- Dec 6, 2006
- 3,978
- 13,596
I thought I'd move this debate over from Transfer rumours.
I don't think it's something that can be pinned on any one person but I am amazed how some people completely exonerate HR from any blame. The reason given is that he had to buy the players he did to get us out of the hole we were in. The players I am thinking of are the likes of Defoe, Keane, Palacios etc who we are now looking to sell at a substantial loss. While there is an element of truth to that, I personally don't believe he would have done any different had we been mid table or top 6. I think that is borne out by the face he bought Crouch when we were in a good position and he was all over Joe Cole when we'd qualified for the Champions League.
With a bit of imagination, we should have been looking at a far higher quality of player at those points. It's that imagination he lacks in my opinion, he sticks to what he knows - I think he still has the same mindset as he had at Portsmouth and am amazed that he is so effective at deflecting all criticism away from himself. Yes, he has done a decent job but his record on player purchases has been pretty poor to say the least and he shouldn't be immune to criticism for that.
He's hardly known for leaving clubs in a better position than he found them - there is surely a reason for that. Personally, I have lost a lot of confidence in him to identify the players we need to progress and I thought that was supposed to be one of his main strengths.
I don't think it's something that can be pinned on any one person but I am amazed how some people completely exonerate HR from any blame. The reason given is that he had to buy the players he did to get us out of the hole we were in. The players I am thinking of are the likes of Defoe, Keane, Palacios etc who we are now looking to sell at a substantial loss. While there is an element of truth to that, I personally don't believe he would have done any different had we been mid table or top 6. I think that is borne out by the face he bought Crouch when we were in a good position and he was all over Joe Cole when we'd qualified for the Champions League.
With a bit of imagination, we should have been looking at a far higher quality of player at those points. It's that imagination he lacks in my opinion, he sticks to what he knows - I think he still has the same mindset as he had at Portsmouth and am amazed that he is so effective at deflecting all criticism away from himself. Yes, he has done a decent job but his record on player purchases has been pretty poor to say the least and he shouldn't be immune to criticism for that.
He's hardly known for leaving clubs in a better position than he found them - there is surely a reason for that. Personally, I have lost a lot of confidence in him to identify the players we need to progress and I thought that was supposed to be one of his main strengths.