Most liked posts in thread: Ryan Sparks Interview

A bit of humility goes a long way sometimes, especially when the decisions you've made see long supporters showing apathy toward the cause. Bigging yourself up, which is clearly the case in todays piece written by Parker (I'm not discounting poetic licence from Parker as he clearly did this the other week) leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth when 16th in the division is the current standing of your endeavours.

 

I feel sorry for Sparks if he truly does believe this spiel. The owner is never around to offer support and there’s no one else to answer to. Past managers have had a pop at the club and the Cowleys ran a mile to tinpot Colchester, albeit an Essex club. The fans (rightly) are growing restless, so self praise is probably all he’s getting!

This is where Rupp’s absenteeism hurts us as an owner who gives a damn would be in a better position to see we need support.

16th in League 2, let that sink in. Wholly inadequate

 

Some big contradictions today ....

“Again, we tried to support that as far as we could. When Graham came in, the recruitment process was never about finding a manager who could play 3-4-3 or 3-5-2.

“But it was very clear to Graham, who had not traditionally played those formations, that it’s the best strength of this squad.


He then goes on to say about Alexander and Milton Keynes...

“I was quite surprised when Graham went to MK Dons because how they want to play doesn’t necessarily suit his way.

“But he became their manager, and won manager of the month in August, so it was a heck of a start.

“I thought it was a good appointment for MK Dons but they had to commit to a different way, different recruitment and probably would have had to sit in League Two for a couple of seasons while they went through the windows and changed the squ
ad.


So by that thinking because the squad here doesn't fit Alexander's methods and usual set ups, shouldn't we be planning for a couple of seasons in league two aswell then

 

Simon Parker (who never gets info) interviews Ryan Sparks (who never gives info)

Should be riveting

 

Have you seen the T & A recently?

Thats as probing an article that’s been in it for the last 5 years.
Thats nearly Pullitzer prize stuff compared with its usual daily output

 

It’s more of a monologue than an interview.

 

Yep. It's boring.

It concerns me that he still goes in about making the ply offs and the "quality" we brought in during the summer. There was no quality.

 

'We brought in a lot of excellent players over the summer'.
Did we Ryan? Then where are they and why the hell aren't we playing them?

 

WOULD IT STILL BE A GOOD SEASON FOR YOU IF CITY REACH WEMBLEY BUT DON’T GET PROMOTED?

“I don’t try and sit back and think whether that would be success or failure.''

Yes Ryan, no promotion is a failure. We don't settle for mediocrity remember?

 

Ive read todays article and ive re-read the previous installments, to see if i have misconstrued any sentences or twisted in my own head what Ryan is seeing and saying, and without myself sounding arrogant, i dont think i have.

i thought right, read it all back without anti-sparks glasses on, cut the guy some slack and start again but its as if they dont see the wood for the trees.

All not go over the past two days interview again, but a take on todays....

- The recruitment model is working (even though we had 32 players, half of whom werent good enough).

- The new approach to contracts is working, in that everyone is under contract, or the contract expires in the clubs favour (of course it is when you throw 3 year deals out willy nilly),

- we as fans care more now about the players under his stewardship (do we?)

- Its more difficult now, when he took over us and Bolton were the big boys, now there is ten clubs competing at the same revenue level (A sign surely that we have stagnated or gone backwards)


The inside of the club, is in complete denial, i dont see how they can swing it anymore than they do.

they truely think everything is going swimmingly, yet we are dawdling in 16th place in league two

 

I'd be ashamed printing that. What was the point in that interview? Just a load of nothing answers.

 

I’ve been away a few days so just been catching up, I’ve only read the second part of the interview and won’t bother with the first. But did it say whether this was an in person interview or did Parker just email him some generic questions and wait for a reply? Reason I ask is it looks like the latter.

Another odd interview tbh, talking about GA’s style of play when it’s obvious that it’s a total contrast to what’s come before. I’d have respect for him if he said something like that he wanted to bring a brand of football to the club, like what Hughes brought but realised it wasn’t working so they made a conscious decision to change to a style they feel more suited to the level. But as usual no accountability or little sense or strategy.

Let’s be honest he got a promotion that simply wouldn’t have happened at a club where the owner had ambitions about breaking even on a spreadsheet. I don’t blame Sparks for that, he’s just not suited to the role. But it’s on the man above him, I’m confident one of the first acts a new competent owner would do would be to bring in a new CEO.

 

So all these 3 instalments have proved is that Parker has achieved Gold status in the Ryan Sparks appreciation society.

 

The frustrating thing is that in Rupp’s eyes (through a pair of business eyes, not those of a football man), the club has generally been doing ok. We had great ST uptake after hitting playoffs and the club continually remind us how good we do commercially. As long as Rupp doesn’t have to put more money in what does he care? So there is no pressure on Sparks. He can point to the sale of Lewis and forthcoming sale of Young and say Genty is paying for himself (Which is understandable).

So we just keep going in circles. Rupp happy business isnt losing money, results dont improve, stuck in L2, sack manager, start over and rebuild……[repeat]

was reading a comment today from a Norwich fan on a groundhopping page on FB, on which VP was mentioned, and he said he can’t understand why City continue to struggle in L2. How many times have we heard similar? Always get asked same question myself when discussing footy with people outside of City.

We are just a total embarrassment. Sick of it.

 

Seems very convenient timing that just as the club are receiving criticism for not planning another supporters forum we end up with a completely scripted interview with Sparks.

 

Things that could be asked;

• What is the recruitment strategy? We swing from signing youngsters, to has beens then inbetween offering 3 year deals like confetti.
• Why was a player (JY) signed and binned off by a manager three months into a four year deal?
• Why did we recruit (blatantly poorly) for a certain formation and then scrap it all three weeks into the season and end up with a hugely bloated squad?
• Why do we have players/positions the fans can see are clearly weak and have been for years (eg LB/LWB) or lack proper cover (CM) and yet it is never addressed?
• What is the actual goal of the club beyond getting out of L2? At the moment we're we to be promoted there is seemingly nothing in place to maintain us as L1 club.
• We don't need a forensic breakdown of the accounts, but where is the money going? Turnover up significantly over the last few years but playing budget remains the same (confirmed in media interviews - eg Athletic) which amounts to a real terms cut in budget. Is this realistic for a club that wants to get promoted?

That's in two minutes. I'm sure there's many more probing questions that could be asked. Let's see what the remainder of the series produces.

 

16th in the league with 60% of the season played, with only 9 league wins, suggests it isn't gonna be this season.