The league and game is very different now to when he was in charge the first time around. The competition in the mid-pack is so stiff and it takes someone more innovative and ultimately a better manager to punch above their weight. Iraola and Glasner are doing that at Palace/Bournemouth and Brighton/Brentford are doing that as clubs. All of them sit in the bottom 6 of the wage bill in the league but are in the top half of the table and Palace of course won that FA Cup.
Palace get first dibs on overlooked London youth players.
The 3 B's all take chances on overseas prospects or buy heavy from the rs and flog em on to spurs somehow.
Part of the low wage bills means inclusions of lower contract buy out terms, so a player will slum it for a season or two on £25k a week (some slum huh!) knowing that if he produces the goods then the big ticket man utd move will happen and he's on harry maguire money. Happy days, the milky bars are on me!
We pay well, but not oil club money, not essex boys money (man utd), and not scandi money (rs). So where are we, pretty much in terms of money in the Villa layer but starting about 5 years behind.
What will wake us all up is moves from the billionaire/state cash wash clubs for assets like
Ndiaye and
Branthwaite. gordon was last? Lukaku before him? Fellaini and Stones before them?
I do find it amusing that in the week
Moyes gets his much anticipated first win at a classic top 4 club it took a bad game vs a very expensive newcastle to get the
Moyes out shouts whipped up again.
Everton,
Laetor in maerore