Sparks - T&A

Can't argue much with this other than Mark Lawn was at the club as well and we all know who the businessman was

 

What'ts his point though? He did some deals. So what!

However, like a gambler who only talks about his winnings, he hasn't put in the bad deals that Rhodes has been responsible for plus what's happened to all the money because I don't see us owning anything do you?

 

I'm starting to think people on this board don't understand the word 'ambition'.

What are you actually all talking about?

 

What are you talking about? Explain what you mean mate.

Even @Park bantam is lost. Talent? What you talking about?

 

What I think he is trying to say is he doesn’t lack ambition he lacks talent for the job which I dispute strongly

 

Talent or ability.

We are having a discussion about how well the club is run, or at least I am. Julian Rhodes' level of talent has a huge impact on how we fare as a club.

Julian Rhodes' obviously has ability in his role - he also obviously has limitations.

How good Rhodes is at his job and the resources he has available are the only two things that matter. The only two things.

So why do we keep having a discussion about ambition? Edin Rahic had ambition, so what. He had zero talent despite generous resources.

Ambition means absolutely nothing other than separating two people with similar levels of talent as one might want success slightly more than the other.

It's a complete nonsense to keep saying Rhodes has no ambition or that the club would perform fantastically if we had ambition. It's empty nonsense devoid of any meaning used as an easy excuse to 'have a go'.

It's utter rubbish.

 

Well it's not utter rubbish.

Rhodes is a talented bloke. Can't really say he isn't but does he have the ambition, drive and desire to really drive the club forward. You can see by @Bronco post that he has do some good deals but then the problem is the club has nothing to show for it.

You can have talent but if you're not ambitious then you won't go forward as fast as you should or could.

I don't know what Edin had. He knew about football didn't he?

 

Is this about right?
Dear Ryan

I demand change and I am ambitious.

I demand we get an owner who has money to throw at us willy nilly

I demand we get a new CEO who can take us to the top

I demand you are replaced with someone who isn't a mouthpiece for the CEO and owner

I demand the club is bought from the landlord to turn it into an asset

I demand that only the best players are recruited-no Josh Wright's again please

I demand that you put up ST prices so as to show we are a serious football club

Love @Fordy117

 

To give a more balanced view , why not list all his bad deals?

 

I'm sure Mark was at the club when some of those deals were done but my understanding was Julian dealt with the transfer negotiations, it was more to point out without the money coming in from add on's etc we would have been struggling.
But then again Mark & Julian never hide from the fact that we needed a Cup run or we would have to sell an asset.

 

We achieved promotion under Rhodes because he showed ambition.

We have consistently overspent but always balanced the books under Rhodes because he has shown ambition.

We were on the verge of promotion to the Championship under Rhodes because he showed ambition.

Rhodes sold the club to R and R because his resources did not match his ambition.

There is a lot of confused discussion about selling players (essential), not buying a multi million pound training facility (not viable or profitable) and where we are now (not Rhodes' fault).

 

Every club is a selling club , maybe a few in the PL don't need to be . The Rhodes family have done more than most to keep this club alive , various clubs down the years have been " ambitious " and spent well beyond their means , we certainly have , Bolton - are 1 example , the " ultimate" example are Bury, and look at them . Money talks in Football and sadly 98% of the clubs don't have any . If SKY - BT etc pulled the plug and the banks and lending houses re- called their debts how many clubs would survive longer than a season ? . This is why the top half of the PL strive for champions league places , this is why there is a large turnover in managers that dont achieve qualification . The PL have sold their soul to TV , and looking at how many people have stopped subscribing world wide due to the pandemic they are going to struggle to continue to bale out football with lucrative money . Italy are a perfect example of what the future holds for the PL .

 

Conversation starter: Rhodes, since we were demoted to L2, has shown more ambition and been more successful than MacAnthony relative to their resources.

 

Not for me Jon.

Three seasons of championship football whilst we've been languishing in L1/2. Three promotion campaigns, two of which automatic. A JPT win in there too. Now I know we've had a couple of great cup runs but, the league is bread and butter and the true measure of success. Not to mention the cup runs were, in my opinion, thanks to Phil Parkinson rather than the structure or footballing ethos of the club.

And Posh have made their own resources under McAnthony. The improvement of their academy from a cat 4 to a cat 2, bringing through their own prospects being one example. The investment in their training ground and scouting system so that they have proper infrastructure set up for the future is another. Not to mention their obvious transfer policy that yields a ridiculous amount of profit for a league 1 side.

All of which are totally attainable and realistic aspirations and developments for us, but Rhodes and Rupp see fit to plod along from season to season. Rupp I can understand considering he hasn't a clue how to run a football club. Rhodes however is still trying to run a club the same way he did a decade ago. Now, he isn't the only one by any means, especially in the lower leagues, but football has moved on and modernised and if you don't move with the times you'll be left behind. Which is personally why I feel Rhodes needs to be replaced, or, hire a DOF so he can run the business whilst the DOF can try to modernise the way the footballing operations of this club are run.

 

Sky and BT are not pulling out or reducing their bids for PL. If anything it will increase because the likes of Amazon, Netflix are waiting in the back ground.

The top teams chases the CL places because everyone should want to be on the top table. Yes, you do get more more for being in the CL but it's everything else that comes with it.

Concentrate on Bradford City and we don't have anything to show under Rhodes. He even sold the club to Mickey Mouse people and we have gone further back ever since.

This virus might have done the club a favour because it needs to have better ideas on how to move forward because it has no identity on or off the pitch!

 

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing to have.

 

Oh did he just think about the money???

I'll say he did hope Edin and Rupp would be able to take the club forward unlike him and Lawn..I will give him that.

 

In your opinion , the Spanish - French - Italian leagues have complained about the amount of money given to the PL . With your foresight of unemployment in this country alone the revenue taken by Sky will be decimated . I concentrate on Bradford been going for many years , but i'm also a realist . We are were we are and unless we get a multi - millionaire backer we will stay , the Championship is a realistic target , but to achieve that we need money , if we put up ST prices to say £350 we would lose 70% of our fans , this is not down to being a true supporter it's down to the fact Brdford is a very poor City and the priorities lie elsewhere not on Football . It's not a lack of ambition it's lack of Money , most teams in the UK are in the same boat . Rhodes and Lawn were honest enough to admit they couldn't fund the club to the next level , this was very honest and i valued there honesty . They also said the " new owners " would be in a position to move the club forward , we had 1 of the biggest budgets and failed at Wembley , the season after we had a large budget but with an " idiot who knew football " micro- managing every aspect of the day to day running of the club including player selection and team tactics . It failed and drove a wedge between the team and supporters . This has been compounded by a continual stream of poor managers , we have been shocking since wembley and all of that is not down to lack of ambition by Rhodes . Who in the Bradford area would put money into a local club with no ground- no assests and a crap squad ?.

 

Yes I think both Mark & Julian thought Stefan & Edin could take the club forward Rupp certainly had the financial clout, lets hope what @Mike Hunt is hearing is good news we could certainly do with some.

I heard Mark wanted to be apart of the new set up, now whether it was Rahic who said no I'm not sure but in hindsight you can understand why Rahic didn't want Mark staying on and even telling Julian his services weren't required, he was so convinced he could do the job without any ones help.

 

I think you make some great points in a strong post. I think you downplay what we did under Rhodes and Parkinson, it was footballing history rather than just cup runs.

I wouldn't even mention JPT wins. It's embarrassing.

But while I think you're right, the fact there is a debate to be had tells you the gap is closer than City fans give credit for.

I think City fans are bored of Rhodes and unfairly rate him down in areas. I think City admire MacAnthony and overrate him as a result.

I would say they are two if the best chairmen in L1 and L2, personally, but I am frustrated by the lack of balance in the debate - and I hate the term 'ambition' when used as a general term as it holds no weight unless properly qualified.

Thank you for the strong reply.