***Official*** English Football Season 2018-19

[dontcloseyoureyes]

So did City.

City's net spend this season was only 20m, Brighton's was 65m

 

[Furball]

Didn't Brighton spend like 60m this season and have less points than last year? Sounds like a recipe for a sacking if there ever was one.

Not only that, but looking into it it would appear the vast majority of his signings have been hopeless. They spent £17m on an attacking midfielder who provided no goals and no assists.

Which to me points to one of two things - either Hughton is dreadful at spotting a player, or he's good at spotting players but crap at actually getting them to play well. Neither quality are what you want in a manager.

 

[Furball]

It is one of those classic ones that bizarrely makes people who are not fans of that club really angry. Nigel Adkins at Southampton the absolute classic example, now of course most of them don't end up working that well but this seems entirely reasonable.

Haha yeah, and you tend to find when you delve into it that fans of that club generally don't have a problem with the sacking.

I think the Adkins reaction was partly because Southampton at the time were replacing him with a foreign no-name. I think Poch himself fuelled a bit of that with his 'my Eenglish no so good Mr Fawlty' routine that he pulled for his first 6 months or so in the job.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Having seen Mike Dean celebrating in the Tranmere end many will now be supporting Newport just to hope he doesn't get his wish at Wembley.

 

[sledger]

Haha yeah, and you tend to find when you delve into it that fans of that club generally don't have a problem with the sacking.

I think the Adkins reaction was partly because Southampton at the time were replacing him with a foreign no-name. I think Poch himself fuelled a bit of that with his 'my Eenglish no so good Mr Fawlty' routine that he pulled for his first 6 months or so in the job.

Same thing with Marco Silca at Hull, thiugh admittedly that did not end especially well.

 

[Tom Halsey]

The Adkins example is a good one but in fairness in that case it wasn't just other clubs' fans, Southampton fans too were genuinely furious about it at the time.

As UC says all of these decisions depend upon who they get to replace him as to whether it was a good decision or not. But the balance of probability is that this one was. They were playing absolutely dire football.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Of course you could go around in circles forever debating the rights and wrongs and only time will tell. But on the other hand Burnley must be very glad they didn't go down that route when they had a wretched first season in the Premier League and actually got relegated. Whether they would have gone straight back up and consolidated if they'd changed their manager I rather doubt.

The Adkins one was truly ludicrous. He'd taken them up two divisions and they weren't doing especially badly. He'd done nothing to deserve the sack.

 

[sledger]

It wasn't ludicrous though was it? They replaced him with a coach who was objectively better in almost every way and one that improved the team massively. Adkins' record since, on the other hand, has evidenced his limitations as a coach.

If we're to use your "let's look at the outcomes" criteria for assessing these things, the Adkins sacking scores extremely well. It's probably one of the best hiring/firing decisions of any club in recent years itbt.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Southampton also sack managers after finishing 8th and reaching the League Cup Final. That didn't go quite as well.

 

[Uppercut]

It wasn't ludicrous though was it? They replaced him with a coach who was objectively better in almost every way and one that improved the team massively. Adkins' record since, on the other hand, has evidenced his limitations as a coach.

If we're to use your "let's look at the outcomes" criteria for assessing these things, the Adkins sacking scores extremely well. It's probably one of the best hiring/firing decisions of any club in recent years itbt.

It's also a rare example of changing manager because someone world-class became available. Clubs don't do that anywhere near enough. Most only change when their current mediocre manager goes on a bad run.

Saying they should have stuck with Adkins is like saying they shouldn't sign Messi on a free transfer because Shane Long hasn't done a lot wrong up front this season.

 

[Uppercut]

Southampton also sack managers after finishing 8th and reaching the League Cup Final. That didn't go quite as well.

I thought Puel's sacking this season was totally undeserved too. I think fans and chairmen just get bored of him because he's such a boring man.

 

[sledger]

It's also a rare example of changing manager because someone world-class became available. Clubs don't do that anywhere near enough. Most only change when their current mediocre manager goes on a bad run.

Saying they should have stuck with Adkins is like saying they shouldn't sign Messi on a free transfer because Shane Long hasn't done a lot wrong up front this season.

Yeah, it pains me to say it, but had Arsenal taken a more proactive approach in relation to Wenger's employment situation they could quite conceivably (or even likely) ended up with Pep or Klopp. Both were heavily linked and good odds were offered on both of them iirc. Now those ships have well and truly sailed though obviously.

To be fair, there were times where it looked like Arsenal were genuinely turning the corner after the lack of money years, so in many ways it was understandable that he was kept on, but still... One wonders what could have been.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

It's also a rare example of changing manager because someone world-class became available. Clubs don't do that anywhere near enough. Most only change when their current mediocre manager goes on a bad run.

Maybe when Poch is available after the Champions League Final Man Utd will go for him despite the nonsense appointment they made recently.

 

[Furball]

Maybe when Poch is available after the Champions League Final Man Utd will go for him despite the nonsense appointment they made recently.

I know you're being facetious but that is 100% what United should do.

 

[marc71178]

Having seen Mike Dean celebrating in the Tranmere end many will now be supporting Newport just to hope he doesn't get his wish at Wembley.

GIMH to comment.

Surely we want to go back to the good old days of a few CW derbies in league 1?

 

[sledger]

I know you're being facetious but that is 100% what United should do.

Absolutely right. But they won't obviously.

Could possibly end up in another Wenger-type situation. By the time they pull the trigger and sack Solskjaer (because let's be realistic, it's going to happen sooner rather than later) Poch could have gone elsewhere.

 

[Furball]

Southampton also sack managers after finishing 8th and reaching the League Cup Final. That didn't go quite as well.

That's on Southampton for replacing him with bad managers. The 8th place makes it sound harsh but from memory they were about 15 points worse off than they'd been under Koeman. The downward spiral began under Puel, it just didn't manifest itself so obviously because the rest of the league was ****ing dire.

I thought Puel's sacking this season was totally undeserved too. I think fans and chairmen just get bored of him because he's such a boring man.

The fact he's been sacked for basically the same thing at two different clubs is telling IMO. If you accept that a club like Leicester or Southampton can only realistically aim for 7th then at least the fans could get some decent football to watch.

 

[Uppercut]

That's on Southampton for replacing him with bad managers. The 8th place makes it sound harsh but from memory they were about 15 points worse off than they'd been under Koeman. The downward spiral began under Puel, it just didn't manifest itself so obviously because the rest of the league was ****ing dire.



The fact he's been sacked for basically the same thing at two different clubs is telling IMO. If you accept that a club like Leicester or Southampton can only realistically aim for 7th then at least the fans could get some decent football to watch.

Southampton, yeah, sure, but it’s still on the harsh side given that they replaced him with someone even duller. But Leicester played some decent stuff and were clearly improving. OTOH he did have a very good group of players.

But here, Leicester can only aim for 7th...? I don’t accept the notion that the top six are unbreakable at all. I think one of them will drop out next season.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, Leicester and Wolves could definitely give Utd and Arsenal a good run for their money so far as a top six finish is concerned. Chelsea are no great shakes either.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, Leicester and Wolves could definitely give Utd and Arsenal a good run for their money so far as a top six finish is concerned. Chelsea are no great shakes either.

Also the Spurs squad is held together by duct tape and Poch is likely to leave.

Everton might not be a million miles off either, they ended the season very strongly. Turning point was when Furball and flibberty claimed they were in a relegation battle.