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[Albion] Oh dear, what have you done Tony...



Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
51,465
Faversham
This. RDZ was an outlier. The next guy will tell Bloom and Barber what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear
I doubt it.

Bloom may be ruthless but he's also a risk taker. That's part of how to beat the odds.

He employs people to be pragmatic (PBOBE).

Which is how the club is doing what it is doing at the moment.
 




kevo

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2008
9,177






RexCathedra

Aurea Mediocritas
Jan 14, 2005
3,504
Vacationland
This. RDZ was an outlier. The next guy will tell Bloom and Barber what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear
Presumably what they need to hear is "Find the sovereign wealth fund of a petrostate, and sell the club. Or some Yanks. Otherwise we're doomed."
 












I mean he spent half a season moaning and sulking about the club (as Wright said last night on motd) ... that would piss me right off if I were Bloom. Would it not you? Slating your employers to the media is a bit different to just being opinionated
Was it really slating? He just seemed to disagree with our decisions on transfers and was honest about it (shit just reminded me, I need to watch Wright's last episode!)
 


Uh_huh_him

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2011
11,009
Was it really slating? He just seemed to disagree with our decisions on transfers and was honest about it (shit just reminded me, I need to watch Wright's last episode!)

Precisely.

He has never slated his employers.
He has stated that we needed reinforcements in January, in order to be able to compete on 3 fronts.

His employers stated that we had lots of players coming back in February and we would be ok.
They didn't return on time, and we weren't ok.

The club did try to recruit, but weren't able to.
Ironically our rivals recruited well in 2 of the positions we were lacking in, and overtook an 11 pt gap in the last 15 games of the season.
 






pocketseagull

Well-known member
Dec 29, 2014
1,110
To wit, Barber spoke to one of the supporter groups yesterday, and among other things admitted that the club would have done things - slightly - differently in January had they known how severe the injury situation would be in the second half of the season.

Precisely.

He has never slated his employers.
He has stated that we needed reinforcements in January, in order to be able to compete on 3 fronts.

His employers stated that we had lots of players coming back in February and we would be ok.
They didn't return on time, and we weren't ok.

The club did try to recruit, but weren't able to.
Ironically our rivals recruited well in 2 of the positions we were lacking in, and overtook an 11 pt gap in the last 15 games of the season.
 












BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
17,226
Can we at least stop the tony arse licking until we see what he does next..
I think he's go a few dud choices and wrong moves to go before we stop appreciating him.

How do you balance a stadium, training ground and glorious premier league and European football?
 






Oh_aye

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2022
1,651
Yes I know, another thread on the same subject.

My big fears are that we become a club with no aspirations beyond financial survival. Of course that is key to everything, but to take the fans along too there needs to be the optimism and hope of breaking out from Just wanting top 10, maybe having a Cup run, playing thrilling football and upsetting the Big Six natural order of things. Whenever we tick one off the list they become something the fans believe can happen.

RDZ leaving may be the next progression for a brilliantly managed club, swinging the axe before poor results become entrenched and the relegation trapdoor beckons next season. But is Lallana leaving an unforeseen consequence that is hard to replace. Likewise, will Gross see his Player of the Season awards and the Euros as reaching his career peak over here and RDZ leaving as the trigger to go. The tears on the pitch on Sunday from the stands and the pitch, the outpouring of emotion, the singing for RDZ to come back before he has gone, shows the massive personality gap that needs to be filled with someone the fans can get behind. Ok, Fati didn't work, but anyone who knew his talent would have taken that risk. Dahoud maybe less so. I like Igor, but acknowledge he was outside the club mould and will just depreciate, so needs to stay, perform and be that younger/older head for a few years. I fear the starlets who might have loved and stayed a bit to learn from RDZ will need a helluva replacement to stick with us. In Tony we trust, because even when he got it wrong with Sami, he turned it round. But sometimes trust gets tested and I just feel sad and flat at the moment. I'm also not entirely sure that Barber will be fully on board judging by his comments and demeanour with RDZ at the fan forum. But of course, he will be professional and get on with his job.

A lot of conjecture in all of that. Maybe. If. What if.

It all works the other way round too. What if fans can still be sensible enough to manage their emotions and realise that two highest ever league placed finishes back to back followed by one slightly below it thay included europe, is, in itself an amazing achievement way beyond 'being financially viable' and that progress isn't linear. Especially the higher you get.

What if most of those players were bought by the club, not the previous manager and had no Idea who he was until they got here. And, with a bitnof success under a new manager simply will not be arsed.

Perhaps Barber is fine with it and realised if we want a bit of stability and chance to grow we were better off twisting now than launch into a new season with someone who is looking for a way out and isnt shy of scuppering his own vessel.

Maybe some of those young players are looking forward to what's next and might flourish under a less self indulgent manager who's own emotional approach visibly affected the team and moral when things weren't going his way.

Maybe maybe maybe.
 




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