AW's 20 years with us. Your assessment?

[World's End Stella]

No, I'm sorry, but saying 'we had the money' is not the point. You only 'have the money' if you consider it feasible to spend it within the terms of the model of financial prudence under which you operate. Personally, I don't for a moment believe we needed to sell our top players in order to maintain a cash balance, but I also believe that that was the case in no small part because we were prudent in not spending what cash reserves we had.

I meant that that was the point that was originally debated.

But you're sort of making my point for me. Specifically, that the financial position we ended up in was because of the decisions taken by the manager, it was not something that was forced upon the manager.

[Burney]

I meant that that was the point that was originally debated.

But you're sort of making my point for me. Specifically, that the financial position we ended up in was because of the decisions taken by the manager, it was not something that was forced upon the manager.

Well that depends what you mean by 'forced'. Could he have spent it? Almost certainly. Would other, less scrupulous managers have spent it regardless of the effect of doing so on the welfare of the club (Harry Redknapp, I'm looking at you)? Yes. However, not being that sort of manager and caring deeply about the long-term future of the club and knowing what pressures were operating on it, AW looked at the larger picture and clearly decided it would not be in the best interests of the club if he spent that money.

That's not him being 'forced', it's simply him taking account of the circumstances as he understands them and acting accordingly. In other words, his hands weren't tied, but neither were they entirely free given those other considerations.

[redgunamo]

Well that depends what you mean by 'forced'. Could he have spent it? Almost certainly. Would other, less scrupulous managers have spent it regardless of the effect of doing so on the welfare of the club (Harry Redknapp, I'm looking at you)? Yes. However, not being that sort of manager and caring deeply about the long-term future of the club and knowing what pressures were operating on it, AW looked at the larger picture and clearly decided it would not be in the best interests of the club if he spent that money.

That's not him being 'forced', it's simply him taking account of the circumstances as he understands them and acting accordingly. In other words, his hands weren't tied, but neither were they entirely free given those other considerations.

I doubt I'll ever forgive Him for encouraging football supporters to think more about money than they do about the game itself. In fact, even thinking about the game itself is bad enough.

Otherwise, I think He's done alright.