18 Oct 2025 19:35:04
Bruno Lage was never backed.
Lopetegui told the world that he was being hindered in the transfer market.
Gary O'Neil kept said he didn't get the players he needed to take the club forward.
What makes me angrier at VP is that he has come out and publicly said that Fosun have fully backed him in the transfer market where as the previous 3 all showed their frustrations whilst in post. For this fact alone, I think VP has to go as he claims that he has 100% autonomy of incoming players therefore it is entirely at his door that the buck stops.
18 Oct 2025 19:49:40
We spent nearly 100+ million fosun ain't the problem its the management shi and vp
18 Oct 2025 19:59:54
It's Shi and Fosun that need to go as they are the authors of our situation not some Coach who is just glad to be here so will tow the party line.
They set the transfer policies and budgets, he has to work within the consequences of those parameters. It didn't work for his predecessors and it won't work for him or the next Coach if he does get the chop.
18 Oct 2025 20:37:09
Everyone's to blame. Fosun for desimating the club and VP for identifying and approving mediocre players.
18 Oct 2025 20:51:33
Exactly!
18 Oct 2025 21:43:55
The difference is LongmyndWolf is that Lage, Lopetegui and GON all said that they were not backed but VP says the exact opposite. So if he has been backed, the blame is on him too for identifying players that ain't good enough to play in a system that he's implemented. At least undet GON we were scoring. Under VP we don't look capable and our defence is a catastrophe.
18 Oct 2025 23:06:14
All of which is true Wandering but as I said he doesn't set the budgets and potential recruits will be initially identified by the recruitment department and he will ok the ones he wants from those who want to come and the Club can afford.
He can't just go out and buy up the best available or necessarily his first choice.
19 Oct 2025 00:04:12
Hang on Wandering make ya mind up mate, are they mediocre players or are they good enough to get mid table (as you said earlier) cause ya can't have it both ways?! And if they are good enough for a mid table finish then by what metric are you basing that on exactly? Cause so far outside of Krejci I've yet to see a single 90 minute performance that suggests they are up to the task at hand. Now that isn't to say they won't be one day, but there in lies the problem. We've bought half a team of players and only one of them looks Prem ready! You just don't get away with that at this level and the proof of this is sadly being seen in the points pudding! As for them being VPs players, well he might have agreed to them but how many of them were his first choice?! From what I can see ONLY Fer Lopez and Krejci were actually first choice, the rest were 2nd, 3rd and 4th on the list and again there in lies the problem! Like Judah said we let 15 years worth of Prem experience leave and replaced them with a group of players who had not a single min of Prem experience between them, frankly that is criminal!
We keep doing the same thing over and over again, selling the manager short and then blaming the manager! Sooner or later we have to stop questioning the monkey and start asking what excalty is the organ grinder doing?! VP hasn't become a bad manager over night, neither did GON or Lage. All three of them were given pigs ear (average signings made FAR to late, with no Prem experience) and then blamed for the quality of the shody purse they have created! VP towed the company line (I'm happy with the business) because he wanted a new contract and it worked. But who REALLY loses in that? Cause if we sack him tomoz he makes a fortune and we are still up the creak without a paddle! Run into the ground by an ownership group that doesn't care and a chairman that just wants to play FIFA! I'm sick of it and I'm sick of people just making out like this is a manager/tactical problem. It's far bigger than that and it's also precisely why we are bottom of the league and doomed to relegation! ?
19 Oct 2025 09:37:17
Bullysboy. To me, they are players that are good enough to stay in the league quite easily given the correct tactics. But under VPs management, they look mediocre and useless.
The metric I use is quite simple. Yesterday we had 8 full International players starting the game. These players represent the likes of Portugal, Brazil and Uruguay who are considered as some of the favourites for the next World Cup.
Its the old Real Madrid Galacticios issue when you have the individual players but the coach can't get them to gel and work together.
So we have decent players, but not a manager who can make it work.
19 Oct 2025 10:34:57
LongmyndWolf, Simon Jordan said earlier this week when talking about potential changes to PSR rules that other than Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, no club can just go out and buy who they want. The club need to cut their clothes accordingly and if they know they've only got a certain standard of player to work with, then they must get a manager who can achieve something with what's available. He pointed out that that's what Glasner and Iraola do. Spend little money at first but are great coaches and highly sought after. VP is not this type of person. VP is a short term guy. Bring him in for an immediate effect and then move on. Why? Because he hasn't got the nous to plan for the long term, hence his nomadic managerial career.