The College Dropout

Which 2 have turned out very well? The job of a DoF in transfer market (not blaming Howe) is to sign players. Not identity good players - but actually get deals done. So the transfer committee of 2 scouts and a coach all agreed they liked a number of PL targets as first choice plus 2 other players we’ve been interested in for years and a 6-month wonder. Job is to get great deals done. If Ashworth or Mitchell led last summer I would want them sacked. As such we had people leading it at short notice without the experience or the skill to make it a success.

Aye he's no Dimitar Berbatov technically. Or in his movement. He's shown a nice touch and some great finishes in places.

Match thread - during the game - is the place for kneejerk excitement one way or the other imo. And the next day on every player/manager thread too tbf. It's all heat of the moment stuff.

I'm not blaming Howe btw. He had too much responsibility and influence.

The model is outperforming your wage budget by several places. That's the impressive part. If you can do that consistently with the 7th/8th highest wage budget, you're a European mainstay. Increasing revenues so you can move up that list. That's the name of the game for us. Outperforming our spend in fees and wages. If we can do that 4 years in a row by 3-4 places, it's a different ball game. Most of you will be disappointed if we finish in-line with our budget.

Yes, you are. The point is Howe had near-unparalleled influence over transfers at this level of football. You will struggle to find several elite clubs or top clubs in England with no DOF or a manager with as much influence/control over transfers as Howe did. Even Howe won't have the same level of influence over transfers in the future. It is well-reported. But you are choosing to be dumb. *I forgot Monchi left Villa

You're being dumb pal.

I think we'll finish 7th or 8th. Our last 7-8 games we'll be out of the cups most likely and they are favourable. Worst we'll do is 9th save for more major injuries or going deep into the cups. You can't fall 2-3 places down the league, play 12 extra games and expect to maintain performance level mind. By definition we would have dropped performance level in the PL.

The Owner? No idea. The analytical approach is led by the Owner.

I'm not presenting them as facts. And it is not personal opinion. I'm repeating the best information that we have. The most credible outlets have reported what i've said several times without rebuttal. If we get better information - great. But there is information out there, so I will use it and speak to it.

same broad analytical approach as Brighton.

"The recent history of PIF is a tale of grand schemes, wild ambition and unfulfilled promises." We were warned of this at the start - and it didn't seem true to begin with. This is my issue with yesterday's interview. No details just more talk of ambition without adding a single shred of meat. "Layer four: the new training ground, rumoured to be out near the airport, is yet to materialise. No spades in the dirt, no announcements or architects’ drawings, no timeline. The new stadium in Leazes Park remains a figment of the imagination. During the takeover process, Amanda Staveley claimed that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia had “massive plans to invest in the city, in housing, everything”. The regeneration of St James’ Park, its community and the wider urban area was a major part of winning public support for the bid. More than four years on, there is little to no evidence that any of these schemes were formalised, let alone enacted." This is the thing that gets me most along with easier sponsorship opportunities. The football side is one thing that has ups and downs. But we really need to progress here. And everyday that passes has me losing a bit of hope that these lot know what they are doing and are willing to do it. The other stuff is interesting and semi-relevant but of less concern to me personally.

Not saying she was perfect. But I think we miss her force of personality - with the fans, with the squad (at least Mitchell era), with PIF and potential transfers too. Her ability to convince and get a deal done.

And a lot is true. We didn't have a DOF. So there's a vacuum there. The reputable sources say transfers were led by Howe 2x and Nickson. And our transfer targets pivoted in direction from the previous active committee (Ashworth, Nickson, Howe 2x) with Ashworth and Nickson leading on negotiations (https://archive.ph/EGJmI). So taking the changing make-up of the commitee (Ashworth gone entirely - 2/3 of the committee being Howe's) and the targets gives credence to the idea this summer was Howe-led. You also listen to Eddie talk about transfers fro the last couple of seasons, what Mitchell said about transfers - both of their histories, and Ashworth too... you can make an educated guess on the influence of each summer window. You can disagree. But I don't think we sign both Wissa & Elanga with Mitchell or Ashworth as DoF. 1 maybe but both at those figures go against the type of approach they've been involved in previously. This approach is much closer to what both Howe's were doing at Bournemouth but with a bigger budget and more experience.

Mitchell was here for a year. And I think we made 1 significant contract renewal in that time - Gordon right? No to Isak, Botman, improved terms for Tonali, Livra - nada. Awful guy but maybe an indication of what's to come.

In hindsight - that was an awful decision. Even if his team is influential - the club need a neutral-ish figure to make sensible decisions. It became apparent early, that it was a shitshow. I still don't think we have the people in power to convince top players to join. I'm a tired voice on this but it sounds like Staveley was great at selling the project. Managed to sign several players with high reputations that might have waited it out. We are now getting beat to transfers by Paris FC. I thought Mitchell made some valid comments but he went about things tgeh wrong way. He pissed off Eddie. He pissed off Isak. Reports he pissed off a lot of people. It was an awful appointment. To go from the Staveley era to that in one go is crazy and maybe an indication of PIF's thinking? Maybe PIF thought she was too close to the players. Takes some balls to tell your best player to do one for a year on a contract they 100% deserve - maybe he was empowered above? Also - probably just a prick. But yeh - Mr. Wilson let's see.

He also might not understand our triggers yet or whatever. Both he and Elanga don't look like they know what to do in terms of pressing. Pretty much none of our wingers hit the ground running. So maybe there is something there *clutching*

Arteta, Chelsea manager, Pep, Slot, Spurs manager, Brighton Manager, Brentford manager, Emery - none of these managers and coaches have the responsibility of picking their signings as Howe did. There’s a good reason for that.

You need good options. We have 3 fullbacks in the squad. The drop off from our best 3 midfielders is crazy. He's rotating the centrebacks, wingers and strikers who are closer in ability. Most of which are not playing well anyway.

The Invisible Player. This guy has football ability for sure. But he's giving Invisible Man Jermaine Jenas energy. Zero impact game after game. I'll take the fact he can play some but the invisible act at 24 is one difficult to stop.

Silver lining of this season and the poor transfer window - given this guy a path to really kick-on. I still standby the view is that if we made more/better summer acquisitions (another fullback, a better CM signing) he doesn't get many minutes. As such - he's taken his opportunity and pushed his way right up the pecking order.

Statistically not a real thing from what i recall. And until his last couple weeks - Enzo was doing well too. Is he also a top coach?

Agreed. He's shown he can press well but often it's so bad and looks half-arsed. I'll keep saying it - you watch football with your eyes. This lad doesn't look a player at all. He can find himself in decent positions which is a positive but shown zero composure or technical fluidity. I do expect him to improve. Find his shooting boots. But this is never a £55m attacker. People keep talking about his record. It's 1 great season, 1 decent one. But players are still scouted by people and there's lots of data points as such. I struggle to believe trustworthy scouts and sophisticated data models said this lad is worth £55m. But I do expect him to improve. Maybe he needs a good finish or two and the composure will come into his game. He showed some decent finishes at Brentford and ability to be in the right space at the right time. But tbh - all Brentford attackers seem to do that. I think maybe our style requires more from a striker. Wood was good before joining us and excellent after.

You can look at the thread and each players early pages on their thread. Most were meh on most signings. I didn't think - yeh this is a squad that can play in the CL, go deep in domestic cups and challenge for top 5 again. We finished 5th with the second best striker in the league and what will be at least 10 high-level games less. I didn't thinik Jacob Ramsey, Thiaw, Woltemade & Wissa would be enough to close that gap at all. I thought we could finish 8th with no complaints.

The archetype that has worked well under Howe is a pacey forward. A beast in transition and a penalty box fox. Woltemade is neither. If we don't plan on playing him and Wissa uptop at the same time, I do fear for both of them. Neither are currently playing well enough to play what is a difficult role.