Ruud van Nistelrooy - New Manager - Official

[em9999]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

Like choosing between drinking dog piss or cat piss.

 

RvN, Cooper, Marti, Rowett have all been dog shit.

One thing all these managers have had in common 

 

These shit unprofessional players 

 

None of them stood a chance 

[coolhandfox]

10 hours ago, em9999 said:

One thing all these managers have had in common 

 

These shit unprofessional players 

 

None of them stood a chance 

Jesus that their job, we don't have a monopoly on unprofessional players.

 

We are where we are due to shit senior management, managers as much as shit players.

Edited 16 April by coolhandfox

[Guesty]

10 hours ago, SafewayFox said:

We’re on the same page about agreeing that they’ve all been awful since Enzo.

 

Yet you’re wildly missing my point, Enzo wanted Sensi, that was NOT an agent or club signing.

 

Cooper was heavily involved in Ayew and Skipp (potentially Reid too), that’s £30m and HUGE wages on 3 players with zero re-sale value/honking attitudes (especially in Ayew).

 

Sunderland on the other hand signed Sadiki and Brobbey for a similar amount.

 

I know which two players that I’d prefer to have in my squad.

I'm not wildly missing your point. Enzo wanted Sensi, so much so he came out and publicly said it - but we didn't sign him. If anything, it backs up my point that the club don't sign the players the manager wants.

 

We could unfairly blame Enzo for wasting £7.5 million on Coady - or spending £10 million on Winks who's only played well for 7 months of his contract. That was big money in the championship, on players without much resale value and very questionable attitudes.

 

You don't know Cooper was heavily involved. You've just assumed. He'd only just walked through the door. Even if he did have some involvement, it's Rudkin's choice to spend £20 million on Skipp. Cooper had Skipp and Ayew on the bench more than he started them - so he wasn't that keen.  Cooper also doesn't get any credit from me for signing El-Khannouss either. 

 

I don't pick and choose depending on how much I like or rate the manager. The one constant is Rudkin - who has a history of massively overpaying and signing bang average players with no short or long-term strategy at all. 

[shen]

3 hours ago, Guesty said:

I'm not wildly missing your point. Enzo wanted Sensi, so much so he came out and publicly said it - but we didn't sign him. If anything, it backs up my point that the club don't sign the players the manager wants.

 

We could unfairly blame Enzo for wasting £7.5 million on Coady - or spending £10 million on Winks who's only played well for 7 months of his contract. That was big money in the championship, on players without much resale value and very questionable attitudes.

 

You don't know Cooper was heavily involved. You've just assumed. He'd only just walked through the door. Even if he did have some involvement, it's Rudkin's choice to spend £20 million on Skipp. Cooper had Skipp and Ayew on the bench more than he started them - so he wasn't that keen.  Cooper also doesn't get any credit from me for signing El-Khannouss either. 

 

I don't pick and choose depending on how much I like or rate the manager. The one constant is Rudkin - who has a history of massively overpaying and signing bang average players with no short or long-term strategy at all. 

Rudkin doesn't identify players though.

I really have doubts as to what his knowledge and expertise is. The way we've handled negotiations, with the possible exception of McAteer, tells me we're not doing great in that area. Are we completely reliant on external advisors (i.e. agents)? Who identifies our transfer targets and who makes the final decision on these? Does there have to be consensus in that decision making group or do all parties have veto rights?

[Gamble92]

3 hours ago, Guesty said:

I'm not wildly missing your point. Enzo wanted Sensi, so much so he came out and publicly said it - but we didn't sign him. If anything, it backs up my point that the club don't sign the players the manager wants.

 

We could unfairly blame Enzo for wasting £7.5 million on Coady - or spending £10 million on Winks who's only played well for 7 months of his contract. That was big money in the championship, on players without much resale value and very questionable attitudes.

 

You don't know Cooper was heavily involved. You've just assumed. He'd only just walked through the door. Even if he did have some involvement, it's Rudkin's choice to spend £20 million on Skipp. Cooper had Skipp and Ayew on the bench more than he started them - so he wasn't that keen.  Cooper also doesn't get any credit from me for signing El-Khannouss either. 

 

I don't pick and choose depending on how much I like or rate the manager. The one constant is Rudkin - who has a history of massively overpaying and signing bang average players with no short or long-term strategy at all. 

The only reason we didn't sign Sensi was PSR. 

 

Enzo wanted Hermansen. It's well known Cooper wanted Ayew and Reid for Premier League experience. 

[Stadt]

Cooper's singings had all the hallmarks of Cooper signings, can't believe people don't think he had any input into the most 100% nailed on Steve Cooper singings ever.

 

Look at the Forest signings, random Euro players with some from Olympiakos (club/ownership) and then there's experienced PL players like Shelvey, Chris Wood, Emmanuel Dennis then there's the former U17s he worked with like MGW, CHO, Aina and of course there was an... Ayew.

 

Couldn't be clearer. Ayew, BDCR and Skipp were what he wanted.

[orangecity23]

1 minute ago, Stadt said:

Cooper's singings had all the hallmarks of Cooper signings, can't believe people don't think he had any input into the most 100% nailed on Steve Cooper singings ever.

 

Look at the Forest signings, random Euro players with some from Olympiakos (club/ownership) and then there's experienced PL players like Shelvey, Chris Wood, Emmanuel Dennis then there's the former U17s he worked with like MGW, CHO, Aina and of course there was an... Ayew.

 

Couldn't be clearer. Ayew, BDCR and Skipp were what he wanted.

Also, didn't he have the same agent as Okoli as well?

[Stadt]

Just now, orangecity23 said:

Also, didn't he have the same agent as Okoli as well?

Probably, we only deal with about 3 agencies 

[SafewayFox]

19 hours ago, Guesty said:

I'm not wildly missing your point. Enzo wanted Sensi, so much so he came out and publicly said it - but we didn't sign him. If anything, it backs up my point that the club don't sign the players the manager wants.

 

We could unfairly blame Enzo for wasting £7.5 million on Coady - or spending £10 million on Winks who's only played well for 7 months of his contract. That was big money in the championship, on players without much resale value and very questionable attitudes.

 

You don't know Cooper was heavily involved. You've just assumed. He'd only just walked through the door. Even if he did have some involvement, it's Rudkin's choice to spend £20 million on Skipp. Cooper had Skipp and Ayew on the bench more than he started them - so he wasn't that keen.  Cooper also doesn't get any credit from me for signing El-Khannouss either. 

 

I don't pick and choose depending on how much I like or rate the manager. The one constant is Rudkin - who has a history of massively overpaying and signing bang average players with no short or long-term strategy at all. 

Comparing Enzo signing Coady, it was pretty well reported that the club signed him and Winks as “leaders” which is farcical when see how that panned out.

 

Cooper however publicly stated “PL experience” countless times.

 

He even managed to mutter that about Facundo.

 

Cooper had one of our biggest transfer windows and he set us back even further.

 

 

Edited 17 April by SafewayFox

[everton carr]

1 hour ago, SafewayFox said:

P on Comparing Enzo signing Coady, it was pretty well reported that the club signed him and Winks as “leaders” which is farcical when see how that panned out.

 

Cooper however publicly stated “PL experience” countless times.

 

He even managed to mutter that about Facundo.

 

Cooper had one of our biggest transfer windows and he set us back even further.

 

 

Coopers transfer budget was nothing compared to other clubs.Southampton and Ipswich spent over 100M not Inc the Abdul signing we spent about 55M

[Sly]

31 minutes ago, everton carr said:

Coopers transfer budget was nothing compared to other clubs.Southampton and Ipswich spent over 100M not Inc the Abdul signing we spent about 55M

On paper though, we had the best squad of all three promoted teams in the Championship, with Soumare and Kristiansen coming back from successful stints on loan. 
 

I’d argue that the team we started with in the Premier League, was weaker than the one that got us promoted, having lost Akgun and Doyle who were useful in the system Enzo played. 

 

The signings of Skipp, Ayew, Reid set us back.Enzo doesn’t sign them. 

 

El Khannous was a marry twat and flattered to deceive.

 

Buonanotte had ability but never go going. 
 

The loss of Fatawu also hurt us as whilst he didn’t have a great start and was dropped by Cooper, he does have ability as we’ve seen this season. 

[Guesty]

4 hours ago, SafewayFox said:

Comparing Enzo signing Coady, it was pretty well reported that the club signed him and Winks as “leaders” which is farcical when see how that panned out.

 

Cooper however publicly stated “PL experience” countless times.

 

He even managed to mutter that about Facundo.

 

Cooper had one of our biggest transfer windows and he set us back even further.

 

 

Even here though. Under Enzo it's the club signing the players. Yet under Cooper, it's all on him. This is the way a lot of people look at it.

 

You look at the club's signings under Enzo: Winks, Coady, Mavadidi and Cannon combined cost over £30 million. None of them have worked out long-term. Mads is the only player signed then who played well and has been sold for a big profit. 

 

Cooper's transfer window wasn't a blip in an otherwise spotless recruitment record. He was here for a few months and our transfers have been awful for years. We keep getting relegated with one of, if not the highest wage bills in the league. That's a long-term structural problem. 

 

Cooper said we needed experience. We probably did. This squad clearly had issues. We just signed the wrong players - or overpaid for them. None of us understood how bad this squad was back them - some people were saying we were a mid-table team. The same team absent of Vardy, El-Khannouss, Mads and N'didi now looks like it's getting relegated to League 1. 

 

I feel like I'm coming across as a Cooper fan here when I'm not. We'd probably have been relegated under him, he should never have been appointed, his football was turgid and he's not doing well at Brondby now. I just blame the club and Rudkin for our recruitment issues. And think RvN was a slightly worse manager.

[Guesty]

20 hours ago, shen said:

Rudkin doesn't identify players though.

I really have doubts as to what his knowledge and expertise is. The way we've handled negotiations, with the possible exception of McAteer, tells me we're not doing great in that area. Are we completely reliant on external advisors (i.e. agents)? Who identifies our transfer targets and who makes the final decision on these? Does there have to be consensus in that decision making group or do all parties have veto rights?

I don't think even Rudkin knows what he's doing. He seems very reliant on certain agents. What he does do as DoF is have the final say and massively overpay on transfer fees and wages with no long-term strategy.

 

I imagine it's a complete clownshow behind the scenes (they couldn't even send a fax on time). None of us truly know the full ins and outs. Just that our recruitment is some of the worst ever seen - and he's in charge of it. How you can keep breaking PSR and have multiple relegations with one the highest wage bills in the league is almost impressive in it's ineptitude. 

[SafewayFox]

1 hour ago, Guesty said:

Even here though. Under Enzo it's the club signing the players. Yet under Cooper, it's all on him. This is the way a lot of people look at it.

 

You look at the club's signings under Enzo: Winks, Coady, Mavadidi and Cannon combined cost over £30 million. None of them have worked out long-term. Mads is the only player signed then who played well and has been sold for a big profit. 

 

Cooper's transfer window wasn't a blip in an otherwise spotless recruitment record. He was here for a few months and our transfers have been awful for years. We keep getting relegated with one of, if not the highest wage bills in the league. That's a long-term structural problem. 

 

Cooper said we needed experience. We probably did. This squad clearly had issues. We just signed the wrong players - or overpaid for them. None of us understood how bad this squad was back them - some people were saying we were a mid-table team. The same team absent of Vardy, El-Khannouss, Mads and N'didi now looks like it's getting relegated to League 1. 

 

I feel like I'm coming across as a Cooper fan here when I'm not. We'd probably have been relegated under him, he should never have been appointed, his football was turgid and he's not doing well at Brondby now. I just blame the club and Rudkin for our recruitment issues. And think RvN was a slightly worse manager.

I appreciate the differing opinion TBF.

 

Ruud and Cooper were/are awful managers but I am trying to highlight the fact that Cooper was a dreadful appointment at the time.

 

His obsession with “PL experience” and the signings that he was heavily involved in, set us back.

 

When you reference the “club” signings of Winks, Coady, Cannon and Stephy - we actually broke even (even made a small profit on Cannon), Coady we again broke even on.

 

However, Ayew has become one of the most despised players amongst a group of heinous mercenaries, Skipp will be a heavy weight around our necks and those signings DO NOT happen under Enzo, so for that I blame Cooper.

[Wymsey]

He's gone.

Move on.

[Guesty]

1 hour ago, SafewayFox said:

I appreciate the differing opinion TBF.

 

Ruud and Cooper were/are awful managers but I am trying to highlight the fact that Cooper was a dreadful appointment at the time.

 

His obsession with “PL experience” and the signings that he was heavily involved in, set us back.

 

When you reference the “club” signings of Winks, Coady, Cannon and Stephy - we actually broke even (even made a small profit on Cannon), Coady we again broke even on.

 

However, Ayew has become one of the most despised players amongst a group of heinous mercenaries, Skipp will be a heavy weight around our necks and those signings DO NOT happen under Enzo, so for that I blame Cooper.

I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree and meet on the fact we both think Cooper and RvN were s**t managers. But it's always good to discuss differing opinions on here without it devolving into unpleasantness.  

 

Would just point out we actually made a 5.5 million loss on Coady - signed for 7.5, sold for 2 million.

[TheFiveTime]

As part of my Rudd rehabilitation scheme, at least he new ones we were down to play the youth

[HybridFox]

19 minutes ago, TheFiveTime said:

As part of my Rudd rehabilitation scheme, at least he new ones we were down to play the youth

Monga, Page and Evans would have got games this season while Winks would have been frozen out/shipped off imo.

 

Granted we only started playing better once relegation was more or less confirmed so it's hard to forsee how it would have gone with Ruud this season but at least there was a bit of a shakeup unlike the lineup tonight

Edited 24 April by HybridFox

[The Doctor]

22 minutes ago, TheFiveTime said:

As part of my Rudd rehabilitation scheme, at least he new ones we were down to play the youth

unfortunately he was just too shit. If he'd only been poor he'd have my backing to drive the ***** out and play the kids, but when you're one of the five worst managers we've ever had by league win % (In 5th, behind Dave Bassett, Frank Mclintock, Paolo Sousa and Gary Rowett), there's really no way you get given a summer.

 

[SafewayFox]

41 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

unfortunately he was just too shit. If he'd only been poor he'd have my backing to drive the ***** out and play the kids, but when you're one of the five worst managers we've ever had by league win % (In 5th, behind Dave Bassett, Frank Mclintock, Paolo Sousa and Gary Rowett), there's really no way you get given a summer.

 

Agreed, he had to go BUT Rowett has been horrendous.

 

His odd obsession with “experienced shit” is Cooper levels of strange.

 

I actually think Ruud would have been a better appointment after Enzo, he had standards at least and didn’t tolerate Winksy being a whiny rat.

[moseeds]

Rowett is easily the worst manager we've had in the last 30 years. I don't think the players have had a single sensible instruction from him in any game he's managed. 

[sm1]

Rowett makes Ruud look like Pep. Let's remember we beat QPR 6-2 under Ruud, the same QPR that's turned us over 7-2 this season (I know the 4-1 was with Marti in charge)

Edited 24 April by sm1

[It'sblueupnorth]

Tbf its hard to imagine him doing any worse this season than the 2 we got, at least he gave youth a chance 

[Dan]

On 17/04/2026 at 11:23, Guesty said:

Even here though. Under Enzo it's the club signing the players. Yet under Cooper, it's all on him. This is the way a lot of people look at it.

 

You look at the club's signings under Enzo: Winks, Coady, Mavadidi and Cannon combined cost over £30 million. None of them have worked out long-term. Mads is the only player signed then who played well and has been sold for a big profit. 

 

Cooper's transfer window wasn't a blip in an otherwise spotless recruitment record. He was here for a few months and our transfers have been awful for years. We keep getting relegated with one of, if not the highest wage bills in the league. That's a long-term structural problem. 

 

Cooper said we needed experience. We probably did. This squad clearly had issues. We just signed the wrong players - or overpaid for them. None of us understood how bad this squad was back them - some people were saying we were a mid-table team. The same team absent of Vardy, El-Khannouss, Mads and N'didi now looks like it's getting relegated to League 1. 

 

I feel like I'm coming across as a Cooper fan here when I'm not. We'd probably have been relegated under him, he should never have been appointed, his football was turgid and he's not doing well at Brondby now. I just blame the club and Rudkin for our recruitment issues. And think RvN was a slightly worse manager.

I don't think we needed experience under Cooper. We had as much PL experience as any promoted team has ever had. It was a huge error to go up that route. And one they continue to go up.

[Lambert09]

On 24/04/2026 at 16:07, It'sblueupnorth said:

Tbf its hard to imagine him doing any worse this season than the 2 we got, at least he gave youth a chance 

In what way? Playing them once the club is dead and buried doesn’t really count imo. Yes it’s good that he did it, but this is the same guy that trotted out the same useless guys each week. Had he started this season he likely continues down that path