Very, extremely Press-ed off

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Can't argue with any of the points made.

At the time, anybody who said Martinez had turned us down were castigated. He had not turned us down, he had just declined to be interviewed, or he was showing loyalty to their chairman, or he had to stay in and watch the box set of The Wire.

The fact that he turned us down should have set alarm bells ringing, but then, he did not turn us down. No need for alarm.

Somebody will soon write an article on all the signs which should have set alarm bells ringing and it will read like the script for The Titanic.

so did martinez turn us down or not

he did by not wanting to talk to us which for me was worse than him being interviewed and then refusing the job.

Decent managers are put off by the fact Lerner runs us on a relative shoestring. They take one look at the budget and reply with a polite "thanks but no thanks". That's the story of the last 5 years and that's the sole reason for our decline, in my opinion

Agree with that and to think we could have had benitez

[brian green]

Those words could regrettably apply to the money we got for Delph and Benteke.  Hope not but it is becoming a distinct possibility.

[darren woolley]

Good read Dave I also think the same way about the Watford game.

[PeterWithesShin]

Good read Dave I also think the same way about the Watford game.

Boom! Darren nails it.

[brian green]

Does he ever not nail it?

[saint13]

Yes Excellent article Dave I could not agree more. Everton are a great Barometer of where we were and should be. Before the game on Saturday (and even more so after), it occurred to me that I do not think Everton would have swapped a single Villa Player in their 11 as opposed to one of their own. It shows the scale of our demise in such a short space of time.

[Matt C]

We'll never know how Martinez would have done with us but I remain certain he'd have been preferable to McLeish.

How they lurched from chasing a manager like Martinez to landing on McLeish will forever remain one of the great mysteries of our time.

[damon loves JT]

Darren's already said most of what I wanted to say.

But just one further point: the tone reflects very accurately how many of us feel. We are at the tipping point. No win against Watford and most of us will be resigned to going down.

[brian green]

The legend has it that Randy was so pissed off by the unsuccessful pursuit of Martinez he jumped in his plane, flew to Corsica and did the deal personally with TSM1. Don't know how true it is.

[conman]

We'll never know how Martinez would have done with us but I remain certain he'd have been preferable to McLeish.

How they lurched from chasing a manager like Martinez to landing on McLeish will forever remain one of the great mysteries of our time.

At the time Mcleish had not long won the Carling cup final against Arsenal ,,,,,whereas at the time Martinez had won nothing

[Chris Smith]

We'll never know how Martinez would have done with us but I remain certain he'd have been preferable to McLeish.

How they lurched from chasing a manager like Martinez to landing on McLeish will forever remain one of the great mysteries of our time.

They were ticking them off in alphabetical order, if McLeish had said no Gary Megson was next.

[wittonwarrior]

Potentially we are a much  bigger Club than  Everton - we have one thing  in common both clubs have a fickle fan base.  We really should be  punching at a much higher rate given the fact that we are the biggest team in the 2nd biggest British City.    I have always likened Everton to the unwashed, you don't seem to find  a lot of youngsters  supporting  either team, both live in the shadow of their more successful neighbour, both teams play in a dump, although Goodison was once a better than average stadium.

True both clubs  have financial constraints just that Everton manage theirs a hell of a lot better.  Just wait till the likes of Coleman, Stones, Lukaku have their heads turned, it will be like a swimmer struggling to turn in deep water.

We are in proper trouble no doubt, but it is  a unique issue postmarked to  B6 - don't really go alone with comparisons to other clubs.

As for  other managers Garde would not have been my first choice neither was Sherwood but that's the hand  we have been dealt lets just get on with it.  We could have Bertie Mee, Bill Shankly, Busby  Mercer when he was successful we would struggle with nil investment.

[LeeB]

Can't argue with any of the points made.

At the time, anybody who said Martinez had turned us down were castigated. He had not turned us down, he had just declined to be interviewed, or he was showing loyalty to their chairman, or he had to stay in and watch the box set of The Wire.

The fact that he turned us down should have set alarm bells ringing, but then, he did not turn us down. No need for alarm.

Somebody will soon write an article on all the signs which should have set alarm bells ringing and it will read like the script for The Titanic.

so did martinez turn us down or not

he did by not wanting to talk to us which for me was worse than him being interviewed and then refusing the job.

Decent managers are put off by the fact Lerner runs us on a relative shoestring. They take one look at the budget and reply with a polite "thanks but no thanks". That's the story of the last 5 years and that's the sole reason for our decline, in my opinion

Agree with that and to think we could have had benitez

Every cloud and all that.

[wittonwarrior]

Can't argue with any of the points made.

At the time, anybody who said Martinez had turned us down were castigated. He had not turned us down, he had just declined to be interviewed, or he was showing loyalty to their chairman, or he had to stay in and watch the box set of The Wire.

The fact that he turned us down should have set alarm bells ringing, but then, he did not turn us down. No need for alarm.

Somebody will soon write an article on all the signs which should have set alarm bells ringing and it will read like the script for The Titanic.

so did martinez turn us down or not

he did by not wanting to talk to us which for me was worse than him being interviewed and then refusing the job.

Decent managers are put off by the fact Lerner runs us on a relative shoestring. They take one look at the budget and reply with a polite "thanks but no thanks". That's the story of the last 5 years and that's the sole reason for our decline, in my opinion

Agree with that and to think we could have had benitez

Every cloud and all that.

Even Uri Gela would have  a problem getting us out of this  mess.

[eamonn]

We'll never know how Martinez would have done with us but I remain certain he'd have been preferable to McLeish.

How they lurched from chasing a manager like Martinez to landing on McLeish will forever remain one of the great mysteries of our time.

We'd proably still have been left lumbered with N'Zogbia had Martinez come and brought him too. *Clutching at hindsight-straws*