I don't think anyone is trying to completely absolve him of responsibility, they are simply saying he should not bear the brunt of all of the criticism. If your recruitment is poor, you are in a difficult position before the manager has ever made a team selection.
For what it is worth, I have no problem with us living within our means financially if that is what we have to do. I don't even have an issue with the youth development policy, if we make sacrifices in the short term to benefit in the long term. However, I think there needs to be more transparency about what the club's short term aims actually are, as the assumption seems to be that we can challenge for promotion every season.
Unfortunately, we have no way of living within our means, nor does football in general. Money is the reason why clubs are in with a chance of gaining promotion and going on to be at a higher level. It is well known that having more money on wages for talent is the overriding priority for players when deciding which club to go to.
That is why we were no where near the preseason bookies favourites.
And it is worth noting that clubs in the National league have lured league players who could of have played at league one level.
it is not the the budget as such, it is the wages and bonuses, signing on fee and length of contract, the small print is important for add ons and such.
Players don't leave if they are wanted and it is known that if a player wants to stay at the end of his contract, he is not offered lower wages and a worse contract. The club is known throughout football for doing this.
Until our contracts are worth having, we will be missing out on the quality we all want. We have no youth as such now coming through, due to the lack of a youth development/academy which served us so well the last thirty years.
We need another Warwick Rimmer and a wage structure to stop the revolving door of journeyman players that are not good enough for the level the supporters deserve. Enough of the rollercoaster ride. Stability in league one is possible but our last four seasons of poor quality recruitment is down to the inability to sustain financial infrastructure in a club that deserves better than what We are seeing!