Most liked posts in thread: Direction of the Club a debate

Supporters talk about the Rhodes, Lawn era with misty eyes as if it was all wonderful. Lawn joined Rhodes in 2007 and we had years of mediocrity leading to that dreadful summer of 2011 when we talked of moving to Odsal, had Jacko as manager, had a charlatan Archie Christie as some sort of director of football and lost our first two home games to the giants of Aldershot and Dagenham. Fortunately we cut our losses, brought in Parkinson and after another battle against relegation he turned it round with a great summer of recruiting in 2012. We were then fortunate to have amazing cup runs which mades Rhodes and Lawn almost visionary’s in the eyes of supporters which they were far from that.

 

I'm not sure its constant, or at least not out of context with how consistently poor and poorly run we are. The vast majority of what I see posted on here that's critical, is justified. I don't think fans want to moan - they want something to believe in, a club to be proud of, a club trying to grow. As to whether its helpful - I'm not sure, and I'm not sure its intended to be. But I think there's an argument to say that when fans are consistently served up with a club that's lacking in ambition, a plan, then a unified sentiment that says 'we demand better' CAN make a difference. We're customers at the end of the day, and businesses need to listen to their customers if they want to perform and grow.

There are some small chinks of optimism - the players you've mentioned, and the contingent of young players do at least offer some hope. Its largely based on an unknown, but at least its something different. What I would say though, is that the idea of our 'decent start' - I still think its too early to say. I've seen some positives, I've seen some negatives. I'd want to see another 4-6 League games before rating our start. More importantly - I'll believe that we're acting to appointing a CEO when I see it. Your final comment is an interesting one and I think it reflects how we approach things as a club - 'there isn't a line of CEO's or prospective owners waiting in the wings'. I've no idea - though I know we've had interest over the last 2 years - but that's not really how it works. You have to get on the front foot as a club and seek out the talented and ambitious people that might want to take on a club. We seem to wait for things to happen rather than making things happen - across pretty much all areas of the club.

 

Selecting a manager is just one part of their role. A proper owner and Board set the vision and strategy for the club, they manage its longer term sustainability. They get credit for his appointment, they get credit for backing him as best they could - albeit with a limited level of longer term ambition or financing. But they were also negligent; soon as Parky left, the lack of infrastructure at a club leadership level, was laid bare. Those 2-3 years of success were all on Parky setting the agenda, not the owners.

 

My main problem is we are always left scratching our heads every window or every time anyone leaves the club. We have no forward thinking plan in a world crammed full of data and stats and recruitment brains and we have no idea.
if we got that sorted it would be a start of a good plan to move the club forward. You can identify players and then sell them on hopefully for a profit. But if they go you know who you are getting to replace them and one goes the other is announced at the same time. This gives fans optimism we have a plan

Same if the manager goes. You know the scouting system will still have the players in place and you don’t fall apart like we did when parky left.

if I had one objective for the new CEO that would be it. It would save the club money in the long run too.

 

People are quick to forget some of the negativity that was posted online during the Parky era. He was regularly called 'Plonkinson'. Criticised for being too cautious, too stubborn and somehow also for tinkering too much. His football was dull. End of his first season was our worst league finish ever bar 1963. One year we went on a run of 23 games with only 1 win. Despite this he will be regarded as one of our greatest ever managers and rightly so.

The point is people are better judged in hindsight rather than in the present. Have we been in decline for the last 2 years? Yes - obviously. Are we in decline now? It's too soon to say, there's enough signs there to suggest we are turning a corner and on the way back up. Things don't just happen overnight.

 

Rupp has taken us in one direction.

Rupp out.

 

Sure.

- We have had a solid if unspectacular start to the season IMO.
- Recruitment, on the whole, looks positive (I know we need a striker).
- Watt, Staunton and Wood (if we can get him to sign a new contract) all look like really good young players we can develop. Maybe add POC and French to that too.
- The older pros (Clarke, ROD, Novak, Donaldson, Evans) all seem like good characters
- All the egos and deadwood from last season are largely gone, Ismail is the only real concern for me as he is constantly injured.
- McCall is generally quite good at getting the best out of the players he has got and I believe he is building a resilience which was exemplified in the FGR game.
- Football is better than under Bowyer
-With all the Covid turmoil, I would suggest that we are weathering the storm better than the rest of the league financially speaking.
I really think this team could do something this year and if we make the playoffs that is a step forward after 3 years of going backwards (obviously I would like to see us in the top 3 though).

Of course it could all go pear shaped, Novak gets injured, we don't bring in a new striker, Rupp stops putting money in and doesn't sell the club and we are bottom of the football league in a months time. That would obviously be a backward step.

But for me, there is enough there to suggest come the end of the season the first scenario is more likely.

 

We seem to be treading water. No fault of Stuart or the players, but from 4 & 1/2 years of madness from the top. The previous 5 years had been positive, consistent year on year improvement. I have my criticisms of Rhodes but at least when Lawn was by his side you know that Lawn (then joined by Mason) would be open to telling the supporters what was going on.

Im still hopeful that things will change. Rupp seems like a genuine bloke, but surely he can see he has to move on. I have heard from a friend of a friend of a friend who knows somebody at the club blah blah blah that the new CEO has agreed to join (which somebody also posted on Twitter on the same day so the leaking tap where I get my rumours from must be starting to leak again) and will be in place this side of Xmas.

 

The corner we're turning involves finishing above 9th.

I think we actually turned the corner last season in the sense that 9th in League Two was a better outcome than 24th in League One and bottom by a mile represented. Given the exit of Rahic, that's a definite and huge positive, so the argument is pretty solid. Was it a massive statement? No, of course not, but I said before the season started that play offs was a pipe dream and unrealistic expectation.

Given that, so far, no League Two team has beaten us and we've been unfortunate not to pick up more points (narrowly drawing with Forest Green springs immediately to mind), and I'd honestly say that at this point those who are particularly cynical about our progress or out-right naysayers are not actually playing the odds.

We look pretty good to not lose at all for a while, though obviously we will at some point - maybe the next game - but that won't inform us of our form any more than the 5-0 defeat against Lincoln did. If we're looking for patterns, I'm not seeing anything particularly negative, and if we're looking at the current situation facing so many League Two clubs, I'd say we're in a hugely fortunate situation in that Rupp is clearly able - and WILLING - to ensure the ship doesn't sink.

On that basis, we have to look like a top 7 club this season. We're financially stable (a huge deal in Covid times), we're not losing games, our 'disappointing' signings like Billy Clarke are performing well...

I think you're one of many people on a real downer, Dave, and I don't particularly blame you - but I think the club has shown more resilience than the fan base after the crushing Rahic era. The reason for that is probably that most of the professionals who were crushed by Rahic aren't here any longer - but we, the fans, still are. We're still hurting, and still feeling the effects of plummeting from one goal away from Championship football to not even being a top League Two side.

I, personally, am thinking (hoping at least) that changes this season - and if there ever was a season this club actually had an advantage of most L2 sides, it's the one where most L2 sides are crippled.

 

You mention Peterborough who have a record of paying good money for strikers then selling for big profit. I'll bet their next few striker targets are already prepped. McAnthony obviously believes that Ferguson has something to offer.

 

You can guarantee that if we’d had Toney and sold him, the forum would be full of people criticising the club saying “we lack ambition by selling our best assets”.

 

The principles still hold true. Ironically, I think its similar to what Rahic had in mind - but they do it properly. They invest in scouting, they target and pay the going rate for high potential attacking players, they have a clear playing style, and they have a reputation for both buying and selling well. To your earlier point - their fans aren't up in arms when players are sold because they negotiate well and get big fees, and they have a clear and trusted capability of finding the next big thing. I guarantee you now, they'll have a view of 5-10 promising young attacking players either on the fringes of PL teams, or playing in the lower leagues - they'll be scouted regularly, and they'll know everything they need to know about the contract status of those players, they'll be in regular contact with the agents of those players. They'll know well in advance who they're going to target when their latest shiny thing is being mooted for a big move.

 

Surely the way they backed Parkie had something to do with the success. It was always a bit hand to mouth but they gave him a good budget each year by taking some risk. Also Parkie did have some luck;
1) The best striker in the division was already there(which he recognised and handled brilliantly)
2) Arsenal couldn't perform on a cold night
3) Chelsea thought it was too easy and relaxed so much they couldn't step back up
4) Exeter imploded
Would I have Parkie back? What do you think?

 

Yes I’d have Parky back in a shot. And yes, to the credit of the owners they recognised they had some who should be backed, they gave him whatever they could to strengthen the team and kept out of his way.

 

And another legend Bobby Campbell.

 

It's worth listening to the Hard Truth podcast.

Darragh MacAnthony shares his philosophy. He bought club for a £1 and sold half his stake, valuing the club at over £10m. They're moving to a £50m stadium, bought their ground back that they were renting, and have £25m of players on their books.

The podcast is co-hosted by Philip Ideson who is a City fan so you get quite a lot of City stories cropping up. I'd love to have the club run based upon his principles. Here's the podcast link; https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hard-truth-inside-football-industry-darragh-macanthony/id1503576021

 

Not necessarily. If we had sold Toney as yet another striker we'd invested in, seen score goals, sold on for huge profit, then bought another promising striker to repeat the process, I think the fans would see it as good business.

Posh are almost in dreamland and it's not going to take much to push them over. At the moment their prize assets get sold to the Championship for big money. Premiership clubs don't want to risk a L1 striker. If Toney does well at Brentford a Prem club will sign him and Posh will get a percentage just as Exeter have done for Ollie Watkins (and as we did for McBurnie). If Posh get into the Championship then their striker investments could make them serious £15-20 million profits. They have a plan.

 

Rupp was at least jointly accountable. If you're running any business, you're accountable for its performance.

I have no confidence in either Rhodes or Sparks to run a thriving, growing club.