Quote Originally Posted by NYCBlue View Post
Since the day we were promoted the club has been heading the wrong direction. Time for a fresh start.
I'm not sure the turning point was that early, was it?

We were in reasonable shape for quite a bit of that season. I remember an article about half-way through last season which explained why we were in 14th and looking a good contender for survival. It was basically saying that we were doing well against the teams we needed to beat, which at that time was true. Like all of us, I'd like to have seen us have a proper go in more of the games last season, but we would have had to find an entire new squad to try to out-football most teams so it was never really a viable option. I don't have an issue with the way we approached last season- we basically gave the squad a go at doing it themselves playing the way that got them promoted, and didn't spend huge sums, which I think was generally considered to be a sensible approach. When we were preparing for the prem, the view was that we were doing so with half a mind to fighting for promotion again the next season, and signings like Murphy, Reid etc were generally considered to be quite shrewd from that perspective.

The problem was with the way we finished it (Watford, Burnley, Fulham, Palace) and the way we approached this season. The general consensus was that we still had most of the players that got us up last time around and that we'd added to that with Murphy and Reid. I don't think anyone really appreciated just how much we over-achieved in getting promotion last time, and/or the effect that another year of wear and tear had had on the squad. And of course we were still without a striker which seems to have been CCFC policy since Dave Jones left. And then we lose Gunnarsson (and of course Arter and Camasara - basically our central midfield); Zohore, Reid, Manga, and have replaced them generally with players who aren't up to the grade in Flint, Pack, Glatzel etc. All of a sudden we are left with the weaker part of the promotion squad, and the new players brought in drag the standard down (at a huge price) rather than push it up.

In any event as you say - time for a fresh start.