Is there a plan?

[daveisaclaret]

It probably is trivial whilst we are in the premier league. But if we are relegated I suspect it will be a cost that the club will have to find.

Yeah, I think that's fair. But I don't think anyone involved would feel bad cutting them off at a second's notice if it became financially necessary.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

But the bottom line is to keep co petetive we need a team that can compete. Get players who can be resold fine but other than Collins I would argue we haven't. Neither Weghorst or Cornet are young enough to have any significant resale value above what we paid.

Let's run with your theory here that ALK gave Dyche time to adapt and he didn't so he has to go. If that's the case why give him a 4 year contract. Would you do that for some one you thought might not share your approach? No. Neither would I.

It's either bad judgement or the only way they could get Dyche to commit for a season with a view they would pot him season end anyway.

If Dyche is clearly in the wrong why isn't the real reason for the sacking coming out? If ALK are golden here then simply say so rather than hide behind the silence whilst sneakily planting rumours outside the club

Cornet - 25yrs old.
Champions League experience
International player.
Can play on both flanks, as wingback, left back and also up front.
7 goals in 21 appearances for us.

Are you genuinely telling me we wouldn't get more than we paid for him?
Right.....

[jedi_master]

Of course it has. I’ve never known a fan base to be so obsessed with debt. Garlick sanctioned the leveraged buy out. We couldn’t go on the way we were and improving without taking risks. A lot of fans would have been happy to drop back into the championship, wave the white flag and boast about being a debt free club.

It’s not about boasting, it’s that we would be positioned to easily return due to our ability to outspend our competitors - with a proven Championship promotion winner to spend the money.

Now if we go down we haven’t a pot to **** in, half the squad out of contract and no manager/assistant/coach/goalkeeping coach or physio.

Why is this a good thing?!

[ClaretPete001]

Malcolm Jenkins investment will negate any of the financial penalties from relegation.

How much did he invest?

[DCWat]

Our women's team is pretty much non-league, it will take a number of years for viewing numbers to grow, much like it has for the WSL.
You have to take into account the way it's derided by a large number of men.
It's normal on here to see men dismissing women's football, the standard of it and the capability of women to commentate and be pundits in the men's side of it, that's before we get to the suggestion of female managers in the men's game which is always gives an amusing reaction.
Physical attendance of games will also rely in a large degree on men taking their kids to it and that's not going to happen a lot of the time, for reasons shown above.

If you're expecting rapid growth in viewing numbers then you're always going to be disappointed.
Fans of female football will be more attracted to the established teams, much like male football fans do with the top clubs.
Our team is still relatively new and unknown, especially as it's further down the league's.
You can't think short term here, you have to think longer term in regards to planning, growth and attracting a fanbase.
The owners probably have a 5 and then 10yr growth model for the woman's team.

Is it ever going to reach a level of being self sufficient? I just can’t see, even with significant growth, how it could pay for itself, particularly if the team was to become professional.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Our women's team is pretty much non-league, it will take a number of years for viewing numbers to grow, much like it has for the WSL.
You have to take into account the way it's derided by a large number of men.
It's normal on here to see men dismissing women's football, the standard of it and the capability of women to commentate and be pundits in the men's side of it, that's before we get to the suggestion of female managers in the men's game which is always gives an amusing reaction.
Physical attendance of games will also rely in a large degree on men taking their kids to it and that's not going to happen a lot of the time, for reasons shown above.

If you're expecting rapid growth in viewing numbers then you're always going to be disappointed.
Fans of female football will be more attracted to the established teams, much like male football fans do with the top clubs.
Our team is still relatively new and unknown, especially as it's further down the league's.
You can't think short term here, you have to think longer term in regards to planning, growth and attracting a fanbase.
The owners probably have a 5 and then 10yr growth model for the woman's team.

That’s a fair comment. I just expected more from it given it is one of the most interacted posts the club has done in the last 18 months.

However you could be right it could take a long time.

Out of interest so you see the club continuing to pay for the female if we are relegated?

Speaking of the womens team, wasn’t that manager also sacked fairly brutally with nothing like a farewell?

[jedi_master]

How much did he invest?

Sorry it was tongue firmly in cheek, I imagine he invested somewhere between £0 and the use of his name.

[BabylonClaret]

Of course it has. I’ve never known a fan base to be so obsessed with debt. Garlick sanctioned the leveraged buy out. We couldn’t go on the way we were and improving without taking risks. A lot of fans would have been happy to drop back into the championship, wave the white flag and boast about being a debt free club.

A club our size with a max capacity of 22k cannot afford to sustain a sizeable debt outside the Premier League income (which i think amounts to 80% of our income?) or without an owner that can provide surety.

That's not about small town mentality that's about small town economics

[gandhisflipflop]

But the bottom line is to keep co petetive we need a team that can compete. Get players who can be resold fine but other than Collins I would argue we haven't. Neither Weghorst or Cornet are young enough to have any significant resale value above what we paid.

Let's run with your theory here that ALK gave Dyche time to adapt and he didn't so he has to go. If that's the case why give him a 4 year contract. Would you do that for some one you thought might not share your approach? No. Neither would I.

It's either bad judgement or the only way they could get Dyche to commit for a season with a view they would pot him season end anyway.

If Dyche is clearly in the wrong why isn't the real reason for the sacking coming out? If ALK are golden here then simply say so rather than hide behind the silence whilst sneakily planting rumours outside the club

I wouldn’t have given him a 4 year contract. Yes it was bad judgment, but I’m not the one literally slagging anything the owners are doing. My take on it is that he has seen the record, and offered him the deal upon arrival naively without the hindsight of the next 18 months thinking he would align with the plan and adapt.

Cornet no resale value? The lad is only 25! How old was gray when he was sold? Ings? Weghorst is 29, and while slightly older, for the type of player he is he will have resale value.

[gandhisflipflop]

It’s not about boasting, it’s that we would be positioned to easily return due to our ability to outspend our competitors - with a proven Championship promotion winner to spend the money.

Now if we go down we haven’t a pot to **** in, half the squad out of contract and no manager/assistant/coach/goalkeeping coach or physio.

Why is this a good thing?!

How would we have been able to outspend other championship teams shopping in the UK market Dyche was so fixated on? We were constantly being told that under garlick, the dry powder store was being used to sustain wages!

[spt_claret]

Yes, because it’s been clear for a long time that Alan Pace is a clueless individual. Do not expect common sense from a man who has already removed almost everyone inside the club from behind the scenes who had been there years.

It is certainly a far more likely scenario that he did this on a whim than any of the ridiculous crap I’m reading on here.

Where one might see cluelessness, others might see an extremely shrewd, if cynical and ruthless, Wall Street operator whose priorities don't necessarily match the priorities of the fans, or indeed the club.

I'd wager this is also far more likely than some of the nonsense we've seen the last 3 days.

[gandhisflipflop]

A club our size with a max capacity of 22k cannot afford to sustain a sizeable debt outside the Premier League income (which i think amounts to 80% of our income?) or without an owner that can provide surety.

That's not about small town mentality that's about small town economics

And the new owners are trying to drive revenue. You can’t do that without element of risk.

[taio]

Of course it has. I’ve never known a fan base to be so obsessed with debt. Garlick sanctioned the leveraged buy out. We couldn’t go on the way we were and improving without taking risks. A lot of fans would have been happy to drop back into the championship, wave the white flag and boast about being a debt free club.

You haven't looked very far if you've never seen supporters of other clubs with similar concerns. The small club mentality arguement in this context is nonsense. You are blind to the risks of the debt the club carries.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Is it ever going to reach a level of being self sufficient? I just can’t see, even with significant growth, how it could pay for itself, particularly if the team was to become professional.

If it can reach the upper level then yes it could be self sufficient, but this question is rarely asked about men's football.

The majority of men's professional football teams aren't self sufficient, they haven't been for a long time, but that's not an issue seemingly.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Cornet - 25yrs old.
Champions League experience
International player.
Can play on both flanks, as wingback, left back and also up front.
7 goals in 21 appearances for us.

Are you genuinely telling me we wouldn't get more than we paid for him?
Right.....

To be fair, Perriera got 11 goals and 6 assists last season at 24 years old for West Brom. They ended up making a loss on him when they were relegated.

[spt_claret]

The majority of those reasons you give are Dyche's fault not Pace.

Way I see it Dyche has been given months and months of extra time to change around the season, he's also been bought better players yet HE has persisted in the same style and system.
We played the same formation yesterday but altered the style and the difference was blatantly obvious.
Pace has shown balls to give him extra time then even more balls to get rid now which is the right call by the way, he's improved our hospitality areas.
He hasn't come in at the best of times with covid then our long dip in form so deserves a bit more credit.
They've got rid of a lot of the staff in the back ground but anybody coming in seems a much more experienced and better calibre of staff so get behind them and see what happens instead of being negative because a failing manager got sacked

Chester and others have reiterated previously that the hospitality expansion was already planned and in the initial stages under Garlick. Pace just came in and saw it out.
How on Earth are the people who have come in better and more experienced? They were ballsing up turnstiles in January.

[gandhisflipflop]

You haven't looked very far if you've never seen supporters of other clubs with similar concerns. The small club mentality arguement in this context is nonsense. You are blind to the risks of the debt the club carries.

You are confusing being blind and willing to give the owners a chance to see out their plan.

[JohnMcGreal]

Of course it has. I’ve never known a fan base to be so obsessed with debt. Garlick sanctioned the leveraged buy out. We couldn’t go on the way we were and improving without taking risks. A lot of fans would have been happy to drop back into the championship, wave the white flag and boast about being a debt free club.

If Garlick had stayed on and started to take out a few external loans to finance the acquisition of better players, I think most Burnley fans would, whilst being wary about taking on the debt, be pleased that it was going towards improving the team and giving it a better chance of success.

Instead what's happened is we've bet the farm and then some just to bring in Alan Pace. I mean, he's probably cost the club around £90 million. Is he worth it? Are we getting value for money here?

[BabylonClaret]

Cornet - 25yrs old.
Champions League experience
International player.
Can play on both flanks, as wingback, left back and also up front.
7 goals in 21 appearances for us.

Are you genuinely telling me we wouldn't get more than we paid for him?
Right.....

He can play on the left. That's it - otherwise we wouldn't be wasting McNeil out on the right. And he couldn't play wingback or defence I this league (not yet anyway).

Recently his return is 1 in 7 or 8 s it?

How old will he be when we sell him? 28? 29? Will we double what we paid? I said significantly.

You didn't mention the resale value of Weghorst.

Collins (and Roberts to a lesser extent) look to be the better options for a significant mark up when we sell.

[Jakubclaret]

I don’t usually agree with you Taio but I think you are spot on.

Paces recent interview in the local papers just confirms my fears about relegation.

So now we are taking seriously what Simon Jordan told us months ago about the takeover & preparing for relegation with voluntarily selling Chris wood. It’s funny back then so many people mocking Simon Jordan fast forward to this current day the penny’s starting to drop with the same people who didn’t believe a word from the talksport pundit.

[gandhisflipflop]

If Garlick had stayed on and started to take out a few external loans to finance the acquisition of better players, I think most Burnley fans would, whilst being wary about taking on the debt, be pleased that it was going towards improving the team and giving it a better chance of success.

Instead what's happened is we've bet the farm and then some just to bring in Alan Pace. I mean, he's probably cost the club around £90 million. Is he worth it? Are we getting value for money here?

Again, give them a chance. It isn’t going to be a short term solution

[gandhisflipflop]

He can play on the left. That's it - otherwise we wouldn't be wasting McNeil out on the right. And he couldn't play wingback or defence I this league (not yet anyway).

Recently his return is 1 in 7 or 8 s it?

How old will he be when we sell him? 28? 29? Will we double what we paid? I said significantly.

You didn't mention the resale value of Weghorst.

Collins (and Roberts to a lesser extent) look to be the better options for a significant mark up when we sell.

The same roberts who is older than cornet and can play on the right ‘that’s it’?

[taio]

You are confusing being blind and willing to give the owners a chance to see out their plan.

What plan?

[spt_claret]

You’re flogging a dead horse here bumba. These posters have made their minds up very early on regarding the new owners. They haven’t given them a chance. Anything they do will be wrong. The model for our club has always had to have been buy players to sell on for a profit. Previously that could be achieved by shopping in the UK market, and Dyche did very well from it. The last 5 years or so that has shifted, and the new owners know that there is better value to be had abroad. From word go my fears were that the new owners business model and Dyche wouldn’t align and so it has proven. He deserved time to adapt, and he didn’t do so. Pace must have looked at the OOC players and thought that if he wasn’t willing to move with the times and adapt, then he isn’t the man to take us forward. A lot of our fan base have revelled in the small club mentality, and anyone who dares challenge the status quo at the club won’t be well thought of, and unfortunately pace must ride this out even though the level of criticism has been completely uncalled for at times.

This 'not giving them a chance' is painfully untrue.

Firstly, they've been making questionable decisions from day one.

Second, I got into it with several ALK defenders during the January window-My criticism had been that for all the early promise of Cornet, and potential of Roberts/Collins, summer 2021 still saw LESS investment than previous years, giving lie to the claim they would step up playing investment. I made the point that, especially after we lost Wood, we desperately needed to strengthen in January ESPECIALLY in central midfield.

What followed was I was told to wait and see, and a myriad of pie in the sky promising links emerged- Origi, Orsic, Barkley, Alli, Ramsey players in France and Brazil and you name it. I said repeatedly I'd withdraw all my criticism if we got Weghorst, Orsic and above all a central midfielder- that I believed if we could land this it would be a superb window and I'd retract all critcisim includin of their summer spending level. What materialised was 1 in, 1 out.
I was then told I should be praising them because at least we got Weghorst- who I do rate above Wood- ie. at least we weren't down on players. Oh and that because we'd therefore done 1 in, 1 out in an ostensible upgrade, this represented a good window. And the failure to sign Orsic didn't matter because at least we tried and Alan got in his jet to Croatia.
The goalposts move constantly with ALK's defenders, and every time you set an expectation and they fail to deliver, they ask for a do-over. They have been given chances.

EDIT: Also for the record, onthe overseas front-I remember for several years reports that Dyche WANTED to shop overseas, and Garlick didn't as he didn't trust our scouting process with less familiar players (A mistake IMO but arguably understandable as he doubtless remembers Berisha, Penny, Van Der Schaff, Guerrero, Richards, etc.). So don't try and lay the blame there.

[gandhisflipflop]

What plan?

Don’t act silly taio. The owners stated they had a plan when they arrived, why would they lay it out for competitors to see?

[Stu]

What plan?

Exactly there is no plan

[Nonayforever]

From my perspective I cold see that M G had a plan, I can also see that ALK have a plan.
Those plans may or may not work. Those plans may or may not meet with the approval of some or all of the fans.
What I can also see is SDyches plan 100 % wouldn't work.
The core of the 2 former plans is buy cheap sell high. Its possible.
SD plan called for money which just wasn't there. It couldn't possibly work because he's up against billions.

[bumba]

Chester and others have reiterated previously that the hospitality expansion was already planned and in the initial stages under Garlick. Pace just came in and saw it out.
How on Earth are the people who have come in better and more experienced? They were ballsing up turnstiles in January.

The turnstiles are run by the security firm aren't they? I've never had any issue getting in to the ground

[gandhisflipflop]

This 'not giving them a chance' is painfully untrue.

Firstly, they've been making questionable decisions from day one.

Second, I got into it with several ALK defenders during the January window-My criticism had been that for all the early promise of Cornet, and potential of Roberts/Collins, summer 2021 still saw LESS investment than previous years, giving lie to the claim they would step up playing investment. I made the point that, especially after we lost Wood, we desperately needed to strengthen in January ESPECIALLY in central midfield.

What followed was I was told to wait and see, and a myriad of pie in the sky promising links emerged- Origi, Orsic, Barkley, Alli, Ramsey players in France and Brazil and you name it. I said repeatedly I'd withdraw all my criticism if we got Weghorst, Orsic and above all a central midfielder- that I believed if we could land this it would be a superb window and I'd retract all critcisim includin of their summer spending level. What materialised was 1 in, 1 out.
I was then told I should be praising them because at least we got Weghorst- who I do rate above Wood- ie. at least we weren't down on players. Oh and that because we'd therefore done 1 in, 1 out in an ostensible upgrade, this represented a good window. And the failure to sign Orsic didn't matter because at least we tried and Alan got in his jet to Croatia.
The goalposts move constantly with ALK's defenders, and every time you set an expectation and they fail to deliver, they ask for a do-over. They have been given chances.

But we had the exact same issues window after window with the previous owners! Who was the common denominator?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

That’s a fair comment. I just expected more from it given it is one of the most interacted posts the club has done in the last 18 months.

However you could be right it could take a long time.

Out of interest so you see the club continuing to pay for the female if we are relegated?

Speaking of the womens team, wasn’t that manager also sacked fairly brutally with nothing like a farewell?

Yes I think the club has incorporated the costs of the female team into future revenue streams.
To bring it into the club, announce it with great fanfare and then cut it off at the first sign of trouble would be an embarrassment.

Also don't forget, in the USA women's football is popular and also their international team is very successful and has rightly been arguing for parity of pay with the much less successful men's team.

1.2 billion people watched the 2019 women's world cup, with an average of 82 million watching the final, with 263 million unique viewers in total.
That's not bad really
(Men's final in 2018 had 517 million average with 1.1 billion unique viewers for comparison)

The WSL is projected to get 14.5 million viewers per season from the UK alone, that puts it only behind the PL and the championship in football viewing numbers....

If the club can help the women's team climb the league's then ultimately it can be a successful venture, but it will take time.

[BabylonClaret]

To be fair, Perriera got 11 goals and 6 assists last season at 24 years old for West Brom. They ended up making a loss on him when they were relegated.

I don't think we will make a loss on Cornet. But he either goes in summer at more or less what we paid (maybe a bit more) or we do get a bit more I a tear or so. I would be surprised if he goes for much upwards of 20 though. That's a decent profit but not enough to suggest the rift here is Dyche the dinosaur fixed on UK players to the detriment of the foreign bargains.

In any case wasn't there a line recently that it was Garlick who mistrust the foreign market nit Dyche?

[spt_claret]

But we had the exact same issues window after window with the previous owners! Who was the common denominator?

What part of LESS investment under ALK did you miss? Less both absolutely than Garlick, and relatively to the league. Everyone else is spending more, we're spending less.
What part of lack of funds, especially as a result of their leveraged takeover, don't you get?

[bumba]

Bumba you are obviously pro pace as you are letting your biases cloud your judgement.

I can see your point about systems etc… but managers don’t buy players to change systems. They buy players to improve there systems. Fundamentally Pace has purchased players that didn’t fit into Dyches system and it’s a big reason we are in this mess.

The other items are all at the owners feet.

What proof do you have that Pace signed the players and not Dyche?
You've made your mind up instantly on Pace and you wouldn't change it if he brought champions League football to turf moor you'd still find something to criticise him for

[Newcastleclaret93]

I don't think we will make a loss on Cornet. But he either goes in summer at more or less what we paid (maybe a bit more) or we do get a bit more I a tear or so. I would be surprised if he goes for much upwards of 20 though. That's a decent profit but not enough to suggest the rift here is Dyche the dinosaur fixed on UK players to the detriment of the foreign bargains.

In any case wasn't there a line recently that it was Garlick who mistrust the foreign market nit Dyche?

I suspect you are right. I think cornet will be sold this summer for around the 20m mark.

[taio]

Don’t act silly taio. The owners stated they had a plan when they arrived, why would they lay it out for competitors to see?

I'm not acting silly - there's no evidence of them having a robust plan. What do you believe their plan is? How do we manage the debt that you are very relaxed about if we can no longer rely on PL revenues - what do you think their plan is for that?

[bumba]

It's not about being pro Pace either, it's called giving him a chance like we all did we Dyche and look what happened after those crap first 8 months.
Dyche had time to change and couldn't so Pace made the right call

[Newcastleclaret93]

What proof do you have that Pace signed the players and not Dyche?
You've made your mind up instantly on Pace and you wouldn't change it if he brought champions League football to turf moor you'd still find something to criticise him for

I believe Dyche himself confirmed it in an interview.

[paulatky]

Malcolm Jenkins investment will negate any of the financial penalties from relegation.

What investment is there from Malcolm Jenkins ?

[Lancasterclaret]

The reason we sold Chris Wood for £25 million pounds was that it was Chris Wood, and we got offered £25 million pounds for him

I mean, it really is that simple

[Lancasterclaret]

What investment is there from Malcolm Jenkins ?

Must be huge if its eliminates any penalties from relegation

[spt_claret]

How would we have been able to outspend other championship teams shopping in the UK market Dyche was so fixated on? We were constantly being told that under garlick, the dry powder store was being used to sustain wages!

Copypasting from my previous as I edited too late for your reply:

On the overseas front-I remember for several years reports that Dyche WANTED to shop overseas, and Garlick didn't as he didn't trust our scouting process with less familiar players (A mistake IMO but arguably understandable as he doubtless remembers Berisha, Penny, Van Der Schaff, Guerrero, Richards, etc.). So don't try and lay the blame there.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

He can play on the left. That's it - otherwise we wouldn't be wasting McNeil out on the right. And he couldn't play wingback or defence I this league (not yet anyway).

Recently his return is 1 in 7 or 8 s it?

How old will he be when we sell him? 28? 29? Will we double what we paid? I said significantly.

You didn't mention the resale value of Weghorst.

Collins (and Roberts to a lesser extent) look to be the better options for a significant mark up when we sell.

Cornet has played in various positions, at a higher standard than here.
Just because our former manager didn't play him at wing back, doesn't mean he can't do it.
His age of we sell him cannot be predicted because we don't know when that will be.
It doesn't have to be double what we paid either, we didn't double our money on Gray if I remember rightly, nor Wood.
We sold Keane for X10 what we paid for him so that balances the others out.

Weghorst - I don't really care if we don't sell him for a profit, I'm more interested to see if he can recapture his scoring form from Germany because if he can then that repays his fee in itself.

Roberts is a wing back more than a left back I suspect, is also older than Cornet and hasn't played to as high a standard as Cornet but you think he's got a better resale value?
Are you ill?

[jedi_master]

What investment is there from Malcolm Jenkins ?

Sorry, it was tongue in cheek.

My suspicion is that he’s invested the square root of **** all but let Alan Pace use his name.

[spt_claret]

What proof do you have that Pace signed the players and not Dyche?
You've made your mind up instantly on Pace and you wouldn't change it if he brought champions League football to turf moor you'd still find something to criticise him for

You argue that Pace signed them when it's a good thing, and Dyche signed them when it's a bad thing.

For me- I'm not against the signings of either Cornet or Weghorst (even though Cornet is absurdly hit & miss, and Weghorst has struggled for form)- they don't entirely fit into our team but they do offer different prospects in terms of what we can do or be going forwards. I'm perfectly fine with them as signings in isolation.

[bumba]

I believe Dyche himself confirmed it in an interview.

You believe!?!?
I've never heard him say that in an interview.
I've heard him say they've been tracked for a while but that he didn't know how best to use them. But again that shines a bad light on him not Pace

[Superjohnnyfrancis]

Thank I made the point that, especially after we lost Wood, we desperately needed to strengthen in January ESPECIALLY in central midfield.

Every fan knew we needed new central midfielders but did SD?

He made no move to get anyone in after signing Brownhill which was rumoured to be Riggs buy sanctioned by him. He thought Westwood was pulling the strings even after Cork proved he was the better option and we would have seen out the season with Westwood instead of Cork if he hadn’t been relieved of his duties.

I don’t think you can blame Dyche’s stubbornness to not change centre mid on the new owners they have done as much as they can.

It’s blindingly obvious we need a new midfield , I would assume that is next on the agenda seeing as pace buys a lots of the new players and takes advice of people in the know.

[Newcastleclaret93]

You believe!?!?
I've never heard him say that in an interview.
I've heard him say they've been tracked for a while but that he didn't know how best to use them. But again that shines a bad light on him not Pace

Someone posted the comments on here the other day. It effectively said that the players were signed and he had to figure out how to blend them in.

[Billy Balfour]

Let's have it right; we haven't got the foggiest as to what's gone on and this will continue until one, or both, parties give their side of the story. Best to work with what we have, and all I see is knee-jerk sackings, given the timing and that there appears to be no plan in place. I'll judge AKL on this basis until we are furnished with the facts.

[spt_claret]

Every fan knew we needed new central midfielders but did SD?

He made no move to get anyone in after signing Brownhill which was rumoured to be Riggs buy sanctioned by him. He thought Westwood was pulling the strings even after Cork proved he was the better option and we would have seen out the season with Westwood instead of Cork if he hadn’t been relieved of his duties.

I don’t think you can blame Dyche’s stubbornness to not change centre mid on the new owners they have done as much as they can.

It’s blindingly obvious we need a new midfield , I would assume that is next on the agenda seeing as pace buys a lots of the new players and takes advice of people in the know.

If Pace has been overseeing transfers then it's very clearly Pace who refused to upgrade central midfield. You can't say that Pace buys the new players so knows what to do, then blame Dyche for Pace not signing central midfielders ahead of flashier players with a better profit margin on sale.

Given how well Dyche has done for us for years, I think he is far more likely to know what's needed than a financier with no finances whose only prior experience of football was 20 months as President of Real Salt Lake.

[ClaretPete001]

If Pace has been overseeing transfers then it's very clearly Pace who refused to upgrade central midfield. You can't say that Pace buys the new players so knows what to do, then blame Dyche for Pace not signing central midfielders ahead of flashier players with a better profit margin on sale.

Given how well Dyche has done for us for years, I think he is far more likely to know what's needed than a financier with no finances whose only prior experience of football was 20 months as President of Real Salt Lake.

I agree. It's seems bizarre that Dyche does not know who is required to play the Dyche way, At the start of the season we needed a replacement for Barnes/ Cork and cover for Tarko. Had we done that we would have been fine.

At this point, we now have 3 fit central midfielders two of whom are nearly 33. It's quite clear where it has gone wrong.

Who is to blame is a matter of opinion but I suggest the evidence would point at VSL/ALK who did not invest enough last summer and look like they have bought players to a financial rather than a footballing plan, which is fine but I suggest that way leads to the kind of malaise that affects other American owned clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal. All have excellent players but who cannot find a a management team (footballing and non-footballing) capable of winning anything. The notable exception is Liverpool who after a lot of problems have done well under Klopp.

But the deck is now cleared and they have a chance to prove themselves - time will tell.