OT: What next for Harry?

[Jurgen the German]

I'm 27, we've been a bad side in terms of the league for most of my life. The only sustained periods of success in the league from what I can actually remember (don't recall the year we finished 3rd under Venables) were under Jol and Redknapp. We never even got within a sniff of the top 4 until those two came along, therefore, they were both a success and Ramos was a failure despite winning a trophy.

 

[Crawley]

So, thats it then? He wasn't a success for you? I think a lot of people are misguided and think we have a rich history of success and high finishes in the league.

Success?

What did we win, other than admirers?

We improved, massively. No questions asked. Much to my surprise at times.

Should/could we have got more?............with that squad, yes, I think so.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Agree with this.

Let me put it in writing as I see it.....


Redknapp joins Spurs with us in the brick.

Gutted, as I see him as a dodgy dealer, don't like his background, don't trust him, but we need someone to sort us out quickly, so prepared to support

Not surprised at start, as TBH, the Queen Mother could have got us out of that run with the players available.

Very surprised......and pleased, at final position that season. Still don't like HR the person, but willing to accept we improved under him.

Gob-smacked at next season, CL qualifiers. Still don't trust HR the person, but yes, impressed at how he has got us playing.

Loved our CL season, but very disappointed we didn't get over the finishing line to qualify again. Feel HR didn't quite have the nous to take us there again, but accepeted we played great football at times. Still wish he would shut-up at times. can be quite embarrassing.

Another great first half of the season. Didn't get over annoyed at he first two results either, but really wish HR would shut-up giving so many soundbites to the press. Very amateurish.
Then..........health.......ok, not his fault, but court case?........hmmmmmmmm
And the England brick?....Sorry, all down to him. Totally lost the plot and we know the result.
The end of last season proved, to me, that HR is all about HR. Was never bothered to see him go. Didn't hate. Just thought.....meh.

And that's it really. No hate. No love. Impressed at times, but like my old school reports......could/should do better.

And here we are with AVB.

Now, AVB has picked us up at the start of a season, with the squad incomplete, and new ideas. I don't have pre-conceived ideas about AVB, because there is no way anyone should judge him on his time at Abramovich FC because that is just a pantomime.

We have to give him time. Even AVB would have got us out of "2 points from 8 games".

If it's a transitional season, fine. So be it.

But for christs sake, lets support.

That could be applied to most players (cough cough Ekotto). But I don't have problem with anything else in this post.

 

[Crawley]

I disagree with this. Comolli left us with a very unbalanced side

But how many players did he change when he arrived?

None, because the window was closed. So, with that same un-balanced squad, he got us to safety and beyond. Admirable, but not above the realms of expectation.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Success?

What did we win, other than admirers?

We improved, massively. No questions asked. Much to my surprise at times.

Should/could we have got more?............with that squad, yes, I think so.

I believe our chances of top 3 would have been greatly increased if we had got a striker in January. It's obvious now that Levy was saving money for the next manager.

 

[glorygloryeze]

So, thats it then? He wasn't a success for you? I think a lot of people are misguided and think we have a rich history of success and high finishes in the league.

I think he said many times how surprised by the results in that summary, just that he didn't like HR the man, and was meh about his leaving because of that (and because of the feeling that he didn't focus enough to acheive what was achievable).

Seemed very clear to mer from the post Crawley made.

 

[Crawley]

That could be applied to most players (cough cough Ekotto). But I don't have problem with anything else in this post.

Absolutely. Don't deny this. But players are seen as the mercenaries. The manager needs to be above this. See Ferguson/Wenger. You could not class them as this.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I believe our chances of top 3 would have been greatly increased if we had got a striker in January. It's obvious now that Levy was saving money for the next manager.

Hmmm...you sure? Who do youn think Harry wanted to sign that Levy vetoed? Curious...

 

[spitshine]

Success?

What did we win, other than admirers?

We improved, massively. No questions asked. Much to my surprise at times.

Should/could we have got more?............with that squad, yes, I think so.

Ah but by saying that one could presume that Ramos would be seen as a success as he won a trophy in his first season, especially thrashing arsenal in semi's and defeating Chelsea in the final?

For me success today is defined as top 4 and even more so playing the attractive football we played

 

[Crawley]

I believe our chances of top 3 would have been greatly increased if we had got a striker in January. It's obvious now that Levy was saving money for the next manager.

I'm sure there is an element of truth in this. But still believe, with the way we HAD been playing from September, we should never have slipped, new striker or not. HR at fault here for me.

 

[Crawley]

Ah but by saying that one could presume that Ramos would be seen as a success as he won a trophy in his first season, especially thrashing arsenal in semi's and defeating Chelsea in the final?

For me success today is defined as top 4 and even more so playing the attractive football we played

A whole different argument. I'm old school.
To me, real success is actually winning something. But I take your point on board in todays financially driven world.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Hmmm...you sure? Who do youn think Harry wanted to sign that Levy vetoed? Curious...

Well Damiao for one. We've been after him for years. Not saying Levy vetoed him, but we've failed to sign him despite being after him for ages.

Look at how much money we've spent in this window, we haven't spent that much since we were in trouble in 08/09. Spent barely anything last season.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I'm sure there is an element of truth in this. But still believe, with the way we HAD been playing from September, we should never have slipped, new striker or not. HR at fault here for me.

That's where we disagree. We were in the title race in January. We only needed 1 or 2 players in that window to strengthen and improve our chances of fending off Arsenal.

 

[glorygloryeze]

Well Damiao for one. We've been after him for years. Not saying Levy vetoed him, but we've failed to sign him despite being after him for ages.

Look at how much money we've spent in this window, we haven't spent that much since we were in trouble in 08/09. Spent barely anything last season.

We haven't signed Damiao since Harry left, so AVB hasn't benefitted from Levy saving his money for that one. Are here any other targets you can name that were vetoed?

I don't believed we have actually spent that much, when you consider the sales, so again I'm not sure your theory of Levy holding cash for next manager (which I coluld see on paper being the case) actually can be backed up

 

[Crawley]

That's where we disagree. We were in the title race in January. We only needed 1 or 2 players in that window to strengthen and improve our chances of fending off Arsenal.

I get that. But my argument is that we got to that position with the players we had. Why did we suddenly collapse? Surely that wasn't because of NOT buying a striker?
We had enough lead on the Arse to get through. We failed.

 

[spitshine]

A whole different argument. I'm old school.
To me, real success is actually winning something. But I take your point on board in todays financially driven world.

Understand. Years ago wining the cup would have been great, now it's all changed.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I get that. But my argument is that we got to that position with the players we had. Why did we suddenly collapse? Surely that wasn't because of NOT buying a striker?
We had enough lead on the Arse to get through. We failed.

Plus, did Arsenal buy a few players in January themselves to help close that gap??

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Well Damiao for one. We've been after him for years. Not saying Levy vetoed him, but we've failed to sign him despite being after him for ages.

Look at how much money we've spent in this window, we haven't spent that much since we were in trouble in 08/09. Spent barely anything last season.

Didn't we make about 5m in player trading this window? Stato had the sums in the transfer rumor thread, not sure if they were final or not but can't be much different.

 

[milo]

I get that. But my argument is that we got to that position with the players we had. Why did we suddenly collapse? Surely that wasn't because of NOT buying a striker?
We had enough lead on the Arse to get through. We failed.

A combination of factors including Lennon getting injured, a very tough run of fixtures, court case, England speculation, Muamba's heart attack, a dip in form, Parker running on empty from Easter onwards... some of those are Redknapp's fault, others are not. I share your frustration about Redknapp and his big mouth, I wish that he had taken the same line as Hodgson when the job first came up.

 

[Jurgen the German]

We haven't signed Damiao since Harry left, so AVB hasn't benefitted from Levy saving his money for that one. Are here any other targets you can name that were vetoed?

I don't believed we have actually spent that much, when you consider the sales, so again I'm not sure your theory of Levy holding cash for next manager (which I coluld see on paper being the case) actually can be backed up

It's not so much that Levy vetoed Harry, but I've been critical of his failure to get deals done/dragging them out. Remy is another we are perinnally linked with, but never get.

I'm not so much interested in net spend. But overall, we spent close to £50m in this window, we spent £5m in the whole of last season!! And that season we got some tidy sums for Crouch and Palacios plus the money from Hutton and Keane, close to £30m we recouped.

We bought Pienaar in the previous Jan window, again, no striker!