Ex Lion Tamer

He was smart to get out before the money taps turned off

Here's what Nice fans thought when he took them to a 17th place finish (yes they rebounded the following season): Nice manager Claude Puel and players attacked by fans after training https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/15/nice-claude-puel-attacked-supporters-training Leicester fans: Leicester City fans celebrate Claude Puel’s sacking https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-fans-celebrate-claude-2578216 St Etienne fans: Saint-Etienne ultras throw flares onto pitch, riot police guard changing rooms as fans demand Claude Puel sacked and delay Angers clash https://talksport.com/football/967677/saint-etienne-ultras-flares-riot-police-angers-delayed-claude-puel/

Sometimes bad/average managers have a good first season with a club, where they benefit from what the previous coach has done with the team and they manage to keep the momentum. Then it all goes wrong as they have to rely increasingly on their own methods. Michael Laudrup at Swansea was a classic example of this, benefiting from the work Brendan Rodgers had done there before falling off a cliff in the second season. Ranieri at Leicester was kind of the same, with his methods building spectacularly on the disciplined team that Nigel Pearson had built, before it all went wrong. Puel was the same. He managed to keep the Koeman era going despite losing some key players, but it was already going wrong and he would have been sacked in his second season if he'd stayed. He did do well at Nice despite having some awful seasons as well but the Premier League was a step too far for him I think

If he's such a good manager you might think he would do something at another club

Well Hereford had the all time king, David Ike

We have plenty of "all that matters is our league position that season" merchants on here. Remember we hounded a manager out because his style of play was boring, leading us to one win in our final eight league matches and no goals in our last five home games. Despite Puel being shit for years since he left they still go on about it.

It's arguably better to search for the diamond that gets us promoted than settle for known quantities that won't take us anywhere

This is surely just a sloppy wording from the journalist - there's no way a starter in Serie A would be coming to sit on the bench

Yes, I don't see anyone offering enough to make it worth us selling

Not trying to be clever but what wide attacking players do you think do suit that style of play? I'm struggling. Nathan Redmond?

We are crap, not disputing that! Just think Sulemana has offered even less, despite showing the odd flash of skill

Whereas Sulemana would have made a huge difference if he'd played more, with his total lack of ability to either set up or score goals. I think people are being a bit blinded by the fact that Sulemana scored two goals in a dead rubber at the end of the season, against a Liverpool team that had clearly checked out for their summer holidays and were literally passing the ball to us at times. Even Adam Armstrong scored against them! It's a bit like Aribo's wonder goal in pre season really

I wonder if this is about Swansea disrupting a rival ahead of the new season. Making us wait for our new manager

I'd suggest it's more about positional sense, keeping the shape and making life difficult for the opposition without actually making tackles or anything that can be measured in stats. I'm not saying Ely is an amazing player but this is why he was in the team

If you've got two players with no end product then you might as well play the one who's good off the ball

I do wonder if he would turn Wolves down and stay with us if they were his best option

Not sure what Selles did wrong. Liverpool game aside, he didn't do enough to play every week. There's no doubt he has potential to play at the top level but his end product is so far away from where it needed to be, even for us. Agree he'll do well in the champ if he stays though, and it would be good for him

He wasn't getting game time for Rennes either. He only got one start all season. We actually vastly increased his game time. He'll be so far from the first team at Juve, it would be a really bad move.

There will always be young players that will come to us. They might not be as good as the ones we could have got in the Premier League, but there will be a sweet spot where we can find some quality for our new level. You can also guarantee that the club will sign some more youth at it's in the business model

I agree. He hasn't ever nailed down a spot at Premier League level but would be good in the champ so wouldn't think he's an automatic to leave

New GK Tino | Stephens | Bednarek | Perraud New DM | Smallbone Alcaraz Tella | A Armstrong | Sulemana Would be pretty strong at this level

I wonder if he's going to the US? Championship is surely his level if he's staying in England

Centre back and centre mid are the key positions we'll need to invest in I reckon

You reminded me that we only used to go for managers who were out of work. Even if there are doubts about the appointment, it is a big step that we're actually paying for managers now