[Albion] Garcia's reasons for leaving (from today's Argus, per Andy Naylor)

[AZ Gull]

Excerpts from an in-depth piece by Naylor in today's Argus.

"Seeds sown well before humbling in play-offs"

The change in title, head coach, not manager....was significant in itself. Oscar effectively coached the players he was provided with by Albion's recruitment department. When he was appointed last summer he felt he had little option other than to go with signings that had already been made, or were in the process of being made, because the squad was down in numbers.

He gave the club a list of potential signings from Spain and abroad when he took the job. None of them were delivered.

The cracks started to appear as far back as the end of October. With...Ulloa out injured, Oscar believed budget limits were making it difficult for Albion to compete and hampered signing a forward on loan as cover.

Naylor then mentions that Daily Telegraph article that originally quoted Garcia as saying the budget went down. Bloom around the same time in an interview on the official site stated that the budget had been slightly increased. The Telegraph article was subsequently changed. Naylor suggests Garcia felt the club's hierarchy needed to be more transparent about the financial conditions he was working under and reflect that accordingly with levels of expectation for the team.

He regarded the sale of Barnes...as a blow but the real blow was not adequately replacing him. Bournemouth's ... Grabban was Oscar's choice. He feared wages would be a stumbling block and his fears were realised. ... The player met with Oscar and ... Jones. According to Grabban's representative, he was impressed by their plans for him, so impressed that he had a medical at the Amex before even discussing personal terms. With Bloom in Australia, the negotiations were left to head of football David Burke, although he was still liaising with the chairman. They dragged on and Grabban went back to Bournemouth, signed a new deal with them and continued scoring goals.

Oscar's frustration was fuelled by the recruitment department set-up. He felt too many people were having a say, which complicated and delayed decision-making. He played no role in the January signing of winger Jeffrey Monakana from Preston, a player bought initially with the development squad in mind but with first team potential.

By the time the replacement for Barnes arrived, at the end of the January window, Albion had reached the bottom of their list of striker targets. David Rodriguez was signed ...from Celta Vigo, for whom he had not played since the end of October.

Oscar peered into the future and did not like what he saw, trying to compete in an increasingly competitive Championship on what he regarded as a restrictive budget for wages, backed by a recruitment set-up he thought was unwieldy and unlikely to deliver his needs.

 

[bravohotelalpha]

Initial reaction, makes sense - quite understandable. If accurate things need to change - nobody would be happy with those circumstances. Burke by name, burke by nature ....

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

Very interesting stuff. Essentially confirms that he had no say at all regarding players brought in as his list of players was dismissed.

 

[smeariestbat]

if thats true, no wonder he left.

 

[Rookie]

Ouch, pretty damning on the club. Not good

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

If this is to be believed then the club needs to seriously look at itself going forward. And I know its an old chestnut but it puts the whole Poyet thing into a new light (although Garcia's behaviour compared with Gus's does not help Gus's case at all).

We cannot adequately judge Oscar on this year. He cut his cloth accordingly. Who is to say that if he had the team he wanted he would not have played more expansive football. He got us to the play-offs with a team seriously deficient up front and with an ageing defence and no creative central midfielders... akin to Greece winning the European Championship methinks.

 

[Smile]

So Chicken Runner61 post yesterday, was spot on.

"Its obvious OG and the board fell out over transfers and player wages

OG politely told them he wanted to leave and the club don't want it to look like they are at fault (even if they are not)

Noelia is always going to be on Oscars side what did you expect her to say? Maybe she has said too much and OG may not be happy about this.

I've always suspected our finances don't meet the expectations of the fans and even perhaps what the board thought the Amex could bring, if you check my posts I've always said the matchday revenue wasn't enough to cover cost to finance a squad to reach and stay in the Prem.

OG going confirms Poyet was right about the ceiling and that the ceiling is still there.

TB is a rich man but whether he is rich enough or willing to gamble enough to buy promotion I can't say. I heard today that Randy Learner has spent £300M of his own money in the last 2 years trying to make Villa successful, has TB got £300M to risk? Even if he has rich people don't like losing that sort of money even if its within their pockets - they got rich by not losing that sort of money and I suspect TB is the sort of Guy that doesn't like losing £3000 let alone £3m of his families.

I think TB is happy to invest in Infrastructure, buildings and intellectual property for the club but unwilling to gamble it on Players and players wages which might expose him to unsustainable losses. The Amex has to bring in as much money as it can and the clubs finances must dictate how much we spend on players and their wages.

TB might be a fan but he isn't stupid to go and make himself bankrupt trying to make 4th place in the Prem unless there is a good chance of doing it."

 

[Max Paper]

Pretty much what I expected. It can work at clubs if you're buying Ronaldo's and Bale's but not so much if you're buying (loaning) Obika's and Rodriguez's. I hope Tony has a work with Burke.

 

[skipper734]

Sounds exactly the beef Gus had with the Club. A committee without a leader, buying players, every member of which is trying not to spend money. All this is indicated by the lack of Spanish players brought in and the time it takes to sign players which are always imminent.

 

[Insel affe]

Well that's pretty much what everyone has been thinking, now we can't let this happen a third time. Tony needs to seriously look at the club and the way it is run from top to bottom, and ask can we realistically challenge for promotion with the set up, and budget provided or are we on auto pilot until say ten years time when the academy is in full swing and churning out super stars....

 

[andy1980]

That system has to change, the manager or headcoach has to have the final say, even if its from a pool of players scouted by the recruitment department.

 

[saafend_seagull]

No manager will want a job like this.

Sack Burke or we are heading to league one.

 

[grummitts gloves]

No great surprise there. Didn't take the brains of an archbishop to work out that OG's hands were tied re new players. When those sub standard players were signed, many on here said that OG must have been in agreement. Well that clearly wasn't the case. Burke has signed some good ones, but just as many crap ones. Hopefully TB will now have a rethink about the clubs player recruitment policy.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Does anyone have any examples where the Coach/Director of football setup actually works well? (Outside of the Prem)

 

[rouseytastic]

Not many surprises there really but quite depressing non the less.
It boils down to giving someone the tools to do the job. You wouldn't ask someone to build you a house and then say you dont have enough money to buy the bricks.
It's long been a concern of mine that we can't afford to operate and certainly not compete on the returns the AMEX provides. Although the recent sponsorship announcements and player sales are either very poor deals or have been eaten up in basic day to day living.
The £20m that is being spent on the training ground will hopefully pay dividends in years to come but as we are now the next manager must be aware that we pretty much don't have any money and the expectations should then reflect that otherwise who is going to want to come to a club that expects you to build a house with only half the bricks......
......as it is if I was in a position where they offered me the job the first thing I'd do is ring Gus & Oscar and say 'come on lads, spill the beans. What's the score here.....'
Needs sorting and fast. Over to you Tony

 

[Rugrat]

Sounds to me like we've created a problem that any self respecting and ambitious Manager/coach may well want to steer clear of.

If PLR means we've got a huge back room staff and army of suits in place which is consuming money which could better be spent on players, then perhaps a rethink is in order!!!

Just these snippets are pretty damming and it will be a good indication of TB's leadership to see if he responds with positive change or digs his heels in and becomes dogmatic

 

[Notters]

FFP

 

[Jam]

Sounds to me like we've created a problem that any self respecting and ambitious Manager/coach may well want to steer clear of.

If PLR means we've got a huge back room staff and army of suits in place which is consuming money which could better be spent on players, then perhaps a rethink is in order!!!

Just these snippets are pretty damming and it will be a good indication of TB's leadership to see if he responds with positive change or digs his heels in and becomes dogmatic

Exactly this. Apparently Tim Sherwood is the bookies favourite as next coach. Why would he join us if the last two managers have left under a cloud?

 

[Prettyboyshaw]

It's great after years of shit football and shit home grounds that we finally get a great ground training facility and still manage to shoot ourselves in the foot and be a laughing stock. Palace fans must love it the amount of ammunition we give them to take the piss.

We are really doing our best to fall off the surf board over and over again rather than ride the crest of the wave that might not be so high for much longer.

 

[grummitts gloves]

FFP

No problem re FFP. Question is, who would you have preferred to spend that budget? OG or Burke?