We weren’t in the.Championship when Wilson was manager
However my point is our budget allows us to pay (not buy) decent wages
Paying decent wages you’d expect better output
Who study’s our signings for speed technical ability fitness mental discipline who looks at the pros and cons
The whole club is being run like a basket case and that’s down to our owners
Allowing one man to have too much power
We weren't in the Championship but we had a budget that should have pissed the league we were in. In fact, we should have been two leagues above given the wage budget - if the assumption is "paying decent wages you'd expect a decent outcome". We were paying more than decent wages, so we should've expected a more than decent outcome.
I don't blame Wilson for not having us there as the players were being paid far in excess of their usefulness. The exact same scenario prevails now. You could apply that to Speed, Carver and Adams who were our managers in the Championship the year before - if it makes you happier, - albeit the analogy is clear anyway: sunk cost wages do not = an outcome. Especially when those players haven't lived up to their wages in the past. We've bought badly and we are stuck with an 8-10th overhead with footballers a long way off that in raw ability. There's maybe half a dozen that would reach that level - we need 25.
Re fees: we are now only paying fees for a handful of players maximum which is also a symbol of decline, especially when you see the names: Mcguinness, Chong, Tanganga, Cannon are the big ones. There maybe a bit owed on Burrows and Cooper. We haven't had a successful window of bringing in permanents since the summer of the third place season (albeit nowhere near enough).
Legacy contracts for overpaid players are a big problem. This lot could be the highest paid squad in the division and I'd still say the manager has a squad that is relegation material. I wouldn't say "he should be doing better because his squad is highly paid". That's regardless of who the coaching staff are.
Incoming players this season have been brought in with the mandate of "getting the wage bill down" and "balancing the books". Higher quality players require transfer fees and wages - incoming and outgoing. We're also "selling to buy" and reduced to "loans and frees" which creates a lot of additional problems.
United are screwed until they marry the fees and wages for the incomings and they choose the right players deserving of those fees and wages. The first requirement is around 20 outgoings players which will take around three seasons, imo, if we start in the next window - with the requisite backing for a manager, DOF, AI, whoever. Until then it's about staying in the league whilst the trickle of players hopefully makes us increasingly more competitive.
If this season's pattern repeats, we are on a one way ticket to league one.