I'm reassured to some extent by all this - the figures make sense and we are getting the house in order for the longer term. It does highlight the huge gulf between Prem and CCC which is a serious issue for the health of the game in this country.
My one big regret, and like AFKA I have complete respect for the Board, is that they didn't fully foresee the upheaval that was likely to come about when a manager of 15 years leaves. Just about any organisation would undergo a big transition in culture at that point, and it is likely to be a very risky time. With wonderful hindsight, it is now easy to see that a rather rash appointment coupled with 'splashing the cash' was a grave mistake, and, sadly, we are likely to be suffering those consequences for a long time.
[cite]Posted By: Weegie Addick[/cite]My one big regret, and like AFKA I have complete respect for the Board, is that they didn't fully foresee the upheaval that was likely to come about when a manager of 15 years leaves. Just about any organisation would undergo a big transition in culture at that point, and it is likely to be a very risky time. With wonderful hindsight, it is now easy to see that a rather rash appointmentcoupled with'splashing the cash' was a grave mistake, and, sadly, we are likely to be suffering those consequences for a long time.
I think this view is essentially right. It appears that they didn't have a plan or one that was properly thought through. It was clear that Curbs was losing his enthusiasm a year or two before he actually left and maybe they should have tried to get in a No 2 with a chance of the No 1 spot, or maybe an experienced Director of Football who could takeover during a transition. On the other hand they didn't want to de-stabilse Curbs who had done so much for the club so it was a big judgement call.
Once Curbs left they had little option but to go for an open interview process. The problem with that is that we ended up with the bloke who did the best interview, with the slickest powerpoint presentation and not necessarily the best football choice. (I wonder if Curbs would have got the job if he'd had to apply for it?). I don't know who was involved in the shortlisting process but I wonder if they should have engaged a consultant (e.g. Jimmy Armfield) to sort out those who have the right footballing attributes. Maybe there was an element of "lets stuff the Tangoman". It's all speculation and maybe if we were in charge we would all have picked Dowie. I think having made that decision it was probably right to back him with some serious money. Somehow between them they came up with a player identification process which threw up names like Traore, and Faye as well as Diawara and the injury prone Reid. They also managed to sign Gibbs before we had a manager in place. Add to that the purchase of Marcus Bent in the previous window and we had a squad which wasn't good enough to survive.
Comments
My one big regret, and like AFKA I have complete respect for the Board, is that they didn't fully foresee the upheaval that was likely to come about when a manager of 15 years leaves. Just about any organisation would undergo a big transition in culture at that point, and it is likely to be a very risky time. With wonderful hindsight, it is now easy to see that a rather rash appointment coupled with 'splashing the cash' was a grave mistake, and, sadly, we are likely to be suffering those consequences for a long time.
I think this view is essentially right. It appears that they didn't have a plan or one that was properly thought through. It was clear that Curbs was losing his enthusiasm a year or two before he actually left and maybe they should have tried to get in a No 2 with a chance of the No 1 spot, or maybe an experienced Director of Football who could takeover during a transition. On the other hand they didn't want to de-stabilse Curbs who had done so much for the club so it was a big judgement call.
Once Curbs left they had little option but to go for an open interview process. The problem with that is that we ended up with the bloke who did the best interview, with the slickest powerpoint presentation and not necessarily the best football choice. (I wonder if Curbs would have got the job if he'd had to apply for it?). I don't know who was involved in the shortlisting process but I wonder if they should have engaged a consultant (e.g. Jimmy Armfield) to sort out those who have the right footballing attributes. Maybe there was an element of "lets stuff the Tangoman". It's all speculation and maybe if we were in charge we would all have picked Dowie. I think having made that decision it was probably right to back him with some serious money. Somehow between them they came up with a player identification process which threw up names like Traore, and Faye as well as Diawara and the injury prone Reid. They also managed to sign Gibbs before we had a manager in place. Add to that the purchase of Marcus Bent in the previous window and we had a squad which wasn't good enough to survive.