The future?

[Salopian 1]

I make no mention  of the new manager''s record of failure - I think that he had a difficult time at Newcastle, for many weeks bereft of most of his defence through injuriess.He is on a two+ year contract, presumably not a rolling one like Worthington''s.Two questions arise:1) Can he save us from relegation?  Within a few weeks he should, in the absence of further long-term injuries, have a full squad, which Grant never had. Apart from Hux perhaps, most pundits feel that there is enough quality in the squad to avoid relegation, but they are under-performing. The big question is whether he can give them a new confidence.2) Can he build a promotion-chasing team? I have doubts on this one, as it will require either a big expenditure of money or else more than two years.If the Board are able to supply a great deal of new finance - a big if, as Grant seemed to believe that he had to manage on a shoe string, then we could avoid relegation and within his contract period Roeder could demonstrate some progress. Whether Roeder could be more astute in the transfer market than Grant was, I very much doubt - whatever criticisms you could level at Grant, his purchases by an large were good, although he was hit by the three late departures of Dickson, Ernie and Saf.My general conclusion is one of pessimism - we may somehow avoid relegation, but without more cash I can''t see us being more than an average Championship side. If we had a more productive Academy, turning out excellent players in number, rather than good ones, I could be more positive, but the 90 minute rule is against us.