28-04-2022, 15:10
I share the view of 4Eva in that I also loathe the Premier League and am always happiest when we're playing in the Championship. I know this season has been a complete shambles but we are generally competitive in this league, as opposed to being cannon fodder and just a team to fulfill fixtures in the EPL.
And I think that's where some of our problems lie.
I understand the financial necessity of a club the size of ours to be able to access the obscene riches of the EPL but our internal structure is such that a promotion just means a year of enhanced TV money and plenty of humpings. We come down to the Championship and all we can talk about is the need to get promoted again straightaway: wash, rinse, repeat. Nothing substantial changes, there are no systemic improvements that mean the club is progressing, it's just a cycle of the same short term thinking.
I know this probably sounds like heresy but I'd love Gourlay or whoever to recognise this is a crap model, that we need - as fans - to accept a spell of bottom up growth within the club in which qualifying for the play offs is probably as good as it gets. I've no idea how long such a period in the "wilderness" would take but I just feel that, right now, we are building a short term ambition on the weakest of foundations. There appears to be no recognition that building a squad that could survive in the EPL - as opposed to being relegated at the first attempt - will take time and probably require us to bring through young talent and recruit the same. This then requires the patience of the fans - not easy, I know - and the willingness of the Board to appoint a manager with such a vision. This Board has no ability to do this; both Slaven and Ismael were hired with a recognition that promotion may take time - in Slaven's case he did it in half the time, we didn't give him the proper resources to fully compete in the EPL and then we sacked him. (I know there were issues with both of them, but this is part of our short term thinking).
I don't believe Steve Bruce is capable of doing such a job; he is like so many of his ilk, he cannot see beyond next week. For all his talk of rebuilding the club, his idea of a rebuild will be to bring in some players he already knows from his previous failures, while ignoring the young talent we have in the club. Today we have news he is interested in signing Hourihane, previously it was Longstaff. He knows Johnstone is leaving, so he plays Button rather than Palmer. There is a reason Steve Bruce has managed a shedload of clubs where all the fans were not unhappy when he left. But he has the Albion job because, like him, the Board can't see beyond the end of their collective nose.
Apologies for the rambling post but, right now, I fear for my club because I think we are living from season to season, with no forward planning that will sustain us
And I think that's where some of our problems lie.
I understand the financial necessity of a club the size of ours to be able to access the obscene riches of the EPL but our internal structure is such that a promotion just means a year of enhanced TV money and plenty of humpings. We come down to the Championship and all we can talk about is the need to get promoted again straightaway: wash, rinse, repeat. Nothing substantial changes, there are no systemic improvements that mean the club is progressing, it's just a cycle of the same short term thinking.
I know this probably sounds like heresy but I'd love Gourlay or whoever to recognise this is a crap model, that we need - as fans - to accept a spell of bottom up growth within the club in which qualifying for the play offs is probably as good as it gets. I've no idea how long such a period in the "wilderness" would take but I just feel that, right now, we are building a short term ambition on the weakest of foundations. There appears to be no recognition that building a squad that could survive in the EPL - as opposed to being relegated at the first attempt - will take time and probably require us to bring through young talent and recruit the same. This then requires the patience of the fans - not easy, I know - and the willingness of the Board to appoint a manager with such a vision. This Board has no ability to do this; both Slaven and Ismael were hired with a recognition that promotion may take time - in Slaven's case he did it in half the time, we didn't give him the proper resources to fully compete in the EPL and then we sacked him. (I know there were issues with both of them, but this is part of our short term thinking).
I don't believe Steve Bruce is capable of doing such a job; he is like so many of his ilk, he cannot see beyond next week. For all his talk of rebuilding the club, his idea of a rebuild will be to bring in some players he already knows from his previous failures, while ignoring the young talent we have in the club. Today we have news he is interested in signing Hourihane, previously it was Longstaff. He knows Johnstone is leaving, so he plays Button rather than Palmer. There is a reason Steve Bruce has managed a shedload of clubs where all the fans were not unhappy when he left. But he has the Albion job because, like him, the Board can't see beyond the end of their collective nose.
Apologies for the rambling post but, right now, I fear for my club because I think we are living from season to season, with no forward planning that will sustain us
The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train