What's going wrong?

[Diego]

I guess I am happy that we aren't just throwing massive amounts of cash (relative to the Manc clubs at least) at everything. But you have to wonder why we are struggling to keep hold of managers for more than 2 seasons now....
And why we keep having wildly bi polar seasons, great one year, ****e (Or mediocre at least) the next.
And I have thought a lot about this, and it is because every time we win the league, the managers always have an inclination to build on that success and move forward (which usually means spending cash, and does carry some risk), but the board seems content and says "Nah, we won the league last year, we dont need to change anything, dont fix what aint broken" and we then stagnate, the players get disgruntled and we lose a manager and/or a key player or two and we end up back where we started.

I guess I am just frustrated that despite the leaps we have made, the academy players we have and the successes we have had, we are unable to sustain any sort of momentum, we just keep getting peaks and troughs.
But then we have won more trophies than any other club in the last 5 years I guess, so I cannot complain too much

And that goes back to what I said about Fergie, he would ask the board for 1 player he thought could improve the team and if anything was left strengthen the squad.
I fear we will be in the same situation as you now, Jose will want another 3 or 4 expensive players this season to try and catch City, if he gets knocked back the dummy will go.
One top signing per season may take 3 or 4 years to reach the top but that is what re-building is all about, building for the long term not next year.

 

[Chelsea Pensioner]

I guess I am happy that we aren't just throwing massive amounts of cash (relative to the Manc clubs at least) at everything. But you have to wonder why we are struggling to keep hold of managers for more than 2 seasons now....
And why we keep having wildly bi polar seasons, great one year, ****e (Or mediocre at least) the next.
And I have thought a lot about this, and it is because every time we win the league, the managers always have an inclination to build on that success and move forward (which usually means spending cash, and does carry some risk), but the board seems content and says "Nah, we won the league last year, we dont need to change anything, dont fix what aint broken" and we then stagnate, the players get disgruntled and we lose a manager and/or a key player or two and we end up back where we started.

I guess I am just frustrated that despite the leaps we have made, the academy players we have and the successes we have had, we are unable to sustain any sort of momentum, we just keep getting peaks and troughs.
But then we have won more trophies than any other club in the last 5 years I guess, so I cannot complain too much

Frustration is my problem too. Some fans are quite happy that we are there or thereabouts most years, and it's true we are. But with simple clear planning, and spending no more than we do, maybe even less, we could have built a team with a base of 6 or 7 top notch players, + 4 or 5 just below that level, some on the way up, some down, and a squad we could interchange and not see the joins. That way, most seasons we would need only one new player, and would retain our squad at a level we can only dream about.
Instead we have this constant 2 steps forward, two back every other season.
That's interesting in its' own way, but it's not how Abramovich would run his business ( I hope) and not the way to run the Club in this day and age. Can't argue with the success, (at a cost of some 3.5 billion in wages and transfers as owner )but he'll need double that to do it again next 15. If he doesn't have that, he'll need to re assess his methodology to keep us up there.