12-16-2020, 09:53 AM
(12-16-2020, 09:29 AM)Derek Hardballs Wrote:(12-16-2020, 08:50 AM)Ted Maul Wrote:(12-16-2020, 08:42 AM)Derek Hardballs Wrote:(12-16-2020, 08:18 AM)Ted Maul Wrote: Howe is the best option out there. He would be mad to take a job like ours until the end of the season, what does he want another relegation on his CV for.
Clubs like ourselves are afforded the luxury of building a squad if the correct decisions are made at the right time. We have been getting the key decisions wrong pretty much since Hodgson left. What we end up with is a 3-4 year cycle where we have to keep appointing Allardyce/Pulis firefighters to come in and try to stop the rot. Not parting ways with Pulis after the season we finished 10th was absolutely criminal, that was our big chance and we probably wont get another one for a long while the way the finances are stacked against us.
I don’t see any club like ourselves that is in control of building a squad over a number of years. More affluent clubs will unsettle and buy our best players, take our best young players for a pittance and poach any successful manager we have. We shall until / if we find a owner willing to plough in millions / billions into the club be at the mercy of circumstance. There are imo no long term projects at first team level whilst football is all about finance.
Southampton managed it under Koeman and the signs are there again under Hassenhutl. Making the right appointments and buying/selling well in the transfer market. We on the other hand have Luke Dowling.
Losing players to clubs higher up the food chain isn't a new thing. In the days of Ashworth when we had a proper scouting network we signed good replacements. The only criticism you can level at that regime is that they arguably didn't generate enough revenue from selling at the right time.
The season before we were relegated we had the ideal opportunity to remove Pulis and bring someone in who we were willing to give some time and cash to, we were established in the PL and hadn't been near relegation for three/four seasons. Instead we chose to continue treading water and now we're surprised that clubs have overtaken us and we're sinking again.
We were a shambles before Pulis came in. Let’s look at the players we signed under our ‘system’ that fell apart as soon as Ashworth left... Blanco, Samaras, Ideye, Gamboa, Davidson I’m sure there were a couple more but equally poor signings. Or the appointments of AI and Mel etc. We got it right for maybe four seasons (when Ashworth was at the club) in a league where the top six were miles ahead in terms of finances from the rest. Now you can’t move for Billionaires spending money. If we find owners like Fosun then yea we can look to long term solutions but haven’t got that.
We're a shambles now and that's why names like Allardyce are being linked.