Most liked posts in thread: Abbott and Drury

For starters me and many others believe he stabbed mccall in the back before he got sacked, he as overseen the transfers over the last 2 seasons and is the go between the head coach and Edin. His recruitment is poor and for me never rated him since his Carlisle management days. I don't see how he improves us in any shape or form with what he does and my own belief is he shouldn't be at the club.

As for his health I hope he makes a full recovery.

 

He’s the Head of Recruitment isn’t he? Unless Edin has overruled him and gone for Greg’s third or fourth choices, in which case he should resign, the shit squad is surely testament to Abbot’s contribution. Or am I missing the point?

 

I am with you on this. He can only recruit within the parameters he has been given. If it was his decision then I think The ego would have already sacked him! Greg loves this club as much as anyone and will be distraught at what is happening. None of us know exactly what is going on, so I am going to reserve judgement on Greg. David may decide to bring in help, then it will be up to the ego decide what happens to Greg.

 

That is a naive post. I think you are ignoring the Edin factor. He has openly said he would be actively involved in recruitment, and in fact did it on his own in the summer. If Greg has done this on his own without any interference I will be remarkably surprised! Plus and I really want you to think about it, do you honestly think that if Greg had recommended all these players to Edin, he would still be in a job? He would have been shown the door. The owners cut the playing budget unashamedly after Wembley, so as in life you get what you pay for!! I and I will thank you to knock off the sarcasm no need for it. Greg has this club’s best interest at heart, and of course that is not the only reason he should stay. Obviously if David doesn’t rate him, he will not be part of the coaching set up, so be it.

 

Michael Collins, the lad who took the under 18's training on a part time basis.

He went from work experience as cabin boy on the titanic, to captain of the vessel....after it had already hit the iceberg.

Poor lads the fall guy.

 

He said he would be actively involved in recruitment...of course he will be...he has the say on money as ultimately he is responsible for the financial health and stability of the club.

I know this is teaching my grandmother to suck on things but I believe it needs to be said.

There is much, much more to running a business than the final bit that hits the consumer. Although clearly without a successful end product things will ultimately founder. However everything else has to work and the behind the scenes team make daily decisions around all of it. They have a responsibility for ....Everyone who works for that club, everyone we have to pay, everything that has to be bought, from washing powder to players salaries, from petrol for the mowers to managers company car, from paper for printers to stadium lease payments. It all has to be balanced out. We, as supporters, see one little part of all of this, you could say we see the bit of the iceberg that is above the water, we don't consider at all the two thirds that sits below but needs managing, money and attention every single day.

My point?

There isn't a bottomless pit of money, all the money that comes in from the league, ticket sales, merchandise sales etc etc has to pay for everything and the team on the pitch, though incredibly important, and consideration number 1, is still only part of the overall running of the business.

"So in life you get what you pay for". Absolutely true but you also cut your cloth accordingly, you buy what you can afford. We all want Mercedes, BMW, Bentley but most of us drive Fords and Vauxhalls because we have, a house, kids, food, electricity, water ....... to pay for.

Bradford City FC are no different. So though we might fancy Messi we get Wright, we might want Sharp, we get Miller etc etc
But we are solvent and not going to go bust because we went gangbusters for something and put the house on a bet that fails. And we have been there twice before. Premier League and the first McCall period. Both took us a long while to pull ourselves out of (Thank god for PP!)

So though I may agree that, again, some of the recruitment Maya not be want we wanted, is not performing to where it was thought they would, I am pragmatic soul and would say that we have to temper our dreams and align with reality.

And I also believe that the team is generally a good set of individuals. We now need to give Hopkin time to break therm together as a team.

...and I have said this before.

We are a small, League One club, in a run down city with the income of a small League One club in a run down city. Unfortunately (difficult to chose what word to open with for this sentence) we had some success 3/4 years ago. FA Cup Run, League Cup final and promotion (from League 2) and this has led to us having a hard core of supporters who believe that this is now some sort of given and that it will go on and on and they demand that the owners fund it regardless of the 'clubs' ability or financial position to do so.

 

Hopefully both will be moved to one side and Hopkin will bring his own backroom staff in, well I hope so !

 

Because he's had numerous positions at the club now and to the many he's seemingly failed at all of them.

 

Cos he's head of recruitment and the recruitment has been dog shit

 

Then as tough as it sounds he needs to resign and say none of this shit show is my doing. If your boss continually undermines or overrules you, quit. If he’s that bothered about City, and his career, he needs to distance himself from the dreadful recruitment if it’s nothing to do with him.

 

This looks a strange argument to me. What parameters would make it possible to sign..

Wyke
Reeves
McCarten
Poleon
Doyle
Scannell
Payne
Seedorf
Akpan
Ball

There's players of pretty much every age, background and type of agreement. Old players, young players, established loan players from Premiership clubs, Premier League kids and fee agents with higher league experience. There's probably £1m+ of fees being spent as well.

So what parameters could be holding Greg back? What type of players is he not being allowed to sign?

He's overseen some of the worst recruitment I can remember since Archie Christie then moved onto the coaching side and helped to produce the most disorganised side since Peter Jackson. He loves the club though so I suppose we can't hold him to account for any of this.

 

Well he has also been ill, so may feel vulnerable in the job market. None of us know what his financial situation is, so I can’t comment either way. I think I read somewhere the club looked after him when he was ill, not entirely sure how we did that, so he may feel obligated in some way.

I think his parameters were, an obligation to recruit young players, always a risky brief, as it is difficult to predict how they will perform against the men in league 1. Cost, he will have to find bargains like Wyke, as the budget had been cut, not many of them around. He is shopping in the risky end of the market rather than the tried and tested. Look st Riley, he came from Man United, captain of the under 23, you might think he would be a good addition, and in my view he is, but not ready for the men’s team. There you have the problem straight away, they are not ready, and therefore can’t plug our recruitment gaps. Our owners think they can do this on the cheap, and make money, they are now reaping what they have sown and they can put it right out of their pocket for me!

 

If this team is "generally a good set of individuals" then I am a Chinaman. There is a small group nutcase mindest affecting this board that's like that village in France that went crackers when the CIA laced the bread with LSD.

 

Abbott certainly is part of the problem

 

Isn't the kitmans job still up for grabs? Those shirts won't wash themselves Greg.

 

I am old enough as well as many posters on here who remembers the likes of McCall abbott hendrie Brian Mitchell etc etc and the one person still at the club who supposedly searches for potential signings the like of poleon Mc carten vincelot and Patrick where are they now not deemed good enough now surely abbott has had some say on these players coming in to the club and he is still involved with bringing players in.
this is the same gregg abbott who deemed nakhi wells not good enough while at Carlisle, while prior to that being at notts county while coaching along with Shaun Derry who between them nearly relegated the club

 

I think you’ve answered your own question.

I’d be surprised if many of the players we’ve brought in were down to Greg. I may be wrong.

 

A) Why would Rahic keep Abbott on the wage bill when he's irrelevant?
B) Why did Rahic ask Collins and Drury to help him with this season's recruitment when he does it by himself?
C) Why would Rahic disregard a man he once described as "the best scout in the league"?
D)Why do people find it so hard to believe that a man who didn't rate Madden and Wells has been part of our poor recruitment?

I'm no fan of Rahic but he's clearly being made the scrape goat here. Abbott is just as responsible for our under par signings.

 

The thing is Aaron - Edin wanted to revamp the Lounge, OK ?

Yes - He splashed out on some decent wallpaper, Undercoat, Gloss, Emulsion Varnish and hand tools.
The main issue is, he didn't think it necessary to buy some Sugar Soap, Paste or Turpentine.
So we now have an unfinished mess, and last years schitt is still showing.

 

A fair assessment Norm. I would add one thing. Who was claiming we were going to go for automatic promotion soon after the Wembley defeat? Stefan Rupp of all people. Its not only the 'hard core' of supporters that are demanding success, our owners seem to claim it too.