Johan Lange - Sporting Director

[Gutter Boy]

And he was bullish about the summer window - thats good to hear, and is the window that will indicate what, if anything has really changed...

Easy to promise the world when you know you wont be here to have to deliver

 

[glorygloryeze]

You've got to admire the bare shamelessness eh @Raziel , @DubaiSpur

They must think many of us haven't got long memories

 

[Muttley]

All very reasonable except that they made a lot of noise in September when Levy got pushed so that looks terrible from an optics perspective given that they did very little in the January window. Given their track record on transfers, ENIC do not have any credit in the bank or any goodwill.

Let's see what they do in the summer. If they produce, my opinion will change but I've little faith that they will.

Genuine question, but what exactly did they say pertaining to the January transfer window. I don't recall any specific statements that would leave them losing face based on the window we just saw in the marketplace.

Am I missing something?

 

[DeanoAustin]

Genuine question, but what exactly did they say pertaining to the January transfer window. I don't recall any specific statements that would leave them losing face based on the window we just saw in the marketplace.

Am I missing something?

When Levy went, they made a lot of noise about wanting to compete in the market and on the pitch. They didn't specify anything around January but those statements create an expectation that we'll do something differently and in the very next transfer window, difficult and all as January can be, we did exactly the same as we've always done.

The statements, for the record were:

"This is a new era for the club, under new leadership, completely backed by our majority shareholder the Lewis family. We can feel optimistic and ambitious for the future as well."

“We saw in May in Bilbao what the next step is. It’s competing for and winning major trophies. We’ve had a taste of that."

“It is fair to say we have firm backing from the Lewis family against our ambitions to be successful. They know that’s going to require investment."

So far, they haven't lived up to any of those statements. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt but they've owned us for 25 years and done the same thing for that entire time pretty much so I'm sceptical that much has changed. If they don't do something different in the summer, personally, I'd go from thinking they should go now to vocalising that at games.

 

[Muttley]

When Levy went, they made a lot of noise about wanting to compete in the market and on the pitch. They didn't specify anything around January but those statements create an expectation that we'll do something differently and in the very next transfer window, difficult and all as January can be, we did exactly the same as we've always done.

The statements, for the record were:

"This is a new era for the club, under new leadership, completely backed by our majority shareholder the Lewis family. We can feel optimistic and ambitious for the future as well."

“We saw in May in Bilbao what the next step is. It’s competing for and winning major trophies. We’ve had a taste of that."

“It is fair to say we have firm backing from the Lewis family against our ambitions to be successful. They know that’s going to require investment."

So far, they haven't lived up to any of those statements. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt but they've owned us for 25 years and done the same thing for that entire time pretty much so I'm sceptical that much has changed. If they don't do something different in the summer, personally, I'd go from thinking they should go now to vocalising that at games.

The interesting thing is that they did do something completely different in the next transfer window. We assessed the market place, acted like a big club that only operates with elite players and ultimately we sat on our wallet. When did that ever happen under a Levy regime apart from the infamous 2018 summer window when Poch had lost the plot with the recruitment team? We always found a Moura or an Aurier or a Sissoko and then wondered why we ended up as bang average.

Perhaps I'm just being the optimist but I saw the lack of panic as the biggest change. We could have easily brought in N'Wanted and N'Needed right?

 

[DeanoAustin]

The interesting thing is that they did do something completely different in the next transfer window. We assessed the market place, acted like a big club that only operates with elite players and ultimately we sat on our wallet. When did that ever happen under a Levy regime apart from the infamous 2018 summer window when Poch had lost the plot with the recruitment team? We always found a Moura or an Aurier or a Sissoko and then wondered why we ended up as bang average.

Perhaps I'm just being the optimist but I saw the lack of panic as the biggest change. We could have easily brought in N'Wanted and N'Needed right?

That's one interpretation. However, that has echoes of "What Poch meant by 'being brave' was not to sign anybody".

I'll give a sceptical pass to them on January only because it's a pig of a window. But for me, so far, we've done nothing we haven't done for pretty much 25 years. Sold someone we didn't replace, brought in a decent mid-priced player in another position and two punts for the future. That doesn't live up to the words they spoke in September.

It's "brick or please get off the pot" in the summer for me.