So today, as we fumble around and the board pretends to listen to the fans, the rebuilding job for next season just got a lot, lot harder. Christopher Jullien’s injury looks set to deprive us of the player for the better part of this year.
It is an unqualified disaster, both for the team as it stands but also for the club.
Because he was one of the two settled centre backs we had.
If we don’t have our ducks in a row the central defence when the next campaign starts will be our youth centre back Welsh and the player we may (or may not) have signed from Sheffield Wednesday, who is actually a midfielder.
What a state that is for us to be in.
What utter recklessness and strategic stupidity has landed us in this godawful mess. The entire backline needs rebuilt, with a minimum of two – now three – centre backs needed to replace Jullien, Ajer, Bitton and Abd Elhamed.
Bear in mind too that three of those guys are not even natural centre backs, which is how ridiculous our “squad building” has been.
Now, at last, we are coming to a window where there is no choice at all but to do it and do it right, and I have to admit I’m both excited to see what we come up with and scared to death of how it might go, especially as I fear Lennon will be running the show.
But honestly, we didn’t need this news today.
It is the worst possible thing at the worst possible time.
Any other position we might have ridden this out and not been quite so concerned, but we’re going to be completely wiped out in this area of the pitch and whilst this would have been most unwelcome at any stage, right now it is the stuff of our nightmares.