Hound I still don’t know what to think about McD 2.0
Was disappointed he got the sack at the time despite the second half of that season being utterly miserable
Then obvs the play off season was a big bonus with Stam who did a fine job initially
But Stam season 2 and the terrible signings that followed genuinely did nearly bring the club to its knees (along with the most unentertaining dreadful football I’ve ever watched) whereas I’d expect McD would have given us a good foundation to compete in the champ.
I have no idea how Stam's first season happened. The club had been suffering from instability and poor recruitment for several years when we recruited him. Our squad didn't look that great, we took some huge away hammerings and seemed to grind out countless results which we could easily have lost. I would call it a freak event, except that you can't call it that given it happened over 46 games. Our attendances never matched previous successful seasons, and it was clearly because the football was dull.
In the main, I'd say you can't judge any manager from 2013-2019 too harshly. Sometimes clubs get deep rooted problems and poor cultures which managers can't overcome. I'm just glad that we avoided League 1.
I would say that Clement seemed an uninspiring journeyman and Stam was an arrogant, stubborn oxf*rd who at times took to blaming the fans. So overall I hold Adkins and McDermott 2.0 in higher esteem.