Who,Roy Hodgson??

Whether it's now, the summer or later I've no strong objection to Roy staying on, but I've no objection to Howe coming in either.

I would, however, ask Howe the following at interview:

1. When at Bournemouth you spent a lot more money than Hodgson has at Palace, and ended up relegated. Why? What would you do differently if you could go back?

2. Your Bournemouth squad was entirely of your own construction, you literally built it all from scratch, until every player at the club was your signing. How would you deal with inheriting a squad two or three other managers have collated, and working with a Director of Football?

3. You seemed powerless and a little lost to arrest the slide when your Bournemouth side were on the long poor run that resulted in relegation. Why? What did you learn, and why would it be different here when we go on a losing run (which we are bound to do occasionally)?

4. Apart from a back up goalie (Travers) you didn't bring through a single youth team player at Bournemouth. We have high hopes for our academy in the medium term - why are you the man to lead that?

5. Bournemouth's promotion into, and time in, the premier league were funded by a wealthy owner who broke FFP rules to give you an unfair advantage. That won't happen here. How will you do well with a lower level of investment than you have been used to?

6. Your record of buying promising young players from other clubs and developing them into valuable assets is hit and miss. You got a profit for Ake, and a smaller one for Wilson and Ramsdale, but you lost a fortune on Ibe, Solanke, Lerma, Rico (total cost over £70m, current value probably about £15m). You bought Mepham from Brentford for £13m, which you recouped by selling Mings to Villa. The value of the latter is now far greater than the former. Why are you the man to meet the chairman's aims of having assets of value on the pitch?

7. In their time in this league, Bournemouth played better stuff than Palace, but also got their pants pulled down far more often (even with this seasons poor performances included). What exactly is your philosophy tactically? Has it changed at all? Why would it work here?

8. Very few clubs with our budget have stayed up playing good football, and even fewer have made the change from anti-football to good football successfully. We could head hunt another very conservative coach rather than you. With that in mind, how will you change our style (if at all), and how will you handle the risk associated with change?

If he is convincing in his answers, then he will have a decent chance. I wouldn't rule out that he has thought long and hard about all these things.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (17 Feb 2021 1.05pm)

Whether it's now, the summer or later I've no strong objection to Roy staying on, but I've no objection to Howe coming in either.

I would, however, ask Howe the following at interview:

1. When at Bournemouth you spent a lot more money than Hodgson has at Palace, and ended up relegated. Why? What would you do differently if you could go back?

2. Your Bournemouth squad was entirely of your own construction, you literally built it all from scratch, until every player at the club was your signing. How would you deal with inheriting a squad two or three other managers have collated, and working with a Director of Football?

3. You seemed powerless and a little lost to arrest the slide when your Bournemouth side were on the long poor run that resulted in relegation. Why? What did you learn, and why would it be different here when we go on a losing run (which we are bound to do occasionally)?

4. Apart from a back up goalie (Travers) you didn't bring through a single youth team player at Bournemouth. We have high hopes for our academy in the medium term - why are you the man to lead that?

5. Bournemouth's promotion into, and time in, the premier league were funded by a wealthy owner who broke FFP rules to give you an unfair advantage. That won't happen here. How will you do well with a lower level of investment than you have been used to?

6. Your record of buying promising young players from other clubs and developing them into valuable assets is hit and miss. You got a profit for Ake, and a smaller one for Wilson and Ramsdale, but you lost a fortune on Ibe, Solanke, Lerma, Rico (total cost over £70m, current value probably about £15m). You bought Mepham from Brentford for £13m, which you recouped by selling Mings to Villa. The value of the latter is now far greater than the former. Why are you the man to meet the chairman's aims of having assets of value on the pitch?

7. In their time in this league, Bournemouth played better stuff than Palace, but also got their pants pulled down far more often (even with this seasons poor performances included). What exactly is your philosophy tactically? Has it changed at all? Why would it work here?

8. Very few clubs with our budget have stayed up playing good football, and even fewer have made the change from anti-football to good football successfully. We could head hunt another very conservative coach rather than you. With that in mind, how will you change our style (if at all), and how will you handle the risk associated with change?

If he is convincing in his answers, then he will have a decent chance. I wouldn't rule out that he has thought long and hard about all these things.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (17 Feb 2021 1.05pm)

If true, and I really hope it's not, a truly awful choice. Highly overrated manager and highly unlikely to attract much in the way of better players.
But would be typically Parish, uninspiring, mediocre on a budget and proper championship thinking.

Just an observation but following the W.Brom fixture we have a 2 week gap in fixtures.
By that time we could either have won verses Fulham and W.Brom and are relatively safe or have lost both to be deeply in the mire.
This would be a good time to switch to new man.
I have discounted Brihton as barring miracles another abject performance is on the cards.
Any thoughts?

Steve Coppell was a guest on a podcast a few days ago and is of the opinion that to have any chance of succeeding in football management as a minimum there are two prerequisites,
- Successful recruitment policy
- A method of playing that suits the available players (as opposed to shoehorning the players into a preferred but unsuitable system).
That set me thinking of Dyche and Howe as possible candidates.
Dyche is good at what he does.
An uncomplicated 442 with two hard working central midfielders and two physical strikers. Lots of passes into the channels and crosses with a view to testing the resolve of the opposition.
I don't think this would suit our existing players, in particular Eze and Zaha.
Howe has used more varied tactics with more possession in midfield and utilisation of ball players which may suit the likes of Eze and Zaha.
Arguably Howe would be a better fit for our current squad, but a lot will depend on recruitment plans for the summer.
I'm sure there will be other managerial candidates as well but the central point about recruitment and most appropriate playing system for the squad remains applicable.

Unsubstantiated bollocks.