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thebigfeller

It's not about the manager. The problem is the owners...

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By which, I don't mean they're bad owners at all. They're very good ones. What they've done for the club and the community has been sensational; they are great, great people. But they're the poorest owners in the top two divisions of English football - and there's plenty of much wealthier ones further down the leagues too.

What do Daniel Farke, Alex Neil, Chris Hughton, Nigel Worthington and before them, even John Deehan have in common? That they're all idiots? No. They all smashed into the same inevitable glass ceiling because our owners do not (and in Chase's case, also didn't) have the money to compete. That's the very reason Paul Lambert, our only successful manager at this level since football was a completely different sport, got the hell out of dodge as well.

There is not a single manager who'd come to Norwich who could keep this squad in this league. It is miles and miles from being good enough. This is the wealthiest league on Earth: in which even the owners of Brentford or Brighton are worth absolute fortunes. That gives those clubs a margin for error in recruitment which we just do not have. At all! It's also a league in which one of the most celebrated managers in history, Marcelo Bielsa, is now struggling - because his club don't have the money either. But he does have a couple of quality individuals who make the difference in a way our players can't.

Every time a club with our lack of resources signs anyone, we take a risk. Because at all clubs, some signings just don't work out. But rich clubs can afford to make mistakes. Poor clubs (and in the Premier League, we're the ultimate paupers) cannot. Spending too much on a bad signing leads to disaster. Spreading the money thinly, as we did in the summer, is highly likely not to work: because quality individuals make the difference at this level, and we lost our two best ones. Without whom, we'd never have got out of the Championship to begin with. 

Emi Buendia was a once in a generation talent. Of course we sold him; we had to sell him, he didn't want to be here! And we had to sell him to balance the books as well. But if we had wealthy owners with the ability to compete at this level, maybe he wouldn't have wanted to leave. See also (or so it would increasingly appear), Todd Cantwell. See also, in a matter of months, Max Aarons. Because they cannot progress at a club which cannot compete. 

We're trying (and failing) to play attractive football in by far the richest league in the world - which features almost all the best players in the world, almost all the best managers in the world, and almost all the wealthiest football club owners in the world - while refusing to deal with greedy agents, selling our best players out of necessity, and operating a self-funding model which nobody else has succeeded with for any significant period of time. That's the very definition of impossible. And as that league gets richer and richer, we inevitably find it harder and harder. We've gone from not quite being good enough in 94/5, 04/5, 13/14 and 15/16 to meltdown in 19/20 to absolute footballing apocalypse this season. We might well break Derby's record; that's how bad this is.

But Derby's record wasn't Billy Davies' fault and before that, Sunderland 05/6's record wasn't Mick McCarthy's fault. Neither club could compete financially in any way - so naturally, both were humiliatingly exposed. The same thing's happening to us; and if they haven't already, the players will realise that there's no point in doing it this way, because they can't progress. So they'll lose belief in the entire thing, and it'll all end up imploding.

If we want to compete, we have to have new investment and new ownership. It's that simple. And yes, absolutely: that's fraught with danger. Massively fraught. But without new, extremely rich owners, kiss goodbye to ever competing at this level again. And before long, to coming back up from the Championship too: in which we will get left behind in the end. It's inevitable when a club punches this far above its financial weight for this long in a sport which requires ever more eye-watering sums all the time.

That's the situation we face. We've tried it McNally's way, we've tried it Webber's way. And both gave us great times and great moments. But at this level, it DOES NOT WORK and it CANNOT WORK. Because at this level, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones' ownership and funding model does not and cannot work - and if we want the best for Norwich City, that means we have to find new owners. Or else. 

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So it's their fault that Farke has a record of 2 points and 4 goals from the last 22 Premier League games is it? 

 

He has to go.... But I fear he won't be going anywhere any time soon. 

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Nothing to do with the owners. When you resort to League One tactics in lumping the ball up to the ghost of Grant Holt you know something isn't right.

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I too have some issues with the owners but not to the same extent you do. But the problem right now is a poor gameplan and unsuitable tactical philosophy for this league, slow, athletically weak players who just aren't good enough and a chronic lack of confidence and belief amoungst the players. Those 3 reasons are why we're so embarrassingly poor, it has little to do with money, I think even with money we would have signed the wrong type of players because we're trying to play a low intensity, short passing style of football that doesn't work at this level unless you have world class players.

The owners are a part of the reason why we have consistently struggled at this level, but they are not the issue right here right now. It's the style of football and the profile of player we try to sign. 

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12 minutes ago, Sideshow Tim said:

So it's their fault that Farke has a record of 2 points and 4 goals from the last 22 Premier League games is it? 

 

He has to go.... But I fear he won't be going anywhere any time soon. 

Farke isn't totally in the clear for such an appauling record clearly but the OP is absolutely spot on with his post. Even our "once in a generation" player Buendia is getting beasted at the moment and proving to be mid table sort of quality here.

Our current model is doomed to fail at this level.

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6 minutes ago, Christoph Stiepermann said:

I too have some issues with the owners but not to the same extent you do. But the problem right now is a poor gameplan and unsuitable tactical philosophy for this league, slow, athletically weak players who just aren't good enough and a chronic lack of confidence and belief amoungst the players. Those 3 reasons are why we're so embarrassingly poor, it has little to do with money, I think even with money we would have signed the wrong type of players because we're trying to play a low intensity, short passing style of football that doesn't work at this level unless you have world class players.

The owners are a part of the reason why we have consistently struggled at this level, but they are not the issue right here right now. It's the style of football and the profile of player we try to sign. 

so what was the alternative? Sign the likes of Kieffer Moore and try get 17th as a BTEC Burnley? Even that would probably not work as WBA have found. It may have given us a bit of a better chance than the current strategy admittedly.

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Just now, Tetteys Jig said:

so what was the alternative? Sign the likes of Kieffer Moore and try get 17th as a BTEC Burnley? Even that would probably not work as WBA have found. It may have given us a bit of a better chance than the current strategy admittedly.

I feel like that's the response I would get if I was in a position to ask the board about it. Well you don't like this one extreme so we'll use the other extreme to close the discussion. This type of thinking implies that there is Farkeball and there is McCarthyball and absolutely nothing in between and it's nonsense. We could try for a fast counter attacking style, a high pressing game, we could become an attacking side that works extremely hard off the ball and throws the kitchen sink at games like we did under Lambert etc, and there are countless mixes and variations of these approaches that could work, it's not one or the other and I wish more people could understand that. 

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I have to disagree with many of your points big feller.

First that Lambert was anymore successful than Hughton for example. One season.

Do you really think all these wealthy owners you mention really do have the money to waste on a football club? They do not want to lose their money.

Emi was not a once in a generation. Maddison has proved he can do it in the EPL. Emi has not yet.

I do not think we are trying to play football any different from nearly every other team in the division. Most all teams play it out from the back and were 4-2-3-1 until Liverpool proved that with the talent 4-3-3 is more destructive. But I grant you the players we have are not as good.

Derby and Sunderland couldn't compete because they weren't good enough. That was in an era when we could compete with players brought in from lower leagues. That we were relegated was because Hughton, and Neil, panicked and went defensive which was something we are not renowned for.

And can you conjure up these owners? Who are they? Surely when owners have taken over clubs they may have considered us but made no effort to buy. And even if the Smiths are being coy about prospective buyers, it would have leaked sooner or later.

And to sum up. Do you really believe that Webber and DF do not discuss new signings. I cannot believe Webber buys without DF knowing. So because we have now brought in players no better suited to this league than what we already had, and the owners have given them the money, then its unfair to blame them and not Webber and DF.

 

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Looking forward to seeing how nepotism Tom is going to turn this around as he is the future of the club

frightening when you think about it, isn’t it 

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Basically if the head chef gives a cook ingredients from Tesco's and asks you to make a meal fit for a high class 5 star restaurant in the smoke how would you go about it? The cook (not Delia) can only do a certain amount. Farke is that cook so how is he to blame for this? Buy your ingredients at Harrods and you'll be expected to make that meal. The problem isn't Farke...!!! The club have chosen their path so fair play to them whether it's right or wrong. Farke may have made mistakes but he's doing the best with what he has! If investment comes then great but at what cost? Too many examples to mention... with Leicester being the only success story. Forget the big clubs...forget the medium sized clubs...at this moment in the most corrupt league that is the Premier League we aren't liked or wanted by the pundits who are there to advertise a product that helps pay their wages. Trouble is fans don't want to see the bigger picture. Most investors want to see a return and unfortunately we aren't attractive enough. Although a fan investing some.money may be a way forward but Farke isn't to blame!

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1 minute ago, tea total said:

Basically if the head chef gives a cook ingredients from Tesco's and asks you to make a meal fit for a high class 5 star restaurant in the smoke how would you go about it? The cook (not Delia) can only do a certain amount. Farke is that cook so how is he to blame for this? Buy your ingredients at Harrods and you'll be expected to make that meal. The problem isn't Farke...!!! The club have chosen their path so fair play to them whether it's right or wrong. Farke may have made mistakes but he's doing the best with what he has! If investment comes then great but at what cost? Too many examples to mention... with Leicester being the only success story. Forget the big clubs...forget the medium sized clubs...at this moment in the most corrupt league that is the Premier League we aren't liked or wanted by the pundits who are there to advertise a product that helps pay their wages. Trouble is fans don't want to see the bigger picture. Most investors want to see a return and unfortunately we aren't attractive enough. Although a fan investing some.money may be a way forward but Farke isn't to blame!

You obviously don't know how to cook.

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21 minutes ago, Naturalcynic said:

The criticisms by the 2nd and 3rd posters are inevitable symptoms of the essential truth of the original comment.  

Here's how it always works with most football fans, for whatever reason.

FANS: The manager is tactically naive! Change the players, change the system!

*Manager changes players and system, team keeps losing*

FANS: What a ridiculous team he picked! Sack the manager, he's useless!

*Club sacks manager* 

FANS: We've got to give the new bloke time, he's inherited an absolute shambles!

*10 games later*

FANS: It's the manager! Sack the manager, he's useless!

*Club sacks manager. Rinse and repeat*

This process only stops - football fans (Norwich fans, in particular) only stop seeing symptoms and finally locate the actual cause - when something truly cataclysmic happens. Like relegation to League 1 and giving the former manager of London Grasshoppers under-12s the permanent job based on a Facebook campaign by his daughter. 

Because the reality - that we cannot compete at this level with owners this poor, and it makes no difference what tactics or system the manager employs when the players are nowhere near good enough - is far too scary for fans to contemplate. Almost all fans spend at least 98% of the time assuming that it's all about wanting it - effort, work rate, commitment ("all I want is some fight! Something to be proud of! I can live with losing if we see that!") - because they're so emotionally committed to the cause themselves.

But it blinds them. Continually. QED. 

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2 minutes ago, thebigfeller said:

Here's how it always works with most football fans, for whatever reason.

FANS: The manager is tactically naive! Change the players, change the system!

*Manager changes players and system, team keeps losing*

FANS: What a ridiculous team he picked! Sack the manager, he's useless!

*Club sacks manager* 

FANS: We've got to give the new bloke time, he's inherited an absolute shambles!

*10 games later*

FANS: It's the manager! Sack the manager, he's useless!

*Club sacks manager. Rinse and repeat*

This process only stops - football fans (Norwich fans, in particular) only stop seeing symptoms and finally locate the actual cause - when something truly cataclysmic happens. Like relegation to League 1 and giving the former manager of London Grasshoppers under-12s the permanent job based on a Facebook campaign by his daughter. 

Because the reality - that we cannot compete at this level with owners this poor, and it makes no difference what tactics or system the manager employs when the players are nowhere near good enough - is far too scary for fans to contemplate. Almost all fans spend at least 98% of the time assuming that it's all about wanting it - effort, work rate, commitment ("all I want is some fight! Something to be proud of! I can live with losing if we see that!") - because they're so emotionally committed to the cause themselves.

But it blinds them. Continually. QED. 

Cynical

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49 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Nothing to do with the owners. When you resort to League One tactics in lumping the ball up to the ghost of Grant Holt you know something isn't right.

LOL.

"Well I can't see how sending out this clapped out Reliant Robin against Ferraris and Mercedes driven by Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Juan Manuel Fangio has anything to do with it!

It's the driver's fault! He's useless!"

We went to war without a gun last time out. We've gone to war with a water pistol this time. Because we can't afford anything more than that.

Edited by thebigfeller

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You know things are serious when @thebigfellerdusts off his keyboard.

Beautifully written as always and mostly true.

I guess in the end it comes down to what you want from your relationship with football. For my part I abhor the way that money has taken over the top flight and I really admire City's ownership for trying to do different. Certainly I have no interest in us selling our souls to the Saudis or some similar moral vacuum. That day would be my last one as a Norwich City fan. I guess a mythical local billionaire philanthropist would be the perfect solution (I live in Brighton and am pretty jealous of what they've currently got going on) but in the absence of that I think I'd still take the connection to the community and quite a few good times in addition to Prem purgatory.

And even within the owners' limitations I still feel we could be doing better. Relegation is always a possibility, even a probability for a club in our situation, but I don't think being adrift at the bottom is an inevitability. Think it's reasonable to ask questions about whether a better coach could get more from these players and/or whether we could have spent better in the summer.

 

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If we are to compete in the modern PL we need owners with sufficient wealth to: retain our best players (there can be few examples of newly promoted teams selling their talisman and player without whom they have hardly won a match over the previous two seasons on promotion); pay the necessary salaries to retain and attract PL quality players; manage the transitions between tier one and tier two comfortably without the club being a ‘Maddison’ away from relegation every couple of years.

So, Webber, Farke, the players, the system none of these are to blame for our predicament. Sadly, it is the business model, and consequent lack of ambition it demonstrates which is at the root of our failure.

With the PL, Championship and even league one clubs increasing owned by multi millionaire/billionaires we look set to fall further and further down the football pyramid if we continue with our failed model.

Of course, Farke remains our chief mitigation against successive relegations given his Championship record. It is to be hoped that the Farke naysayers do not hound him out.

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11 minutes ago, Robert N. LiM said:

You know things are serious when @thebigfellerdusts off his keyboard.

Beautifully written as always and mostly true.

I guess in the end it comes down to what you want from your relationship with football. For my part I abhor the way that money has taken over the top flight and I really admire City's ownership for trying to do different. Certainly I have no interest in us selling our souls to the Saudis or some similar moral vacuum. That day would be my last one as a Norwich City fan. I guess a mythical local billionaire philanthropist would be the perfect solution (I live in Brighton and am pretty jealous of what they've currently got going on) but in the absence of that I think I'd still take the connection to the community and quite a few good times in addition to Prem purgatory.

And even within the owners' limitations I still feel we could be doing better. Relegation is always a possibility, even a probability for a club in our situation, but I don't think being adrift at the bottom is an inevitability. Think it's reasonable to ask questions about whether a better coach could get more from these players and/or whether we could have spent better in the summer.

 

 

It'd be mine too. But it's not something we need to worry about - the only reason nation states have bought Newcastle, Man City and PSG is because they're such enormous football clubs, so have huge potential.

There's a constant tendency to view all this in extremes: that it can only be our current model or 'selling our soul'. But that's not the choice. It's about finding the best owners... and not cutting our noses off to spite our face by insisting they're dyed in the wool Norwich fans. 

Leicester are not a naturally bigger club than us, nor are they a more attractive location for players and managers. But the point is: we could never become a Leicester (or merely a Southampton) because our owners would never permit it. 

As things stand, even at a lower level, those good times you mention are going to be harder and harder to come by. Even Brexit's a reason for that: the chances of us finding cheap, unpolished gems will be substantially reduced by the new work permit system, and it'll make scouting effectively even more difficult. 

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39 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

You obviously don't know how to cook.

Great answer...full of substance and opinion 🙄

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1 hour ago, thebigfeller said:

By which, I don't mean they're bad owners at all. They're very good ones. What they've done for the club and the community has been sensational; they are great, great people. But they're the poorest owners in the top two divisions of English football - and there's plenty of much wealthier ones further down the leagues too.

What do Daniel Farke, Alex Neil, Chris Hughton, Nigel Worthington and before them, even John Deehan have in common? That they're all idiots? No. They all smashed into the same inevitable glass ceiling because our owners do not (and in Chase's case, also didn't) have the money to compete. That's the very reason Paul Lambert, our only successful manager at this level since football was a completely different sport, got the hell out of dodge as well.

There is not a single manager who'd come to Norwich who could keep this squad in this league. It is miles and miles from being good enough. This is the wealthiest league on Earth: in which even the owners of Brentford or Brighton are worth absolute fortunes. That gives those clubs a margin for error in recruitment which we just do not have. At all! It's also a league in which one of the most celebrated managers in history, Marcelo Bielsa, is now struggling - because his club don't have the money either. But he does have a couple of quality individuals who make the difference in a way our players can't.

Every time a club with our lack of resources signs anyone, we take a risk. Because at all clubs, some signings just don't work out. But rich clubs can afford to make mistakes. Poor clubs (and in the Premier League, we're the ultimate paupers) cannot. Spending too much on a bad signing leads to disaster. Spreading the money thinly, as we did in the summer, is highly likely not to work: because quality individuals make the difference at this level, and we lost our two best ones. Without whom, we'd never have got out of the Championship to begin with. 

Emi Buendia was a once in a generation talent. Of course we sold him; we had to sell him, he didn't want to be here! And we had to sell him to balance the books as well. But if we had wealthy owners with the ability to compete at this level, maybe he wouldn't have wanted to leave. See also (or so it would increasingly appear), Todd Cantwell. See also, in a matter of months, Max Aarons. Because they cannot progress at a club which cannot compete. 

We're trying (and failing) to play attractive football in by far the richest league in the world - which features almost all the best players in the world, almost all the best managers in the world, and almost all the wealthiest football club owners in the world - while refusing to deal with greedy agents, selling our best players out of necessity, and operating a self-funding model which nobody else has succeeded with for any significant period of time. That's the very definition of impossible. And as that league gets richer and richer, we inevitably find it harder and harder. We've gone from not quite being good enough in 94/5, 04/5, 13/14 and 15/16 to meltdown in 19/20 to absolute footballing apocalypse this season. We might well break Derby's record; that's how bad this is.

But Derby's record wasn't Billy Davies' fault and before that, Sunderland 05/6's record wasn't Mick McCarthy's fault. Neither club could compete financially in any way - so naturally, both were humiliatingly exposed. The same thing's happening to us; and if they haven't already, the players will realise that there's no point in doing it this way, because they can't progress. So they'll lose belief in the entire thing, and it'll all end up imploding.

If we want to compete, we have to have new investment and new ownership. It's that simple. And yes, absolutely: that's fraught with danger. Massively fraught. But without new, extremely rich owners, kiss goodbye to ever competing at this level again. And before long, to coming back up from the Championship too: in which we will get left behind in the end. It's inevitable when a club punches this far above its financial weight for this long in a sport which requires ever more eye-watering sums all the time.

That's the situation we face. We've tried it McNally's way, we've tried it Webber's way. And both gave us great times and great moments. But at this level, it DOES NOT WORK and it CANNOT WORK. Because at this level, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones' ownership and funding model does not and cannot work - and if we want the best for Norwich City, that means we have to find new owners. Or else. 

Nice to see you Shaun. Hope you're well.

This is a much fairer post than usual. When did you have the epiphany that the majority shareholders aren't bad owners?

You're right the alternative is fraught with danger. What would you say the odds are of that alternative working?

Edited by nutty nigel

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5 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

Nice to see you Shaun. Hope you're well.

This is a much fairer post than usual. When did you have the epiphany that the majority shareholders aren't bad owners?

You're right the alternative is fraught with danger. What would you say the odds are of that alternative working?

No idea: this is sport. It depends on who those owners are, how rich they are, what their intentions are, who they appoint and so on. 

It's not me who ever had an epiphany. It's them, for which they deserve the utmost credit - because it took real humility in both cases.

1. They brought in proper, hardnosed business and football people in Summer 2009, and got out of the way.

2. They brought in more brilliant people in 2017, chose a totally different approach, and got even further out of the way.

All the while safeguarding the club financially and doing the good things they've always done. It's just that 2009-16 ran out of road... and 2016-21 is doing the same. If they want the club to be successful, there are no alternatives left other than selling up now. 

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Balanced post by all accounts Shaun as was what you said on Canary Call,  I won't ask whats changed 😀

As you said on radio, Brentford, and us to a lesser degree,  go away from the norm and are in the Premier League despite not having anything near the budget of the rest.

However, for me this model still has potential to work - the problem is as you've said the margin for error is so small on transfers. And this summer, it appears we've not been able to replace Emi, even with multiple lesser players. Still time for that to change, but admit its looking likely.

What I would say is if you look at the squad Fake inherited with Webber and compare the value and quality from then to now - there's a big gap. Weve been able to vastly improve the infrastructure of the entire club and genuinely have a top 6 Premier League training facility. Why? Because we can't afford a top Premier League player but we can afford the facilities and that may help long term. Of course, to continue to evolve the squad we would need to, assuming relegation this season, still need to bounce straight back having only sold one player, and then invest another £60 million or so.

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12 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

Nice to see you Shaun. Hope you're well.

This is a much fairer post than usual. When did you have the epiphany that the majority shareholders aren't bad owners?

You're right the alternative is fraught with danger. What would you say the odds are of that alternative working?

If the ultimate ambition of a football club is to reach the highest level it can, and it is, then it isn’t about what odds the alternative has of working. It’s about the fact that the current ownership model that we have has reached its limits and can’t progress to that so called “next level” that every club wants to achieve. That next level could be a Leicester or it could be a Charlton who’s fans wanted to push on to that next level whilst in the PL and believed Curbishley couldn’t achieve it. They got their way and ultimately we’re relegated and never returned.
The options are to stick with what we have and know that this is the peak of our achievements under these owners. Some superb  Championship campaigns but Premier League humiliation. Or twist and see what another owner can achieve, or not achieve with the club. I’m personally in the twist camp as I see no point returning to this level to be humiliated time and again, which in turn makes the Championship campaign’s pointless as we know what’s always coming next

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1 minute ago, Virtual reality said:

If the ultimate ambition of a football club is to reach the highest level it can, and it is, then it isn’t about what odds the alternative has of working. It’s about the fact that the current ownership model that we have has reached its limits and can’t progress to that so called “next level” that every club wants to achieve. That next level could be a Leicester or it could be a Charlton who’s fans wanted to push on to that next level whilst in the PL and believed Curbishley couldn’t achieve it. They got their way and ultimately we’re relegated and never returned.
The options are to stick with what we have and know that this is the peak of our achievements under these owners. Some superb  Championship campaigns but Premier League humiliation. Or twist and see what another owner can achieve, or not achieve with the club. I’m personally in the twist camp as I see no point returning to this level to be humiliated time and again, which in turn makes the Championship campaign’s pointless as we know what’s always coming next

Could be Leicester - Could be Charlton 

But what are the odds?

Such a tough question without knowing who may be interested.

Keep building the club is another option.

 

 

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1 hour ago, thebigfeller said:

LOL.

"Well I can't see how sending out this clapped out Reliant Robin against Ferraris and Mercedes driven by Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Juan Manuel Fangio has anything to do with it!

It's the driver's fault! He's useless!"

We went to war without a gun last time out. We've gone to war with a water pistol this time. Because we can't afford anything more than that.

Leeds didn’t have Ferrari’s and Mercedes, not sure what game you were watching. At best they were a bunch of Fords with one Audi in Raphina.

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I don’t think the model or the owners are entirely at fault, depends what you want from the club.

While I’d love us to become an “established” PL club, reality is few teams are truly established with little chance of relegation. The ones that are, they are massive clubs.

I understand that unless Financial Fair play is taken seriously or we somehow find a billionaire who wants to invest millions in our club as a plaything (and hope they don’t get bored) that we will likely never achieve anything like a long run at the top table again, an even then we still might not.

What I don’t accept is that our clubs only option in the PL is to be uncompetitive, to barely offer a whimper in protest before relegation.

We were something like the 8th biggest spenders in Europe (yes some of that came from selling), but we spent more than our two promoted rivals.

We’ve been here before, recently, Lambert kept us up on a shoestring, same as Hughton. Even Alex Neil nearly did, on a different year his 34 points were enough.

The previous season at this level and this have been abysmal. I’m sure like many supporters I can accept the top 26 goal, I can accept that relegation is likely in this cycle. What I don’t accept is that it’s entirely impossible to even be competitive enough to try and stay up with our budget.

Teams have proven it is, repeatedly, including us. I don’t get why so many are buying into this.

Edited by Monty13

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OP Spot on. Its blatantly obvious although that doesnt fully  excuse the woeful performances under this head coach.

Biggest issue is that they will not sell their shares and no one will come in to back the company in a minority position. 

The Board are in a conundrum. farke is good for their business plan but the product being 'entertainment' is no longer there.

The Board can pull the wool over the supporters' eyes for so long with good performances and some semblance of competitive football, but when the entertainment value plummets and the 'model of self financing is so brutally exposed , it raises as to what is the point in following a failing business model masquerading as sport. 

 

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