I know you love Poch and don't hold him accountable for anything.
To me, it simply beggars belief that he had no input into our transfer dealings. He should have been an integral part in planning for the future with evolution rather than simply crying " a painful rebuild is necessary" when it was already too late.
Yes funds were tight during the stadium build, but any half decent senior manager should have gone to the chairman and be part of the implementation process. For example, Poch could have gone to Levy and said, if we need funds sell x, y and z ( just picking names out if the air -Dier, Dele, Eriksen, Toby, Rose) when we could get decent money for them and replace them gradually over time with younger fitter versions. Its is called managing change. I rather suspect Poch was too loyal to too many players for too long.
Also, riddle me this. We already had several wide players in the three behind Kane. Son, Lamela, and Dele for two slots in his preferred 4231 formation. Yet Poch presided over the acquisitions of so many wide players, Moura, NJai, NKudu and Sissoko ( in his original incarnation). Even in his last window he bought Sessegnon and Clarke. The seeming obsession with wide players even continued two months into Mourinhos reign with the needless acquisition of Bergwyn. Yet we had no adequate cover for Eriksen or Kane and hadn't replaced the gaping hole left by Dembele and Wanyama. To me, Poch allowed our transfer policy to spiral out of control with the players bought. If he had any gumption ( and he had a lot of credit in the bank with Levy at that stage) he should have demanded more control over purchases and agreed a plan with Levy over who he was prepared to dispense with.
Add the fact that he was probably a key mover in our Argentian acquisitions and they have all been disappointing . I know Lamela wasn't his buy but as our record signing at the time he simply hasn't delivered enough . Both Gazza and Foyth were flops and for me the jury is still out on LoCelso and ( as with Lamela) I worry about his one footedness.
If Poch really never had any input on signings, then as a matter of principle, he should have resigned. I don't for one minute believe Levy would have kept him out of the loop on signings. To buy players he wouldn't play is just a futile exercise. No, I suspect Poch was just too loyal to his players and didn't want to sell them even though they were past their best. I feel he presided over their waning displays for far too long without taking decisive action.
