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I am really worried about the plight of the team that I have supported for nearly 50 years. Today’s performance in the basement battle against Nottingham Forest was a disaster. Well beaten by a team that historically have been a yo-yo team, promoted one season and relegated the next, a team that are on their fourth manager of the season. We were clueless, the manager set them up one way, when that didn’t work he changed the set up another twice. This suggests that he hasn’t got a clue how to set up a team to play the way that he wants when he doesn’t have the faith in the players available to do that. This season has been years in the making, ENIC and Joe Lewis have been building a the club to appeal to buyers, they have built a fabulous stadium and training ground and made them really sustainable but have neglected the team. For years they have been a club that invest in players that they look to sell on at a profit, Bale, Modric, Berbatov, Son and Harry Kane are prime examples of this. They take players on loan (often with the option to buy at a bargain price) and try to fit them into the system, whereas top premiership teams buy ready made players that will fit straight into their system. They have failed to find a replacement for Kane who left 2 1/2 years ago and then left Son leave in the summer and brought Tel and Paulinho in as replacement (both on loan). Between Son and Kane they scored over 300 goals and replaced them with Brendan Johnson, Richarlison and the two above, who probably have a combined scoring record of less than 50. The squad needed strengthening in the summer when Kulasevski and Madison picked up season ending injuries but refused to invest, they again failed to back Franks in the January transfer window, when it was clear that they were underperforming.
The irony of it all is that they were looking to sell the club and had an offer on the table in the summer for approximately £4 billion but refused to sell, despite only paying £200 million for the club twenty odd years ago, instead holding out for £5 billion. If they get relegated, and that’s looking very likely, they that immediately wipes off at least £1 billion off their current valuation of the club, as they will have to cut their cloth in the championship where the TV revenue is considerably lower and we’re they will not be able to command the 6th most expensive season ticket prices in Europe or fill the ground week in week out. Add to that no European football for at least 2 seasons.
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