Apologies for yet another thread but this is a genuine attempt to look at the whole thing holistically and provoke some insight/thought/answers:

This is all conjecture of course however it does look as though it’s either catastrophically/severely bad judgement from our board or there is no money whatsoever:

- I don’t know if other fans feel similarly, and yes FFP and all that jazz, but I wouldn’t recognise any other PL team (of reasonable duration) to spend as little money/bring in so few players as we do.

- If there is so little money, you lose your best player (possibly of all time) and you have gaps in the first team, why the f**k would you spend the little you have on back up goalies/CBs and young players who aren’t even going to be given the chance to play in the first team let alone may not bring any value in the first instance? A literal question as it seems incredibly f**king stupid and did at the time.

- There must be some recognition that ‘football has moved on’. So why continue to employ a manager whose singular identity is play as suffocating and antiquated football as possible? Perhaps that’s all we can hope for as we don’t buy players nor have the money for a manager however he’s now proving he can’t even do that effectively. We might have got draws against the Manchester clubs but elsewhere and last dozen games it’s been as bad as possible.

- Why come out and talk about ‘Top 10’ etc (Parish) if you know you can’t fund anything but the mitigation of a descent? Is it a deliberate tempt of fate or winding up of fans?

I can get quite miffed but I do make an effort to not jump on ‘Roy/Parish out’ bandwagons spontaneously, plus I do reserve something for my ignorance on management/running a club, but I’ve no further energy for their excuses and what feels like blatant falsehoods deliberately told to pacify fans who would be, and rightly are, angry with the reality.

This isn’t hindsight, I’d of said at the end of last season: we need to look for the next manager, scout some wing backs plus a replacement for Wilf and perhaps see if there are any GK’s available on the cheap who could could be decent stand-ins. That’s all before doing anything positive beyond plugging gaps. None of this has happened. I assumed it meant there was another plan in place and this season was just a ‘muddle through’ but it’s looking an absolute sh!tshow now and that’s not down to a couple of injuries.

Parish has been extremely quiet, Roy seems to bite back at all the objectively deserved criticism he receives, the players are rightly unhappy and the fans on the precipice of eruption. The only positive I can foresee is a couple signings, some sort of statement from Parish and a result in the next game. I don’t see any of those as likely let alone guaranteed however.

Were the Americans only brought in to provide some bailout when the last cohort all simultaneously ran out of legs/retired etc but are now a huge hinder/not interested?

Is the feeling of panic, despair and anger justified?

Are we in fact absolutely skint? If so what is/was the plan?

Is our race run? Is that just the reality and we’ve never moved on from miracles and a bit of staying power?

There have already been rumblings and Everton seemed at the very least a look to provoke a reaction which we got, a 5-0 loss. What has gone so badly wrong and is there any hope left for us?

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

It’s just I never notice you post much beyond whining at other posters and I don’t want you to get bored.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

Seems harsh, not sure I agree on ‘worst since 2013’ and ‘worst fans for overrating players’ but that’s of little concern and the rest I agree with.

As to how good the players are, I was reasonable in my assessment however we only had about 6/7 PL quality players and one left. That makes the lack of and any actual spending we did even more bizarre though, albeit I thought the board were gambling on us being ‘OK’ previously.

We look far from OK though, and anything being done to change that does not look imminent. It’s quite hard to gauge what the outcome in the near future will be, beyond our continual plummet.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

No problem at all! I realise emotions are high.

And agree again, I’m glad someone has said something about Roy as I have a suspicion much of what he says is out of loyalty to perhaps Steve but more so perhaps to just not rock the boat any further.

It is sort of the point of my thread, rather than picking on everything individually I am trying to look at the big picture. Much has gone wrong including, I believe, the assumption we’d be fine. It’s just the lack of comment and action from the club I’m pondering - Will there be one? Is it coming? Are they able to do anything? Nervous times.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I tend to take a more pragmatic view. This whole season has gone tits up, because of Eze, Olise and Zaha. When Roy reappeared last season, all 3 were fit and flying, so we played attractive football and everyone was happy.
Then Olise got injured playing for France U21s only played about 5 games since. Eze got injured twice and has missed a lot of games. Zaha kept us hanging on a string about whether he would resign, apparently indicated he would, then changed his mind.
So Roy has had to revert to type and grind out result, as his 3 stars from last year arent available. None is Roys fault or Parish except for not telling Zaha to resign by 1st July or piss off.

Lot of truth in this, particularly being so dependant on Wilf for many years, however it also points to having a very shallow squad as injuries are always going to happen and we have not got the dosh to deepen the squad and our promotable academy players are not getting the chance to replace the mediocrity of players like Schlupp, Hughes and Lerma, none of who are adding value on the pitch.

Still, there are better managers than Roy who would get more out of the team and at least be more tactically driven. Now we are just canon fodder for 19 other teams. Hard to think we can persist with this set up and survive. Should never have allowed Roy the chance to embarrass himself and the club this season - poor leadership decision making at the top.

Edited by radicalsteve (20 Jan 2024 10.17pm)