A niggling voice at the back of my mind wonders whether everything that has happened since January has actually been planned (broadly speaking). That is, that the Liebherrs saw Nicola as someone to reinstate the Club in the Premier League and leave it in a healthy position. From this point, the plan could be to restructure to engineer stability, sustainability and to steadily improve, but not at the breakneck speed of the past five years. The wholesale changes could be part of that.
Markus was here so briefly...doubt he had the chance to think beyond the five year plan. He may even initially have considered selling at that point, though whether he would have done so we will never know.
I certainly believe the plan was to restructure the club. Nicola, enjoying much success in his autocratic system, didn't like it and went his own way.
It's been the plan for a long time, for about 10 years now in fact. A glass of sauvignon blanc has been raised in celebration this evening deep within Woodward manor...
It's more than 10 years. Rupert Lowe's dream of healthy profits and lower-mid-table-at-best finishes financed by the sale of Academy products is about to come true.
I think the plan is more and more clear. Krueger was open and honest today. We are trying to be a realistic club that reacts as best it can to difficult situations. We have inherited a group of players interested in short cuts and fairy tales. We no longer treat players like princesses but offer them the opportunity to work as a team to achieve the best it can. I am not sure there is any more plan than that.
Is it as cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on, and is now working for the UN at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning?
