Poll - Sherwood - got rid

[pauliewalnuts]

Ok I will keep it simple for you. We needed a gross spend minimum of £65m in the summer. That's the budget that should have been set and spent . On quality, proven quality, not gambles and dice throwing,

You think we should have had a net spend of 65m despite getting 40m for Benteke and Delph?

So a spend of 105m?

Honestly, do you really believe some of the shit you come out with? I find it hard to believe. It's like you've spent the last 24 hours going around from thread to thread posting the biggest load of nonsense you can come up with.

Once more. I was pointing out that net spend arguments are a totally different thing to "should have bought this player for the same price as that one". Still, feel free to bang on about something entirely different.

[dave.woodhall]

I can never understand why we have this "We need to spend £x" argument. You don't need to spend a single penny if the deals you do are astute enough.

[paul_e]

Well for starters I'd have spent £15m on a Charlie Austin / Danny Ings instead of the same amount on Ayew & Gestede.

But that's absolutely not the point you are making.

You said 7m is a pathetic net spend (and I probably agree with you on that).

When you get challenged on it, you point out two signings you'd have made differently. So you'd have spent 15m on Charlie or Austin or Danny Ings rather than on Ayew plus Gestede.

How the fuck does that even affect net spend?

Well you apply the same principles . Less players of better quality with a net spend nearer £25m . The club have done it on the cheap again and are now paying for it. Stupidity.

Your obsession with the net spend is becoming silly now.  As ViD says with the huge amount of money that came into the club this summer it was always going to be very difficult to spend much more than we did, especially given the free transfer of Richards which saved us around £6-8m to sign a contracted player of that quality.  To sign players in the 15-20m bracket you need to be able to show you're going to be challenging for europe and you need to offer £100k p/w neither of which we're in the position to do.

You mention Ings as an alternative but that's clearly stupid, him going to Liverpool in the summer summer was about the worst kept secret in football which leaves Austin, who's playing in the championship and couldn't find a club willing to go for him, which suggests there's something more to it.

[KevinGage]

Moxley is generally spot on. 

It's only a matter of time now.

He might even get a stay of execution, as I wouldn't be completely surprised to see us beat Swansea. But I think he'll be gone by Christmas.

[paul_e]

I can never understand why we have this "We need to spend £x" argument. You don't need to spend a single penny if the deals you do are astute enough.

Exactly, a well run club should, over a reasonable number of seasons, pretty much break even, there's been loads of comments from people about Swansea and Southampton, 2 clubs that have spent very little over the last 2-3 seasons.  The sky-fueled obsession with how much teams are spending (as if it's some indicator of the quality of the league) has completely warped the perspective of what a transfer window is about.

[eamonn]

Sherwood did say when asked in the summer if he had something against buying young British players that they were over-priced and inexperienced compared to the French lads. Maybe they were Paddy O'Reilly's words he was spouting and not his own. I know the stories are saying he wanted the ''proven'' Spurs bench-warmers but I wouldn't be surprised if he was keen to bring in more young'n'hungry lower-league English players too.

[ozzjim]

I would not be surprised if the moment Rodgers was sacked Reilly was on to him.

[ozzjim]

The Telegraph story reports the meeting as fact and clearly includes Sherwood's response/justification off-the-record. Sherwood is positioning to defend himself by saying these weren't his signings, but I seem to recall him taking credit for them at the time.

Edit: I'd also like to know which summer signings he'll get 'ruthless' with. Which have been given a chance but have underperformed? The issue seems less the underperformance of new signings, and more the lack of continuity in the line-up and strategy.

I agree these stories aren't just coincidental - something is happening. Good.

The new players argument is bobbins anyway, as Amavi, Veretout, Traore, Gana and Richards all look good signings. The biggest let downs so far have been Ayew, who you could well argue with the right tactics and a bit of belief looks to be a lot better than say Gabby as a support striker, Gestede who despite goals has struggled with his all round game and Lescott who has been awful.

I reckon Rodgers, much as I loathe him, would actually get this squad playing some bloody decent football.

[The Left Side]

It seems our misgivings have been noticed at long last by the national media, I would love to see TS do well as we all would but we can't string this out until Christmas. Three games is what he should have and if we haven't seen an improvement we should do the right thing and move him on.

[villadelph]

The Telegraph story reports the meeting as fact and clearly includes Sherwood's response/justification off-the-record. Sherwood is positioning to defend himself by saying these weren't his signings, but I seem to recall him taking credit for them at the time.

Edit: I'd also like to know which summer signings he'll get 'ruthless' with. Which have been given a chance but have underperformed? The issue seems less the underperformance of new signings, and more the lack of continuity in the line-up and strategy.

I agree these stories aren't just coincidental - something is happening. Good.

The new players argument is bobbins anyway, as Amavi, Veretout, Traore, Gana and Richards all look good signings. The biggest let downs so far have been Ayew, who you could well argue with the right tactics and a bit of belief looks to be a lot better than say Gabby as a support striker, Gestede who despite goals has struggled with his all round game and Lescott who has been awful.

I reckon Rodgers, much as I loathe him, would actually get this squad playing some bloody decent football.

I thought Ayew looked bright in his last few appearances. When I first saw him I thought to myself, this guy ain't a footballer.. especially considering his price tag. BUT, I think he will come good under the right formation. I'd rather give him a run through the middle than persist with Gestede. At least he can beat a man off the dribble and create his own space and shot.

[Toronto Villa]

I can never understand why we have this "We need to spend £x" argument. You don't need to spend a single penny if the deals you do are astute enough.

Which I've been saying all along as well. I would rather our net spend every season be negative or zero if we have bought wisely and sold players at the peak of their value. It's what Arsene Wenger has done effectively a number of times. This summer our business was very good but for the fact that we could have done with an upgrade at forward, goalkeeper and RB. That has nothing to do with net spend and all to do with did we spend our available resources well?

[Toronto Villa]

I would not be surprised if the moment Rodgers was sacked Reilly was on to him.

Well we'll know soon enough if Fox and Rodgers are seen together in the Director's box at Villa Park taking in a game.

[Matt C]

Before we appointed Lambert didn't they try - reportedly - to get Rodgers?

[Rudy65]

2 games to save job

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/tim-sherwood-given-two-games-6610295

Not a single quote in there.

did someone off here write that
it wouldn't surprise me

All I want to know from that article is what Ray is drinking

[passitsideways]

Before we appointed Lambert didn't they try - reportedly - to get Rodgers?

Him, Martinez and Lambert were the popular targets among fans that summer IIRC. I'm pretty sure Martinez knocked us back outright for the second time in as many summers; I can't remember if we got concrete reports about approaching Rodgers prior to Liverpool coming in. I think it may have been that Rodgers got linked to Liverpool right after the end of the season, which basically made it pointless for us to even bother trying, so we just went straight for Lambert.