When I were a kid that was the difference between signing Trevor Francis or Ray Hankin (who looks unfeasibly like Joel Piroe btw). We got Ray Hankin.
This is genuinely interesting and shows how difficult it is so, genuine question. Rads got us promoted by hiring one of the worlds most expensive coaches and his entourage and turned a bang average squad into something amazing. Almost without fail, we loved it. I really can’t be arsed checking the figures but, let’s say, he then spent £10 million on Kristiannson, £10 million on Llorente, £12 million on Koch, £15 million on Firpo, £15 million on Aaronson, £35 million on Rodrigo, £17 million on Raphinha, £10 million on Roca, made the Harrison deal permanent, brought the ladies team back into the club, brought the stadium back into the club, reopened Thorpe Arch properly with swimming pool et al (no jokes, electricians to line up the power points so the players could sit in a uniform line). I’ve probably missed some but, you get the point. What are you hoping for with the new guys when there really are no guarantees?
That they take us to the next step. Radz undo previous damage and buy the ground back - Ticked (huge thank you to Bielsa) This is no under achievement, unpicking what Bates, Cellino and GFH did must have been a monumental task. Radz then passed us on to seemingly safe hands 49ers expand stadium (was hoping for new) and establish us in the PL for 2-3 seasons then hand us over to RB or some other Arab Emirates type ownership - On course
First point to note from Paraag interview last night was all recruitment will be a collective thing. Farke will have final say. Gone are the days of allowing the imbecile orta run the club. Even radz in an interview yesterday stating he took a step too far back from the running of things and other matters got in the way. Also a big plus 49ers don’t interact with fans on twitter etc. some painful stuff in the past too
I don’t understand why so many of you are worried about the PSR rules. They limit how big a loss a club can make, don’t they? Maybe someone can explain why I’m wrong to think that a limit of say £65m loss is not a disadvantage vs a limit of £105m. If your owners don’t want make significant losses, is the limit really the main constraint?
A new coach comes in, they work with what they have, they succeed or fail, nobody could have imagined the success Bielsa would have had with what he inherited, that works at lower level if you are good At PL level it is a different class of player, coaches can't go toe to toe with those established teams, McKenna tried it at Ipswich and it failed. I don't have a problem now with a director of football brining in quality players. I do have a problem when you have a Jesse Marsh brining in a load of players he wants to work with and none work out as you sack him and the next guy is left with the dross Yes they need to work with the coach but caution is needed, for example, what if Farke said I want to Sign Vardy - That's an extreme scenario but you surely can't allow a coach to have total say in who comes in.
Agreed. A definitive playing style and a squad of players to match that style. That’s what a DOF brings. So that when the coach leaves, the incoming coach has the same attributes as the outgoing one so there’s no need for a complete overhaul of the squad. Unfortunately when Bielsa left, with the squad inundated with wingers, Marsch was brought in with his narrow formation/no wingers philosophy which was a total waste of years of foundation building. So when/if Farke is sacked by say November, having spent millions building the squad with players of his choice, the club is restricted to searching for a coach to match the squad.
I was Orta's biggest critic when he joined. But he did inherit challenges. We had no youth set up. So he bought one... but it was at the expense of first team players. Which was too forward thinking for the circumstances. He has an ego and obviously wanted a coach he could control initially hence TC . He was given a lot of freedom, but from what i understand he, practically ran the club and kept it together. He then went out and got Bielsa and after that, there are as many hits as misses in my view. Yes we signed some dross, but we also signed some players who made us a huge profit and when you look at the players he tried to get, and some of them very nearly joined... he clearly did have an eye for young players who could make the step up. Even the much maligned Marsch period... of those signings... only Aaronson will be worth less than paid for. And he was identified under Bielsa. Most of the others are/were there or there abouts what we paid and some will have made a tidy paper profit. Almost all are playing for senior clubs in top european leagues. DFs are there to provide continuity to a footballing brand, agree with that - except when you sack them! Strongly disagree with those that say the Marsch type players were so different to those required by Bielsa. Role of wingers was very different as Forza says - some wingers adept better to being inverted than others, harrison struggled, summerville was made for it... but the formula of high tempo, high energy, pressing, superfit athletes was broadly the same profile of players as Bielsa. It's why they went for marsch in the first place.
