Alan Ball.

It was, but it didn't happen until the 96/97 pre-season. Curle was captain all the way through 95/96.
Was this done to try and force Curle out? I've read previously that Coton ,Curle, and Quinn were high earners and Franny Lee wanted them off the books!
 
He was a shit manager and it was very, very obviously a shit appointment at the time , with no hindsight required - hadn't he relegated 3 or 4 of the 5 teams he'd managed or something before he came to us? The other being southampton who scraped survival?

Also, didn't a City player (possibly Rosler!?) say in their autobiography what a terrible first speech he gave to the team? Telling them he's a world cup winner and he's done more than them etc. Basically giving it the big one which pissed them off?

I'm going off my crap memory here and haven't checked but hopefully someone can clarify

From my website :
Lee commented “Alan Ball says this is the manager’s job he has been waiting for and that he is willing to die for the club. If the players go out with the same determination, we will be on our way” Some of the players weren’t as enamored with Ball as Francis Lee, in his autobiography Richard Edghill recalls; ‘On his first day of training his wife was upstairs at Platt Lane waving his World Cup medal to anyone who cared, Nobody did, much. His wife would often be at the training ground. Ball tried to stamp his authority but having her flashing his medal about like Tessa Sanderson at the Olympic Games did nothing to help the cause.’

and on the day he was sacked:
Richard Edghill recalls in his autobiography; ‘The Monday after the game at Stoke, Franny Lee was in the tunnel and came in with Ball clearly quite emotional that he’d had to sack his friend, or had Ball ‘resigned’ ? Either way Franny was not besy pleased “You f$cking bastards have got this man the sack! I hope you’re proud of yourselves!” he raged as Bally looked down at the floor crestfallen, a broken man’
 
I dunno.

He hardly made a good first impression. Getting rid of Walsh and bringing in Creaney was a shocker considering the Rosler/Walsh partnership had done so well.

Then there were stories about him arrogantly telling the players he was a World Cup winner during training etc.

Eeeh lads... this old chestnut. I remember Paul Walsh saying at the time he knew he (Walsh) was done, physically, and not up to playing Prem anymore. He mentioned some incident, where he went for a header and just wasn't able to jump anymore. I think he wanted to move back home down south, and drop down. Age had caught him. But as for Creaney - don't know the full story but he was shocking: unfit, off the pace, but knew where the goal was. Pub team player while at City.
 
It took a lot of skill to undo what Horton had built so quickly.

It took a lot of skill to ruin Niall Quinn’s career.

It took a lot of skill to bench Rosler.

It took a lot of skill to make Keith Curle look below average.

It took a lot of skill to replace a great keeper with Eike Immel.


I could go on and on and on.

He was a train wreck.
 
I don't doubt that Ball did his best.

Unfortunately, his best was consistently woefully inept.

And his unwillingness to accept that anyone tall could be any good at football, can only have been some weird chip on his shoulder from something someone once said to him from his own playing days.

You only have to look at the job he did at his other clubs too ... Stoke fans hate him even more than we do.
 

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