Are We Just a Case Study?

[FoxCal]

We were the model. Middling club to consistently challenging for European places, winning Domestic trophies, a scouting setup the envy of Europe. Even talked about as part of a possible ‘Big Seven’ at one point.

 

We’ve given clubs like Brighton the blueprint on how to push on and plenty will attempt to emulate it for years to come.

 

Now, we’re the model again but this time on what not to do. I don’t know how we got here - yes, the ludicrous contracts, the dreadful recruitment, decisions to hold onto Management who were long past their use by - but how did we lose sight of ourselves so badly? It’s no one thing, I’m aware, but this will be cited as one of the biggest falls from grace in modern sport.

 

This isn’t a case of ‘club gets investment and investment goes away’, or a long, arduous decline over years that the likes of Villa went through and Everton are in the midst of. I can’t think of a time the wheels came off this quickly. The signs were there last year, but even if I expected a poor season from us, I never could have envisioned it being this bad. That’s probably as much of the problem as anything else, though.

[Chelmofox]

1 minute ago, FoxCal said:

We were the model. Middling club to consistently challenging for European places, winning Domestic trophies, a scouting setup the envy of Europe. Even talked about as part of a possible ‘Big Seven’ at one point.

 

We’ve given clubs like Brighton the blueprint on how to push on and plenty will attempt to emulate it for years to come.

 

Now, we’re the model again but this time on what not to do. I don’t know how we got here - yes, the ludicrous contracts, the dreadful recruitment, decisions to hold onto Management who were long past their use by - but how did we lose sight of ourselves so badly? It’s no one thing, I’m aware, but this will be cited as one of the biggest falls from grace in modern sport.

 

This isn’t a case of ‘club gets investment and investment goes away’, or a long, arduous decline over years that the likes of Villa went through and Everton are in the midst of. I can’t think of a time the wheels came off this quickly. The signs were there last year, but even if I expected a poor season from us, I never could have envisioned it being this bad. That’s probably as much of the problem as anything else, though.

Nope. There is only one model that works, and that is the 'obscenely rich sugar daddy' model. All other models provide temporary success depending on how lucky you get with recruitment or youth players. Brighton and Brentford will break at some point, it will just be a matter of time. The money and player power is so obscene,  it only takes a few mistakes before you are paying complete dross crazy wages, or players are running down contracts and you can't do anything about it. 

 

For a while, lots of things aligned perfectly for us. But in hindsight, i don't think we were the model at all. Things just worked, and then they didn't.

[HybridFox]

Social experiment

[Livid]

17 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Nope. There is only one model that works, and that is the 'obscenely rich sugar daddy' model. All other models provide temporary success depending on how lucky you get with recruitment or youth players. Brighton and Brentford will break at some point, it will just be a matter of time. The money and player power is so obscene,  it only takes a few mistakes before you are paying complete dross crazy wages, or players are running down contracts and you can't do anything about it. 

 

For a while, lots of things aligned perfectly for us. But in hindsight, i don't think we were the model at all. Things just worked, and then they didn't.

Agreed, Newcastle with the size of their support and the wealth of their owners have the real potential to step up but that's about it.

[Dan]

Brighton and Brentford may not peak as high as us (in fact I highly doubt it particularly the latter) but they'll be more sustained at this level as the real genius there does come from the top in both instances.

 

Our model didn't fail, deviating from it to appease an overrated manager did.

[Ric Flair]

Said it for a long while, we are the footballing truman show.

[Stadt]

It was totally avoidable, I never really bought the model club hypothesis because our recruitment was too erratic. 

[Dan]

Just now, Stadt said:

It was totally avoidable, I never really bought the model club hypothesis because our recruitment was too erratic. 

That's also probably true. The likelier reality is we just got enormously lucky.

[Dahnsouff]

44 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Nope. There is only one model that works, and that is the 'obscenely rich sugar daddy' model. All other models provide temporary success depending on how lucky you get with recruitment or youth players. Brighton and Brentford will break at some point, it will just be a matter of time. The money and player power is so obscene,  it only takes a few mistakes before you are paying complete dross crazy wages, or players are running down contracts and you can't do anything about it. 

 

For a while, lots of things aligned perfectly for us. But in hindsight, i don't think we were the model at all. Things just worked, and then they didn't.

We were the model and it was valid but only on an extraordinarily narrow tightrope. So if you get several signings wrong, you suffer unexpected economic problems or  you are ‘forced’ to sell players you intended to keep, you just cannot do these things and proliferate the model. Only one of those points of failure we could have mitigated and that was the signings and even that is tough to legislate against without hitting the bullseye every single time.

 

I will be watching Brighton and Villa with interest.

[westernpark]

The model was set up by Nigel Pearson and his back room staff, not King Power. It was only natural that once he left, things would eventually fall apart. 

[BenTheFox]

At one point us and Southampton were the envy of all medium sized cubs in this country. What really hammers home is that unless you are one of the established elite, you're only a few bad decisions away from going down. 

[honeybradger]

3 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

We were the model and it was valid but only on an extraordinarily narrow tightrope. So if you get several signings wrong, you suffer unexpected economic problems or  you are ‘forced’ to sell players you intended to keep, you just cannot do these things and proliferate the model. Only one of those points of failure we could have mitigated and that was the signings and even that is tough to legislate against without hitting the bullseye every single time.

 

I will be watching Brighton and Villa with interest.

Villa arent well run, they just got lucky signing Emery. Compare that to ourselves who identified foreign and local talent for low prices who went on be far better than their value, we clearly had a more sustainable system. Sadly we gave an egomaniac too much power and took too long to get rid of him so it all came crumbling down.

[Chelmofox]

European football is a big factor and leads to bad decisions. The desire to increase the squad size with players who might be good enough for it clouds judgments. Then if you drop out i think its a big contributor to players downing tools. 

 

The model is all great when you are on the way up, but if peaked and you don't have unlimited resources its hard.

[Le Renard]

It has happened to a few clubs pushing towards the top end, and then it goes horribly wrong.  Leeds, Sunderland & Villa are teams that have pushed for that top 4 or 6 place, they have come unstuck due to owners pulling the plug or just financial mismanagement.  If you look at the prem, clubs like WBA, Bolton and even Stoke were talked of in glowing terms, they were pushing toward the European places at one point, then the wrong manager and wrong buys, then after it goes tits up.   It is probably us winning the Prem & FA Cup that makes it more extreme, Leeds were playing Champions League football and pushing the top clubs, so I would think we are a closer example to their demise.  Let's hope we don't end up in the wilderness for 20 years.

 

 

[Vindaloo FOX]

Enjoy the journey!! It's a good laugh 

[Le Renard]

2 minutes ago, Le Renard said:

Damn it reposted the same thing!!!

 

Edited 16 May 2023 by Le Renard

[Qwerty]

I think all but the Big 6 (well, Big 7 now) are at risk of relegation every season.  All it takes is for a few signings to under-perform, a few significant injuries, and the occasional manager who loses the dressing room  - and then you start losing games.  Every season 3 teams are relegated, and the only ones who are safe are the ones with the money. 

I think Newcastle have proven perfectly how hugely and quickly the money makes a difference. December 2021 they were 20th having not long been promoted after a crap few years.  Now they're the new members of safe elite. 

There are multiple reasons why we are where we are, but despite that, if we'd had better luck on the day we'd have been safe.  If a couple of missed penalties hadn't been missed we'd be staying up.  That's all it takes. And every team apart from the Big 7 is equally vulnerable. 

[UniFox21]

4 minutes ago, Le Renard said:

It has happened to a few clubs pushing towards the top end, and then it goes horribly wrong.  Leeds, Sunderland & Villa are teams that have pushed for that top 4 or 6 place, they have come unstuck due to owners pulling the plug or just financial mismanagement.  If you look at the prem, clubs like WBA, Bolton and even Stoke were talked of in glowing terms, they were pushing toward the European places at one point, then the wrong manager and wrong buys, then after it goes tits up.   It is probably us winning the Prem & FA Cup that makes it more extreme, Leeds were playing Champions League football and pushing the top clubs, so I would think we are a closer example to their demise.  Let's hope we don't end up in the wilderness for 20 years.

Also worth mentioning that the big 6 continue to push up the values of elite players, to the point where clubs of that size simply cannot afford. 

Cynic in me suggests they do this to ward off clubs from growing into their space. 

[volpeazzurro]

1 hour ago, Chelmofox said:

Nope. There is only one model that works, and that is the 'obscenely rich sugar daddy' model. All other models provide temporary success depending on how lucky you get with recruitment or youth players. Brighton and Brentford will break at some point, it will just be a matter of time. The money and player power is so obscene,  it only takes a few mistakes before you are paying complete dross crazy wages, or players are running down contracts and you can't do anything about it. 

 

For a while, lots of things aligned perfectly for us. But in hindsight, i don't think we were the model at all. Things just worked, and then they didn't.

Borussia Dortmund are making a fair fist of it?

[shailen]

What we've shown is the importance of being proactive especially at board room level. 

 

Not signing new players, allowing a manager to destroy the soul of the club, not having a plan to replace him...it's literally capitulated in one season! 

[Balj]

We were successful as for a few seasons everything went our way from signings to injuries to other clubs resetting - a few things going wrong in signings and injuries (Brendan screwed our injury treatment team and signings without the Board intervening) meant the wheels started to come off even in our last ‘top 4’ season - that game against spurs on the last day was eerily prescient in terms of our character. The Club just didn’t see or arrest the decline in time - most of us who go week in week out saw it. We need a reset in management and signings that is progressive, yes using data to analyse signings and get from abroad if better value. I hope the Club have a vision which is more imaginative than Dean, Scott or any other merry go round manager. God save us from a Gerrard or Lampard! 

Edited 16 May 2023 by Balj

[cruzFOX]

We lost our way massively. When you change things too much this is what happens and nobody to course correct it.

the danger signs have been their all along this season but we continued to ignore them at our peril.

 

the biggest disappointment is that as a club is the negligence to get relegated. Finishing mid table or safely outside the relegation zone is a bad season but to drop into it and not get out is alarming. We watch games now and it’s like players have a death wish willing themselves to lose more than win. How did they become so dispirited and uncaring? 
 

Every season 3 teams go down but the real tragedy is it’s us Leicester City the club that gave the world the greatest underdog story and now we disapear into insignificance. Vichai once had a dream that eventually came true and then turned into a nightmare. Maybe the dream was not meant to last forever.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Borussia Dortmund are making a fair fist of it?

Much easier to sustain in Germany, where there is only one obscenely rich, dominant force. In England there are now 7.

[erlee]

12 minutes ago, Qwerty said:

I think all but the Big 6 (well, Big 7 now) are at risk of relegation every season.  All it takes is for a few signings to under-perform, a few significant injuries, and the occasional manager who loses the dressing room  - and then you start losing games.  Every season 3 teams are relegated, and the only ones who are safe are the ones with the money. 

I think Newcastle have proven perfectly how hugely and quickly the money makes a difference. December 2021 they were 20th having not long been promoted after a crap few years.  Now they're the new members of safe elite. 

There are multiple reasons why we are where we are, but despite that, if we'd had better luck on the day we'd have been safe.  If a couple of missed penalties hadn't been missed we'd be staying up.  That's all it takes. And every team apart from the Big 7 is equally vulnerable. 

But did they signed any mega stars? A: No

their most xpensive player is Isak. You wouldnt call him a star.

They picked up Nick Pope cheaply/  why can't we?

 

we bought crappy players we can't use  - then we ran out 0f money

[volpeazzurro]

4 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Much easier to sustain in Germany, where there is only one obscenely rich, dominant force. In England there are now 7.

Very true, but at one point we were looking very good squad wise until mismanagement and a change of transfer focus occurred, I think that's what galls the most.