Michael Appleton - Hibs manager

I’ll temper this thread again with the confirmation that he does need time. We’ve glossed over it a bit considering what some after, but Appleton’s first season here was a poor one and we were looking like relegation candidates for a good half of the season. As mentioned, it was only when he ‘accelerated his plan’ as he put it and chopped and changed things that we started to excel.

If you want an idea of the football we played under him, 20 minutes of goals from 2015-16 are a good indication of what we were about. We scored 100 goals in the season after too.

great to watch. wow we miss sercombe
 
Really interesting development, and the more I think about it, the more I think it’s probably a really good fit.

Michael Appleton made mistakes, but unlike almost all football managers before and since, he actually learned from them. He spotted and attracted good young players, made them Football League ready, and gave them value. He was tactically flexible. He interviewed well and with intelligence. He gave Oxford (relative) success.

But he only did half a job here, and his unexpected departure to become a #2 demonstrated a lack of ambition, particularly when we were the first club to give him a decent chance.

The trick will be - what will be considered success at Easter Road? I think he could take Hibs to Europe in time, and pop up with a League Cup. But to really make his mark, he’ll need to compete genuinely with I-Can’t-Believe-it’s-not-Rangers for second place. Which is possible but as others have said, won’t happen ‘til his second or third season. Will he stay that long? Or decide after 18 months the assistant job at Tynecastle is more his style?

Well worth the punt. Interesting times.
 
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Really interesting development, and the more I think about it, the more I think it’s probably a really good fit.

Michael Appleton made mistakes, but unlike almost all football managers before and since, he actually learned from them. He spotted and attracted good young players, made them Football League ready, and gave them value. He was tactically flexible. He interview well and with intelligence. He gave Oxford (relative) success.

But he only did half a job here, and his departure demonstrated a lack of ambition, particularly when we were the first club to give him a decent chance.

The trick will be - what will be considered success at Easter Road? I think he could take Hibs to Europe in time, and pop up with a League Club. But to really make his mark, he’ll need to compete genuinely with I-Can’t-Believe-it’s-not-Rangers for second. Which is possible but as others have said, won’t happen ‘til his second or third season. Will he stay that long? Or decide after 18 months the assistant job at Tynecastle is more his style?

Well worth the punt. Interesting times.
Mapp fortunes changes when they brought in Faz to help him, Mapp was very so so before that addition to the management.
 
Thanks Whingit, I enjoyed that. Loved the statement that moobs is a female poster. He'd be proud.
 
I'm surprised Appleton hasn't landed a managers job sooner, or is his availability affected by the way he left Leicester?
Understand that as part of severance prohibited from taking post in English lge for a period ..not sure for how long which might explain migration to SPL
 
My memory is that even the first half of the first season, the football we played was easy on the eye, and we had tons of possession. We just had little or no cutting edge.

Then Kemar Roofe joined the fray, and other talented players followed, and MApp put together by far the best team we've had since the mid-90s.

As an aside - I do think that the move to Leicester, as a lot of us said at the time, was a dreadful career move for him.
Yes, I'm sure there were frustrations here at OUFC.....but he gave up a #1 role, and joined a coaching staff at Leicester that most people thought was probably doomed......
If he'd stayed at Oxford, and we'd had a good summer and started the 2017/18 season well, I think he would have had a big shot at landing a top Championship job when the next one came up. As it is, he's basically been off the radar for two years, and now is having to rebuild his career again north of the border.

I'm not even sure that it's going to be financially worth it for him in the long run. Sure, one rich contract with Leicester - but I bet Hibs aren't paying the wages he could have commanded in the Championship.
 
Unbelievable really. The stand out candidate and they cut the severance package from what is normal and wouldn't give any relocation allowance.
Goodness knows how they will treat the second and third choices!!
What a mistake to make,Appleton is pure top class.
 
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