Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:32 pm
Owzat wrote:Is it just me or has time taken it's toll on our expectation levels?!?!? Apparently these days it's ok for a manager to come in, look nowhere near capable of winning the league if given a decade in charge and yet gets defended to the hilt by some - until a breaking point when consensus swings and then everyone changes their tune.
Biggest club in England settling for third or fourth best?!?! I can see where many that mock Liverpool are coming from if we're happy with second, third and even fourth best. fergie is a one off exception, most times a manager comes in and wins the league within three or so seasons. Didn't take Wenger too long, Kenny did it at Blackburn pretty quickly and Josie did it first time of asking albeit with a pretty expensive team.
Jose Mourinho (Chelsea) - 1st season 2004/5, 1st title 2004/5
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) - 1st season 1996/7, 1st title 1997/8
Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn) - 1st season 1991/2, 1st title 1994/5
Howard Wilkinson (Leeds Utd) - 1st season 1988/9, 1st title 1991/2
Alex Ferguson (Man Utd) - 1st season 1986/7, 1st title 1992/3
George Graham (Arsenal) - 1st season 1986/7, 1st title 1988/9
Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool) - 1st season 1985/6, 1st title 1985/6
Howard Kendall (Everton) - 1st season 1981/2, 1st title 1984/5
*mostly based on wikipedia as my usual source is Premiership managers only.
Shows fergie is an exception rather than the rule, I think that covers most managers who won the league in the past 20 years
Any chance of a list that will tell us how many years it took managers to win the the Champions league/ European Cup?
Rafa 10 months
Fergie 13 years
Wenger never
You can add the rest
Using your logic does that mean that Fergie and Wenger are poor in comparison?
This is probably the most difficult time in History to win the League title, Arsenal aside (who have btw spent money, have had a manger in situe for over 10 years, hell, maybe he's a better manager than all of them, but we're not ever getting him), over the past few years Spurs, Newcastle, Leeds have on occasion out spent us, West Ham and Man. City are catching up, and until this Summer only ManU and Chelsea have been able to spend 20m+ on an individual player.
Therefore if you believe that Rafa has the ability and credentials to win a League title, then we have to give him time, i thought this year might be it, and it still might, but it could be another 2-3 years, are we willing to wait, or do we think there is an alchemist around the corner who will do it immediatly? If we continue to consolidate a CL place, along with a concerted league Challenge each year (mathematically in with a chance with 5 games to go, or so), allied with the later stages of the CL, QF onwards, then imo he stays.
At present i still firmly believe that he will get it right, i have resevations about some of his tactics and selections, but if we look in his past, these very same methods have brought us success in every competition, and a modicum of it in the League. It also worked in Spain, i know its not the EPL, but its hardly the Dr.Martens league either.