Michael Appleton - March 2025 appointed Shrewsbury manager (p124)

Scoham · April 25

Swisdom said:

carly burn said:

How does he keep getting gigs??

A certain diminutive former striker off ours actually told me “Appleton is the best coach I’ve ever worked for” so maybe he does have some talents but just not enough

Didn’t realise Nicky Ajose had played under Appleton.

MrLargo · April 25

Ambitious Shrewsbury make bold bid for consecutive relegations:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cwynjwwk9q8o

This comment jumped out at me - "The feedback I've been getting from players, staff and fans has been positive."

I couldn't believe it. However, I checked on their message board -https://blueandamber.proboards.com/thread/108181/appleton?page=1 - and most of the supporters seem keen to keep him, many being particularly impressed by him slagging off the players.

One dissenting voice, "Beefy", seems to live in the real world - "Couldn’t disagree more. The way Southall in particularly nauseatingly sucks up to Appleton a man who who failed in 6 of his 8 jobs , has shown absolutely nothing in this one when it was a basically a free shot. We have actually got worse under him. How naive to install a completely alien playing style with 9 games to go. A good coach would have been far more pragmatic. He doesn’t deserve the job at all".

West2003 · April 25

Swisdom said:

carly burn said:

How does he keep getting gigs??

A certain diminutive former striker off ours actually told me “Appleton is the best coach I’ve ever worked for” so maybe he does have some talents but just not enough

Nicky Forster?

Off_it · April 25

"Acting".

guinnessaddick · April 26

Off_it said:

"Acting".

Exit, stage left.

Alwaysneil · April 26

Used to be written exeunt but that looks like a typo

ElliotCAFC · April 26

ForeverAddickted said:

stoneroses19 said:

That latest quote from him confirms he is a bully.

Bullies are smart at deflecting their own negatives by shining a light on negatives they perceive in others. He is a terrible person to have around players learning about football at an early stage in their career.

You can see why Campbell's confidence was potentially so shattered under him.

Man Management is such an underrated aspect of Football

Pretty certain Campbell has said in an recent(ish) interview Appleton showed a lot of belief in him.

fenaddick · April 26

ElliotCAFC said:

ForeverAddickted said:

stoneroses19 said:

That latest quote from him confirms he is a bully.

Bullies are smart at deflecting their own negatives by shining a light on negatives they perceive in others. He is a terrible person to have around players learning about football at an early stage in their career.

You can see why Campbell's confidence was potentially so shattered under him.

Man Management is such an underrated aspect of Football

Pretty certain Campbell has said in an recent(ish) interview Appleton showed a lot of belief in him.

This is what he said:

”I wasn’t really playing that much under Appleton; I was a bit low on confidence, but he would still speak to me and reassure me in training”

Not exactly glowing praise!

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tyreece-campbell-named-2pac-but-idol-lookman-b1219402.html

hezzla · April 26

fenaddick said:

ElliotCAFC said:

ForeverAddickted said:

stoneroses19 said:

That latest quote from him confirms he is a bully.

Bullies are smart at deflecting their own negatives by shining a light on negatives they perceive in others. He is a terrible person to have around players learning about football at an early stage in their career.

You can see why Campbell's confidence was potentially so shattered under him.

Man Management is such an underrated aspect of Football

Pretty certain Campbell has said in an recent(ish) interview Appleton showed a lot of belief in him.

This is what he said:

”I wasn’t really playing that much under Appleton; I was a bit low on confidence, but he would still speak to me and reassure me in training”

Not exactly glowing praise!

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tyreece-campbell-named-2pac-but-idol-lookman-b1219402.html

To be fair, have you heard Campbell in interviews? Hardly the most talkative one at the best of times…

I always thought Appleton went out of his way to defend the players last season during interviews, at a time when most people on here wanted him to be a lot more critical.

TBH I think this just shows that there’s more to building confidence in players than just shielding them from criticism… Nathan Jones can be hyper critical - earlier this season he gave Anderson such an aggressive dressing down mid-match, that Greg Doherty had to intervene and tell him to calm down. But it doesn’t matter, because clearly the players know he believes in them, and they’ll run through brick walls as a result. That’s proper leadership.

The Red Robin · April 26

Probably our worst manager not named Karel Fraeye or Les Reed.

Off_it · April 26

The Red Robin said:

Probably our worst manager not named Karel Fraeye or Les Reed.

Better or worse than "The Patient One"?

I wonder if he's still waiting for things to turn around for him.

killerandflash · May 2

Signed a 2 year contract to stay on...

North Lower Neil · May 2

More fool them.

Athletico Charlton · May 2

The Red Robin said:

Probably our worst manager not named Karel Fraeye or Les Reed.

Or Guy Luzon, utterly useless.

Swisdom · May 2

Appleton doesn’t even seem overly popular with the fans who have seen no improvement in the teams fortunes. I wonder how they’ll get on next season with their madcap owners too

MrLargo · May 2

Terrible decision.

NabySarr · May 2

Swisdom said:

Appleton doesn’t even seem overly popular with the fans who have seen no improvement in the teams fortunes. I wonder how they’ll get on next season with their madcap owners too

If they don’t get a takeover sorted then I think they will candidates for being the 3rd team in a row to go back to back from L1 to national league

New owners will want their own man, so this appointment is bad news for Shrewsbury fans even if they like Appleton, as it means a takeover is probably not imminent

Scoham · August 16

Kyreece Lisbie handed a goal in the most unusual way by Michael Appleton’s Shrewsbury.

https://x.com/elliot_1937/status/1956778926342087012?s=46&t=A-w3Eq0EWWpjMxring904Q

FinlandMatt · August 16

Not gonna last there to much longer

MarcusH26 · August 16

FinlandMatt said:

Not gonna last there to much longer

Director of Football went earlier in the week , can't see Appleton making the end of the month at this rate. Probably in a competition with Ruben Selles for first EFL sacking

carly burn · August 16

How does he keep getting gigs??

Much the same as his time here over at poor old Shrewsbury.
Turned up. Told everyone that the squad was terrible,unfit,....yada,yada,yada.
And then somehow managed to make them progressively worse!

Fella should be struck off.

IR94 · August 16

Not just a awful coach, a deeply dislikeable man as well

killerandflash · August 16

A bad combination of a club in freefall, and an unlikeable manager

A shame really, to see the likes of Shrewsbury and Cheltenham near the bottom of L2. I'm glad we're not playing them anymore, but I enjoyed my visits there.

bolloxbolder · August 17

carly burn said:

How does he keep getting gigs??

Much the same as his time here over at poor old Shrewsbury.
Turned up. Told everyone that the squad was terrible,unfit,....yada,yada,yada.
And then somehow managed to make them progressively worse!

Fella should be struck off.

This will be his last managerial gig bar a temporary appointment if he coaches somewhere.

An absolute clown of Freye standards.

cabbles · August 20

Another cracking result tonight

I think this will be his last league club when they get rid of him in a month or so. Managed to build a career off the back of managing Pompey when they were going through all that financial trouble because he stuck it out, but he’s been like the kiss of death for such a long time now, wherever he turns up

I have to say, I’m so glad he’s at Shrewsbury. Horrible club that we’ve seen far too much of in the last 10 years. Really hope our paths don’t cross again for a good while - even better that they have Marquis

killerandflash · August 20

The classic case where nothing will happen until the takeover happens, and in the meantime everyone knows the existing manager is a dead duck walking...

MintoHumbugs · August 20

I would be very surprised if he hasn’t been sacked by this time tomorrow.

West2003 · August 20

cabbles said:

Another cracking result tonight

I think this will be his last league club when they get rid of him in a month or so. Managed to build a career off the back of managing Pompey when they were going through all that financial trouble because he stuck it out, but he’s been like the kiss of death for such a long time now, wherever he turns up

I have to say, I’m so glad he’s at Shrewsbury. Horrible club that we’ve seen far too much of in the last 10 years. Really hope our paths don’t cross again for a good while - even better that they have Marquis

I’m not sure this is entirely fair. His subsequent brief tenures at both Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers after his time at Portsmouth did a bit of damage to his reputation.

Three seasons each at Oxford United and Lincoln City where he’s won a promotion, reached EFL Trophy and League One play-off finals would suggest that he wasn’t “the kiss of death” for that long a period given he was able to rebuild his career at both clubs.

His career seems to have hit the bricks since taking the Blackpool job again in 2022 and it doesn’t look like the slide is stopping any time soon.