Simple question; Who do people place the most amount of blame on for our demise this season? Khan? Jol? The Rene/Wilkins/Curbs experiment? The players? Magath? Mackintosh? Al Fayed? Anyone else?
I do not think it is any one persons fault. This season the club has undergone huge changes from the top to the bottom and it has not worked. We have always been a solid team built on a solid structure. This season we have been a vulnerable team built on a vulnerable structure. Unfortunately, in the premiership all weaknesses are exploited.
I'd rather not play the blame game, there are alot of things that were wrong and we could debate it for ever though I would remove Magath from the list above. Let's instead have a thread about what needs to be done in the summer and looking forward
I think the blame has to fall on al Fayed and his decision to paper over the cracks while he tried to sell. Of course that sums up the pointlessness of pointing fingers, because al Fayed also deserves alot of the 'blame' for ensuring our survival and bringing us to the Premier League and the Europa League final.
Yes, we've done nothing but play the blame game all season, now we know our fate we can look forward to next season.
I'd say our biggest mistake was panicking after Jol left. We needed a clear head at that point to identify a new boss for the long haul, give him January to make some signings and then go from there. But we've been muddling through all year and we're all sick of it. It's done, there's no point in recriminations. Let's look forward and plan for the future. Finally.
You have to say we got what we deserved. The poor leadership from the start of the season crippled us. Jol was given far too long when it was clear the players weren't going to play for him. The investment from the new chairman "to take us to the next level" as he said when he came in, never materialised and waiting to see what happened was a mistake. The appointment of Rene, nice enough bloke and good coach though he is, was an error and it is during this period that our goal difference got out of hand and we started getting thumped nearly every week by everyone. Liverpool, Man Utd, Hull, everyone was putting 3 or 4 past us. We let Rene have a January transfer window where we bought in players who, with the exception of Holtby have done nothing for us and we laid out £12 million on a Greek striker who has started twice since January. Loaning Dempsey back was a pointless waste of time. We then sacked the manager again and brought in some quality but by this time it was too late. Tellingly one of the things Felix has said is that when he spoke to people around the club they told him not to worry because the last 10-12 game run in was fairly easy and they could pick up the points they needed there. Complacency from inside the club at its very worst. We were a dire team, who couldn't score goals and couldn't defend, hadn't invested and was lacking pace and creativity all over the pitch. To imagine that, simply because our last 10 games included teams like Crystal Palace, Hull, Cardiff & West Brom we would magically get the results we need was fantasy of the highest standards. I've said on other threads, I'd like Magath to stay (despite what Rodney Marsh says about him being the wrong manager and us now needing a Warnock or Dave Jones taking over - Warnock? No bloody thank you. I'd rather have Sanchez back. Overall, we have not deserved to survive this year and if we had somehow clambered over Sunderland with the fight they have been showing in the last few games, it really would have been an injustice.
There's plenty to go around, but I'd level most at MAF. I think this season could have been salvaged, but Khan waited too long to get rid of Jol, not giving the Rene time to find adequate replacements at the January transfer windows. Then bringing in Felix, I think was a mistake. OK, his credentials were impressive, but the team seemed to be righting itself under Rene just as Felix came in to stir up the pot again. But really, it was MAF. He gets 90% in my book, 10% for the new owner.
yes an accumulation of factors, but slightly edging the blame game for me was JOL, a total incompetent who nearly bankrupted Spurs some 12yrs ago and was not dismissed sooner, and Ali Mac who sanctioned much of what went on.
It can be traced back to when Dempsey and Dembele were sold. Before then we looked like a team going places (a team managed by Jol), but the two D's weren't replaced adequately and we never saw their transfer fees again.
Agreed ... Dempsey, Dembele and Murphy's retirement was the beginning of the end. The miraculous signing of Berbatov obfuscated what a disaster it was not replacing those three with players of equal quality. There were games in 2011 and 2012 where our midfield dominated against clubs like Cheslea, Arsenal and Liverpool thanks to Dempsey, Dembele, Murphy and Duff. In 2011-12, we pulled the double over Liverpool and only finished behind them in the table based on goal difference. Ah, those were the days ...
Nail on the head, Fulhaman. It underlines the complacency and above all how unprofessional the Club have been all season. Evidenced also by: ** Hire Meulensteen to assist Jol. Things will get better. . ** Two games later. Sack Jol. Promote Meulensteen. Things will get better. ** Hire Wilkins and Curbishley to assist Meulensteen. Things will get better. ** January transfer deadline day, sign Mitroglou. Things will get better. ** Three games later. Sack Meuluensteen, Wilkins and Curbishley. Hire Magath. Things will get better. ** Seven games from the season end, sign Diarra. Things will get better. Apart from the cost of that lot (£20m??) they have been enshrined in the worst PR of all time.
Things under Jol were, at the end, awful, but that doesn't make him a bad manager. It's easy to talk about his mistakes, but which of us were calling for Dembele to be moved back into midfield before Jol tried it? He made some good signings as well as bad, including some - Karagounis, for example - which drew criticism at the time and which worked out very well. Jol is a good manager who lost the plot, not a bad one, or an idiot as some have described him.
