NSWE Investment

[dave.woodhall]

I know this won't be a popular opinion (most of not all with dusagree) but for me these pair are more at fault for this than Smith. Don't come out with shit like were going for Europe when you're selling season tickets and then when they've been sold sell your best player and a negative net spend. Why not just be honest? We aren't going g to invest anymore, we're cutting our cloth accordingly and we will look to finish between 17th-10th. Thrown Smith right under the bus

Utter nonsense, net spend means fuck all in a season when you make something around £110m in player sales.

So taking a world class player out of side means nothing? You're right, "utter nonsense" not on my side

Can you read? I ask because I said nothing about Grealish leaving, and neither did you. You blamed them for us having a negative net spend as the reason for the problems. I guess you've realised how fucking stupid an arguement it was now and have decided to strawman tyour way out of it.

Read this. One more and you're banned.

[richtheholtender]

I don't have an issue with the owners doing what they've done, I just take issue with the Europe message being sent out after the summer we've just had. When city were building, they took both ours and arsenal's best players. The Smith Rowe links got out and we couldn't tempt him. I just can't see us kicking on to the levels that's being believed, it's the Lerner saga all over again.

[SoccerHQ]

I don't have an issue with the owners doing what they've done, I just take issue with the Europe message being sent out after the summer we've just had. When city were building, they took both ours and arsenal's best players. The Smith Rowe links got out and we couldn't tempt him. I just can't see us kicking on to the levels that's being believed, it's the Lerner saga all over again.

You never know, things move quickly in football. Two and a half years ago, Leicester were about 12th-13th in the league and underachieving with a talented squad.

Their ownership (imo best in the league) did something about it and since then they've had two regular top 6 finishes and Fa cup win.

West Ham were fighting relegation with us in 19/20 aswell.

Just crossing our fingers and wasting month after month though this season isn't really going to cut it for me regardless of circmunstances.

Interesting question to ask though, how much of the next managerial search will they just leave down to Purslow as I imagine he had a big say in us getting Dean Smith in the first place given they originally wanted to get Henry in.

[Rigadon]

I think my recent wobble on here is a fear that the Lerner cycle is about to repeat. Who they appoint next will put my fears to rest no doubt (fervently prays).

[paul_e]

I know this won't be a popular opinion (most of not all with dusagree) but for me these pair are more at fault for this than Smith. Don't come out with shit like were going for Europe when you're selling season tickets and then when they've been sold sell your best player and a negative net spend. Why not just be honest? We aren't going g to invest anymore, we're cutting our cloth accordingly and we will look to finish between 17th-10th. Thrown Smith right under the bus

Utter nonsense, net spend means fuck all in a season when you make something around £110m in player sales.

So taking a world class player out of side means nothing? You're right, "utter nonsense" not on my side

Can you read? I ask because I said nothing about Grealish leaving, and neither did you. You blamed them for us having a negative net spend as the reason for the problems. I guess you've realised how fucking stupid an arguement it was now and have decided to strawman tyour way out of it.

A bit OTT?

It's ok mate, it's common on H&V that you can't put something forward without another poster having to resort to making it personal.

You claimed the owners are more at fault than Smith for us playing badly, that's about as bad a take as you could possibly have right now, in fact Sawiris and Edens are about as low on the list of people to be pissed off with as it's possible to get right now. You have no evidence that they aren't going to invest anymore so why make that a central assumption and make them out to be the real villains at the club?

You then added to that by completely changing your argument to bring up Grealish as if it was some 'gotcha'. We all know Grealish leaving how and when he did was shit but that single action, which the owners had no choice over because of a clause in his contract, doesn't mean the owners are suddenly shit and don't care other than to dupe fans into buying season tickets.

[pauliewalnuts]

The suggestion that NSWE are somehow at fault is utterly bonkers.

We couldn't keep Grealish, he had a (massively high) release clause which was met. The manager was given all the money to spend on replacements, which he did.

They've poured £300m into the club already. What they need to do now is protect that investment, and the immediate thing to do for that is to get a manager who can do that, because all the signs are that this one can not.

Incidentally, not only have they provided the money - which Lerner also did for a bit - they have worked on the infrastructure of the club so that it produces results from the money spent, which is something Lerner absolutely never did, other than finishing off the new training ground.

The recruitment has been excellent. The inner city academy is a great move. They have put top people in charge of the academy which is already starting to produce results.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[richtheholtender]

I think my recent wobble on here is a fear that the Lerner cycle is about to repeat. Who they appoint next will put my fears to rest no doubt (fervently prays).

Exactly this. Its my prediction that it is happening and if it is how can the manager be held accountable if others around us aren't holding back. Happy to be proven wrong but I don't think I will be.

[Scott Nielsen]

I mostly blame Smith, but also our players, for our poor performances so far - for all the reasons we are all too aware of - but there is something in the suggestion Smith was not backed during the summer.

I know that I was not alone in expecting a significant net spend* on the back of the Grealish money. It seemed like a golden opportunity to really kick-on while many other clubs were presumably wrestling with funding. But we did not and none here knows why. I thought then, and still do, our owners have taken a pause to come up with a new strategy when the previous one was, very clearly, to build a European team around Grealish.

* I do not think our squad is as good as many others on here so another large investment seemed justified.

[ozzjim]

I think we have a good squad, but poor midfield and lack a talismanic player that we can look to when the chips are down. In the prem if you can't consistently look after ball you will struggle, and we are awful at retaining possession.

[OzVilla]

We all want Smith to succeed as much as any Villa manager I've seen but I honestly thought that Wolves performance, which Edens witnessed first hand, would've really shaken their belief in Smith.  These 4 games against Spurs, Wolves, Arsenal and W Ham were the ideal litmus test as to whether we can kick on and we've totally collapsed. Spurs and Wolves didn't even play that well. We've actually managed to put ourselves in a position of looking down the table not up. 

These are serious sports owners, spending serious money with serious ambitions. I wouldn't have been surprised if they started putting the gentle 'feelers' out after that Wolves debacle and I suggest that it's now its turned into a full scale sounding out process across Europe. And if it happens, this will be an avoidable, self inflicted sacking.

[Ad@m]

Self-inflicted in what way? I personally don't think it's time to pull the trigger on Deano just yet, but he can't ever say he's had anything other than complete support in every respect from the owners.

[OzVilla]

Self inflicted in the sense that his stubbornness and poor game management will cost him his job.

[richtheholtender]

Self-inflicted in what way? I personally don't think it's time to pull the trigger on Deano just yet, but he can't ever say he's had anything other than complete support in every respect from the owners.

Until this summer? It's no coincidence that we've progresses year on year when spending  until this one when it looks for all the world were going to regress. All the evidence points to you need to spend, most the time just to stand still and we didn't do it for whatever reason. The poster above mentions that they have held back to come up with a new strategy, I personally think it was known in the football world that the Newcastle takeover was going to happen and that's why they held back. The manager is getting judged now on the expectations of getting near Europe which I think wrong. If they want to go for Europe, they need to invest accordingly (far from easy) if the goalpost have moved and its now a case of do as best you can while making a healthy profit on players then he needs to be judged by that expectation. Could do with hearing from them to be honest as for me they're responsible for the mixed messages.

[Clampy]

To suggest we didn't spend in the last transfer window is just idiotic.

[LeeB]

Self-inflicted in what way? I personally don't think it's time to pull the trigger on Deano just yet, but he can't ever say he's had anything other than complete support in every respect from the owners.

Until this summer? It's no coincidence that we've progresses year on year when spending  until this one when it looks for all the world were going to regress. All the evidence points to you need to spend, most the time just to stand still and we didn't do it for whatever reason. The poster above mentions that they have held back to come up with a new strategy, I personally think it was known in the football world that the Newcastle takeover was going to happen and that's why they held back. The manager is getting judged now on the expectations of getting near Europe which I think wrong. If they want to go for Europe, they need to invest accordingly (far from easy) if the goalpost have moved and its now a case of do as best you can while making a healthy profit on players then he needs to be judged by that expectation. Could do with hearing from them to be honest as for me they're responsible for the mixed messages.

I've got some sympathy for what you're saying.

And despite the fact the owners have been fantastic, if I'm honest it gnawed at me in the summer when we put in what anyone could see were undervalued bids for Smith-Rowe and Ward-Prowse, just felt a bit Doug.