That’s absolutely true but I never get the sense we’re building towards a goal or target. It all seems a bit random and we chop and change managers and systems as we go along. Each time we’re left with players the next manager doesn’t want and the cycle starts again.
Despite being generally supportive of what ENIC have done over the years, this is my biggest criticism of them / Levy - not just the chopping and changing of managers, but the chopping and changing of managers
who play completely different styles of football.
I actually liked Mourinho as a character, but when he was appointed after Poch, it struck me as a very naive 'starstruck' move by Levy, i.e.
this guy has a history of winning and he is high profile, let's get him, without any thought given to the type of football we'd play and how well-equipped (or not) our squad was to play it. Then when that failed, and the fans moaned that '
at least in the last 15 years a lot of the time we've had good football, we want that back', he eventually got non-entity Nuno, then went and got Conte*, who played even worse football and was a much more cowardly and dislikeable character than Mourinho. Hopefully the Mou and Conte appointments taught Levy that a). buying a winner doesn't on its own guarantee winning, and b). the manager, and his style of football, needs to suit both the club and it's players (unless you consciously change the playing style for the long-term and do a complete rebuild - I don't for a minute think that was the conscious plan with Mourinho or Conte, but it might be with Ange...)
* admittedly Conte was probably a desperate appointment when about 10 potential appointments and 1 actual appointment - Nuno - had failed for one reason or another between May and October. Tbh the job was probably considered something of a poisoned chalice by that point...
TLDR: For me, appointing Mourinho and Conte (and Nuno obv.) is the worst thing Levy has ever done at our club, due to their inappropriate style of football / fit with our squad, and I really hope such a wild change of direction never happens again. I hope Ange is successful and stays long-term, but if he isn't & doesn't then I hope we will replace him with a manager who suits our style and the squad we have assembled.