That's not why most people are unsatisfied. Goes much, much deeper than that and I will not repeat issues which have been raised countless of times already in numerous threads.
Again you're assuming no one can do better than Arry or at least it would be nearly impossible. Why? What is your definition of better? Should it not be
- consistent Top 4 and the occassional 3rd - squad quality permitting - fudge all to do with wages and turnover.
- wining one of the 2 cups available.
- improved transfer dealings and better scouting network
- some form of censorship in his media interraction
Where we were back than has nothing to do with the fact that on paper those managers have nothing less going for them than Arry did at the time. Why is that so hard for many to understand / admit?
- when he took over I'm sure not even his biggest fans imagined he would achieve what he did. As far as I remember most were sceptical to say the least. There was nothing in his CV to suggest the promise of success
- yet he managed to pull of small miracles on a fraction of the Big 4's budgets
- so how can we say others couldn't match or better yet - improve that? Please explain.
I don't really care about his media interraction but if you do that's fair enough. As for his scouting network, we seem to find good players e.g. Sandro, and good young players e.g. Soulman, but we are in a different position to Saudi Sportswashing Machine. We have a good squad full of quality and that means any addition needs to improve it. It's tough to do with the position we are in, because to improve we would need to attract the very best. But to attract the very best we need the money to compete with the sugar daddy clubs. So that's why we seem to be stuck at the moment, but really we are just letting our players improve and grow into their roles in the team. Without being able to compete financially with sugar daddies, that's the best way of going about it. The alternative is to pay obscene wages to older players on long contracts (different to what Harry has done with Saha/Nelsen, who can be released easily and are only back up players on short contracts) and I don't much fancy being another Leeds, or even a laughing stock like Saudi Sportswashing Machine a few years ago. We are doing it the best way. As for cups, they are largely a lottery. I'd never say a manager 'needs' to win a cup in a certain amount of time because again, they could do everything right, have the hardest run imaginable and get knocked out in the quarters. They could do everything right and lose to a League 2 side with a sucker punch. They could spend little time preparing the team because they are more focussed on the league and we end up in the semis because we've faced a load of dross on the way. Doesn't fuss me really. It's fantastic if we win, but I'm never going to look at cups as the barometer of our success. Sustainable consistency in the top 6 of the league every season is where it's at for me, and that's what Harry is getting us. (Note: I'm NOT saying that I don't care about silverware etc, I'm not one of those people, because I do. What I'm saying is I won't use it to judge managerial suitability. Not when McLeish can win the CC with Birmingham or when Dalglish can lead a terrible Liverpool side to it this season before getting sacked).
So that leaves the league finishing. No, I don't believe someone could do better than Harry in the league. Because I believe that luck and factors beyond the managers control can have too much impact on league placing (I used to believe that 'the table never lies' but after this season, I don't believe it. No way) I wouldn't use individual seasons in isolation to judge managerial suitability. I believe that looking at the league, and how competitive it is at the top, if we are smart, over say the next 5 years, we may be able to get 3rd once, maybe twice. But because it is so competitive, we may also finish 6th. If we get really lucky, we maybe could push for the title. But again, because it is so competitive, I wouldn't look at individual seasons and sack him or back him based on that. If Fergie finished 3rd one season, I wouldn't say he should go if I was a United fan, unless it was third for say 3 seasons in a row and no chance of a realistic title challenge. If Fergie finished 3rd, then 3rd again but was in with a shot on the last day, then second, I'd still say he shouldn't neccesarily go. It depends how close he is, because if it is close, you can bet a little bit more luck over the season would have lead him to the title.
Same with us. If we finish 5th next season, I wouldn't want Harry sacked. As long as we looked like we were in the conversation for top 4, that would be good enough for me. Reason being, too much can have an effect beyond his control and there's no point chopping and changing as long as that was the case. If we finished 5th 3 seasons in a row, and not in one of those times did we look like we were ever close to the top 4, that's a different story. But as long as we are in the conversation, I'm ok with that. Because of how competitive it is, we could finish anywhere realistically from 3rd to 6th. With luck, we could push for the title. With terrible luck/many poor decisions (by that I mean more than a good manager would usually make) we could finish 7th. But realistically, 3rd to 6th is where we should be at. If we went 4th, 6th, 3rd, 5th, 5th over the next 5 years, I wouldn't want Harry to go. He's already shown that he could claim 3rd with more luck this season, after a season finishing 5th, so there's no reason he couldn't reinvigorate us again, and no reason we couldn't improve. I wouldn't say the odd drop in league placing from year to year means he should go, just like I wouldn't claim that a third place finish should get him knighted. We have a good manager amoungst many good managers around, and the league is so competitive that you could never realistically say to a manager 'I want top 4 every season' because it just isn't realistic. City, United and Chelsea should have it sewn up, and Arsenal, Liverpool and Saudi Sportswashing Machine will be pushing for it too. It's important to be in the conversation, and as long as we are in it, that means we have a chance of going from 3rd to 6th depending on luck, performances of players, confidence, form and of course good management, making the right calls at the right time.
To do better than the realistic finishing of 3rd to 6th which is what Harry offers us would be to have us consistently, over a period of a good few years, to be from 1st-4th. That means never dropping out of the top 4. That means being in with a realistic shout of challenging for the title. That means automatic CL qualification without the need for the play offs the majority of times. I'm talking over a number of years here, not just the odd 3rd place finish proving that one manager is better than Harry. Do I think any other manager could achieve it at our club? No, I really don't. And I say that as a massive fan of Rodgers, Martinez, Lambert and AVB, and hoping one of them gets a chance at our club one day. But do I believe that they'll take us to previously unforseen heights in the PL era? No, not without a sugar daddy or until the new stadium is paid off (Arsenal have shown that a new stadium doesn't put them up there with them either). that's just IMO of course
