Matic
Alert Team
With one game left of the 2017/18 season, the silly season is fast approaching and for most of us it's a trying time. Our club may be known for striking up some excellent deals and snapping up top young talent for pennies, but we are also known for being penny-wise/pound-foolish and not acting quickly enough. This summer the bigger questions are going to be about our possible out-goings; Mr Rose and Mr Alderweireld.
Fans have been very critical of Poch and Levy's treatment of Toby and Danny this season, demanding we pay them what they want to stay and have demanded that they get given more game time at various stages of the season. And they are right to a point. Our wage structure is feeling more and more counter-productive as years go by given how much we would have to pay to replace talents of Danny and Toby's calibre with similar quality. And at times we have missed the quality of both of them when they both appeared to be fit and ready.
However, I am totally in support of Poch's actions. What we have are two players who have made it perfectly clear that they are willing to leave to get what they want and Poch sees this as lacking in commitment. In the same way he benched Walker towards the end of the season, Poch is sending a very powerful message - if you're not 100% with this team, you do not play. I'd argue it's sending a bigger message to all future signings of 'we are not a stepping stone club anymore and you will not be bigger than the club.' Changing the mentality surrounding the club has been Poch's biggest challenge to date and even though there are still big issues to be addressed, since his arrival Poch has made massive leaps forward in shaking off a lot of our past mental frailties.
Even though we are looking at short-term losses, I feel strongly that we will seen long term gains from these actions. We can all hope Levy changes our wage structure to be more in line with the clubs we are competing with, but for now, I see Poch's actions as the right ones.
Fans have been very critical of Poch and Levy's treatment of Toby and Danny this season, demanding we pay them what they want to stay and have demanded that they get given more game time at various stages of the season. And they are right to a point. Our wage structure is feeling more and more counter-productive as years go by given how much we would have to pay to replace talents of Danny and Toby's calibre with similar quality. And at times we have missed the quality of both of them when they both appeared to be fit and ready.
However, I am totally in support of Poch's actions. What we have are two players who have made it perfectly clear that they are willing to leave to get what they want and Poch sees this as lacking in commitment. In the same way he benched Walker towards the end of the season, Poch is sending a very powerful message - if you're not 100% with this team, you do not play. I'd argue it's sending a bigger message to all future signings of 'we are not a stepping stone club anymore and you will not be bigger than the club.' Changing the mentality surrounding the club has been Poch's biggest challenge to date and even though there are still big issues to be addressed, since his arrival Poch has made massive leaps forward in shaking off a lot of our past mental frailties.
Even though we are looking at short-term losses, I feel strongly that we will seen long term gains from these actions. We can all hope Levy changes our wage structure to be more in line with the clubs we are competing with, but for now, I see Poch's actions as the right ones.