I thought his goals were a lot more excellent finishing rather than poor defending, both were pretty unstoppable

Surprisingly good

Another excellent goal by the man

Cracking headed goal by Brereton two mins after a cracking shot from the corner of the box.

Who’d have thought we’d get promoted the year after selling Tony Field!

It’s completely unheard of for sponsorship deals and transfers to both be announced in the run up to a new season...!

“Yus, M’Lady”

I haven’t praised him, mainly because I don’t rate him.

I agree. My comment was debunking the notion the cash would still have been there had he not spent it. Of course he could have spent it better, my view at the start of last season was those two signings working out or not would determine our season, which they did - 25 goals from them and we’d have been in the playoffs for sure. But with Dack and Armstrong having worked out in spades, the idea that any decent manager can get four signings in a row right is hardly born out by history. Hughes did it for us then signed nothing but duds for years after.

Which gives them precisely zero points in the Championship on kick off day, I’m sure they are delighted. We also took four points off them.

Brentford. And I didn’t even make that up.

And one that applies to every other club that didn’t get promotion and made signings that didn’t work out. Preston made a raft of signings and finished lower than the previous year - better ones would’ve got them in the playoffs. It was ever thus.

I’d never have realised without wading through this thread that a global pandemic, closure of grounds etc might hit the finances of a club that already needed £17m cash injection a year just to function. It also seems borderline fantasy to me that if £11m hadn’t been committed to (not spent yet by a long way), then there would be £11m sat in the bank to buy better players this summer. Whatever cash has already gone on those two either would never have been sent over, or the other payments would have been reduced by the same amount had they not been signed.

Boxing Day 77, every time.

These stats miss out what for me are his biggest weaknesses other than poor on target shot %: misplaced passes, crossing, tackles made vs lost.

True, but I think all those reached their peaks well before age 25. Plus there are many more Utd cast offs who sank with barely a ripple

He had years of the best coaching money could buy at Utd so if they couldn’t make a player of him then I doubt we can. He simply doesn’t have either the right combination of attributes (e.g. pace + crossing, vision + accurate passing) or the one killer attribute that the team can’t do without. Running fast with the ball makes you a good player in the schoolyard but not a Championship first teamer.

Best player in the squad at running with the ball in the middle third; useless in the defensive third; almost as useless in the attacking third -runs into traffic, can’t cross, shooting very hit or miss. His terrible goals/assist record doesn’t lie, starts as many counter-attacks against us as for us.

Exactly. It would astound me if the recommendation to give Anderson the sales brief hadn’t come from Williams, who should have known better given he’d spent a big chunk of the previous decade dealing with such snakes. Maybe JW thought he could manage him but was subsequently comprehensively out-manoeuvred.

Hiring a bank robber to collect the shop takings. He’d been such a trustworthy paragon of virtue until then too...! The amount of time Willians had been in the game dealing with agents, including Anderson, and he had no idea the man couldn’t be trusted??

I thought that was a classic case of stable door bolting, he probably didn’t know the depth of Anderson’s relationship with the Raos. Doesn’t change the fact that our nemesis Anderson was invited in through the front door by someone who either should’ve known better or done more homework.

I was always amazed that Saint John Williams got such an easy ride. After he was promoted to Exec Chairman I’m sure I remember an LT article where he said it freed him up to pursue his main objective of finding a buyer. Given he already knew Anderson - dealt with him when recruiting Steve Kean - pound to a penny he recommended giving the assignment to Anderson.

Given all that excellent coaching he’s been getting for the last year, I think it’s hilarious Fulham are going up by targeting an obvious weakness. If anything is coachable at all in goalkeeping, it’s positions for free kicks. What a bunch of chokers though when West Brom’s faltering put promotion in their own hands: lost four out their last five games, no clean sheets, two games lost through goalie howlers. Still, that Golden Glove award will look good on top of his telly.

Cut and pasted from the previous ten close seasons

Pretty much. He has to fill so many interviews day after day, and he wasn’t selected for his oratory. Everything in life is relative. Does he have those qualities relative to the football industry - probably. Relative to Mother Theresa - probably not.