Eddie Howe

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Lush Vlad said:

 

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Last night was a reminder of how big the gap is between #NUFC and Manchester City (not that we needed it). 

And although it sparked frustration from the fans, it's important to remember that Man City's success is the result of decades of huge investment across the whole club.

In an era with no FFP, no multi-club ownership, and far less competition - it still took them 2 seasons to qualify for the Champions League. It took Eddie Howe less than that.

And even in Europe, they went out in the group stage of their first two Champions League campaigns.

Of course since then they've won a bunch of Premier League titles, a UCL, and are the best team in the world - but it's due to the culture, the system, the facilities, the academy, the ownership group, etc. - which all take years to implement. You don't create long-term success without those important building blocks.

Hence, tangible success and trophies *have* to take time to come at #NUFC. There are no shortcuts. You have to go with the process, which is what the club have been beginning to do over the last couple of years - and they have to keep doing it.

The natural progression after several relegation battles followed by an over-achieving 4th place finish isn't to then challenge for the title. 

We've got so far to go to bridge the gap between us and the big six. 15 years of chronic underinvestment can't be overturned in 3 years, especially with FFP.

Even with Liverpool this season - they've sustained a title charge and won a trophy while having a horrendous injury crisis. 

Why? Because they've had young/academy players come through and not miss a beat. Bradley, Quansah, Clark etc.

And although Klopp deserves some credit for trusting them, the bottom line is that they are just very good footballers. And they're the result of proper investment in facilities and academy recruitment - two things that don't just appear overnight.

Ultimately the point is that bridging the gap between #NUFC and the big six will take time, long-term thinking and patience. 

It's easy to get unsettled when the team isn't playing well, and while the likes of Bruno and Isak aren't surrounded by players of a similar quality. There's no easy quick fix to either of those issues though.

I understand the frustration, but investment needs to be made across the club - even in places where fans can't see it - in order to achieve long-term success. 

The youth team for example, give it a few years and it'll look much better. They've already invested heavily in some great talent. We'll only reap those rewards in at least 5 years time.

There'll be dips in performance, big players leaving, and other bumps along the way, but every year we'll be inching closer to being part of the elite. 

It might be slow progress, but it's the best and most sustainable way to go about it. And when we get there, we'll be able to stay there. Patience is key, and once again - progress is never linear.

 

Thank you for sharing this, I appreciate it. 
 

Sadly I think bridging the gap is practically impossible as the catch up mechanics we had at our disposal have been either closed or fully utilised. (Our FFP position being favourable and our ability to sign related party deals with minimal fuss). 
 

We don’t have any competitive advantage over those above us and a common them I’ve notice throughout these types of posts is basically it will be fine in time which isn’t realistic Imo. 

[samptime29]

If we are doing below par after half of next season, then you can ask the question. He has credit in bank with me. Injuries, brutal cup draws have screwed us but Howe has made some mistakes.

 

Hopefully we finish well and get 7th. 

[Lush Vlad]

9 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Thank you for sharing this, I appreciate it. 
 

Sadly I think bridging the gap is practically impossible as the catch up mechanics we had at our disposal have been either closed or fully utilised. (Our FFP position being favourable and our ability to sign related party deals with minimal fuss). 
 

We don’t have any competitive advantage over those above us and a common them I’ve notice throughout these types of posts is basically it will be fine in time which isn’t realistic Imo. 

That’s fair. But we all live in hope that Liverpool fall off when Klopp leaves, City finally get punished and Arsenal

carry on being bridesmaids. 
 

Chance of us squeezing in there again  

[PauloGeordio]

🖤🤍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Lazarus]

This is more aimed at the media than anyone on here but...

 

Anyone complaining about FFP and PSR not being fair and stopping a team from breaking into the top 6 while wanting Eddie sacked cos he hasnt broken into the top 6 wants to give their head a wobble.

[Conjo]

1 hour ago, Lazarus said:

This is more aimed at the media than anyone on here but...

 

Anyone complaining about FFP and PSR not being fair and stopping a team from breaking into the top 6 while wanting Eddie sacked cos he hasnt broken into the top 6 wants to give their head a wobble.

 

The same people who were unhappy with the line-up and/or tactics yesterday despite crying out for Howe to try something new for weeks and months.

 

The same people who predicted a bumming against Man City, and were unhappy when we only lost 2-0.

 

 

Edited March 17 by Conjo

[Groundhog63]

The same people screaming we need an elite manager whilst moaning we've a team full of duds

[TheBrownBottle]

10 hours ago, Lush Vlad said:

That’s fair. But we all live in hope that Liverpool fall off when Klopp leaves, City finally get punished and Arsenal

carry on being bridesmaids. 
 

Chance of us squeezing in there again  

Sadly, that won’t plug the income gap - it would be a temporary situation.  We’re light years away from the income levels of the Sky six 

[Ronaldo]

13 hours ago, Lush Vlad said:

Wasn’t sure whether to post this here or the FFP thread. But some interesting points. 
 

Whether or not the Saudis get the right people in place across the board to enable success and if we can do it within the constraints of FFP. I don’t know and nobody really does. 
 

Either way, I agreed with most of the tweet. 

Actually took City 3 seasons.

[Jagten]

3 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

Actually took City 3 seasons.

Man City initially handled their wealth poorly, and it took them ages to develop a coherent strategy. In retrospect, Gary Cook probably held them back a lot

[Optimistic Nut]

55 minutes ago, Jagten said:

Man City initially handled their wealth poorly, and it took them ages to develop a coherent strategy. In retrospect, Gary Cook probably held them back a lot

 

There were no rules against spending so they could sign 10 players knowing if 5 were good, they'd improve a lot. We can't do that.

[Stal]

I am fully behind Eddie. It's a rough patch for sure, but he's learning and developing all the time as we are improving. Never mind the Champions League, he has given me hope which is something I had none of with previous managers for such a long time (excluding Rafa). He has earned the right to grow alongside us and I'm not one for attacking a man who clearly knows his stuff after a bumpy patch. I'm not saying don't criticize certain points of his game plan, that's every football fans right, I'm just saying I'm sticking by him.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

18 hours ago, Lazarus said:

This is more aimed at the media than anyone on here but...

 

Anyone complaining about FFP and PSR not being fair and stopping a team from breaking into the top 6 while wanting Eddie sacked cos he hasnt broken into the top 6 wants to give their head a wobble.

 

Also we've already broken into the top 6, I'm not really sure what that concept means. 

[Kanji]

Let’s be honest though, in what world do you plan for a season where your marquee signing was a closeted gambling addict staring at a season-long ban? Where your potential 10+ goal left wing signing has a 1-off broken bone not seen in footie? Add to that an injury crisis that led the league all season. 

 

Then with cups we were dealt a gauntlet torched on fire and were dropped into the group of death of the CL, many tough fixtures in the domestic cups and a January window where we couldn’t strengthen because of the restrictive financial rules placed on us (+ the league) after our owners took over. 

 

All of that being said, were a handful of points off a European place with 10 to go, we nearly 10-12 mins away from knockouts of the CL or Europa as consolation, we were 1 min from League Cup Semifinal and made it to the FA Cup Quarterfinals. 

 

All in all, while there were periods of just pure fucking trash (Paris screw job all the way to Milan (h) was just pure torture) we gave it a right go this season. Revenge tour begins next season though. 

[Erikse]

6 hours ago, Jagten said:

Man City initially handled their wealth poorly, and it took them ages to develop a coherent strategy. In retrospect, Gary Cook probably held them back a lot

 

Allways found it odd that "experts" thought we should look at Man City and copy them. What they did in the beginning was to buy players like Robinho and Adebayor on high wages, and they flopped (no surprise there tbh). Not really the smartest way to go about it. Many don't remember that. They did succeed because of no FFP though, as some pointed out.

 

 

Edited March 18 by Erikse

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I feel like we need to resist jumping to the potential end point and judging based on that. We’ll never break the top 6, we’ll never break the top 4, we’ll never win the league etc - all that is basically unimportant to me at the moment.
 

I feel like we’ve only just been liberated from an incredibly awful period under Mike Ashley and everything is brilliant. We don’t have an amazing squad yet but it’ll get better and better.
 

I know it’s annoying when someone says this but we really do need to just embrace the journey and see where we get. 

[Sibierski]

6 hours ago, Jagten said:

Man City initially handled their wealth poorly, and it took them ages to develop a coherent strategy. In retrospect, Gary Cook probably held them back a lot

It’s also worth remembering with Man City, they had some spending with the Thai (was it?) prior so had some positive movements before the Arab money, whilst we were the opposite.

[Dr.Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Stal said:

I am fully behind Eddie. It's a rough patch for sure, but he's learning and developing all the time as we are improving. Never mind the Champions League, he has given me hope which is something I had none of with previous managers for such a long time (excluding Rafa). He has earned the right to grow alongside us and I'm not one for attacking a man who clearly knows his stuff after a bumpy patch. I'm not saying don't criticize certain points of his game plan, that's every football fans right, I'm just saying I'm sticking by him.

 

I think part of the problem is that bit doesn't appear to be true. Whether that's because of the injuries, who knows, I'm just not sure how anyone can say that he's demonstrating that he's learning when we have put in some incredibly poor performances against sides at the bottom of the league. Next season, barring a repeat of the injury crisis I think we may see it.

[SUPERTOON]

Really intrigued ahead of next season, I think it’s too simplistic to suggest if and when we have a fully fit squad then everything will go back to what it was last season. Last year we had so much momentum and a feel good factor around the place. That seems to have completely gone, really interesting summer ahead.

[Yorkie]

9 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Really intrigued ahead of next season, I think it’s too simplistic to suggest if and when we have a fully fit squad then everything will go back to what it was last season. Last year we had so much momentum and a feel good factor around the place. That seems to have completely gone, really interesting summer ahead.

 

This season and last both provide a great demonstration of how this intangible thing very much exists in football.

 

Last season was full steam ahead; all the bumps were minor and we weaved around them with mostly minimal fuss. This season we've been juddering ever since December punched our lights out.

 

Even if 6th and 7th doesn't happen, our last four games are Sheffield, Burnley, Brighton and Brentford. Huge opportunity there to finish the season with a bit of momentum and feel-good factor going into the summer.

[Displayname]

This season will be forgotten fast if we start out the next with some good performances. Especially if we get a couple of good signings.

[The College Dropout]

2 hours ago, Stal said:

I am fully behind Eddie. It's a rough patch for sure, but he's learning and developing all the time as we are improving. Never mind the Champions League, he has given me hope which is something I had none of with previous managers for such a long time (excluding Rafa). He has earned the right to grow alongside us and I'm not one for attacking a man who clearly knows his stuff after a bumpy patch. I'm not saying don't criticize certain points of his game plan, that's every football fans right, I'm just saying I'm sticking by him.

I'm not sure that i'm seeing this tbf.

 

11 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

This season and last both provide a great demonstration of how this intangible thing very much exists in football.

 

Last season was full steam ahead; all the bumps were minor and we weaved around them with mostly minimal fuss. This season we've been juddering ever since December punched our lights out.

 

Even if 6th and 7th doesn't happen, our last four games are Sheffield, Burnley, Brighton and Brentford. Huge opportunity there to finish the season with a bit of momentum and feel-good factor going into the summer.

Agreed. Up until Novemberish we've had a backwind of positive momentum, great atmosphere etc. Since the mood around the club started to shift, we've not looked the same team.

[jackyboy]

Howe made mistakes at Bournemouth, all part of learning but he didn't wait and hope for the next job to come along. He travelled Europe for 2 years, working and learning from top coaches including Someone. He will be analysing every kick of the ball this season and last and if he has made mistakes, he will learn from them. I think you learn more from bad times than you do from good times.

I have every faith in Eddie 

[Erikse]

Obviously he has done so many good things here. But I feel like it's still the same Eddie that has walked in the door in 2021. He has his own way of doing things, and it has looked the same since he came here. Ofcourse, this season had a lot of injuries compared to the others, so that has impacted the decision making a little bit. But I can't really pinpoint any part of his managerial game that has changed or developed. Maybe he will show it next season after having had time to reflect on everything during the summer.

 

 

Edited March 18 by Erikse

[Slim]

Champions league ( fucked over by dodgy pen) and 7 points off 6th despite a brutal injury season not good enough like? 

 

Finish 6th and it's again annother good season.