We all have views using hindsight about the mistakes or good decisions we have made in our lives. Should I have got married so young, should I have used “family planning” when sewing my wild oats, and would I have had kids if I knew then what I know now. Now we are nearing the season end what are your hindsight views on the team’s performance and the key decisions made? Mine football wise are simple in that nothing is for ever. Cotterill was last season’s man. Had we had a manager this season who was more tactically aware we would have established ourselves by now as a mid table team. Perhaps if we had signed Gray we could have flirted with the play offs. In summary we appear to have made the right decisions in changing key personnel. Let’s hope the new ones deliver next year
I have been saying for years that I hope our off season proves fruitful and that the decisions made would take us to the next level but as yet we still appear mired in our own poor decisions. Will this summer be any different or have we finally come up with a plan (not another 5 year one please) that will make us more competitive and allow us the possibility of improvement? I'm not convinced we have learnt from the past and until such time as we shake the trees and see what we come up with there is little chance of anything other than the status quo rearing it's head again.
Just out of interest, you say you don't like Lansdown any more so who should fund these transfer dealings that you want to happen? Because at the moment I don't think we are earning what we are currently paying. So the shortfall is being made by someone.
The answer to the question is in fact the very title of the thread... We can all be wise after the event but until we've actually travelled down the road, generally speaking, no one knows what the outcome will be. I believe that this is called this "life", it's all just one giant 80-90 year long version of "Sliding doors". Now you could argue that signing 1 player in the summer would lead us to be exactly where we are and you would be right so, lets hope that we learn the lesson from many seasons of mistakes and get it right this time round. As JGF says, the biggest pointer of how to get it right was in SC's one and only closed season where pretty much all of our new signings were made early and look what the outcome was. If we go through another pre season of dithering and trying to save a few quid, we will be in the same boat again so hopefully, Mr Ashton's agents meetings will mean that he will have his targets ready and lined up by the end of THIS season, go and get them and let's move on....
Last season was nearly perfect and most of the luck went out way. This season we should have aimed at consolidation and aimed for the mid table between 15th and 10th. We were too ambitious with our signings and so when they didn't come we were left stranded with an incredibly shallow squad. I would have signed 4-5 championship level squad players and a few bigger signings if possible. With a bigger and varied squad tactics could've been changed and different game plans tried out. The shallow narrowminded 3-5-2 approach was too predictable for teams who did their homework and inept for decent championship quality. We can all agree that 4 at the back has made a big difference.
I think that was the plan, it just did not fit in with the ego of some of the management who thought we were home and hosed with a couple of signings for top 6.... because no one else regularly played 3 -5 -2 he must have thought it was invincible and no one had an answer ...! turned out a pallet of eggs on his face ..
'In summary we appear to have made the right decisions in changing key personnel' Appointing Junior was a poor decision. It might well turn out to be a lucky decision, but it wasn't based on achievement or experience.
But does experience guarantee success? Having said that I said the decision to change was the right one not those appointed
**** me give the bloke a chance, even Fergie and Mourino was once considered as a chance and not based on experience. Not saying he will be as successful as them, but I'm also not saying he won't be, because it's the future, me or even you can't predict that. The one thing I do know is, if we didn't take the chance on him and he took some other club to the prem one day, 99% of city fans would be saying why didn't we get him when we could.
Redprintt has a massive hangup regarding the Johnsons, LJ especially, in his eyes it will always be a poor decision to appoint him....(and it might be) Redprintt has the gun loaded, ready and waiting!! I just hope LJ keeps us up, so he and SL can live for just a few more months!!
