The Owners Level of Support Poll

While you have got to respect that it is up tp Mr Rupp how he spends his wealth - I think a number of fans - as I did - that the owners coming thst part of the investment would have been significant over and above the purchase of the club cost. Yes get the club running efficiently to make the club sustainable but we all knew cutting the first team players budget from day one would effect our ability to compete to get promotion. Championship football aim in year 3 now looks more like Div 2 unless by some miracle every thing clicks into place over the next few weeks.

 

Very much a no from me, feel like we have gone backwards massively. Saddened by the whole lot, McCall, Doyle, Killa, the music lad, the woman who used to look after the players, Mason, Hendry, it’s all one big mess...

 

Resounding "NO" from me.

What can we put into the "Good" category?

• pitch repair -- which they really seem to have had no choice but to complete
  
• some infrastructure improvements at VP
  
• Mick Lamb still working in the ticket office

And into "Bad" and "Ugly"?

• taking a side on the verge of promotion and turning it into a side that seems primed only for relegation
• alienating supporters to the degree that even long-standing ones have lost or are losing their desire to attend matches
• breaking the bonds that had developed between players, club officials, and supporters
• creating a situation where supporters can turn on fellow supporters because of the direction in which the club is going
  
• treating shabbily a club legend (Stuart)
  
• making unemployment seem a better option for some than continued employment by the club (James Mason, SImon Grayson)
• making a financial basket case of a club (Bolton) seem a more attractive option for continuing a managerial career
  
• preaching stability and creating the opposite (4 managers/coaches in 2 years, complete change of players)
• promising much and failing to deliver -- promotion in 3 years etc.
  
• in terms of players, trying to implement a new theory about how to run a football club without acquiring suitable players to make the theory work
• in terms of organisational structure, trying to implement a new model, the director of football/head coach model, without hiring suitable people to make it work
• to be kind, inadequate recruitment during transfer windows leaving the managers/coaches with inadequate resources
• the farcical goings-on this summer surrounding the head coach's appointment
  
• if rumours are to be believed, alienating staff and sponsors, and acquiring a reputation for being "difficult" to work for and with

I'm sure there are more points to be added to each list, but that is enough to be going on with!

RCB

 

Who TF has voted yes, they surely pressed the wrong button. Mushrooms

 

That is so true, and so sad that they in their belief of going forward have actually taken our club backwards.

 

You've certainly stirred up a few emotions here @Bigrod.

 

Great post.

We can't even boast basic decency.

 

I had a dream that Edin and Stefan had a massive fall out, so bad, it made Edin determined to make sure that Stefan lost his monay.

 

On the plus side I've never known the message board to be so harmonious and united.

As an aside, as I dont want to start yet another thread, when did the penny drop for you? What was your 'red flag' moment? Mine was the appointment of Collins. It confirmed that a} nobody wanted to work for Rahic and b) he wanted someone that allowed him to manage by proxy...

 

The same people who are controversial just for the sake of being different and bordering on attention seeking, despite overwhelming evidence. The poll is unanimous. Rack and Ruin Out!

 

I would add - Mr Rahic allegedly appears to have given the club a bad name in certain football circles with his approach - this would also appear to effect our ability to recruit players and coaches who can make a positive contribution to take us forward.

 

Collins for me too.

 

A massive no from me.

Edin Rahic, imo, is a chancer who has somehow got to run our football club. He is running it into the ground.

I actually feel sorry for our new set of players. They don't stand a chance while the management team is incapable of setting us up correctly, or communicating what they expect. They are being hung out to dry.

I'd love know Eoin Doyle's feelings at the moment about how we are setting up, and the role he is having to play.

 

I voted NO.

Was toying with keeping them with Rupp staying and Rahic going but if Rupp is too stupid to realise his money is being thrown away by Rahic season after season then he deserves all he gets.

McCall deserved the respect to manage his own budget after our play off final defeat. Keep that squad together, and as I said at the time add 5 or 6 decent players and we'd be in the Championship now. Broke the bank a bit for Dack and Moore and why not?

Instead we decided to go the "Abbott/Rahic way" and signed player after player who were not good enough and were a big waste of a budget which seemed light anyway. As we all know McCall was binned when Abbott delivered quite possibly the worst squad I can remember for a long time. Harsh. Then we got Grayson and we all thought we had a plan but he had seen enough to walk away from it. And i think the budget was one key factor. Lets face it without Collins getting the job our recruitment this summer would have been dreadful. Because of his links we have got Payne and Scannell, but he is quite clearly going to fail this year and will be out of a job come October.

As for the things in the background, I hate to comment on it because people who leave are always going to say bad things They haven't left for no reason and I think some stories must be far fetched but it seems every month we fall from one drama to the next.

Lawn/Rhodes made mistakes and we all remember the Archie Christie era and Jacko era where we sold dud players after dud players but they learnt and learnt fast. They got rid of them both and got Parky in who I still think will probably go down as one of our best managers ever. Rhodes was the key man to keep Lawn in check, but we don't have that anymore. We have an egomaniac storming around doing as he pleases and not a care who he upsets.

Maybe we just didn't appreciate it at the time? The football was dull at times under Parky but he got results and he made a team who we could get behind season after season. And those cup runs? Wow. Once in a lifetime for us as a club.

Back to present day and I thought we had learnt this summer getting players in quick and some good players with decent pedigree. But we havent signed the right players for positions. It seems we have been told certain players are available and instead of waiting we have snapped them up. Ended up with one experienced striker at the club.. Shambles.

Rahic clearly has a big influence over the coaching team. I spoke to someone who sits directly behind the dugouts and Collins has no clue on a matchday, constantly turning around to ask what to do and no one seems forthcoming. We don't look organised and never a clear plan. And having to change tactics so often in a game is not a modern coach, its a coach who has no clue what to do and hoping he falls onto something successful.

In a nutshell, please go, and take Abbott with you. He was decent as a player and works hard but lets be fair he is shit at his job.

 

I had my concerns when it came out that Edin wanted McCall out after wembley. I genuinely could not comprehend wanting to get rid of a manager who'd just lost a playoff final to an offside goal and had us in the top 6 for a full season. Then the shambles of last summer in terms of recruitment rang massive alarm bells. The cost cutting was a complete joke and showed me the owners didn't have ambition to take us forward at all.

What did it for me was January. Dreadful window full of false promises let Stuart down and despite all the talk of "collective responsibility" only one man got punished.

 

For me when he actually did signed copies of a DVD, that showed the way he thinks of himself. Then that big thread about the rumours of the fall out between Rahic and mccall

 

For me, serious red flags when Stuart wasn't backed in last January's transfer window. I know and accept the differing opinions on his subsequent sacking but I was certain then that the club's problems ran way deeper than the manager. The appointment of Grayson was a joke because he never fitted into the Rahic model and I for one never expected him to stay beyond the season end.

Despite all that I was hoping against hope that in the close season, these jokers would acknowledge and learn from past mistakes. The appointment of Collins and departure of Mason within 24 hours confirmed otherwise. I am into my 44th year of support and despite some dark times I have NEVER known anything like this. We are seeing the heart and soul getting ripped out of our club which is heartbreaking.

 

I voted Abstain for the simple fact we haven't been given other hypothetical options. It's a no on Rahic however, not sure what he is supposed to bring to the party. He isn't the money man and doesn't have any particular skill that can benefit the club(no I know football jokes please).

I'd like to see someone like Mason be chairman, with wealthy backers who would exercise patience, and too bring in actual football experts ranging from manager, coaches too scouts.