Why does Bloom escape criticism on here?

gibseagull said:

I thought player recruitment was done in conjunction with the manager who retains the right of veto regarding any particular player?

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glasfryn said:

so you are telling me that the whole 200m came from his personal fortune ?

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Lower West Stander said:

Do you know any different?

The stadium was being built during the credit crunch. Banks weren't lending at all.

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terryberry1 said:

Everyone is quick to criticise Barber, Burke, Hyypia and Jones yet the man who employs these people is forever talked about like some sort of god. I fully understand that without Bloom we could well be in a very dark place, but why does he escape the criticism?

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terryberry1 said:

For what its worth i feel really sorry for Sami Hyypia, He was sold this vision that quite frankly does'nt exist.

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The Large One said:

This seeks to presume you've correctly read the issues of what's going on and what's not going as well as it could or should be.

Everyone has their own take on what the issues are, and some might be apparent and obvious. The stand-out one is of course that the team is mis-firing.

But legitimate criticism must take into account the fact that (a) those who wish to criticise understand the structure and hierarchy (and I'm not sure people do), (b) everyone knows each individual's remit, and where does that remit cross over with someone else's (c) the extent to which a given individual is responsible for a given task or issue where (d) some responsibilities are shared out amongst a team of board members.

For example, David Burke, as Head of Football Operations, is responsible for setting the playing budget - and that doesn't just include salaries and contracts, but the cost of running the training facilities, the medical staff, the acquisition of equipment, insurance and everything to do with players' professional requirements. That said, he works very closely with Tony Bloom, Paul Barber, Martin Perry, David Jones et the rest of the board as part of a bigger team. And yet those individuals have other responsibilities too, of course. So where exactly can the finger-pointing be directed at then, assuming you wished to round on that particular issue...?

Such criticisms of the running of the club ONLY become acute when the team isn't playing as well as it could or should be, nor is it picking up the points. If we're top of the table, no-one seeks to know that there is an issue. And yet, when we were flying away to achieve promotion by the play-offs over the past three seasons, the books say we've been making lorry-size losses. But they were never questioned until the figures came out, because no-one knew the intimate details of the day-to-day running of the club. To know EXACTLY where the problems lie is to intimately know the structure, hierarchy and professional relationships of those deemed responsible for running the club. In this instance, the club feel it has identified that problem, and has sought - and is continuing to seek - to remedy this issue.

Until such time as the full day-to-day structure, goings-on and responsibilities are fully understood in fine detail, the sureness of any finger-pointing can't be absolute.

So to finally answer your question, Tony has received enough of an advance pardon by being as generous as he has been (and will continue to be) to preclude him from any apparent criticism. But, in my opinion, to know whether on a day-to-day basis he is part of any ongoing problem, is to intimately know what I've suggested above.

My educated guess, on the back of what I've just said, is of course that Tony is - and always will be - part of the solution.

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glasfryn said:

so you are telling me that the whole 200m came from his personal fortune ?

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Goldstone1976 said:

Err, how do you whether TB got a bank loan to fund the club? If he did it's not in the public domain. The club's accounts show that the cash they've received came from TB.

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Hillian1 said:

Shows that you know bugger all that.

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Lower West Stander said:

Do you know any different?

The stadium was being built during the credit crunch. Banks weren't lending at all.

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Goldstone1976 said:

I have no idea, given I'm not privy to his personal financial circumstances; any more than you are.

Personally, yes, I think it most likely did, since any bank lending £Ms would want security over assets of at least that value and would charge interest. Given the loans from TB to the club are interest free (which they definitely are), why would TB do that if he was paying interest himself?

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terryberry1 said:

I fully understand that without Bloom we could well be in a very dark place,

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DavidinSouthampton said:

The current situation is just a minor hiccup on the way to world domination (maybe slight exaggeration there).

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Westdene Seagull said:

I doubt anyone with any business savvy would have borrowed the money personally against their own assets and then not charged any interest to the club ( oh and be prepared to pay the loan plus interest from the bank off themselves by converting the loan to the club to shares ).

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terryberry1 said:

Everyone is quick to criticise Barber, Burke, Hyypia and Jones yet the man who employs these people is forever talked about like some sort of god. I fully understand that without Bloom we could well be in a very dark place, but why does he escape the criticism? He made a promise to fans that by the end of the transfer window we would have a squad capable of finishing in the play offs, when instead we have a team that would struggle to make the play offs in the womens league. Im not saying for 1 minute that he should go, course not. I just think its unfair to blame everyone else when in reality the buck stops with him. For what its worth i feel really sorry for Sami Hyypia, He was sold this vision that quite frankly does'nt exist.

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Tom Hark said:

Same. No astute businessman, no matter how big a fan, is quite that daft. There's patently something else going on under the surface that we're not yet aware of, but will find out in due course. Sincerely hope it's something good. Pretty sure it will be, if only because the Bloom family has deep Albion roots and it appears highly unlikely that TB would bring shame on his family by selling the Albion down the river.

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glasfryn said:

two things to say here Ok it might not have been banks but investors maybe
it also beggers the question why did we not stay at the Goldstone and develop that, the Blooms were there then
and surely to protect his investment we should have kept Leo and some of the others we have not replaced, if its gets any worse there will be no investment.
10m against lowering crowds and not money coming in spells disaster, I am no economist but even I can see that.
investing in the hotel experiment hmmmm! maybe some money should go into players so as we can improve or position, I might ad we might be lucky and the team will gel .............but what if it does not

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Lower West Stander said:

Investors? You mean TB has a silent partner with no equity stake in the club? Yeah right.....

I think making suggestions about what we should have done during the Archer years is very dangerous. Firstly we have no idea as to TB's financial circumstance at the time, secondly the people running the club at the time were the lowest of the low, how could you rationally negotiate with them for the good of the club? and thirdly don't you think there were people involved at the time who were trying their best to get the club out of the mess they were in? Read Build a Bonfire.............

And its all very well saying we should have kept Leo, but he wanted to go and play in the Premiership and who can blame him for that? As I said earlier, you cannot blame TB for not adequately replacing him. I'm sure Man U wanted to keep hold of Ronaldo as well......

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London Irish said:

There is a degree of political correctness on here on criticising Bloom, a bit like how Russian serfs would always say "if only the Tsar knew" whenever they were starving to death, blaming his advisers for keeping from him the true state of the nation.

"If only Tony knew" just how terrible Burke, Barber, Sami, the pie-seller in Upper West and *insert this week's scapegoat* at their jobs, everything would be OK - seems to be the NSC version.

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glasfryn said:

I have read the book and was around at the time, what did they sell the Goldstone for 7m
we should never have sold Leo until we had a replacement

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