Where have we been, where are we heading and why are we here?

First off I want to say Sam Allardyce is a very lucky man, lucky to have great owners, lucky to have such accepting fans. More importantly, lucky that the owners made his mess worse and then honourably took their share of sorting the mess out.

Where have we been?

The pre-season started so well with the signing of Andy Carroll. A few people rang alarm bells about us putting all our eggs in one basket, but hey. Then we found out Andy was injured, but he would be back soon. Then we found out he had a plantar facia injury. This is when I began to worry as even a cursory look showed that this injury was slow to heal, with uncertain levels of recovery.

So it was clear we needed back-up, however this search hit two major snags. The first was no decent striker wanted to be Andy’s bench warmer. The second was our owner’s insane iteration of Financial Fair Play. This was very much a David Gold idea sold to the Premier League and he was determined we were going to be the premier example of it.

This situation was further exacerbated by them not being able to predict even six months turnover (we had over £10million more than expected). So we imposed a tight budget on Sam. Sam hunted round for loans and bargain-basement signings; we got close to Lukaku but the Davids do barter a lot. This bartering meant we lost him, literally. When we went in with a last minute bid….. He was on the M6 and gone.

Then Sam put the final nail in our coffin by signing Stewart Downing, a decent player and a great lad. But another player to supply Andy. The same master Carroll who by now my GP knew wouldn’t be playing. My physio and Sports Illustrated all agreed - no Andy till January.

We ploughed on and had to play Modibo Maiga, who when played out wide or played through showed occasional glimpses of ability. However Sam played him as the target man that Andy is. Maiga failed, dismally, finally not even trying to reach the speculative punts from his team mates. We then panicked and got back the ever loyal Carlton Cole who was by now well short of match fitness. Just a mess.

We persisted in this inevitable failure for weeks. We then punted it up to various individuals, finally adopting a false nine that surprised Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Great result, but after that we tried it again for weeks and surprised nobody. This eroded our confidence until my personal low point, sunderland at home. That day I saw both fans and players give up. Nobody cheered or jeered, nobody tried, nobody cared. Never have I seen that before.

We crept into Christmas like a knackered old car on its last legs. Adebayor was snatched back by Sherwood and then we trawled everywhere. It’s noticeable how all of our targets, both successes and failures, have failed. Traore, Belfodil, Borriello, Nocerino all have had a really underwhelming affect. Roger Johnson was bought as he was “big”, a quote that would have made John Lyall (and almost me) cry.

Rumours abound why we failed to execute on so many signings - agents, bartering, tactics, league position. I think all of these contributed. However we had reached our low point. Cole had started to contribute and Carroll was increasingly close.

Our tactics however, apart from the rare game, were long, direct, bereft of any guile. Joe Cole sat on the bench, Ravel Morrison fell out with Allardyce and then made his name far, far worse by reacting badly to whatever drove him and Sam to fallout. Various rumours and reasons came up, of which most of us are aware.

A 0-0 draw away to Chelsea gelled the team, created some esprit de corp, that lasted even and especially while the Flores ban went on. We have pulled ourselves out of it, to the point that the fans voiced how fed up they were of this style of football that sam pedals against Hull. I hate it myself, it’s the reverse of the football I was brought up on.


Where are we going, why are we here?

The owners have looked this season in the eye and seem determined - despite surveys showing that half the fans don’t want Sam and 90 per cent* of them hate his football - to carry on with our man from Dudley.

They are already putting out we will be playing two up front, that the second striker will NOT be a bench warmer but a partner, he will be smaller, quicker and more agile. Other targets seem to suggest more creative players are being considered. The owners are going to control a greater chunk of the transfer process as well. Agents will be more closely controlled by them. So Sam has not escaped unscathed, his wings have been clipped.

Last year they gave Sam a “budget” and when he used it up on Downing no more, however vital, was forthcoming. This year they have stated no budget, but that merit will decide policy. They have also made remarks about our industrial-style football, and the above shows they may have decided to instruct Sam to make our product a little more appealing.

The clearout is coming with seven players out of contract, so this summer must be a success as the number we will lose by attrition won’t be as easy to fix as asking Carlton to come back. They will be long gone. I am saddened by the number of youth players on the way out as well.

So as I started off by saying, Sam is a lucky man. Most managers would have been long, long gone after THAT saga. Most owners would not invest the time to work with a manager's assets and to lower his weak points. But the real point is you can tell by their actions they know his weak points. Slow to change, bad in the transfer market as a whole, not a great points record and tactics to make the fans cry.

The fans themselves fall into three camps. Those resigned to rubbish football, those angry at it and those afraid to change due to the belief that only rubbish football survives. 50 per cent want him out, 90 per cent hate his style. The Sam debate rages on among ever more polarised fans. The Davids seem to be keeping the devil they know, rather than searching for greener grass.

Either way the new plans show beyond all doubt they saw the same mistakes I have been pointing out.

The future is different, I hope brighter, we skated on thin ice this year and escaped due to a lower half of the Premier League being poor. Survival is not a right, plus we should be aiming for better if we are going to fill that big white stadium.

*Result of a private Facebook poll

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