I cannot see this and the management will be aware of the enormity of the task ahead of Still. I think Spors will be pragmatic. If we are in a play off position in January, I agree that SR will go for it and make the necessary recruitments. Otherwise, I can see Spors just adding a forward and a winger. I also expect him to demand more from the academy. However , I feel that there is a reticence with recruitment this summer and I believe the liked of Spor are realistic about what can be achieved. I am not seeing anything to suggest we are going to make a concerted effort for promotion. I am convinced that they feel stability is the priority until the next transfer window. Just feel SR are very much keeping their powder dry and that Spors is being sensible and realistic. The signings to date , excluding the full back from Brentford, do not appear to be upgrades for a promotion push. I feel the squad will be assembled as more of a team but expecting marquee signings will have to wait until January.
I partly agree with this statement. A few additions and a decent forward will give us stability. I think Still needs to learn his craft but talk of Top Six is a distraction from what the real job is which is developing a winning mentality and not dropping points at home. I feel that this is a sufficient challenge for a rookie manager. This is a longer term project. Having watched Stoke outplay us and the amount of effort required to put Wrexham to the sword, I think we need to make a stock take of our opposition and see how far behind we are. Stoke, Borough, Coventry, Birmingham and Leicester will finish well above us.
Been saying for few weeks now. Keep Matty, 2 wingers & a creative AM. If they’re proven at this level then it’s an even bigger bonus. Rudoni, Fellows & Azaz would be very good for the level we’re currently at I feel, but should they get us up I’d still be wanting more physicality on the wings and at AM in the Prem
Quite honestly I'm not too fussed if we don't go up, and instead 'do a Leeds'. A season more of fun, and going up in potentially a better position. But you're mad if you think SR aren't aiming to be promoted this year.
You can’t build a squad in the championship or consolidate anymore. Players don’t have the patience. Look at Dibling? Been with us since 8 years old and couldn’t get away quick enough to sit on premier league bench. Fernandes and THB won’t be sticking around for another season. Half decent seasons from Charles, Edwards & Robinson will see us batting away interest(if we can) Squads are constantly rotating and that’s why I wouldn’t get too hung up on August form. Every team just has too much going on.
And this is the issue with cultivating a selling culture. Every player will expect and demand to leave after a period of good form because we’ve shown we are happy to if the price is right or, in Diblings case, even when it’s also less than what we’re asking for. I would genuinely argue not a single player for our first team is proud of playing for our first team, they would all leave at the earliest opportunity. It will be a very very very long time until we have another JWP because we’ve created a culture where he isn’t what we want.
Players leave because we're sh*t. If we were in the Premier League challenging top ten and cup competitions, then players wouldn't be so eager to jump ship. Isak wants to leave Newcastle to join a more successful club. It doesn't just happen to us. To say that no player is proud to play for us is an impossible statement to make. You don't know any of them or what their motivations are.
The entire Poch Koeman era disproves this. We finished in Europa League 2 seasons in a row and we still had players desperate to leave for more. Well tbf it was probably more a mix between our board cashing out on our most valuable assets and then players being like “well if they’re going I’m out too”. Either way when we bought Pelle, Mane and Tadic we just lost Lallana, Shaw and Lambert after they got us to the Europa. So they want to go even when we are actually building something, which just makes you question the whole damn sport in the first place and what the objective is. And this is where my second main issue comes in, we never just sell our best player. We seem to just sell anyone whose just good, I know no other club who has repeatedly sold their best 3/4 players near enough every year but we always seem to. It’s actually surprising that we have let Matty go yet. It’s also the expectation it puts to fans of people being sold, I’m in the Northam and I remember as soon as both Dibling and Sulemana started playing well it wasn’t “these look promising for the future, we could build something around these” it was “he’ll be gone in the summer” and lo and ****ing behold they’re immediately out the door the second dollar signs were waved in our faces. Why should I get excited about Robinson when I know for a fact if he keeps playing like he is he will be sold in one and a half to two years? We won’t try and build anything around him, we will just sell him for an inferior version who will then also be sold when he threatens to turn good too. That’s the expectations this club has given me with our players.
Lots of clubs do it. Brighton, Bournemouth, Palace. The difference between those clubs and ours, is that they seem to understand that having the right manager is the most important thing, and their managerial appointments have been excellent. Whereas we have cocked it up time and time again. Furthermore, those clubs are much better at recognising new talent. We sometimes get it right, but we most often don't.