The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 443 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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Him leaving
ROK leaving
Terry leaving
The plan of the last couple of years being ripped up because our whole ethos was around ‘him’.
I don‘t believe they thought SJ was leaving and i don’t believe the explanation from Purlsow about the ‘three players’. Buendia was bought to help SJ. Ings , well bit cynical in my humble announced when he was. Was it a rushed thing ?, not really in the plan until ‘he’ dropped us in it.
Injuries going into the season and players joining late .
Disrupted pre season friendly schedule.
And ok, not quite summer but international call up farce and another coming up

We have had to start again really buying and integrating key players in key positions and it remains to be seen whether it will work despite the thinking that we are ‘stronger’. Stronger for what ?. Mid table stronger or top 8 stronger?. Mid table wasn’t in the plan at the end of last season. 100% it wasn’t . Now it seems to be the satisfactory outcome for some. Is it for the owners ?

Smith has a huge job on to bring this all together now all with a hugely tough league and schedule to play and part of my gut feeling is also that managers have a life cycle , a shelf life at a club . Into his 4 season with us now he is well over the average premier league manager tenure . There are possibly more than a few pointers .

As said , don’t want it, want him to succeed, love the guy, done wonders , will always think fondly but all good things come to an end. No time scale from me either as to when but I just have a feeling , no more , no less, that the last few weeks or so will catch up and we will look back and think this was when it all started to come to a close for Smith.

Its football in 2021 .Would anyone really be surprised about what could happen despite what Deano has done for us ?
Really safe ground here Melon, some vague reference to the beginning of the end :halo:. Not having a pop at you either because the nature of the PL is ruthless. I'm like you, Dean Smith hasn't done anything wrong since he's been at the club, but we all want an improved style of play, some excitement, a run of victories (remember that 10 on the bounce?) - ultimately that "feel good" factor. I can see the progression, I am being patient, but there is nothing that stirs the blood like a good old fashioned 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool (or similar).

So I can see why you are suggesting this, but a good win against Everton, a victory against Chelsea reserves in the League Cup and finally beating Manure at old Trafford would significantly change the balance of thinking. Exceptionally hard to achieve, but it's those kind of results that'll keep Dean in the job and people behind him - lose and it'll be doom and gloom and the fans will be sharpening the knives.
 
I think with the cards Smith has been dealt by the owners and simply by fate means sharpening any knives any time soon is exceptionally harsh.
Again, can't argue with you Pangloss, but it's what the majority of fans will do - and we'll see it here on this site. We can all become quickly disillusioned as football fans.
 
Again, can't argue with you Pangloss, but it's what the majority of fans will do - and we'll see it here on this site. We can all become quickly disillusioned as football fans.

I just think where we were a mere three years ago and it stops me getting too downbeat.

We have to keep improving season on season though , and that gets harder and harder.
 
I just think where we were a mere three years ago and it stops me getting too downbeat.

We have to keep improving season on season though , and that gets harder and harder.
I think we have to accept it might not happen this season and if it doesn't I certainly won't be putting all the blame on the manager.

At the end of the day, as a club, we chose a Grealish release clause that was absolutely not prohibitively high enough to wade off any interest and we have chose to turn a profit this past window.

Had we gone and shown more ambition in the summer then it would be easier to expect improvement and to hold Smith to account. But I just don't see that as fair based on what has happened.
 
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Him leaving
ROK leaving
Terry leaving
The plan of the last couple of years being ripped up because our whole ethos was around ‘him’.
I don‘t believe they thought SJ was leaving and i don’t believe the explanation from Purlsow about the ‘three players’. Buendia was bought to help SJ. Ings , well bit cynical in my humble announced when he was. Was it a rushed thing ?, not really in the plan until ‘he’ dropped us in it.
Injuries going into the season and players joining late .
Disrupted pre season friendly schedule.
And ok, not quite summer but international call up farce and another coming up

We have had to start again really buying and integrating key players in key positions and it remains to be seen whether it will work despite the thinking that we are ‘stronger’. Stronger for what ?. Mid table stronger or top 8 stronger?. Mid table wasn’t in the plan at the end of last season. 100% it wasn’t . Now it seems to be the satisfactory outcome for some. Is it for the owners ?

Smith has a huge job on to bring this all together now all with a hugely tough league and schedule to play and part of my gut feeling is also that managers have a life cycle , a shelf life at a club . Into his 4 season with us now he is well over the average premier league manager tenure . There are possibly more than a few pointers .

As said , don’t want it, want him to succeed, love the guy, done wonders , will always think fondly but all good things come to an end. No time scale from me either as to when but I just have a feeling , no more , no less, that the last few weeks or so will catch up and we will look back and think this was when it all started to come to a close for Smith.

Its football in 2021 .Would anyone really be surprised about what could happen despite what Deano has done for us ?

I get all those; they may have had some impact on our performances. But what I don't get, which is the point, is why they should be laid at Smith's door. It would be a bit like saying that it's Smith's fault that snake got injured last season.

Did the owners take the view that whatever the circumstances we should have done better than 11th? Nope; they took the view that we needed a deeper squad and have rectified that. They aren't fools.
 
I get all those; they may have had some impact on our performances. But what I don't get, which is the point, is why they should be laid at Smith's door. It would be a bit like saying that it's Smith's fault that snake got injured last season.

Did the owners take the view that whatever the circumstances we should have done better than 11th? Nope; they took the view that we needed a deeper squad and have rectified that. They aren't fools.

I haven’t laid the blame at Smiths door. I don‘t think anyone has. But the things that have happened have happened and it’s a fact of football that the manager kops it whatever the circumstances .
 
I get all those; they may have had some impact on our performances. But what I don't get, which is the point, is why they should be laid at Smith's door. It would be a bit like saying that it's Smith's fault that snake got injured last season.

Did the owners take the view that whatever the circumstances we should have done better than 11th? Nope; they took the view that we needed a deeper squad and have rectified that. They aren't fools.
It's the tactics and in-game management that I think will be under scrutiny. Also the inability to land our main transfer targets . They may want a higher profile manager to attempt to take the club to the next level.
 
Maybe they don't trust him with more backing. The 2021 results on the whole have been C minus.

Its possible but I doubt it, the model of the club is to be self-reliant and buy players who fit a vision not a manager's personal preference. This isn't 2008, we don't give a manager free reign over policy anymore (but they do still have some influence).

Its also worth mentioning the club spent 90MM, IMO using net spend as a measure of backing would be disingenuous. So for me, they clearly are giving him backing and trust.

Using 2021 results is also disingenuous. I don't know how you could create a long-term plan and stick to it by boiling everything down to the last 6 months. Nobody is saying lets on focus only on the last 6 months of 2020.
 
One dickhead manager who wouldn't shut up about Liverpool is enough.

Yes. I'm sure many managers we have would leave us if the dippers came calling. But with Stevie G he would most definitely be using us or any other prem.club as a stepping stone to get back to his beloved club. Only a matter of time before he is their manager.

No thanks.
 
All I see on Instagram (the only social media I am on) is questions about Smith in or out. I’ve been on the more (constructively) critical side of the fence with him at times with poor tactics and decisions, but I feel it’s poor form to have this much speculation about him after 4 league games.

If at Christmas we have as many points as games, then something is not working as well as we’d hope. I think too many were overly optimistic with their predictions, I think the vast majority had 6th-8th as a finish which was borderline unrealistic given the loss of a certain player.

If we finished 10th-11th this season, that is consolidation however we must push on next season in that case. The grass isn’t always greener and I’m still enjoying the ride, overall I think he deserves more time than to be answering questions about his own job so early into the season.
 
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I haven’t laid the blame at Smiths door. I don‘t think anyone has. But the things that have happened have happened and it’s a fact of football that the manager kops it whatever the circumstances .

I don't blame Dean, I was one of the people who suggested him as manager when the fairy glen club were saying how could we get a better manager than the illustrious Steve Bruce. There will probably be a time where we all want him out unless of course, we are winning everything going and playing like 1970 Brazil.

What I do find strange is that 2 coaches and the Captain haven't bought into the "plan" and decided to leave our great club as it is not for them. We won't know for some time if ever what that was down to. The 100m in the back pocket worries me, where are these players we were seeking if JG had stayed? Would we have spent 100m or just the 30m on Buendia and Young and is that why the 3 left
 
Fat Frank got Chelski into top 4. Top manager Tuchel won the champs league and will probably win the league this season.
Man Ure have the same problem with Olly. Not quite good enough.
Whilst we won't get the Tuchels of this world yet we can aim for a manager to take us on 5-6 places.
 
All I see on Instagram (the only social media I am on) is questions about Smith in or out. I’ve been on the more (constructively) critical side of the fence with him at times with poor tactics and decisions, but I feel it’s poor form to have this much speculation about him after 4 league games.

If at Christmas we have as many points as games, then something is not working as well as we’d hope. I think too many were overly optimistic with their predictions, I think the vast majority had 6th-8th as a finish which was borderline unrealistic given the loss of a certain player.

If we finished 10th-11th this season, that i consolidation however we must push on next season in that case. The grass isn’t always greener and I’m still enjoying the ride, overall I think he deserves more time than to be answering questions about his own job so early into the season.

Since Smith was appointed, there is a section of the fanbase that have been calling for his head. They are the same guys who think Pep is a genius and we should go all out to hire Mourinho.

If Smith had long hair and was from South America, they would adore him.

I wouldn't pay any attention to them. Smith's position is the same as every other manager in the league. If he does well, he keeps his job. As soon as results start going against him, he'll get the boot. He knows that.
 
Fat Frank got Chelski into top 4. Top manager Tuchel won the champs league and will probably win the league this season.
Man Ure have the same problem with Olly. Not quite good enough.
Whilst we won't get the Tuchels of this world yet we can aim for a manager to take us on 5-6 places.
Top managers only want top clubs they don't want to build a club from the ground up. Any "top" manager who'd want to manage us would be using us until he could move on , he then takes all his staff with him and off we go again.

We have never had a top manager, perhaps Houllier but the rest have made their name at Aston Villa.
 
Fat Frank got Chelski into top 4. Top manager Tuchel won the champs league and will probably win the league this season.
Man Ure have the same problem with Olly. Not quite good enough.
Whilst we won't get the Tuchels of this world yet we can aim for a manager to take us on 5-6 places.
By the same metric, you could then say that either would be good enough to get us into the top 4 ?
 
Every manager hits a ceiling. I think Smith has hit his. Tactically he can't take us on. In Grealish we had a world class talent to change games. When he didn't play, no plan B.
Although I hold out hope that with further improvement in the playing staff we can at least match West Ham, who with Moyes look a solid team and he isn't any better than Smith.
 
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