Mowen

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I'm not sure how much of an opportunity lost it would be. I'd love a Mourinho or a Lippi, but we've got to be realistic.

It's even less subtle than Crumpy would be. The man's clearly on the wind up. Or really not very bright

Lost all faith in their footballing knowledge? Replacing someone who wasn't doing too well and had spent poorly with someone who has done better with money when money is set to become available? Didn't you want to give Allardyce time? I know I did, but his team selections seemed to be showing him to be more clueless than this decision from Ashley has shown him to be.

Barring the £6m on Nugent, the rest has been very well spent. (£7m Muntari, £7m Utaka, £2m Diop, £3m Johnson, Distin Free...) He only spent £3m more than Allardyce, and before we get the "ooh, but the net spend blah blah", he didn't have big saleable assets to sell in the first place in the way we could get in £12m from Parker & Dyer. and at least redknapp cottoned on to the fact that nugent was shite very early on, allardyce meanwhile thinks smith is captain material after half a season of shite. i'm far happier with redknapp getting a warchest than i would be about allardyce getting the same. Exactly. It isn't an inspiring appointment, but if we're going to spend some money we'll be better off with someone who looks as though they can do it a bit better.

In what way has he proven he's clueless? In my opinion if (and it's a big if) he wants to spend vast sums of his own (not the clubs) money then he has the right to bring in the man he trusts most with that money. Redknapp also seems to be able to spend money better than Allardyce on evidence shown so far. It's not like bringing Souness in to spend the clubs money.

Yet you loved Allardyce after the shite he served up? I didn't want Allardyce to be sacked, but it's clear enough to me that what we need is investment in the playing staff. I believe Redknapp to be a similar quality manager to Fat Sam, but if he's going to be given more cash, because Ashley feels he can trust him with it more, then he'll almost certainly have more success with the club.

Exactly what I've been saying. Harry with loads of money will be better than Sam without much. Can't believe the state some people are getting themselves worked up into. I can, and it's overly entertaining. If I was Harry, I'd stay put, but we all know what he's done in the past. CoachHTT and Y-G are clear tears before bedtime candidates.

Exactly what I've been saying. Harry with loads of money will be better than Sam without much. Can't believe the state some people are getting themselves worked up into.

Aye, appointing Redknapp would all make it seem very clique-y at the top. Regardless of whether or not Ashley's had a pint with the fans. Appointing his best mate's best mate? yep, let's give this bloke tens of millions of the clubs money cos i know him from the horses and he is dead canny. It sounds silly but i don't think it's far off that. What the fuck track record has Redknapp got, that warrants sacking Allardyce to give all your crucial money to him? ...Being someone that Ashley trusts with HIS money. Which is what counts.

He would have splashed the cash regardless of who he brought in, imo, that's why he's sacked Allardyce. He wanted someone other than Sam spending his money. Redknapp ffs. I'm not so sure. Don't know for certain obviously but I'd be surprised if he sacked Allardyce for anyone but Allardyce. Think he would have decided who he wanted to entrust the money to before he got rid, personally.

I'm not particularly enamoured about the prospect of Redknapp becoming manager, but if it makes Ashley keener to splash the cash then it will probably be a good thing for the club.

I agree I'd be underwhelmed if it's Harry, but if he's the one Ashley wants to spend his money (this is all still on the assumption Ashley will be plowing his own money into transfers) he'd be mad not to appoint him imo. Not the other way round. Hopefully it'll be someone who excites me, but I'd accept Hughes right now given the probable alternatives.

Precisely, Dave. Save our £100m* from Allardyce just to give it to Redknapp? Gerraway. *obviously, before someone pedantic sillybilly picks up on it, i'm just using that figure hypothetically... I can see why he'd do it. If Ashley wants to plow £100M into transfers it would be worth his while getting his man in to do it, rather than sticking with a manager someone else chose. Imagine if he gave huge money to Allardyce and it didn't work? Wasting money with someone you don't want? That's ridiculous. If he's prepared to throw that sort of money around (and this is all hypothetical, obviously) it makes perfect sense to put an extra few million in to get the man he wants to do it. At least that way if it doesn't work he's got nowhere to hide. For what it's worth I think we've got someone lined up. I'd be amazed and disappointed if this has happened without a clear plan as to who's next.

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I quite agree Parky. I think that Hughes would be one of the better options were we unable to convince a manager of that calibre however.

Plays more attractive football than Big Sam, Blackburn pass it around very nicely. In terms of what he's achieved so far he's no improvement though. I'd have him over 'Arry any day of the week.

Good game tonight, Spurs def should have won. Defoe's miss towards the end was a bit of a stinker, and the finish for Arsenal's goal was a fluke. I don't particularly want Spurs to win the thing, but I would love a Spurs - Everton final.

I agree HF. Although Yak is excellent imo, always scores. Lescott and Yobo have formed a very good partnership, but I don't think either of them are particularly special individually. Was just having a chat with a mate during the game last night about how Everton are a perfect example of a team of decent players who can become very good with a couple of really talented players.

Depends on your ambition. I agree the "right" couple of players, and sensible team selections, could still get us into the top 6. But to go higher than that, demands more. Much more. Yeah, the issue is getting the right two. For what it's worth, I think if we got that right then it wouldn't be too difficult to build on to an extent. There'll come a point when we need to spend big bucks to go top 4, but I think doing it now when we're a mid table team is the wrong time. We need to establish ourselves as European contendors on out own merits before we really splash the cash, otherwise it could be a recipe for disaster imo.

Diarra would be an excellent signing for us imio. He could do with someone creative to play alongside him, but is streets ahead of Butt/Geremi/Smith in midfield. He's probably being seen as Barton's replacement more than anything.

I don't think we need to spend that much. We just need a couple of creative players who make the team tick, a la Bellamy and Robert. The problem is, they need to be the right two players, and soon, otherwise we'll continue to slip backwards, and it's highly unlikely we'll get it that spot on straight away.

He's already been in teams which finished 5th, 4th and 3rd and he was a major reason for us getting to 7th just 2 seasons ago. Ameobi, Carr, Emre, Given, N'Zogbia, Owen, Ramage, Taylor were in a team which finished 7th. Either: they're good enough they were carried by Babayaro, Boumsong, Bowyer, Bramble, Elliot, Amdy Faye, Parker, final season Shearer and Solano Souness & Roeder are exceptional managers to be able to put out a team which is greater than the sum of it's parts. Most if not all of the players we have are good enough to finish top 6, we just need 1 or 2 extra creative players in the heart of the team and a manager who can get them to play. Spot on. edit: Maybe not quite spot on, but apoint that often gets overlooked amongst all the gloom mongering, imo.

I voted for 11 good enough to play as regular squad members. Shay, Harper, Beye, Taylor, Faye, Enrique, Zog, Duff, Martins, Viduka, Owen. The problem is I regarded few of them as starters.