Can't disagree with Cole on this.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I'm honestly wondering, is he a top appointment?

As a player yes a top career, excellent. As a manager though what makes him a top manager?

For me it’s twofold.

He’s played at the absolute highest level, which should command the respect of the squad, under some of the greatest coaches of all time (& FSW) if you’re that way inclined to want to go into management then some of that HAS to be taken in/rub off

Coupled with the unbelievable job he did at Leverkusen, going unbeaten in the biggest 1 team league in Europe, playing an effective style of football whilst also developing the young talent he had. The Madrid job, he wasn’t even doing badly! Just the absolute arrogance of the likes of Vini (the biggest cancer in world football) refusing to be coached undermined him, look at the freefall once he left.

With the options on the table being Iraolo (Good midtable manager), Marco Silva (sh*t) or Glasner (Good midtable manager) snagging Alonso whilst the dippers stuttered is an absolute masterstroke.

Have genuinely not been this excited about an appointment since Tuchel, and if Alonso has more of a say in the squad build up it’s a double positive as far as I’m concerned.

Alonso actually had a good record at Madrid and left them closer to Barcelona than they ended up if you look at his record closely.

The fact he is gonna be called Manager rather than Head Coach is a step in the right direction and hopefully points to them trusting the manager to have significant input on footballing matters.

We probably won't even finish in a European place in the league so grabbing Alonso is great for a team that will only leave this country in pre-season.

It will really p*ss off Liverpool fans and they get to keep Slot for another season.

Wins all round as far as I'm concerned!

Hopefully beat Spurs to put them under relegation pressure and then I'll actually look forward to next season.

And you know he is gonna look the part on the touch line whether he's wearing causual clothes or club clothes.

I'm very happy with this appointment.

Edited May 16May 16 by 2211

How the hell did we go from seven years with Rosenior to Xabi?! We have so much we need to do before we’re a top club again, but this is just fantastic news

Edited May 16May 16 by AndyDowsleftflank

3 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

For me it’s twofold.

He’s played at the absolute highest level, which should command the respect of the squad, under some of the greatest coaches of all time (& FSW) if you’re that way inclined to want to go into management then some of that HAS to be taken in/rub off

Coupled with the unbelievable job he did at Leverkusen, going unbeaten in the biggest 1 team league in Europe, playing an effective style of football whilst also developing the young talent he had. The Madrid job, he wasn’t even doing badly! Just the absolute arrogance of the likes of Vini (the biggest cancer in world football) refusing to be coached undermined him, look at the freefall once he left.

With the options on the table being Iraolo (Good midtable manager), Marco Silva (sh*t) or Glasner (Good midtable manager) snagging Alonso whilst the dippers stuttered is an absolute masterstroke.

Have genuinely not been this excited about an appointment since Tuchel, and if Alonso has more of a say in the squad build up it’s a double positive as far as I’m concerned.

Spot on. This is a coup, landing him at last shows the ownership are heeding the harsh lessons. It’s now important to back him. Not having Europe, next year will give him more time to implement his ideas on the training pitch. Naming him manager will carry gravitas with the players, important now to give him the time to change the mindset within the club.

Mixed feeling on this appointment.

I’m shocked because this seems sensible for a change. My hope is he’s been given the go ahead to put his stamp on it and bring in who he wants.

Ye of little faith! Doom merchants the lot of ya (me included) saying no way it’s gonna be Silva. Well we got who we wanted. Some good news and a bit of optimism at last.

On top of today’s performance in the final which for me showed we can compete. With a few additions and a helping guide for the new manager we maybe on the right track. But we’re not out of the woods just yet.

The owners are no way out of the bad books but you’ve got to give them some credit IF they have realised their mistakes (be it a year or two too late) and change direction.

At least we can look forward to next’s season now.

3 hours ago, Scott said:

Maybe even Stevie G.

Would that mean we can’t sing the song?

I really hope Alonso turns out to be the real deal - because we need him to be. We really can’t afford another disaster.

Interesting listening to the pundits about him, very highly rated. Gerrard was saying even as a player, he was a “coach”.

Personally, I don’t put much faith in playing careers. They might get you in the door but playing careers don’t last long in a managerial sense. It’s about results

Credit to the board and SDs for moving quickly, being decisive and (hopefully) changing their strategy.

Very exciting news and a positive shift into the right direction.

This is a man who played at the highest level and understands the game from 2 different perspectives. Xabi as our manager makes us have some pull power again for top players.

Reading and listening to Liverpool fans reacting to this has been the perfect distraction from the FA cup final defeat. Reminds me of when England got knocked out of the world cup in the group stages in 2014 and Suarez decided to chomp down on Chiellini on the same day to take the focus away.

Edited May 16May 16 by Scott Harris

Do people actually have confidence that Alonso, given the job will be allowed to pick his best/preferred 11 each week as opposed to the tombola approach we’ve seen this last season or so?

At only 44 and with the prospect of the Liverpool job hovering, and the dysfunctional sh*t show that is BlueCo Chelsea, I would not be even slightly surprised to see us struggle and him leave or be sacked (or whatever it was that happened with Maresca) before the year ticks over to 2027.

And despite typing all this, I think I’m very nearly past caring in all honesty.

40 minutes ago, Snedger said:

Do people actually have confidence that Alonso, given the job will be allowed to pick his best/preferred 11 each week as opposed to the tombola approach we’ve seen this last season or so?

At only 44 and with the prospect of the Liverpool job hovering, and the dysfunctional sh*t show that is BlueCo Chelsea, I would not be even slightly surprised to see us struggle and him leave or be sacked (or whatever it was that happened with Maresca) before the year ticks over to 2027.

And despite typing all this, I think I’m very nearly past caring in all honesty.

It very much sounds like Alonso is going to be involved in the decision making and ultimately final say.

1 hour ago, Snedger said:

Do people actually have confidence that Alonso, given the job will be allowed to pick his best/preferred 11 each week as opposed to the tombola approach we’ve seen this last season or so?

Nope.

2 hours ago, DarkMata said:

Would that mean we can’t sing the song?

We need to sing "never walk alone" really wind the dippers up

Finally an appointment I can get excited about and invested in.

The fact that Liverpool fans are in meltdown about it is the icing on the cake.

At least the future doesn’t seem so bleak, but there’s a lot of work to be done to get us back to the top.

I think Alonso was the best of the managers available. If he gets the level of control a normal manager gets then I have some optimism for the future. If we can dispense with at least some of these ridiculous Blue Co. style methods related to the footballing activities then it can only be a good thing.

The thought of a manager using his influence to bring a squad together to attract players to the club and to organise a team will be a return to normality but may feel like a revolution. We have not learnt from the Americans (Todd) and we do feel a manager is important regarding results (Finklestein). I think im going to like this self reflection.

It will take time but we have plenty of that and without the complication of Europe next year. I hope flogging the surplus players will keep the SDs busy as i cant imagine him needing all of the, in some cases, medium quality players. He might surprise us and re integrate a few players out on loan, in the academy or one or two of the incoming young overseas players.

Its been a while since ive looked forward to watching us play, been more of a habit this year, here's to normality !

Roll on July 1st.

He needs a top keeper, a centerback, 2 wide attackerS and a striker of real quality at least.

If we are indeed sell to buy now I don't see how we manage to back him.

4 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Can't disagree with Cole on this.

Is what they do. unfortunately it works, look at less than 150 of our fans today willing to protest.

BlueCo has us by the short and curleys and can get away with whatever they want it seems.

11 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I'm honestly wondering, is he a top appointment?

As a player yes a top career, excellent. As a manager though what makes him a top manager?

I think he's the most impressive manager that we were supposedly looking at and might be interested in coming.

Unfortunately there are still many fans and pundits that talk as if we're a big club. That's gone, possibly For good, who knows. This version of us that these clowns have created are a mid table team, in a smaller run down stadium, saddled with immense debt with little commercial appeal to sponsors. I'm sure that the likes of Sunderland and Leeds spent years turning their noses up at their managerial appointments all throughout their declining years under the misconception that they were still big clubs.

He appears to have a brand of football that is honest and entertaining without the classroom nonsense we've suffered in recent times. He will undoubtedly be a selling point to possible new plays. For me, even if they ultimately get this wrong, this seems to be the first decision that this appalling ownership have made regarding managing any of our teams, that I have found encouraging.

3 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I think he's the most impressive manager that we were supposedly looking at and might be interested in coming.

Unfortunately there are still many fans and pundits that talk as if we're a big club. That's gone, possibly For good, who knows. This version of us that these clowns have created are a mid table team, in a smaller run down stadium, saddled with immense debt with little commercial appeal to sponsors. I'm sure that the likes of Sunderland and Leeds spent years turning their noses up at their managerial appointments all throughout their declining years under the misconception that they were still big clubs.

He appears to have a brand of football that is honest and entertaining without the classroom nonsense we've suffered in recent times. He will undoubtedly be a selling point to possible new plays. For me, even if they ultimately get this wrong, this seems to be the first decision that this appalling ownership have made regarding managing any of our teams, that I have found encouraging.

Really hope his brand of football is entertaining. Over the last twenty years or so, we must have had the most pragmatic, dull style out there. More so than any of our competitors. Tolerable when we are winning things, less so when mid table. The amount of games I’ve bailed out of early. No atmosphere. Boring football…

7 hours ago, Snedger said:

Do people actually have confidence that Alonso, given the job will be allowed to pick his best/preferred 11 each week as opposed to the tombola approach we’ve seen this last season or so?

At only 44 and with the prospect of the Liverpool job hovering, and the dysfunctional sh*t show that is BlueCo Chelsea, I would not be even slightly surprised to see us struggle and him leave or be sacked (or whatever it was that happened with Maresca) before the year ticks over to 2027.

And despite typing all this, I think I’m very nearly past caring in all honesty.

For a few seconds I felt a glimmer of interest flickering....

It may be the gloom of the past 4 years speaking, but I'm preparing myself for the next disappointment. It will take years to clear out the squad garbage. We MUST sign experienced players for the positions that desperately need improvement. The directors MUST not involve themselves in team decisions (and preferably f**k off altogether). I just don't see this happening, he won't get the time he needs. I don't believe Clearwater/Blueco have seen the light and change the current way of running things, it's never been about football with them.

6 hours ago, guddy69 said:

We need to sing "never walk alone" really wind the dippers up

Embarrassingly, the Shed regularly sung this, in the 70’s through to early 80’s. Check out on YouTube 1982 us versus them in the FA Cup.

Bit off track, met a bloke yesterday who reminded me of when we alighted at Lime St Station way back. Dodgy looking geyser, rattling a charity tin, f**k all accreditation. “ What’s the Charity?”

“ Disabled kids”

“ What type of disabled kids?”

“ Ones without any legs, like”

10 hours ago, Ibby_786 said:

Mixed feeling on this appointment.

There's always one.