Nail on the head. Recruitment needs to be better and we need to replace quality with quality which Coventry have done. I can see us pulling in some really good money this summer but it all comes down to whether they invest in the right areas and in players that are first team ready and not prospects.
Which all means we kick on from the first game of the new season, not have to wait for 10-15 games to get everything up to speed.
Thus my discontent with Speakman who I want fired and KLD to sell up. Having said that the new FFP rules in the PL will slow down everyones movements up the leagues compared to pervious years my thoughts…
We basically did a scattergun approach. Trying to find the next gem for cheap money like we did with Stewart.It's certainly the reinvestment that needs to be looked at. Just checked your deals from this season on Transfermrkt. There does seem to have been movement by your board as you've sold 3 players and taken in €10.5 and spent more than that, 9 players in for €12.3m (figures from Transfermrkt and I'm not including the players released or signed on frees). But the top purchase was Rusyn at €2.5m, who from reports on here has not set the SoL ablaze. Last season, you made zero from sales and only brought in €6m worth of new talent (Ballard highest at €2.3m)
For a team of your expectations, you can't keep buying from the charity bin. Having consistently high attendances and the money that brings in, you should be able to have more funds to support the manager. Yes, you may find a quality deal once in a while. But for the most part, your transfer pot is worse than some League 1 teams. And that's concerning, for your fans and for anyone looking in at you.
But I would also urge caution. Everyone holds Gyokeres up as amazing business but they don't look at the other side of the paper. We signed him on loan in 2021 from Brighton after he'd had a terrible loan spell with Swansea. Nothing to report home about the loan spell. Next season, he started better but was still not outstanding. In total, it took him 18 months to have his breakout season with us. Simms and Wright started this season terribly and another manager would have benched them, thinking they were wastes of money (some of our fans wanted them gone at Xmas). They've been given time to adjust to our style and are now reaping the benefits.
Your board have to acknowledge that results don't change overnight and managers and players have to be backed financially and given the time to see through those changes. Mowbray was getting there with his hands tied before he left/was kicked.
After yesterday, we're all of the same mind that we will fall short. And potentially by a big margin.
We've had a lot of positives this season and it's something to build on for next. There shouldn't be any gelling period as everyone knows everyone else in the squad and any incoming players will be given time. And the pitch is ours on a long term tenancy so no eggball matches to mess with the surface
It should also even expectations among our fans. We've had the blowhards who think we should be winning every game 3 or 4-0 and get annoyed on social media when we don't. Once they've seen that promotion isn't a gift and we have to earn it, it should settle us down as well.
Cov are on a positive track.
Now to sort out Sunderland
