OK let me make this clear, I still support Rafa and I can not see any manager out there would can work with Tom Hicks and George Gillett as long as they own the club.
If you want a quick short term reaction and a few positive games I say fire Rafa now and maybe we might make it to No 4.
However if you are thinking longer term the solution is to keep Rafa on board. Making No 4 is going to be though this season especially when all the teams above us have out-spent us in the last 2 seasons.
The bottom line is that a manager’s job involves much more than signing players or making squad selections there is a huge financial aspect to the whole thing.
This is why former players have failed as managers and it is the same reason why ex-players such as Collymore, Whelan & Redknapp tend to never mention the financial challenges Rafa has to face. They think that Rafa can go out and buy any player he can and offer any salary he can. Salary-wise on average our players are paid less than the other big teams in the Premier League.
Rafa’s No 1 priority (as set by Hicks & Gillett) is to control the debt and ensure that we have enough money to use to pay off the interest on the debt that H&G incurred. If Rafa fails at this then we will be in a relegation battle next season and trying to figure out how we are going to pay the players or worse still file for administration.
It is not a joke, this goes beyond football but that is the reality. If you ever had some managerial position in a company that is failing than you would appreciate what Rafa has to go through.
At this point I am happy with any result we can get from now until the end of the season.
Y.N.W.A.
-Antoine
antoine@empireofthekop.com