Budgets!!! Same old, same old. If it was all about the budget then clubs may as well list how much they have and line up in the appropriate order, the richest to the poorest, and never bother kicking a ball.
The budget has a big part to play but then it's about how it is spent and by whom. The manager knows how much he has and then has to match it against the needs of the squad.
Players are not a loaf of bread from Tesco's. You can't just say I have the money so jump into my basket.
Firstly there is the filling of the dance card. Getting a time slot with prospective, available players and agents, while rebuffing the unwanted suitors continually throwing themselves at you.
Then the dance. 'You will love the town, the club, the players, me. Etc...' Much of this of course has little to do with the manager in many cases.
The last dance is normally where the question is floated, ' So, you want to come back to our place?' and the reply, ain't it always, ' How much you paying me Big Boy?'
If figures can be agreed it's a final medical tango to see if you are up to the mark or clapped out.
It's only now that the manager comes into his own. It's no good buying a Rolls Royce if you can't drive or getting a crunker of a Ford Escort if you can't tinker beneath the bonnet to get a few last miles out of it.
The best managers take the budget, manage it carefully, make wise transfers, build a team and get the best out of it. Some are better than others at this and the best make the budget work better than other people's bigger budget's.
I do not disagree that PB, to a point, has just about done that and we are higher in the league than we were before he arrived. I do though, watch the games, see the players out there, evaluate the performances and come away believing he has not got the best out of this team. Doing well is not the same as doing enough and that is my objection.
As a club we have achieved much. RM has kept us going. We have had a recent promotion. The academy continues to throw up talent, not least in the goalkeeping stakes. Last week we beat Col U. Hurrah!! But still I see poor starts to a season and invariably poor finishes to a season. We rarely win with conviction and the word emphatic is seldom appropriate. Our cup record is abysmal and the ultimate is we have a squad that does not look like it is the sum of its parts.
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Really good post, that.
As are the posts from 'Rigsby' and 'United We Stand'. Good quality, reasoned debate from all sides.
From a personal perspective, I think mixing targets and expectations is slightly out.
I'd say it falls into three categories, this season :-
Target = Promotion, given the spend allowed. I get the impression RM gave PB a budget and said we could spend it on the Kightlys, Turners and Kiernans of this world and retain Lenny, but something has to give. This is where I think the Thommo and Will sales might have come in and the fact we aren't using loan players this year and have identified our own youngsters as potential fillers. In that regard, Dru and Kyps have done the club a huge favour by stepping up and performing. Elvis, too.
Expectations = This is the grey area. Given last season's points tally and the purchases this summer, I'd say it's play-offs in RM's eyes, hence why PB is under pressure to produce, this season. This could be at the expense of performances in cup competitions.
Reality = I'd say our reality, given injuries, strength of opposition clubs, size of our budget and so on, is around mid-table. Certainly comfortable survival at this level.
In conclusion, I think if we finish outside the play-offs, RM will see this as below expectations and PB's new contract could be a tough call.
The reality is that it is achievable, if things go our way with injuries and the like.
The target is promotion, of course, as it was for all 24 clubs at the start of the season. The key will be that if we don't achieve RM's expectations as a minimum, what happens next and would the chair be pulled before the end of the season, if that expectation starts to wane.
Interesting times and certainly could be a bumpy and exciting ride!
