Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

I think our performances when playing something other than the diamond have been worse than the ones where we have played it. Brighton and Watford are easily our two worst performances of the season IMO.

Against Brighton he played 4141. That severely limited our ability to get the ball into the attacking midfielders, as it was left to a half fit Eric Dier to both screen and do that. If he had instead put Ndombele next to Dier (and not in the ludicrous position as one of the four in front of him) it would have helped immensely against the high octane press the opposition was doing. He could have received the ball off Dier and off the full backs when they got to the half way line, retained possession under great pressure when being pressed and got it into the attacking midfielders. As it was nobody played that role and a vital link was broken. Thus we created next to nothing.

Against Watford he played 532/352 which was clearly an absurd decision and hugely counter productive, both in terms of the setup and the players picked/not picked.

The best performance of the season was against Palace when for the only time we looked like the old Spurs. The players were fully comfortable and there was nothing wrong with their commitment and effort that day.

We should have continued in that manner but it seems Ndombele’s awful display next to Winks in the next game against Olympiakos has had far too much influence on our set up. He was clearly very unfit that day.

He then played the diamond in the next four games and after those matches was then the Brighton/Watford games.

Yes its not the sole issue but I do not understand why he has abandoned 4231 when it is clearly the system the players are most comfortable in.

 

[glasgowspur]

Some fair points Steff. He has been let down and no matter how tinkled I am at him, I think he's been dealt a very bad hand. The unbelievable pressure he's been under over the last few years to sustain his overachievement without a home and without new signings. What he did was absolutely remarkable. Levy pretty much ignored the short to medium term to set us up for the long term. Levy didn't stumble on some magic formula, it was always going to be a trade off and he put most of his eggs in the long term basket. Poch is the sacrificial lamb at that alter.

As for the players. I didn't see Saturday but the only individual performance I've seen this year that had me irate over the lack of fudges given was Aurier against Bayern. Eriksen has got stick but I just think the lad can be easily knocked off his game and his disappointment over not moving is effecting him. Not coz he doesn't care but because he is a bit weak mentally. He was appalling against Olympiakos but he kept showing for the ball and in any game I've seen he's run himself ragged. Rose is not dissimilar. Toby has lost a yard of pace and it's killing him. I really think the whole squad is just in a bad place mentally and it's showing. I also think Sonny is a bright spot because he has such a great attitude that he's not as affected as the rest. Ditto Lamela in a different way.

But blame isn't what we should be looking at here. It's how we move on. Levy deserves a lot of the blame but I think he has the plan and vision to continually move forward. These players are good enough to get us top 4 so the majority of them stay. Poch, to me, has reacted terribly to the position he's been put in and shown no leadership, ability or desire to turn this around and I think the players have cottoned on to that. For that reason, whether or not he caused this, he is done at the club in my opinion.

Sorry but boo fudging hoo for Eriksen.
If he doesn't want to be here get to fudge, he's not good enough for the clubs he wants so man up fudge off.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

"At the moment I don’t believe this is the best squad (I've had)"

"That’s where we are. Maybe our performances are good but you need this extra, which is mental, connection, it’s energy to be all together, not to have different agendas in the squad."

"The club needs to change my title and description. Of course I am the boss deciding the strategic play, but in another area I don't know. Today, I feel like I am the coach."

"Yeah, but that's a dealing between the club and the player. I don't need to talk too much. It's a decision between the club and the player to sign the contract" (on Sissoko's contract)

"Then I found out that United have made an approach and the player is being destabilised." (on Eric Dier being approached by United)

"To win the Champions League in this circumstance, in this season – maybe I need to think a little bit to do something different in the future. Because to repeat this miracle, you know … But for sure, I go home. Whatever happens tomorrow, I go home."

You can put whatever spin you want on these quotes, claim Poch was misquoted, that he meant something different but players are seeing and hearing all this guff. They also saw him reportedly skulk off to Barcelona after the CL final rather than travel home with the team. All this stuff erodes confidence. If the fans are feeling it, you can be sure some of the players are too.

I have to say, if these are the quotes you have picked out, I do wonder why you are that upset with him?

I’m really not trying to ‘spin’ these quotes to mean anything other than what they are, but you have to understand the reasons behind why he is saying them. If players are really knocked off course, and are that fragile, because of the quotes above, then deary me.

I would also say, that Poch throughout his entire time here, has said multiple different things to the media every single week. Often contradictory. He’s gone around saying he could never manage Barcelona because of the bull on his arm, to saying that maybe he could. That we absolutely will make signings in January to we absolutely won’t. It is a testament to the fact that we don’t know half of what has really gone on inside the club during his tenure because there are no real leaks, and he feeds the press enough garbage that they quote whatever he says.

I think there is a mix in all of this as sometimes he is simply playing, sometimes he is applying political pressure to the board, sometimes he is trying to deflect attention from an individual and on to the group and sometimes he may well just be fudged off. But he’s human, he’s allowed to be fudged off from time to time. And other times, it’s his perogotive to use his position to apply pressure to the club and take it off of him or the team.

If you want to know about how he is acting - he has completely shielded the players from any blame during the worst run of his tenure. Players that will be put out of their misery soon enough. Which is why I’m surprised at which quotes you have picked out. Given the circumstances he has faced, given the way performances have turned, he could be saying much, much worse.

I think we can all think what we want about this, but to me he has earned the trust to turn it around. Certainly more than a core of players who have sought every option to use us as a stepping stone and will be out of here soon enough. If these quotes really upset them that much, we can’t be rid of them soon enough.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Over the majority of Poch's time here we have played our best football in a 4231 formation, how about we go back to that, as opposed to changing formations match by match. On Saturday our 3 at the back simply resulted in us starting with 5 defenders against a team that had not won all season and were struggling to score goals and we could not even keep them out.

 

[DeanoAustin]

I have to say, if these are the quotes you have picked out, I do wonder why you are that upset with him?

I’m really not trying to ‘spin’ these quotes to mean anything other than what they are, but you have to understand the reasons behind why he is saying them. If players are really knocked off course, and are that fragile, because of the quotes above, then deary me.

I would also say, that Poch throughout his entire time here, has said multiple different things to the media every single week. Often contradictory. He’s gone around saying he could never manage Barcelona because of the bull on his arm, to saying that maybe he could. That we absolutely will make signings in January to we absolutely won’t. It is a testament to the fact that we don’t know half of what has really gone on inside the club during his tenure because there are no real leaks, and he feeds the press enough garbage that they quote whatever he says.

I think there is a mix in all of this as sometimes he is simply playing, sometimes he is applying political pressure to the board, sometimes he is trying to deflect attention from an individual and on to the group and sometimes he may well just be fudged off. But he’s human, he’s allowed to be fudged off from time to time. And other times, it’s his perogotive to use his position to apply pressure to the club and take it off of him or the team.

If you want to know about how he is acting - he has completely shielded the players from any blame during the worst run of his tenure. Players that will be put out of their misery soon enough. Which is why I’m surprised at which quotes you have picked out. Given the circumstances he has faced, given the way performances have turned, he could be saying much, much worse.

I think we can all think what we want about this, but to me he has earned the trust to turn it around. Certainly more than a core of players who have sought every option to use us as a stepping stone and will be out of here soon enough. If these quotes really upset them that much, we can’t be rid of them soon enough.

When did Fergie ever speak that way about United? Wenger about Arsenal? Clough about Forest? Jose in his first two seasons at Chelsea? Top managers just don't do that stuff.

Most people don't really look for hidden meanings in quotes. The players certainly won't for the most part. So Eriksen and Toby hear about hidden agendas. They're the obvious ones that's aimed at. And they keep getting picked. How do you think that sort of stuff makes them feel? The manager is indirectly telling fans that they aren't arsed.

Sissoko hears his manager fail to praise him. Only two years ago he wrote that Sissoko was a Levy signing. Is it a coincidence that Sissoko was the one taking shots at the tactics a week or so later.

Dier sees himself being hung out in public over whatever happened with United. Is it any coincidence that he's barely played a decent game since (injuries notwithstanding).

The squad saw him sideline Walker and hang him out to dry publicly in the book over his alleged disloyalty. Yet Poch takes shots at the club and suggests he might leave before and after the biggest game in our history. Poch talks about loyalty and the collective. How do they square that circle?

Poch fudges off to sulk after the CL defeat and leaves the squad to travel home without him. Yet he preaches about the collective? How do you think the players, who are only human, reconcile that?

Sanchez and Davies, two very good pros and servants, get sidelined for an out of form Toby and Rose. Where's the reward for commitment to the cause?

Everything Poch has done and said recently has gone against what he built his success on. Players can't follow that and that, in my view, is why so many are disillusioned.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Easily the two worst performances of the season imv tho i think tactical discussions are somewhat of a misdirection as it's a meteorology problem atm

I agree and I confess I was being slightly mischievous as many on here were blaming our performances on the formation when clearly the formation is not the common denominator.

 

[DeanoAustin]

Sorry but boo fudging hoo for Eriksen.
If he doesn't want to be here get to fudge, he's not good enough for the clubs he wants so man up fudge off.

The guy is human not a robot. It's probably not that he doesn't want to be here but he is likely disappointed that Madrid (if rumours are to be believed) didn't come off. These things can knock players.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Over the majority of Poch's time here we have played our best football in a 4231 formation, how about we go back to that, as opposed to changing formations match by match. On Saturday our 3 at the back simply resulted in us starting with 5 defenders against a team that had not won all season and were struggling to score goals and we could not even keep them out.

We played it against Brighton and gave the worst performance of the season and not just worst of the season, but the worst by a long way.

Our 3 at the back was just that.... 3 at the back. Rose and (especially) Aurier were effectively playing as wingers. You could argue that we should've selected better wingers.... but our squad is very short of players who play (and stay) out wide.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

When did Fergie ever speak that way about United? Wenger about Arsenal? Clough about Forest? Jose in his first two seasons at Chelsea? Top managers just don't do that stuff.

Most people don't really look for hidden meanings in quotes. The players certainly won't for the most part. So Eriksen and Toby hear about hidden agendas. They're the obvious ones that's aimed at. And they keep getting picked. How do you think that sort of stuff makes them feel? The manager is indirectly telling fans that they aren't arsed.

Sissoko hears his manager fail to praise him. Only two years ago he wrote that Sissoko was a Levy signing. Is it a coincidence that Sissoko was the one taking shots at the tactics a week or so later.

Dier sees himself being hung out in public over whatever happened with United. Is it any coincidence that he's barely played a decent game since (injuries notwithstanding).

The squad saw him sideline Walker and hang him out to dry publicly in the book over his alleged disloyalty. Yet Poch takes shots at the club and suggests he might leave before and after the biggest game in our history. Poch talks about loyalty and the collective. How do they square that circle?

Poch fudges off to sulk after the CL defeat and leaves the squad to travel home without him. Yet he preaches about the collective? How do you think the players, who are only human, reconcile that?

Sanchez and Davies, two very good pros and servants, get sidelined for an out of form Toby and Rose. Where's the reward for commitment to the cause?

Everything Poch has done and said recently has gone against what he built his success on. Players can't follow that and that, in my view, is why so many are disillusioned.

So...Manager makes point that players need to get on the same page after trying to leave and continues to play them. What are they concerned about exactly? Clearly Eriksen wasn’t overly concerned enough with what fans would think by coming out with quotes saying he’d quite like to move on?

Poch has done more for Sissoko’s career than anyone. He also absolutely would have signed off on the new contract. I think there he simply doesn’t like to talk about individuals in press conferences.

Dier seemed pretty freaking happy with Poch when the final whistle went in Ajax. I’d say his drop in form has been pretty much injury related.

The book came out after Walker left, right?

Reward for commitment has given way to the realities of managing a squad full of fragile egos. Sanchez will remain and Toby will be gone soon enough. As will Rose. But until they are gone, they need to play. Davies is coming off of injury for one, Rose isn’t.

Look - I’m not denying that Poch likes to have some fun in the press, be a bit mischievous and throw the cat among the pidgeons a bit. He’s done it his whole time here, only it’s now becoming a problem because we are in bad form. It never seemed to bother the players before when we were winning games. What’s changed? Could it be that a load of them thought they’d be gone this summer and they couldn’t find clubs better than ours to take them? I wouldn’t be surprised if Poch’s ‘I might leave anyway’ thing was him responding to the amount of players trying to get out. Maybe he was tinkled off. Maybe he was having some fun. Maybe it was a message to Levy that he needs to back him otherwise he can walk - and he feels obligated to do that because he is looking out for his family and his coaching staff too, and he also wants to apply political pressure so his loyalty doesn’t get taken advantage of.

I honestly don’t know the real answers. I do know that these players are being excused a heck of a lot of mental fragility when it didn’t seem to affect them the prior 5 years up to now.

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

We played it against Brighton and gave the worst performance of the season and not just worst of the season, but the worst by a long way.

Our 3 at the back was just that.... 3 at the back. Rose and (especially) Aurier were effectively playing as wingers. You could argue that we should've selected better wingers.... but our squad is very short of players who play (and stay) out wide.

We played 4141 against Brighton and Ndombele was deployed as one of the four, much like Sissoko was when he first signed for us.

It was an incredible tactical blunder against Brighton’s high energy performance with their constant press.

It was left to a half fit Eric Dier who was constantly under enormous pressure whilst attempting to try and get it into the four in front of him which rarely came off.

It should have been 4231 with Ndombele deployed next to Dier. He has the ability to receive the ball and shield it whilst being pressed relentlessly. He can then turn away with the ball and play it between the lines to the attacking midfielders. Not only did the 4141 leave Dier exposed and with too many duties it also meant that when the full backs got up to the half way line they had no one inside to pass to. Again that should have been Ndombele if picked to play the correct role.

This is why the attacking midfielders hardly got the ball in any kind of decent space to run at the Brighton defence.

Only once this season has Ndombele played in a 4231 and that was against Olympiakos. Admittedly he was awful that day but in fairness he was just back from injury and looked completely unfit and out of sorts.

 

[glasgowspur]

The guy is human not a robot. It's probably not that he doesn't want to be here but he is likely disappointed that Madrid (if rumours are to be believed) didn't come off. These things can knock players.

And again boo fudging hoo, and how is that's poch problem, or the clubs.
If people on here want stick with Eriksen and bin the manager then they have their priorities all wrong as far as I'm concerned.
Eriksen from day one has more or less I'm too good for Tottenham and will move on.
Well bye bye.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

I agree and I confess I was being slightly mischievous as many on here were blaming our performances on the formation when clearly the formation is not the common denominator.

What is mischievous is your persistence in sidestepping the details of it.

Let me guess, "well Poch went 4231 against Brighton and look what happened there"

Is it 4 or 5 times now I've made the point that the effort simply wasn't there, which was the primary issue, and formation was miles away from the main issue on the day, and you've not so much as responded?

But then the whole formation red herring comes up again later.

Can we break out of this flimflam?

Not seen one person say "the formation is the only problem" or even "formation is the biggest problem"

Seen plenty of people saying "THAT formation with THESE players doesnt work"

Problem is, if the virtue signalling supporters here admit that (and speaking broadly here, not just Finney) they then have to admit a failure of the manager.

Can't be having that now can we? Much better to set up diversionary arguments against points people arent even making

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

Mustard

 

[Raziel]

Again, the lack of context here is maddening. I could just do it the other way. ‘Obviously Poch is brick, and making the CL final is completely down to the players and nothing to do with coaching, preparation, tactics, motivation and building a squad that for a long time was all on the same page.’

Obviously we should beat Colchester et al. And Man United never should have drawn at home to Exeter in the Cup. These things happen. To assume that to be a good Manager, Poch has to be flawless and never have a bump in the frankly just silly. To not take into account things like not making moves for multiple windows, to getting every inch out of players that were paid less while having no home stadium, and making us drastically over perform for pretty much 5 straight years is again silly. We have barely begun the rebuild. Every other team we are competing with has pretty much cycled out the core of their squad and began to get fresh faces in at the influencial spots. He hasn’t even been able to start 2 out of his 3 summer signings. He hasn’t been able to shift out players he’s wanted to sell for ages and that are hanging on to this club for dear life because they can’t find anywhere better. And despite all of this, despite all of the trust he has earned for getting a ridiculous level of over achievement, he is being written off as not right for the next level when we are on the lowest of the cycle for this group of players and he hasn’t even had the chance to work with a refocused group that he actually wants to be here.

Lack of context?

13 losses last season in the PL, 7 after February (the last time we lost 13 games in a season was the season that started with Ramos and the famous 2 from 8, 2008 .. a fudging decade ago)
Our overall record for this season is 13 games, 4 wins, 5 draws, 4 losses, over GD of -3 with a 25% win ratio
Last 42 games, 19 losses, a 45% loss ratio

And the best defense is well he made the CL final? I am literally without words, a fudging 25% win ratio and a 45% loss ratio and anyone legitimately believes this guy needs more time?

Not throwing my toys out of the pram .. but I think I'll check out of this thread for a while, because no offense to anyone, but seems like we have more Poch fans than Spurs fans and this no longer is a debate. Facts are met by excuses and some unfounded belief that we will never find a manager better than him ever again despite two proven better managers being freely available right now.

 

[Mikey10]

I think our performances when playing something other than the diamond have been worse than the ones where we have played it. Brighton and Watford are easily our two worst performances of the season IMO.

Easily the two worst performances of the season imv tho i think tactical discussions are somewhat of a misdirection as it's a meteorology problem atm

We played it against Brighton and gave the worst performance of the season and not just worst of the season, but the worst by a long way.

Our 3 at the back was just that.... 3 at the back. Rose and (especially) Aurier were effectively playing as wingers. You could argue that we should've selected better wingers.... but our squad is very short of players who play (and stay) out wide.

DOES ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER THE Saudi Sportswashing Machine GAME???

 

[DeanoAustin]

So...Manager makes point that players need to get on the same page after trying to leave and continues to play them. What are they concerned about exactly? Clearly Eriksen wasn’t overly concerned enough with what fans would think by coming out with quotes saying he’d quite like to move on?

Poch has done more for Sissoko’s career than anyone. He also absolutely would have signed off on the new contract. I think there he simply doesn’t like to talk about individuals in press conferences.

Dier seemed pretty freaking happy with Poch when the final whistle went in Ajax. I’d say his drop in form has been pretty much injury related.

The book came out after Walker left, right?

Reward for commitment has given way to the realities of managing a squad full of fragile egos. Sanchez will remain and Toby will be gone soon enough. As will Rose. But until they are gone, they need to play. Davies is coming off of injury for one, Rose isn’t.

Look - I’m not denying that Poch likes to have some fun in the press, be a bit mischievous and throw the cat among the pidgeons a bit. He’s done it his whole time here, only it’s now becoming a problem because we are in bad form. It never seemed to bother the players before when we were winning games. What’s changed? Could it be that a load of them thought they’d be gone this summer and they couldn’t find clubs better than ours to take them? I wouldn’t be surprised if Poch’s ‘I might leave anyway’ thing was him responding to the amount of players trying to get out. Maybe he was tinkled off. Maybe he was having some fun. Maybe it was a message to Levy that he needs to back him otherwise he can walk - and he feels obligated to do that because he is looking out for his family and his coaching staff too, and he also wants to apply political pressure so his loyalty doesn’t get taken advantage of.

I honestly don’t know the real answers. I do know that these players are being excused a heck of a lot of mental fragility when it didn’t seem to affect them the prior 5 years up to now.

The inference on Toby and Eriksen was that they aren't concerned with the teams results. That's an incredible affront to their professionalism whatever Eriksen did or didn't say. To then continue to play them over players who have been fully committed to the club...well that's baffling.

He had an easy chance to say something good about Sissoko or say nothing at all. Instead he went all illogical and attracted press attention. Is it a coincidence that Sissoko was the one criticising/questioning his tactics a week later?

I hugged and kissed a fat, bald Londoner when Moura scored his hat trick. I'd have bent over for the fella I was that elated as would any of us on here. I'd read nothing into Ajax. You could be right on Dier but you could also be wrong. Either way, I don't see what good comes of putting that situation out in public to sell a few books. The player must have been embarrassed at best or feeling undermined at worst.

On walker, yes he'd left when the book came out. The point here is twofold. How can players trust a manager when private conversations end up in the public domain for the sake of book sales? And Walker strongly disputes Pochs version of events. Secondly, and most importantly, how can players trust a manager who sidelines a very good player for lack of loyalty and then publicly pronounces before and after our biggest ever game that he could leave?

Toby and Rose don't need to play. The manager is picking them. There are options.

Again, I'll ask, when have you ever seen a top manager carry on the way Poch is carrying on? Up to about March, he was excellent with the press and didn't disparage the club aside from the quotes after the 17/18 season. Since then, he's been hypocritical and embarrassing and it's snowballed into a crisis where I don't think the players believe in him anymore.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Lack of context?

13 losses last season in the PL, 7 after February (the last time we lost 13 games in a season was the season that started with Ramos and the famous 2 from 8, 2008 .. a fudging decade ago)
Our overall record for this season is 13 games, 4 wins, 5 draws, 4 losses, over GD of -3 with a 25% win ratio
Last 42 games, 19 losses, a 45% loss ratio

And the best defense is well he made the CL final? I am literally without words, a fudging 25% win ratio and a 45% loss ratio and anyone legitimately believes this guy needs more time?

Not throwing my toys out of the pram .. but I think I'll check out of this thread for a while, because no offense to anyone, but seems like we have more Poch fans than Spurs fans and this no longer is a debate. Facts are met by excuses and some unfounded belief that we will never find a manager better than him ever again despite two proven better managers being freely available right now.

I mean, it’s the flipping CL final mate! I think it’s fair enough to cite as an achievement a lot of us never thought we’d see in our lifetimes.

No one is more a Poch fan than a Spurs fan. It is simply a recognition that the problems go beyond the idea that he’s playing a diamond or that he may have subtly called out some
players in the press who already publicly declared their lack of commitment.

Simply put, and it comes back to this - we succeeded because the whole club got on the same page. We began a cycle and experienced the joys of the upswing. It wasn’t just Poch, it was Levy, it was the right players playing the right way, but Poch was a big part of that. And now we’re on a downswing of that cycle, the core hasn’t been replaced when all of our rivals have done so, we’ve failed to make moves in multiple windows, and we were paying key players less than elsewhere.

It was never that it was all Poch’s magic, just like now it’s not like he’s lost it. The club was for a beautiful time all on one page. My view is if we get back there, as long as the Manager is talented and continues to be adaptable and learn, we will continue to progress. And I think Poch is talented and adaptable. It was never all about him, and it still isn’t. But he has earned the trust to get us back on an upswing. He has earned the trust not to bear the failure of the downswing entirely on his own shoulders, when they are way more factors involved in the success or failure of a football club. We succeeded because we got all of those factors working for us, they were aligned. We are failing because they are breaking apart.

 

[thfcsteff]

The guy is human not a robot. It's probably not that he doesn't want to be here but he is likely disappointed that Madrid (if rumours are to be believed) didn't come off. These things can knock players.

Yes, especially if they publicly courted them in the press and before the CL Final! Although Barca were the ones who really broke him from two years ago. His human fragility is ironically what could cost him a Spanish move he wants (IMO he should’ve gone to AM when they asked or signed a new contract here)...

One other thing mate. People are saying the players have been unsettled by Poch and what he saying, then people say the players are tired of his methods. Which is it? Most likely neither, right?

 

[thfcsteff]

Raziel’s off because they believe that some people support the manager more than the club.

Nayim has deployed the “virtue signalling” missile!!!

I (in poor taste) posted a huge Pulis dingdong pic.

Raziel said something which I personally found very instructive. “Facts versus excuses”...

Some people look at the facts available in their immediate context.
Some people look at the facts available and apply wider context whilst knowing we don’t have all the facts.

I think Poch is dividing people along the lines in which people naturally work.

I have been married for 22 years. I would say (for a variety of reasons) years 19 to 21 1/2 were terrible. On the face of it, the solution was “clear” but only we knew (deep down) that there was deeper context, and that when it fudging hurt the most was when we had to dig so much deeper to get through. I could’ve easily chucked the towel in, because for a year I forgot I loved her, PLUS there were other opportunities lurking in the background. But when it was at its bricktiest, when it was as bad as it could’ve got, we realized we had duty to the vow we’d made, a duty not to give up because deep down we love each other. Some adjustments later, and the last 6 months have been our best since the first six years of marriage.

I believe in searching fully for all possible reasons, especially when someone has proven themselves so overwhemingly before. My nature is not to give up when it goes a bit “toilet”. That is me. You can call it straw man or loving one thing more than another or whatever you fudging want, this is who I am, this is how I live my life with my family and friends, and this is how I choose to support my football club, which statistically will be the longest love I ever have in my mortal life.

If you aren’t that way, great. Your choice. But spare a fudging thought for those of us who are before you throw cheap jabs around.

What you might see as “his fault”, “lost it”, “total idiocy” is mitigated for me by the man who helped us achieve things I did not think I would see. I am no fool. I know he won’t be here forever, but if this beatdown continues, I will find myself wishing he had quit in June and left with his head high rather than showing loyalty and dedication to the club and cause.

I will endeavour to show the same respect (I believe Deano can attest that I am capable).

 

[mint me]

How about the idea that Poch's relative success with the club has been largely down to high strength artificial enhancements- and now, after a few years of carte blanche use of it, at others expense, the players are retracting from it for obvious fears of the long term health implications.