Quote: DaveO "We went from an underachieving side to GF winners in the space of an off season.
If you are saying we won the GF this year due to a steady progress over a number of years that finally got us there I think you are wrong.
What has happened at the club since the end of 2009 is basically a revolution.
The last time we had a similar revolution was when Lowe arrived who replaced Clarke and McInnes who has just won the cup in 1985.
So to answer the question posed by the o/p I think history will take a simple view of the period in question. Generally in the doldrums for 9 years going nowhere fast until IL took over and appointed the right coaches and back room staff.
Dave'"
Would the same "Revolution" in the Off season been possible if it had happened end of 2006 and not 2009?
Clarke & McCinness had not just won the cup when Lowe took over, they'd done it the year before.
Would Lowe have come in 81/82? He did come in 86/87 due to the clubs steady improvement in 88/83/84/85/86.
If he had come in 81/82 would he have achieved the same overnight Miracle transition and reached the heights he did in 86/87?
I doubt it, the infratructure wasn't in place for him to do it with.
I think Maguire etc would have improved us & probably more & quicker than Noble did if he had taken charge 2006, but he wouldn't have got us to where we are now in 1 season IMO.
The reason he has been able to do it (again IMO) is partly down to a lot of the infrastructure put in place 2007/08/09 that he has been able to reap the benefits of. Some of that were Noble's doing, a lot were IL's. Other things such as Marketting etc were in place pre both of them and believe it or not I think ML could deserve a hint of credit for employing them.
He still had a lot of work to do and possibly I think he may have slightly Over ahcieved were Noble Slightly under achieved given the merits of the playing squads etc available to both, Bearing in mind the Youth set-up & Back up was IMO far stronger when Noble Left and handed over to Maguire than What Noble inheritted from Millward & the 2 years previous to that.
Same applies with Lowe.
Would he have been able to turn the JPS winning team of 83 into WCC in 1 season with the players we had at that time?
IMO I don't think so.
The groundwork was done in the 3-4 seasons prior to his arrival with the continual improvement of the squad, recruitment, attendances etc that meant that a lot of what was needed was in place on arrival/
Again, Clarke/McCinness couldn't get us over that line, Lowe did (Spectacularly).
I know what you want everyone to believe Dave, I just don't agree.
I could draw similar parallels in Footbal with Ferguson at Man U, Cantona was the Spark, but if Ferguson hadn't completely overalled Man U in the Youth set up and Backroom departments and brought a totally different attitude to the club then Cantona's spark may not have happened.
If Ferguson had been sacked maybe someone else would have benefitted from his good work at a later stage?