Colin Calderwood joins as first team coach

[Miltonaggro]

Colin Calderwood has been announced as Saints new first team coach. Good top flight career and a decent player in his day - interesting appointment.

 https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23887825.former-tottenham-defender-joins-southamptons-backroom-staff/

Edited 30 October, 2023 by Miltonaggro

[Saint Lefty]

Looks like he has been brought in to sort out our defence.

[AlexLaw76]

5 minutes ago, Saint Lefty said:

Looks like he has been brought in to sort out our defence.

Where have you read that?

[Maggie May]

Eric Black Mk 2…something meltdown something something meltdown…

Edited 30 October, 2023 by Maggie May

[CSA96]

 

[Miltonaggro]

From what I know of him he'll certainly offer a different approach to Russell, less tofu and aromatic back rub, more Irn Bru and a kick up the jacksy.  Recall he was Houghton's assistant when Newcastle got promoted in 2010. 

[Saint_clark]

For some reason I remember him being highly rated when at Forest but he did a terrible job there. Also never held down a coaching job for long than a couple of years which doesn't bode well.

[Turkish]

13 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

For some reason I remember him being highly rated when at Forest but he did a terrible job there. Also never held down a coaching job for long than a couple of years which doesn't bode well.

Except that’s not true

play offs first season, automatic promotion second. He got sacked in December the follow season when they struggled a bit but overall that’s hardly a terrible job 

[Nolan]

next years kit will be based on this Tartan

 

[Saint_clark]

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Except that’s not true

play offs first season, automatic promotion second. He got sacked in December the follow season when they struggled a bit but overall that’s hardly a terrible job 

Oh fair enough, that'll be why I remember him being highly rated then. I googled him and found an old article from when he was sacked that's why I was confused. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 minutes ago, Nolan said:

next years kit will be based on this Tartan

 

We've played in worse red and white. 🙂

[macca155]

11 minutes ago, Nolan said:

next years kit will be based on this Tartan

 

I like that 😀 Dangerously close to my family's tartan .... God help us

[derry]

He was Assistant Manager at Norwich under Hughton when Russell Martin was club Captain. Obviously Martin is sure he will fit in and as an ex defender will bring another perspective on our defensive organisation. Hopefully the missing link.

[Jack]

23 minutes ago, derry said:

He was Assistant Manager at Norwich under Hughton when Russell Martin was club Captain. Obviously Martin is sure he will fit in and as an ex defender will bring another perspective on our defensive organisation. Hopefully the missing link.

That defending is important? 

[Kenilworthy]

He has also coached a team to victory at St Mary's already. Think the 2-0 win in December 2008 was his last game before being sacked as Forest manager

[derry]

16 minutes ago, Jack said:

That defending is important? 

Precisely! Why we are looking better already with Bree instead of Manning at left back and Sulemana has more space to play in front of him Defensively KWP is a conundrum so the organisation needs to cover the space he leaves on his forays up the field.

[Long Shot]

Got to be a positive step. Lots of experience anyway. 

[BARCELONASAINT]

from what i've read Northampton fans are absolutely gutted to be losing him. He was very highly thought off and they believe we have got ourselves a very good man. Good luck to him and lets hope this is a very positive appointment.

Edited 30 October, 2023 by BARCELONASAINT

[Badger]

1 hour ago, derry said:

He was Assistant Manager at Norwich under Hughton when Russell Martin was club Captain. Obviously Martin is sure he will fit in and as an ex defender will bring another perspective on our defensive organisation. Hopefully the missing link.

Thanks for explaining the connection. Always wonder about appointments being parachuted in and whether it’s the manager or board appointment and how it will pan out. With that background it may well be RM’s option.

Certainly good to have someone with his experience behind the scenes, as I don’t think many of the coaches RM brought with him are that experienced as coaches or players.

Saw Calderwood play a few times for Swindon and rated him then. Interviews since he’s come across as a decent bloke. Could be a shrewd move. Pleased with it. 

 

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Kenilworthy said:

He has also coached a team to victory at St Mary's already. Think the 2-0 win in December 2008 was his last game before being sacked as Forest manager

Winning 2-0 against us then obviously wasn’t good enough. Proves how shit we were at the time. 

[The Kraken]

46 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

from what i've read Northampton fans are absolutely gutted to be losing him. He was very highly thought off and they believe we have got ourselves a very good man. Good luck to him and lets hope this is a very positive appointment.

Cobblers.

[Dark Munster]

2 hours ago, Jack said:

That defending is important? 

Maybe he’s our new possession coach. 

[Convict Colony]

Hope the scotland scout and manager have invested in a box at St Marys

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Adam Blackmore very enthusiastic about this having worked with him "in a previous life". Says he's one of football's nice men.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Don't think there is anything to dislike about this appointment. Seems pretty well respected within the game.

[Saint Garrett]

Seems like a logical appointment, don’t know much about him, but if Martin wants him then fair enough. Welcome to the club 

[notnowcato]

Classy defender in his time, bags of experience.  Solid appointment.

[SotonianWill]

3 hours ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Adam Blackmore very enthusiastic about this having worked with him "in a previous life". Says he's one of football's nice men.

I take it he means Northampton

[Miltonaggro]

2 hours ago, SotonianWill said:

I take it he means Northampton

I wondered if it was when he was at Villa, what with Blackmore being a Villa fan. 

[Jazzfunk]

He was an excellent player and by all accounts doing a fine job at Northampton. Delighted to have someone with his experience at the club. Can only be a positive. COYS

[bpsaint]

Northampton fans seem to think he’ll make our defence a lot stronger, and generally are disappointed to see him leave so fingers crossed it works out well for us given the stupid fucking goals we keep giving away.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Yeah good support for RM, plus when RM gets the sack in January for us not being in the promotion mix, he’ll be a ready made replacement.

(Well someone had to say it).😉

[the saint in winchester]

I was hoping to we could give a role to Marian Pahars.

[offsidetrap]

23 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Hope the scotland scout and manager have invested in a box at St Marys

It's heading that way. All we need is Dykes up front now.

[davefizzy14]

A very shrewd appointment given RM knows him very well. Has a wealth of experience and well respected within the game. Welcome onboard Colin

[Holmes_and_Watson]

The last link in the coaching chain, leading us to promotion. A superb appointment!

The coaching equivalent of bringing in Asprilla, just as things were going well. A disastrous appointment!

 

I'll pop back at the end of the season for a quick edit. I can only hope for the best without knowing anything about his coaching. 🙂

[HarvSFC]

1 match, 1 clean sheet.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Seems things have turned for the better since Col joined the team…must be a good influence.

[HarvSFC]

When Calderwood was appointed, we had one of the worst goals against tally in the league with 24 goals conceded in the opening 14 games. At one point we had the worst. Since his appointment we’ve conceded twice in five, keeping three clean sheets. Three of our four clean sheets this season.

I know we don’t ever truly know how good a coach is, but can’t be a coincidence given his reputation.

[washsaint]

6 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

When Calderwood was appointed, we had one of the worst goals against tally in the league with 24 goals conceded in the opening 14 games. At one point we had the worst. Since his appointment we’ve conceded twice in five, keeping three clean sheets. Three of our four clean sheets this season.

I know we don’t ever truly know how good a coach is, but can’t be a coincidence given his reputation.

OH please!  Your stats are throughly misleading and twisted to make him seem like a revelation.  We have conceded very few since early in the season when we were very porous.  THis has all the hallmarks of the 'Danny Rohl was a genius and things went downhill after he left'.

Lets face it none of us know what an assistants impact truly is.

[Weston Super Saint]

11 hours ago, washsaint said:

Lets face it none of us know what an assistants impact truly is.

I think the signs are there for Ruben's previous impact....

[beatlesaint]

So, am I reading this right? We arent giving a defender of some note any credit for our defence looking more organised and conceding less yet had we contnued to ship goals at a rate of knots he would have been a disaster appoinment, total waste of money ? Yeah?

 

[hypochondriac]

I would suggest that Harwood Bellis has had the biggest impact. Not sure we will ever know the true extent of the influence of a coach but it's a good problem to be discussing!

[VectisSaint]

The tightening up at the back started before Calderwood arrived, primarily when we started to have a relatively consistent defence and CM (KWP, HB, JB, Manning, Downes and Smallbone, not forgetting Bazunu of course). But Calderwood certainly has not done any harm. The porous defence is really a bit of a myth, we had 3 bad games in short order (Norwich, Sunderland, Leicester) which made our stats look very bad. We have not conceded more than 2 in any other league game, and only conceded 2 in a game twice. Take those 3 games out and we probably have the second best defensive record in the league.

[Mr Nimbus]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

I would suggest that Harwood Bellis has had the biggest impact. Not sure we will ever know the true extent of the influence of a coach but it's a good problem to be discussing!

Add in Flynn Downes getting up to full speed, who is incredible at this level and protects our back 4 so well. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 hour ago, VectisSaint said:

The tightening up at the back started before Calderwood arrived, primarily when we started to have a relatively consistent defence and CM (KWP, HB, JB, Manning, Downes and Smallbone, not forgetting Bazunu of course). But Calderwood certainly has not done any harm. The porous defence is really a bit of a myth, we had 3 bad games in short order (Norwich, Sunderland, Leicester) which made our stats look very bad. We have not conceded more than 2 in any other league game, and only conceded 2 in a game twice. Take those 3 games out and we probably have the second best defensive record in the league.

I don’t get that. You might as well say, if we had scored 5 goals in every match this season we’d be top - blatantly obvious but equally untrue, so a pointless observation. Fact is, we were looking very poor value for money at the start of the season for 3-4 games and then two key things happened…a more consistent defence when JS got injured and Calderwood arriving. He’s definitely had a positive influence and anyone who argues against this is blind to the facts.

[Turkish]

The new Danny Rohl. 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

This isn't a coincidence. Yes, HB has been brilliant and equally Downes has shored up that gap in front of the back 4 (would also suggest Charles would provide further cover), but there seems to be a strength in the defence that was missing before.

Like MiltonAggro said, this guy might be adding the Iron Bru.

[VectisSaint]

On 04/12/2023 at 13:35, Saint Fan CaM said:

I don’t get that. You might as well say, if we had scored 5 goals in every match this season we’d be top - blatantly obvious but equally untrue, so a pointless observation. Fact is, we were looking very poor value for money at the start of the season for 3-4 games and then two key things happened…a more consistent defence when JS got injured and Calderwood arriving. He’s definitely had a positive influence and anyone who argues against this is blind to the facts.

Nothing like that, sorry you don't understand. It isn't pointless at all (in as much as anything is pointless if it is just idle speculation), fact is we may have looked dodgy in first few games but that was not reflected in the only stat that really matters, i.e. how many goals we conceded, which is how we are judged "defensively" (none of this xG nonsense or whatever it is).  We had 3 extremely dodgy games, playing players out of position and so on), replace the 3 bad games (defensively, remembering we did actually draw one v Norwich) with 1 or even 2 goals conceded in each of them and we would still be second best in the League defensively. Those 3 games left a lasting misapprehenison about our defensive capabilities and will no doubt colour our defensive record for the season.

[Saint Fan CaM]

10 hours ago, VectisSaint said:

Nothing like that, sorry you don't understand. It isn't pointless at all (in as much as anything is pointless if it is just idle speculation), fact is we may have looked dodgy in first few games but that was not reflected in the only stat that really matters, i.e. how many goals we conceded, which is how we are judged "defensively" (none of this xG nonsense or whatever it is).  We had 3 extremely dodgy games, playing players out of position and so on), replace the 3 bad games (defensively, remembering we did actually draw one v Norwich) with 1 or even 2 goals conceded in each of them and we would still be second best in the League defensively. Those 3 games left a lasting misapprehenison about our defensive capabilities and will no doubt colour our defensive record for the season.

So if I understand correctly, you’re saying that had Calderwood not joined, the results would have turned around in exactly the same manner in which they did? That RM would have had a blinding flash of inspiration to change some the things that he was doing which led to the dreadful results and patterns of play we were witnessing? Sorry, don’t buy it…there was a definite change and it coincided with Calderwoods introduction.