What a mystery this club is. We seem to be able to fall in between all the models and perceived wisdom of the football world, The 'too late' sacking of Pardew and the 'too late' appointment of Moore's successor have cost us relegation and promotion in successive seasons. (Or maybe Moore was sacked too early?) The complete lack of the ability to made a fully rounded decision, ideally at the right time, in order to implement a strategy just continues to shock me.
The fact that the head coach's role is still empty at this point is another poor decision. They may appoint the right man, but will he have enought time, finances and resources to implement the changes they need to bring success? Whoever comes in needs to do a massive recruitment job, which needs to be strategically thought through and planned. No doubt there will be more out goings (on top of the 11 we already need to replace). Will the club, even, pay for new players while we're waiting for inevitable sales? If we want the best prices we have to hold out until close to when the window closes, but we can't aford to wait that long for many replacements.
Jenkins USP was a safe pair of hands - so far he's cost Lai £100m for a relegation and a minimum total of £170m for a promotion. OK, none of this was guaranteed, but, with every decision, he's made it as unlikely as possible. (And I'm sure Lai must have endorsed his CEO's decisions, but the question marks must be getting bigger every time.) Dowling is on thin ice too.
