Not sure I can remember the last time a manager was appointed and I immediately and fully approved. Pardew was nice in the way that it reflected the fact that we suddenly had lots of money, but I always doubted his character. Pearson was obviously an upgrade but I wasn't sure he was the right one. Perhaps Burley.
Sounds good in isolation, but it's not quite as good as the "he's already been over for an interview" story.
I have just got of the phone from my Dutch colleague. His assessment in a nutshell: 1. If you tell him to develop what he has and work with the youth then he'll be excellent 2. If you give him a wad of cash to spend, he will muck it up. He said he has a knack of signing the wrong players for the wrong positions.
I'm here, think So'ton have a chance of getting Koeman. He's out of contract, wont make head coach of the national team for the next 4 years and has said he wants to move abroad again. He has always aimed a bit too high when it comes to clubs outside the Eredivisie, Benfica and Valencia were both massive failures on his part. He wont make that same mistake with the Saints as he know the club only got promoted recently and people the fans dont expect instant Europa League or Champions League qualification. I'm not saying, you can't wrong with him, but he is a manager that can build a team and make young players better. But as with most Dutch managers, he will need the time, lots of it. Feyenoord had their worst start of the season in the club's history, in September they were 17th on the table, but in the end he finished second and even had a tiny shot at the title.
Signings-wise there is nothing you can say accurately in all honesty, he hasnt made any signings in three years at Feyenoord. The players that did came in under his reign, Janmaat-Pelle-Guidetti-Immers-Singh-Bakkal only Singh failed miserably. Bakkal had a second spell at Feyenoord but never got playing because during his time at Sparta Moscow, the guy gained so much weight from sitting on the bench he was unfit to play throughout the season. What does vouch for him is that he lost key players in almost every season at Feyenoord but everytime did manage to create a new team from scratch.
Er, Cove, did you say people won't expect instant Europa or champions league qualification? You haven't been reading what some if the dreamers post in here
Is it wise for a recently promoted club to expect European qualification as the standard? Think not. Sure it's nice and all to be ambitious but don't overdo it.
No-one expects it as standard, but nobody expected us to finish 8th in the premier league five years after being relegated to league one either, and I think people have been given a lot of (perhaps too much) hope by the way we have progressed recently.
