The NSWE Board

[mottaloo]

 

[Davkaus]

He's applied to the job several times over the years, but what has he actually done inbetween those applications to improve his chances? He seems to just expect to be gifted a prestigious job at VP because he used to play here. It'd be one thing asking for a leg up getting some experience as a coach, but manager? Christ. It's not even as if he left us on good terms.

[AvfcRigo82]

On 11/11/2021 at 11:24, NoelVilla said:

This post was in the Steven Gerrard thread but was meant for here.

Need to spend big in January if SG don't get us to climb up the table from here until then. Which is not a given

We have an existing squad capable of a top 10 finish as it stands and I think we will make a few additions in January, but I don't think we will need to spend big.

[blandy]

Can we keep the topic of discussion in this thread to our current owners, please.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Something has been playing on my mind, do our board honestly believe we should have finished in the European places, last season or this? Because if so I think that's ludicrous to be honest, for a myriad of reasons.

That's not to say I didn't think it was time for a change by the end, but I'm hoping that the reasons being touted are the media putting 2 and 2 together and getting numberwang. Purslows statement was a bit ambiguous as to what they actually expect. 

[CVByrne]

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

[allani]

3 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

Before Jack left absolutely.  Afterwards I think that finishing higher than 11th was the target.  However, from what Purslow said (and I might be interpreting it this way because it matches my view!) I think if we had finished 11th this season but been more consistent (i.e. our form not swung so dramatically from awesome to awful) that that might have been considered as improvement.  Obviously there will always be times when the fixture list is against or for you so the odd blip (good or bad) is perfectly fine.

[Rightdm00]

16 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

Can't still be the expectations given who they hired and our current league position. Would be very unfair to Steven if that was the case. 

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Something has been playing on my mind, do our board honestly believe we should have finished in the European places, last season or this? Because if so I think that's ludicrous to be honest, for a myriad of reasons.

That's not to say I didn't think it was time for a change by the end, but I'm hoping that the reasons being touted are the media putting 2 and 2 together and getting numberwang. Purslows statement was a bit ambiguous as to what they actually expect. 

I think they very much had picked up the scent of Europe by the end of 2020. Looking back, those first 14 matches of last season up to that point (9 wins, 1 draw) might have given them (and us) a slightly inaccurate picture of what this squad can achieve over a whole season.

The subsequent loss of form, obviously that can be pinned on Grealish being injured. It’ll be ok once he’s back, we can mount a challenge for Eur…oh he’s gone. Ok well we can bring in a few replacements to offset that (Ings for goals, Buendia & Bailey for creativity) and then mount a challenge for Eur…oh they’ve not fully hit the ground running for one reason or another and now our manager is looking a bit nonplussed. Maybe if we change the manager we can mount a challenge…

I’m unfairly making them sound a bit amateurish there, exaggerating what they might have been thinking in a cartoonish way. That’s not really my intention, more just to succinctly sum up how I think we got to here. But ultimately I think that yeah, they probably would think this squad should be closer to the second half of 2020 form than it has been for much of 2021.

I think the remit is try and get top half this season, next season Europe.

[KentVillan]

40 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

Nah. Not investing beyond the Grealish cash, missing out on JWP and not having a backup signing, losing ROK and Terry? Think most people were hoping for a very slight improvement on last season - 8th to 10th.

In fact, there is a thread somewhere for pre-season predictions, and I'm sure very few predicted top 6.

[villalad21]

13 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Something has been playing on my mind, do our board honestly believe we should have finished in the European places, last season or this? Because if so I think that's ludicrous to be honest, for a myriad of reasons.

That's not to say I didn't think it was time for a change by the end, but I'm hoping that the reasons being touted are the media putting 2 and 2 together and getting numberwang. Purslows statement was a bit ambiguous as to what they actually expect. 

On current evidence I don't think they were satisfied with finishing 11th.

[DaveAV1]

15 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Something has been playing on my mind, do our board honestly believe we should have finished in the European places, last season or this? Because if so I think that's ludicrous to be honest, for a myriad of reasons.

That's not to say I didn't think it was time for a change by the end, but I'm hoping that the reasons being touted are the media putting 2 and 2 together and getting numberwang. Purslows statement was a bit ambiguous as to what they actually expect. 

I think the start we made last season raised expectations. From where to where I don’t know but after a fantastic start we fell away pretty badly. Beating Spurs and Chelsea raised the mood and could have even saved Dean’s job at the time. I don’t think there was any appetite within the board room to sack Dean, particularly with the uncertainty over Grealish. So I think they were pleased that we won those games and finished on a high. If both of those games had been defeats I think the mood at the club, including that of the fans, would have been totally different. Under those circumstances I think we could easily have been going through the situation  we are now, last summer. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by DaveAV1

[picicata]

15 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

I didn't. As soon as we sold Grealish it was obvious we wouldn't get near it.

I'm starting to think Europe qualification isn't that important to them, or at least not enough to pile in massive backing to make it happen. 

[hippo]

16 hours ago, Rightdm00 said:

Can't still be the expectations given who they hired and our current league position. Would be very unfair to Steven if that was the case. 

In one way yes I agree. At this stage Gerrard isn't an elite coach - the way Rafa or Jose are. Perhaps we can't attract that type yet.

Yet Gerrard is on a massive contract - £100k per week if you believe what you read - and the compensation package to rangers is reported to be around £4m.

I can't believe they have gone to this outlay to have us bumble along in mid table.

Personally I don't think he is right for us. But the board haven't appointed him out of convenience or on a budget 

[ender4]

17 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Something has been playing on my mind, do our board honestly believe we should have finished in the European places, last season or this? 

Yes, why not? 
 

Last season we would have probably finished in 7th IF Grealish hadn’t missed 1/3 of the season.

This season IF we had kept Grealish, and still added Buendia and Ings, I think we would have been challenging for Europe.

Without Grealish it’s a different picture of course, and unsure if they thought that once Grealish left.   
 

But they’ve brought in Gerrard and apparently agreed to spend more to challenge for Europe next season.

[nick76]

16 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

No we didn’t, if you look back to those season predictions, most fans expected between 8th and 12th.

[Vive_La_Villa]

17 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Something has been playing on my mind, do our board honestly believe we should have finished in the European places, last season or this? Because if so I think that's ludicrous to be honest, for a myriad of reasons.

That's not to say I didn't think it was time for a change by the end, but I'm hoping that the reasons being touted are the media putting 2 and 2 together and getting numberwang. Purslows statement was a bit ambiguous as to what they actually expect. 

I reckon they expected a challenge for European places rather than actually achieving it. 
 

Looking at the table we could still do that even though it’s a long shot. Arsenal were rock bottom after 4 games and are now fifth. We really need to try and win the next 2 though as fixtures aren’t pretty after that. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[jim]

17 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I think the board expect us to challenge for Europe this season. As did all of us fans. 

We know that was the aim as the board managers and players all said the same.

That chance has gone this season after the miserable start. Hopefully Steven get us comfortably mid table and challenge for Europe next season.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I reckon they expected a challenge for European places rather than actually achieving it. 

I just don’t see how, this squad isn’t good enough.  At best we were we going to be slipping away further from the European places weekly as the season went on.  Maybe I’m being pessimistic but I just don’t see enough in this squad that we are able to compete/challenge there yet.  I’m really hoping Gerrard comes good but we have to give him to tools if we want him to have a chance of achieving that.

[Vive_La_Villa]

5 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I just don’t see how, this squad isn’t good enough.  At best we were we going to be slipping away further from the European places weekly as the season went on.  Maybe I’m being pessimistic but I just don’t see enough in this squad that we are able to compete/challenge there yet.  I’m really hoping Gerrard comes good but we have to give him to tools if we want him to have a chance of achieving that.

Yeh as fans we probably think it’s better than it is in reality. But when everybody is fit I do think we should be around midtable and there normally isn’t that much between 6-12th. That’s where you can kind of challenge.