[Slick_Footwork]

Not knocking your opinion Slick - will just agree to disagree.

My point about the timing was that the decision was made before last night and if you’re right that they kept Slav & co to manage the team at Man City then that’s unforgivable hence my theory that they’d have been somewhere up in the stands wanting us to get beat.

Who knows if it was as sinister as that or not. If it was, then it's backfired after picking up a point and given Allardyce a tougher start as it's raised expectation.

That said, it will help in that he will be able to see we are better with 4 at the back than with the 5 that Bilic insisted on for so long. Why he kept persisting with that is beyond me.

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He cares about his own wallet more than his reputation. You talk about his achievements but he’s usually been given plenty of money to spend, even if the club didn’t have any at the time. Bolton’s bankruptcy wasn’t entirely his fault - their Board at the time should have been strong enough to call his bluff about resigning rather than give in to his demands - but his time there came at a massive cost to the club.

Wallet and reputation goes hand in hand, the better job you do, the more you get paid. If that's the motivating factor then so it. Seems to be the motivating for lots of people in all warps of life.

In my honest opinion, staying in the league is absolutely paramount, particularly this season. Going down could lead to freefall, given the fact we have players out of contract, high earners, players who have been signed on higher purchase. For all his faults, Lai did do a reasonable job of financing our 2 seasons in the Championship by keeping hold of some high earners like Hegazi, Livermore, Gibbs, Rodriguez and such. And even though we had to release Rondon, he shelled out a lot of wages for the incoming loans of Gayle and Murphy. Mark Jenkins at the time said that model wasn't sustainable beyond 2 years, had we not been promoted in the summer we would've been decimated. Loanees would've returned to parent clubs, anyone on a decent salary would've been stripped. We would probably be scrapping against relegation with a team of academy grads!

If we go down this year, I do fear freefall given the financial implications of covid. In my childhood days as a fan we were languishing in the doldrums, and it wasn't enjoyable watching the likes of Micky Mellon and Stacey Caldicott week in and week out. I remember thinking we would never make it to the top flight. I do fear those fans who say "I would rather watch us in the Championship with a likeable manager" have forgotten those dark days. I personally hope they never return and even the dross we have been served up at times in the Premiership, for me, is hands down better than being hammered in the lower league.

I do talk about big Sam's achievements because that's what I base his suitability for the job for. You're right that he's spent money in his roles, but he's not wasted it like Pulis did at Stoke. He was responsible for bringing the likes of Milivojevic to Palace, who is now the club captain. He took Nzonzi to Blackburn, who shortly after went to Sevilla and become one of the most sought after midfielders in Europe. His signing of Khazri for Sunderland basically kept them up. Okay, he spent a lot at Bolton (primarily on salary rather than fees) but he left them 5th in the Premier League. Bolton's financial problems came years after he left and they actually broke their transfer record later, under Gary Megson, if I recall. So I don't really think he can be held accountable for any poor money management at Bolton that happened during and certainly beyond his time.

Hopefully he's come with assurances that he's got some cash to spend here, because we desperately need to invest in a few areas that Bilic was blind to in the summer.