The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 327 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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I agree and also disagree and I'm also aware this is the DS thread lol

We have a hangover, but not a major one. Purslow is wrong on paying PL wages, but he's right on paying upper PL wages. Just as we can't pay PL transfer fees, we can, just not £50+ million on single players.

It's smoke and mirrors- the stadium sale put our last 3yr determination (EFL) into profit. Break even give or take for last season, we can break even again this year spending circa £100m I think or we only sign Cash and our 3yr determination would be massively in profit.
 
I dream of the day we have a manager, on the high wages we pay, who doesn't then have to learn lessons that are bleeding obvious. I guess that is all I'm saying Fieldy. It is beyond parody to me that someone should figure out right at the end of a season, you might need to be a bit more pragmatic. Especially at the stage half the teams we faced were on the beach already (disgraceful though that is and as a further caveat, you can only play what is in front of you I totally realise).
 
The Fear said:
I dream of the day we have a manager, on the high wages we pay, who doesn't then have to learn lessons that are bleeding obvious. I guess that is all I'm saying Fieldy. It is beyond parody to me that someone should figure out right at the end of a season, you might need to be a bit more pragmatic. Especially at the stage half the teams we faced were on the beach already (disgraceful though that is and as a further caveat, you can only play what is in front of you I totally realise).
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I started reading that in the voice of Martin Luther King....
 
Ha, I agree with you more than you probably think but Alf Ramsey's, Fergie's and Ron Saunders aren't built on trees and all of them have massive failures until it clicked.

This is where I think DS got sucked into his own PR in terms of attacking and not being scared of anyone. He got stuck as it didn't work after the first few months but the break allowed him to snap out of it - so to speak.

But the whole 'managers who learn on the job' line I find funny because that's every manager regardless of what level they come from and what they've achieved for me, so I don't buy that.

It would be nice to have a microwave cooked, oven ready, freezer prepared gaffer who only needs defrosting in warm water and comes with an omnipotent coaching badge - but it ain't going to happen.

Let's face it, we'll be having this argument in 12 months as well PMSL So you know where you can shove your 'flippant hat' :fish:
 
mike_field said:
This is where I think DS got sucked into his own PR in terms of attacking and not being scared of anyone. He got stuck as it didn't work after the first few months but the break allowed him to snap out of it - so to speak.
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That is even worse then. We paid for amateur hour is what you are saying. It should have been obvious after a month, not having to wait for a worldwide pandemic to give him a few seconds to think.

Come on Fieldy, this might not be a league winning club but we aren't that amateur now are we? That we have to accept that?

Just shows the coaches weren't worth their wages either, if they couldn't 'snap him out of it'.

Will hope and pray as the season kicks off though, just letting off a few frustrations tonight I think... as it really does baffle me.

It would be nice to have a microwave cooked, oven ready, freezer prepared gaffer who only needs defrosting in warm water and comes with an omnipotent coaching badge - but it ain't going to happen.
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No idea why it couldn't happen.

We accept mediocrity because I guess that is all we have had manager wise for years. Hurts though.
 
I'm less worried about the players we have/have not gotten in so far as there is still time to recruit (although do feel earlier would have been better).

I'm far more concerned about what tune the manager will get out of the squad he has this season. I fear DS is tone deaf.
 
"Merd" said:
Fixed for you :guiness::guiness::guiness:
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Begrudgingly I have to :tophat:

I wasn't expecting that lol
 
The Fear said:
That is even worse then. We paid for amateur hour is what you are saying. It should have been obvious after a month, not having to wait for a worldwide pandemic to give him a few seconds to think.

Come on Fieldy, this might not be a league winning club but we aren't that amateur now are we? That we have to accept that?

Just shows the coaches weren't worth their wages either, if they couldn't 'snap him out of it'.

Will hope and pray as the season kicks off though, just letting off a few frustrations tonight I think... as it really does baffle me.



No idea why it couldn't happen.

We accept mediocrity because I guess that is all we have had manager wise for years. Hurts though.
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No because that first month we were more than decent and competitive, it was the step up that cost us, more than our approach. As time went on it turned to our approach that cost us more than our fitness and we all know the games where if we'd have taken our chances (Wesley/Davis Grrrrr) where we'd have been comfortable before the other side had a sniff.

I do however more than agree that the other coaches should've pulled him to the side and said 'I know you want your club to attack like Barcelona, but we haven't signed Messi and Grealish spends time on the floor.'

But he learnt, late....we survived, he's one of us (but on larger wages) I want him to get it right.

But no, I'm not accepting mediocrity - I'm understanding a slow process to get us where we want to be - but even saying that I want 14th above pre-signings and top ten next season. So we aren't that far apart.
 
mike_field said:
But he learnt, late....we survived, he's one of us (but on larger wages) I want him to get it right.

But no, I'm not accepting mediocrity - I'm understanding a slow process to get us where we want to be - but even saying that I want 14th above pre-signings and top ten next season. So we aren't that far apart.
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I want him to get it right, that is for sure. The fact he is one of us, is basically irrelevant to me now, in fact, last season I think it made it worse, we were so bad.

I do think we are ridiculous, but hope by the end of this coming season, I feel that slightly, or completely, less. I sit back and look at it and I don't think many other big clubs have repeatedly acted this small and yet talked themselves up so much, year after year.

A manager having to learn during a pandemic break. This is Mike Bassett territory really.

I shall be over this and at the very least try to keep out of this thread come the new season. I just needed to fill my evening with some good old football chat.
 
Can't see what DS has done wrong TBH so far.

1. He was tasked with getting us Promoted. Achieved at first time of asking even though this was very improbable given the position we were in.
2 Tasked with keeping us in the Prem. Achieved at first time of asking even though this was very improbable given the position we were in.
3. Go to the League Cup final. Yes we got lucky with the Liverpool kids, but that wasn't our doing, and you can only beat what is in front of you. Cherry on the cake.

So he has achieved everything he has been asked to do. Now if the criticism is about the future then who knows what will happen, and any manager is only as good as the support he gets from the owners. So far DS has had adequate support. Will this continue? I don't know. So I personally believe we will have to see how the season goes. Everyone keeps on saying we can't go big in the market, so OK, my acceptable target for the manager is 14th to 17th without needing a miracle again to stop up.

If he achieves that then he has achieved what is possible given the tools at his disposal. Maybe then some of these talented kids will be making waves in the Prem. Have to say not sure without big backing how any manager can achieve the stated aim of European football.
 
We have owners that can back a manager, we can't go bottom to top spending wise/wages wise/and couldn't attract top tier players anyway, but if the ambitions are there, we can spend a good amount of money.
 
Well I have to say, and this may sound a little spoiled, and also premature, but so far they have spent the bare minimum I would expect new owners to spend considering the scale of the rebuilding job last summer, which was only just good enough to stay in the league, and very little this window so far to stay up. Do I trust them? Not yet, I'm too old to believe the hype anymore, I want to see action not words, and so far it has been extremely underwhelming. And if they feel my thoughts are a little ungrateful then I would answer that they decided to buy the club, there is a responsibility to invest in that club to drive it forward, and any right thinking person would put a value of around £500 million to achieve their stated aim of European football, and the fact we had to spend £150 million just to have a team to stay in the Prem. Anyway I'm off topic, but I think it is relevant to DS's position.
 
The Fear said:
We have owners that can back a manager, we can't go bottom to top spending wise/wages wise/and couldn't attract top tier players anyway, but if the ambitions are there, we can spend a good amount of money.
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I actually like the effort they are putting into the academy. Want to see someone jump out and scream "PLAY ME". Having a 17/18yr old superstar in the making would have us all talking - until he gets caught shagging a granny (Rooney) or on his back in Ibiza (Jack)
 
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