Manager not players

It’s always seemed pretty obvious in football (as in most businesses) that it’s the person making the decisions (the manager) who’s more important to success than the people acting on those decisions (the players).
I’ve never understood why clubs shell out so much money on players and the managers seem like an after thought in many cases. We have 2 glaring examples currently, in Newcastle and Brighton that this is wrong.
Chelsea would be the opposite of this at minute - spending 100s of millions on players and then appointing Frank Lampard.
Then you look at other teams like ManU who have blown millions on players like Pogba, Anthony, Marshall - who’ve all underachieved.

I realize that big name signings bring commercial benefits to a club but if success on the pitch is the aim then a manager who can improve almost every player he manages (and greatly increase their value as a result) is worth his weight in gold.

I think most owners are getting it wrong.

You forgot to mention city as well - if Peps leaves tomorrow, the bookies will cut the odds on them win the title. But I can hardly see it happens if KDB or Haaland leave.

Back to the point - I think Messi/Ronaldo era switched the focus to the players. Incredible athletes, hands down. But it was escalated by social media boom (highlighting goals, goals, goals, as if they were the only one winning matches) and here we are - thinking that you can splash the cash on superstar and it will suddenly make the broken watch tick. That inflated the prices too.

I like the teams where you can hardly choose the best player. Like Bayern (im rooting against them in the league, btw. But i admire how they build their team).

A well run club is the key to success. Brighton are a perfect example. Regularly selling their best players for huge fees whilst scouting the globe for the next wonderkid to sign on the cheap then nurture and develop into stars.

When Potter left for Chelsea, many expected them to struggle but they had a plan, got the right replacement in and improved again. Dan Ashworth was a key player in putting their structure in place and having him on board is a great signing for us.

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Originally Posted by 18nufc92

A well run club is the key to success. Brighton are a perfect example. Regularly selling their best players for huge fees whilst scouting the globe for the next wonderkid to sign on the cheap then nurture and develop into stars.

When Potter left for Chelsea, many expected them to struggle but they had a plan, got the right replacement in and improved again. Dan Ashworth was a key player in putting their structure in place and having him on board is a great signing for us.

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Weren't Southampton thought of in this light too? Selling a never ending stream of talent, now look where its got them. To a degree us as well. Inevitable relegation catches up and theres no progress. It happened to Southampton and look at how teams covet the Brighton players now - they'll lose some and then back to square one. Horrible for a fan.

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Originally Posted by Sclox

Weren't Southampton thought of in this light too? Selling a never ending stream of talent, now look where its got them. To a degree us as well. Inevitable relegation catches up and theres no progress. It happened to Southampton and look at how teams covet the Brighton players now - they'll lose some and then back to square one. Horrible for a fan.

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Saints are similar but in their case, they changed ownership levels and then lost a fair few backroom staff. . . So that will have had a massive impact on their DNA.

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Originally Posted by toptoon

It’s always seemed pretty obvious in football (as in most businesses) that it’s the person making the decisions (the manager) who’s more important to success than the people acting on those decisions (the players).
I’ve never understood why clubs shell out so much money on players and the managers seem like an after thought in many cases. We have 2 glaring examples currently, in Newcastle and Brighton that this is wrong.
Chelsea would be the opposite of this at minute - spending 100s of millions on players and then appointing Frank Lampard.
Then you look at other teams like ManU who have blown millions on players like Pogba, Anthony, Marshall - who’ve all underachieved.

I realize that big name signings bring commercial benefits to a club but if success on the pitch is the aim then a manager who can improve almost every player he manages (and greatly increase their value as a result) is worth his weight in gold.

I think most owners are getting it wrong.

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How true that is TopToon. Best examples I can think of in my time watching the game are K.K. and Sir Bobby here, Busby and Fergie at Manure, Shanks and Bob Paisley at Liverpool, Revie at Leeds and Wenger at Le Arse.

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Originally Posted by toptoon

It’s always seemed pretty obvious in football (as in most businesses) that it’s the person making the decisions (the manager) who’s more important to success than the people acting on those decisions (the players).
I’ve never understood why clubs shell out so much money on players and the managers seem like an after thought in many cases. We have 2 glaring examples currently, in Newcastle and Brighton that this is wrong.
Chelsea would be the opposite of this at minute - spending 100s of millions on players and then appointing Frank Lampard.
Then you look at other teams like ManU who have blown millions on players like Pogba, Anthony, Marshall - who’ve all underachieved.

I realize that big name signings bring commercial benefits to a club but if success on the pitch is the aim then a manager who can improve almost every player he manages (and greatly increase their value as a result) is worth his weight in gold.

I think most owners are getting it wrong.

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Look at what Rafa did here on less than a shoestring. In fact a profit.

I guess it's a reflection of the commercial importance of the players. They're the ones in the latest version of FIFA, on the front pages of magazines, most-followed on social media etc, the ones kids want to emulate when they're playing themselves.

Marketing is king, given that's how clubs male their money and the players are more marketable than most managers.

One of the oldest saying in football "most important signing a club makes, is the manager.'

Obviously our previous owner didn't get that memo.