Ryan Sparks

I think it does in this interview he is talking about next season and the one after

 

There will be next season and season after whether he is here or not. Stefan now knows football is a very risky investment where he is totally reliant on people he doesn't know. He will have learnt that if we are promoted, his problems will actually increase so why should someone who has no interest in the sport suddenly start splashing the cash after a year of paddling in shallow waters? He has no interest so why should he start planning for the future rather than looking at short term random signings. Why have we spent money to become a professional, proactive club virtually overnight. Seemingly, there are more questions than answers and yes, I am simply putting 2 and 2 together.

 

But has the plan actually changed since Rupp purchased the club? The original plan of Rahic and Rupp was to develop young talent to improve the team and / or sell on for a profit to help us get to the championship and possibly beyond. This would involve a 'speculate to accumulate' approach from the outset. Unfortunately Rahic tuned out to be a bit of a psycho, but the plan was still there, and maybe still is. Just being implemented by a new management team in sparks and co. What has happened over the last 2 years is just a fall out from the Rahic days where the plan wasn't carried out within the financials originally planned by Rupp and went wrong. Not because the plan was a bad one, but because it was carried out terribly by Rahic. Now the books appear to have been settled it may be just a case that the original plan can start to happen again, but this time with a professional management and recruitment team in place, which is how it should have been done originally.

 

I too came away from that interview thinking Sparks doesn't sound like a man who is planing on sticking around very long. Whether that is because a takeover is on the cards or whether it is because he is just using us as a stepping stone to greater things remains to be seen. In terms of what has happened during the window, I think it's a bit far fetched to talk about us splashing the cash. Yes there has been some money paid for players but that's only because we had money left over in the cap due to Stuart not spending it in the summer (it was made clear on a number of occasions that the money was there if he wanted it).

 

I don't see the management duo or the CEO leaving in the very near future.
Many of the players signed recently will have come after buying into all three's visions for the next couple of seasons.
They go then what was the point in getting practically a new starting 11 through the door?

 

I think his comments, are more like him confirming that we're in this for the long run, which means he might have moved on (as most of us do during our career plan) and not see the full fruition of these younger players coming through.

 

He's an ambitious guy who will be on the bottom end of the scale in CEO salary terms. He should see this job as a stepping stone to a better paid role, give himself 2 or 3 years of development at Bradford and look to apply eleswhere.

 

I am sure he will be off in time let’s hope we are in a much better place when he goes

 

You want rid of Sparks anyway Fordy and within a month you’ll want rid of the next guy, just like you wanted rid of Mason. A familiar depressing pattern with you.

 

Absolutely. That's a good thing for us - he only progresses as a CEO, if he delivers success and improvement here.

 

Spot on Captain! I've been thinking that this Forum would make an ideal study project for the NHS. "The distorting effects of Covid isolation on the minds of sane people".
What this thread has done post the Ryan interview is show how many are determined to undermine and spin untrue situations into facts with no proof or back up just distorted views formulated on goodness knows what basis. Let's look at the development up to the interview.
Poor results and awful tactics - sorted, SM goes.
Lousy appointment of interim management done on the cheap - Yes we will get defeats but so far professional beyond belief and pulling us away from danger.
Cheap CEO appointment - criticised by those who had no idea of Ryan's work in the background. Yes he is the youngest of 92 clubs, the guy at FGR is 1 year older and look where they are.
Constant carping about the pitch - 2 years work showing the results now, one of the better surfaces outside the PL.
Transfer window - those who were constantly complained about are gone. New signings made with a view to avoiding the annual summer rebuild of the squad, get it in place now, done.

Nothing to see, let's make something up. Ryan not here long - wrong he actually said it is long term development and success that is being looked at and planned. I know that both Ryan and Stefan are in for that. Let's face it Stefan will not get his investment back unless we are up two levels and that is what we are surely working to with the recent and yet to emerge plans. Small steps but football is in a precarious position. Every League below NL is suspended and in the next 28 days it is possible NL, NLN and NLS will suspend. If that happens there will be carnage. Taken further there are Clubs in L1 and L2 who are either being marketed for sale or on the cusp of failure. We are NOT one of those.

So takeover?, no chance, quite the opposite. I personally don't speak to Stefan very often, it's not my place but when I do I get positive vibes. Ryan on the other hand speaks almost every day sometimes several times. Stefan not interested!!, give it a rest.

Off the field, spirit in the back office, all time high. Sponsors being heavily engaged. Hospitality boxes redecorated, new seating for box holders having put up with poor seating for some time. Main stand seating slowly being replaced, new dugouts to reveal next season. All small steps but steps that hardly any other L1 or 2 Club is making.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, stop the carping enjoy the current form and results and look forward. Tomorrow will be a better day.

 

Yeah, but other than that... lol

 

Like it

 

Go back 8 games ago and tell me this. The feel good factor is slowly coming back but lets not pretend everything is rosy in the garden, this club 8 games ago was an absolute basket case dying on its arse and as even you said yourself its gonna take years to put right the wrongs. Not to say i'm not hapy about the current turnaround, it makes my Saturdays more enjoyable, but lets see what division we are in in say 6 months or 18 months before we start jerking off.

 

That's one of the better rants on here, fair play! Some selective memory recall and misrepresentation of much of what gets said on here, but a quality rant nevertheless!

I think the vast majority ARE now looking forward given that we're starting to see a more forward thinking and modestly ambitious outlook from the club.

 

Yes but this doesn’t fit fordys agenda

 

There's a real irony on show. The last 8 games have been much better and the trajectory of the club is now genuinely starting to look like it could be positive again, which is fantastic. But the vast majority of what fans have been complaining about over the last 3 years, can be represented by:

Shocking communication from the club
Backward thinking over Management selection
Horrendous recruitment performance
A chronic lack of investment in off field infrastructure, especially around scouting and recruitment
The lack of anything like a coherent plan for taking the club forward

Fans expressing concern were derided by other fans and worse, by the previous CEO!! And yet, ALL of the above is conceded by Sparks in his interview and ALL of which has been his immediate priority once in role.

 

Sparks also said this recent renaissance was brought about by the measures taken over the+last couple of years

 

You don't hit second from bottom of the entire football pyramid just on the back of a poor manager and to suggest so is laughable. This club has been a rudderless ship for 3 years culminating in us playing the worst football I've seen in 40 years. No strategies on or off the field or a plan of attack to speak of. And as I hasten to add that was only 8 games ago. Now a lot has changed in that short period of time and we seem to be at last looking like a club with a resonance of professionalism, something we'd been asking for as a futile gesture for donkeys years. Hitting rock bottom then doing a jaunty jig on the tables at our wonderfully successful club because we've had an 8 game unbeaten run rings very hollow to me.

 

Good reply @Dubai bantam the difference being the latest window backed T&S where as after our Wembley outing Rahic tookt the squad apart player by player.
It's been debated many times on here but just imagine if Rahic had helped Stuart and added to that Wembley squad the first team improving whilst the backroom staff bring some of the kids through.