Whilst he did an amazing job getting us to top 6 and we do need to strengthen the squad I can understand our reluctance to allow him more money this summer.
If we get our recruitment right for our next manager and it’s completed quickly this could work out for the best.
FOOTBALL HINGES on a couple of differing things......
A solid plan to build to a promotion
Luck based on the failure of others
and an ability to be in the top half [ average team ] for most of the season, and almost taking an opportunist chance when it opens.
City this past season pretty much touched on all 3 ! The main aim when bringing in Liam was to build a squad fit to go for promotion / top 6. City 2024/25 were always just another average team, each segment/ quarter of the season saw them struggling to targetting 68/69 points. Team in 6th forcast mostly was always above 71/72+.
the interesting/ factual/ statistic of 2024/25 was that 6th position points forcast was pretty static, why? well it was a remnant sort of thing, a team would get a run and take it to 5th then get a bad run so after a few games the points in 6th were there from the falling team from 5th and surpassed by others climbing to 5th. other than top 4 there were at least 5 teams maybe 6? [ after first 12 games ] to get to 5th and 9/10? into top 6!
LIAM achieved part 1 of the plan to build a team, it is pretty much taken that a players best years tend to be from 24 /25 onward, so thats why the under developed 18 plus year olds are a necessary addition to a squad [ even on the edges or on loan ] Armstrong and Fayulu were part of this "build" as were Twine and Yu 3 out of 4 aint bad! Although Armstrong was the weakest of the trio but improved! Fayulu needs a bit of TLC if "homesick" a good run in the team maybe..
sell to buy? [ City's stratedgy ] Well looks like Norwich might do the same ! get rid of 2 centre pins and need to find replacements! so be wary LM it could fall out of bed, as they have never really [ recent times ] had a quality team to keep them in Prem . up down up down etc 2024/25 was supposed to have been their year! [ again! ]
sorry to him go but that's football