I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be fine under the new owners, though I completely understand the anxiety of fans as I feel it as well.

When there's big change it always comes with uncertainties, however it can bring about a positive refresh of the club if it's managed properly. Roman was great in many areas and brought about unprecedented success, but there were certainly some shortcomings within the club as well.

Ideally, I would have preferred to see Marina, Cech and others stay on for a period of time to allow for some stability and continuity and to give the new owners some time to find their feet. However, it's pretty clear Todd and co wanted their own people to brought in ASAP rather than goes through this transitionary phase.

The new owners have certainly wasted no time trying to implement their vision and long-term goals so I have to admire their boldness. Whether they've executed it well remains to be seen.

The timing of Tuchel's departure was odd, but I wasn't against the decision as such and I don't think he was ever going to be our long-term manager once the new owners took over.

In the same way Roman never really took to Ranieri, I always envisaged the same thing happening to Tuchel. If the owners weren't keen on Tuchel from the start, they would have been better off moving him on in the summer rather than waiting until September to make a decision. The backlash would have been bigger in the summer, but sometimes ripping the bandaid off is better rather than stringing it out longer than necessary.

The appointment of Potter may appear uninspiring and knee-jerk, but I see a long-term project in the making. He's been signed up to a 5-year contract which is something that never happened under any new manager during the Abramovich years. The only time it technically happened under Abramovich was when Mourinho was extended for 5-years immediately after the 2004/05 season.

At this stage, it's a very much a 'wait and see' approach before we can make a judgment on the impact the new owners are having on the club both on and off the pitch.

I really liked @drjonesy1994 summary on this topic.

Thought I would re-visit and bump this thread to see what peoples thoughts and opinions are now. Not just after last night, but the window as a whole. 

My thoughts are largely the same, I think we in good hands with the new owners and I feel as though they are clearly working towards us competing at the top of the table, and the top end of Europe too.

The first transfer window, I think the approach was a bit scattergun but at the same time appreciated that we needed to get bodies in the door. Koulibaly and Aubameyang I think we got wrong, but I am still hopeful that Cucurella and Sterling can have decent roles in this squad going forwards. Add to that Fofana as well, who when fit I think is one of the best young centre backs in the world. It's worth remembering that Boehly was doing around 90 to 100% of all the negotiations on his own at this point. 

The January Transfer window seemed a bit more structured and I think this is as a result of the structure that now exists behind the scenes. We have signed some of the best young players in the world, and also reinforced in areas that desperately needed reinforcing. What I like about the new owners is they seem to have a target and don't give up easily on them. I love Roman and everything he did for the club, but he would've likely given up trying to sign Enzo and we would've ended up with a cheaper, not as good alternative. 

I cannot fault the ambition of the new owners, particularly in the January transfer window. To do the business that we did in January is unprecedented. Normally you go into January thinking you will get 1, maybe 2 new signings. So to get 8 or 9 done and through the door is really impressive.

For Potter; it remains to be seen whether or not he is the right man or not. I am still in the camp of give him time but I think the pressure will be cranked up now, given the backing he has received this month. Given the fixtures we have over the next 10 games or so there's no reason now why we shouldn't expect to put on a decent run and challenge or potentially finish in the top 4. For that to be the case though I think we can only afford to lose a maximum of three more games if we were to finish in the top 4. Above everything though I am hoping with the new players coming in and the likes of James, Chilwell etc returning that we will pick up a bit of form, and start producing some impressive performances.  If we see an improvement between now and the end of the season, but don't finish in the top 4 then I think that is ok as well. The main thing for me is seeing that Potter can get this group playing well. If he can do that then I think that sets us up nicely for next season.

Interested to see what other's thoughts are on this. 

2 hours ago, drjonesy1994 said:

Thought I would re-visit and bump this thread to see what peoples thoughts and opinions are now. Not just after last night, but the window as a whole. 

My thoughts are largely the same, I think we in good hands with the new owners and I feel as though they are clearly working towards us competing at the top of the table, and the top end of Europe too.

The first transfer window, I think the approach was a bit scattergun but at the same time appreciated that we needed to get bodies in the door. Koulibaly and Aubameyang I think we got wrong, but I am still hopeful that Cucurella and Sterling can have decent roles in this squad going forwards. Add to that Fofana as well, who when fit I think is one of the best young centre backs in the world. It's worth remembering that Boehly was doing around 90 to 100% of all the negotiations on his own at this point. 

The January Transfer window seemed a bit more structured and I think this is as a result of the structure that now exists behind the scenes. We have signed some of the best young players in the world, and also reinforced in areas that desperately needed reinforcing. What I like about the new owners is they seem to have a target and don't give up easily on them. I love Roman and everything he did for the club, but he would've likely given up trying to sign Enzo and we would've ended up with a cheaper, not as good alternative. 

I cannot fault the ambition of the new owners, particularly in the January transfer window. To do the business that we did in January is unprecedented. Normally you go into January thinking you will get 1, maybe 2 new signings. So to get 8 or 9 done and through the door is really impressive.

For Potter; it remains to be seen whether or not he is the right man or not. I am still in the camp of give him time but I think the pressure will be cranked up now, given the backing he has received this month. Given the fixtures we have over the next 10 games or so there's no reason now why we shouldn't expect to put on a decent run and challenge or potentially finish in the top 4. For that to be the case though I think we can only afford to lose a maximum of three more games if we were to finish in the top 4. Above everything though I am hoping with the new players coming in and the likes of James, Chilwell etc returning that we will pick up a bit of form, and start producing some impressive performances.  If we see an improvement between now and the end of the season, but don't finish in the top 4 then I think that is ok as well. The main thing for me is seeing that Potter can get this group playing well. If he can do that then I think that sets us up nicely for next season.

Interested to see what other's thoughts are on this. 

Great post.

Boehly and Potter now maybe:

Edited February 1, 20233 yr by WhiteWall

They certainly have not been afraid to splash the cash, although I doubt it keeps up at this rate.

 

With all the transfers coming in in January we may have a quiet summer other than buying and I'm assuming a lot of players will be sold in the summer.  

1 minute ago, Valpo said:

They certainly have not been afraid to splash the cash, although I doubt it keeps up at this rate.

 

With all the transfers coming in in January we may have a quiet summer other than buying and I'm assuming a lot of players will be sold in the summer.  

The plan was always to spend big now on young top talent on long contracts and hope their ability steers the ship for the next 5-10 years, where we don't need to spend that much given the level of the squad. 

Attention should be turned towards the stadium after this squad rebuild. 

I think from now on he will go in early and heard for just one or two at most and will look to be a major seller. I can see us going in big for Osimhen or somone like that early in the window but on a structured basis, players offsetting some of the cost for example

I was on the fence before because of the summer signings. They were the right positions to fill just the wrong players were bought. Had Todd gotten any of the initial target like De Ligt, Raphinha etc. we'd have been way better off but Barca just had to pull them levers. Without Vivell, Winstanley and the army of directors that we have now, it was truly a scattergun approach. 

Now that our upper management has been structured well, the targets became players that has a high potential upside bar Madueke(injuries mostly). 

Roman was never this ruthless in signing players and Todd/Eghbali is forgiving as feck to managers. Tuchel needed healing and he probably was too fecked up inside by then to listen to the new owners. We didn't need to be kumbaya but the process may have been way better had Tuchel been more positive. 

I trust them. Now all we need is for Potter to come good

Maybe in a  year's time i'll look back at this  post and be eating  my word, I sure hope so because it will mean we'd have done well, but........

I am personally super frustrated with the way things have gone off-field since the take over. I'd had hoped we learnt the lesson from the early Abramovich days that turning over more than  half of the squad in a 12 month period is a bad idea and never works (in terms of efficiency and not wasting massive sums of money).

It didn't work for us under Abramovich (early days) where half our new signings were duds nor our then current  players like Petit who got completely frozen out of the first team and had little/no resale value.
It didn't work for Man City when they did it under new owners, not just the last time but the owners before that also came in with a nearly completely new squad at the time (yes they got there eventually, but they wasted so much money along the way).
It didn't work for Fulham when they replaced most of the squad when promoted to the premier league a few seasons back nor does it look like it's going to work for Nottingham Forrest this season.

What works is carefully chosen, well-picked and researched players that come in 2 maybe 3 each window (max) and offer an immediate and substantial enough upgrade to the player/s they are replacing that we can be confident they will get game time (injuries and other unforseen events permitting). 

Newcastle is the exactly example in my mind of how it can be done right. Owners spent but they went quality over quantity, only buying when the player coming in was a significan upgrade over what was already there. It meant

1. more time to do proper due diligence on incoming signings and hence better success rate with those players

2. Less players coming and going meant a more steady team where players built  and maintained familiarity better

3.  they weren't chucking half their squad on the scrap heap, ensuring limited/minimals resale value and  unecessary losses (bothj financial and FFP)

 

As I said at the start of the post,  if i'm wrong and most/all of these signings turn out to all be masterstrokes of brilliant scouting and big successes i'll (gladly) eat my words. It's the reason why most  people here I suspect feel a little like I do and somewhat agree with me but are probably going to say nothing right now and only complain after the fact (at the end of the season) when it's not  gone well and it's turned out we've wasted most well over half a billion pounds to not much return (should it go that  way).


Now I know what one of the  arguments against what I'm saying above is going  to be. "but Chelsea (early  Ambramoch) and Man City (after last takeover) was a success because they brute forced the transfer market" making so many signings (of any good Premier League) players that 33-50%-whatever would be successful and they'd get to Champions League and elite club status at some point. And yuo'd be right.
However, there was no (or limited) FFP back then, throwing money around with such careless abandon these days is not a  path to success unless you really do have unlimited funds (and even then, I still think the way Newcastle have gone about it has been better).

The other argument is "well it's not my money", to which i'd say sure, but if Bohley means what he says about sustainability and return  on investment, then this spending isn't  a not sustainable and would be better spent more gradually over the course of say 5 years than all in 1 followed by austerity the other 4. If we really are going to spend like this every single season from now till the end of pofessional football, then f**k it, brute force waste money all the way..........

1 hour ago, Qaz said:

Maybe in a  year's time i'll look back at this  post and be eating  my word, I sure hope so because it will mean we'd have done well, but........

I am personally super frustrated with the way things have gone off-field since the take over. I'd had hoped we learnt the lesson from the early Abramovich days that turning over more than  half of the squad in a 12 month period is a bad idea and never works (in terms of efficiency and not wasting massive sums of money).

It didn't work for us under Abramovich (early days) where half our new signings were duds nor our then current  players like Petit who got completely frozen out of the first team and had little/no resale value.
It didn't work for Man City when they did it under new owners, not just the last time but the owners before that also came in with a nearly completely new squad at the time (yes they got there eventually, but they wasted so much money along the way).
It didn't work for Fulham when they replaced most of the squad when promoted to the premier league a few seasons back nor does it look like it's going to work for Nottingham Forrest this season.

What works is carefully chosen, well-picked and researched players that come in 2 maybe 3 each window (max) and offer an immediate and substantial enough upgrade to the player/s they are replacing that we can be confident they will get game time (injuries and other unforseen events permitting). 

Newcastle is the exactly example in my mind of how it can be done right. Owners spent but they went quality over quantity, only buying when the player coming in was a significan upgrade over what was already there. It meant

1. more time to do proper due diligence on incoming signings and hence better success rate with those players

2. Less players coming and going meant a more steady team where players built  and maintained familiarity better

3.  they weren't chucking half their squad on the scrap heap, ensuring limited/minimals resale value and  unecessary losses (bothj financial and FFP)

 

As I said at the start of the post,  if i'm wrong and most/all of these signings turn out to all be masterstrokes of brilliant scouting and big successes i'll (gladly) eat my words. It's the reason why most  people here I suspect feel a little like I do and somewhat agree with me but are probably going to say nothing right now and only complain after the fact (at the end of the season) when it's not  gone well and it's turned out we've wasted most well over half a billion pounds to not much return (should it go that  way).


Now I know what one of the  arguments against what I'm saying above is going  to be. "but Chelsea (early  Ambramoch) and Man City (after last takeover) was a success because they brute forced the transfer market" making so many signings (of any good Premier League) players that 33-50%-whatever would be successful and they'd get to Champions League and elite club status at some point. And yuo'd be right.
However, there was no (or limited) FFP back then, throwing money around with such careless abandon these days is not a  path to success unless you really do have unlimited funds (and even then, I still think the way Newcastle have gone about it has been better).

The other argument is "well it's not my money", to which i'd say sure, but if Bohley means what he says about sustainability and return  on investment, then this spending isn't  a not sustainable and would be better spent more gradually over the course of say 5 years than all in 1 followed by austerity the other 4. If we really are going to spend like this every single season from now till the end of pofessional football, then f**k it, brute force waste money all the way..........

The quality of signings between the summer and now has improved massively. Remember the club were playing catch up and needed to buy quickly without proper staffing and structure in place. 

2 hours ago, JM7 said:

Remember the club were playing catch up and needed to buy quickly without proper staffing and structure in place. 

That's actually kinda my point.

Look at how much Man Utd has wasted in the transfer market over the past few years and that was with full staffing and a consistent ownership structure.

How are we supposed to properly vet, research and integrate 16 new signings (https://www.transfermarkt.com/chelsea-fc/transferrekorde/verein/631/saison_id/2022) in 2 transfer windows (11 of which at minimum i'd call bought for the first team) with all this upheavel in managers, tactics, staff,  ownership and backroom staff?

I think we will be ok, the young French defender was introduced quickly and seems to be first choice now.

I also think Felix and Mudryk will be first choice and as will be Enzo once he gets a couple of games under his belt.

 

A couple of other points (sorry).....

1. Rules in the champions league are 4 home grown nation and 4 home ground club in a squad of 25 (i think, correct me if wrong).

That means (generally) every time we bring in a non-homegrown player (which is most of them), one can't play CL football and it's similar in the EPL with 8 homegrown (nation) players in the squad. 

2. And this is the more pressing one short term. Only 3 new registrations per mid-season Champions League window.

We've signed Enzo, Mudryk, Felix, Badiashile, Madueke, Santos and (David) Fofana. Can only play 3 of them. Which  of Enzo, Mudryk, Felix and Badiashile misses out? 

1 hour ago, Qaz said:

A couple of other points (sorry).....

1. Rules in the champions league are 4 home grown nation and 4 home ground club in a squad of 25 (i think, correct me if wrong).

That means (generally) every time we bring in a non-homegrown player (which is most of them), one can't play CL football and it's similar in the EPL with 8 homegrown (nation) players in the squad. 

2. And this is the more pressing one short term. Only 3 new registrations per mid-season Champions League window.

We've signed Enzo, Mudryk, Felix, Badiashile, Madueke, Santos and (David) Fofana. Can only play 3 of them. Which  of Enzo, Mudryk, Felix and Badiashile misses out? 

Its pretty obvious that we are thinking long term on all these signings, its a window with an opportunity to get all these young players in on long term contracts, I dont think the short term was much of a worry/consideration. 

 

7 hours ago, Qaz said:

Maybe in a  year's time i'll look back at this  post and be eating  my word, I sure hope so because it will mean we'd have done well, but........

I am personally super frustrated with the way things have gone off-field since the take over. I'd had hoped we learnt the lesson from the early Abramovich days that turning over more than  half of the squad in a 12 month period is a bad idea and never works (in terms of efficiency and not wasting massive sums of money).

It didn't work for us under Abramovich (early days) where half our new signings were duds nor our then current  players like Petit who got completely frozen out of the first team and had little/no resale value.
It didn't work for Man City when they did it under new owners, not just the last time but the owners before that also came in with a nearly completely new squad at the time (yes they got there eventually, but they wasted so much money along the way).
It didn't work for Fulham when they replaced most of the squad when promoted to the premier league a few seasons back nor does it look like it's going to work for Nottingham Forrest this season.

What works is carefully chosen, well-picked and researched players that come in 2 maybe 3 each window (max) and offer an immediate and substantial enough upgrade to the player/s they are replacing that we can be confident they will get game time (injuries and other unforseen events permitting). 

Newcastle is the exactly example in my mind of how it can be done right. Owners spent but they went quality over quantity, only buying when the player coming in was a significan upgrade over what was already there. It meant

1. more time to do proper due diligence on incoming signings and hence better success rate with those players

2. Less players coming and going meant a more steady team where players built  and maintained familiarity better

3.  they weren't chucking half their squad on the scrap heap, ensuring limited/minimals resale value and  unecessary losses (bothj financial and FFP)

 

As I said at the start of the post,  if i'm wrong and most/all of these signings turn out to all be masterstrokes of brilliant scouting and big successes i'll (gladly) eat my words. It's the reason why most  people here I suspect feel a little like I do and somewhat agree with me but are probably going to say nothing right now and only complain after the fact (at the end of the season) when it's not  gone well and it's turned out we've wasted most well over half a billion pounds to not much return (should it go that  way).


Now I know what one of the  arguments against what I'm saying above is going  to be. "but Chelsea (early  Ambramoch) and Man City (after last takeover) was a success because they brute forced the transfer market" making so many signings (of any good Premier League) players that 33-50%-whatever would be successful and they'd get to Champions League and elite club status at some point. And yuo'd be right.
However, there was no (or limited) FFP back then, throwing money around with such careless abandon these days is not a  path to success unless you really do have unlimited funds (and even then, I still think the way Newcastle have gone about it has been better).

The other argument is "well it's not my money", to which i'd say sure, but if Bohley means what he says about sustainability and return  on investment, then this spending isn't  a not sustainable and would be better spent more gradually over the course of say 5 years than all in 1 followed by austerity the other 4. If we really are going to spend like this every single season from now till the end of pofessional football, then f**k it, brute force waste money all the way..........

I think you make some good points around the number of players coming in. Its hard enough to integrate 4/5 new recruits...getting us into a cohesive unit  with so many new players will be a mighty job for Graham. Not to mention what it does to the dressing room dynamic. Undoubtedly some of the new arrivals will fit in immediately whilst others will be duds. It would be interesting to run a poll at this early stage as to what category each will achieve! As @ozboy said we are a lot of players but not yet a team. I think the other interesting point will be with such long contracts will some go stale come year 3/4? 

I don't understand this constant need to try and find negatives with this fanbase. Virtually every fan in football would be buzzing to be in the position we're in but here some people are worrying about hypotheticals and details that don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

On 03/02/2023 at 04:54, timetowaste said:

Virtually every fan in football would be buzzing to be in the position we're in

Really?

Which table is more important to Chelsea fans?
Which table is more important to you?

 

Edited February 4, 20233 yr by Guest

I think they did well since there has been a really big investment but they should seriously look to bring Zidane since Potter right now looks like he'll be happy driving a Ferrari like it's a Ford...

1 hour ago, Qaz said:

Really?

Which table is more important to Chelsea fans?
Which table is more important to you?

 

This is just short termism, the vast majority of people are aware this is a transitional season. Obviously we should be higher, but I also know we've spent this season securing the signings of some of the most talented young players in the world. If you wanna cry about a crap season where we're preparing for the next decade then be my guest but most of our fans as well as opposition fans know we're going to be a great team once our players get together.

10 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

most of our fans as well as opposition fans know we're going to be a great team once our players get together.

More like when we get a proper top class manager who can organize us again. I think we could be a great side tomorrow with the right manager. 

It doesn't matter how good your individual players are when the man in charge can't make them play as a unit. It took our last manager one 1.5 hour evening session to make us a organized and coherent unit. Potter is into his sixth month at the club and just had two full weeks at Cobham with pretty much everyone except Enzo and we look dogsh*t.

 

1 hour ago, OriginalS said:

More like when we get a proper top class manager who can organize us again. I think we could be a great side tomorrow with the right manager. 

It doesn't matter how good your individual players are when the man in charge can't make them play as a unit. It took our last manager one 1.5 hour evening session to make us a organized and coherent unit. Potter is into his sixth month at the club and just had two full weeks at Cobham with pretty much everyone except Enzo and we look dogsh*t.

 

Tuchel came into a club where the players were already settled and the backroom staff was settled. Potter has turned up and we've signed 18 new players with most of them coming into the first team, most of them under 22 coming into a new country/league as well as a big injury crisis. Remember Xmas 2021 when Tuchel had an injury/covid crisis? We were hopeless, we were also hopeless this season before Potter took over.
 

I'm not saying we should be where we are because we are massively underperforming but the whole Chelsea structure including the squad is totally different and changed even more in January. It's frustrating but we have to give Potter time, I can't recall a top club with so many changes within 6/7 months. We just need to have some patience.

1 hour ago, OriginalS said:

More like when we get a proper top class manager who can organize us again. I think we could be a great side tomorrow with the right manager. 

It doesn't matter how good your individual players are when the man in charge can't make them play as a unit. It took our last manager one 1.5 hour evening session to make us a organized and coherent unit. Potter is into his sixth month at the club and just had two full weeks at Cobham with pretty much everyone except Enzo and we look dogsh*t.

 

For the first time I find myself questioning is he the right man for the job? I think the lack of improvement after having a full two weeks together bar Enzo is alarming. Last night I expected to see improvement tactically, not the finished product but something that showed we are heading in the right direction. Instead we got another insipid performance lacking in any kind of attacking nouse, we really are awful to watch at present. Given this season is in all probability now dead, we should give him till the end of the season to show he is the right man to lead us forward. 

3 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Tuchel came into a club where the players were already settled and the backroom staff was settled. Potter has turned up and we've signed 18 new players with most of them coming into the first team, most of them under 22 coming into a new country/league as well as a big injury crisis. Remember Xmas 2021 when Tuchel had an injury/covid crisis? We were hopeless, we were also hopeless this season before Potter took over.
 

I'm not saying we should be where we are because we are massively underperforming but the whole Chelsea structure including the squad is totally different and changed even more in January. It's frustrating but we have to give Potter time, I can't recall a top club with so many changes within 6/7 months. We just need to have some patience.

Settled? We were in 10th when we came in and everyone thought we were years from challenging for anything, nevermind the Champions League. Rudiger, Christensen, Jorginho and others were "donkeys" and we had just been repeatedly spanked by any decent team we faced before Lampard was gone.

Tuchel had never worked with those players when he took over either. Took him one training session to make us look organized. A good manager doesn't need long at all to organize a team. Results can wary to begin with and especially when you have a bunch of new players yes. But there is no excuses for no organization and to not play as a unit.

And yes, we struggled from December until Tuchel was sacked. But if that was a struggle then we are at the bottom of the ocean right now. Because we had to adjust to injuries and sanctions and everything else and grind out results for a long time. But at least we got the results. Now we are playing sh*t football, getting ultra sh*t results and if anything we look worse the more time Potter gets with them on the training ground. He literally had two weeks to prepare for yesterday with everyone except Enzo. And we looked like that...

No excuses.

 

5 minutes ago, charierre said:

For the first time I find myself questioning is he the right man for the job? I think the lack of improvement after having a full two weeks together bar Enzo is alarming. Last night I expected to see improvement tactically, not the finished product but something that showed we are heading in the right direction. Instead we got another insipid performance lacking in any kind of attacking nouse, we really are awful to watch at present. Given this season is in all probability now dead, we should give him till the end of the season to show he is the right man to lead us forward. 

Pretty much sums up exactly how I feel.  Particularly after the Liverpool game where I thought we played really well and probably did enough to win that game. I keep hoping for improvement but it’s just not coming at the moment. 

As you say he had 2 full weeks after the Liverpool game, majority of the new signings and yet it was still lacklustre. I think the pressure will be cranked up on him to see some improvement given the investment and backing he had in the window. If we don’t see some improvement between now and the end of the season then I think he will probably be in trouble. 
 

7 hours ago, timetowaste said:

This is just short termism

And 16 new signings in 2 transfer windows at a cost of over 600 million pounds under 2 different managers and an incomplete, new, still settling in recruit/analysis team isn't (short term thinking)? 

Unless Bohley has abandoned the whole "sustainable finance/make a return on investment" thing then this rate of spending isn't sustainable and money we waste now is NOT going to be available to make signings/renew contracts in the future.

The very definition of short term thinking....

Long term the smarter way to go about it would have been to choose signings more carefully, gone quality over quantity and spread our spending out over time rather than this feast then famine trap we've put ourselves into. 

No one wants to hear what I'm saying, we want to think that we can just sign 16 players in 6 months and have them integrate well/be successful.

But history has shown over and over and over again that making too many signings too quickly is almost never best practice. We could have gone about this much smarter and would have done better both short and long term. 

Edited February 4, 20233 yr by Guest

On 01/02/2023 at 09:51, drjonesy1994 said:

Thought I would re-visit and bump this thread to see what peoples thoughts and opinions are now. Not just after last night, but the window as a whole. 

My thoughts are largely the same, I think we in good hands with the new owners and I feel as though they are clearly working towards us competing at the top of the table, and the top end of Europe too.

The first transfer window, I think the approach was a bit scattergun but at the same time appreciated that we needed to get bodies in the door. Koulibaly and Aubameyang I think we got wrong, but I am still hopeful that Cucurella and Sterling can have decent roles in this squad going forwards. Add to that Fofana as well, who when fit I think is one of the best young centre backs in the world. It's worth remembering that Boehly was doing around 90 to 100% of all the negotiations on his own at this point. 

The January Transfer window seemed a bit more structured and I think this is as a result of the structure that now exists behind the scenes. We have signed some of the best young players in the world, and also reinforced in areas that desperately needed reinforcing. What I like about the new owners is they seem to have a target and don't give up easily on them. I love Roman and everything he did for the club, but he would've likely given up trying to sign Enzo and we would've ended up with a cheaper, not as good alternative. 

I cannot fault the ambition of the new owners, particularly in the January transfer window. To do the business that we did in January is unprecedented. Normally you go into January thinking you will get 1, maybe 2 new signings. So to get 8 or 9 done and through the door is really impressive.

For Potter; it remains to be seen whether or not he is the right man or not. I am still in the camp of give him time but I think the pressure will be cranked up now, given the backing he has received this month. Given the fixtures we have over the next 10 games or so there's no reason now why we shouldn't expect to put on a decent run and challenge or potentially finish in the top 4. For that to be the case though I think we can only afford to lose a maximum of three more games if we were to finish in the top 4. Above everything though I am hoping with the new players coming in and the likes of James, Chilwell etc returning that we will pick up a bit of form, and start producing some impressive performances.  If we see an improvement between now and the end of the season, but don't finish in the top 4 then I think that is ok as well. The main thing for me is seeing that Potter can get this group playing well. If he can do that then I think that sets us up nicely for next season.

Interested to see what other's thoughts are on this. 

Do you still remain optimistic?

To me it's fairly obvious we are only sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss the longer they are here.