Ryan Sparks

Any questions

 

Large or medium chips ?

 

What did you get for Christmas?

 

Is that tie photoshopped?

 

No, but his head is

 

Do you know football?

 

Top bloke.

 

I'd ask Ryan that if he felt more experience was needed in such a critical position as manager/head coach, what moves is he making to ensure we have more experience in the board room?

Where is the Director of Football the club is sorely lacking?

 

I think that you should meet up with him Fordy and ask questions on our behalf. You can find for us if he is genuine or in fact a charlatan.

 

No question the guy is genuine, but massive doubts about whether he's good enough to lead this football club.

Julian Rhodes get pelters for the way he ran this club, and he struggled badly to undo the damage from the PL years. It was only when Mark Lawn joined as co-chairman that we turned the corner - and we should never underestimate the size of the role played by Phil Parkinson in that, he was the perfect appointment at the time.

That trio featured Rhodes, the most experienced person available in terms of running a football club, Mark Lawn, a self-made millionaire who was obviously a fan through and through and had opinions as strong as anyone on this forum, and Phil Parkinson, a man who pretty much made sure the club was run exactly as he wanted it run, dominated many aspects of the club's operations from transfers (ignoring calls to sign marquee players and signing a glut of hard workers) to engaging with the press to motivating the fans to make VP a bit of a fortress in some of the biggest games in our history.

What we have now is Stefan Rupp (self-made millionaire, but no experience running a football club) and Ryan Sparks (experience as an employee, no experience running a football club), plus a manager 'to be determined'.

I really think you have be incredibly naive to expect that Rupp and Sparks possess the skills, traits, and personalities necessary to replace Rhodes, Lawn and Parkinson. Rhodes, Lawn and Parkinson had all bases covered; I'm not sure yet what it is that Ryan brings to the table, but whatever it is none of it has been proven.

 

Let’s see the actions before coming to conclusion like this. There has been plenty of promises this summer let’s see if they are delivered. And then let’s see if they lead to better on the pitch next season.

 

Well let me just say, that post is NOT a conclusion, it's a question, and the question is valid.

Between them, Rupp and Sparks have none of the pedigree or proven experience of Rhodes/Lawn, and that's pretty much a fact.

 

But what is still to be decided is has Ryan the the drive and determination and more personal motivation to drive this club forward. I look forward to finding out

 

That's good of you, but I'd still like to see the club appoint a Director of Football, preferably not chosen by Ryan, who can work alongside Sparks and Rupp and bring to the club the experience and know-how that's obviously lacking.

I think the club are bonkers not to reinforce the board room in such a manner, but this is an owner who allowed the decision to be taken that Bowyer wasn't allowed an assistant, with the consequence being that we're the one, single and only club that Bowyer has failed at.

I'm not surprised, though, that we're not reinforcing the board room appropriately, because the man above the fella who is learning how to be a CEO is learning how to run a club, and THAT'S more important than buying into the narrative of 'will he, won't he' when it comes to young Sparks.

 

Drive and motivation are fine but without a defined plan, structure and backing, in itself its not going to succeed.

So far, I've seen two management set ups rewarded then dismissed, a transfer window lauded which was far from it, the playing/management personnel fail to kick on and apathy, division & derision within the paying public, unfortunately return.

I was neutral with Sparks at the offset. I still am and wish him every success. But despite his words, their are more questions than answers at this stage.

 

To many levels of management CEO,director of recruitment, and now you want a director of Football. To much scope for friction. I want a good managerial appointment with decent assistance then and vitality I want a good fitness regime with the best we can afford.
On top of that I want Turnbull to continue to develop a good scouting system. Let’s see if we get that over the Summer

 

Well despite all that when he took over we were heading south quickly. We ended up safe with comfort. I remember his first interview. Without being able to quote his exact words he said the first step was safety this season then putting n place the infrastructure in the summer to go on to promotion next season. He put in place a director of recruitment something needed.and whilst all the signings didn’t work out we signed Canavan and Cook who helped us to safety and Crankshaw who,looks promising and Vernham who has done it before.
So whilst I fully realise he is going to be judged on what happens this summer I believe there is room for optimism

 

The Director of Football should be a separate appointment, not made by Ryan, that is of equal standing and stature under the owner, Stefan Rupp.

If we'd had that in place while Rahic was around, that clown wouldn't have done as much damage.