OK, perhaps that’s a little unfair. For instance, Bobby V. never accused his players of leaking info to the opposition (though keep in mind, it’s still early). Of Preston North End manager Graham Westley, When Saturday Comes’ Martin Atherton details the former’s fractious reign since being appointed in January.
There was immediate resistance from certain sections of the Preston support to Westley’s appointment and this has only increased since. From day one, the new manager was critical of many aspects of the club, labelling the physio’s room a social club, condemning the players’ levels of fitness and commitment and publicly stripping Paul Coutts – arguably the club’s most talented player and saleable asset – of the captaincy due to his alleged poor attitude. One former player, now a highly respected pundit on local radio, summed up the situation thus: “It does no-one any good for a new manager to walk into the dressing room and immediately start throwing hand grenades”.
Westley has certainly addressed the porous defence – but at the expense of any attacking threat, to vociferous disapproval at recent home games. Defeat to Brentford last time out led to some of the most surreal events ever seen at the famous old ground. The man of the match announcement was roundly jeered until the name of popular German goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann appeared on the big screen. When the fourth official indicated four additional minutes at the end of the match, he too was roundly booed before a chant of “This is pathetic, we want to go home” rang around the ground.