by Royalee »
18 Jun 2008 14:46
Roger the Rabbit Or you could quote the names of almost the entire promotion winning side as positive examples.....
Doesn't quite work like that in the Premier League though I'm afraid - which is kind of my point in that Coppell's okay if he doesn't have to work with top players who won't question his methods. He has to do this if we are to establish ourselves in the Premiership and clearly doesn't have the stomach for it, which is why he is not the right man for the job - even if we go up this season (which we won't unless we replace half a starting eleven), he still has to go for me as we need a charismatic leader able to adapt and take on board new ideas in order for us to suceed. Even the greatest managers like Ferguson need the likes of Queroz to manage foreign talent and Coppell's stubborness in plainly refusing to play players because 'they don't speak good enough English' is a prime example of what held us back and will continue to hold us back while he is at the club.
As for the financial side of things, Bolton had a smaller squad than us with better quality, meaning they will have been able to pay good wages to those who were deserving of them, without placing themselves in financial risk. Think of all the money we are wasting paying inflated wages to Hunt, and also to players who are realistically never going to play (Halls, Bennett, Sodje and so forth). If you add up the amount of money we are paying to these players, I don't think you'll find our wages were all that different to Bolton's, which leads me to my next point - what is the point in Coppell signing all these mediocre players from the lower leagues if they are not going to have an impact and take us forward? I would much rather pay Diouf £30k a week than have Hunt, Bennett and Sodje for a combined wage (I'm guestimating here) of £35k a week?