Chrysalis

He didnt want to leave.

Why rely on the press when our leadership can jump out of their bunker instead and just say it.

The salary on the new comers shows we havent learnt anything. (if anywhere near accurate).

Only way he is going back I expect is if he is injured. We should pay it off like you said and move on, but we wont, the same way we refuse to cut losses to trim the squad.

He doesnt need to be in it day to day to be incompetent. I would say he is quite possibly both.

It would work, but the biggest clubs would throw a hissy fit as they lose a lot of advantage they get from their higher spending limits, likewise the advantages established clubs have over promoted clubs, and parachute clubs over championship. PSR is the root of all of it. The sport so desperately needs a regulator.

His game plan appears to be different to Cooper's, but we dont know yet if its better, unless you judging it on number of passes or something. The last game is one of the weirdest games I have ever watched Man City were playing like a bottom three team, sitting back and relying on the counter. They were completely devoid of confidence. Yet despite that we still lost by 2 goals, we did look much better in terms of possession than previous games because of it though. Sadly lacking an effective plan in the final 3rd hence not scoring.

19th

From what I read the contracts we gave out in the championship summer were still pretty high wages, not fitting for the league we were in.

I think back to when we were in the EFL under Pearson, it felt like back then the signings were above the quality of the league we were in which I feel is the way to go. The problem of going for players to get you up the next season, is they wont be good enough the season after if promoted, that to me feels the more short sighted route. Going for championship players when in the EPL is what yo yo clubs do.

Cooper did well although people keep refusing to believe it, he overachieved for us. As expected we will probably end up relegated now. I feel like Ipswich are the ones most likely to stay up out of us 3 that came up, they too have quality issues, but they look like they attack with more purpose. They also have closed the gap to us indicating better momentum. Wolves will be fine, Palace will probably be also, Everton is the main one, and I feel they will get probably get at least mid 30 points. So from us probably do need 7 wins and a few draws or 6 wins and a lot of draws. End of season is always chance to up PPG against teams on the beach but this season seems like due to the improvement of the mid tier of the league, lots of teams at that point may still be battling for Europe. Its a very tall order, I feel like the 7 wins route is more likely as 6 wins with loads of draws requires us to not lose more games, already a very tall order to even not lose 7 more games I think.

If top stays long enough, either Lampard or Rooney will be manager at some point.

What an article, very well written and on the ball. Need that in mainstream media.

You can do still do well in the environment with shrewd spending and contract negotiations. We have a higher wage bill than Forest who are currently top 4, scrapped most analytics, and clearly have inadequate scouting, there is always bargain aisle to sign up untapped stars, and then its about squad management, getting rid of players surplus to requirements. Its not a fairy tale, other clubs are doing it. People need to accept the club leadership is a bombshell right now. Problem is cultural at this point.

Our recruitment is so random, I dont have much faith in us coming out of the window with much of an improvement, and if Mads goes there is a fair chance we come out of it weakened. How many non EPL players have we been linked with? that massive scouting circle we have.

Yes but what makes you think we broke the financial rules of the championship? The embargo was done based on emotions and not evidence.

What rules have we previously broken? we never got successfully charged with anything.

More dithering only makes it more expensive as well, are they expecting deflation or something? I still have the opinion its not happening under this ownership now, the plans include KP hotels, when KP is no longer our owner, and there is little evidence that they willing to put this sort of investment into the club going forward. Are they even capable as it now has to come out of personal wealth not KP income. The plans also lacked ambition 40k is a bit 'meh', should have been 48k, and doing that alongside not self imposing a embargo 2 summers ago we would be in a much better position, and probably would have filled it or close to filled it. Now it feels like proportionally compared to other clubs the 31k or so capacity we currently have in 5 years will be like when we were back at filbert street. We also wont be an established EPL club under this current ownership again, so if thats a requirement its off.

I believe we fell in their permitted losses, otherwise what was the point of selling KDH in that window? Reducing a breach doesnt prevent a deduction, you either breached or you havent, so selling to reduce a breach is pointless.

Yep, they dont have to do much defending, because of how good the forward/midfield players are. Obviously really well coached as well.

Yeah, small chance of Palace or Everton not making it, but I think if they dont make it, its going to need one of the promoted teams to get at least high 30s. We were crap in the wrong seasons, but cant complain, as we got 81 points in a rare season when all the usual candidates had a bad one.

I would say 2 keepers is plenty, they rarely injured and if they both were we would likely be allowed to make an emergency signing. The problem of course we have a DoF who cant shift him or cant tear up his contract.

I think we would have lost 3 league games in a row by at least a 3 goal margin for the first time since 1958 had Ward played.

Yes Top would be completely lost without Rudkin, he has made Rudkin unsackable by having him as sole advisor, sole footballing executive.

He didnt end well, but it seems he was right on the squad needing a rebuild in the end. Rodgers failed for all his brain farts during the season, the club failed for u turning on summer strategy last minute, sacking him too late, and then failing to recognise the core issues by not sacking Rudkin. Problem is fans in the stadium think Top is a god, and wont criticise anyone sitting in the box.