We're coming up to a bit of a crossroads within our premier league journey. We've managed to stay up for a number of years within a league that very much seems to have a boom bust cycle for teams outside of the elite circle, which is a huge achievement when looked at in isolation.
There has been a rather heavy cost and price to pay in achieving this however. We've rarely had the same manager for longer than a 12 to 18 month period, whether due to managers under performing or walking away. This has the added cost of new signings not necessarily fitting within the new managers plans and then requiring further expensive signings to rectify problems within the squad from their perspective, so a few years on for the most part we have a squad that has been built from varying different visions and some would argue it has left the squad unbalanced or lacking sufficiently in quality.
In Roy, whether you like him or dislike him has managed to keep us up for two years running providing the longest period of stability that we've had in modern history, whilst having to deal with the loss of players such as Cabaye and RLC who from a creative standpoint were key to us finding form last season. Our ever increasing wage bill to turnover and transfer fees have left us in a situation where we have had to tighten our belt and try to be more innovative with our signings and more considerate of the fact we need value for money from most of our transfer dealings. I believe that the signings of Meyer and Guaita show this can be done and it is a positive start.
But where do we go from here? We have a squad that is aging, rather expensive to assemble, arguably unbalanced and in a situation where our only real assets financially would severely damage us on the pitch if we were to sell them right now given our reliance on individual brilliance from players such as Wilf.
Do we stick with Roy for the next year and keep treading water whilst cutting down on costs? Is this the right way to go about things? Or does short term survival potentially leave us in a difficult situation long term with some difficult questions to ask about the clubs direction?
My personal view is that the club has a very difficult question to try and answer this summer, because I feel the way things are currently is an unsustainable model for long term survival. Roy won't be here forever, what's the best way to handle his departure from the club whether this summer or next?
Do we just carry on with no real philosophy in playing style or identity and keep surviving or do we need to be brave and rip the plaster off and really try and develop a long term plan? Not an easy question either way you look at it. I'd be interested to get peoples thoughts.
There has been a rather heavy cost and price to pay in achieving this however. We've rarely had the same manager for longer than a 12 to 18 month period, whether due to managers under performing or walking away. This has the added cost of new signings not necessarily fitting within the new managers plans and then requiring further expensive signings to rectify problems within the squad from their perspective, so a few years on for the most part we have a squad that has been built from varying different visions and some would argue it has left the squad unbalanced or lacking sufficiently in quality.
In Roy, whether you like him or dislike him has managed to keep us up for two years running providing the longest period of stability that we've had in modern history, whilst having to deal with the loss of players such as Cabaye and RLC who from a creative standpoint were key to us finding form last season. Our ever increasing wage bill to turnover and transfer fees have left us in a situation where we have had to tighten our belt and try to be more innovative with our signings and more considerate of the fact we need value for money from most of our transfer dealings. I believe that the signings of Meyer and Guaita show this can be done and it is a positive start.
But where do we go from here? We have a squad that is aging, rather expensive to assemble, arguably unbalanced and in a situation where our only real assets financially would severely damage us on the pitch if we were to sell them right now given our reliance on individual brilliance from players such as Wilf.
Do we stick with Roy for the next year and keep treading water whilst cutting down on costs? Is this the right way to go about things? Or does short term survival potentially leave us in a difficult situation long term with some difficult questions to ask about the clubs direction?
My personal view is that the club has a very difficult question to try and answer this summer, because I feel the way things are currently is an unsustainable model for long term survival. Roy won't be here forever, what's the best way to handle his departure from the club whether this summer or next?
Do we just carry on with no real philosophy in playing style or identity and keep surviving or do we need to be brave and rip the plaster off and really try and develop a long term plan? Not an easy question either way you look at it. I'd be interested to get peoples thoughts.
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