Laws takes his place in Iron history

The first time I really noticed Brian Laws was when he came to Glanford Park as a player with Darlington, shortly after being shown the door at Grimsby. His play was one of the single best displays I have ever seen at Glanford Park.

I had been vaguely aware that he had some refreshingly new methods for dealing with recalcitrant Italians but beyond that, I could recall him as a player but not much else.
As always, I was prepared to give the new man a chance and what I really liked about him was that he wore his heart on his sleeve and gave the impression that making The Mighty Iron successful was the single most important thing in his life.

To become our best ever manager, he really did not have a lot to beat.
I saw just a short spell of Freddie Goodwin and to be fair, his side was the best up to the present. Taking 4th slot in the old Div 3 was a feat.

We saw the atrocious Rooks and Bradley. Everybody's favourite as a total gent, Ron Ashman, did some good work on what were probably the lowest budgets ever seen in football but you always felt that as a manager he was really just a tremendous talent scout.

John Duncan, had he been allowed to develop may have gone on to become the best ever. Sniffer Clarke benefited from Duncan's work but never really seemed to grasp what was going on and did he care as much as many?. During the 70s it was more likely that you would see a team not trying than at any time in our history and this was not unknown at the end of the 60s and start of the 80s either.

Frank Barlow always seemed under-resourced and you felt that he could have done better with financial support. Bill Green was a man who cared, did good work and was, in my view, very unlucky to lose his job and Dave Moore was not without merit.

Richard Money arrived with big club attitudes. He believed he could develop a flexible squad which had the versatility to change tactics three times at the drop of a hat in the middle of a half. When you only had about seven decent players and a host of also rans at that time, it is clear that he was extremely naive. It does seem that he has learned lessons and I wish him well at Walsall.

Buxton, for all the hype was simply lamentable; so dreadful was his reputation, players categorically refused to sign for him - even when desperate.

No Laws did not have too much to beat. One positive was that a Laws team ALWAYS tried. I have seen enough teams with shirkers and Brian would simply not tolerate them. I am not sure that he was such a nice man but the term "Nice guys finish last" was far more important to me.
My best ever boss was somebody I disliked but respected. I have run a business with 24 staff and tough decisions must be taken. They can hurt but you are no sort of boss if you cannot make them. When you take those decisions, you live or die by them and you are guaranteed unpopularity. Sometimes you get it wrong and you are in the firing line.

I contend that he did not make too many bloopers and sometimes supporters come to decisions based on minimal knowledge.
"Why does he not pick X ?" - Has the critical supporter seen how X has performed in training? Does he know about an attitude problem which is obvious to the manager but concealed from the supporters?
Where has Laws gone wrong? The vast majority of signings have made perfect sense. The worst have been Johnson, Ormandroyd, Shakespeare and the worst - Bradshaw. These were all attempts to bring experience and all valid at the point of signing - it was after they began when the character faults surfaced.

Contrast this with hosts of signings which have been good to great. His successful percentage has been high.
Two promotions, cup runs, 3rd in League One at present and one relegation. The flirtation with relegation from League 2 a couple of years ago was purely a squad size issue - injuries as the key. The proof was that this team, with a little strengthening of the spine, went on to win promotion the next year.

His real strength has been in unearthing goalscorers year after incessant year. It was not always like this at Scunthorpe!
Many have criticised him over his use of subs but this is mere opinion and judgement calls.
This man was a good manager and capable of learning from his mistakes.
We are in a good position. I fully expect us now to dip and end up outside the playoffs.
After a poor first half in any game, it was rare that the team did not improve in the second half. Many are the players who have intimated to me that the half time dressing room is not a place to be after a moderate first half. Fear works.

Good luck Brian - [even though I live in a Blades part of Sheffield] I want to see you do well in the worst job in footie BUT if you do pull it round...........

Les Arnott.