Open Letter to Ryan Sparks

Not hard enough obviously

Joking aside, as I exited the stand, one or 2 people nearby were clapping, to which I just shook my head in disbelief. Masochistic weirdos

 

Thanks for that, Ryan.

Turn the lights off on your way out will you? And tell Herr Rupp to lower his asking price.

 

Were you one @shoatsy ?

 

My comments would be;

1. Ryan didn't need to sack Hughes. He and Mark had a plan they'd agreed on and should have been working towards. Sacking Mark reflected poorly on Ryan and the plan he'd agreed with Mark.

2. Ryan allowed Mark to go down a path of changing the style of play fundamentally from the previous season. Ryan must have known about this because he, Gent and Mark agreed on transfer targets for the summer window.

3. Ryan then agreed to push the budget or push up to the top of the budget to bring in a whole lot of other players that didn't fit into the style that they'd originally planned on late in the window.

4. Ryan has now hired a manager who has a style of play that is fairly easy to understand from previous roles and he is working with a squad that doesn't really fit into that style of play. The new manager has consistently left some players out e.g. Chapman, Tulloch, McDonald, Pointon, - if Ryan backed GA then he could have been looking to move these on to create space for signings that better fit GA's style. Instead, he hasn't managed to move on players, or pay off contracts to release them, and we're left with a squad that is too big (which was partly Ryan's decision in number 3) and isn't fit for purpose for GA's style or has hired a manager that doesn't have the right squad for GA's style.

Worth noting, I don't like GA's style but I'm putting that aside for the purposes of the points above. I also agree that Ryan has done well on the commercial side and indeed I have advocated for him to remain on the commercial side while a director of football runs the football operations. It would cost Stefan an extra £100-200k a year but gets him a better structured management board.

 

Yep tha

Yep that was me!!!

 

Depends on what his brief is.

 

Sparks has overseen years of stagnation and decline regarding citys league position. Any CEO with integrity wouldn’t allow that to continue. That’s why I’m looking for change. Time to go.

 

What a load of waffle!

 

The probable best outcome would be for Rupp to sell up. Worth noting this will take time to process through, so we're probably looking at this season and probably next being written off until its complete, and the new owners being able to implement their strategy.

I'd also think about the following -

1) If Sparks goes who does Rupp replace him with seeing that he gave Rhodes the job of finding his own replacement?
2) Will he do the same and trust Sparks find his replacement. If so would Sparks find someone less qualified and set up to fail, in order to say "look I was doing a decent job?"
3) Based on his current level of involvement, do you believe Rupp couldn't identify a suitable (football experienced) CEO if he saw one?
4) Would Rupp actually base himself in the UK to run things if Sparks walks?

I think the best case scenario is for Rupp to seek assistance from a Baldwin or Mason, and insist that a head of football is brought in immediately. This would then give him time to sell the club without hopefully causing too much damage during the process. Things can't continue in this downward spiral of failure. Something has to change.

 

I think the commercial side of things are/ were going well which may be down to him, but what does he know about football. As it stands there's no one in the organisation above GA that can set out the strategy of how we progress on the field.

 

James Mason is an even bigger tool than Sparks. They couldn't get him out of Welcome To Yorkshire quick enough. He only lasted 8 weeks at Rochdale and no other sporting institution would touch him with a barge pole.

 

That would very much be a sideways step. True to form with our managerial appointments, maybe, but certainly not a football-minded move which is ultimately what the club needs to progress from its current stagnation.

 

Only with a DOF we desperately need a "football man" !!!!

 

Serious question, maybe should go in another thread. I don't pay much attention to other clubs, but what do we assume is going wrong at Salford? Seriously wealthy owner, "football men" at the club, seemingly willing to pay good wages. They seem in as bad or worse state than us

 

They've been through a large cycle of managers too. I was listening to Gary Neville on one of the Sky podcasts he does (or it may have been the Overlap programme), and he talked about how they'd made mistakes in the transfer market by panicking and reacting when they missed out on their primary and secondary targets. Basically, he was admitting that the lack of patience and adherence to a plan was costing them. I think they'll stick with Robinson and give him a good go. I'd have liked him here tbh.

 

I really don't get this point. Just because they've not been in the starting 11 it doesn't mean Alexander doesn't want them.

• Chapman: he's had some starts, if we start with a 343 he will almost certainly start then if he doesn't he is an option off the bench. If we get rid of him we don't have a right footed winger.
• Tulloch: it's got nothing to do with us that he hasn't return to West Brom, clearly they don't want him back so unless he can find another move our 2 options are either keep him or pay West Brom to take him back.
• McDonald: when Smallwood reaches 10 yellow cards which won't be far off he'll be starting. If he goes then there's no replacement for Smallwood or Gilliead.
• Pointon: Why would we look to move him on or pay up his contract

The depth of the squad has also been hit by Pattison getting an injury which will put him out for a while and Walker being out for a bit. Alexander has already said that has impacted plans of players leaving.

 

Wasn’t Jagger previously mentioned as a DoF?