Mike Phelan leaves

[Chris Brown]

Hear that Mike Phelan has left Norwich. #ncfc #mufc

— richard askam (@richaskam)

January 20, 2015

 

[Suffolk Canary]

Now confirmed on club website

 

[Suffolk Canary]

The situation behind the scenes this season has been nothing short of an embarrassment.  THREE coaches leaving in half a season.   Surely McNally and the rest of the 'football board' is responsible for this mess?

 

[kirku]

Both Royle and Phelan's appointments have been shambolic. Personally, I think a manager of Alex's inexperience would have really benefited from Phelan's presence. 

 

[Suffolk Canary]

So we've now had:

Neil Adams

Mark Robson

Joe Royle

Mike Phelan

 get new jobs at the club at the start of the season, and all leave by January.  Fantastic

 

[eatonparkboy]

It did seem unlikely, with McAvoy about to don his tracksuit, that we would require either Phelan or Holt. I guess Phelan would have felt a little uncomfortable at that set up and did what somebody in his, no doubt comfortable, position in life.

It is such a shame that we are a professional club with a very amateur board. In fact, I get a bit fed up hearing what a gift we have in McNally. He was successful with Lambert, and that was the reason we are debt free as well, but he hasn't illustrated to many people since that he is in any way, a great CEO.

 

[Personal Trainer]

Wants to work with Steve Bruce I should think!

Any one who listens to Wake Up To Money on R5L will realise that modern CEO's become "all-powerful" and ignore past experiences, think Morrisons, Tesco et al. All only concerned with the bottom line.

 

[Dandy Mountfarto]

To be fair its nothing out of the ordinary for a new manager to coincide with the old coaching staff leaving. It just seems more shambolic than usual because we'd only appointed the old ones recently.

 

[Yellow Fever]

No, not a surprise, but a disappointment all the same. What with this and Olsson asking to leave, there's some cause for concern about the new set-up. I hope I'm wrong, but I find it hard to see us getting any more than the play-offs now. Huge amount of experience and influence lost. Like I say, I hope I'm wrong, but much as Neil has impressed me so far, the new management team seems to lack experience of the English leagues and the ability to attract players to the club. 

 

[Canaryboy]

Potentially costing us a fortune to pay off Matty Robson, then pay off Mike Phelan, then appoint (presumably) Alex Neil's former Assistant at Hamilton, which will require compensation. All in the space of a couple of months. Unless we've done a good job with contracts. 

Not surprised that Phelan has departed though, it is likely that he applied for the job and was probably a bit put out when Alex Neil took control of the Bournemouth game in the 69th minute and took all the credit for that win. 

 

[Yellow Fever]

It seems that Phelan asked to leave, so there shouldn't be a big pay-off. 

Interesting that McAvoy moved up from youth team coach to become Neil's assistant at Hamilton. It's a bit strange that he hasn't got a Wiki page. What was he like as a player?

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

This is diasppointing, but cant say Im surprised. As exciting as the idea of Alex Neil is, this kind of thing is the fall-out. Being overlooked for someone who is still really a rookie with no club links and no real playing pedigree is bound to hurt. we know Phelan wanted the job, the situation he found himself in must have been pretty embarrassing for him. When you've worked with the greatest, why would you play second fiddle to a newb?

He probably took the job as he thought he might be a shoe-in for the job if Adams left.

I think losing someone of Phelan's experience is a big blow. Did he last longer than Joe Royle?

 

[Salopian]

I am not surprised, and it may be for the best since Neil is here and his side-kick will arrive in a couple of weeks. Once Neil and McAvoy were appointed, Phelan was obviously going to suffer something of a demotion, and there were too many coaches, - surely a prescription for  confusion and even opposing sides.

With Garry Holt, it means we shall have three Scots, and this may be cohesive, even if we have pinned our success even more on Neil.

 

[CanaryNath]

I had a phelan this might happen

 

[Yellow Fever]

I am not surprised, and it may be for the best since Neil is here and his side-kick will arrive in a couple of weeks. Once Neil and McAvoy were appointed, Phelan was obviously going to suffer something of a demotion, and there were too many coaches, - surely a prescription for  confusion and even opposing sides.

With Garry Holt, it means we shall have three Scots, and this may be cohesive, even if we have pinned our success even more on Neil.

That hope seems even more vulnerable now. Lambert had Culverhouse, but I can't find out anything about McAvoy except that he was the youth team coach at Hamilton before becoming Neil's assistant. I wonder what the players think.

 

[SussexYellow]

Just picked up this news. OK not a huge surprise, but bubble burst for me after the last couple of results. Mike Phelan provided a huge reservoir of experience that would have been invaluable. Probably naive of me but I had hoped he might have remained committed to the cause, but I guess he really wanted the managers job and not getting it would be a huge blow. 

 

[Yellow Fever]

At least Bournemouth lost at Leeds tonight.

 

[Beauseant]

Manna from heaven for the conspiracy theorists and McNally haters, but hardly surprising in reality. Neil has worked beside McAvoy as a player and manager for a number of years and clearly trusts him. Why would he not want someone like that beside him rather than a grumpy stranger whose nose had been put out of joint (or further out of joint given that he's displayed a face like a bulldog licking *bleep* off a nettle since he arrived - has everyone forgotten that he spent the home defeat to Reading sitting with his arms folded in the dugout? Hardly an inspiring presence.)

Phelan's body language has been pretty negative since he arrived and it's quite clear that Neil is not only very much his own man but also looks to generate a feeling of positivity about the place, so there was incompatability there.

It's also ridiculous to compare this with Royle. Royle was never going to move to Norwich or be actively involved in games, just provide advice when needed. He's an Everton legend and lives in Liverpool so was never going to say no when they called.

 

[Din]

Like most I'm not too surprised. I think it's quite obvious that the main reason Phelan took the job as assistant in the first place is because he knew Adams was on rocky ground, and that if he was to be sacked he would have a good chance at getting the perminant managers spot. Obviously though he hasn't been appointed, so he knows he now has no real chance of becoming a manager here, hence why he's left. It's a shame because we've undoubtedly improved since he's been here, just gotta hope that Neil now knows what he's doing.