The thing is, we don’t even know what the manager’s role is going to be. PA claimed him and Wilder disagreed on the transfer policy. That “the club” were recommending players like Coufal but Wilder wasn’t having it. At the same time he also said we weren’t having a DoF. So, are we looking for a manager who dictates transfer policy or one who’s effectively a head coach?
We still don’t really know what our budget is. We know we’re taking a financial hit but we’ve no idea what the relegation clauses in the players’ contracts are, how much their wages are going to be reduced by.
We’ve had Wilder saying the plan was to keep our squad together and we weren’t going to follow the plan. We’ve had PA saying he wants a manager who can do 352 because that’s what system suits our players, so where’s the deviation from the plan? What are we really looking to do?
Because different managers suit different jobs. Some want to be head coaches and rely heavily on a DoF to recruit the players they need. Others like total control over scouting and recruitment. Some managers are good at overhauling squads, others are good at tweaking existing squads. Some need big budgets, some are good at turd polishing.
We’re getting hung up about Slav because he did a good job at two clubs that I’d suggest are quite different to what we’ve been. I don’t want to fall into the trap like I did with Adkins in thinking because he’d done a good job elsewhere, he’ll automatically do a good job with us. But without knowing what PA’s vision for the club is, without really knowing what strengths we need in the next manager, I find it hard to really form a firm opinion on who we should be looking at.
I’ve found football has become very complex. It used to be, get a decent manager in, back him with a bit of cash and let him get on with it. Now it’s more about getting the right person to fit into a team of people who run the club, one who is suited to the specific job in hand.
