A lot of people are putting up this argument with the assumption that all else was being held constant. Purslow may have contributed to the degeneration of the club to the lowest point of the past couple of decades, but there were other variables at work. Basic knowledge of the situation points to a vicious cycle effect: The owners operated the club in such a way that money was not properly allocated to the appropriate departments, this in turn hurt the teams performances because of a lack of new investment, which lead to lack of confidence in and the undermining of the manager. Players were alleged to have lost confidence in the club's ability to move forward, and Purslow was appointed by the owners to temporarily remedy the situation. There may have been questionable moves by Purslow and the board, but to completely pin the problems of the club on one man is just pointless.