It’s so easy for the owners to turn things around and get the fan base on board a bit more, well, most of us. It’s an easy fix.
Of course, there are broader issues like the operations and how players are being bought and sold for profit, and how the academy players are being sold for PSR reasons. As well as ticketing issues and other such things. But taking all of that out of it, it really is quite simple to get fans to buy into your vision, and you can still change that and do it now – it’s not too late.
Literally, ALL you need to do is go with more balance in your squad build. That’s literally it.
Nobody is upset by you signing bright young talents, just maybe do it with more balance and remember you have your own academy that can be just as profitable [if that’s what you need] and rewarding, if not more. The academy has created a large amount of players who have gone on to be a success at high levels. Nobody is upset that you are signing the next biggest thing out of Brazil, but when you are literally signing 100s of them, that is when it just all gets too silly and you lose your support.
Build a young starting Xl, great. Again, nobody is upset with that. We don’t want to see a bunch of 30+ year olds strolling around every Saturday afternoon, we love to see bright young energetic players playing with intensity, hunger, and quality. Why wouldn’t we?
But then why wouldn’t YOU see that the best thing to do with a bright young squad is to add in a spine of the team of experienced players to help them? Why would you not want some leaders and older heads on the pitch, in the dressing room, and in training, to encourage, motivate, and teach them? The manager and coaches cannot do that alone and if you ask any pro who has played the game, they will tell you that it is actually the more experienced team mates who have helped them develop the most, not a manager. Of course managers can help them develop, but managers are not on the pitch, in their ears, alongside them, game by game.
Every time I write an article like this I honestly just cannot fathom why we are ignoring the importance of balance. If we signed the right experienced/proven/established players, it could have literally been THE difference to getting Champions League football in the last two seasons, and this season as well. Do we not want Champions League football? Of course we do. We don’t want it, we NEED it!
People speak a lot about when the owners first came in and when Todd Boehly was behind the wheel. Boehly made mistakes, sure, but his biggest mistake was not hiring a director of football under him to work alongside Thomas Tuchel and instead leaning on Tuchel to do the recruitment. Raheem Sterling was wanted by Tuchel. Boehly came in and didn’t have a big knowledge on football, so mistakes were made. But I maintain, not one person thought signing Kalidou Koulibaly would be a bad idea at that time, just for example. There is never a 100% guarantee on ANY signing, sometimes you just get hit with some bad luck. But I’d sooner sign an experienced player for a key position than a 19-year-old who has rarely played senior football. Surely that’s just a no-brainer? The here and now should be THE most important thing.
But the point is, Boehly’s ideology was spot on. He wanted/wants a balanced starting Xl with youth and experience, because I mean why would you NOT want that!? This is why there has been big disagreements between Boehly’s side of the ownership and Clearlake’s. Not just that of course, but there is certainly many disagreements on the ‘project’.
This is why I, and many others, back Boehly to gain full control. I don’t know if it will happen, but I truly hope it does. If it does not, then my next hope is Eghbali sees the light and makes the changes we need.
I keep saying that I see what the club are trying to do here, but why not succeed in the short term as well as the long term? Why not get fans on board right away instead of them all pulling against you? If fans saw a balanced squad build rather than heavily youth orientated, they would be on side right now. The importance of having fans behind you at games is MASSIVE.
Nothing you do can 100% guarantee success. But adding experienced leaders with strong mentalities and physicality to the spine of this team, would absolutely give us a MUCH better chance of success right now, and in the last two seasons prior. It is NOT being purist to want this, it is simply being smart and logical.
It’s got to the point now where their stubbornness and belief in a project that for me IS failing, even if we do end up challenging again in two years time, is literally making me so angry and so uninterested with the club I have absolutely adored and been my lifestyle for the last 35 years plus.
I think we have signed some great players, but they lack maturity, physicality, strong mentalities, and leadership. Add that to what we have and we will succeed, I am adamant about that.
You can easily get fans on side by doing this, because why would you not want your fan base on side? It’s such an easy fix and wouldn’t even take much just some smart signings to the spine of the team. The right signings.
Imagine this ownership ever signing a player like Olivier Giroud? But the fact is, if we made a signing like Olivier Giroud in the January transfer window, that for me would nail on Champions League football for next season instead of desperately fighting, relying on other teams to keep fumbling, and hanging on to it by a thread. Imagine Giroud on the end of the crossing spamming we seem to do right now!?
Fix up!
