Because it was a gamble that in the current financial climate almost certainly wouldn't have paid off and would have cost a lot more in the long run ( there was no interest in him in Jan when he would have cost ) not to mention the impact of squad moral having him on a much higher wage then all the rest and would it really be a good thing having him at the club on a big wage when he didn't want to be here?
I was thinking surely someone would have signed him that summer if he was looking for a move, but if we'd been trying to find him a move for a while and failing then I guess not, fair enough. That whole situation still irritates me as you can probably tell. We replaced him in our 'best' eleven with Jones who was his backup in League 1, and with Jones getting injured all the time we have to play Bernard who's jumping up from League 2, we actually weakened our defence on moving up a league and we wonder why we concede goals. That and this ever-lowering bar for what is considered a "high earner" at the club is an obvious recipe for failure.
Add to that stats like no goal, not even one, in the last 7 (SEVEN) away games. Some people saying 'what do you expect, they are L1 players'. Well, first off, they won the L1 title. Second, McCann got the opportunity to bring in 8 (I think) new players, including 3 PL loans, all of which he would have had a fair say in (yet none start). Third, even a half decent L1 side would surely do better than McCann has achieved in these last 36 games wouldn't they? The squad he had last time round, and the squad he has this time really is not that bad (it's not good, but it really isn't this bad). Yes, there are clearly mitigating factors, but not enough to account for this. It's absolutely shocking. Has anyone ever had a worse record in a division and continued this long?
Ok now off to bed to watch another movie on good ole Netflix , tonights choice is The Harder They Fall with Idris Elba. Love a good western . Hope it's better than the Cowboys we have at the Club .
Honestly mate. It's not normal circumstances. First of all, tonight was a free hit and they made a fist of it. I have every reason to believe that the only way McCann will be here come Christmas is if both the takeover fails and there isn't a miraculous upswing in results. The Allams aren't going to pay him off and bring in an interim whilst the fact McCann is losing is putting forward pressure on the deal. They're also not going to lumber the incoming owners with a contractural mess if we're as close as we appear to be to a sale. A sacking takes months to sort out. A transfer of ownership needs to be clean.
I'm putting this here, not the match thread because this is a man speaking with a bit more humility and freedom. If only he'd spoken like this in Feb 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0b25d76
Yeah agreed, I think on this occasion he spoke quite well. Although many who go into it hoping to be angry will of course get exactly that out of it. He seems to yo-yo between this type of interview and ones where he puts his foot in it. The stuff about how we wanted to play over their press but not into it because of how they press, was quite interesting. Bit of insight into the kind of stuff they focus on as part of a game plan that you wouldn't think of or know about as a supporter.
That's what's different. He's more than happy to talk about tactics and budget. He wasn't until he knew he was off. He's actually answering as opposed to deflecting questions.
It's amazing what a bit of insight into what they were trying to do can change how you perceive a performance. Rather than the "personal matter" of formation changes, just give the supporters something and chances are they'll actually be more accepting of what you're trying to do. Suspect this is the case.
I quite liked that interview, as honest as he's been tbf, and can't really argue with much he said there. Not sure if that was the case though why he went for a plethora of midfield players with such a tight budget instead of highlighting areas we did need strengthening and putting the efforts into that. However based on last nights game that was a well rounded interview.
