Before the season started, if you told me we would finish 17th and win the Europa League, I would have taken it. Moreover, if Ange wins a trophy in his second season, it will be a successful season.
Without any better options, I really don't have a problem with keeping a manager I personally dislike just for the principle of finishing a season and/or letting him win a trophy. I felt a similar way about Mourinho and Conte to an extent - there were fundamental things I disliked about them, at least half way through the season, but they still deserved to see out the season despite my disagreements, as long as they had a chance of a trophy and/or a CL place [and did not get relegated]. For me, at least, that was their job and they get paid to take any criticism, to an extent.
The biggest problem is if Ange does not win the Europa League. Then we may as well have kept Poch, who would have easily been able to finish bottom half and get us to semi-finals and finals on a consistent basis, even with a worse budget or recruitment team. I truly believe any of our managers could have won something, like Juande Ramos did, if they were all allowed two seasons to fuck off the Premier League entirely. Even Nuno is proving himself to be a good man.
But Ange winning the Europa League and getting another season is not an actual problem for me. It may well be a problem next season, ala Erik ten Hag at Man United, yet I would have taken this exact problem last season given our lack of silverware. It is a higher quality problem to have than no silverware at all. You have to risk failures in certain areas for success. Our failures in Premier League this season I was expecting last season.
This season has been more disappointing, but I've said many times I don't give a fuck what Ange says in the media as long as he is successful. It is painful when he is not successful and therefore it is a massive problem a lot of the time with a lot of the shit he comes out with for many fans. Of course any fan is going to bite back at him when he says something that discards them all and he loses 18+ Premier League games, all the while being compensated an unfair amount of money. It's a massive imbalance, and it does suck to be a football fan.
If things are being promised and they are not delivered the fans deserve a refund - one that they never actually get I might add. If they are not promised it in the first place, or success is not paid for already, it is easier to accept the demise with less protestations. I don't think it is on the fans.
On the other hand, if he wins a trophy, it's fair play, relatively speaking in my opinion. I'll congratulate him aptly like I did after his first ten games. If he is there next year, I hope he wins three or four trophies. It is pointless to think otherwise. He could even tell me to support Woolwich again if he wants to and it just would not matter. The point, for me, is that success trumps sentimentality, and a trophy is better than any random Premier League position. We have no better options to manage this club at the moment thanks to the owners and the chairman. Ange basically should only be sacked if he gets 2 points from 8 games starting next season, which I was entirely expecting him to do in his first season anyway - given that we just finished 8th the previous season and sold our best player yet again.
So, yeah, if he wins the Europa League, in my opinion he deserves a go at the Champions League and recovering the Premier League form next season, as unrealistic as all of that may seem right now. However, if he does not win the Europa League, I think we need to part ways.
