To play devils advocate against that:
11 permanent managers/head coaches....
Graham - got rid of him. Hooray! That was what we all wanted!
Hoddle - right appointment at the time, unfortunately didn't work out.
Santini - bad appointment - walked....
Jol - great appointment - turned the club from a bit of a laughing stock to a top 6 club again. Perhaps deserved longer, certainly deserved to be relinquished from his duties in a better way!
Ramos - did well initially (League Cup) but ultimately the players wouldn't buy into his methods. Rightly sacked after an awful start to the season.
Redknapp - Brilliant appointment, did really well, almost took us to UEFA Cup in his first season after inheriting a real mess then got us 4th, 5th, 4th from his three full seasons in charge. Talked himself out of the job really.
AVB - Perhaps a bad appointment, although he did start well. I think Levy was seduced by his powerpoint presentations and sharp continental dress sense - and come on, let's face it most of us all fell for it as well!
Sherwood - Did a decent job for the half season he was in charge for but I don't think he was ever anything more than a caretaker. Filled a gap while we waited until the Summer to get our man.
Pochettino - Perhaps he'll be the best manager we ever have, perhaps the worst, probably somewhere in betweent, time will tell.
Who are the two permanent managers that I have missed?
3 Caretakers.....
Surely bringing in only 3 caretakers (when losing as many managers as we have is actually pretty good?)
4 Directors of football....
Again not too bad in 14 years especially considering that Arnesen left of his own accord and Baldini is still here... That only leaves Comoli who was sacked. Who was the other one that I have missed? Was it Pleat?!?... If so then I don't think he was ever a bonafide DoF. I think he was more of an
advisor.
Franco Baldini - what is his role?
See above - Director of Football. Haven't you already answered that one in your "4 Directors of football" statement?
Ticket pricess....
Isn't the value of money supposed to halve every 10 years or something?
Is 77% and 59% that bad over 14 years?
Also haven't ST prices been frozen for the past two seasons?
Big Spenders?....
Is an average net spend of £8.6 million a year over 14 years really the lowest of any EPL club? Surely that is propoganda? There must be many current PL clubs who have spent less than £120 million over that same period?
Also I think we have spent a further £120 million on our stadium and training ground over the last 3 years.
Fans....
Personally I think the club were in a no-win situation with the y!d thing.
The loyalty points situation is fine, for every fan who disagreed with it you found one who agreed with it - the old system meant that people who used to go to games a lot got priority over those who currently go to games a lot, isn't that less fair than the new system?
Communication could be better, but it also could be worse. At least they always meet the supporters trust.
Real Madrid partnership....
Levy explained what this gave at the Supporters Trust meeting (and it was 'not a lot'). Surely everybody realised at the time that it was just a way of trying to appease the blow of losing our Croatian midfield genius (who actually wanted to go a whole year earlier)
Northumberland Park Development & Milton Keynes (& Stratford)....
What is happening?.... Erm there is a smouldering sheet metal works business currently occupying the centre circle of our new stadium and threatening not to leave.
Milton Keynes.... Well we'll have to play somewhere for a season while we develop - if Wembley say no, West Ham say no, Arsenal say no and we cannot get safety clearance to build to our initial plan where we stay at WHL - then what do we do?.... Simply not build the thing and keep our 36,000 WHL?
As for Stratford - perhaps the huge delays and obstacles (and controversy over a season at MK) are the exact reasons why Levy considered Stratford?
Vision & Leadership....
I think there was a very clear strategy laid out to the fans. Perhaps you missed it?...
1. Improve the team and squad,
2. Improve the youth set-up,
3. Invest in a new training ground,
4. Invest in a new stadium.
1, 2 and 3 ENIC have made good on.
4 is in progress and perhaps just a CPO appeal denial away from moving forward further.
Remember that ENIC Inherited a lower midtable club with antiquated training facilities, a dilapidated youth set up, completely broken local community and government relations, no coherant stadium strategy and qualifying for Europe via the league a distant pipe dream. Over their 14 years they have turned that into a situation where we have the best training facility in the country, one of the best 3 youth setups in the country, fantastic local community and government relations, a coherant stadium strategy that is 'close' to fruition and where we have qualified for europe via the league in all but 1 of the last 8 or so seasons.
Glory.... Or the lack of it....
I'm not sure if this person realises it but we weren't exactly swimming in glory in the years preceeding ENIC either. We'd won a single League Cup under George Graham and before that an FA Cup final in 1991 just before we almost went bankrupt.
1 Champions League run in 14 years.... Yep - along with 5 or 6 UEFA Cup/Europa League runs - all achieved in the last 7 or 8 years .... Probably our most consistent run of featuring in European competitions in our history!
uke:
