..... David Moyes: Soon as Manchester United ditch him , a full court press to secure him instantly . Would be brilliant ! IMO
Not so fast. A coach should be measured not on what you win, but on the value and performance he is able to extract with the resources on hand. Moyes walked into United and inherited a United squad that had walked away with the title the season before. They didn't all become mediocre overnight. He had talent to work with layers deep. He has the luxury of a forward in Hernandez sitting on the bench - a player that would be an automatic start at most Prem clubs outside the top 7 let's say. Compare with Sousa! I know, I know, not everybody's cup of tea. But, the guy arrived late and started the season with a negative goal difference of -23 over the previous season as a result of the players that left or were injured in Scotland, Gomez, and Bodde. He had a leaky defense and yet still overcame the projected goal difference deficit. He was not supported with transfer funds for a striker of any value (Beattie, Kuqi, Trundle). He just missed qualifying for the play-offs. Now this is how to turn **** into gold. This is a coach that was able to maximize the return on the resources he was given. Forget Moyes. We need somebody that can really coach; somebody capable of turning **** into gold because one thing we all know for sure .... HJ will not spend a penny more than he has to, and he thinks players like Beattie, Kuqi, Trundle - then under Rogers we had Moore and Lita - and more recently Ngog (where has he disappeared to) and Emnes - all have competitive value. And ... Lita. These days, is he Monk's idea or HJ's. Moyes - no thanks, not for me.
Moyes wouldn't come here even if he was fired imo. I actually like the idea of Sousa back here. He's earned a lot since his departure and has publicly said he regrets leaving. He's done well elsewhere and his teams have scored lots of goals. As for Jenkins the trouble is that because his decisions have not normally been that far off the mark he's forgetting the huge slices of luck we've had in buying very good players at low cost. You simply can't keep doing that imo. Remember, he was whingeing about the cost of Bony whereas many of us said that was actually a good bit of business bearing in mind the top clubs that were sniffing around him. Because we've got lucky in the past I honestly think that Jenkins doesn't believe you have to spend significant sums of money to maintain your position in the Prem, let alone progress and this is where he was sometimes at odds with Laudrup. I actually think that answer lies somewhere in between. You can get some bargains that pay off but sometimes you just have to fork out even if you don't like it. As for next season if you factor into the equation that Monk may be in charge he simply won't have the contacts or the name to attract players, foreign or otherwise, that actually have talent at the right price. If they have talent we aren't going to be the only club after them so we have to offer something different.
There's maybe a bit of sentiment creeping in but all valid comments , as the old saying goes "you never know what you had till it's gone " the majority (obviously including the Board ) were happy to see him go and I include myself only because of the negativity he brought to our game ,after watching Martinez's team play with abandon it was a bit of a culture shock to watch the opposite with Sousa, if only the two could have been morphed into one ,now that would have been interesting .
Thanks - I posted a new thread a few days around the time of Sousa's departure on the old BBC 606 called "The Case for Sousa" or something like that, where I outlined all of is accomplishments for us. It did a great job for us.
In fairness to Sousa he was limited with his up front choices - Pintado springs to mind. It was a bore fest under him but we've got to remember the team he had to work with I suppose. Defensively we were very hard to score against, hence our high finish in the Championship under him. As I said he did well at Videoton in Hungary and is now in Israel I think. We could do a lot worse. He knows the Club and would love another crack at it i'm sure.
Taking a job in the Prem at a Club he knows? He'd bite our hand off. Thing is HJ may not want him back and I'm sure there are many fans who would disagree with our assessment of him.
If I remember correctly, he basically came in by himself and used the residual backroom staff - Curtis, Pascoe etc.. If that happened again, Sousa arriving without his own staff, he would most likely have to have Monk report to him, which I am not a big fan of at all given Monk's reported involvement in player-power-politics.
I liked Sousa, and I didn't like how Jenkins treated him, I know he was negative with our football, but what else could he do without any decent strikers? It was Sousa that gave us the defencive edge that we lacked under Martinez, we became one of the best defence's in the Championship that season, and while having Sousa back would be the stuff of fairy tales, we could do a hell of a lot worse, because he would make us very hard to score against even at this level, I'd have him back in a heart beat, trouble is would Huw Jenkins? very much doubt it, as he has a problem in burying the hatchet!................
As far as I can see Jenkins doesn't like "names" he can't control. It's my greatest worry that he will go with Monk, not because of his ability but because of his familiarity with the man. He knows that Monk is extremely grateful for his shot at becoming a Premier League manager, a position that his coaching qualifications and experience in no way should allow him anywhere near the job at this point in time. Consequently, Monk will toe Jenkins' line to keep the job, which will please Jenkins no end and he comes cheap which will please him even more. What this will do to our Premier League aspirations remains to be seen. As for Sousa, I found his football dire but he did a very good job considering the handicaps that were placed in his way. If he has learned to attack since his time with us, given that he would be allowed more funds this time around, he could be a decent shout. Doubt that Jenkins will agree though.
Only champions Newcastle conceded fewer goals than us in Sousa's season - 35 to our 37 This season as a comparison only Burnley (34) have let in less and have 5 games remaining. However, he also suffered from player power influencing the board and leading to Leon using him as an excuse to look for pastures greener. The drawback was too many draws 18 and not quite enough goals, but said he really was tied in the transfer market. If we could keep most our players (good ones) he'd get us top 10. Had success with domestic (and some European) with Videoton and Maccabi Tel Aviv FC are currently top of their league with 62 goals from 29 games and only 20 conceded (W22 D5 L2) . Not great leagues but having winning way is positive. I'd be amazed if he came back but he'd certainly be worth it in my book.
We scored 40 goals under Sousa in 46 games I think , some kind of ****ty record . I was happy to see Sousa go , he **** on Huw , Britton and the practicality of the club in general . I had a theory about Moyes being a great manager at a smaller club and not so great at a big club, which I think I was right . He would be perfect for us and we for him imo. He needs to get back to his roots of doing lots with little .
I stand by my support for Sousa - Arrived late June - club in chaos after being raided by Wigan and Martinez. Our main strikers were Beattie (injury prone) and Trundle (31 unfit and failed at that level with Bristol) and Gorka (31 my hero post Savage but not prolific) Lack of strike power prompted our board to by in 32 year old Shefki Kuqi (his 12th club, a player I liked and will never forget his 'diving headed goal') Ferrie was also sidelined that season. I am surprised we weren't fighting relegation.
I'm with you all the way,Bob. Sousa has been much maligned on this,and previous BBC Forum. There is a tendency to dismiss former players and managers on here,and that's very regrettable.
