We got lucky and caught lightning in a bottle. We objected to the bright light it made, kicked the bottle around for a bit, then chucked it in the sea.
We've found a bit of success by getting an expensive collection of players to look unbalanced, be unable to outperform a poor everton side, and to do worse than you keep saying that they should be doing?
Maybe a bit more thinking might not be a crap idea?
Sure. I'm not saying we shouldn't do any of the things you advocate, but I will and do push back against the idea that we can't be successful because we're not set up in the only way you seem to think it's possible. The idea that we couldn't/shouldn't find and sign a Moises Caicedo because we don't have "an existing coherent squad, with a clear identity and development path" kind of falls down when you look at Murillo.
I feel like you enjoy the process more than the outcomes sometimes. You're not alone - that's the essential motivation of pretty much anyone who pays attention to the youth team - but you should probably open your mind to allow for the concept that sometimes you can shortcut your way past a lot of it with the right manager or the right player at the right time.
Question: Do you think we are getting the best out of Murillo, and developing him to his potential worth/cost?
I don't, and the idea that proving and improving a player in a good team and squad, commensurate with a good foundation applicable to quickly adapting to elite teams, both maximises player value and the quality of recruit. It's one reason why we aren't in Brightons class.
I appreciate that on the back of a big win, you think that gambling with the proceeds is better than a nice house in the burbs. But I don't want more drinking on the street and a lice ridden motel rented by the hour again.
I think the general consensus is he had a hand in Origi.
The Bundesliga signings (Niakhate, Mangala, Awoniyi) were from the recruitment team Marinakis sacked as he didn't rate Awoniyi - before hiring them back when Taiwo hit form.
MGW, Neco, Wood (and Shelvey) were players Cooper wanted.
And who was responsible for Andrey Santos? Not Cooper, who didn't even know about it until Santos rocked up at training. Which is fcukin ludicrous.
And anyway, our recruitment is run by Mendes now.
We've taken a player who was not even a regular in his first team in Brazil 12 months ago and turned him into a regular centre half in the best league on Earth (when few centre halves in the Premier league are regular starters before they're 23). That might because of his talent and despite our shiteness, but even so he's probably not the best example of us not developing players well.
Not all the recruitment has been bad. Those mentioned above are examples of that. The trouble is we have signed too much shite for too much money on top of the ones who aren't bad, and this year, for large parts of the season due to a combo of shiteness and injuries, we have been worse in goal and up front which are the most critical positions for stopping goals and scoring them, and stopping goals and scoring them is how you wins games.
Well. At least even the most one eyed should be able to see that from the potential moral ground, we've turned ourselves into the villains of the piece.
Not the first time we've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Everyone slates the Daily Mail, but then believe it when they want to. That link isn’t even to an article.
Edit: I found the article on the daily mail feed. It says they ‘could’ sue Gary Neville and their ‘sources’ (loll) understand forests legal team might be writing to Sky.