In defence of Stefan Rupp

That might be one of the criteria used as part of your plan to achieve success, but it cannot be a goal in itself. Competitive football cannot stand still and if you try and achieve that it will go backwards as we are seeing. Your core business is competitive football. Amature football is a different beast but even so there are strong competitive leagues to conquer.

 

The problem with anyone following GA is that we don’t know how he wants to play. Maybe, this is why he keeps getting sacked early.

 

Did he let the cat out of the bag, or was he just using the remit he was given when first appointed in November 2020 as an excuse to cover for his short fallings since then?

 

That is the problem with interviews like he insisted on. No comeback because they only had a limited time slot with other questions fans wanted answering. It just left fans feeling more frustrated. Our CEO is hiding because he knows fans will drill down into some of those answers he gave.

 

Seems to have said a lot to a man he had never even seen before I really do wonder how much truth there is in it especially as Rupp is so keen on NDA disclosures
5 million is a lot of money for someone whos interest in the club is virtually nil voluntary adding extra 500k to this year's playing budget as a "good will" gesture seems equally hard to believe especially after Sparks said publicly other than covid Rupp has not invested
If Mr Rupp sees himself as the great provider why didn't he invest/buy the ground when we were a top end L1 club and going places he had a better chance of improving his investment then
We will soon see if it's all bluster or not and am happy to be proven wrong but it simply doesn't add up to me especially when he took nearly 2 weeks to even speak to our new manager
Your last sentence makes the most sense he needs to sell

 

Agree 100%

 

The problem is football has moved on from the 70's & 80' where there was no ceo, and the owner was a small local business man on a vanity project or using the club to promote his business and get kudos at his lodge.

Back then, the owner gave the manager money and sat back chugging on a cohiba. The manager had a longer shelf life and got on with it.

Clubs rarely changed hands. Managers set the tone of the club, and if the stars aligned you had a successful season.

These days, football is a business, the ultimate aim is for the owner to come in, improve the club then sell at a profit. Some it works for, some crash and burn.

Football is big business and the managers last less in a job. They can't be relied on to set the direction because if they did, the direction would change everytime the manager did.

Modern football needs it's direction set by the people running the business in the same way any medium sized private business does.

If the CEO or owner (often the same person) doesn't set a clear direction and directive for the business (club) then it will fail and that is exactly where we are.

Graham Alexander is simply an employee tasked with managing the first team, he's not involved in the business, the commercial side, the admin or the junior levels. His job is to correctly spend the budget and hopefully achieve success for the girst team. Nothing else.

The direction, club aims, ambitions long term budgets, planning, and day to day running of the club are the responsibility of the CEO.

So far, ours has managed that in terms of income only, but he's going to crash and burn on that next year when season ticket sales plummet and sponsors don't renew.

Ultimately the future and the success/ failure of Bradford City Football Club lies with him alone, not Grsham Alexander.

 

As others have said, let us hope that Rupp has now read the fans letters, come here and at least seen for himself how his investment is walking out of the ground, and starts to make some significant changes in the next week or so to pull it back.

 

Can’t agree with that. Brought in a bloke with much deeper pockets than his own. He isn’t culpable for Rahic going crazy or what has followed. Not a Lawn fan but that’s wide of the mark for me.

 

Do you believe Sparks though Steve as I think he is economical with the truth when he is bigging himself up. If Rupp was as disinterested as you like to claim he would never come anywhere near Valley Parade. He would be charging interest on his loan which he does not, unlike a previous owner who I admit had every right to do so.

 

Well i heard he wasnt overly keen on selling and was voted out by others.

Btw as for throwing us under the bus regarding these two i can guarantee that not one person on here was against the change in ownership unless your mystic meg

We needed investment to push on to the next level and neither Lawn and Rhodes had the funds to do that and in all honest had Rupp not listened to that khoont Rahic then i doubt we would be in this mess

 

Not sure who I do and don't believe I don't know them well enough can only go on what I have heard certain things lead me to believe RS is telling the truth about no investment but it's all hearsay as you intimate
Don't class a handful of visits per season an owner deemed interested to be fair I would like/class an interested owner to be more "hands on" if not himself then one of his representatives/advisers
Let's be honest when he appointed RS as CEO he knew his background and experience to be insufficient for such a high profile job
It's a complete mess to be honest on the surface it looks like the owner and ceo aren't singing from the same hymn sheet
Who knows what goes on in the corridors of power the fans don't and aren't ever likely to !!!

 

The club was bought and that’s it.
Rahic just wanted to jump on bandwagon and be owner of a football. He had feck all money

No intention of funding this club and this was found out very early
Rupp had all the money and had zero interest then and none now
The only thing puzzing is the reason behind Rupp not selling to reclaim his investment and wanting unrealistic valuation

 

I don't think for one minute things are going on behind the scenes with regards any sackings but if there is then Rupp has to do something as yet he has failed to do and that is to get outside help from someone who does actually know football.
If doing that means financing it then that has got to be seriously considered, fortunately the none footballing side is flourishing and that has to be applauded but its the product on the pitch we fans want putting right.

 

I really do think it’s because he doesn’t have a clue. He probably thinks someone will pay it when we all know no one will touch it.
He knows nothing about football, he hired a CEO who knows nothing about football so will have no one who actually knows anything about the game advising him. He barely attends games so doesn’t mix with other owners so won’t have any contacts in the game. I genuinely believe he just thinks at some point things will improve and his investment will come good.

 

Only deeper if willing to put your hands in them

 

I've seen the picture and it looks very cosy but has anyone any actual knowledge of what was said.

 

Sticking up for himself! He deserves everything he gets. When was the last time he communicated with the fans? He is utterly useless and his wife gave the fans a gesture that showed their utter contempt for us.
Had that fan not confronted him he would have scuttled off and not be seen or heard from for another 6 months. Nothing about that man’s ownership of BCAFC has impressed me, if anything it’s just driven a huge wedge between me and my club. Not his club! My club!

 

Rupps major mistake is keeping a woeful Sparks in charge of the club. The longer he stays the longer the decline in the clubs fortune will last. He needs to sack him ASAP and start the rebuilding in close season