Seems like he's struggled to hold down his starting place at Villarreal (22 league apps), although I'm not sure if he's been injured. Agree though I think he would have been outstanding in the Championship
Both were in areas we were weak this season, if we had a fit and focused Pervis or Suarez this season I'm sure we'd have won the league. If Masina were the best LB in the league this season, then Pervis would probably have been the best ever lol
Yes. I understand the disappointment, but some of the comments at the time were way too strong. Mind you, those seem to be starting again despite the fact we went up so not much has changed!
I don't think Pervis would have made much difference. Defensively we were more than adequate this year. Much like last year our issue was a lack of a goalscoring striker. Even a half competent one and we'd have won the league at a canter. With the Deeney of 6 years ago, for example, this season would have been a record breaker. Looking at Suarez' stats this year I don't think he would have swung the needle too much. On the other hand, as it turns out it wouldn't have taken much for us to pass Norwich and I think Suarez would have been more useful than Gray/Deeney if he settled. Of course, that's a big "if".
What? Some overly negative and flawed comments on this forum about our owners making awful footballing decisions? You’re kidding.
If Pozzo sold the club we'd most likely settle back to being a mid table Championship club, or worse. But some want Gino out because...he signed Carlos Sanchez and Ashley Fletcher boo hoo
Does anybody actually want Pozzo to leave because he signed Fletcher and Sanchez? Maybe they do but that would seem to be bizarre. I want him out because he has hammered our finances and continues to tie us to long contracts with poor players while focusing on his wheeler dealing and shovelling assets to Udinese. Maybe he will have a different approach this season and start repairing our financial situation but the 5 year contract for Fletcher doesn’t fill me with hope.
Wouldn't surprise me. People certainly wanted him out when Xisco was hired. As I said to you before, I respect your reasons for you dislike of the ownership. They're reasoned and researched. I disagree overall, but you're more level-headed than most.
From what I’ve read in all the Spanish press is that we only sold 50% of Suarez to Granada and we have first option to buy him back if we wish to.
Anyone who wonders what mismanagement of a football club looks like should ask Portsmouth, Charlton, Ipswich, Sunderland, Bolton, Sheff Wed, Derby fans. Some fans won’t be happy until we are a comfortable mid table prem club pushing for Europe. Actually scratch that. When we were they were moaning about throwing away 7th spot and not running MC close in the FA Cup final. They took finances to the limit to try to establish us as a prem team. Perhaps this time they will learn their lesson and cut the cloth accordingly and accept relegation as a very probably outcome, the Norwich approach. Would fans accept that ? It’s going to be a miserable experience on this forum over the next year. Moog had some very decent points about their style with poor comms and a conveyor belt of disengaged talent passing though which I understand. I think that’s the price we will abe to pay for flirting with a life in the Prem until we are bought by a rich Saudi Prince.
Which 50% though? Actually it wouldn't surprise me if we had an option on him. Suarez & Quina vs Cucho today at 5.30pm. I might have to watch that.
Seeing as Masina was out until December, Pervis would have made a huge difference as we'd have been able to play a back four from a much earlier point in the season. Suarez wasn't exactly exposed at a higher level than the Championship, I don't think any of our other strikers would have netted 5 times in 26 games (from open play of course!). But hey, I can't complain too much, and the £20+ million we raised from those sales was important to keep us ticking along
From what I've read, we get a 50% sell-on clause in the next few years, unless they choose to buy that out, or something. We'll probably get more money for him in the near future, but not a ginormous amount
Yes anyone beating Gino for “the sale of Pervis costing us the title” would be clutching at straws I think. The objective was to bounce straight back up which we achieved and most clubs don’t achieve. I think it’s pretty likely we will come back down and plenty will argue that a few sensible signings and we’d have stayed up comfortably ignoring the fact that all other clubs will strengthen, players may not want to leave or come to us, we may be priced out by bigger clubs etc etc. Will be an interesting and frustrating summer I’m sure.
We could have played a back four long before we did. Ivic was just being unnecessarily stubborn and probably trying to make a belaboured point. People were questioning his refusal to use a slightly out of position left back long before he was sacked. That's not to say a recognised LB wouldn't have been better, of course. Obviously it would.
Tbf only on paper would Pervis and Suarez have made a difference as we'd have had to make up the £20m plus wages somewhere else! I'd have taken 2nd at the start of the season, albeit in hindsight it was arguably a good season to go down as the other teams in the Championship were struggling. Looks like we're going down the Norwich route of doing things on the cheap and half thinking of the worst case scenario, which I don't think is the worst plan in the world seeing as we could easily have ended up like Bournemouth. Obviously I'm hoping for better strikers than Ashley Fletcher though!
I don't think that first part can be right. 50% ownership isn't allowed in the English leagues, so he must belong to them. We could well have a sizable sell on clause, though.
It's 10 years next summer since they came in. Seems to have gone quickly and tbf they have done some very good things on and off the pitch. Obviously not everything has worked and we've wasted a lot of money but then who hasn't. They will say save for the relegation season their management process has worked I guess.
Too early to tell what approach we are going to take. The negotiations for major players will only start in the summer. At this stage we are just trying to hoover up a few youngsters and FTs. The players in real demand will be later with many only committing to us or others in the last week of the window as they will be checking all options and as usual many transfers will be dependent on other deals completing. We won’t be first choice for many of the better players we will be after, but they will take us if they can’t seal a deal with a bigger club.
I’m happy with a conservative approach. You mention Bolton, Pompey etc the only difference between them and us is we bounced back up, and absolute credit to Pozzo for finding the right balance between players sales and calculated gamble to allow that to happen. However as you say they pushed finances to the limit. Hopefully it will be different this time, but it means next season will be a big challenge.
Yes, we need to prepare for next season being what we all feared the first EPL season under the Pozzos would be like. Avoiding relegation by 3 points max, if at all, I would think.
Good list, until recently I would have added Leeds and Coventry to that, with Aston Villa given a (dis)honorable mention. It's understandable and justifiable that most if not all were unhappy with the end to 2018/19, it was very disappointing. I don't think much if any blame can be attached to Gino for that though (and if there was, it was only from a few of his strongest critics and retrospectively), a lot of people said the defence was to blame, but it was actually quite competent against "the rest" (23 goals conceded in 24 games against non-top six opposition when we kept all eleven players on the pitch - eight of the 59 goals were conceded in the home games against Bournemouth and West Ham, though that was emblematic of the fragile confidence of the team which was evident throughout several of our Prem seasons and probably should have been looked into more). The players and Gracia were more to blame for the collapse - Deeney's sending off against Arsenal, Cathcart's mistake virtually from kick-off against Southampton, and Gracia making tactical mistakes (notably taking off Hughes in the big game against Wolves when we were on top, even the commentators said so at the time) and failing to keep the players focused on the remaining league games (the excuse for the poor form was the players had/might have had their minds on the FA Cup Final, but that turned out to be counter-productive, because I'm convinced the bad run played a part in the huge margin of defeat). It was the summer after that during which the board really made mistakes, for which the criticism is fully justified.
That depends on what the particular concern with Pozzo was. On the pitch I’d agree, but to be honest the output on the pitch taken as a whole has been very good even with relegation. However from a financial perspective we were already in a complete mess by the end of the 18/19 season, even after a cup run and relatively high premier league prize money.
Tbf we saw Kiko being played at LWB, and while he was OK, he was nowhere near as effective going forward as on the right, when he had to cut inside, he lost all his momentum
Oh yes, definitely not as good. But serviceable enough? For certain, especially at Championship level.
I read this with interest. So who have you got lined up to buy the club, who will do abetter job than him?
Why do I need someone lined up to comment? Obviously if there is no bidder then there can be no sale, so if nobody credible wants to take Pozzo’s place then I’m rather out of luck as a supporter. Who knows, perhaps Pozzo will change his ways and find a way to continue his indisputable on field success without putting the club in financial danger. Focusing on the club’s needs rather than his player trading would be a start.
Strange comment. Expecting Pozzo to learn from the mistakes that took us down in the first place, doesn’t seem like an outrageous request to me. Sign younger, hungrier players. Resist the urge to reward aging mediocrity with 5 year deals. Sell players at peak value to avoid a squad littered with unhappy players. Just a few areas to improve from the top of my head. I’m sure others could find more. Nobody expects perfection, but evidence of avoiding a repeat of our relegation season/impending financial doom would be nice.
I’m sorry but anyone who thinks giving a contract to an unemployed footballer who will cost us nothing means we are definitely going to get relegated is literally a moron. I mean, Pozi OWT!!
I don’t disagree with any of that, but it is predicated on the Pozzos staying and improving. I was replying to a poster who explicitly wanted the Pozzos out. I don’t see anything strange in asking what they envisaged happening after the Pozzos left, in their scenario.
You want the Pozzos out. The implication is that you believe that will improve the club’s position. I’m merely enquiring how that will happen. As someone who enjoyed (ahem) both the Petchey and Bassini eras, I’m wary about assuming that a new owner would be an improvement - I’d like to know who that would be.
