I am saying this as somebody who does not care one way or the other. If Sage turns it around, brilliant but I don't think he will because he is hindered by the cards dealt by the board.
Why people want him to stay has more to do with what might follow. A return to RoyBall.
I've got to say I will take that at the moment because I am tired of watching what we are watching at the moment and having someone like Spurs treat that win like they won the league is too much for me to take.
It is quite scary the lack of managers out there though and when the chips are down Parish will turn to a reset under a Dyche/Frank etc. For me if that is what we end up doing and saying that is the end of the Golden Cycle and we treat this as a back to basics re-set then Dyche is probably the best out there for that task.
f*** me though. How can we have been in the premier league so long and still be so close at all times to collapse. I watched Sunday Supplement this morning and they discussed Brighton. You can't argue that the structure there is superb and as they said, they can afford to get rid of there best players because the owner has full control and most importantly the 'Vision' to keep the train rolling on.
We should have moved forwards several steps after winning the FA cup. Money should have been available to make JPM the highest paid striker. Sarr should have been given more so he did not get his head turned so easily and an actual fixed sum agreed should either of there heads get turned. That is the main stays sorted. Max and Munoz should have been nowhere near being able to leave. When MG left the first priority should have been getting in a proper proven centre back. Not £18m a proper fully experienced centre back.
It would not have needed much. There was no stopping Eze and MG going but the rest is just self harm and shows the lack of vision at our club.
and yes I am aware that we have had it the best we have ever had it and I will always be grateful for that but f*** me the running of our club is f***ing shocking.
The thing is, I don’t actually think the running of the club is that bad. I agree that some of the decision-making doesn’t appear particularly joined up, but equally, you have to accept that football clubs evolve.
We got very lucky with a golden generation of players who blended together exceptionally well, much like we did in the early 80s and arguably again in the early 90s. I can appreciate why some people think we’ve hit the self-destruct button, but there’s a wider reality here.
We’re not a club that can afford to spend £50m or £60m on a player and simply shrug our shoulders if it doesn’t work out. Historically, when we’ve spent big, it hasn’t always gone particularly well. What we’ve actually been very good at is assembling a collection of raggy dolls, players who might not necessarily fit elsewhere but somehow fit perfectly with us.
The idea that we’d keep Eze, Zaha and Olise together indefinitely was always fanciful. Once players reach that level, bigger clubs come calling. That’s the double-edged sword of success.
And we’ve been here before. Think back a couple of years when people were complaining about selling Andersen and bringing in Lacroix. Yet Lacroix turned out to be an upgrade in virtually every respect. We sold Bolasie for the best part of £30m, and unfortunately he suffered a serious knee injury shortly after joining Everton. We’ve generally been pretty good at knowing when to move players on. We didn’t cash in on Docoure - and look what happened there.
No, I don’t think Matt Hobbs is as good as Dougie Freedman. But I also don’t think our recruitment is the fundamental problem here.
For years, one of our biggest issues has been failing to play to the strengths of the players we actually have. We had Benteke up front in a Roy Hodgson side, despite not having the sort of wingers delivering cross after cross that would have suited him. But at least Roy understood how to organise a defence and make us difficult to beat.
That’s what I want from a manager. Someone who looks at the tools at his disposal and works out how to get the best from them. I’m fairly convinced there are managers out there who could get a decent tune out of this squad.
In fact, I think our squad depth is better now than it has been for some time. The problem is the leadership and organisation on the pitch, and ultimately that comes from the manager.
Personally, I wouldn’t have a goalkeeper as captain. I’d seriously consider Chris Richards or even Will Hughes, someone who can lead from the middle of the action and organise the players around him.
And surely everyone can see we’re crying out for some steel in midfield? I like Kamada and Wharton. They’re technically good players who can offer creativity, but neither is a natural defensive shield. If your defence is struggling, you protect it. You don’t continually leave it exposed and act surprised when the same thing keeps happening.
At the moment, we don’t seem to have a recognisable identity. We’re not particularly solid defensively, we’re not especially effective going forward, and we’re not playing to the strengths of the players we’ve got.
Some of this is undoubtedly transition. We’re never going to be a club that attracts the very biggest names, regardless of whether we can occasionally afford the transfer fees. And whenever we develop genuinely outstanding players, other clubs are going to notice. That’s football, and it’s a cycle we’re going to have to keep managing.
But what’s interesting is that many of the complaints we’re hearing now are exactly the same complaints we heard a few years ago, before the next group of players came together.
I don’t think the squad is fundamentally broken, and I don’t think the club is being run into the ground. I think we’ve got a group of players who need organising, protecting and given a clear identity.
Above all, we need a manager who can lead from the front, recognise what he’s actually got and adapt accordingly.
Because at the moment, I see far more evidence of a coaching problem than a recruitment problem.
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