Why would you want AN to stay

[westcoastcanary 173]

@ICF

Much of what you say about AN could equally be said about Chris Hughton, for whom the turning point was that pre-Christmas loss away at WBA in his first season, which brought our long unbeaten run to an end. Eighteen months later the view was precisely "he''s had long enough and there''s no room for sentiment in football". I suspect the board, ostensibly of the view that they should have sacked Hughton sooner, in fact now think they should have held their nerve and kept him. "Brighton could have been us". The difference is that Hughton had no doubts about, and was comfortable with, what was required while AN is being forced to adapt his philosophy. and reinvent himself, not just his team. Looks as if the board want to give him the time to do it and are going to hold their nerve this time. 

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

I think there''s a lot in that WCC - the way Hughton was sacked was a shambles, the Board should either have got rid in January or , once there were only 5 games left, they may as well have kept him until the bitter end and decided whether to change the manager with time to recruit a replacement over the summer, rather than appointing NA in such a rush.

 

As you say, they seem to have taken the lesson (probably influenced by Hughton''s success since then) that they should give AN more time to recover, but they''re not comparable, plus of course AN has now had most of a season in the championship and so far failed to show he can recapture the form of his first season with us - so I think enough is enough.

 

Also a lot of fans assume that because Hughton has succeeded with Brighton this season, he''d have succeeded if we''d kept him on after relegation, but this doesn''t follow at all.  With Hughton, the team had been struggling for a long time before he was sacked.  After relegation that can''t simply be forgotten, and the manager can''t just reboot his relationship with the squad - it''s likely to be easier to go somewhere else from the outside and start afresh.

 

So unfortunately I think the Board have learned lessons from our recent history, it''s just that they''ve learned the wrong lessons. IMO.