23 Jul 2016 08:42:05
Given the vast sums of money we as a club have spent in the post Fergie era, and the continuous changes of managers and consequentially transfer targets, I do wonder whether we would be better adopting a model similar to Bayern Munich where the club have footballing people involved beside the business people who look at the players the club wants/ needs.
They identify suitable players and even if the manager changes there is a degree of continuity.
Maybe if this model had been in place we would be closer to having a balanced squad and from a personal preference perspective that it may have included Renato Sanches as we could have concluded the transfer without it undermining the manager as we could have said he is a player that matches the clubs profile.
We will never know, but I would also love to know what sort of squad we would have had Jose been appointed straight after Fergie left. I suspect it would again have a better balance to it.
23 Jul 2016 09:07:26
Huggy
I seem to recall Liverpool operated with a "transfer panel" and was seen to cause them problems. Managers and certainly top ones will likely demand control of transfers to a large extent and let's be honest committees usually find actual decision making difficult. We demand a 'manager' not a transitory coach, managers want to have the final say, it's their neck in the line. Decisions by committee is not for me but I am more open to a director of football
I think we would benefit more from no changes to the back room at a change of manager. Yes bring trusty lieutenants but staff around the reserves, academy etc will not change. There were too many changes after SAF left and I believe the club learnt from that.
Lastly if we had done what we should and appointed Jose after SAF the last three years would have been less painful by far. Now, rightly he has his chance and hopefully we look forward now and not back at what might have been.
{Ed001's Note - all clubs have a transfer committee of sorts, always have done.}
23 Jul 2016 10:41:36
Hey Red Nan, how are you, you've been missed.
23 Jul 2016 11:11:57
Appointing Jose now demonstrates the club got it wrong when SAF retired. Jose was on a charm offensive and was clearly positioning himself to take over. Allegedly he had already committed himself to Chelsea so it may have been SAF's sudden announcement that was the issue.
Has SAF ever discussed when he decided to retire, did I miss it?
23 Jul 2016 11:36:22
I think it's in his book AJH. I can't remember the exact time line but I believe it was somewhere around Xmas he decided that he would leave at the end of the season but didn't let anybody know as it may have disrupted the team. He felt he had already made that mistake the time before when he announced he would retire.
23 Jul 2016 11:42:57
AJH,
This is how I seem to recall how the retirement unfolded. I believe the decision for SAF to retire was after his sister in law passed, November/ December If recollection serves. His desire to continue was overshadowed by his desire to be there for his wife. I also believe Jose was still available at the time, ie he hadn't committed to Chelsea. Unfortunately people at the club, charlton amongst them, were not as favourable to his appointment as us fans and other members of the clubs hierachy. Due to this undecided nature of the club, this led to Chelsea getting Jose back as well as the chosen ones appointment.
Now this timeline and information could be wrong, but based on what I recall ed002 saying in regards to the situation this is how it went down. Would be amazing if this could be confirmed/ debunked by someone with a better memory than I?
23 Jul 2016 12:13:23
According to the ed,
Jose had a made a decision to return to Chelsea in 2011 or 2012 meeting.
23 Jul 2016 13:42:12
Hi AJH
Thanks, I have been reading the site but had a few very important things to deal with over last few weeks. Add to that I trust the new manager somewhat more than last two so waiting to see what he does. Delighted Jose is here. It's not going to be easy because the club has let itself slide towards the end of SAF reign and with the incredible two appointments after.
I see points about SAF retirement, and said on here many times, Gill should not have been waiting to see when SAF didn't feel like going on, he should have been planning for it and known what the plans were of managers like Jose. Kept close to them and maybe been tougher in dealing with SAF in his retirement. By that I mean that if Gill knew Jose or Pep may be thinking about signing elsewhere, have a conversation with SAF about how he was feeling, make him aware the club had to prepare for the post SAF era and that if SAF was thinking about retiring then the club didn't want to miss out on a Jose or Pep. Instead it looks as if it was left for SAF to decide, and then to pick his successor. For me allowing that could have made SAF more important than the club which was not right. The ship is starting to steady with much work to do.