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These are obviously dependent on Neil Warnock arriving shortly, as expected.
Firstly, his achievements as a manager throughout his career have been well above average, based upon what he has had at his disposal. He has never managed a club with more money than sense. Several promotions from leagues at all levels are testament to his capabilities as a manager. Apart from Ian Holloway with us, when was the last time we had someone in charge with the experience of getting teams promoted? I appreciate that the likes of Huddersfield and Notts County are not exactly names that set the world alight, but it is all relative at the end of the day.
Secondly, the best bit of all in my opinion is the timing. Getting him now will give him the opportunity to see what he already has in terms of players, with the added bonus of watching them perform in the very real situation that we find ourselves in. Far better to assess the squad when the chips are down and there is still a lot to play for. I feel that with Dowie and Magilton, taking charge pre-season against teams of the quality of Aldershot for example, teaches you nothing about the character of the players that you have. Armed with this knowledge, he will then be in a position to set about replacing those that need to be replaced, with players with all the attributes of a professional footballer, not just a few.
With the support of our new Board, which I am sure will back a man of his experience to the hilt, I personally think that we suddenly become a far more attractive option to quality players than in recent times. Once all this has been attended to and barring injuries to key players, we should hopefully be in a position to start next season with a matchday squad that is the best that can be assembled from what we have, unlike Magilton, whose tinkering basically cost us a lot of ground during the first couple of months, when we had the easiest possible start to a season. Too many points dropped then, had us playing catch up from the start. To a degree, that was one of the reasons that Sousa failed so miserably at Rangers. Whilst not being a fan of the boring football we had to endure under him and the lack of attacking intent and constant changing of the team, in his defence, he did not have the benefit of seeing first hand what was available to him in terms of quality and character, coming in as he did in the middle of a campaign. And before anyone decides to criticise this view as anti Sousa, I believe that he could well go on to be a huge success as a manager in the future, it just happens to be the case that he was not what we needed at that time.
The way in which Amit Bhatia appears to be going about things is already cause for optimism. The manner in which he conducts himself, with authority, dignity and empathy, is a huge step in the right direction from our very recent past. I feel that he has what it takes, along with the people that he is surrounding himself with, to ensure that our club can move forward in a far more structured and orderly fashion. The man just oozes class whenever I have seen him interviewed, a complete contrast to the unfortunately arrogant demeanour of Mr Briatore and as such, we can all be proud of the fact that he is in charge of our club.
I have never been one to demand that those that hold the purse strings spend their money disproportionately in comparison to what they might get for it in return. I am sure the vast majority of us, deep down, have no wish to be regarded in the same way as the Chelsea’s and Manchester City’s of this world. But although it has been clear for some time that a certain level of investment is required, I just cannot see the point of spending anything at all if it means bringing in the likes of Priskin, Bent, Hill and Ikeme to name a few. Far better to blood a few youngsters in the way that we used to when that was the done thing.
However, I just have this feeling that with a manager who the board have confidence in, whose judgement they trust, they may just spend a bit more than we have the right to expect. I can fully understand their previous reluctance to make funds available to previous managers, who they perhaps felt didn’t have the judgement of somebody like Neil Warnock and who would not be allowed to do things their own way. But that problem appears to exist no longer.
As disappointing as things have been this season, another one where we have all but failed to achieve anything like our potential just over half way through it, things could be about to change very much for the better.
Firstly, his achievements as a manager throughout his career have been well above average, based upon what he has had at his disposal. He has never managed a club with more money than sense. Several promotions from leagues at all levels are testament to his capabilities as a manager. Apart from Ian Holloway with us, when was the last time we had someone in charge with the experience of getting teams promoted? I appreciate that the likes of Huddersfield and Notts County are not exactly names that set the world alight, but it is all relative at the end of the day.
Secondly, the best bit of all in my opinion is the timing. Getting him now will give him the opportunity to see what he already has in terms of players, with the added bonus of watching them perform in the very real situation that we find ourselves in. Far better to assess the squad when the chips are down and there is still a lot to play for. I feel that with Dowie and Magilton, taking charge pre-season against teams of the quality of Aldershot for example, teaches you nothing about the character of the players that you have. Armed with this knowledge, he will then be in a position to set about replacing those that need to be replaced, with players with all the attributes of a professional footballer, not just a few.
With the support of our new Board, which I am sure will back a man of his experience to the hilt, I personally think that we suddenly become a far more attractive option to quality players than in recent times. Once all this has been attended to and barring injuries to key players, we should hopefully be in a position to start next season with a matchday squad that is the best that can be assembled from what we have, unlike Magilton, whose tinkering basically cost us a lot of ground during the first couple of months, when we had the easiest possible start to a season. Too many points dropped then, had us playing catch up from the start. To a degree, that was one of the reasons that Sousa failed so miserably at Rangers. Whilst not being a fan of the boring football we had to endure under him and the lack of attacking intent and constant changing of the team, in his defence, he did not have the benefit of seeing first hand what was available to him in terms of quality and character, coming in as he did in the middle of a campaign. And before anyone decides to criticise this view as anti Sousa, I believe that he could well go on to be a huge success as a manager in the future, it just happens to be the case that he was not what we needed at that time.
The way in which Amit Bhatia appears to be going about things is already cause for optimism. The manner in which he conducts himself, with authority, dignity and empathy, is a huge step in the right direction from our very recent past. I feel that he has what it takes, along with the people that he is surrounding himself with, to ensure that our club can move forward in a far more structured and orderly fashion. The man just oozes class whenever I have seen him interviewed, a complete contrast to the unfortunately arrogant demeanour of Mr Briatore and as such, we can all be proud of the fact that he is in charge of our club.
I have never been one to demand that those that hold the purse strings spend their money disproportionately in comparison to what they might get for it in return. I am sure the vast majority of us, deep down, have no wish to be regarded in the same way as the Chelsea’s and Manchester City’s of this world. But although it has been clear for some time that a certain level of investment is required, I just cannot see the point of spending anything at all if it means bringing in the likes of Priskin, Bent, Hill and Ikeme to name a few. Far better to blood a few youngsters in the way that we used to when that was the done thing.
However, I just have this feeling that with a manager who the board have confidence in, whose judgement they trust, they may just spend a bit more than we have the right to expect. I can fully understand their previous reluctance to make funds available to previous managers, who they perhaps felt didn’t have the judgement of somebody like Neil Warnock and who would not be allowed to do things their own way. But that problem appears to exist no longer.
As disappointing as things have been this season, another one where we have all but failed to achieve anything like our potential just over half way through it, things could be about to change very much for the better.
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