Michael Appleton Podcast | Vital Football

Michael Appleton Podcast

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https://lincoln.vitalfootball.co.uk/podcast-reaction-for-me-it-reinforces-how-grounded-also-confident-and-resolute-michael-appleton-is/

For me it reinforces how grounded also confident and resolute MA is regarding his footballing beliefs. What I really like is that he totally understood the change of culture, direction and magnitude of the task in following DC/NC was going to be.....and took the job anyway. It takes somebody with an inner belief and calm resolution to walk into that fully knowing they are going to need to roll with some punches.

It's one thing following Fergie at Manure as anybody would take a tilt at a once in a lifetime opportunity of that nature. It's another test all together taking the risk of rehabilitating your career at a provincial lower league club off the back of sustained success under somebody else AND radically changing the model at revolutionary pace. Reassuringly it is quite clear that manager and board are in complete alignment which is why he ultimately took the job.
 
Significant section for me was MApp understanding that the the fans needed to transition from the DC style to his and that would be displayed vocally at times
He’s not the type to be knocked easily from his vision of how we need to play
 
Aiming for top half next season. I like the "you never know, we might surprise a few". Would be disappointed if we're not challenging for promotion the season after.
Different style, more of a slow burn, better football.
I'm excited, doesn't take much though...
 
I was disappointed to hear him totally write off the Cowleys' overall playing style, basically saying that it does not produce players - either for the current team or players who can go on to play at a higher level. He was quite detrimental to Wycombe's style too, although did acknowledge their achievements.

The Cowleys had a pretty good record of players moving up the ladder, and equally there have been lots of examples in previous years of "direct" teams producing footballers who then move on and play at the very top.

It may not be your preferred style, Michael, but it is a very blinkered attitude that may come back to haunt you. Every successful team at Lincoln (Taylor, Murphy, Beck, Alexander, Cowleys) has played quite a direct style that involved getting the ball forward very quickly.

It will be interesting to see if supporters will adjust to a slow build up passing game if it doesn't bring results or plenty of goalmouth incidents. Lots of managers have wanted to play like that at Lincoln, but have failed.

Overall though, if we are going to change our philosophy, I don't think we could have anyone better in charge.
 
I was disappointed to hear him totally write off the Cowleys' overall playing style, basically saying that it does not produce players - either for the current team or players who can go on to play at a higher level. He was quite detrimental to Wycombe's style too, although did acknowledge their achievements.

The Cowleys had a pretty good record of players moving up the ladder, and equally there have been lots of examples in previous years of "direct" teams producing footballers who then move on and play at the very top.

It may not be your preferred style, Michael, but it is a very blinkered attitude that may come back to haunt you. Every successful team at Lincoln (Taylor, Murphy, Beck, Alexander, Cowleys) has played quite a direct style that involved getting the ball forward very quickly.

It will be interesting to see if supporters will adjust to a slow build up passing game if it doesn't bring results or plenty of goalmouth incidents. Lots of managers have wanted to play like that at Lincoln, but have failed.

Overall though, if we are going to change our philosophy, I don't think we could have anyone better in charge.

Good points, well made.

Ultimately - results, end of.
 
I was disappointed to hear him totally write off the Cowleys' overall playing style, basically saying that it does not produce players - either for the current team or players who can go on to play at a higher level. He was quite detrimental to Wycombe's style too, although did acknowledge their achievements.

The Cowleys had a pretty good record of players moving up the ladder, and equally there have been lots of examples in previous years of "direct" teams producing footballers who then move on and play at the very top.

It may not be your preferred style, Michael, but it is a very blinkered attitude that may come back to haunt you. Every successful team at Lincoln (Taylor, Murphy, Beck, Alexander, Cowleys) has played quite a direct style that involved getting the ball forward very quickly.

It will be interesting to see if supporters will adjust to a slow build up passing game if it doesn't bring results or plenty of goalmouth incidents. Lots of managers have wanted to play like that at Lincoln, but have failed.

Overall though, if we are going to change our philosophy, I don't think we could have anyone better in charge.

To be fair, Woodyard, Waterfall and Raggett all moved higher but didn't get the game time and/or have fallen/will fall to a similar level we sold them at. Those others we sold - Rhead, Palmer, Long, Farman, Andrade, Green etc - also remained around the same level we were at (Rhead aside). It's not as if we were a conveyor belt of talent per se but we were very good at getting fees for players, which is obviously easier when you're successful at the time.

In the case of Woodyard and Waterfall, they moved up a league but to similar sized clubs. Toffolo is probably the one we got the most money for and the one who'll stay at a higher level for a sustained period of time.

Also, we're L1 now and I'd argue it does require a different type of player to sell to the PL/Championship sides in general and is different to what, when we were NL for example, L1 and L2 sides would look for.

So in that respect, MA probably isn't wrong in what he's saying (I've not listened to the podcast so reading your post for the gist of it). Rightly or wrongly, football has certainly gone more technical and them players will sell for more in the transfer market. Ultimately you've got to cater for your target market and that's PL and Championship sides.
 
To be fair, Woodyard, Waterfall and Raggett all moved higher but didn't get the game time and/or have fallen/will fall to a similar level we sold them at. Those others we sold - Rhead, Palmer, Long, Farman, Andrade, Green etc - also remained around the same level we were at (Rhead aside). It's not as if we were a conveyor belt of talent per se but we were very good at getting fees for players, which is obviously easier when you're successful at the time.

In the case of Woodyard and Waterfall, they moved up a league but to similar sized clubs. Toffolo is probably the one we got the most money for and the one who'll stay at a higher level for a sustained period of time.

Also, we're L1 now and I'd argue it does require a different type of player to sell to the PL/Championship sides in general and is different to what, when we were NL for example, L1 and L2 sides would look for.

Also good points. But Appleton *will* have to develop and sell players for good money to match the Cowleys. I'm not sure any of his signings to date will fit that bill.

Again: sales, end of.
 
Listened to 3/4 of it and I like the guy, comes across as honest, focused and straight down the line. Fair play to him following his injury, losing your career due to medical negligence must be incredibly difficult to take and he could have gone down the alcohol/drugs/gambling route but he knuckled down and found a new career - fair play.
 
Cowley-ball was unsustainable - I loved the time we had Danny and Nicky - a fantastic few years but it relied on the board spending £££s and they spent big to get us from the National league to League 1.

It was a great ride, but now we are here, it would be silly to continue spending money we don't have to buy our way into the Championship. Too many clubs have tried buying their way into the next tier and regretted it when the gamble failed.

Appleton has had it tough - in his playing career, in his management career (other than Oxford) and now in his first Corvid-curtailed season at Lincoln. It's a refreshing change that we don't have a management team moaning about the lack of budget.

I'd rather be doing what we're doing now and trying to nurture and sell-on decent players - better than over-spending and risking the future of the club in the hope of climbing the greasy pole.
 
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Its one of them where we will be top half next season and around the play offs the next season.
 
It’s interesting to hear his remarks about route one football not producing players, thinking about the players we’ve sold to higher level, but then reflecting on the fact of their limited success at higher levels...

I like Appleton, he seems honest, humble, hard working and driven. I think we’re in safe hands. Somehow he doesn’t strike me as the kind to be too bothered about what the fans think and I think he is the embodiment of “not getting too high when we win, and not getting too low when we lose” without actually ever having to say it.
 
I listened to the Lincoln part. Seemed pretty confident that we'd not be involved at either end of the table this season but would be disappointed if we weren't around the PO's the following season.

Shows he's expecting small, calculated progression season on season. As we know, this certainly isn't going to kick into place straight away. I'm sure they'll be games where we get spanked but equally ones where the opposite will happen.
 
I was a little disappointed to hear him basically write off playing direct football. I think any manager who doesn't have the pick of the best players in the division should be able and willing to adapt their game plan to whatever is necessary to win.

I understand he wants to play his way to develop players to sell on and make money for the club and keep us progressing in the pitch. Doing whatever necessary to win football matches, resulting in an FA cup quarter final, 2 League titles, a trophy win at Wembley, increasing your support base 4 fold and making your club attractive to sponsors was a good way of making money for the club and progressing us on the pitch too, so I'd be careful of being too dismissive of his predecessors.