Ryan Sparks

If he was he was overlooked when the position of Chief Commercial Officer was given to Davide Longo.

 

I would imagine he’s been invited to do this long haul interview because he is becoming successful at the club. The club is in a different level now commercially than in the Rhodes era when we had to pray for a cup run.

 

Poor Ryan
He can’t pee straight for some
Who on here would turned the job down if offered to them at his young age
Was he not Rhodes under study
He has made mistakes who hasn’t but is probably still learning on the job
What you can not fault is the improved commercial income , which ultimately is down to him either directly or indirectly
He is also running the business, how the owner tells him.
This next season will show exactly how much he has learned from the past 4 or 5 he has been CEO

 

So would I. We will never know the truth BUT if what the few hundred people who stood up for the silent masses helped us become a better club then it was worth the effort.

 

Be more consistent so that when things don't go so well you're still visible. Hold your head up, be brave and face the criticism head on.

Then it won't be so surprising to everyone that all of a sudden you're now available for interviews to accept the praise just weeks after a promotion.

That'd be a start.

 

He did say he hadn’t handled it very well. He most certainly was promoted before he was ready for such a key roll at the club which we have all had to endure. However, the holing out of the club was a masterclass of high level incompetence by Rahic. In that respect any CEO would struggle to get a grip. Let us hope all that is behind us, we don’t have to keep banging him over the head with a big stick. Standing up and facing criticism is an emotionally mature thing to do. Then you can take the glory without criticism.

 

Starting out as he did , one learns by one’s mistakes. I certainly won’t beat him up over the mess Rhodes and Rahic created, which the club suffered no end for years . Hopefully he’s learned lessons for the future, it will hold him in good stead.

 

Hes done great on the commercial side dont get me wrong but the football side was a shambles until Sharpe came along.
I get he made mistakes but to keep doong that year after year on the back of empty bullshit promises then to me he should keep quiet.

Still like others said he magically popped out of his box once things took a big turnfor the better

 

Listened to it and enjoyed it, a good listen and he seems like a nice lad. Hope the success continues.

 

I blame the ppl responsible for hiring him tbh. That would be Rhodes and Rupp although the latter knew less than Sparks. On top of that to be held responsible for holding the budget in the sustainability model was a straight forward disaster. He kept grabbing the shiny new toys in the hope it would help. He needed a very experienced pro to guide him on the football side Sharpe and GA have done that. Now he needs to learn from the fans not just be grateful for their support but we have all been here a very long time if we say something is wrong it generally is and they won’t all deliver that message in Kings English either, he is a Bradford lad so however it is delivered it has to go in the mix when making decisions. If the manager and Sharpe say we need a particular kind of player or anything football related then that needs to be taken on board and discussed at a management level.

 

Ryan wasn't Julian's first choice unfortunately the person Julian though he had lined up to take over fell through leaving both him and Rupp in a precarious position as Julian did not want the job and only took it as a temporary position, I believe this was the reason the job was offered to Ryan who admits in the video he was not ready for such a position, looking at the person/people Manchester United have had doing a similar job (at a far bigger salary) we wonder why mistakes were made by a rookie CEO.

 

That sums it up nicely
People forget he is acting upon Rupps instructions, he was schooled by captain admin and had to pick the club up from Mr Rahcic and his shit storm
All in his late 20’s
I don’t blame him for keeping his head below the parapet, the diatribe that has been thrown his way
As I said he has had to learn the hard way, with very little support financially or mentally until this past season
We now need to back him , the management and players all the way and make sure we stay away from league 2 forever more

 

So why did it change this season ????
Why did he not realise he was out of his depth on the football side years ago ............he may been acting on the instructions of Rupp but i put money on that he was painting a far better picture than the basket case club it had become before last season.

I wìll back anyone who put the club first before there ego and sadly thats why i simply cannot get on board with him.

 

Hard to blame Rhodes when Sparks was desperate for the job from the beginning. I'm not condoning personal abuse but if you want the fame and attention that comes with splashing yourself over any podcast that will have you don't be too upset when folk pull you on your misdemeanours. If you'r aspiring to be the next Darragh MacAnthony you need a big pair of balls.

 

Wonder how many on here would have had the balls nor experience in their late 20’s to even attempt to undertake the role. None , that’s pretty much as taken . Clearly it was his job ( And still is) to promote the club and place it in the best possible light , which was impossible to do under the circumstances presented to him. The lesson he must have learned is one can go too far with “spin”, because that’s what it is/was at the end of the day. Spin , nothing else. ( His over reliance on social media expertise?)

Notice in that latest interview, there was little spin , and little in the way of false promise or intentions. I’d call that lesson learned thus far.
At the end of the day he HAD to be Jack of all Trades based on his brief. Thankfully that brief has been relaxed, hence the recruitment on the footballing side of David Sharpe, which lets be honest has paid dividends so far.

Clearly there are those who won’t ever drop the narrative , That’s their choice, but not reaching the CEO status, I can see what he’s had to face under what circumstances. If only his over enthusiasm hadn’t led to naive promises and false dawns ?

Put it this way , an experienced CEO, I have worked under at least 5-6 who would have absolutely struggled after the Rhodes / Rahic shit show, especially one even with “football experience” of which there are less than a handful in the EFL, even today.

Not one CeO I know could drive a train , not one could machine a 25ton gear wheel , yet they
too “ wanted” the job and with experience became well thought of in industry or indeed national government.

 

Probably because he realised that the fans were not interested in the sustainability argument and unrest had set in
We had come close in the previous two seasons and it was obvious it needed that little extra push
I don’t blame him for taking the job offered and I will call anyone on here a liar if they said they would turn it down in his position
It was then up to Rupp to judge his performance

 

100% ^^^^^^^^^ this, great post Kev.

 

The reason why you haven't seen Sparks after our four season ending failures, under his tenure, is because no-one is interested in doing a podcast with a loser. So he simply would not have been invited to be interviewed.

Other than that, he's been "visible", i.e. every time he's sacked a manager he's held his "head up", been "brave" (whatever that means!!) and faced "the criticism". I'd look back at the documented history as opposed to making assumptions, so you can your childish negative narrative about him and Rupp going.

 

Sparks and Sharpe were mates prior so one assumes Sparks had a hand in his appointment. Longo and Alexander were Sparks apppointments.

Seems he has built a good team around him.