In my opinion, we haven’t had a coach since Poch. Mourinho and Conte might both be great managers, but they’re not great coaches, and neither of them suited us — it might have been clear to some before they were appointed but for the rest of us we’ve learnt that now. Nuno, who knows…that was was an aberration.
We clearly need a coach, in the style of Eddie Howe. You say that our squad belongs mid-table, so we’re does Saudi Sportswashing Machine’s belong? You’d probably take 3 or 4 of their players, and that’s on the back of this season. He’s done an incredible job with players like Joelinton, Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff etc etc. There’s absolutely no reason why some of our fringe players couldn’t do a job like them with the right coaching.
Of course, Eddie Howe probably won’t sustain it and Saudi Sportswashing Machine will fire him at some point, as the pressure of Saudi Arabia will be on them. But it doesn’t change what he’s done this season.
We need a coach that will commit to improving players, to focussing on a system that gets the best of out them, to promoting youth and rotating players. Get that, and we absolutely can be a top 4 team with more or less a similar squad.