Minimum Requirements for 2008-2009

[MrsB]

We need to make a proper challenge, but 'until May' isnt necessary.

Continual improvement would be my answer.

So if we finish less than 10 points off the winners, that'd be acceptable.

Yep, reducing the gap will do for me too.

[Dhav]

I fear some people are getting carried away, and I don't necessarily mean people on here or other forums but mates outside of this forum that seem to think we are "there".

I think we need to be realistic, and realise that as good as our first team may be we still do not have a squad deep enough or with enough quality to challenge to the end in two competitions. I still believe we are a year away from being in a position where we'll be fighting for the title until the last couple of games of the season. When you are battling clubs with unlimited resources while we arein the process of building a new stadium and have owners who are struggling to come up with funds to satisfy team-building and stadium construction costs, then obviously it makes the challenge of rising to the top all the more difficult. There can be no guarantee of success, and Rafa needs to be judged accordingly.

I've thought that the real measure of progress is not where you finish in the league (as long as it is in the top 4), it is improvement of your points tally on the previous year and decreasing the gap to the top. In this regard, Rafa is succeeding, and if we continue in that vain this coming season I will be satisfied.

[HotSwine]

I've thought that the real measure of progress is not where you finish in the league (as long as it is in the top 4), it is improvement of your points tally on the previous year and decreasing the gap to the top. In this regard, Rafa is succeeding, and if we continue in that vain this coming season I will be satisfied.

[Icon]

If he meets NONE of the options who do we replace him with?

I say if he avoids relegation then OK.
Support the club and support the best manager we have had in years.
The guys is constantly striving to improve our club but has his hands tied much of the time by upper ranks.

I am not part of the RCDNW brigade, but who the **** comes close as a replacement?

(To think that MON was 1st on many a list a while ago)

[Rashid]

If he meets NONE of the options who do we replace him with?

I say if he avoids relegation then OK.
Support the club and support the best manager we have had in years.
The guys is constantly striving to improve our club but has his hands tied much of the time by upper ranks.

I am not part of the RCDNW brigade, but who the **** comes close as a replacement?

(To think that MON was 1st on many a list a while ago)

How about Frank Rijkaard or Guus Hiddink? Rijkaard spent less NET at Barca than Rafa has here... plus he took over a team that had won **** all for 5 years, a team beaten by Houllier's Liverpool in the Uefa Cup.

[rage]

i'd see improvement as rafa not repeating the mistakes of previous years

[-V-]

Challenge for the title. We are making progress so im very happy with Rafa

[Dhav]

If he meets NONE of the options who do we replace him with?

I say if he avoids relegation then OK.
Support the club and support the best manager we have had in years.
The guys is constantly striving to improve our club but has his hands tied much of the time by upper ranks.

I am not part of the RCDNW brigade, but who the **** comes close as a replacement?

(To think that MON was 1st on many a list a while ago)

To an extent, I agree. I'd be very reluctant to replace Rafa, whatever the circumstances, but in the event we finished outside the top 4, then I think it is an option you would seriously have to consider, but only if there was an outstanding candidate out there willing and able to replace him (and MON does not even appear on my radar). In today's game, and with the amounts spent, finishing outside the top 4 would represent a monumental failure, not to mention having potentially disastrous financial implications.

[Dhav]

How about Frank Rijkaard or Guus Hiddink? Rijkaard spent less NET at Barca than Rafa has here... plus he took over a team that had won **** all for 5 years, a team beaten by Houllier's Liverpool in the Uefa Cup.

Too many question marks over Rijkaard to me. Flopped as a manager of Sparta Rotterdam (I think), overseeing their relegation, plus hardly excelled in Euro2000 when in charge of the Dutch national team on home soil. At Barca, he has failed pretty much the last two seasons and presided over a fractious dressing room, not to mention the downfall of the likes of Eto'o and Ronaldinho which for whatever reason he has failed to arrest. Not to mention the theory persists that his successes at Barca were very much attributable to Henk Ten Caate, and the proof appears to be that Rijkaard has failed without him.

Guus Hiddink is a good candidate, but he strikes me as being something of a nearly man. Apart from the Dutch League, what has he actually won in the last few years? His sole European Cup win was 20 years ago, and the one time he was given a top European club job at Real Madrid he flopped.

[dww]

I fear some people are getting carried away, and I don't necessarily mean people on here or other forums but mates outside of this forum that seem to think we are "there".

I think we need to be realistic, and realise that as good as our first team may be we still do not have a squad deep enough or with enough quality to challenge to the end in two competitions. I still believe we are a year away from being in a position where we'll be fighting for the title until the last couple of games of the season. When you are battling clubs with unlimited resources while we arein the process of building a new stadium and have owners who are struggling to come up with funds to satisfy team-building and stadium construction costs, then obviously it makes the challenge of rising to the top all the more difficult. There can be no guarantee of success, and Rafa needs to be judged accordingly.

I've thought that the real measure of progress is not where you finish in the league (as long as it is in the top 4), it is improvement of your points tally on the previous year and decreasing the gap to the top. In this regard, Rafa is succeeding, and if we continue in that vain this coming season I will be satisfied.

I agree in general but I think you have to account for possible improvements in the rest of the league. As such I think a combination of points difference from the top and a more qualitative judgment of 'being in the race' have to be the yardsticks for our success.

I think in general though that we need to have a slightly broader view and for me part of what we need to see is that there is some progress in terms of bringing through young players into the first team. We have spent a lot of time and energy in this area and haven't even seen many players in the league cup teams. We still won't be able to compete financially in all likelihood in the next few seasons so an alternative strategy has to be adopted and youth progression has to be the backbone of that for me.

Too many question marks over Rijkaard to me. Flopped as a manager of Sparta Rotterdam (I think), overseeing their relegation, plus hardly excelled in Euro2000 when in charge of the Dutch national team on home soil. At Barca, he has failed pretty much the last two seasons and presided over a fractious dressing room, not to mention the downfall of the likes of Eto'o and Ronaldinho which for whatever reason he has failed to arrest. Not to mention the theory persists that his successes at Barca were very much attributable to Henk Ten Caate, and the proof appears to be that Rijkaard has failed without him.

Guus Hiddink is a good candidate, but he strikes me as being something of a nearly man. Apart from the Dutch League, what has he actually won in the last few years? His sole European Cup win was 20 years ago, and the one time he was given a top European club job at Real Madrid he flopped.

Agreed although is Ten Cate free as we could always reunite the pairing.

[El Jefecito]

I agree in general but I think you have to account for possible improvements in the rest of the league. As such I think a combination of points difference from the top and a more qualitative judgment of 'being in the race' have to be the yardsticks for our success.

I think in general though that we need to have a slightly broader view and for me part of what we need to see is that there is some progress in terms of bringing through young players into the first team. We have spent a lot of time and energy in this area and haven't even seen many players in the league cup teams. We still won't be able to compete financially in all likelihood in the next few seasons so an alternative strategy has to be adopted and youth progression has to be the backbone of that for me.



Agreed although is Ten Cate free as we could always reunite the pairing.

Didn't Ten Cate end up in Turkey somewhere?

[Darth Marty]

Wheres the "brutally kill Rashid" option?

[Guest]

Relegation and he'd still be getting a new contract from me.

RCDNW ?

[Shanks]

Just a quick question for the 27+

How much time are you prepared to wait and what in your opinoin needs to change??

[shanks69]

rafa to get the players he wantsso he can play the way he wantslooks like thats not going to happen.