Last time round it was a slogan without much action behind it. This time round it seems like an actual shift in the whole club’s strategy.
The Premier League Packages, the transfer fees loaded with big incentives, the temporary stadium deal, the contract re-negotiations…everything at the club seems geared towards winning now, and working out how to pay for it later.
We are all in.
There are serious questions to ask about what the plan is if things go wrong (and in some cases, they surely will). There are plenty of teams who have tried and failed to do similar. But just a few weeks after botching a promotion that even our most optimistic fan would have admitted we were not quite ready for, we now have one of the league’s best midfielders, a genuine European wonderkid at wing-back, a strike force currently valued at up to £15 million, and O’Hare waiting in the wings for the second half of the season. No more excuses - either this team is seriously legit, or heads have to roll.
The one big asset I haven’t mentioned is Robins. He has the complete trust of the fans and (you assume) the owner, but in a lot of ways this will be his toughest season with us, because of the expectation alone. I believe he will find a way to make it work, even if that’s not right away. I can well imagine fans being more impatient than me though, and I have to wonder if an owner who’s shoved so many chips into the pot will have the same patience.
But it’s all quite exciting isn’t it.
The Premier League Packages, the transfer fees loaded with big incentives, the temporary stadium deal, the contract re-negotiations…everything at the club seems geared towards winning now, and working out how to pay for it later.
We are all in.
There are serious questions to ask about what the plan is if things go wrong (and in some cases, they surely will). There are plenty of teams who have tried and failed to do similar. But just a few weeks after botching a promotion that even our most optimistic fan would have admitted we were not quite ready for, we now have one of the league’s best midfielders, a genuine European wonderkid at wing-back, a strike force currently valued at up to £15 million, and O’Hare waiting in the wings for the second half of the season. No more excuses - either this team is seriously legit, or heads have to roll.
The one big asset I haven’t mentioned is Robins. He has the complete trust of the fans and (you assume) the owner, but in a lot of ways this will be his toughest season with us, because of the expectation alone. I believe he will find a way to make it work, even if that’s not right away. I can well imagine fans being more impatient than me though, and I have to wonder if an owner who’s shoved so many chips into the pot will have the same patience.
But it’s all quite exciting isn’t it.