I think it’s a fair point. It’s not like an ‘oh my god we’re on course for disaster’ situation, but I think it’s fair to ask what we’re actually trying to achieve.
You say it's a fair point. Based on what? The only evidence we currently have at the moment of the direction we are attempting to go in, are 2 hard and cold facts.
We are awaiting planning permission to build a new waterfront stadium, something we have claimed to need in order to compete for the best part of 3 decades,
We appointed probably THE top available manager in the world, with a track record of success in almost every job he's ever had, including this very league.
Do neither of these things not strike you as being even the slightest bit ambitious?
Other than somehow converting Goodison in to a 60k seater super stadium complete with 9 cheese shops and requiring no City Council approval, and going and stealing Guardiola away from Man City because it turns out he was a blue and Peter Reid was his idol, what would you have us do?
I said the other day, the players we’ve been linked with are all decent players in their own right. Individually they improve on what we have. Do they offer substantial improvement though? I’d say not really. Long term improvement? Again, not really. So what are we actually aiming for? Obviously you never know, but realistically I reckon the signings of Doucouré, Allan and arias have us looking around the 7th/8th best side in the league.
This is, as I'm sure you will agree, pure guesswork. You are judging individual players, with different qualities and attributes, coming from several different teams and even leagues, and based on your own limited knowledge of them, assuming they are not what the manager wants or needs, despite also admitting they are in fact improvements on what we currently have.
Teams are built, not just on star power of the individual, but character, belief, balance, chemistry, ideas, tactics, and much more. Its not as simple as buy this 1 player who is great over there, and he will perform exactly the same over here. How you can say players offer no real short or long term improvement before we have even signed them, let alone seen them play? I'm sure you remember when we sold arguably the best young player in the league, and replaced him with Marcus Bent for about the same price we burn away each month on Gylfi the Ghosts wages.
Howard Kendall used to buy the player he needed for the role he needed to be fulfilled, and I've heard many a tale of people scratching their heads at the signings of people like Reid, Gray, Paul Power. What is important is getting the right blend, and if there's anyone I trust to do that, its the finest man manager in the game.
So what do we do from there? Is this just the start, and we’re going to spend £100m every summer until we get where we want to be? Or are we just spending a shedload of money to get an extra 6/7 points? I’ve said for a while our recruitment policy is muddled and the current links just strengthen that view. I’d like to believe there’s a master plan In place, But they’re hiding it very well if there is.
The recruitment policy is what it is. You can have a set of ideals that you aim for, but the reality could be somewhat different. You may have to bend your own rules from time to time. In the short term, I guess signing ready made players with experience gives you a platform to build on.
The most important thing is that over time, the team improves and evolves. And it will take time. If the overall plan is to introduce a core of young, talented players that come in cheap and sell on for huge profits, making us totally self sustainable, then we 1st need a team that they can be integrated into, and at the moment, we don't really have one. All of that is going to take time, and we are very early into the process.
We are somewhat restricted because of the totally unfair FFP rules, and the fact that certain players are always going to choose to go elsewhere. But for every player that decides we are not big enough for them, there will be dozens of others who would jump at the chance. In no small part to the 2 cold hard facts from earlier.
Even though it goes against everything we know, for once, we need to be patient & positive and just try to get behind the team, the manager and anyone else that's involved. Because all this negativity is helping noone.
