Never particularly liked him as a player or manager.
He does deserve huge credit for keeping us up last season though, when three years of Lambert sapped the spirit of players and supporters.
There is always that 'what if,' too. What if he had been able to keep the likes of Benteke, Delph and Cleverly and marry that with two to three deals of his own. I'm not heartbroken that he couldn't sign Townsend, Lennon or Adebayor, but they are players he knows and trusts, and he might have got more out of them.
He was noticeably quieter after the Benteke sale, and the Delph departure probably eroded a great deal of any remaining enthusiasm he had for the job. He looks like he's aged 10 years in less than a few months too.
All that said, he quite often went on about 'big club' this and that in his first few months. Big clubs shouldn't tolerate any manager who loses seven in nine.
