Colchester United manager Aidy Boothroyd has refuted a received perception of him as a long-ball merchant as inaccurate, calling it an excuse invented by embittered losing opponents.
Following his arrival in Essex at last week`s press conference, Boothroyd said then he felt his reputation was not a put-down, instead a source of great pride, because the 38-year-old sees himself as aligned with a successful past with Watford.
Yesterday, speaking on BBC Radio Five Live during their regular Football League slot, he explained: “Somebody somewhere has lost an awful lot of money betting on me to be getting jobs! I`ve been tied down a little bit with the stigma of a long-ball merchant, that`s not perhaps helped. People sometimes don`t even see the games and put a label on a person without giving them the opportunity.”
Having dwelt on the issue throughout his sabbatical of almost a year, Boothroyd added that the job of a coach is to fashion a team which plays to its strengths, saying: “For me, a coach is somebody who goes into a place and sees what he can get at his disposal and what he can recruit and gets the best out of those guys. That`s what I thought I did and that`s what I think a lot of other managers do.
“They`re the ones that tend to win but of course when a little club wins, which plenty of people think isn`t supposed to happen, so you get comeuppance for that in a different way.”
Boothroyd also said he was slightly taken aback by how long it had taken to climb back onto the managerial merry-go-round, yet relieved in choosing what he had previously called “the right club at the right time.”
“I`d be lying if I said no, I wasn`t surprised. I thought being a manager that had gone okay, I`d be alright, wait a little while and then come straight back in,” he said.
The Yorkshireman continued: “I was a manager that had got Watford to the Premier League and then a play-off semi final and an F.A. Cup semi-final and made a few pounds for the team.”
“But it doesn`t work like that, not at all. In the end, I went in for one or two jobs, was very disappointed not to get them and I thought, well, okay, if football doesn`t work perhaps how it should, I still need to work.
“I`m 38, I love football and it was time for me to come back. Colchester presented itself as a great opportunity to do that.”
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Sorry to come in here guys! but this story about aidy being along ball merchant really makes my blood boil.And who ever write this nonesense in the first place really could not know what they are talking about! yeah there was times particularly in the premiership we did use the long ball,i aint going to deny that! but for any team coming up from the championship it’s got to be done on occasion’s. you only have to take stoke for example who deploy the long ball alot more than watford ever did,and yet you can not fault them for it cause it has got them to were they are now! like this article mention’s a team should play to the strengths,if its not pretty football who cares! if it’s going to get you the points i think most fans would take that. Before i mentioned, that the football watford played under aidy was some of the best i had seen at our club. Anyone who watched watford play under aidy could see we were an attack minded team,that caused many teams at championship level all kinds of problems! aidy’s first year king bagged 22goals darius henderson 14 goals ashley young 14goals matthew spring 8 goals watford were scoring goals from every position on the pitch! in the prem we had ago at most teams but lost our cutting edge with marlon being out for most of that season. the signings aidy made were terrific,but we was not quite good enough for it that year! we made the play-off the following season having lead the championship for along period again scoring more goals than most of our rivals. Aidy’s final season with watford he was unlucky i fill,that ghost goal against reading did not help much either,But even then i belived it was only a matter of time before aidy got us climbing the table again! the reason i say that is because we still scored more goals than every team in the championship via two sides wolves and reading at the time.So if that was long ball football im wayne rooney! I for one will always fight in aidy’s corner,and can honestly say that the u’s have nothing to worry about these bull #### stories of aidy being along ball merchant! i belive aidy will be loyal to your club as he did ours,and bid you farewell and the best for the future.
Don’t worry, Looney! I agree that it is a nonesense concerning whoever first invented the his long-ball tag. But it’s played into Colchester’s hands there because he hasn’t had other jobs… Thanks for coming on to our site and helping set the record right. Good luck for the season!
Yep, cheers for coming over. I’m glad to hear what you said! Up the U’s!
I dont like it when teams, like Stoke, say they are playing to their strengths. Okay, they may have some good headers of the ball, every team does, but its when they go around buying players who are all over 6ft and can play long ball that annoys me! Surely they’re not playing to their strengths if they’re buying players to fit the system time and time again….
… BOLTON!!!
I’m glad we got Aidy, he’s a no nonsense manager who takes no s***, and will soon get us back to our winning ways, and if anyone can get us in the championship, its him.
Agree all the way, Chip!