Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Chris Jameson on December 01, 2015, 11:01:27 AM
-
From www.football365.com
Hello F365,
Now, I’m not often compelled to write in to the site. I absolutely love all the articles on here and it’s generally my ‘go to’ place for news and such.
I had to change this though, when my little town of Fleetwood has been getting so much press lately. Throw in the scouting and grassroots business and I was already typing your email address into my Gmail account before I knew what was happening.
Anyway, I live in Fleetwood. I have completed the level two PFSA Scouting course in Manchester, and I’m a grassroots coach with Fleetwood Town Juniors and the club secretary. Guess who we see every time we hold a tournament or play a match? Scouts. Scouts everywhere. We’ve had United down, Everton and Liverpool. In fact, the Liverpool scouts and coaches regularly come and put sessions on for our U7’s. Now, I’m not a Liverpool fan (United, actually) but they’re more than aware of what’s going on in the region and it’s brilliant to see. Everton even invited those same U7’s down to their Finch Farm training complex, and you’ve honestly never seen a happier bunch of kids. Premier League clubs aren’t blind, their just sensible. At times…
Anyway, we’ve got a cracking relationship with the official club, but that’s beside the point. My point is this out and out nonsense from Tim Sherwood about Scouts not tramping all around the country to view young talent. About how they’d hate going to somewhere like Fleetwood on a cold, wet night in November (it’s been horribly cold, wet and windy here lately. It always is, but that doesn’t stop people coming. Usually it’s the smell.) Words spill out of his mouth like a drunk man that’s eaten one too many nasty looking kebabs. It’s utter rubbish.
When Jamie Vardy used to play for Fleetwood, there were dozens of Scouts at the ground watching as he banged in goal after goal in a truly amazing season. He’s always been a goalscorer and he’s still remembered very fondly by everyone in the town and at the club. Every time he’s scored recently, the announcers at Highbury…well…announce it. He’s still an awful person for his remarks in pre-season, but like the national media, most people tend to gloss over that part. Which they shouldn’t do. The only reason he went to Leicester, is because they were the only one’s willing to pay a million quid for him. The club rejected loads of offers, but none of them had the incentives that Leicester’s did.
Now, Timmy ‘lad lad, banter banter arf arf’ Sherwood properly annoys the life out of me. I was delighted when he got sacked from Villa, because I firmly believe he is a truly awful football manager, as well as a genuinely bitter person. I can just imagine him and old ‘arry Redknapp, sitting around a roaring fire, lamenting about how their hard done by, and all the foreigners are ruining the game. It honestly makes me warm inside to know that both of them are out of jobs. It’s great. His knowledge on scouting is about as equal as his knowledge on the game. Even regarding using technology. I spent one long, weary (but quite enlightening day) in the company of scouts from all around the Fylde and Lancashire, and they all said that technology was welcome and that it made their lives and jobs easier. Gone are the days of turning up to a match and just praying that it’s not been called off due to bad weather. Now, they can easily check online. They can send an e-mail or a text. Technology will never replace those ‘foot soldiers’ but it will sure as hell make their lives easier.
So, regardless of what Tim says, they’re not afraid to come here to Fleetwood. In fact, we’d not only give them a cup of tea, we’d probably treat them to a cracking Chippy Tea from one of the 40,000 chippies around the town.
Not Sherwood though, he can get tae f***.
Kind Regards
Chris Morton, Fleetwood Town Juniors Secretary
-
This is my new favourite footy article on the whole internet!!
-
At last. The Gospel According to St Timothy is exposed as apostasy.
-
That's a very funny and very revealing article. Excellent.
-
There's a few choice lines in there, but I think
Words spill out of his mouth like a drunk man that’s eaten one too many nasty looking kebabs.
might just be the pick of the bunch.
-
There's a few choice lines in there, but I think
Words spill out of his mouth like a drunk man that’s eaten one too many nasty looking kebabs.
might just be the pick of the bunch.
I've nicked that and it's now on a boat to Canada. Will be using it where possible.
-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/12023626/Tim-Sherwood-Its-not-seen-as-sexy-to-sign-players-from-lower-leagues.html
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
-
How about those that did/do both?
-
That is very true, at least in my case Hoppo. Many of us liked him and his brash and breezy style that seemed to transform us.
We came crashing to earth when it became apparent that beneath the brash cocky exterior was precisely nothing else. Nothing. It was like marrying a pageant queen who beneath the Lycra playsuit was an Ann Summers blow up doll.
To make matters even worse he refused to accept any responsibility for catastrophes caused by his own incompetence and left us after throwing his team under the bus.
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
How is that a fact?
-
It was like marrying a pageant queen who beneath the Lycra playsuit was an Ann Summers blow up doll.
A late contender for Simile of the Year.
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
What is your sample size and how frequently do you have to gone to be included?
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
So most supporters liked the throwing players under the bus to protect his own reputation?
Or the Lambertesque run of results from Southampton last year?
Or the utterly bizarre substitutions that fans, either in the ground or watching on dodgy streams / legit TV could see were disasters in waiting and tell you why, to be proven right within a few minutes of said substitutions?
Or the mind boggling starting line-ups that were disasters in waiting etc.
Or the utter bollocks of his "we were deliberately shit" explanation of the first half against that lot?
Because frankly I find it hard to believe that anyone who actually thinks about the game would find any of the above anything other than insulting, let alone all of it put together.
Fair play to him for keeping us up last year, but he very quickly proved himself to be way out of his depth and a bottom feeder more concerned about managing the image of "Brand Timmy" than anything else.
On a footballing level he made Lambert look good in the end, but hey he was a bit chipper and bullish in interviews if you don't mind the smell of cheesy bollocks so he was alright?
-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/12023626/Tim-Sherwood-Its-not-seen-as-sexy-to-sign-players-from-lower-leagues.html
He really should engage both brain cells before opening his cavernous gob.
If there's one top flight club that's given lower league players a chance over the last 4 years it's been us.
How can I say this politely? I can't so just "shit the f##k up"
-
Sherwood made mistakes but so has Garde. I honestly don't think Uri Gela would have much chance of saving us this season, not with the lack of investment in the team. You lose your top 3 players from the end of last season.
Sherwood was not a bad manger you do sometimes need some tools to do the job.
-
Sherwood was not a bad manger you do sometimes need some tools to do the job.
He was certainly a tool.
-
I find it hard to get worked up about ex managers any more.
-
I find it hard to get worked up about ex managers any more.
Now I am 44 there are so many of them. It's exhausting
-
I find it hard to get worked up about ex managers any more.
Now I am 44 there are so many of them. It's exhausting
You could be 4 and there would still be plenty of them.
-
In fairness to Sherwood, he said all the right things about the club in that interview.
-
There is a least a semblance of truth in Hoppo's proposition, in my experience.
Sections of our support have come to the view that the manager is not the major problem.
For example, in the Holte End, for Sherwood's last match, there were no anti Sherwood songs, but there were anti-Lerner songs. These were not "taken up" by the majority, and indeed there was some audible groaning, but several attempts were made.
Where I sit in the Upper Witton, quite a few fans have come to the conclusion that that changing he manager will not change much. This was most infuriating for me under the latter days of TSM1 and TSM2. I called them The Stoics because of their acceptance of he situation. They would reply that they would like to get rid of the owner, but they couldn't, so what was the point as any manager would face the same problems.
I was in favour of getting Fat Sam before Sunderland got him, purely because I think he would have kept us up. This is not to say I do not agree with the criticisms stacked against him. I just thought he was the one person who could get it done. If he saves Sunderland and we go down, when you consider that virtually everyone that has posted on the subject has said that their squad is far worse, I think the case will be proven.
What a lot of people or underestimating, in my opinion, is the demorailzation of our support after so much sustained dreck. In this sense, 1967 is a more apt comparison than 20 years later. Attendance figures and season ticket sales will prove this one way or the other.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
This.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
Superb post Brian (although possibly a tad over optimistic with the club now being run competently line - the jury is definitely out for me). I so hope you're right about the medium to long term plan.
-
“You have people getting into the ear of the clubs and telling them it’s a little bit more sophisticated, that there’s more science to it. They are baffling them with figures, statistics and pie charts! These guys might do a good presentation, but where is the substance? Does it work? How many games have they actually been to? How long have they been in the game? Do they know what they are looking at?
I read that from Sherwoods article and my brain actually read it in David Brents voice. Im not even joking....
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
Superb post Brian (although possibly a tad over optimistic with the club now being run competently line - the jury is definitely out for me). I so hope you're right about the medium to long term plan.
I agree with Brian and I think Garde is the correct appointment. From the situation we were in there was no guarantee that Pulis etc would have saved us. We need to plan for the long term, even if it means taking a step back to do so.
-
"These guys might do a good presentation, but where is the substance?"
The award for "breath-taking lack of self-awareness goes to..."
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
Superb post Brian (although possibly a tad over optimistic with the club now being run competently line - the jury is definitely out for me). I so hope you're right about the medium to long term plan.
Yeah, competence would have meant sacking Sherwood and appointing Garde in the summer, not saddling ourselves with the likes of Gestede and Lescott, and not giving Bacuna and Westwood new long term contracts.
-
"These guys might do a good presentation, but where is the substance?"
The award for "breath-taking lack of self-awareness goes to..."
He might want to have a word with that doyen of the last crop of British managers Sam Allardyce about all those science and statistics things along with thinking about how you want to set your team up making best use of the resources at your disposal to fit the style of football you can coach.
Alternatively you can (based on appearance and the evidence of 10 games this season) go along with a random number generator to pick the match day squad, a twister wheel to pick the formation and a variation of pin the tail on the donkey to decide who plays where. Then as a team talk something along the lines of
"Now go out there and show them what you're made of. This is no place for anything other than real men. Press high but sit deep, you've got to keep the ball better but hit Rudy early, as often as you can, balls into the channels for him to run onto.
Carlos? Where's Carlos. Haven't I told you to get a fecking haircut? I binned Rico because of his, or was that because he was shit? No he can't be shit he's not foreign. Jordan?"
"Yes boss" x 3
"Only one of you fuckers, Amavi, it's you I'm talking to. Take that bloody shirt off, you're not playing. Rico's having a game because he's experienced and not foreign. Lescott I told you to stand up 5 minutes ago."
"I'm trying boss, but this is as quick as I can go"
"Oh bollocks to this, Clacker, you'll have to play the first half until we can get our experienced, not foreign, proper man, defender down the tunnel."
"Alan? Where's Alan? Oh there you are. Now you're already on 3 bookings so we can't afford any more silly, thoughtless challenges OK? But if that slippery little bastard of a winger comes near you, nobble the fucker. Show him what an experienced, not foreign, proper man can do."
"As for the rest of you, I can't think of anything else to say. Which of you cheeky caants just said first time for everything? Now just go out there, get in their faces, show me you're proper men, regardless of if you're foreign, inexperienced or just a bit shit. No Gabby I'm not looking at you for any of those points."
"Which of you cheeky caants just said first time for everything?"
-
An excellent summary by Brian. It is possible though to have a foot in more than one camp . Lerner is and has been the big problem but that does not excuse a manager being as bad as our last 3 before Garde. I think Garde will do well for us in the long run and while i can see the reasoning behind allardyce and his ilk i fully agree with Brian's "what then." If it is all now reduced to purely staying in the PL then fine. The finances have driven things that way. But i like the idea that we will now try and do things a bit better than that.
-
Quite a lot of people seem to be very sure Garde is the right man, and have confidence in him in the long-term. I'm not sure what this is based on, he's only ever managed at the opposite end of the league to what he's currently facing and in a different country over a brief period. It's not as if he is some battle-hardened campaigner, continued losses could really take their toll on him and if we go down with a whimper I doubt we'll be seeing him next season, via his choice or ours.
-
Quite a lot of people seem to be very sure Garde is the right man, and have confidence in him in the long-term. I'm not sure what this is based on, he's only ever managed at the opposite end of the league to what he's currently facing and in a different country over a brief period. It's not as if he is some battle-hardened campaigner, continued losses could really take their toll on him and if we go down with a whimper I doubt we'll be seeing him next season, via his choice or ours.
You could've said exactly the same about Pochettino when he arrived at Soton...We're just going to have to wait and see.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
Superb post Brian (although possibly a tad over optimistic with the club now being run competently line - the jury is definitely out for me). I so hope you're right about the medium to long term plan.
Yeah, competence would have meant sacking Sherwood and appointing Garde in the summer, not saddling ourselves with the likes of Gestede and Lescott, and not giving Bacuna and Westwood new long term contracts.
Sacking Sherwood in the Summer would have been after 3 or 4 poor performances after having saved us from relegation. From the outside it would have been seen as very harsh. On reflection it would have been the right move but did we have to wait for it to get worse before making the move.
-
Quite a lot of people seem to be very sure Garde is the right man, and have confidence in him in the long-term. I'm not sure what this is based on, he's only ever managed at the opposite end of the league to what he's currently facing and in a different country over a brief period. It's not as if he is some battle-hardened campaigner, continued losses could really take their toll on him and if we go down with a whimper I doubt we'll be seeing him next season, via his choice or ours.
You could've said exactly the same about Pochettino when he arrived at Soton...We're just going to have to wait and see.
Wait and see would be the right answer in my view, but a lot of people already seem convinced. I wanted Moyes but am hoping Garde can sort the defence out and build on the good attacking play against Watford.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
Playing Gil and Grealish away at Everton is probably the one mistake he has made so far but other than that, you do get the impression long term he could be the right man.
-
Quite a lot of people seem to be very sure Garde is the right man, and have confidence in him in the long-term. I'm not sure what this is based on, he's only ever managed at the opposite end of the league to what he's currently facing and in a different country over a brief period. It's not as if he is some battle-hardened campaigner, continued losses could really take their toll on him and if we go down with a whimper I doubt we'll be seeing him next season, via his choice or ours.
You could've said exactly the same about Pochettino when he arrived at Soton...We're just going to have to wait and see.
Wait and see would be the right answer in my view, but a lot of people already seem convinced. I wanted Moyes but am hoping Garde can sort the defence out and build on the good attacking play against Watford.
I don't know about convinced. More that given the hand that he was dealt, it'll probably take something pretty apocalyptic for people to want this one out of the club.
If we become (somehow) worse than before and lose every game for the rest of the season then I'd be pretty unenthusiastic about him managing us in the Championship.
If though we start showing signs of improvement and it looks like things are starting to come together but he's been left too much to do to get us to 17th or above then I'd be happy* to see where he takes us from there.
I've not seen many people suggest that either he's a miracle worker who will definitely keep us up, or that he should definitely be the person to bring us back up, regardless of the performances for the rest of this season.
*well, obviously not happy as we'd have just been relegated. But you know what I mean.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
Playing Gil and Grealish away at Everton is probably the one mistake he has made so far but other than that, you do get the impression long term he could be the right man.
Based on what? I really want him to be a success as much as the next Villa fan but to say, after 2 losses and a draw in his first 3 games, that you get the impression he is the right man is nonsense. His CV gives us no real clues and he's unknown in Premier League terms. I hope he turns out to be a great manager - and he could well be the next Pocettino for all we know - but nobody can predict whether or not he will be on the strength of a couple of games.
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
How is that a fact?
It needs to be in capitals to be a real fact.
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
How is that a fact?
It needs to be in capitals to be a real fact.
That's a fact. FACT.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
Superb post Brian (although possibly a tad over optimistic with the club now being run competently line - the jury is definitely out for me). I so hope you're right about the medium to long term plan.
Yeah, competence would have meant sacking Sherwood and appointing Garde in the summer, not saddling ourselves with the likes of Gestede and Lescott, and not giving Bacuna and Westwood new long term contracts.
Sacking Sherwood in the Summer would have been after 3 or 4 poor performances after having saved us from relegation. From the outside it would have been seen as very harsh. On reflection it would have been the right move but did we have to wait for it to get worse before making the move.
I think it was seen by some as harsh when Levy gave Sherwood the chop after a reasonable run. Levy was dead right though and had obviously seen through the veneer of half decent results and cocky banter and spotted the clueless chancer underneath.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
As ever a very well reasoned post, however the problem with the 'future starting here' is that we still have the issue of ownership. If Lerner stays, then the current structure will deliver very limited results which will fall below expectations as ultimately results will be limited by investment. If Lerner goes then any new owners may have a completely different view of how to run things and we could be back to square one.
Using Brian's segmentation of supporters I feel many of us fell into a mix of all three groups.
I think Lerner is a lousy businessman who's made a myriad of poor decisions, he spent unwisely in the past and is now being equally unwise in not investing to protect future income and the value of his asset.
As a season ticket holder, I don't want to watch anti-football. Perhaps, that should be I'm sick of watching anti-football already!
Which brings me to third category; I'd argue that Allardyce or Moyes would have been right for our current situation. Sort out the immediate problems, demand a certain level of control and investment, essentially make us fit for purpose and sale.
And then what? Well who knows - but at least we'd be in control of the situation. We'd have had time to take measured decisions.
We could have tested the data driven scouting system on a selected number of players -if they worked out then it would have given everyone more confidence. We could have put in place a degree of succesion planning. We could have developed our marketing strategy .... etc etc
In short we'd have been in control of when the future started as opposed to now where all we realistically have is a future of unknowns and risk.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
I think the fans are falling into three blocks. One group says it is all the owners fault. That group sub divides into those who think Randy Lerner has been responsible for bad decision making and those who think he is not spending enough money. A second major group says the way forward should have been Pulis, Allardyce or Moyes to battle for Premiership survival. The third major block says we don't want to be like Stoke or the Stripes or Sunderland and embrace anti-football we are a proud club and want better than that.
The first group, the owner blamers must look at the £265 million just paid for 13% of Man City and ask themselves how can any owner compete with that level of spending.
The Pulis would have saved us group must simply ask themselves one question. Then what? An eternity of battlers running through brick walls to stay out of the bottom three?
My own view for what it is worth is that the club has been bady run since the days of MON profligacy. I would put most of the mistakes down to Randy Lerner's naivety and impulsiveness and the lack of management structure and direction.
I do believe that structure is now in place and that the club is being run competently and in the choice of Remi Garde we are planning for the medium and long term.
The dreadful situation in which we find ourselves is a culmination of mistakes and monumental blunders over player purchases and contracts which has to be sorted out before we can make forward momentum.
The future starts here.
This was the very argument I put to a Boggies fan last night, which - to be fair - he took in good spirit.
However it's dressed up, the club has been a disaster over the last five years and Garde has it all to prove that he can either save us this season (looking like a tall order) or at least get us into the shape required to bounce back. I've no idea whether he's up to this herculean task.
Incidentally, on the issue of Pulis, he was sanguine about the quality of the football being served up but also pointed to three new players that are playing well and defining a slightly different Pulis approach - Evans, Rondon and McLean are all playing well, apparently, and Morrison, Fletcher and Blunt are playing better under this manager.
Pulis, Hughes and Allardyce are easily typecast when in reality there may well be more to it.
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
I'm sorry that's called opinion not fact.
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
How is that a fact?
It needs to be in capitals to be a real fact.
That's a fact. FACT.
end of
-
I'll give you a fact. Most supporters who actually go liked Tim and his freshness, most supporters who follow the club via forums didnt.
How is that a fact?
It needs to be in capitals to be a real fact.
That's a fact. FACT.
end of
I believe you.
They're still wrong.
-
I am not aware of any mistakes Remi Garde has made.
He did make a few syntactical errors in his first interview and he confused the passive voice with the present perfect (my Year 9 kids do this too).