christ

Howe would be an interesting appointment in the sense that no one really knows whether he’s good or not. Spin the wheel.

The leak is the issue. The way it arrived it looks to me like it was being put about by the club in some capacity. Things haven’t been anywhere near as advanced as was briefed and the leak itself appears to have killed any chance we had of getting Emery. We’ve now got a situation where the new guy, whoever it is, is publicly known to be our second choice which not only knackers his authority to no small degree but probably puts off some prospective managers who may until yesterday have had their hat still in the ring. Fans have had their expectations set high, so are bound to feel disappointed. When you’re in our position you need someone to come in and get the entire club behind them, instead it looks a mess.

There’s been a lot of pant pissing around the Bruce sacking and time it’s taken to find a successor which I think is unjustified, but this carry on doesn’t reflect well on those running the club. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say they’ve mugged themselves off here.

It could all be lost in translation but I read it as we don’t have structures in place yet, things are probably going to change as we spend/grow so he thinks there’ll be a high turnover in coaches. It was forward looking rather than a comment on what has went previously.

McParland is meant to have a role but it sounds like that hasn’t been formalised. Fair enough really, as it’s not clear what he’s be doing once we have a DoF and wider structure in place. It probably does mean they’re going it alone though. And that’s fine. Emery is/was a good choice. Based on that alone they can identify good people. However they’ve dropped a colossal bollock by leaking anything to the media when talks were at such an embryonic stage.

If you’re a journalist you don’t put your credibility on the line and report the stuff about Emery for bantz. They were briefed.

It’s the height of stupidity really, because if Balague is right (and I’m 99% sure he knows what he’s talking about - he’s went from very positive to very negative quite quickly, he’s been told something) all they’ve done is instantly undermine whoever now comes in and piss off the fans. We need someone who can come in and galvanise things, and they’re having the legs cut off from under them before they even get started. It’s all very shoddy stuff. You can argue about the timescales placed on the search, whether they should have sacked Bruce sooner but this is amateur hour.

I’d like to add my name to the “what the fuck are the owners doing” crowd now like. To leak all of this and get pied off by Emery is massively amateurish. Really, really embarrassing stuff that’s going to leave a sour taste and have a negative impact because the fallback option is going to enthuse very few.

Dubravka can play out from the back. It’s one of the reasons Rafa signed him. Darlow on the other hand… We don’t have any real pace at the back and I don’t think any of our defenders could adapt to a pressing game. We’ll have to spend in Jan.

It’s going to be interesting watching him try and impose that style on our current squad. And by interesting I mean equal parts comical and infuriating.

Magiban would’ve been much better.

Points 1 through 4 could be absolutely any Lib Dem.

His record in the transfer market at Arsenal wasn’t anything outstanding but he was caught up in the post-Wenger politicking. I know that Pepe, for example, was someone bought above his head because he initially wanted Zaha and then Perisic. That said I remember reading something suggesting he wants to be a coach first and foremost. He prefers working with a DOF he trusts so he can get on with stuff.

It’s very reminiscent of the narrative around Rafa when he stayed on in the Championship and it’s no less unhinged.

Didn’t he have a DOF he worked with at Seville that Arsenal fucked off to appoint Edu?

Nor man, they had no idea what they were doing. HystericalGeordie82 on here said so.

Easy. Pundits are fuckwits.

Of all the names that have been repeatedly floated Emery is the standout.

That’s just an example of their famous wit marra

Are you saying a bloke who could walk into any job in world football right now wouldn’t want to piss about at the foot of the Premier League coaching Emil Krafth?

Emery - Seems the best of the lot. Got Premier League experience, won a load across Europe. Rafa - He knows the squad. Reckon he could come in and get a tune out of them in relatively short order. I think it would end in tears though eventually. Ten Haag - The same rules applies to managers as it does players when it comes to the Eredivise. There has to be a massive asterisk beside their name. Fonseca - I don’t think he’s done enough to warrant the fascination posters seem to have with him.

I’m absolutely convinced Martinez would be a disaster considering where we are and what we need to do over the next few months. That fluke FA Cup win really does mask a painfully average record. In Premier League he has finished 16th, 16th, 15th and 18th with Wigan (for context, Bruce finished 11th the year before RM joined) then 5th, 11th and 12th with Everton. In his first season he inherited an incredibly disciplined back line - one of the best in the league - and only conceded 39 goals. The year after they conceded 48, the year he was sacked 55. I don’t think a fashionable continental coach is a guarantee of success but his record absolutely pales in comparison to someone like Favre.

He was never coming here and if you believed he was your dealer is doing a bang up job.

They still bang on about the 9-1, so I’m not particularly surprised.

I’ve always loved you Guv. PM?