The fact that we've apparently seriously pursued several options would tend to suggest that there were some targets that the committee thought were attainable.
maybe. and maybe they were wrong. we know (or think we know) about the following targets that were, presumably, given by wmd to the committe.. shorey, bale, pratley & moses. absolutely no criticism can be attributed to the board for failing to sign any of those players. they were worth going after, and could have been great coups if they'd come off... and you don't get if you don't try (in the summer nobody dreamed that we'd sign anderson for an anderson) but these were ambitious targets - especially in january.
if someone can point me towards the good left-back option identified from a league one club, or a premiership reserve side, or a club who needed our cash more than they needed their left-back.. then we can talk about whether the problem was with the board or with the targets identified by the manager (and those assigned to help him.. pleat included). otherwise, like russ said, we're in a position of ignorance.
it looks very much like we put too many eggs in the shorey basket, and got stung when he got an offer commensurate with his ability. maybe he strung us along, maybe not. maybe wmd identified solid alternatives that the board could have done better with... maybe he didn't. but shorey went to fulham right at the end of the window. we're we really supposed to have deals tied up for option b and option c just in case that happened? do we think that selling club b and sellcing club c would have been ok with that? how about the players themselves... 'yeah, we'd like to sign you but we've got to wait until all our other options drop off'. in the summer you can pursue multiple targets in that fashion. in january you can't. people love to slag off the way the club does business.. without having a great understanding of the realities of the situation... and completely forgetting that this is the very system that's secured the players that have made us all enjoy watching forest again. i, for one, welcome our incompetent overlords.
the billiez can make their point through the media if they like. i think it serves their purpose on many levels... building support from the fans, managing expectations, taking the attention away from the players (the garbage after the D*rby game was mourinho-like.. absolutely nobody in the media has mentioned the fact that we were a bit sh!t in that game). neither the billiez nor the chairman are stupid.. the important things will be said face-to-face.. the rest is theatre.
