BBM - Cementhead

Cementhead was the name given to Warren Gatland by the egg chasers due to his complete and utter refusal to change the system he wanted to play when he was Wales rugby coach.

Outright refusal to consider any options/opinions other than his own. Backroom team leaving in droves. From well paid, hard to get jobs. Add in a couple of 'Yes, boss' men. Hi Lee!

This came at the expense of individual players - some frozen out, some picked in the wrong position, some persisted with until it destroyed them. The love child syndrome. Hi Gab!

It came at the expense of 2 years without a win. Crowds down, tickets being given away. Hi Ticket office - how are the ST's going?

It came at the expense of going from 4th in the world to outside the top 10.

Which brings us on to BBM.

We all known BBM is a Pep fan and models his gameplan entirely on Pepball.

But without the players Pep had what does BBM do when our players are clearly incapable of playing that way?

The midfield is non-existent, the defence fragile, the attack is ineffective. The bench is some pathetic exercise in childish point-scoring that does no favours to those on the bench, nor those omitted from it. Half the bench will not get on, half of the u21's are thinking 'what's the point?'

A normal person would have to adapt, adjust and cut their cloth accordingly. What does BBM do? Stick to Plan A and wait for the bounce. Refuse to bring in anyone who 'doesn't improve the squad' Hi, Ryan!


I've mentioned his stint at Leicester a few times - in their disasterous Premier League relegation. He was only the No.2 to van Nistelrooy, but he was the technical and tactical brains of the operation - brought in from Man City Academy to do just that job. You don't leave Man City to be the guy that puts the cones out.

In 6 months/18 games, they had 2 separate runs of 7 and 8 consecutive defeats. Two wins came after they were already relegated and against teams who were already safe. They repeated the same formation and tactics time and time again - other teams found it so easy to predict and counter what the were going to do. The easiest team in the League to play against. The softest touch. The game that took the least time to prepare for and the most effortless 3 points of the season.

That sort of season doesn't even end at the relegation - the players, the fans, the board all at each others throats. The Championship relegation last season was manufactured in the Prem relegation season. Go to the Leicester forums and ask 'What was BBM like?'

At Rochdale he led them to a League 1 relegation, with spells of 6, 7 and 9 games with out a win - this was pre Man City, so he was set in his ways early.

Now re-read all of this post again and replace Gatland/Wales/Leicester/Rochdale with BBM and Cardiff City.

That's where we are heading - 5 games in - but the writing is on the wall.

Could still save this season, but not with BBM.

He's got to go.

Didnt take long, did it?

Didnt take long, did it?

He's not wrong with what hes posted though is he. Regardless of whether BBM was backed or NOT he does appear completely out of his depth now and the 2 goalkeeper thing is pathetic and petulant. His honeymoon is over and he needs to get a win quickly.

I have to agree with a lot of this as BBM has had NO Experience at all with the Championship and I’m tons he is very very Stubborn and won’t back down.

The Championship is such a high standard to league 1 / Division 3

That will be his downfall sadly if he does not change the system and tactics I said the same last season although we got away with many games playing the same way. This season is a different level with the same squad bar two players let's be honest and we are nowhere near replacing wintle because we are open in the middle more than a Gurnos girls gash or kellyman who would skin players cut in and score. You cant replace that with what was here sadly.

I felt if we had 3 or 4 more better players who can change games then the system he uses may have worked but we don't yet so httae that but it's the route the club have gone down and we just take it like fans have to

We’ve played games this season where if little errors were closed out we’d win the games, so it’s extremely early to be ringing the alarm bells

Gatland did the worst thing possible by giving fans hope. We actually believed we could win the World Cup, whereas now simply getting out of the group stages is the best we can hope for. He took a limited group, drilled them to maximize their talent, and were it not for Sam Warburton's moment of madness, we might have reached the final. Like Stoke fans in the Premier League, some thought we should move on and play a 'modern' style. See you Tuesday boys

Leicester have faced all sorts of structural issues that landed them in a similar position to us but in League One, yet he previously guided Rochdale to unprecedented league positions. In short, his only crime was overachieving, leading fans to mistake a temporary peak for the baseline.

My view on Brian Barry-Murphy hasn't really changed since Christmas. He is an elite developer of players, but his game plans and game management aren't at that same level—which I think is fine for where we are as a club right now.
We haven't recruited enough proven Championship players, but I'm hoping last season's squad can step up as the year progresses. It’s a naive, young team with a relatively untested head coach.

I won't be calling for his removal even if we are relegated. He has far more to lose than I do, but it leaves an open question: is he strictly a development coach, or can he lead an established Championship club?

Last edited by llan bluebird on Sun Sep 06, 2026 9:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

Cementhead was the name given to Warren Gatland by the egg chasers due to his complete and utter refusal to change the system he wanted to play when he was Wales rugby coach.

Outright refusal to consider any options/opinions other than his own. Backroom team leaving in droves. From well paid, hard to get jobs. Add in a couple of 'Yes, boss' men. Hi Lee!

This came at the expense of individual players - some frozen out, some picked in the wrong position, some persisted with until it destroyed them. The love child syndrome. Hi Gab!

It came at the expense of 2 years without a win. Crowds down, tickets being given away. Hi Ticket office - how are the ST's going?

It came at the expense of going from 4th in the world to outside the top 10.

Which brings us on to BBM.

We all known BBM is a Pep fan and models his gameplan entirely on Pepball.

But without the players Pep had what does BBM do when our players are clearly incapable of playing that way?

The midfield is non-existent, the defence fragile, the attack is ineffective. The bench is some pathetic exercise in childish point-scoring that does no favours to those on the bench, nor those omitted from it. Half the bench will not get on, half of the u21's are thinking 'what's the point?'

A normal person would have to adapt, adjust and cut their cloth accordingly. What does BBM do? Stick to Plan A and wait for the bounce. Refuse to bring in anyone who 'doesn't improve the squad' Hi, Ryan!


I've mentioned his stint at Leicester a few times - in their disasterous Premier League relegation. He was only the No.2 to van Nistelrooy, but he was the technical and tactical brains of the operation - brought in from Man City Academy to do just that job. You don't leave Man City to be the guy that puts the cones out.

In 6 months/18 games, they had 2 separate runs of 7 and 8 consecutive defeats. Two wins came after they were already relegated and against teams who were already safe. They repeated the same formation and tactics time and time again - other teams found it so easy to predict and counter what the were going to do. The easiest team in the League to play against. The softest touch. The game that took the least time to prepare for and the most effortless 3 points of the season.

That sort of season doesn't even end at the relegation - the players, the fans, the board all at each others throats. The Championship relegation last season was manufactured in the Prem relegation season. Go to the Leicester forums and ask 'What was BBM like?'

At Rochdale he led them to a League 1 relegation, with spells of 6, 7 and 9 games with out a win - this was pre Man City, so he was set in his ways early.

Now re-read all of this post again and replace Gatland/Wales/Leicester/Rochdale with BBM and Cardiff City.

That's where we are heading - 5 games in - but the writing is on the wall.

Could still save this season, but not with BBM.

He's got to go.

Have to say mate this is a very well written post, people won’t like it because everyone including myself brought in to him last season. But this was my main worry with him no track record unproven at championship level. He had it easy last year Riza would have got us back up. He needs to show he has the ability to adapt. His biggest trick he pulled to win credit with us fans was to make Rubin captain, that won’t carry him much more favour.

Now is the time for him to show how good he really is.

5 games in boys wrexham have only one once and they are world beaters people calling for Murphys head we had chances to win every game we being in so far hence a make shift defense yes he made a rod for his own back saying the board has backed him with transfers but do u honestly think thats true they made or tried to make us belive we were in for a 8million pound bid for Norway boy but do u belive that we were going to get him SMoKE SCREEN THATS WHAT THAT WAS

There's no way bbm should be sacked , yes were going through a rough patch yes hes not perfect but in the championship games are defined by tiny margins which at the moment are not going our way

If ng,s shot is a few inches lower we beat sheffield utd , if tanners scores the sitter he missed yesterday its 1-1 yet he fluffs it and 20 seconds later we are 2-0 down

Im confident bbm will turn this around although i agree he needs to earn his money and adapt his tactics when needed but weve shown we can compete at this level , everyone was happy with the sheffield united performance

The club cant keep having knee jerk reactions every time we go through a rough patch its the reason we ended up in league 1

It takes more than 1 season to change the philosophy of a football club , weve gone from a club renowned for over paying for journey men mercenarys playing hoofball, to a club trying to play football utilizing the academy , it takes time rome wasnt built in a day keep the faith

I 100% support BBM, we just lack quality in the cf and wing positions. We had the chances and the build up play was ok just weren't clinical with the end product the final ball or shot.
If we signed a good cf, decent wingers and a rb we'd be top half. Defence should improve when our players return.
The big question is why didn't we? The players we currently have probably think the same also and it effects them.
The tactics are ok, the big mistake is clear. We all knew what we needed but we didn't get it. My opinion.

Didnt take long, did it?

He's not wrong with what hes posted though is he. Regardless of whether BBM was backed or NOT he does appear completely out of his depth now and the 2 goalkeeper thing is pathetic and petulant. His honeymoon is over and he needs to get a win quickly.

He is wrong. When Gatland left wales were six nations champions. His coaching maximised the resources wales had which is limited vs the amount of players. He came back and got an awful team to the quarter finals smashing Australia. Sadly the lack of depth just told in the end.

Anyway, BBM did the same with Cardiff last year. We have lost two away games v established championship teams. Our first three games we didn’t lose. At least one of them we should have won.

Joke post.

Have some fooking patience.

I think ,injuries and a few off the boil(Salech Ruben) are affecting us big time.Im expecting a reaction big time Tuesday and even more as we roll into the the international break.

There's many good comments on this thread but it all comes down to the pathetic transfer window we've just gone through, we are 3-4 championship quality players short and i'm led to believe it's a mixture of BBM's stubbonness of certain players and del boy Choo lack of knowledge needed to bring in the right players. Hence where we are, a manager putting 2 keepers on the bench and a squad which will be cut adrift come January if nobody else is brought in who is out of contract, worrying times ahead.

Cementhead was the name given to Warren Gatland by the egg chasers due to his complete and utter refusal to change the system he wanted to play when he was Wales rugby coach.

Outright refusal to consider any options/opinions other than his own. Backroom team leaving in droves. From well paid, hard to get jobs. Add in a couple of 'Yes, boss' men. Hi Lee!

This came at the expense of individual players - some frozen out, some picked in the wrong position, some persisted with until it destroyed them. The love child syndrome. Hi Gab!

It came at the expense of 2 years without a win. Crowds down, tickets being given away. Hi Ticket office - how are the ST's going?

It came at the expense of going from 4th in the world to outside the top 10.

Which brings us on to BBM.

We all known BBM is a Pep fan and models his gameplan entirely on Pepball.

But without the players Pep had what does BBM do when our players are clearly incapable of playing that way?

The midfield is non-existent, the defence fragile, the attack is ineffective. The bench is some pathetic exercise in childish point-scoring that does no favours to those on the bench, nor those omitted from it. Half the bench will not get on, half of the u21's are thinking 'what's the point?'

A normal person would have to adapt, adjust and cut their cloth accordingly. What does BBM do? Stick to Plan A and wait for the bounce. Refuse to bring in anyone who 'doesn't improve the squad' Hi, Ryan!


I've mentioned his stint at Leicester a few times - in their disasterous Premier League relegation. He was only the No.2 to van Nistelrooy, but he was the technical and tactical brains of the operation - brought in from Man City Academy to do just that job. You don't leave Man City to be the guy that puts the cones out.

In 6 months/18 games, they had 2 separate runs of 7 and 8 consecutive defeats. Two wins came after they were already relegated and against teams who were already safe. They repeated the same formation and tactics time and time again - other teams found it so easy to predict and counter what the were going to do. The easiest team in the League to play against. The softest touch. The game that took the least time to prepare for and the most effortless 3 points of the season.

That sort of season doesn't even end at the relegation - the players, the fans, the board all at each others throats. The Championship relegation last season was manufactured in the Prem relegation season. Go to the Leicester forums and ask 'What was BBM like?'

At Rochdale he led them to a League 1 relegation, with spells of 6, 7 and 9 games with out a win - this was pre Man City, so he was set in his ways early.

Now re-read all of this post again and replace Gatland/Wales/Leicester/Rochdale with BBM and Cardiff City.

That's where we are heading - 5 games in - but the writing is on the wall.

Could still save this season, but not with BBM.

He's got to go.

Have to say mate this is a very well written post, people won’t like it because everyone including myself brought in to him last season. But this was my main worry with him no track record unproven at championship level. He had it easy last year Riza would have got us back up. He needs to show he has the ability to adapt. His biggest trick he pulled to win credit with us fans was to make Rubin captain, that won’t carry him much more favour.

Now is the time for him to show how good he really is.

I'm sorry no, fickle in the extreme. He's not Warren Gatland, he wasn't in charge at Leicester it's easy to blame all their problems on the assistant manager, is it his fault they are in league one now as well or perhaps does it point to bigger issues at that club? Rochdale I was under the impression that he did a pretty good job they were heavy favourites to go down and avoided the drop the first year. Stubborn is not changing when it's clear something isn't working, everyone was happy before Wednesday give the guy a chance

Didnt take long, did it?

Not long at all. Some people have been waiting for a bad run; they went for him on the last one and said we wouldn't be promoted. They were well wrong; when the players came back from injury, we pissed it.

Cementhead was the name given to Warren Gatland by the egg chasers due to his complete and utter refusal to change the system he wanted to play when he was Wales rugby coach.

Outright refusal to consider any options/opinions other than his own. Backroom team leaving in droves. From well paid, hard to get jobs. Add in a couple of 'Yes, boss' men. Hi Lee!

This came at the expense of individual players - some frozen out, some picked in the wrong position, some persisted with until it destroyed them. The love child syndrome. Hi Gab!

It came at the expense of 2 years without a win. Crowds down, tickets being given away. Hi Ticket office - how are the ST's going?

It came at the expense of going from 4th in the world to outside the top 10.

Which brings us on to BBM.

We all known BBM is a Pep fan and models his gameplan entirely on Pepball.

But without the players Pep had what does BBM do when our players are clearly incapable of playing that way?

The midfield is non-existent, the defence fragile, the attack is ineffective. The bench is some pathetic exercise in childish point-scoring that does no favours to those on the bench, nor those omitted from it. Half the bench will not get on, half of the u21's are thinking 'what's the point?'

A normal person would have to adapt, adjust and cut their cloth accordingly. What does BBM do? Stick to Plan A and wait for the bounce. Refuse to bring in anyone who 'doesn't improve the squad' Hi, Ryan!


I've mentioned his stint at Leicester a few times - in their disasterous Premier League relegation. He was only the No.2 to van Nistelrooy, but he was the technical and tactical brains of the operation - brought in from Man City Academy to do just that job. You don't leave Man City to be the guy that puts the cones out.

In 6 months/18 games, they had 2 separate runs of 7 and 8 consecutive defeats. Two wins came after they were already relegated and against teams who were already safe. They repeated the same formation and tactics time and time again - other teams found it so easy to predict and counter what the were going to do. The easiest team in the League to play against. The softest touch. The game that took the least time to prepare for and the most effortless 3 points of the season.

That sort of season doesn't even end at the relegation - the players, the fans, the board all at each others throats. The Championship relegation last season was manufactured in the Prem relegation season. Go to the Leicester forums and ask 'What was BBM like?'

At Rochdale he led them to a League 1 relegation, with spells of 6, 7 and 9 games with out a win - this was pre Man City, so he was set in his ways early.

Now re-read all of this post again and replace Gatland/Wales/Leicester/Rochdale with BBM and Cardiff City.

That's where we are heading - 5 games in - but the writing is on the wall.

Could still save this season, but not with BBM.

He's got to go.

You could get Fergie, Pep and Klopp in as a Management team; they would struggle with the three best central defenders out in an already weak young newly promoted squad.

Rotherham stint being brought back up

Promotion season completely written off To be fair, it was white knuckle ride of a 90+ point season on this forum last year.

Im not suprised it turned.

I think he deserves more time to get it right but the problem is he doesn't have many options at the moment

He shouldn't have taken the blame for the transfer window

By doing that he's put himself under more pressure

But we can't just forget what he's done for us because of 2 defeats

If he was backed and got in a few players with championship experience i doubt this thread would even exist right now

We can't trust these clowns to get a decent manager to replace him

If he goes we will just have another unproven manager and could find ourselves in league one for a long time

Rotherham stint being brought back up

Promotion season completely written off To be fair, it was white knuckle ride of a 90+ point season on this forum last year.

Im not suprised it turned.

No ones mentioned Rotherham, he hasn’t ever been connected with them so not sure where you’re getting your facts from.

Rotherham stint being brought back up

Promotion season completely written off To be fair, it was white knuckle ride of a 90+ point season on this forum last year.

Im not suprised it turned.

No ones mentioned Rotherham, he hasn’t ever been connected with them so not sure where you’re getting your facts from.

Rochdale not Rotherham

Didnt take long, did it?

And the author didn’t surprise me either!

Nothing but mainly unfounded/unsubstantiated negativity towards the club/coach since his sudden proliferation of posts in recent weeks

I may not be right 100% of the time, but I know this Forum well enough to have a pretty good idea when someone is being deliberate, and this ‘Nissan Bluebird’ (I actually understand/appreciate the name) is one!

I 100% support BBM, we just lack quality in the cf and wing positions. We had the chances and the build up play was ok just weren't clinical with the end product the final ball or shot.
If we signed a good cf, decent wingers and a rb we'd be top half. Defence should improve when our players return.
The big question is why didn't we? The players we currently have probably think the same also and it effects them.
The tactics are ok, the big mistake is clear. We all knew what we needed but we didn't get it. My opinion.

I'm with you royalblue, he's got my support, just wish he'd bought in those few extra players - the striker position especially. Salech didn't exactly set the world alight in league 1 and it's gonna be so much harder for him this year. BBM barely started Robinson (even when Salech was out for months)...yet we've only got those 2 to call upon. Just no logic in that whatsoever. Yeah just no words really. I won't even go there with the whole Wintle thing.

Fingers crossed we get some points over the next 7 days.

If you are talking rugby ,
South Africa play one way only and if plan A doesn’t work then revert to plan B
Which is plan A but quicker and more aggressive.

Didnt take long, did it?

And the author didn’t surprise me either!

Nothing but mainly unfounded/unsubstantiated negativity towards the club/coach since his sudden proliferation of posts in recent weeks

I may not be right 100% of the time, but I know this Forum well enough to have a pretty good idea when someone is being deliberate, and this ‘Nissan Bluebird’ (I actually understand/appreciate the name) is one!

I’m intrigued on the Nissan significance. I just thought he owned one

If you are talking rugby ,
South Africa play one way only and if plan A doesn’t work then revert to plan B
Which is plan A but quicker and more aggressive.

Actually if bbm used that system we'll do ok because its plan B but faster that we are most effective! I keep saying we are to pedestrian going forward ... Sheffield we saw the quicker version and we destroyed them but like other games fail to convert chances

Didnt take long, did it?

And the author didn’t surprise me either!

Nothing but mainly unfounded/unsubstantiated negativity towards the club/coach since his sudden proliferation of posts in recent weeks

I may not be right 100% of the time, but I know this Forum well enough to have a pretty good idea when someone is being deliberate, and this ‘Nissan Bluebird’ (I actually understand/appreciate the name) is one!

I’m intrigued on the Nissan significance. I just thought he owned one

It was a model (of Nissan) back in the day; and a decent car, to be fair!

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Didnt take long, did it?

And the author didn’t surprise me either!

Nothing but mainly unfounded/unsubstantiated negativity towards the club/coach since his sudden proliferation of posts in recent weeks

I may not be right 100% of the time, but I know this Forum well enough to have a pretty good idea when someone is being deliberate, and this ‘Nissan Bluebird’ (I actually understand/appreciate the name) is one!

I’m intrigued on the Nissan significance. I just thought he owned one

It was a model (of Nissan) back in the day; and a decent car, to be fair!

OMG. I can’t believe I didn t make the connection.
Of course it was. Doh.

Didnt take long, did it?

And the author didn’t surprise me either!

Nothing but mainly unfounded/unsubstantiated negativity towards the club/coach since his sudden proliferation of posts in recent weeks

I may not be right 100% of the time, but I know this Forum well enough to have a pretty good idea when someone is being deliberate, and this ‘Nissan Bluebird’ (I actually understand/appreciate the name) is one!

I’m intrigued on the Nissan significance. I just thought he owned one

It was a model (of Nissan) back in the day; and a decent car, to be fair!

OMG. I can’t believe I didn t make the connection.
Of course it was. Doh.

Didnt take long, did it?

And the author didn’t surprise me either!

Nothing but mainly unfounded/unsubstantiated negativity towards the club/coach since his sudden proliferation of posts in recent weeks

I may not be right 100% of the time, but I know this Forum well enough to have a pretty good idea when someone is being deliberate, and this ‘Nissan Bluebird’ (I actually understand/appreciate the name) is one!

I’m intrigued on the Nissan significance. I just thought he owned one

It was a model (of Nissan) back in the day; and a decent car, to be fair!

OMG. I can’t believe I didn t make the connection.
Of course it was. Doh.

Yep - tho old man had one in the 80's and the first car I drove after passing the test.