Brands was brought in to fix a mess, that was the supposed idea.
Three years later, if you're in a bigger mess that doesn't say anything to his credit.
I accept that there are bigger forces at play, but his name is on the door, like the managers, and we have had no issue in making managers accountable. It should be the same treatment for Brands. His record here is appalling.
Silva was picked by the chairman before Brands arrived.
Ancelotti was also picked by the chairman, as was Benitez.
Richarlison, Digne, Godfrey, Mina, Doucoure and Allan have been a success. Gray and Townsend may also be there, but too early to judge.
You can argue either way with James, but I like the fact that he has played for us and think overall it was a success.
Gbamin injury is something that could not be factored in.
Kean has been a failure in terms of playing, but he will turn a good profit.
Gomes and Iwobi have not lived upto expectations so far, but the new manager may change that.
Delph has been a failure, as was King (but I lay that at Ancelotti).
Branthwaite and Nkounkou are promising and at the very least will generate a fee. This is the type of player where we perhaps expected more from him but a youth team ban has clearly hampered this.
The lack of a replacement for Coleman is problematic, but it is clear they hoped to promote Kenny. it is also clear Ancelotti and Silva were more concerned with other areas of the team. We did have player on loan but chose not to follow through.
Brands did manage to get decent fees for Vlasic, Lookman, Gueye and Kean. He got nominal fees for Bernard and Schniderlin.
Shifting players has been the biggest problem, but they are mostly from the previous regime and were quite frankly unsellable because of the contracts they had been given.
Sandro, Niasse, Besic, Tosun, Walcott, Martina, etc, all woeful. Sigurdsson is another, signed before he joined.
The financial predicament we are in is because the chairman has backed the managers as we would wanted but the unwanted players have stuck around. The majority of these were from the previous DoF.
There is also COVID to consider. Brands has made mistakes, no doubt, but I dont think he can be held to account for the ravages a global pandemic are having on football finances.
My final thought would be that we have gone through repeated changes of manager and have not managed to get a settled squad or approach for any period of time. It really does have a big impact on the performance of the club. We need a period of stability and consolidation if we are to move forward, not endless change.