Press Day Today - Thursday 2nd March, 2017

KHA said:

Interesting to compare SCP with KR.

Powell is cautious and this was apparent in so much that he did. He communicated carefully, never saying anything he might regret or have to contradict subsequently. He emphasised due diligence in player recruitment, checking character, as well as ability. Tactically he played 442, implementing it with priority attention given to discipline when out of possession.

Robinson speaks from the heart; he’s open and tells us more than we’ve experienced from any other manager in the era of media-dominated football. He expresses these views before he has reflected on them and so contradictions occur. Tactically he throws caution to the wind in his desire for his team to get on the front foot. He switched to 442 for Shrewsbury, but this was not a highly-disciplined 442 a la Powell.

Their styles are completely different and Robinson has been much criticised on this forum on matters of style. I can see why his way of communicating can grate, but I’d at least give him credit for seeing it as a manager’s responsibility to give the fans his take on what is going on. The criticism of his session with the players yesterday is, I think, mistaken. It is well accepted, not only in business, but also in teaching and in life generally, that if performance is unsatisfactory, then it is generally more effective to get the performers to evaluate what they did than to tell them their performance was inadequate. If they are objective in their assessment and recognise their short-comings, then a move to the next step of working out how to improve can be taken in an atmosphere of constructive agreement on what has to be tackled. If Robinson assessed the session correctly, then he achieved this.

Style is important if it upsets relationships with the players. Generally we only find that out indirectly through results after the manager is given a reasonable period and support in player arrivals and departures. As for Powell that means support in the summer and a few months next season. Whether that happens is in someone else’s hands, but I’d like to see him given that chance rather than yet another spin of the managerial wheel.