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Great pice of ‘journalism’ this. Simon Jordan’s on the hunt for a new manager apparently, have I missed something?

Agreed. If we are looking at any or all of Cooper, Ishmael or Dyche then we will need to agree on compensation with their clubs, or at least get permission to interview them. None of Swansea, Barsnely or Burnley would have entertained such a conversation until their seasons were finished, so at best we will now have a chance of speaking to two of those three.

That said, it's only 11am. If Lampard or Howe is lined up, I don't see why the club would have to announce it before midday on the first day after the season.

I would think that if there is no announcement by the end of this week it would be reasonable to conclude that the club let Royt leave without having his replacement secured (no great sin if true), but before then I wouldn't read too much into the silence.

Danny Murphy has rightly said that Roy values defensive solidity. So what? Of course Roy values defensive solidity, especially whilst managing a Fulham team that was on the brink of relegation & a Palace team that was on the brink of relegation during every season prior to his arrival (and then magically out of nowhere wasn't on the brink of relegation since).

That's what was so impressive about Roy during his first season. He played a fluid 442 that allowed players such as Loftus Cheek & Wilf to roam and get involved whilst in possession, whilst setting up with 2 banks of 4 out of possession, suring us up as a defensive unit. Did you attend or watch Leicester home & away, Stoke at home, Brighton at home, Everton at home, Chelsea at home, West Brom at home, Watford at home etc during his first season? Because it certainly wasn't the caricature you're applying to Roy in any of those matches. It was a far-cry from anything served up by Big Sam, Pulis or Pardew. We were solid, but utilised our pacey & technical players on the counter attack.

As for nobody bidding for Wilf. We placed a ridiculous valuation on him from the start, but plenty of clubs were interested in him. What are you insinuating here? Because nobody bid for him, he's crap? Wilfried Zaha has just had his highest scoring season at the club, under Roy.

I'll repeat again, if you want a progression in the football, then Sean Dyche is the riskiest candidate there is. If you want guaranteed survival, he's perhaps the best. It just begs the question as to why we'd push Roy out, only to replace him with Dyche - unless Roy left of his own accord. Your initial assertion was that Burnley play better football than us on the basis of a single game we played against them this season & I'm telling you that is wrong. They play the most defensive football in the league & I'm not even sure we have the personnel to replicate what Dyche has been producing at Burnley. Benteke is nowhere near a physical enough target man for that system.

"Dyche may not be revolutionary. We don’t need or suit that now. But he certainly won’t be surrendering in front of our very eyes"

We finished the season 16 points off of relegation. We have not had a relegation dogfight since Roy took over from FdB. Again, what are you talking about?

Edited by Mstrobez (24 May 2021 11.38am)

We're the Arthur over ere!

Was wondering if Dave Nugent has retired and now looking at management. Sure I saw him earlier today at Sainsbury’s?

We beat villa a week ago going a goal down (twice). So, again, that's not true. As for non Premier League players, Eze is an example you cite to but so is Tyrick Mitchell, Aaron-Wan Bissaka, Jairo Riedewald & Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Roy wasn't married to the 442 because the only seasons we played that as the main formation was his first and last at the club. Between then, he played a 433 and the football was pretty dire then, too. But somehow we still stayed up comfortably too. The amount of times everyone took one look at our squad and were convinced we were going down, yet Roy kept us far adrift from relegation all season.

The reason for the football is the lack of investment. There are not many managers in the world who would've got a better points to pounds ratio than Roy did with us. The devaluing of his achievements and the caricatures thrown at him are seriously unfair.

In any case, as I said, the whole Roy in vs Roy out thing doesn't really matter as he's gone. But if Dyche has earned a chance with a bit of backing, then Roy certainly did. And the notion Dyche of all people in the world would've got more of an attacking output from this squad of players than Roy did is imo, way off.

If people want us to progress the football then what we need is investment, first & foremost. If we don't get it, Dyche may well be the best appointment. But we will not become a more attacking outfit & I doubt we even have the personnel for it. Our squad is clearly well-drilled, but a Dyche team is very physical in every are of the pitch. We could probably bring in a couple of players on the cheap or free to make up for this. But it won't be pretty & will make Roy Hodgson look like Pep Guardiola.

Edited by Mstrobez (24 May 2021 12.21pm)

We're the Arthur over ere!

I do worry the current situation of lots of players out of contract, an old squad, and lack of a nucleus of decent players to build a side around, will mean that it's going to take a heck of a lot of persuading to get anyone to take on the job, particularly if the funds for new players is limited.

Edited by Pete53 (24 May 2021 4.21pm)