Re: Tim Sherwood - Head Coach
Thats just our club though isnt it? its us in a nutshell.
We also have different assertions as to what sucess would mean for this club. Some think qualifying for the ucl every season...others would say regular trophies.
Before we all play the blame game we must realise one crucial point...we have the sixth highest wage bill in the league so technically we are we should be are we not? we are neither falling below expectations nor raising ourselves above them.
What we wont ever do is dominate the league in the way that Man utd dominated our game for 20 + years... in order for us to do anything of special note we need to make sure our recruitment of Players is spot on and more in the line of the Modric and Bale type of quality...this also needs to go hand in hand with developing and giving youth a chance. We have the world Class training facilities. The glaring problem is our small stadium which holds us back competing with the financial big boys.
If we deem this season as a failure then there should be equal blame between Levy,Baldini,AVB & Timbo we should have the we all fail/suceed together mentality.
Personally I wanted Timbo given a chance...I know he is like marmite on here and I do agree his style with the press is very controversial and not always helpful to our cause, but I would like to point out that Tims persistance with rewarding hard work in training is not a bad thing...nor is the fact that he has taken some of our players down a peg or two.
If Tim leaves us with a developed Bentaleb and a Developed Kane...that can only be a good thing...at our club we need to develop youth rather than pick at the scraps in the transfer market hoping we unearth a gem.
in order to get sucess we need to do our homework and buy players to try and peak at the same time...supplement it with youth. The longer Levy & Baldini work together the hope is they trust each other more and make better deciscions...whether people want tim gone or not we do NEED a coach to develop youth and to develop an attractive brand of football.
If Sherwood is responsible for an effective Bentaleb & Kane in the future then I say..despite your many faults...Thank you Tim.
Interesting post, so I'll answer in pieces
The club has to have an idea of what success is, I agree, and while the supporters may disagree, I believe Levy is quite clear -> competing for CL spot, competing for trophies.
We are on par in terms of wages to results, but top 7 is a funny thing. Really both us and United have had poor seasons yet will never really be in danger of being out of top 7, the gap below is 8 points to 8th, 13 to 10th. Finishing on par if you are pushing the people above is acceptable, finishing on par with zero threat to anyone above is not.
Our player recruitment is actually quite good, people in this thread love to show the win % of BMJ - Harry - AVB - TS with each one actually having a better win % and claim it shows TS is a better manager. To me it actually jus shows we have increasingly bought better players and a more balanced squad. Carrick, Berbatov, Modric, VDV, Bale, Lloris, Eriksen at the prices paid for them are all amazing buys. We are trying to develop youth as you pointed out with our facilities investment, depending on it would be a tougher ask.
Absolutely Levy/Baldini are partially/fully to blame for this season. The fact as a employer you see an employee going off the rails (AVB) and didn't read the risk and prepare an adequate replacement option = extremely poor. Add the fact that you make a high risk call to appoint someone with no experience whatsoever? and that person has basically shown all the issues of lack of experience = damning.
Taking players down a peg or two highlights his inexperience and more worryingly a lack of understanding of the modern management role (which is often ego management vs. "boss man")
Bentaleb, Kane and Ade are all credits to TS, again like the previous point, why has he had success only with the people he has had under his wing for months, yet players who it would seem easier to motivate and get performances out of e.g. Vert, Sandro he alienates and they seem terrible out of form and/or disinterested?
We need a club system/ethos, Levy has been striving for it since BMJ/FA, the problem is Levy has got to learn to trust through the rough periods. If we have a system that we can buy/develop players to, it allows our purchases and youth players a greater chance of success.
TS deserves some thanks for getting us where we end (hopefully 72 points) and for Bentaleb, Kane and even Ade.
Thing is a huge part of your comments is about how we, the club, Levy, Baldini must have a together we succeed/fail mentality, one of the biggest issues with TS is he has been incredibly decisive to the club, fans and players ..
