And then we do the same again and again and again. Unless the top people go, no manager will provide the success this club deserves. Sparky has failings like most managers but he is not the reason we’re in the mess we’re in. Gao, Reed and Kruger are the ones who need replacing. Elastoplast managers only last until the next plaster.
I don't think that the owner is likely to sack himself though, but a few new faces in the boardroom wouldn't go amiss.
I think that he has placed a lot of trust in the existing board to continue and to be fair we did spend the VVD money on new players just that they weren't all that good!.
I remember them saying that Gao was going to leave the board as is for the foreseeable as he didn't want to interfere with football matters, or something along those lines anyway. Don't remember anything being reported as part of the actual takeover though
I dont exactly know what is expected of Gao at this moment. He is the owner, who likely knows not much about football, so is leaving it to the people in place to sort that side out. If he was getting more involved, would many not see that as interference. Being the owner, I am sure he sees the longer term view over his investment, as he would if he brought a chain of hotels. He will likely get involved if the investment is unstable, and we don't know what is going on behind the scenes. Les, Ralph and Hughes are the ones who need looking at, the owner bashing I am not sure is that relevant.
And that's kind of it. We can debate/argue about the merits of Hughes all day long. So much of football is about differences in opinion. I'm fine with that. But removing Hughes is only part of the issue. We would still have Les and Ralph in charge. Most, if not everyone, accepts that MP was worse than Puel. Some are now suggesting that Hughes is worse than MP. It's not even a unique view to think that Ron was worse than Poch, or Puel worse than Ron. Pattern emerging? If people want Hughes gone, fine. But no-one should be putting any faith in Les and Ralph recruiting someone who they would be happy with. If there's a way to make a situation worse, these two seem to find it. (Eg. Signing Carrillio didn't improve our goalscoring, or even our squad depth now. But it sure put us £20m plus wages out of pocket.)
I agree with your post with this caveat though. Gao’s ‘trust’ in his directors is naive in the extreme if he is serious about his investment. His people have not produced a single piece of evidence that they are at least competent or at best, right on top of things. Hence my earlier comment, that like some of our players, he is out of his depth. The art of owning a PL club requires much more in terms of direction. Like him or loath him, Abramovich, even with all the changes at Chelsea, gets the results he has determined. I don’t see or hear any sense of direction from our present owner. I really hope his actions over the next 4 weeks prove me totally wrong!!
Bob Bradley. He lasted about 5 mins, I think only won one game, and was sacked. I believe only Frank De Boer, and our very own Les Reed, lasted for a shorter period before getting sacked.
