The Hoddle 'thing'

[Chungster]

Looking at the six bullets thread yesterday and the frequent name-checks for the 'mercurial' one himself, it really does baffle me that there is still such a high level of residual venom for Hoddle and his tenure at this club.

I'd be the first to admit he lost his way badly towards the end, and he certainly didn't do himself any favours in terms of media/supporter relations but I was genuinely excited when he was appointed and really wanted him to do well.

And now looking back at that period I think it's a bit lazy to just catalogue him as some sort of malevolent, misguided crank who purposefully dumped on our club in exchange for a couple of years off the dole. He was a football purist with a clear vision of how he wanted the game played. (By Christ we could do with a slice of that at the moment.) The Board knew that when they employed him. Was it really all his fault that he was never able to make it happen?

Lights blue touch paper and retires....

 

[Edgmond Wolf]

Looking at the six bullets thread yesterday and the frequent name-checks for the 'mercurial' one himself, it really does baffle me that there is still such a high level of residual venom for Hoddle and his tenure at this club.

I'd be the first to admit he lost his way badly towards the end, and he certainly didn't do himself any favours in terms of media/supporter relations but I was genuinely excited when he was appointed and really wanted him to do well.

And now looking back at that period I think it's a bit lazy to just catalogue him as some sort of malevolent, misguided crank who purposefully dumped on our club in exchange for a couple of years off the dole. He was a football purist with a clear vision of how he wanted the game played. (By Christ we could do with a slice of that at the moment.) The Board knew that when they employed him. Was it really all his fault that he was never able to make it happen?

Lights blue touch paper and retires....

:fight:

 

[WasStefan]

.......

 

[Bostin]

Looking at the six bullets thread yesterday and the frequent name-checks for the 'mercurial' one himself, it really does baffle me that there is still such a high level of residual venom for Hoddle and his tenure at this club.

I'd be the first to admit he lost his way badly towards the end, and he certainly didn't do himself any favours in terms of media/supporter relations but I was genuinely excited when he was appointed and really wanted him to do well.

And now looking back at that period I think it's a bit lazy to just catalogue him as some sort of malevolent, misguided crank who purposefully dumped on our club in exchange for a couple of years off the dole. He was a football purist with a clear vision of how he wanted the game played. (By Christ we could do with a slice of that at the moment.) The Board knew that when they employed him. Was it really all his fault that he was never able to make it happen?

Lights blue touch paper and retires....

Did you have a season ticket while he was manager?

 

[Chungster]

I've never had a season ticket. I went to all of the home games bar a few and a fair few aways.

 

[WalsallWolf]

I think everyone was excited when he was appointed and also when he signed a new deal.

He is probably the only manager in the last 20 years that tried to get us playing 'real football'. Unfortunately, he was the right manager but at the wrong time IMO and things turned very sour at the end. It was certainly the worst atmosphere I have seen down the Wolves during my time, the sarcastic applause/cheers and the chants which were aimed at Moxey/Hoddle left it all very uncomfortable.

 

[luiandlui]

I think he has a pretty good record as a manager overall so I guess he can't be that awful. Having said that his time in charge was the most depressing I can remember in 30 years of supporting Wolves, absolutely dreadful. People who compare our current football to the dross we served up back then need their heads looking at.

 

[bridgnorthwolf]

I was devastated when he was appointed. When Robson took over at Albion it was out of him and Hoddle and I took great pleasure in taking the $$$$ out of a few people telling them that either way they were gonna get lumbered with a $$$$ manager. Until a short while later when we got lumbered with the other clown.....

God I took some real stick for that.

 

[long ball man]

Has anyone ever stopped to think why someone playing 'real' or 'pure' football or 'the way the game is meant to be played' was unsuccessful at Wolves?

There was a thread on playing styles a couple of weeks ago in which I took, I think, a minority view that Wolves 'culture' (history, nature of supporters etc) and purist football don't mix.

You might argue with my contention but the evidence (Hoddle and to a lesser extent McGhee) suggests I am right.

I am quite interested to see what will happen in the years to come re playing styles at Wolves and in the game generally. There is no doubt that the current prevailing view is the game is meant to be played on the grass with short passes. Is this just a trend or are we stuck with tippy tappy football forever. Perhaps younger supporters unencumbered by the Wolves tradition of big centre forwards and wingers will show more patience in future.

Personally whilst I admire Barcelona or Swansea's style as a form of entertainment I wouldn't want 'my team' to play like that...not enough blood and thunder for me. The game is getting like basketball...all about possession.

As for Hoddle...definitely the 3rd worst person ever to cross the threshold at Molineux after the Bhattis. Not just playing style but contempt for sdupporters, not attensding Broadbent tribute dinner etc. A lesson for any manager is if you fail to engage with supporters then all you have to fall on when times get difficult is results, O'Leary at Villa being another example.

 

[Kingswood Wolf]

Imo it was an appointment to make Rick Hayward & Jez Moxey feel like they were 'names' in the football world; appoint an ex-England manager with a big reputation and a lot of media interest attached. This in turn meant exposure for Wolves & Rick 'the ego/buffoon' Hayward. And to a lesser extent Jez too.

Then when it went tits up at least Jez learned his lesson & got in Merlin whilst Rick was quickly removed & sent back to the City/Bahamas - where he's better suited.

And Frankowski! And 3 - 0 away to Watford! And MILLIONS of draws! Aaaaaaah!

 

[derbyrameater]

IIRC under Hoddle didn`t the first few months produce good football with loads of goal action and attempts at goal but the players couldn`t put the ball in the back of the net.

Hoddle then changed the playing tactics to keeping possession in our own half and the rest is history!

 

[bridgnorthwolf]

IIRC under Hoddle didn`t the first few months produce good football with loads of goal action and attempts at goal but the players couldn`t put the ball in the back of the net.

Hoddle then changed the playing tactics to keeping possession in our own half and the rest is history!

I have to admit, he did start to win me round slightly as things were looking up towards the end of the season when he took over and I was almost feeling positive about the start of the following season. Then it became just dire.

 

[Chungster]

"As for Hoddle...definitely the 3rd worst person ever to cross the threshold at Molineux after the Bhattis. Not just playing style but contempt for sdupporters, not attensding Broadbent tribute dinner etc. "

Bit strong. I never felt held in contempt by him. As I said, PR never a strongpoint and didn't even attempt to pretend (and oh yes there are many that do) that he had any profound affinity with the club. Tommy Docherty used to take the p*** out of us during his after dinner speaking engagements while he was still manager here. Never seen anyone on here looking to string him up from a lamp post in Waterloo Road.

 

[wolfjc]

Its a funny one with hoddle! he has the belief that football should be played in such a way, which is influenced by various cultures away from England which is good but despite having what would seem to be an attractive footballing philosophy all of his teams he has managed have been fairly dull and unsuccessful!

 

[Daytripper]

Real Football is that what you call Carl Cort on the right wing and Kenny Miller on the left wing? If it is you can stick it up your $$$$!

Hoddle was clueless when in charge wasting what little money we did have and then gutless leaving 5 weeks before the start of the season because he needed money to be a success.

Mick's 1st season in charge was awesome, players who cost nothing and were average but gave everything for the team, Derby away on Boxing Day springs to mind.

 

[Chungster]

Asking players to do things they're not able to do in positions they're not comfortable in? Square pegs in round holes? For some reason that's striking a chord with me...

 

[Paul76]

Three of us had season tickets that year. Within half of the season, those three seats were empty. We all stopped going. I remember one match which finally broke the camels back. It was against Millwall. They scored in the last minute I think to beat us.

Awful boring football with no penetration. The fans were literally bored too death.

 

[WV8 Wolf]

the most boring 1 and a half seasons of wolves i have watched when hoddle was in charge.

Think when we beat Ipswich at molineux one evening game was the only highlight

 

[Huyton W88lvo]

The arrogance of the man is what is so abhorrent . I genuinely believe that his presence is a punishment sent down from above for previous failings in a past life:stupido3:

 

[Lou Pine]

If people think we pass the ball sideways a lot now just cast your minds back when Glennda was in charge.

 

[lupini]

Don't you remember when the tactical genius switched formation in the second half and our full backs were Carl Cort and Kenny Miller?

 

[Jonny De Wolf]

Looking at the six bullets thread yesterday and the frequent name-checks for the 'mercurial' one himself, it really does baffle me that there is still such a high level of residual venom for Hoddle and his tenure at this club.

I'd be the first to admit he lost his way badly towards the end, and he certainly didn't do himself any favours in terms of media/supporter relations but I was genuinely excited when he was appointed and really wanted him to do well.

And now looking back at that period I think it's a bit lazy to just catalogue him as some sort of malevolent, misguided crank who purposefully dumped on our club in exchange for a couple of years off the dole. He was a football purist with a clear vision of how he wanted the game played. (By Christ we could do with a slice of that at the moment.) The Board knew that when they employed him. Was it really all his fault that he was never able to make it happen?

Lights blue touch paper and retires....

The only time I consistantly been at a game and wondered why I had bothered - not at the end of a game but at the blooming start!

Remember getting to one ground and almost straight away was wondering about the journey home - think it may have been the aforementioned Watford defeat.
Almost stopped going at all.
Much worse feeling than I have at the moment.
Mind you it did help me break the "I have to go" mentality, although I still do all home league games and about half the aways.

 

[Lou Pine]

People have stood through many matches this season...people snoozed through matches when Hoddle was here.

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Lee Hughes, Hoddle, Hitler.

In order of pure evilness.

 

[Chungster]

That's more like it. The heavy artillery's out at last. Pure evil. Love it.

 

[goldeneyed]

Hoddle was a wonderful player to watch. As a manager he always gave off a certain arrogance and chippy personalty that was certainly not loveable. I don't think the club or the players were ready for the kind of possession fotball he at least seemed to want to establish. It all went terribly wrong and the signing of Frankowski at 31 was pure stupidity. But people are too quick to villify others and should look in the mirror occasionally. He was in some ways a gifted coach but his flawed personalty and arrogance brought him (and unfortunately us) down.

 

[lupini]

I ripped up my ST and haven't had one since. I used to within Steve bull wing with about 10 sth around me, and one by one they stopped coming till I was the only there...

 

[Edgmond Wolf]

I ripped up my ST and haven't had one since. I used to within Steve bull wing with about 10 sth around me, and one by one they stopped coming till I was the only there...

Sad tale

 

[QB Wolf]

Hoddle ripped the very heart and soul out of the club. Apathy reigned under his tenure, every time he's on the TV I feel like putting my boot through it!

 

[morosewolf]

Others have made most of the points, but I'll sum it up like this.....he didn't care, the players didn't care and by the end neither did the fans. I remember going to games and just chatting to my mate for 90 mins. I found out he'd resigned about an hour after England had been knocked out of the World Cup. I'm a passionate England fan, but it was still a great day.

 

[Ponty]

It says a lot that no-one has employed him as a manager since.

I've said it before, if I was to run him over and then reverse back - if you're going to do a job, do it properly - and he ended up in a wheelchair, would it be his fault due to something he'd done in a former life?!

 

[PREM.L.L]

Hoddle ripped the very heart and soul out of the club. Apathy reigned under his tenure, every time he's on the TV I feel like putting my boot through it!

Well said QB, seem to recall we are one on this. Hoddle is the worse thing ever that happened to this club apart from the obvious. He thought we were below him and his talents and that we should be honoured to have him.

The football under him was soul destroying. I remember away at Burnley seeing the Harlem Globe Trotter charging down the left wing like a knock-knee'd giraffe smashing a cross over that only he himself would have got within 30 feet of.

Also the ball running out of play to hoddle and him doing 6 or 7 keepy ups to my $$$$ing fury!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will never forget how I felt watching my team under him, which is such a shame because it taints my memory of him as a player........ he was utterly brilliant.

 

[Edgmond Wolf]

Hoddle ripped the very heart and soul out of the club. Apathy reigned under his tenure, every time he's on the TV I feel like putting my boot through it!

This

 

[lupini]

Others have made most of the points, but I'll sum it up like this.....he didn't care, the players didn't care and by the end neither did the fans. I remember going to games and just chatting to my mate for 90 mins. I found out he'd resigned about an hour after England had been knocked out of the World Cup. I'm a passionate England fan, but it was still a great day.

YEs I remember that. We had drunk quite a lot of Sagres and we were burning subbuteo players one after another on the BBQ.

They were all called Christiano.

Then we found out about Hoddle and cheered and danced.

 

[lupini]

This

town is coming like a ghost town?

 

[Purple Ronnie]

Millwall away under Hoddle 0-0 was without doubt the worst game I have ever attended

 

[Chungster]

Hoddle ripped the very heart and soul out of the club. Apathy reigned under his tenure, every time he's on the TV I feel like putting my boot through it!

How in the name of lord Christ and sonny Jesus did Glenn Hoddle rip the heart and soul out of Wolverhampton Wanderers? He was one of a long line of managers that failed to move us fowards. Admittedly the passage of time can play tricks on the memory but I don't remember him devouring any of the first team's children in front of the South Bank as part of the half time entertainment.

 

[QB Wolf]

How in the name of lord Christ and sonny Jesus did Glenn Hoddle rip the heart and soul out of Wolverhampton Wanderers? He was one of a long line of managers that failed to move us fowards. Admittedly the passage of time can play tricks on the memory but I don't remember him devouring any of the first team's children in front of the South Bank as part of the half time entertainment.

Funny how many agreed with my comments, believe me I am not one given to over reaction but mate I sat through all of his tenure and have never known Molineux in the 23 years that I've been going, to be as low as it was with him. People stopped caring, there was no great Hoddle out movement, it was a surreal time, the tippy tappy football in our own half, was the dulllest most uninspiring turgid dross that I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing, seeing Kenny Miller playing wing back seemed to sum it all up for me.

I was in Greece the morning that his desertion of the club was announced and I clearly remember, being as happy as a pig in $$$$ all that day!

 

[Purple Ronnie]

He was described in the press as a vampire as he was sucking the life out of the club

 

[cooper_J]

Real Football is that what you call Carl Cort on the right wing and Kenny Miller on the left wing? If it is you can stick it up your $$$$!

Hoddle was clueless when in charge wasting what little money we did have and then gutless leaving 5 weeks before the start of the season because he needed money to be a success.

Mick's 1st season in charge was awesome, players who cost nothing and were average but gave everything for the team, Derby away on Boxing Day springs to mind.

Bang on.