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not sure if picking up cheap players is supposed to impress me as it means he has an eye for a player worth more than their asking price or that he shops in the bargain bin which in theory isnt us any more.... guess it depends if your positive or negative on the whole thing.

Not really disagreeing with 1. slow build 2 doing things right and not rushing 3. limiting mistakes as much as possible to impede growth and cause setbacks. We are playing "what if" here is all as we dont know what has gone on behind the scenes in terms of talks, plans, strategy, what is real that has gone out in the public space etc and, I am not part of the "bed wetting brigade" but can certainly appreciate the frustration. Going back to the "what if" game IF we had of had a manager within the first 3-5 days of a certain quality we could quite clearly "could" have had more points and grinded out results, the squad is limited we all know that its under invested and poorly managed but we could and should be doing better. I dont remember advocating a "grind it out manager" my point is based on what the squad is capable with no new players we will have to grind out results as I dont see anything to suggest we have been playing in 2nd or 3rd gear and there is massive scope to improve (new manager lift, playing more effective for who we have, playing positions, some 1st team 11 changes would have us playing better) . If we got a fit manager in earlier more time with the squad more points and then your recruitment in jan can become more focused driven. Like I say its all a what if scenario the coach/manager isnt here and we are now looking at a rumoured back up manager who is out of work so in theory in hindsight could have come through the door within the first week. Not to say we shouldnt have explored other opportunities its just as it looks to have turned out the way its heading to an instantly available manager its frustrating to think in hindsight it wasnt all done sooner.

Could have such a gap to bridge by the time someone comes in and works with a poor squad to work out what works for us to grind results it won't matter how good the manager is right for the club. If we were midtable we all know very few would be replacing the underwear just yet as plenty of time but our situation darkens by the day and the coaches tasked with steadying the ship have failed. Has to be the balance but they have had weeks not days.

While they are not at fault for the predicament we are in due to what has gone on before the new owners arrived they are now the only ones that could do anything about it. While I don't blame them I can understand why you may be annoyed as give us time and follow the process to get it right could lead us being adrift by double figures.

Spending so many weeks "wasting" time on a candidate which appears at best was on the fence about the whole thing isn't great and shows the lack of how football works knowledge the team are still waiting to build in.

If he does I imagine we won't be scared to let go. While some may argue we could start shipping Managers out for nothing in particular which isn't great either the fact is under Ashley we had no choice but to hope they did good or quit as Mike wasn't going to be shelling out to let go of a team and hire a new one.

The 1 signing in the summer with the "that will do it worked last year approach" while the side got older and poorer and all teams looked to improve was and is such a larger factor to our what looks like impending doom.

7 at the minute for me based on how poor we are more than 7 points adrift by Jan window is my guess then it's a case of do we push to stay up and spend or not. If we don't spend we go down 4 players minimum needed to get the spine replaced which won't be cheap in an ideal world only 3 of those players today should ever be on the team sheet ever again but won't happen as its too much. Mountain to climb but still doable and still very much in our own hands.

I believe signings will be made dependant on who is available and who will want to come along with where we are in the league, if by some miracle we start doing well I think Jan investment will be minimal if we are bottom 3 I can see us spending more than the 50/60m mentioned in the press.

Looking forward to this thread as well as a few others leaving page 1 to be cast aside with the other false dawns or stuff we want to stick our fingers in our ears and forget about.

50m to spend you put 10m down upfront and rest on installments buy 4 or 5 doing it that way no bother.

Encorporate our name with the new and I will be fine with it. If all our moves are being scrutinised then you would expect us to have to adhere to FFP if we get the money and its reinvested I will stomach it. More than likely if they do go with a hyphenated name we will all still use SJP anyway but helps the balance sheet.

I suppose the negative fan in me is thinking are his comments because Bruce gave him free reign and an easy ride. Late? No bother. Too tired to train? No bother etc etc

bring Wenger out of retirement for a bit

A clean slate would have been easier to do if it all just went the way the consortium wanted it to last yeah Rafa in and all the dross out simples. We keep getting told by the press that this U turn by the prem and the speed and which this all happened has blindsided the consortium a little which seems to be true and they ask for patience and wanting to review what was there. For us its very apparent for them its got to be a calculated risk, rightly or wrongly they feel that Bruce wasnt showing his best for the last 1000 games and he can do so much more when afforded the chance to or at the very least they need something to replace the nothing that is Bruce in order to keep the ship steady. Clearly waving a load of money around doesnt always make things go as quickly as you would like them to.

Said this before if we were midtable and plodding I would say what's the harm and keep him here until we get all the ducks in a row sort of thing and see him bow out. Part of the reason people may seem so desperate to see him gone apart from the terrible football and shocking stats and form is that he is "Ashley's man" The man that wouldnt put his hand in his pocket unless it was yielding a return paid compo for a man and give him such a lucrative contract in terms of reported compo he was scared of Bruce being poached by the big 6 at any time.

If he stays on Sunday and we lose and come end of the season go down by 3 points or goal difference I am not sure "just one more game" will have sounded so great.

Dont feel comfortable with anyone telling me how I should feel about something and there is a thread to discuss the implications of this ownership which I stay clear of.

I think the issue with young up and coming managers like Gerrard and Lampard not to tarnish them all with the same brush but we need reform and reshaping from the ground up I dont see that from someone who hasnt been around, grown a network of contacts and being used to dealing with a regular influx of change window after window (assuming here we will buy every transfer window from now on as we look to move players on an improve the squad). If a DOF comes in and does most of that function and we get a manager in just to manage then I would still want someone with more experience this isnt a side that is regular top 6-8 season on season that needs the final push or bit of sprinkling of quality, while I believe Bruce has us in a false league position due to how bad he is I still think we are a lower mid-table side as a realistic ceiling (injuries dependent).

Guess the priority question goes hand in hand with the other questions how much value is there in January, what position and therefore how desperate situation will we find ourselves in and how much we will be able to ship out to free up space. Will shipping out manage to these people? If it doesn't matter about the dead wood then how many changes is acceptable 3-5? If we were to buy/loan 5 players then it gives us more scope in terms of priority areas. if we wont accept players just hanging around not registered and unable to shift how many can we realistically get rid of in 1 transfer window to make way for new players.

We need a new spine really new centre half, new central midfield player possibly 2 if you want to upgrade both an attacking and defensive one and also a striker.

Take all the time they need its critical and no transfer window at the min although if they go down a DOF model recruitment may not be the Managers issue. The problem is we arent coasting at the min mid table we are at risk of being cut adrift at the foot of the table not sure how much Jones say as care taker would be enough. It's still alot of tough games to get us to Jan. Its hard to make that call bringing in someone now may be a disaster but we all agree we can't go on as we are

I think they need to see who and what is working without Bruce in the picture to see what is needed in Jan ultimately they all need replacing but got to start somewhere

People commenting say around 200 million in the next 3 years based on our reported profits but doesn't take into account any growth of commercial side which will increase that figure depending on who we bring in and for how much. Not sure if shirt and kit deals have get out clauses after 1 season and if there is a desire or plan to do so

While at the minute the answer is everywhere while I don't mind snapping up talent buying where we need it the most would also be a good idea going forward. 1 injured forward and a championship at best centre forward on the books isn't good enough. Hope those long contracts offered out to the likes of shelvey don't slow us down