*putting this in the brands thread as its more relevant here than James*
I agree and Brands has to take responsibility somewhat (Iwobi being the main one along with Delph).
BUT to put it very chidishly. You cant polish a turd. We can't expect players who have failed to show up under different managers to be wanted by many clubs. I'll use Siggurddson (other issues aside) as an example. Is he the worst player? No, would a lower end team have use of him? Yes. Would they pay his wages? No... this is all BEFORE taking into the players say as well. Why would Siggy give up 100k a week cushy everton gig, for lets say Fulham for less money.
Amazingly we are STILL struggling with the dross that was brought in under Koeman/Walsh. I can't blame Brands for things are in place that he didn't put in place. I get its his job to try and fix that, but I dont think we as a fanbase until recently realised just how much those issues were affecting us.
My bigger issue with Brands has been our lack of identity as a club. Again, there are external factors to it.
On one side of the coin;
Brands when we had Silva was saying we needed consistency, we needed stability to progress. Since saying that, Silva and others have been sacked or left the job. We have had ZERO stability. Changing managers can make it hard to create an identity and a structure within the club. Brands clearly didn't have full input on who becomes manager and I struggle to believe Benitez would have been his choice. So he's having to deal with these changes alongside player issues. Why haven't we appointed managers who fit what Brands' vision is?
On the other side of that coin.
A DOF doesn't just deal with transfers like alot on here believe. They are responsible for the football strategy of the club, from the seniors to the academy. It's their job to link these together and get results. While managers do come and go, and that is a huge problem for a DoF trying to implement stucture. Why haven't we pressed ahead with creating that structure and finding managers to fill the coaching side of things. I am a huge fan of the DOF model, having a coach who works with the team, says what he missing in his squad nad having a DOF who can work with him to fix problems is great, but we have to do it properly. For me, it just seems a half-arsed effort.
To summarise (apologies
@BlueToff i have gone off point a bit, but figured id get my opinion written down).
I GET the critcisim of Brands, and I'm very much still on the fence as he has done
both positive and negative things. I don't understand the thinking of Iwobi. I get the IDEA behind Delph, even if it has been a disaster for everybody. Iwobi was everything against what we thought Brands was good at.
FOR ME, the biggest issue at the club is how it's run. We can't ignore the fact there is a huge problem of the club of power structure and how it operates. The CLUB do some amazing work in the community, they have done a fantastic job on the stadium work (ignoring if you feel it should be bigger). How the club is ran just seems completely off. The Owner, as per his right appoints his managers, but we have a DOF who is tasked with creating a football identity for the club, to progress teh club on the pitch but isn't actually in charge of who coaches the team? Everytime Mosh and co change manager, we then have a new group of players targeted which throws us off again. Is it even possible for ANY DOF to create that structure and stability when managers change? And everytime we change the style changes to suit the manager.
Imagine Moshiri takes over the club he invests the money he has invested but we've acutally got a plan. We implement a structure which may take 3/4 years to really progress, with a progressive manager who suits what Brands' (or respective DOF) vision is. I can't imagine we would be worse off as a club. I'm not saying we'd be challenging for titles but I do have faith we would be back in europe by now. A plan doesn't invole winging it and getting Koeman and Walsh in.
Honestly the whole thing is a combined mess of Moshiri's hirings, Brands, Manger merry-go-round and half the players who just aren't arsed. I find the club so massively disappointing/frustrating at the moment despite having these wonderful stadium on the way. I'm hoping Carlo's rat-like run off has woken the club up and they have devised a plan to sort this absolute mess out.
