Most liked posts in thread: Derek Adams' views on his time at VP

We might not own the stadium or the training pitch but they do exist for use and he still had one of the biggest budgets in the league... More Adams blaming anyone but Adams. The exact same lack of humility and self reflection that led to fans not liking him.

 

Not owning the ground and having to train at a school didn't prevent Parky winning promotion and getting us to the league Cup final.

Adams just doing his best to deflect failure here. When he was appointed as manager, did he not know we didn't own the ground, of course he did, and he didn't think it was an issue when accepting the role.

Stick to Morecambe Derek where admittedly you've done a very good job and are a good fit there

 

Proof Ryan thinks a manager just needs a budget to be successful.

And this is why we fail.

 

If we had a rock solid long term football strategy and plan, Adams would never have been appointed. That's the point.

 

To be fair, clubs don't think twice about sacking managers midway through a contract, so works both ways.

The only loyalty in football comes from fans who don't change clubs, generally speaking, in their lifetime

 

The man just proves everything Adams said is correct.

Those above him had no clue. They think it's just about giving a manager money, and can't fathom the advantages other better run clubs have.

And you applaud that naivety...

 

You mention them in your reply.

Adams needed the same thing the club has needed. Adams failed for the same reason the club failed.

No plan. No experience. No expertise. No continuity. Sacking after sacking after every transfer window closes, tactical 180s from a CEO who can't work out why his club is flailing around in League Two when everyone in the game says we should be doing so much better.

This is what Adams needed. It's what all our failed managers needed. And it's what Graham Alexander isn't going to get either.

Can we at least promise not to blame him?

 

Hey, divided opinions at the time but the old boy may have hit the nail on the head...

“Bradford City has the biggest supporters base in the league. It’s one of the smallest clubs inside in the league.

“It’s got no structure, no idea of its way out, doesn’t own its stadium, doesn’t own its training ground and has no foundation to it.

“I, like many managers, think they can go there and change it.

 

I think it’s a fair article, but it doesn’t touch on his faults. A lack of personality and shocking football been the main two.

 

Is he excusing his own poor performance? Maybe

Is he explaining our own long term underperformance? Yes.

We can be so 'us vs them' that we blind ourselves to our own situation. We respond with 'yeah, so?' when we should listen.

All these managers don't fail because we're a well run club giving ourselves the best chance of success. They fail because we aren't.

 

You have to ask why this man who used to manage us is spilling his vitriol now. We didn’t own our stadium or training pitch when he signed for us. He labels us a small club with a large fan base.

Well now he is a small minded and vindictive man managing a small club with a small fan base and unlikely to expand further. We are at a low ebb, so he thinks it is a free kicking time. Deadly Derek did not like City fans at all. He says we don’t like the truth I am not entirely sure which truth he is speaking, but in any event one of our brighter days was when he was kicked out of the club.

He was a massive mistake, and he wants to insult our club and fan base and I can think of no other manager who has done this. My only wish is that we are in better shape as a football team when. He returns to VP. We are all fully aware on this forum of our club’s weakness and it is discussed regularly, but what we won’t have is DD having a pop because we rejected his awful football.

 

The specific ownership status of the ground and training facilities doesn't really matter as such, so long as they're up to standard. It has a bearing if the overhead constrains the budget though, which is what Adams is suggesting. Sparks says its 'competitive' but its less than 30% of our revenue, and its not like Sparks to misrepresent anything in the media, is it?

What does have an impact is the culture it may speak to. i.e. if the mindset of the club is infected with a sense of just doing enough and not planning beyond a few months at a time, it'll shape how people perform. And there are specifics which are obviously missing - scouting, recruitment, any sense of a plan which means every manager is starting from scratch - we're literally doing this again by moving from one extreme to another in terms of favoured playing style between Hughes and Alexander. Every manager starts from a position of having to rebuild the majority of the squad, and this is the key reason we keep going nowhere.

 

Generally all clubs have a wonderful plan until the proverbial hits the fan. Sometimes clubs will hit that magic home run and have a period of sustained progress but more often than not you end up back in your natural habitat e.g. Forest Green and to a larger extent us under BFG. I'd summarise by saying there are no guarantees in football, like an business, but rule of thumb the clubs run by the smarter cookies do have a plan or strategy that surpasses football, that being that the club is first and foremost a business. Brentford and Brighton spring top mind. They will endure lean times, its a given, but they have the best chance to bounce back because of the way they are run. Their success is built on long term fixed startegies that they don't deviate from. That includes how they pick managers, how they recruit players, how they recruit other on and off field staff.
We are in the bottom half of league 2 because our plan is simply to survive and as such it's harsh to blame the likes of Sparks for our plight. He is essentially fulfilling the remit of his boss, that to make sure the club is self sustaining without any monetary or very little if any ownership influence. Fact we've tried every kind of approach in such a short space of time, gone for managers who want full control to having a recruitment team shows a CEO trying desperately to make something work, but ultimately with having little experience in the role or having an owner in a similar vein who shows no enthusiasm to even wanting to own a football club we are pretty much hand to mouth.
So @Park bantam just to prove you wrong from last night, i don't hate on Ryan Sparks. Despite his David Brent impersonations he's hamstrung by his lack of experience and owner who quite frankly doesn't want to be here. Heck even Alexander said in the interview last night that he hadn't even spoke to Stefan Rupp yet, what sort of business owner balls deep into a company to the tune of around £10 million wouldn't have conversation with the guy they potentially want to take manage their business for the next 2 1/2 years?
So folks, there's your long term plan in a nutshell. Our owner doesn't have one bar breaking even.

 

Nine pages on Dreary Derek. Wow.

this thread has sparked more interest than his football team ever did.

 

Didn't stop him taking the job tho
Only when he failed did it become an issue
Says everything !!!

 

Adams has a point. We pay significant rent every season. We don’t own the stadium etc.
However Adams football was utterly appalling. Dreadful to watch. Poor recruitment. Zero responsibility for his own failures. No rapport with the fans. Almost active in his arrogance to get the boot from our club.
Hughes came in, has far more trophies and achievements in his career yet was humble and made a connection with the club. As badly as that ended he wasn’t as delusional as Derek. Adams can’t seem to accept his fault in anything. We are well rid of the bloke. Poisonous when under pressure.

 

Two managers have mentioned it - Grayson & Adams. Both of whom felt they were doing us a favour being here and both failed so looking for excuses. The only player I recall is Warnock and he was misquoted as he was referring to his first spell here.

The facilities at Rawdon Meadows are as good as any L2 club, probably most L1 clubs. Not owning them is a red herring used by failed managers and @Fordy117 and the latter is only bothered because it's the only stick he has to beat the club.

 

A turgid bitter man. His comments served no useful purpose, other than to try and cause division at City, don't fall for it.. He just displayed his lack of class, he's a piece of shit.

 

Absolutely spot on. The things he highlights is nothing more than deflection on his part. Yes each of those elements might be true and less than ideal. However, what he fails to acknowledge - despite these financial commitments and lack of owned assets - is the fact he was still provided with excellent training facilities to prepare his squad, he was still given one of the biggest budgets to assemble a promotion challenging team and had the advantage of a large passionate fan base to back the team.

He failed to capitalise on the latter two benefits/opportunities and that lies firmly at his feet. Suck it up Derek, you failed! Assembled a poor squad, played poor football and had such a abrasive manner that fans would not get onside with you. Reflect and learn from your own failings would be my message to him.