boring football ever seen in my days at the Molineux.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Unfortunately he tried to play top level international football with league one players who weren't technically able to carry out his plans. Although the squad is without doubt more technically gifted than the team was back then, I'm still unsure they have the ability to play to the level that Hoddle aspires to.
I think his problem is that he tries to coach players to his level of ability when it's just not possible.
He did a very good job for England and for a touch of luck and discipline and the foresight to shut his mouth occasionally he might have been much more successful.

I think Wanderer24 sums it up pretty well.

His teams do try to play the right way and his time at Chelsea and England showed he was pretty astute tactically at the top level. I also don't think you can label him as somebody who needs big name players and large budgets to succeed as he managed to take Swindon to the Premier League and Southampton to mid-table stability.

However, having said all that, he was absolutely, completely, unequivocally the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place for us. And I can't forgive him for the cowardly way in which he left.

 

[Woburn Wolf]

I have some sympathy with Arcadia's comments. He was by no means perfect but had Hoddle had been in charge these last 3 seasons, I don't think we would be in the mess we are today.

 

[Apocalypse Now]

I still remember a Leeds fan telling me how we were the best footballing team he had seen at Elland Road for years - and we lost 2-0. At times the football we played was wonderful, it's just that it didn't happen very often and we were often extremely boring to watch with lots of possession but no cutting edge. Hoddle just couldn't get the players at his disposal to play the way he wanted, partly due to their lack of ability, but you must question his methods if he failed to get his message across.

He certainly was the right man at the wrong time - if he had been given the resources other managers have, we would be comfortably top 10 by now.

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Just when you thought the season couldn't get any worse.

 

[Ulver]

Interesting that these days everyone is crying out for a passing, slower tempo game.. Perhaps it was right manager, wrong time though no denying he comes across as a complete bell end.

 

[Tring Wolf]

I have some sympathy with Arcadia's comments. He was by no means perfect but had Hoddle had been in charge these last 3 seasons, I don't think we would be in the mess we are today.

Hi Woburn, hope you're well. No doubt his style of play and tactical ideas are more suited to the Premier League than the Championship. And I actually think that if he had managed to get us promoted, we may well have progressed further under him and with a more technically gifted squad. Unfortunately, that is a very big 'if' as I just couldn't see us scoring enough goals under him to make a sustained push for promotion.

Shame as he did try to bring in some more technically gifted players such as McNamara, Huddlestone and Aliadiere. As I said previously though, he was the wrong man for the situation we were in at the time. And any respect I did have for him as a man evaporated after the way he left us.

 

[Chungster]

He was and still probably is a purist. He will endeavour to put out a team, whatever the resources at his disposal, that plays passing, patient, possession based football. When you try to make that happen with second rate footballers the results are predictable.

We knew what he was and what he would try to do when we appointed him.

The hatred he inspired amongst our fan base (I started a similar thread shortly after joiming the forum during which he was described by one poster, only semi-jokingly, as 'pure evil') is , in my opinion largely down to the fact that he refused to apologise for who he was, what he believed in and wouldn't kiss the South Bank's a**e.

 

[Huyton W88lvo]

If we were to re-employ this arrogant coward I would break into the ground and dig up the pitch !!!

 

[Purple Ronnie]

Millwall away under Hoddle (0-0) is the worst game I have ever seen

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

I liked him, I used to bet on a draw for home games and I made money!

As a supporter, of course, I hated him. It wasn't that his idea of how football should be played was wrong, just that he hadn't got the players with the ability to do so.

lt's well known in football circles that he was impatient with any players who weren't as technically gifted as he, "The Great Man" himself!
So he was happy at Chelsea and England, but a Chump club like Wolves was beneath him.

If we'd drawn our home games this season we'd have about 10 more pts and maybe stood a chance of staying up? Just a thought?

 

[Deleted member 3751]

The one thing that puzzles me more than anything on this forum is the negative comments and apathy aimed at Hoddles time at Wolves. I thought the footrball we played under Hoddle was technically superb and if we only showed a bit mors clinical finishing we would have stormed the league! He had no money to improve the team and the jigsaw was only ever a budget signing which didn't come off! He left because there was no ambition to take the club forward. I would love him back at Wolves, a great coach who wants to play football the right way! If you doubt this just look at his stats as England manager, remember that great performance when we drew in Italy!!

Agree to an extent. When Hoddle first came we played some great stuff and we played proper football. His full season was really a waste, drew too many games but if he'd had the stint McCarthy had I'm sure we'd have gone up. Hoddle himself decided he wasn't going to stay, didn't want the fight. Apathy towards Hoddle is increased by the way MM took us on but if the God botherer had stayed I think we'd at least be where we are now, if not better.

 

[BlahBlah]

OK, I admit I'm being controversial...but tactically he was streets ahead of Mick and TC!!

How do you mean exactly? Because he didn't just boot the ball, or because his tactics won us many matches that the talent available shouldn't have managed?
Do you remember him playing 4.5.1 against bottom club Crewe, who'd conceded something like 50 goals away from home? We drew 1.1...mainly because we were playing without a striker, as both were playing on the wings.

The masterstroke for me was making Carl Cort constantly peel out onto the wing, then expecting him to cross it for.....Carl Cort. Hoddle would stand there and tell you it was the right thing to do...even though his results were mediocre.

I can appreciate Hoddle liked to play technical football, but the idea of competitive football is to win matches. In that, his tactics were totally unsuited to the job he was doing.

 

[BlahBlah]

Agree to an extent. When Hoddle first came we played some great stuff and we played proper football. His full season was really a waste, drew too many games but if he'd had the stint McCarthy had I'm sure we'd have gone up. Hoddle himself decided he wasn't going to stay, didn't want the fight. Apathy towards Hoddle is increased by the way MM took us on but if the God botherer had stayed I think we'd at least be where we are now, if not better.

We did play 1 superb game under Hoddle, the televised match against Ipswich where Cameron scored very early and we dazzled them with one touch football in a brilliant first half...I can even remember Seoul doing stepovers..
Few and far between though, Ipswich always let you play football....most other teams didn't.

 

[Burton Wolf]

The problem was Hoddle didn't give a $$$$ about WWFC. Even Mick loved us. I hate Hoddle the ****ney parasite.

 

[Deleted member 3751]

We did play 1 superb game under Hoddle, the televised match against Ipswich where Cameron scored very early and we dazzled them with one touch football in a brilliant first half...I can even remember Seoul doing stepovers..
Few and far between though, Ipswich always let you play football....most other teams didn't.

Was at that match (before I had a ST) and it was a fantastic Wolves performance, as good as anything I've seen.

 

[JR's Boots]

The football we played under Hoddle would have suited us in the PL better than Mick's hoof and hope stuff but he had no empathy with Wolves as a club and left us in the lurch.
I remember one game at Highfield Road against Coventry that summed up our time under Hoddle. We outplayed them and looked a class above but drew 2-2.

 

[Lou Pine]

I don't care if "his football was better suited to the Premier League." If he was still in charge now we'd still be meddling around in mid-table in the championship, after another season full of 1-1 draws. We would never have had the chance to see if his football was suited to the top flight as we were nowhere near challengers for the title under him. McCarthy reinstated a bit of fight and attacking football. Admittedly, Mick then contributed massively to the disaster that has been 2011-12.

In my 25 years as a season ticket holder I have never been closer to giving up my ticket than under Hoddle. There were 8 of us who sat together at the start of his reign, there are only three of us left who are still season ticket holders. His personality and turgid football almost sucked the life out of the club.

 

[Bankswolf II]

The look of genuine disbelief from rival managers after they managed to sneak out a draw from the "best footballing team in the championship" was too much to take

If you look past his questionable tactics his infamous last piece of the puzzle (I remember everyone being a little bit excited on here over the Frankoski signing its why a lot of older posters dont bother judging players on youtube videos) his lack of concern over the club bothered me and a lot of other people. More concerned about playing pundit with his ITV mates and I recall an article after he was sacked saying that he had never in the 2 years or so ever bothered to attend any charity events, fund-raisers or anything to do with wolves outside of the bog standard training and match day. Mick on the other hand did and is why he will be a lot more respected from me as a result

 

[BlahBlah]

More concerned about playing pundit with his ITV mates

He was on the following season complaining in amazement that Steven Gerrard was being played out of position, and started spouting on about how players became ineffective when they were asked to carry out a role they didn't understand.
I nearly put my foot through the TV, the effin hypocrite.
That's what got me about Hoddle, he didn't stand up to scrutiny and often contradicted himself. He relied on the myth that he knew better than anybody, when he actually isn't that bright.

 

[Hollywood_wolf]

OK, I admit I'm being controversial...but tactically he was streets ahead of Mick and TC!!

Is this a wind up?

Best thing that happened to this club in 10 years, was his resignation and Mick's appointment.

 

[Mugwump]

Hoddle didnt get anywhere near the kind of backing Mick got.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Hoddle didnt get anywhere near the kind of backing Mick got.

To be fair though, in his first season Mick had even less backing than Hoddle did. Had to make free signings such as Breen and Bothroyd and spend very small fees on the likes of Henry, Kightly, Ward and Keogh. With the exception of McNamara who was superb, I can't think of many other comparable signings that Hoddle made (Huddlestone was great on loan).

Hoddle didn't stick around long enough or show us the required loyalty and progress to deserve the backing that Mick subsequently got.