While I agree this season has been a disaster, and the players have failed to live up to expectations of ability and professionalism, I'm not jumping on the doom and gloom bandwagon.
I really can't believe that so many fans are blaming fernandes! What exactly did he do wrong?
OK, we can say now that he backed Hughes too long, but he did that for the right reasons. We all remember the joke we'd become in the championship under Briatore's tenure, and particularly the chanting from the fans saying "we want our rangers back". What did that mean? What did the fans want? Well I seem to remember universally people wanting stability, get a manager in and let him manage. Well thankfully we got warnock and he performed a footballing miracle. He turned us from a team who looked destined for relegation one season, and got us promoted the next. Now maybe here was our first chance to build a team who would survive in the premiership, but rather than bringing in younger players with desire, he chose to bring in old war horses, but he did so on the understanding that these players were to get us promoted, but that he'd be given funds to then completely overhaul the team. But this didn't happen.
Ask yourself a question, when have you ever known a team that was in the position we were when promoted, a team with no training ground of their own, no scouts, no academy, an owner and chairman who had taken control of player acquisition, and an owner that wanted to sell the club once it was promoted but refused to sell to one of the worlds richest men who wanted to buy the club! And then sell the club for less money 3 weeks in to the new season having given the manager little or no funds to improve the team that was destined for league one little over a year previously.
Now ask yourself, what has fernandes done wrong? Picked a manager who may not have been everyone's first choice, but did have a good pedigree, backed the manager each transfer window, raised the clubs profile, bought the land for and paid for a new state of the art academy and training facility, is in the process of buying and financing the building of a new multi purpose stadium.
So, having asked these two question, what style of ownership would you prefer? A return to an owner (hypothetically) who sacked managers at the drop of a hat, who picked the team and gave team orders, tried to piece together a team of loans and made us a laughing stock, and who also threatened to sell the club because some fans chanted for 'their' club back. Or would you prefer an owner who has spent more money in less than two years than has been spent at the club since its inception, an owner who has admitted he's been naive and admitted to making mistakes, committed his future to the club and his determination to make the club successful.
Which would it be?
Of course fernandes isn't perfect, yes he can be naive, but what exactly has he done to damage the club and deserve the hate? He's been at the club for less than 2 years and has done all he can to make things work, but look at the state we were in, what more could he have done without the aid of a crystal ball??? It's all very well fans speaking at the end of the season pointing fingers, but fernandes has tried to make the right appointments and do what's best for the club, but it's early days for his ownership and it will take time to get it right. It's hard for us as fans seeing us relegated, but surely if you stop and look at our situation and remember some of our darkest days, this doesn't even come close! We will come good, but it's going to take time to do things right, and some fans need to appreciate that if they do want to see us a successful and well run club, that it will take time, might take several years and a few more managers. But we've lacked soul and a proper team for many years and trying to change it wholesale in the course of a season hasn't worked, but neither would it have worked leaving the team as it was.
Hopefully Harry will have some success at removing some of the negative influences and get a few hard working players in, but there is no guarantee that it will work, and only time will tell if fernandes is the right man to make us successful, but you can't say he isn't at least trying to do what's best.
