Ryan Sparks

I think it's the other way round. You establish yourself, THEN you might get a bid from a Russian or Arab investor.

If that's what Rupp's all about, even more reason to set out his plans to get to the top.

 

Once again where are these mythical owners going to come from what’s their motivation? A couple of months ago I was listening to a chairmen from the London area of a Championship club can’t remember which and he was saying many owners in that league would love to get out but they can’t sell.
If we were to get new owners then it is more than likely they would go down the self sustaining route which can still bring progress as I hope the beginning of a new dawn here if that’s what it is does for us

 

According to Sparks, Rupp hasn't put the money in this January. Its largely a result of iFollow sales going up, very few ST refund requests and the fact that we underspent in the summer.

 

Great post. Especially the bit about carping, very funny given you are named after a fish shop ! A very good inside view all the same.

 

You want the club to be more ambitious yet you say Sparks (who by your own admission was too inexperienced to be given the job as CEO) should leave it he has any ambition!
As for Rupp, yes I'd like to see someone buy him out but as long as he backs the management and recruitment team up to the salary cap then I'm happy. There are spending restraints now to consider.
As you say Sparks is very young and because of that he has plenty of time to fulfil any ambitions, both here and elsewhere.

 

What are you on?

He’s been in the less than 3 months and is/has put things in place to restructure the club for the better. Why would he be looking to move now? Where would he go and who would take someone without a proven record of success, unless it’s a club who were in as bad a position as we were. He’s been fortunate the owner has backed him. It’s down to him now to raise his own funds going forward. Until he’s done that, stabilised and grown the club both on and off the pitch, he’s still a fledgling CEO.

 

Excellent post. Amazing how the garden is rosy after a few games without defeat. Still I look at the table, bottom end of the khazi league.
I'll let the results on and off the pitch, decipher my conclusions. Let's see where we are in 15 months, at the end of next season, you know 6 years into Rupps tenure.

BTW, @wetherbywhaler has the non existence of hot water for us mere fans been resolved yet or a time frame. I know we are not corporate or hospitality but you know, simple pleasures of constant hot water....

 

I think you underestimate how bad L2 is this year. get to 42/43 points from the next seven matches and we are very much within the grasp of a 15 game run to the play offs, with 45 to play for and 28 to 30 needed.

 

I generally like the Sparks interview.

Does seem genuine, but some remnants of senior manager job interview blurb. None more so than the bit about building foundations and others reaping the rewards after I move on. Tends to impress the interview panel that one. Definitely not indicating he is about to leave, and he will know that moving on too quickly without development here, and achievement under his belt, will be seen negatively at his next interview.

 

I agree about the safety level. There has been some good football player in L2 this season but there are some poor sides struggling and for quite a while we looked like we were one of them.
It will be interesting to see if now we have strengthened an already improving squad we can kick on and keep climbing the table. The big test will come when we lose a game. Although during this run we haven't always been at our best we have managed to rise to each challenge. Finn is a good example of this, there have been games where he has struggled, particularly early on in games but he has risen to each challenge and not folded, despite his inexperience and playing out of position.
If we can meet that challenge who knows where we might finish. I'm always a realist (sometimes bordering on pessimist) but I like the spirit about this side to go with their ability.

 

League two m8. What's your point?

 

Money we should have spent in the summer?

 

Lets be fair. I've never heard WW praise Junior

 

In the long run, our abject failure in the run up to December might be a good thing. A cautionary tale as to what can happen when you nickle and dime everything and neglect the core elements of what running a football club means.

 

In essence the piss poor attempt at running a professional football club called our bluff in the end. And nothing to do with hindsight either, most sensible people fully knew the writing was on the wall with the way the club was being run. And yet even up to the end there were still the 'usual suspects' who thought everything would turn out OK as if by magic. The ones of us who should have been listened to were only listened to when the situation became untenable and that isn't a professionally run outfit in anyones eyes.

 

According to Sparks we were on the brink when he joined much like @wetherbywhaler said. The fact that now we are able to spend money on four transfer fees shows the financial progress made