Interesting ................... i have heard Fat Sham on TalkShite on more than one occasion being asked about Ashley and on every occasion he has sided with his fellow Fight Fighters attendee and slated fans / Rafa. Perhaps Sham is keeping his options open in case he wants to extend the swimming pool at some point.
Ok as no-one else could be bothered I've looked into it. Sam did indeed make a point of going out and buying a Spanish Villa with his pay off from NUFC (cost £1.9m in 2009) but I must have made up the bit about the name as he's called it "Big Sams Villa" (What a total class-less ****, I'd have respected him more if he had called it a snubbing name against Ashley). In my head I'm sure I can recall him talking about how he didn't hold a grudge as he has Ashley to thank for his Villa but i can't find a record of that in the 5 minutes i was willing to devote to finding one.
Ah hang on here we go... He changed the name! https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/6300349/sam-allardyce-13-5m-pay-offs/ Though admittedly that is the Sun...
Rafa's transfer magic knows no bounds. With Mitrovic the subject of a £50m bid from China, fresh reports today see Schalke linked with a £13m move for Kevin Mbabu. (Rafa sold Mbambu for £106k in 2017). Meanwhile, Rafa's preferred players - Joselu and Manquillo - are the subject of a £1m combined bid from Netflix, keen to follow up the success of their last football comedy film.
Not forgetting Mats Sels, Jesus Gamez and Achraf Lazaar!! Their contribution to the club, has been what? I know we have been as tight as a duck's **** when it comes to transfers, but why sign players and not use them? It would be cheaper to use the youth team players and at least develop them to a first team environment.
Hey don't you know Rafa makes zero errors. When he does they are someone elses fault. If you took all the money in each window Rafa has wasted on players who hardly play, he could have just bought one or two decent players who could be a first team regular. 2016 Summer Window - 15.5m approx on players who played virtually no part or just amassed loads of sub apps (also spent 5m on the gash Hayden) 2017 Summer Window - 12.5m approx on players who played virtually no part or just amassed loads of sub apps (also spent 10m on the gash Manquillo and Joselu) I mean would he not have been better taking the 43m, retaining Mbabu, Murphy and Armstrong. Then a winger of use and a No.10. I think we'd be miles better off. I mean the above is a bit simplistic but the reality is, as good a job that he has done in keeping us in the division, his transfer work at the club has been ****e. He needs help urgently.
The above IS simplistic, about as much as we agree on. I think you need to measure this against other managers for comparison, otherwise you just sound like a whiney bitch.
Yeh I know, but nobody's comparing. Even Fergie had Bebe, Dejmba Djemba, Veron, Kleberson, Fanghzou etc. Even WOR Bobby bought Fumaca, Viana, Bassedas and Titus bloody Bramble. Nobody's arguing he hasn't made some **** signings, but some on here are asking why every buy isn't gold-dust and ignoring contextual factors such as having the league's ****test owner and MD.
You just struggle to comprehend that your god isn't a god at all. There is no god. The reality is the bloke has been **** in the transfer market since the beginning of his managerial career - ask any of his previous clubs. He was less that 40-50% in terms of the success of his signings at Liverpool, arguably his greatest success. The notion that his record compares well to his contemporaries in the market is laughable at best. Every manager makes mistakes, nobody is suggesting otherwise or trying to remove that context. Nor is anyone suggesting he isn't working to a tight budget. What people are suggesting is that the money he does get, is spent very poorly. He makes cracking signings along the way for sure. But his strike ratio is poor as is his decision making when releasing/selling players. Simple question: Do you believe that Pardew/Carr were better or worse than Rafa in the market? He is obviously a good coach and can extract a lot from the tools he is given. It is quite clear he needs someone to take the transfer responsibility off him urgently. If we had someone better at that, we would be better off because you'd then be giving the manager better tools to work with. Assuming he can extract a lot out of them too, Newcastle United would be better. Its a no brainer.
tbh whilst he's a victim of ashleys poor finances, what i can understand fans should be unhappy is, is with the style of football. He's basically a Spanish Fat Sam in terms of anti football.
Awful. I think though at least that is somewhat understandable. He wouldn't change if we did have money. He has always been a defensive stop the oppo manager. His style is his style and lets be honest its ****ing ugly a lot of the time. I actually think though he is the perfect manager for us in this situation. If you have no money and are just looking to scrap to stay in the division, be tactically astute to achieve that goal, he is pretty good for that. Its like an acceptable Sam.
I see Patricia's back! Didn't you refuse to take Pardew's performance at other jobs into consideration in another argument? Simple answer: of course he's better than Pards, if it was up to that muppet we'd have had crouch, huddlestone and Carroll (again) for stupid wages and fees. Wasn't Obertan a Pardew recommendation because the great Fergie said he was good? Did Graham Carr, sole job of sourcing and buying players, do better? Well I'd expect him to and he made some great signings but also signed Cabella, Thauvin, Yanga-Mbiwa, Rivi-****ing-ere, Marveaux, not 1 De Jong but 2 and helped create an awful attitude within the team by buying the wrong personalities because he thought he could smell a bargain. Its crazy isn't it, its almost like by comparing them, Rafa doesn't seem that bad! I agree though, promoting Steve Nickson to head scout and presumably not even putting another scout in his place means Wor sun god Rafa has a ****ter workforce of scouts than Carr did. He does need more support.
So Rafa: a. is hit and miss in the transfer market; b. is a good coach; c. plays defensive football always and, in our case, to a degree which can be depressing to watch; d. probably gets the best results we are currently capable of from this appoach; but e. should not be regarded as beyond criticism. Once we're agreed on that, I would suggest we can also agree: a. next season he will be managing a better club than us; and b. next season we will be managed by someone worse than him.
Strange then isn't if Rafa is better than Pardew/Carr in the transfer market that Pards was able to have better or equal results despite clearly being an inferior manager. Given they are working under the very same constraints (as borne out by whichever you want to take net spend or just spend). Rafa picked the scouts and demanded control of transfers which he was given. Indeed it is very easily arguable that Rafa has it far better than Pards who had far less power. See your argument doesn't stack up. Rafa is clearly more likeable and professional. But Rafa's performance results wise when compared with Pards should be far higher if he is better in the transfer market. He is a better manager and coach, has far more control and the same constraints. It clearly suggests Rafa's transfer work is part of the problem. Which would of course be in keeping with his entire career. He'd probably still be Liverpool manager now if he'd been better in the transfer market. I'm not sure how you've come to conclusion Rafa seems better . Would you rather have Rafa managing the players he has now, or Rafa managing the squad Pards built. I know which I would prefer by quite some stretch. Imagine if Rafa had Cisse, Ba, Ben Arfa, Jonas, Santon etc. EDIT Scratch that he'd have sickened them by asking them to stay in their defensive shape all game.
I would say Rafa is more miss than hit here and for his entire career. Before we agree to the latter two I think we also need to agree that he needs someone else to perform the role of picking the players.
I didn't come to a conclusion Rafa was better poor little Pouch, you seem to have missed the point. My point was he's no worse than others so I'm confused why everybody still goes on about Lazaar as if its the first.time.it's.EVER.happened at this club or anywhere else. Transfers like that happen all the time. Yes he's better than Pardew at buying but that's a given, everyone is. Pardew had a team picked for him, he built nothing because he had no say. He's bloody lucky he did, you think we'd have made 5th with whatever English flavours of the month were about back then compared to Cabaye and the like. They'd have been far too French for old headbutty. Pardew had it easier in terms of the fact we were spending the same amounts then that we do now, despite obvious inflation.
Agreed you look at the value for money we found under Carr - Sissoko 2m - Murphy 12m , Cabaye, 4.5m - Hayden 5m, Cisse and Ba 9m - Joselu and Gayle 15m.
