We see a club we love. They see a club they've probably never heard of. We see a living legend of a manager and a Geordie to boot. They see an old man who can never remember their names. We see a manager who took England to the semi finals of the World Cup. They see a man whose side lost against a workmanlike German side while France have won the World Cup and the European Championship. We see a man who has won trophies in 4 different countries. They see a man who got "moved upstairs".

They expect: a crack at European competition, a chance to attract a move to a bigger club by getting noticed, an easy runout as stars in a successful side. Instead they find: a side labouring to hold an average position in the league, no chance of European success, the danger of the stink of failure at our club rubbing off on them and a completely unsettled side it is impossible to shine in.

Hardly surprisingly the only thing we have to attract these players is the only thing which will keep them here, and that's money: plain and simple. Most of the above is true of all of them: Johnnies and Brits. What we have to address is forgetting about the chequebook altogether as it cannot solve the problem. Lots of money will buy you players, but the players you want are those that know they are joining something good where they will have the chance to achieve something and that only comes when you can present an orderly side who know what they are doing.

We don't have a system at present. Nobody can say: "Oh, I see, I'm filling in Rob Lee's role today", they are just a bewildering mishmash of styles and positions all wondering what the Hell they are supposed to be doing. Even when you unclutter midfield and bring a player like Glass on it doesn't seem to help because there is still no pattern to it. Sure, we could pay out a fortune to buy more players from abroad, but because of the points above, they will only have the motivation of cash and won't be of sufficient calibre to make the difference. We've got to look carefully at our genuine deficiencies in key area and pay what it takes to get someone in who knows how to fill that slot, not just buy people seemingly at random because they are cheap and could be shoe-horned into a variety of roles. Everyone knows that Leeds spent 18mil on Ferdinand, but they also bought Jason Wilcox because they know he can play as a left winger. Likewise Man Utd didn't flinch at buying Sheringham because they knew they needed a provider for the other 3 to shine.

We seem to be buying Jacks of all trades and masters of none (Cordone, Gallacher, Dyer, Lua Lua, Acuna (?), Bassedas(?)) when we have a crying need for players to fulfil specific tasks in specific positions. Let's try to walk before we run. Build a squad that can cope with 4-4-2 and when it has proven it can manage that alright, and they all know what's expected of them, we start pricking about with pretty patterns.

The one definite purchase we made for a clear role was Cort, and unfortunately he has filled the specifications of Ferguson's role on the bench to perfection. No more useless crap and potential stars of the future, we need a left winger, a left full back, 2 replacement centre halves and two strikers now. Forget pulling off major transfer coups like Ronaldo and all that old bollocks, look closer to home for people who know what they will be letting themselves in for and have already proven that they can do the job. Phase out the old men and fancy Dans as and when you can, but we need to have a simple pattern for this simplest of games so you can actually see who is and isn't pulling their weight. At the moment I have almost no idea what they are trying to do, which makes it almost impossible to judge whether or not they are succeeding, but they certainly aren't winning enough football matches with it.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

Answers

Blimey Softie - are you having an afternoon off work? Been one or two longer postings from you today.(;o)

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

I saw the Manu game live and only highlights + comments from Arsenal. The important things that these 2 clubs show are :-

1 - They play it simple -

2 - They are hungry and work their balls off.

3 - Once 1 & 2 are sorted they try clever stuff

I'm with you Softie - when we do 1 & 2 we won't lose too many - then we can build. For now we need a consistent shape and formation even if it ends up soembody out of position. All players understand 442 - come on YBR stick with it for now.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

Good insight Softie.

As you say, one of the difficulties in evaluating someone like YKD is that you don't really know what he being asked to do, so how can you judge his performance?

In an industrial/business context, I can tell you that this scenario would be a recipe for certain disaster.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000