Most liked posts in thread: Stefan Rupp

I posted this on TCA from today’s T&A. Adams is quoted as saying

“You get very little support from round about you. That’s why you’re the leader, the manager of the organisation because you’re the strongest man.

“That’s why we have to come out to the press – nobody else can deal with it. Chairmen, chief executives, owners can’t deal with it”.

If that isn’t and indictment of what needs to change at this club I don’t know what is. I hope I’m not putting words in their mouth but I think that’s what @Faithful Bantam is referring to. An absent owner and a novice CEO are it seems in Adams’ view leaving him out on a limb. Adams is a miserable sod and his football is shit, but if his comments are correct it shows that there is more to it behind the scenes. Under Adams we’re never getting free flowing football and a manager you love, but perhaps the issue is more deep rooted.

@WilsdenBantam mention Accrington. Run on a budget of £2.50 and a multipack of Aldi’s knock off Twix, they’re established in a league above us despite crowds of 3,000. Their owner is investing in infrastructure, not players and they have a net transfer income over the last five seasons of £3m. Ignore McBurnie and City’s is £600k.

Ryan bangs on about sustainability and he’s right, spending more than you earn in whatever walk of life will ultimately end in tears. But Accrington are showing how it should be done. AFC Wimbledon sold their old ground to Chelsea for £7.5m, some donations from the Council and wealthy fans and two bond issues and they have their own new stadium. Not having the best season in League One but they didn’t exist when City went into administration the first time. Sustainability.

Bradford City’s model of sustainability is living season to season spending as little as possible hoping to get lucky on the managerial merry go round.

Imagine if we’d spent £250k on a Tshimanga or paid the extra £500 a week for Stockton. We might be top three, have two players worth a million or more and be pulling in crowds of 15,000 or more every home game. That’s sustainability.

I’d love an hour or two with Sparks and Rupp.

 

What difference would that have made Bronco? Serious question.

Its pretty clear that Adams is unhappy with how the club is being run, and that doesn't seem to be making a difference, so what hope do the fans have of making a difference at a forum? The only way that fans can make a difference, sad to say, is through protest and boycotts to force the change thats needed. And that change isn't the manager. Or at least, it isn't just the manager.

The problem we have now, is that Adams is becoming the central point of focus for fans anger. And its because he's dislikable and has no connection with the supporters. But at what point do we look at the fact we have yet another manager who's been repeatedly successful elsewhere, failing here and calling out issues within the club? We need to look at the heart of the issue because as the saying goes, the first step to fixing any problem, is recognising what the problem is. We have an absent owner and a novice CEO, who's clearly not ready for the size of this role.

 

Rupp may have his faults but be careful what you wish for, New owners with no money behind them might well be worse, Rupp is right in only considering any bids with genuine money and ambition for the club before selling, We could have a lot worse

 

Rupp was clearly misled when he bought the club. And he probably sees nothing but downside risk given his experience to date. But he has to put emotion an negative sentiment about risk to one side and recognise the gift that's fallen into his lap. One of the most experienced ever PL managers has rocked up against all expectation, with a myriad of contacts that should be of use to us. If the businessman inside him doesn't see the opportunity that exists now for some calculated speculation and what that could do for him in terms of a financial return, he's a fool. He can almost be forgiven for much of what's gone before; but if, from this point, he doesn't embrace the opportunity to positively invest something, he's a moron.

 

That should be sent to Rupp, oh to have a chairman like that again. Apart from his six weeks of madness big Geoff delivered and i would not have missed it for anything.

 

Well the second part of the interview was as uninspiring as the first. What a wasted opportunity by Parker to really get into Rupp and find out his long term goals with the club. Asking basic questions like some 6th former writing for the school mag. Rupp still thinks getting it right on the pitch is the way out, which is correct to some degree, but what about the infrastructure? Training facilities, stadium ownership, investment, scouting? There's nothing new in that interview that hasn’t been said by Sparks over the last 15 months. Tempering expectation is one thing, but plodding along is another.

This is his and the clubs golden chance to get going again. Managers like Mark Hughes come along once in a blue moon and I was expecting some kind of rallying call to fans and sponsors alike. A statement of intent not some hands in pocket, shrugging shoulders talk about self sustainability. If this doesn’t work I genuinely fear this club.

 

The bare minimum should be improvement year on year. That is what Sparks said in an interview with Width of a Post about a year ago (26.04.21) -

“We can’t be in this same position in 12 months’ time. We have to improve, season on season. That means the target for next season has to be promotion – anything less is falling short, in my view. We’ve got to have that kind of attitude and I am only interested in succeeding".

Yet, here we are 12 months later 20, that's TWENTY, points off 7th place, and on course for our worst league finish in 60+ years. That's not just falling short, it's downright embarrassing and completely unacceptable. The fact that the club are still going ahead with the end of year player awards when we are where we are is a disgrace imo, and is in complete contradiction to Sparks' soundbite that he is only interested in succeeding. If that's how he genuinely feels , the last thing he should be allowing to happen is a celebration of failure.

 

I really don’t understand Rupp. If he wants to be an absent owner, and has little interest in the club beyond ensuring it doesn’t lose money, and he isn’t going to put money in to invest in growing the club, then surely the very least you’d expect from a businessman who’s made a 300m fortune is the nous to appoint a highly capable person to run the show for you, even if that means you have to pay an extra £100K a year to get an experienced, footballing CEO in. That’d be the one position you’d want someone at the helm who you KNOW is capable, rather than taking a punt on a young lad who only a couple of years ago was filling a fairly basic comms role. It’s bizarre. It’s doing more than anything to jeopardise his asset.

 

I haven't spent any money at the ground since the Hartlepool game. Nor will spend on the sponsors in the ground or vendors. Away games, I will only pay at the opposing turnstiles. If not available, I will miss the game. This is my point against Rupp's ownership.

Stevenage, Tuesday. 4 of us not going now and to Park Avenue on Wednesday vs York (£5 admission fols). I've cancelled my accommodation in Cheltenham when we was at Forest Green and will likely take in Halifax v Solihull. Next Saturday, honestly don't know if I'm going.

Slightly different reasons here. I want to enjoy my time with my son when watching football. The Covid era has made me reassess. Undivided loyalties are not the be all and end all for me.

As for next season and a season ticket. I'm totally not sure, much will depend on my son. If today was the template, that's two lost supporters. But I acknowledge, much may change.

Fair play to you pal. Total respect on your continued support.

But boycotts are the least of this clubs problems. The inherent issues within the club are as much at putting the clubs budget at risk.

 

feck off those at the top and feck off those on here that defend them.

Give us our dignity and club back. So many families who’ve been going for years won’t be back in a hurry you’re ruining peoples weekends and club that we care about.

 

Hmmm call me cynical, but an interview before season ticket prices are to be released and out on sale…

Let me guess, lessons have been learned and we’re going for it next season. The way those at our club act is so transparent, right out of the Rhodes textbook who was sat near Rupp yesterday funny enough.

 

The amount of fans on here who slagged off Adams, rightly, for not taking responsibility when the going was shit I hope they’ll now be consistent with this interview. It’s actually less than I expected I thought we might have got a few clichés at least about mistakes made and lesson’s learned but the opposite it’s a ‘what else could we do’ shrug of the shoulders. In business when something fails it’s important to have a post-mortem to make sure it does happen again, if people are wondering why we’ve had 10 managers in 4 years this interview is testimony to it they literally just shove everything onto the manager and try the same thing again. If we succeed it’ll be luck not careful planning and skill.

#Ruppout