Some ridiculous revisionist history on here. I'll tackle it chronologically, starting with the Wilder comments. CW inherited a dog shit squad. Maybe the worst since the fourth division days. He had no money to replace the players at his disposal. Quite the contrary: he had to sell any remnants of class remaining (Sharp aside) and the future of the club: Ramsdale, DCL, Adams to get a few quid to reinvest. The only advantage he had was the volume of shit players out of contract.He could put his stamp on it with bargain bin signings. What took place afterwards was a modern day football miracle: an ascenscion to the premier league with a positive net spend.An asset base that was built up in spite of this lack of spending. Many "reclamation projects" that turned into huge assets for the team.
The notion that he was"backed" in the Prem is an arguable one. In the first Prem season with the lowest wage bill and a summer spending of around 40 million we finished 9th (Berge was added in Jan when we were virtually safe). How would you compare that with, say, Forest's current spending? Backed? You have to also factor in the chronic lack of investment pre Premier League. Has any club ever had such little investment in the previous 5 years and sold all its best young players and survived in the Prem for a year? The second year we replaced our goalkeeper and lost two key players with serious injuries. We also signed a young striker that didn't work out. I'd still say that relegation wasn't unexpected.
Slav inherited what should've been a promotion squad. It needed a left centre back and maybe a midfielder at a push. He inherited a system and a squad of players capable of smashing this division. The narrative on here (certainly the consensus) was that Slav was an incredible manager, Hecky was the cheap option and (increasingly) that promotion was a pipe dream because our squad was shit. When Slav came out of the summer window he was bitching at the board saying he needed eight more players
. I saw Slav coming and argued against him getting the job coining the term "cheque book Slav" drawing comparisons with Robson. All of his previous sides were very limited tactically. They were the Championship galacticos: highly paid, much more talented than their opposition. He played really expansively and outscored teams because he could. At United he got exposed for the fraud he is because he had to manage and show some tactical acumen to win games. Man manage players. Wheel and deal in the market.
The notion that Slav and Hecky got a worst hand than Wilder is laughable. Look at the squads they inherited and the expensive loans they've had. The difference with Hecky is that he's not stupid enough to abandon Wilder's system (in fact he's adapted it), he can develop players and his signings have looked very good. By the end of last season Hecky had thoroughly exposed Slav and the majority of analysts on here that said our squad was shit and Slav was badly treated.
