Ruud van Nistelrooy - New Manager - Official

[blue army 1988]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

In ordinary circumstances you would definitely expect to be sacked with Ruud’a record so far. I can think of two reasons why it hasn’t happened:

 

1) The club has recognised that the problems at the club are not down to RVN but more of a deep-seated cultural issue within the squad (much like Amorin at Man Utd). Maybe they’re impressed  with what he’s trying to do behind the scenes and see him as the man to oversee the clear-out and rebuild in the summer. If this is the case, they’ll be desperately hoping that we get some decent results soon because if things carry on as they are it will be very difficult to justify keeping RVN on no matter what he’s doing behind the scenes.

 

2) They have decided he’s probably not the man to take us forward but don’t see any point in sacking him now because of the lack of available replacements. Or maybe they have an agreement in place that enables them to sack him for less compensation once relegation is mathematically certain. Either way, they’re in no rush and probably won’t do anything until the end of the season.

 

I’m leaning towards the first one: I get the feeling the club privately acknowledges that RVN has been dealt a terrible hand and wants to give him more time to shape his own squad. Their problem is that we still have 11 games for the mood among the fanbase to become even more toxic than it is now and the pressure on them to act will intensify. 

I'd like to think number 1 too.

But what gives me massive doubt in that is on the pitch he's tactically rubbish and doesn't seem to have a clue.

[Les-TA-Jon]

3 hours ago, ClaphamFox said:

In ordinary circumstances you would definitely expect to be sacked with Ruud’a record so far. I can think of two reasons why it hasn’t happened:

 

1) The club has recognised that the problems at the club are not down to RVN but more of a deep-seated cultural issue within the squad (much like Amorin at Man Utd). Maybe they’re impressed  with what he’s trying to do behind the scenes and see him as the man to oversee the clear-out and rebuild in the summer. If this is the case, they’ll be desperately hoping that we get some decent results soon because if things carry on as they are it will be very difficult to justify keeping RVN on no matter what he’s doing behind the scenes.

 

2) They have decided he’s probably not the man to take us forward but don’t see any point in sacking him now because of the lack of available replacements. Or maybe they have an agreement in place that enables them to sack him for less compensation once relegation is mathematically certain. Either way, they’re in no rush and probably won’t do anything until the end of the season.

 

I’m leaning towards the first one: I get the feeling the club privately acknowledges that RVN has been dealt a terrible hand and wants to give him more time to shape his own squad. Their problem is that we still have 11 games for the mood among the fanbase to become even more toxic than it is now and the pressure on them to act will intensify. 

Or...1.5) The club recognises the problems run deeper than whoever the current manager is, they also see there's no point now in changing him and they also don't think he's the man to take us forward

[Chelmofox]

6 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

Or...1.5) The club recognises the problems run deeper than whoever the current manager is, they also see there's no point now in changing him and they also don't think he's the man to take us forward

But surely with this option, you would still give it a go, especially as a few games ago there were 2 points in it.You wouldn't just give up and expect fans to keep paying to attend, or for the PL to keep paying to show your games on TV.

 

If the club didn't think RVN was the future, then surely there is little point sticking to his ridgid system? Change it up, try different things, inject some youth. 

 

The only conclusion i can come to is that the Club want to keep this system Ruud is using, and are willing to give him a transfer window to find the players to do it.

Edited 3 March by Chelmofox

[Nickaj]

However you look at it, nothing makes much sense when viewed against the background of recent results.

I still think the most likely reasons for RvN still remaining in post are -

a) the cost of sacking him at this point in the season, and

b) Top can't face admitting that he was wrong to appoint RvN in the first place.

[Chelmofox]

2 minutes ago, Nickaj said:

However you look at it, nothing makes much sense when viewed against the background of recent results.

I still think the most likely reasons for RvN still remaining in post are -

a) the cost of sacking him at this point in the season, and

b) Top can't face admitting that he was wrong to appoint RvN in the first place.

I think its 'b'. 

 

I think everyone has given up, including the manager, but they don't have the balls to tell Top that.  They are all waiting for Top to realise that his appointment was wrong. 

[Fox92]

3 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I think its 'b'. 

 

I think everyone has given up, including the manager, but they don't have the balls to tell Top that.  They are all waiting for Top to realise that his appointment was wrong. 

Manager never being good enough in the first place doesn't help. 

 

Could see it "a mile off", as the saying goes.

Edited 3 March by Fox92

[LE8 Poster]

On 02/03/2025 at 09:44, Sly said:

I take Dean Smith again, over anything RVN is attempting to do. 

There's similarities with the 22/23 season in that two separate managers (Smith and now van Nistelrooy) haven't been able to stop the club's downward trajectory. Both appointments can be scrutinised, but as we know it goes beyond the manager in charge.

[ClaphamFox]

1 minute ago, LE8 Poster said:

There's similarities with the 22/23 season in that two separate managers (Smith and now van Nistelrooy) haven't been able to stop the club's downward trajectory. Both appointments can be scrutinised, but as we know it goes beyond the manager in charge.

Smith significantly improved our points-per-game ratio and likely would have kept us up if appointed straight after Rodgers was sacked.

[Fox92]

2 minutes ago, LE8 Poster said:

There's similarities with the 22/23 season in that two separate managers (Smith and now van Nistelrooy) haven't been able to stop the club's downward trajectory. Both appointments can be scrutinised, but as we know it goes beyond the manager in charge.

Van Nistelrooy is worse. 6 consecutive home games without a goal, not sure how people are still comparing or making exuses for him. 

 

Nobody said it went "beyond the manager" when Cooper was here. Some of the excuses for Van Nistelrooy are incredible.

[AKCJ]

2 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Van Nistelrooy is worse. 6 consecutive home games without a goal, not sure how people are still comparing or making exuses for him. 

 

Nobody said it went "beyond the manager" when Cooper was here. Some of the excuses for Van Nistelrooy are incredible.

That's because people were too thick to realise it.

 

There's still people that think the likes of Vestergaard, Faes, Ayew, Skipp, Decordova-Reid, Mavididi, Kristiansen, Justin, Coady, Okoli, Soumare, Ward, Coulibaly, Winks etc will all turn into good footballers with a different manager in charge.

 

The squad is brimming with overpaid, useless, lazy, arrogant arseholes because that's the culture that is festered here. Any of those players has an issue then they go whining to Aiyawatt. There is no authority or respect. They're all here to do the bare minimum before collecting their massive wages and ****ing off to London or Manchester. None of them care about anything other than themselves.

[ClaphamFox]

15 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Van Nistelrooy is worse. 6 consecutive home games without a goal, not sure how people are still comparing or making exuses for him. 

 

Nobody said it went "beyond the manager" when Cooper was here. Some of the excuses for Van Nistelrooy are incredible.

That’s not true though, is it? Plenty of us were warning last summer that our defence would get us relegated unless it was significantly improved. Cooper had a crap squad to work with but it was partly of his own making. Would we have signed Ayew, BDCR and Skipp if Enzo hadn’t left? It seems very unlikely. Cooper may not have been responsible for the likes of Faes and Vestergaard, but he must have had a say in our poor recruitment last summer. 

[Fox92]

Just now, ClaphamFox said:

That’s not true though, is it? Plenty of us were warning last summer that our defence would get us relegated unless it was significantly improved. Cooper had a crap squad to work with but it was partly of his own making. Would we have signed Ayew, BDCR and Skipp if Enzo hadn’t left? It seems very unlikely. Cooper may not have been responsible for the likes of Faes and Vestergaard, but he must have had a say in our poor recruitment last summer. 

Yes it's true. I saw a lot of posts on here earlier in the season saying "a better manager would have this squad in xxx position in the table", often quoting midtable! The squad was never good enough and 17th should have been our aim.

 

I cannot comment on recruitment. We have a failing DOF who must oversee recruitment. That's in his job title. I don't know who we would have signed if Enzo was here but lets not pretend recruitment was excellent under him because it wasn't. We still spent £8m on Coady and £7m on Cannon last summer. He's then gone to Chelsea and signed Dewsbury-Hall who was never good enough for a top 6 club.

[ClaphamFox]

2 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Yes it's true. I saw a lot of posts on here earlier in the season saying "a better manager would have this squad in xxx position in the table", often quoting midtable! The squad was never good enough and 17th should have been our aim.

 

I cannot comment on recruitment. We have a failing DOF who must oversee recruitment. That's in his job title. I don't know who we would have signed if Enzo was here but lets not pretend recruitment was excellent under him because it wasn't. We still spent £8m on Coady and £7m on Cannon last summer. He's then gone to Chelsea and signed Dewsbury-Hall who was never good enough for a top 6 club.

"Lots of posts" does not mean that "nobody" was pointing out how weak our squad was, which is what you previously implied. Some people may have believed the squad was stronger than it was, but there were plenty who understood how weak it was.

[Chelmofox]

3 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Yes it's true. I saw a lot of posts on here earlier in the season saying "a better manager would have this squad in xxx position in the table", often quoting midtable! The squad was never good enough and 17th should have been our aim.

 

I cannot comment on recruitment. We have a failing DOF who must oversee recruitment. That's in his job title. I don't know who we would have signed if Enzo was here but lets not pretend recruitment was excellent under him because it wasn't. We still spent £8m on Coady and £7m on Cannon last summer. He's then gone to Chelsea and signed Dewsbury-Hall who was never good enough for a top 6 club.

I always said the target was 17th (and it still should be!) and this season was always going to be a stretch. We needed to rebuild that defence and even though he's had some good games get rid of Soumare etc. I find it so funny that after a few good games some fans were saying we should rebuild the team around Soumare. Such short memories. I never thought this was a top half team.

 

I hated Cooperball, but had a hunch it could keep us up. Seems to me the management hierarchy felt we should have been mid table.

[Gamble92]

22 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I always said the target was 17th (and it still should be!) and this season was always going to be a stretch. We needed to rebuild that defence and even though he's had some good games get rid of Soumare etc. I find it so funny that after a few good games some fans were saying we should rebuild the team around Soumare. Such short memories. I never thought this was a top half team.

 

I hated Cooperball, but had a hunch it could keep us up. Seems to me the management hierarchy felt we should have been mid table.

Think players like Winks did too. I still think we wouldn't be much better off with Cooper but when all the players have it in their heads they should be mid table and are mouthing off, he never stood a chance really. 

 

Be interesting to interview Winks and see if he still thinks they should be better than 14th. 

[Chelmofox]

11 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

Think players like Winks did too. I still think we wouldn't be much better off with Cooper but when all the players have it in their heads they should be mid table and are mouthing off, he never stood a chance really. 

 

Be interesting to interview Winks and see if he still thinks they should be better than 14th. 

Everton and Palace got their sh*t together. We would be in the same place, but maybe within a nibble of Wolves.

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

Van Nistelrooy is worse. 6 consecutive home games without a goal, not sure how people are still comparing or making exuses for him. 

 

Nobody said it went "beyond the manager" when Cooper was here. Some of the excuses for Van Nistelrooy are incredible.

I find it odd, to the point of disturbing, that so many people are so eager to offer the Dutchman excuses. 

 

 

Very very odd. I've wondered aloud on here before the effect a good looking guy has on men, let alone women. There needs to be a white paper on it.  There is absolutely no way a Moyes or Cooper or some other foul looking, monstrous beast would have so many rushing to their defence 

[moore_94]

Wouldn’t surprise me if they do want rid but just can’t afford to do it until the next FFP/PSR period

 

But it also wouldn’t surprise me if they think he is doing an alright job (somehow) / or they want to give him more time to hopefully turn it around so they don’t get shown up so quickly as having made a mistake in appointing him - especially if he was Top’s choice

[wurmer]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

Van Nistelrooy is worse. 6 consecutive home games without a goal, not sure how people are still comparing or making exuses for him. 

 

Nobody said it went "beyond the manager" when Cooper was here. Some of the excuses for Van Nistelrooy are incredible.

That's not true at all.

[everton carr]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

That’s not true though, is it? Plenty of us were warning last summer that our defence would get us relegated unless it was significantly improved. Cooper had a crap squad to work with but it was partly of his own making. Would we have signed Ayew, BDCR and Skipp if Enzo hadn’t left? It seems very unlikely. Cooper may not have been responsible for the likes of Faes and Vestergaard, but he must have had a say in our poor recruitment last summer. 

To hear people talk you would think we spent £50M on BDR and Ayew one cost £5M the other a free transfer they were signed to be squad playes  not regular starters

[moore_94]

1 minute ago, everton carr said:

To hear people talk you would think we spent £50M on BDR and Ayew one cost £5M the other a free transfer they were signed to be squad playes  not regular starters

What about the £25m on Skipp?

[everton carr]

16 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

What about the £25m on Skipp?

Think it was £20M but agree that signing not worked out

[Mickyblueeyes]

Dealt a bad hand or not, the feeling when Facundo had a shot in anger v Brentford and thinking "oh, forgot what that felt like" shows how badly coached this team is. 

 

There is no point in this relationship. Why are you still here Ruud. 

[ClaphamFox]

20 minutes ago, everton carr said:

To hear people talk you would think we spent £50M on BDR and Ayew one cost £5M the other a free transfer they were signed to be squad playes  not regular starters

They both started the first game of the season against Spurs and Ayew continued to be a regular starter after that. And even if they weren’t regular starters, they were still both ageing players who were taking up spaces in the squad that could have been filled by exciting talent that we’d actually scouted (as opposed be being offered to us by their agents). Cooper said he wanted PL experience and Rudkin went out and obediently obtained some, but the signings of Ayew, BDCR and Skipp all suggest that there is no long-term strategy behind our transfer policy, which in turn suggests a lack of a long-term strategy for the club as a whole. Cooper was not responsible for the  poor squad he inherited, but he squandered the opportunity to improve it. 

[leicesterlad1989]

28 minutes ago, everton carr said:

To hear people talk you would think we spent £50M on BDR and Ayew one cost £5M the other a free transfer they were signed to be squad playes  not regular starters

The issue isn't the transfer. It's the contracts offered that's the problem and the length of these deals at their ages. No resale value and we will be stuck with them until their contracts are up. 

 

Skipp deal also made no sense what so ever. We didn't need another midfielder.