[BaggieSteve]

Unlike Slick, I felt the sacking of Bilic was disgraceful, both in its manner and in its timing. Likewise, I felt the subsequent appointment of Allardyce was both desperate and misplaced. Right now, accepting only four games in, I have not changed my opinion: for me, this is like rewatching history- Pardew 2, The Allardyce Years. How long did it take us to work out that Pardew was both a mistake and a fraud? The difference being that all of us were glad to see the back of Pulis.

However, I’m not an apologist for Bilic who I feel made several errors in his time with us; like most I got highly frustrated with selections and substitutions. However, regarding his transfers I would largely- not wholly - exonerate him. When he was appointed, he was told it was a two years goal to achieve promotion. He did it in one with a team that just about got over the line. I think it was obvious to all of us - including him - that this was a championship level squad that, without serious investment, could not survive, let alone thrive, in the EPL. It was reminiscent of our first promotion under Megson - a lightweight team that did well to get promotion but would struggle. In the absence of any meaningful investment, Bilic resorted to those he knew and who had performed in the Championship, and let’s be honest, we were highly pleased when he signed both Pereira and Diangana permanently- the latter has been highly disappointing but that’s not what we, or Bilic, expected; unfortunately he also used up a big chunk of a very small transfer budget. I totally agree with Slick that Bilic should have prioritised a strong central midfielder, that is an area where we are being slaughtered every week, and that our defence is either inexperienced or just poor. Ivanovic was intended to bring the experience but he’s way past even being effective. Watching him against Aubameyang last night was embarrassing. As for a decent/half decent striker, we got what we paid for - a championship performer being asked to make a step up beyond his ability. However, I’m struggling to know who else would have been effective for that budget.

In the end, I think our problems go far deeper than Bilic or Allardyce; there us a systemic issue running through the club that is driven by an owner who has little interest in either the club he owns or the sport it plays. Peace had been trying to sell the club for years, his only ambition was to stay in the EPL to maximise his investment and its sale. He never moved us forward, hence his employment of Pulis way beyond his sell by date - “never been relegated” was a positive to attract a buyer. It failed. The same mentality has been used in the appointment of Allardyce...I fear this will also fail.

If it does fail, I would blame neither Bilic nor Allardyce. In my opinion, the fault lies squarely with Lai and his team of nodding dogs. I feel our relegation was assured before we kicked off against Leicester. There is an old saying - you probably know it - that “a fish rots from the head”, I think this so applies to us

Apologies for such a long post: also I apologise to Slick if he felt I was having a go at him personally. I honestly wasn’t; we may disagree over how we see things but I fully respect his opinions and his passion for the club.