John Still retires

[DevonDagger]

I think John Still will go down as our best manager in history for many a year to come.
We're now in a world where managers are sacked within months or leave so soon after small success - you only have to look at Harry Wheeler at Maidstone & Ricketts at Wrexham. Taylor was under pressure from some quarters here but thankfully the club opted not to come to the same conclusion or who knows whether our revival so far would have been so positive.

I was disappointed John left at the start of the season. I am by no means able to comment with certainty on his financial position but I anticipate he could have comfortably afforded to drop to the wage Peter Taylor is on and carried on with us. I know he wanted one last challenge before retirement, but to be frank there was no lack of challenge here - if anything I believe he'd have got greater credit for taking us to safety amid turmoil than getting Barnet into the playoffs or whatever.

If you are someone who refuses to accept his word over whether he's truly got Daggers at heart and is a supporter of the club, the fact is he's done this club a wonderful service over the years and should be applauded on that alone. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger didn't grow up fans of their respective clubs but are acknowledged and applauded because of the success they brought with them (well, on the most part for Wenger!)

He will get plaudits and recognition over the next few days which he richly deserves and I would personally show him the same appreciation. Some of the memories this club has given us whilst he was at the helm will last forever.

That said, I won't be changing my 5-0 prediction on the game, 3 points tomorrow is a must before anything else!

[RampantDuke]

I feel a bit sorry for the people who can't give due respect to John Still and all that he achieved at the club over the past 25 years. His second spell was exceptional and gave us some of the best memories of our lives. Moving jobs is a normal part of life and I'm always amazed that some find it hard to accept that football managers do the same. I understand that sometimes the 'Mr Dagenham' thing was a bit OTT but what would you rather? Some sour faced journeyman like Allardyce who has zero loyalty to any club? John Still's Dad was a regular at Dagenham who refused to watch his Bristol Rovers team in a big FA Cup game because we were at home. Of course he loves Dagenham and he always will, he also had the best times of his career with us. He left us in the summer because we couldn't afford to pay him his salary. I also wish he hadn't gone to Barnet, but that was his decision. I am not sure that his heart was really in that job anyway and maybe he wishes he had stuck around with us now. I accept that the way he behaved when he left us each time was poor but surely the worst of those occasions was when he left to go to Luton and threatened to relegate us if we didn't let him go for free, yet we all took him back with open arms in 2015. As it stands we all have a happy ending. I hope that when he comes back to the club during his retirement that he gets the welcome that someone who took this club well beyond it's level deserves.

[DI Mike Dashwood]

IF this is his retirement from management (and I say if as I am not sure it will last) then I hope John enjoys it, and I also pray it has not been brought about by any ill health or any other reasons like that.

42 years in management as a part time then full time manager is an amazing achievement. I remember fondly John's first spell with the Club as a young kid and that first season after the merger with goals and entertainment every week. But of course it is his second spell with us that will be the one we remember most. Days out and games at places we never dreamed we would go to for league games.

For me the way he left that time and last summer will always leave a sour taste in the mouth. Rampant Duke rightly says it was good to have someone who spoke about their passion for the club, but in my view it then looks a bit odd to jump ship twice in the way he did?? I feel in the last few years he had become a bit of a caricature of himself and a lower league impersonation of Harry Redknapp. In hindsight I feel the third spell with us was probably not a good thing for either party in some ways!!!

Winning three Conference titles will probably never be done again by a modern manager, and doing the first and third of these 25 years apart is even more unlikely to be matched, so he obviously knew his onions. I think his style and methods have been shown to be outdated in the last 3 or 4 years, but after 42 years as a manager I don't think that is surprising.

The two games I will remember most fondly from John's second spell with us were Oxford away in March 2007 and of course the Play Off Final in 2010 and I will think about them today just as we kick off and deliver, what is really still his Barnet team, an absolute thumping!!!

[bloke down the pub]

Shit trousers, too afraid his Barnet will get spanked tomorrow.
Good riddance hoofball.

NOB.

[BB-Dagger]

The mans record here speaks for itself but I’ve got mixed feelings about him, some great memories football wise but the manor in which he left for Luton sticks in the throat and then in the last close season when he left again saying he hadn’t got another job and the next morning announced as the new Barnet manager was all a bit shit, so although I’m a bit indifferent I do appreciate what he did here. But I really would like to give him a proper Daggers send off with a hammering today.

[stanton101]

Shit trousers, too afraid his Barnet will get spanked tomorrow.
Good riddance hoofball.

NOB.

Christ, it's woke up!

[Dagger Steve]

I honestly believe the club should consider naming one of the stands after him.

Cheers John.

[LondonDagger]

John Still should have a statue at the top of Victoria Rd, for what he has achieved for our club. Without him we probably wouldn't have a club. After Garry Hill left we were skint. Not only did he manage to keep us afloat in the Conference, two years later he took us up!!! He attracted players on peanuts in those years, who came to Dagenham because of him. None of the financial crisis of the last few years was down to him, yes , he took some of our players, but we needed to get them off the wage bill. Anyone who criticises him, re his style of football is entitled to their opinion, but his style kept us in the League2, look what happened when Wayne Burnett took over, for two years with John's team we stayed up, the moment he had to put his own team together and tried to play a different style we got relegated. You don't stay in the game as long as John has by being a poor manager. Also, he is a gentleman, he has my utmost respect.

Exactly what he wants you to think. The wage bill blah blah blah. Dont get me wrong the man is a legend and what he done for this club was phenomenal. However, by saying he is cancelling his contact to help us out, he knew he was going to Barnet and he knew that they would not pay for him. If he loved the club he would have made a club pay for him or take a pay cut. Legend but do not believe his lies. He has done it for years.

[SUSSEX DAGGER]

Good luck to the bloke he deserves respect here and will always be remembered for what he achieved here.

One thing that is very seldom pointed out when we hand out legend status is that he did not do it all by himself.

To my mind Terry Harris has played an equal part in the heights this Club has reached but never seems to get a mention in the same breath when plaudits were handed out.

It was not a coincidence that Boreham Wood had a great season last year when he was there and that John has struggled at Barnet.

To my mind both of these Men achieved great things here and should be applauded in equal measuers

[Mike the Dagger]

Anwar Uddinho's intrerview with the NLP

https://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.c ... of-an-era/

[Alan]

Good article - although my recollection is that we had agreed to sign Mackail Smith before Garry Hill left after CMS tore us a new one in the Trophy.

[Mike the Dagger]

Good article - although my recollection is that we had agreed to sign Mackail Smith before Garry Hill left after CMS tore us a new one in the Trophy.

Your recollection is incorrect according to some fans website (DiggerDagger,com): "The Daggers signed highly rated Arlesey Town winger Craig Mackail-Smith for an undisclosed fee during the Summer 2004. Craig terrorised the Daggers over two games in the FA Trophy 4th round in 2003/04 and was expected to be moving to Stevenage Borough during the close season. That he signed for the Daggers is another minor coup for John Still."

[mikew]

- this is non league. people shift about -i dont know many clubs who got paid compensation for pinching there manager not at this level. good luck JS in retirement.

[daggersjeff]

I honestly believe the club should consider naming one of the stands after him.

Cheers John.

We could name it The Judas Stand Admission to the highest bidders!

I'd rather see the Bury Road end named after Arnu!!

[CheathDagger]

Dagenham legend, should at least get a bar/suite/stand named after him.