In the Summer everything looked so bright with all the business we had done. But looking back now it seems really obvious where it all went wrong. In the two 2013 windows we purchased nine players with a combined two Premier League appearance who were an average of 22.4 years old. We turned over this batch of youth—who were expected to become the backbone of our team— to a 35 year old manager who had managed under 200 games in his four year career and then after that to a man who had never managed at all (though it seems like he was last choice). We started the season with the third youngest squad and the youngest manager. Furthermore, we had a squad made up of 9 players who had been at the club for less than a year, two more youngsters returning from loans (Townsend and Rose), and one promoted from the academy (Bentaleb). 12 new players total.
In the last two windows we have shipped out a combined 1,952 Premier League appearances. To reiterate they were replaced with 63 Premier League appearances counting Townsend and Rose's appearance numbers.
Looking back it seems so obvious that we were destined to fail with the level of inexperience on the field and the touchline. It isn't hard to understand why we shit ourselves whenever anything goes wrong. Our club is full of players and coaches who are inexperienced with the league, the club, the country, and each other.
I'm not going to get into Sherwood as it is my opinion he was the club's fallback option after they missed on a fair few candidates. For me, the problem was trying to get rapidly younger with an inexperienced young manager like AVB at the helm. We should have added experience to help him to grow as a manager. To simultaneously clear the older players out of the squad and try to fill the Gareth Bale void with a vast majority young players who never played in England all while you had the youngest manager in the league seems like a suicide mission in retrospect. How is it that everyone missed it while it was happening?
Overall, there is a massive void in experience and expertise at the club from boardroom, to the touchline, to the pitch. Almost every single one of our players, coaches, and DOF is relatively new to their role. It isn't a surprise that no one looks like they have a clue because they don't. This summer they need to bring in a fair few who can put them on the scent. Ian Broomfield looks like a good start, lots more needed. Roll up the sleeves Daniel and Co, time to get back to work.
In the last two windows we have shipped out a combined 1,952 Premier League appearances. To reiterate they were replaced with 63 Premier League appearances counting Townsend and Rose's appearance numbers.
Looking back it seems so obvious that we were destined to fail with the level of inexperience on the field and the touchline. It isn't hard to understand why we shit ourselves whenever anything goes wrong. Our club is full of players and coaches who are inexperienced with the league, the club, the country, and each other.
I'm not going to get into Sherwood as it is my opinion he was the club's fallback option after they missed on a fair few candidates. For me, the problem was trying to get rapidly younger with an inexperienced young manager like AVB at the helm. We should have added experience to help him to grow as a manager. To simultaneously clear the older players out of the squad and try to fill the Gareth Bale void with a vast majority young players who never played in England all while you had the youngest manager in the league seems like a suicide mission in retrospect. How is it that everyone missed it while it was happening?
Overall, there is a massive void in experience and expertise at the club from boardroom, to the touchline, to the pitch. Almost every single one of our players, coaches, and DOF is relatively new to their role. It isn't a surprise that no one looks like they have a clue because they don't. This summer they need to bring in a fair few who can put them on the scent. Ian Broomfield looks like a good start, lots more needed. Roll up the sleeves Daniel and Co, time to get back to work.
