ajams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4pWcVPUybE&feature=related

Not saying everything's perfect, but: "The non-primary owners are not happy that the hires we made had fared so poorly in the transfer market." The primary owners clearly aren't happy either - presumably that's why there's been a huge overhaul at the club over the last 6 months. "They are incredulous that JWH actually thinks that he can learn enough to be the football expert of the club and to be the ideal replacement for Comolli (think about that...)" This just isn't remotely credible.

Rather than actually seeking to look at solutions we have a bunch of people trying to trump each other in some kind of "we take racism more seriously than you" game. What makes it worse is that the two groups from which most of this pointless , self-serving noise is coming - football administrators and football journalists - are made up to a suspiciously disproportionate extent of middle aged white men. Meanwhile nobody is looking at one of the most disturbing things to emerge from this mess, namely the total lack of any consistent procedure for dealing with racism in football. It's quite simple, if there is an accusation of racism, it should be referred to the CPS, without exception. Racist abuse is a criminal offence and must be dealt with by a civil court. If the offender is guilty they get a criminal record, and from that point on the FA can deal with it. Everything else is just bulls***.

We've had an old head in charge for the last two seasons and we've already crumbled. What we need is a good manager. Benitez is the obvious candidate, based on his record. Martinez is a gamble, but he could be an inspired one. I'm a bit conflicted about this, but there's a large part of me that agrees with Neil's argument that we put a structure in place and get someone in who might do something different. Plus if Martinez does succeed it will be great - the bond that we'd develop with him as a young, creative dynamic manager in his first really big job would be something special.

Which stats are wrong exactly? Palacios and Heskey were sold mid way through Bruce's last season, so he had them for half the season, but they count towards the net spend in 08/09. Either way, Martinez has had to rebuild the entire squad on a budget of minus 12 million. Judging by the list of departures I imagine he's slashed the wage bill too.

More stats: Bruce v Martinez: 08/09 (Bruce's only full season) W12 D9 L17 - 45 points - net spend: +4 million (+19.5 mill gross - Palacios and Heskey sold mid-season for 15.5 mill) 11/12 (Martinez) W11 D10 L17 - 43 points - net spend: -4.5 million (+5 million gross - N'Zogbia sold prior to season for 9.5 mill) Net spend for Martinez over his time at Wigan: -12 million Some of the more significant players lost since Bruce's last season: Valencia Palacios Scharner Melchiot Bramble Kapo Henri Camara Cattermole Heskey Mido Amir Zaki

This is it - if they take Rafa on and it goes badly they'll probably get the blame for it anyway (at least from the 70% of fans who want Rafa - the other 30% will be calling them all sorts from the off for bringing him back). I can see the logic in starting next season with a new structure and a new man in charge. At least that way they stand or fall by their own decisions.

I agree that FSG should at least have spoken with Rafa and if they haven't it does raise a few questions about their judgment and where they're getting their advice from. Clearly in terms of track record on the pitch Rafa should be the number one candidate. Obviously they're hearing something that counts against that though, otherwise he'd have the job by now. Rafa aside, if we're putting together a list of 5 or 6 candidates, I have no problem with Martinez being on it. As Peter Hooton said on the podcast, he's very highly rated in the game and, unlike Hodgson, I think there could be a big up-side to taking him on. A lot of the arguments against him just don't stack up for me.

I've no idea if he made any tactical switches during those games - the 5-0 against United he had a man sent off after 40 minutes. Besides, he did make tactical switch later in the season and they showed top 3 form over the last 15 games as a result.

Last season saw them concede 4 twice and 5 once.

Yes, but the fact that he turned around a disastrous start indicates that he knows what he's doing. Anyway, he's a gamble, no doubt about that, and whether we need to gamble to this extent is clearly debatable. Put it this way though, if he does get the job it'll be an interesting ride and I think his standing in the game and his record of finding creative and brave solutions to his team's problems give me some hope that he could be a success.

The Rafa era - or at least the four years from May 2005 to May 2009 was a golden age, or at least the closest we've come to one in the last 22 years. Nothing that's happened since has changed that. By the way, referring back to the stats in my previous post, the form over the last 15 games extrapolated over the season (I know, I know) would have seen Wigan finish on 71 points.

Been looking at Wigan's results last season - it wasn't just in the last few games that they suddenly improved: Record since early Feb: P15 W8 D4 L3 They were only four points off tenth by the end of the season despite a dreadful run from September to November They only finished 9 points behind us - 6 points worse at home and 3 points worse away. They also took 4 points from their games against us Overall they lost 16 league games, but 8 of them were against City (x2), Spurs (x2), United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle. Also worth noting that they beat United, Arsenal and Newcastle in the return fixtures later in the season. Given they lost Cleverley and N'Zogbia last summer, arguably their most influential attacking players, I'd say there is some mitigation for their poor first half of the season. Also worth pointing out that they rebuilt around very young players with little premier league experience - particularly Moses, Di Santo and McCarthy.

I thought he was a Leeds fan? Generally I don't really hold with this notion of widespread anti-Liverpool bias in the press, but Wilson never misses an opportunity to stick the boot in.

I don't think they've proved anything one way or the other. What happens in the next 12 months will define their regime.

AVB is probably the one I'd go for. Chelsea was an extremely tough job given his brief and what he had to deal with in terms of player power and time pressure. He's young, plays a progressive, pressing style which could suit us and has experience at European level. Martinez is interesting, if I was a complete neutral I'd quite like to see him get the job. I'm not neutral though and as such I think he still lacks experience and a real track record of success. He's too much of a gamble. Rafa, I don't know. Obviously there are lots of positives, but the owners have already been burned once going back to a former idol* and there have to be question marks over how he'd fit with the proposed management structure. Plus there's already an element of the fanbase that doesn't like him. edit: * before I get jumped on for this, I could probably have expressed it as "re-employing a club icon" - Kenny always will be an idol for supporters of the club, obviously...

Yeah it's a long shot, I'll certainly give you that...

Yeah, Arsenal I think. We had very little margin for error anyway, but if this weakens Spurs and means Chelsea appoint a manager who may not be up to it long-term it won't hurt. Plus it looks looks quite possible Arsenal will lose RvP. Agree with the bit in bold, but in the unlikely event that we do get our s*** together there could be repercussions from this result for our "rivals". Just trying to look for positives here...

Always s*** to see Chelsea win anything, but there was a sense of inevitability that they would grab a CL eventually. On the bright side this could work in our favour if we have any pretensions of getting back in the top 4 next season. Spurs will probably lose one or two top players this summer because of this. Chelsea will probably lose Drogba and desperately need a generational shift on the playing side. Di Matteo must have a good chance of staying on there now, but while he's done a great job papering over the cracks I'm not convinced he's the right man to rebuild the team. All this is moot if we don't sort ourselves out though.

He also had to give Tom Cleverley back lat summer, who was pretty important to them to be fair.

Very occasional poster these days, but I just wanted to state my appreciation for a superb podcast - the level of debate has been outstanding all season and long may it continue. As for Kenny, I can honestly say I found myself in agreement with large parts of pretty much every argument. I guess this is why the 'voluntary standing down' scenario seems the best/'least worst' outcome. Then we're on to who should get the job next though, and that's an even more difficult one.

Acceptable in Uruguay/Latin America, not necessarily in Spain or to a Spanish second language speaker such as Evra. Likely that Suarez would have been unaware of this difference, so I'd guess he assumed Evra would understand the use of Negro/Negrito as a sarcastic, but not racially perjorative term. I think it comes down to the the point Rob made on the TAW podcast about 'cultural guilt' regarding reference to skin colour and that this is a genuine misunderstanding based on that.

Yeah thanks RBM - you've forced me to come out of posting semi-retirement to defend myself. Let he who is without sin etc... Poulsen's obviously been a complete waste of space.

f***ing Babb & Scales all over again

He has to go. Now.