A measure of how far we have come

[Mr Pink]

First off, a good article mate and a nice trip through memory lane...



He's neither done well, nor particularly poorly at the clubs he's managed, he's occasionally done well, occasionally badly and for the majority of the time decidedly average. The ten years or so he spent at Bournemouth, in which time he managed to get them promoted and then relegated and nothing in-between, pretty much encapsulates his coaching career for me.

Anyway, ask his former fans what they think of his management (particularly his 'short-termism') if you want a realistic appraisal of his ability.



The passion of the born-again eh? :razz: Joking aside it is often true that those who at first doubted, once won over, become the most passionate believers.



Good times yes. Amazing? That's over the top, we've been getting better in comparison to our peers year on year. It's not like we've suddenly come from nowhere. Given the quality of our squad 3rd to 6th is about our level in the Premier League. With our first team we've given torrid times to teams as good as Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in recent years. As those teams are amongst the best in Europe, it's not quite the shock everyone makes out that we can also beat other teams who are amongst the best in Europe. I don't want to underplay the achievement, beating Milan in San Siro is a great thing, but given how good the PL is and our place within it, it's not
the totally incredible one some make out.



This is true. We've enjoyed a great run in the CL, a good performance until March in the PL and a disappointing end. Add it together and divide by the parts and you end with an average of a fair to middling season with some undoubted high points, but also some lows.



True. What exacerbates that disappointment is the fact that we're then told we're idiots for feeling it and in fact this is as good as we can expect to ever achieve.

We're not idiots for being disappointed, we do have to take it on the chin that this year we fell short but two out of four clubs of roughly equal quality (Arsenal, Liverpool, City and Spurs) were always going to be disappointed, so we should deal with that, get up and go again next year.

But not with the attitude that fourth is enough, but with the ambition to win the league and every other competition we enter. If we fall-short, we should still be happy with progress, if we fall-back we'll be disappointed and won't be placated if the manager tries to dress it up as the best season ever.

Top notch - agree with every word.

 

[guate]

Excellent Mattyspurs, and your last line says it all, even for us that have been fans since the 50's where it was not all "Glory, glory"