Parish is an excellent chairman and I would prefer us to miss out on a few targets every now and again by trying to buy smart then risk our future by mismanagement and have another administration.

Edited by coulsdoneagle (04 Feb 2018 3.49am)

The problem is that even if Speroni and Hennessey get through to the end of the season injury free that is still fingers crossed management and is one of the reasons why every team has three keepers in their squads

Is age-related absue now allowed on here, mods?

Looks like I was right about one, Guita has already signed a pre contract and Amadou seems very keen to come here, the groundwork is already done and the club need the cash.

Parish is an excellent chairman and I would prefer us to miss out on a few targets every now and again by trying to buy smart then risk our future by mismanagement and have another administration.

This Window was one signing (keeper) away from being a decent enough window, and 2 away from being an excellent one, both of which fell through on the day due to circumstances beyond our control. The Amadou one was a mess, we had a verbal offer agreed and they changed their minds.

Edited by coulsdoneagle (04 Feb 2018 3.49am)

Yes, and you wont get any argument from me on that. I am not some happy-clapping Parish devotee, I am just glad we have got him and not someone else.

I was also a Pardew fan, but I believe that the Parish / Pardew relationship and the drive down a "transitional" route is the main reason why we are now where we are - I just couldn't see it at the time.

However, I don't think it is realistic that we are going to be able to sort this completely by the next window. The aging elements and the loan players in the side will need replacing - at the same time as plugging the gaps. Unless we are going to get £100 million for Wilf, a chunky investment from elsewhere and a commitment to use that money to overhaul the squad, it will take us another 3 or 4 years before we have the sort of squad depth that we need to aspire to anything other 15-17th place.

But then losing Wilf and not spending the money wisely will be very dangerous indeed. Difficult - if not positive - times.

I'm not sure the actual 'transitional' goal is to blame. We haven't signed any players for that kind of football since the cup final who've failed. What that period did was damage fitness, morale, cohesion etc. Pardew did manage to sign players and not get them performing or make them worse, but then Sam and Roy have turned that round. So it damaged us for a time, but that itself isn't the cause. Keeping Pardew on certainly was though.

Where we went wrong was the left back debacle, it then costing more for 2 left backs in January, not to mention the lack of scouting, lack of professional director of football leadership and Frank De bullsh1t.

Parish scores low on the priority position windows but high on replacing managers during the season under pressure. Feck knows what he was thinking with Frank. Maybe not enough pressure to think clearly and go with his own criteria.