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Mauricio Pochettino
- Thread starter Dorothy
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Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
I mean Ndombele either adapts to the league or he crumbles away
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
As said on previous occasions we will have to agree to disagree because what you say did not happen.
Better lock the whole forum based on that criteria!
GHod, yes, imagine how dreadful that would have been.
I’d hate a scenario for example where Levy had had his pants pulled down for an 18 year old Messi, and as supporters we’d have had to have 14 years of watching Leo on the pitch doing his stuff weekly; but always with a bitter taste in the back of our throats, as we rankled with the persistent nagging thought of “oh he’s great yes, the best player ever, but.......did we pay more than fair market value for him back in the day?”
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Baleforce
Ron Henry
I think he was partly responsible for things getting to that state and partly responsible for the regression in performance of players, most of whom don’t have the excuse of age.
A well managed squad doesn’t need a rebuild, it needs to be constantly tweaked, we added a lot of players in his time here, as he was on the the transfer committee presumably with his sign off, he didn’t get the required level of performance out of them, that’s partly his responsibility too.
The problems happened on his watch, if he feels that Levy didn’t give him what he needed, then he either didn’t make a compelling enough argument or present realistic targets. He was the manager, the buck stopped with him, same as it will with Jose if he can’t get the squad to pull their socks up and get performances from his signings.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
The one thing I will blame Poch for is that he was just too good a bloke.
A lot of the same people who speculate about him being on the 'transfer committee' and thus being content with the utter fudging disasters that Levy has now overseen in that area are doing so at least partly because 'well, he was on the committee and never said anything, so presumably he signed off on those players'.
I wish Poch was self-serving enough to publicly, correctly lay the blame at the man and the group whose skinflint ways have in many ways crippled where we could have been, and held us back again and again just when we were on the verge. I wish he'd called out Levy for being an abominable cheapskate, so people realize how unhappy he actually was with everything going on on the shambolic recruitment side of things. I wish he'd called Steve Hitchen what he is, which is a summarily useless gas-bag whose expertise seemingly amounts to picking out rando Ligue 1 players like N'Jie and N'Koudou, and blindly recommending similarly useless players like Ndombele.
I wish he'd said something, instead of just insinuating it. But he was too good a bloke - kept things in house, didn't challenge Levy. Which was a terminal mistake for him, because now people think he was okay with watching his team get dismantled and no one brought in to help, season after season.
A lot of the same people who speculate about him being on the 'transfer committee' and thus being content with the utter fudging disasters that Levy has now overseen in that area are doing so at least partly because 'well, he was on the committee and never said anything, so presumably he signed off on those players'.
I wish Poch was self-serving enough to publicly, correctly lay the blame at the man and the group whose skinflint ways have in many ways crippled where we could have been, and held us back again and again just when we were on the verge. I wish he'd called out Levy for being an abominable cheapskate, so people realize how unhappy he actually was with everything going on on the shambolic recruitment side of things. I wish he'd called Steve Hitchen what he is, which is a summarily useless gas-bag whose expertise seemingly amounts to picking out rando Ligue 1 players like N'Jie and N'Koudou, and blindly recommending similarly useless players like Ndombele.
I wish he'd said something, instead of just insinuating it. But he was too good a bloke - kept things in house, didn't challenge Levy. Which was a terminal mistake for him, because now people think he was okay with watching his team get dismantled and no one brought in to help, season after season.
Baleforce
Ron Henry
Ok, lets assume he didn’t want any of those players...
The professional thing to do would be to make a better argument against signing them in the first place don’t you think?
And lucked out by not ending up with GrealishWe, as a club, are not privvy to what is going on at Villa. From what we did know from the outside we knew that when we were starting the negotiations Villa were in dire straights. Their owner couldn't extract money from his home country anymore and they had a FFP hammer over them. That s an incredibly weak position, a position that any self respecting bottom feeder would take advantage of. If what @parklane1 suggests is correct, i'd say that at £25m we have been far too respectful, prized asset or not they were in the sh.it.
So we shake on it, the transfer wheel starts turning. Now at this point the bit we don't know is if any murmur, enquiry, first contact has been made with potential new owners. If it has, (or even two weeks later) it takes nothing for Villa to put the transfer on go slow. As soon as the new owners are in anyway part of the dynamic the ball is then firmly with them, they have a magic money tree after all. Shaking on it means eff all at this stage. It certainly looks like a big intervention took place based on the angst of Grealish himself.
I don't think we've 'lowballed' them and i don't think its a clusterfcuk. We lost control of a transfer because we left our crystal ball at home
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
What do you think? 'It's either him or no one' - what would you go for? Especially since, in 2018-2019, for two windows running, we actually signed absolutely no one, and destroyed our team as a result - the consequences of which we are still fighting, and will be fighting for a long time to come.
The backroom battles on signings under Poch will emerge in time, as Poch finds a new job and is more comfortable revealing some of them. Given everything he's said and done, nothing leads to me to believe that he was ever happy with the way we act when it comes to transfers - as I think everyone will thankfully now admit, 'we need to be brave' didn't mean 'sign no-one'.
Baleforce
Ron Henry
If it was someone I didn’t want or no one then no one. Save the money until I can afford the one I want.
If I thought the job was impossible, and I was financially able to, I’d resign.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
I’m convinced the Be Brave was we can’t get anyone I want so we’re being brave in not signing anyone
No one can show me anything to convince me different. That was also a time when we signed his two favourites on very long term contracts (Kane and Alli)
Baleforce
Ron Henry
I agree.
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
Everyone waxes about Levy's delivery of the stadium. No-one recognises Poch's vital role in the process. Those CL placings ahead of "schedule" plus his unifying spirit certainly were worth their weight in finances...
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
They were absolutely massive
He united the club in a way only maybe Jol had done before
It was worth its weight in gold
If he won one trophy, just one he would be up as up there with the likes of Burkinshaw IMO
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
Pretty much how i read it as well, but we all know Dubai has a blind spot were Levy is concerned ( kicked his dog i heard
)
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Hey he is entitled to his option as everyone isPretty much how i read it as well, but we all know Dubai has a blind spot were Levy is concerned ( kicked his dog i heard
I don’t agree with it and you don’t either
I know we didn’t spend money we didn’t have and that’s clear but that’s also the way we will always run the club
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
Of course he is ( and he does often about Levy) nothing wrong with that. i would hate to see our club spend more then they have, sadly a lot of fans have no problem with that.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
That’s a BIG issue
Why didn’t we spend £100m seasons ago when we didn’t buy anyone... maybe we didnt have it then