He has a big thread in the main forum that usually gets an airing at this time each year.
Txiki Begiristain
If his mate Pep wasn't arriving, there would be no doubt he should get the chop along with Pellegrini. Under his watch the first team has regressed so badly.forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk
Over the years I’ve lost my cool about him, and both questioned and praised him. I was very critical of him for the way we prepared for the arrival of Pep.
Where we went from a team that finished 1st, 2nd and 1st with two collections of four strikers of Kun Tevez Džeko Balotelli; Kun Džeko Negredo Jovetic… to finishing 3rd and only just scraping 4th with the most unfit and least hard working team in the league by Pellegrini’s final season, with a striker list of Kun Bony Iheanacho and four full backs all over the age of 30 (Zabaleta Sagna Clichy Kolarov) for about two years too long and it being a reason Pep struggled to get a tune out of us in his first year.
But overall he’s done a great job - maybe learning from his previous mistakes - with us exceeding the nearest club to us for trophies won by double since Pep came to us (City 14, Liverpool 7, Chelsea 6, Arsenal 4, United 3, Leicester 2) with excellent money coming in for our academy players and us not spending more than the PL TV revenue in net spend since 2015.
We didn’t replace Kompany immediately and we didn’t replace Kun immediately - in both instances, we waited 12 months to find their replacements. But instead of buying Koulibaly and Kane for massive fees immediately, we took our time and spent much less on longer-term players with higher ceilings of talent. Football carries on forever and we seem to now be looking at being a club who builds for long term success rather than making sure we always have exactly what we need at the start of every season we make sure they long-term we will be challenging and succeeding.
I do find it a bit odd that we have lost Gündoğan and Mahrez and are stacked with the deepest talent defensively ever seen in football yet are replacing Gundo and Mahrez with just McAtee and Bobb in the squad and trying to sign another defender in a position we already have two players (one of which was our best defender last season)… but this will all be about a long term plan.
We might not replace Gundo and Mahrez in the squad this Summer and the signing of Gvardiol might not happen until next Summer. We might well be much weaker this season but in the long-term - much like how we don’t really remember the season we didn’t replace Kompany immediately - we’ll be better off and if this season isn’t a trophy-laden one, we won’t remember it if we win the league title for the two years after this coming one.
Well written post. I'm picking out one detail, not to be pedantic, but because I'm making a point there.
When you say instead of paying big fees we waited 12 months and got players for less, that isn't really true. For Kane it obviously is, for the rest it isn't. Dias cost as much as the top number Napoli were reportedly asking for Koulibaly. At one point the club were looking at a Kounde for more than Koulibaly would have cost. When Tixiki didn't land Sanchez, he spent more on Mahrez the following year. When he didn't land Jorginho, he waited a year and spent more on Rodri. And when they decided not to pursue Vandyke, they spent not that much less on Laporte.
To me, that says it isn't about the amount, or the number itself. It is about the vlaue they see and look for in a deal.
If he was baulking at a figure of say 60m, and then went and signed a player for 40m, then you could say that. But if he's refusing to pay 60m for a player, then signs another for 65m, it obviously wasn't a budget issue. I've seen some argue he is paying extra to make up for losing out on a target over a petty sum, but I think it is bigger than that, and they look at it longer term, in terms of profile and longevity, and return etc. It can sometimes feel frustrating when you see these supposed stand-offs over partial sums here and there, but he has paid out big money when needed (Kev, Sterling, Walker, Mendy, etc etc). And he will again when it is for the right player.