I agree it was a very good team, but also believe that the team was better than the sum of its parts. A lot of that credit has to go to Pardew for that season. There were better overall squads who finished below us.
Doctor Who...Do you know anyone that fits the bill. Anyway, you have to take or grasp the feel good factor from such enigmatic leaders.
Very very average manager who weirdly excelled here. Did a good job under shocking ownership. As we’ve seen before and since, Ashley is a tricky boss at best. Of course it would have been interesting to see how he’d gone if we’d invested more than Anita after a cracking season but we will never know. A critical opportunity missed but he may not have taken us upwards anyway. Love him or loath him he will go down as providing some of, if not the best players, football, results and general excitement of any time in Ashley’s reign. He worked under the same constraints as the others and stuck out 5 seasons, was never relegated, provided European football. Our fans understandably struggle badly with him. They hated him before he joined so was on a hiding to nothing. He was never gonna improve that with his obvious arrogance. He’s not likeable. So he’s never judged fairly by fans or just purely in the terms of results etc. It’s fair enough giving him a bit of stick about his behaviour, but refusing to recognise how well he did here seems short sighted. Given that the same people rank Rafa as a genius tells it’s own story.