Ryan Sparks

Wow, this seems a very sensible post for you...and up until 'we all know' I agreed with it all. I said a couple of weeks ago we need a PLAN not soundbites...

 

Agree, no PLAN at all but all Julian has known is fire-fighting rather than planning ahead. I think the only time they had some 'fore' thought was when they perceived it was a weak division and placed some more cash in the budget...

 

Beep beep watch out @Fordy117 is reversing-yet again.

 

So who were you slagging off then?

 

@Fordy117 - keep your chin up lad. I often don't agree with you but it'd be a duller place without you.
Anyway, I thought you had a Merc, but Keefly thinks you've got an MG, said something about you polishing your midget.

 

@Fordy117 might be overly critical of the club, but he's one of the only ones who've consistently called it correctly about the lack of ambition and subsequent decline of the club. He's right about the amateur atmosphere and operation of the club, hence the reason we're 2nd bottom of the football league. He might not go about it in a diplomatic way but he's been proven correct and until we get some professionalism and ambition back (hopefully this time around), we'll continue to struggle. In regard to his yes men comment, you only have to see the minutes of the supporters Trust/board, WOTP and Simon Parker columns to see how they follow the party line, never overly critical when it's as clear as day the club should be challenged.

 

There is something in this, on certain social media outlets there is still a reluctance to blame anyone but Rahic yet he has been gone for years. We have to draw a line under it somewhere, just a shame we've waited till we're next bottom.

 

To be fair @Fordy117 is being proved right so far even if he won’t back up his point.
No sign of arresting the slide despite the shot in the arm a new contract was to give the club and the players. We are now in the relegation zone.
Ryan has been at the helm really for the whole of the season as he was pretty much doing it before according to his radio interview.
Yes we should give him time but like when Collins was made manager some just know he’s an easy target to swing for and were proved right.

I’ll give sparks time and he has some good ideas and is a very good communicator etc but I feel he’s been dropped in at the deep end with so much to sort out and it’s too much without getting further help on board. Mayeb that’s the way we will go and people say give him time but I know for a fact despite the club not seeming to realise the extent of our problems, we don’t have the time!

also on his yes men point fordy has a point. No one at the club outed Rahic even when it was too late. It took the fans to sort it with the visit and the proposed banner and other things. A similar group of people are still at the club and we are now very close to going out of the football league. Maybe yes men wasn’t the right phrase but we need to change the identity of the club and I hope Ryan makes some tough choices to get that done

 

A fair few behind the scenes knew exactly what was going on but as you say said nothing in public, instead telling others privately in the hope they would convey this to various social media platforms. Bottling it in my eyes. I hope Ryan is a success in his chosen career and also hope he implements business practices sadly lacking at this amatuerish run football club. He doesn't have Masons luck of the club being on the crest of a wave but he does have the get out of jail free card that its not really his fault if we go down. Which we could very easily do.

 

On the one hand you can say Rahic started all this off and Rupp and Rhodes failed to stop the slide. On the other hand, City were in the same position as now a decade ago. Had it not been for Parky who knows of we’d have slipped out of the league already, but one thing is certain, this club has been in decline for 15 of the last 20 years. Bringing Rhodes back might have stabilised the finances club but there’s not a lot of good having a club with a good P&L that’s relegated out of the the football league.
The management in my opinion failed this summer, hiding behind the salary cap as a reason not to recruit, whether that was naivety or a gamble on a Covid wrecked season and clubs going busy who knows. I don’t think this club can rebuild properly until the last vestiges of those with connections to Rupp, Rahic and Rhodes are gone and fresh ideas are brought in. McCall sadly has to be one of the first of them, closely followed by Rupp.

 

This is so true Dennis, A group of fans in desperation approached Rupp direct to inform him of the position of the club but well before this where were the associate directors who had more of an insight than most and as you say sat on there hands, They must never be allowed boardroom access or influence the club.

 

Is it a shit storm though? Granted there are a few over the top posts but the majority seem pretty measured to me, and are justified in questioning some of the actions and decisions the club has taken. Yes some of the issues like Covid and the salary cap are beyond the clubs control, but that's the same for all 92 clubs in the pyramid, and as things stand, 90 of those clubs are dealing with and managing those issues much better than we are.
Of course there is still a hangover from the Rahic era, but I'm getting a bit fed up of it still being used as an excuse for our current predicament . We've had ample opportunity since he departed to strengthen the squad but the decisions that have been made in terms of recruitment have continued to be poor with no proper planning or thought going into what we actually need. The blame for that lies with Bowyer and McCall, not Edin.

As for injuries, I very much disagree this is out of the clubs control. There are contributing factors which are 100% within our control - poor pre match preparation and warm up and bringing players back from injury too soon being two examples.

The main reason we are where we are is completely of our own making. It's important to acknowledge that if we want to move forward. Continuing with the 'poor us, we've had so much to contend with that isn't our fault' attitude will do nothing to help our plight.

 

Although derided as middle aged white van men, in dead end jobs, onion picklers, bullies and all the rest about supposedly enjoying the club’s decline and wanting us to lose, The Cow’s Arse and others were on to a lot of it a long time ago when some websites, journalists and influential people in my opinion wanted to toe the official line. Only once it became impossible to maintain credibility did they change their tune or go silent, with the notable exception of Parker who remains neutral at best. WOAP turned on Rahic in the end and got credit for removing him and seem to have turned again this last few weeks.

One of the more disappointing aspects of a disappointing season is the willingness of some to jump on the backs of those who said the recruitment was poor, the off field management was completely lacking in vision, that Rupp was disinterested. Everyone wants City to be successful and sometimes that means criticism of the owners and management.

 

I wish I could just get on the Dolly bus .

 

OK Trevor, to answer you, How#229 and Dennis#232 I have to say the trouble with many sites like this is what people don't know they make up and then get shirty when they are supposedly excluded from information which is totally confidential but which they see as having a right to access. When that happens they make up spurious claims around "I know something you don't", but when challenged have no response because they had no facts in the first place, more a vindictive mind in some cases.
Now is the time to put some of the points right.
1. No one at the Club outed Rahic to Stefan - Wrong, James Mason made several attempts but when challenged by Stefan, Rahic lied or produced false information and took revenge to preserve himself. In this case James Mason paid with his job. A decent man lost to BCFC.
2. Hannah Cox was a very competent Club Secretary, developed by Dave Baldwin, James and JR but was too clever for Rahic and paid with her job. Now Club Sec. at Leeds.
3. You say the Ambassadors (as we were at the time) did nothing, not true, but fans approached Stefan. Who were these fans, when did they see him?. I'm not aware, BUT-
4. From September, 2018 a group of 5 got together to look at a plan to out Rahic. I have not spoken to these people so it is unfair to name them here and two of them have other jobs so I wouldn't name them anyway and please don't speculate as I won't respond. I can however say one was long term fan John Dewhirst as he blogged or tweeted about it at the time and he has been mentioned on here. It was John who combined a business trip to meet Stefan and outline the issues. After that it was agreed that I would see Stefan and fill in details. This was done with the approval of JR so nothing underhand.
On 22nd November, 2018 I went to Munich and had a 4 hour meeting with Stefan giving him facts about a number of issues. This was followed by more facts and HARD evidence (no speculation) on my return. Stefan knew of a lot of what I told him from the work JR had done on his return and Rahic had left the Club two days before my trip 'for a few days rest'.
Within 2 weeks of my trip Rahic was gone, faced with hard evidence of his mis-doings.
I am not going into any more detail than this other than to say I posted later that in my view it would take BCFC 5 years to get over Rahic and today Stefan continues to work at that with the new support of Ryan who equally has the support of me and the Associate Directors.
So... quick to say we did nothing but I hope those having a go realise it wasn't the case then and it isn't now.
I would however still like an answer from Fordy as he is talking about people I don't recognise.
Roger Owen.

 

Can't sum the present situation up better than that.