The worst thing about the 2016/17 season was the vile foul mouthed noise coming from some of our supporters in the second half of the season in particular and some of the bile spilled on the old board was shameful. The failure by the clubs hierarchy to invest in the required quality was the reason we were relegated, not the Head Coach.
We invested in the likes of Negredo, Fischer, Valdes, Espinosa, players who all had been recovering or had recently from serious injuries and so values and quality were lower. 2 players came from a just relegated club, namely a raw pacy right winger with no end product and a goalkeeper with the handling of Mr Clumsey. Then there was a Spanish left back who loved a foul throw whose best game was at CB. Chambers was probably our best loanee. Our marquee signing could run around a bit but failed to break any waves.
I used to say asking AK to coach that lot into a fit for purpose PL team was like giving a Joiner a plunger, spanner and some copper piping so he could install a new trophy cabinet. Then in the January when he begged for a pacy, creative playmaker and a winger was given Gestede, Bamford and Soisalo. On the last day of the January window Guedioura, all he had to offer was a name full of vowels. The type of player identified by the Head Coach was not delivered by the hierarchy who allowed themselves to be made fools of by at least 3 clubs stringing us along because it was in their interest to do so. To describe it as naivety from those on high does not seemingly do it justice. We were 16th in the league when the January window opened, but teams knew we were a one paced team with little cutting edge, we could not continue having to do so. AK realised that but the club failed to deliver, like they had done for so many seasons thereafter.
We were told after the Southampton game by the owner he knew what we needed to get back up, Many millions of pounds, dozens of players and 5 managers later, a light bulb has lit. To blame it all on the head coach was wrong then and it remains so in hindsight. He did his best with the tools supplied, but the tools were exactly that, tools.