Librarian
Player Valuation: £70m
We’re comfortable the worst footballing side In the league. We’ve actually taken the skill level down, not up. The Tony Pulis era is over and you don’t get away with that anymore. Where’s Tony now and why?You're talking about top half expectations right there. The bottom half every season is full of teams that do not do what you suggest. Only three of them go down. We were not up to that standard last season, and we were not going to be this season after selling our best player just to stay within the rules, without freeing up funds for his replacement, no matter how good the window.
As Tony Pulis and others repeatedly proved over the years, it's the second concession that kills you most days out. Score one reliably, keep some clean sheets, and if you find yourself at a -15 goal differential at season's end you stay up, period. If you're in the -15 or -20 range and you go down, it's either because you were putrid in defense or scored in the twenties. I don't think we're that bad at either end of the pitch, though a large enough stack of injuries could change that.
This line of thinking is out of date.