The big question: Do you trust Tony Bloom and his team with the Albion?

[Bold Seagull]

So why didn't he just give Andy Naylor an interview that went "I've had a great time here but I've had an offer from my native land where I understand the nuances of language, where it doesn't spend six months solid raining and where I can get all the chorizo, Rioja and olives I can afford".

Instead he's gone ON RECORD contradicting the senior management team. Don't you find that a bit odd?

Has he gone on record? I don't think they have interviewed him, their inferences are from OG's open letter and the clubs statement. Unless you can show me otherwise? Perhaps he hasn't had an offer from Spain yet. In fact, I've posted several times on different threads that where OG surfaces next will be a better indication of his reason for leaving than baseless conjecture.

 

[Chris001]

Instead he's gone ON RECORD contradicting the senior management team. Don't you find that a bit odd?

You'll find that it's not odd at all when a relationship comes to an end, in fact it's quite common. The alternative would be to admit you weren't up to the job and that's less common.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tooting Gull]

You'll find that it's not odd at all when a relationship comes to an end, in fact it's quite common. The alternative would be to admit you weren't up to the job and that's less common.

Hope this helps.

But he was up to the job! He got an injury-ravaged team into a play-off spot they had no right to expect this season. So anything that comes out of his mouth, intuitively, you can believe a lot more than if he had been sacked. Then, you would have a point about axes to grind.

 

[smeg]

You'll find that it's not odd at all when a relationship comes to an end, in fact it's quite common. The alternative would be to admit you weren't up to the job and that's less common.

Hope this helps.

ouch

 

[Brixtaan]

But that contradicts the likes of [MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION] who maintain we've lost 2 managers within a year for the same reasons!? I don't remember Gus moving to Spain, he went in the opposite direction!

I'm sure Oscar DID have complaints about money to spend, which manager doesn't? But thats not the reason he left so why would you listen to Guiness Boy? Oh, also, Poyet is a **** and Garcia isn't. Big difference

 

[knocky1]

Assuming some big names amongst those voting NO. Gus Poyet, Oscar Garcia, Charlie Oatway, Dick Knight, Lewis Grabban, Albion in the Community Directors and the away changing room cleaner. Plus a couple of Palace trolls and Kerry Mayo. Nathan Jones undecided.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Has he gone on record? I don't think they have interviewed him, their inferences are from OG's open letter and the clubs statement. Unless you can show me otherwise? Perhaps he hasn't had an offer from Spain yet. In fact, I've posted several times on different threads that where OG surfaces next will be a better indication of his reason for leaving than baseless conjecture.

You'll find that it's not odd at all when a relationship comes to an end, in fact it's quite common. The alternative would be to admit you weren't up to the job and that's less common.

Hope this helps.

Which is it guys? You don't seem in agreement. This from Naylor's report.

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.

If he hasn't got that from Oscar then there is simply no proof of it at all. It is potentially libelous. You don't think any journalist - even our Andy - would print that without a cast iron source?

Never mind that he went on record after the Yeovil game in front of Sky Sports cameras and said that the club was the only one in The Championship to be weaker after the January transfer window.

Now here's David Burke on the official site on the same subject. At no point does he claim we are weaker. In fact he claims the Rodriguez can fill Ashley Barnes' role and that Obika is a good signing

http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/article/burke-reflects-on-transfer-window-1332394.aspx

 

[Westdene Seagull]

The club's PR is fine.

It was a disaster this time last year.

 

[Norman Potting]

I base my trust on the several pictures of Mr Bloom snapped on station platforms and resembling "everyfan" coming home from away games - he probably even takes his own sandwiches, crisps and little cartons of orange juice in his bag and buys advance purchase tickets. To me that demonstrates a dedication to the club beyond "squillionaire owner/rich man's plaything" level and beyond any "Q&A" and press releases. I am confident he is in it for the long haul and looking back in 10 years time we will realise he did it the right way.

 

[Chris001]

It was a disaster this time last year.

Disaster? we just finished 6th!

 

[LamieRobertson]

Judging by a lot of the comments you do wonder if this poll was about ...erm sorry Burke then the result might be a tad different

 

[El Presidente]

Judging by a lot of the comments you do wonder if this poll was about ...erm sorry Burke then the result might be a tad different

Yet what exactly do we know about Burke?

On the plus side last season
Ward
Ince

On the minus side
Agustein
Lopez

On the undecided side
Andrews
Stephens
Lingard

 

[keaton]

Yet what exactly do we know about Burke?

On the plus side last season
Ward
Ince

On the minus side
Agustein
Lopez

On the undecided side
Andrews
Stephens
Lingard

You've missed Obika and Lita on that list, and not replacing Barnes or El-Abd

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Disaster? we just finished 6th!

Read what I quoted !

 

[hans kraay fan club]

You'll find that it's not odd at all when a relationship comes to an end, in fact it's quite common. The alternative would be to admit you weren't up to the job and that's less common.

Hope this helps.

But he was up to the job! He got an injury-ravaged team into a play-off spot they had no right to expect this season. So anything that comes out of his mouth, intuitively, you can believe a lot more than if he had been sacked. Then, you would have a point about axes to grind.

As ever, the truth is somewhere in between, surely?

Tooting Gull is right - no-one can say that Oscar was 'not up to the job'. The 'job' was to make the play offs. We did, ergo he WAS 'up to it'.

Oscar clearly saw next year as a challenge - a challenge to match this year's achievements under the constraints and conditions involved. He obviously didn't feel he wanted that challenge, so he's walked.

Most succesful people in football, are fairly confident in their abilities, so its unlikley that he stood back and thought 'I'm not up to the challenge' - more that 'if I fail to build on these last two years, it will look bad on my CV / damage my stock'. Other managers will relish the challenge / opportunity.

Personally, I still think he'll be in a job in Spain by the end of the summer, topping up his tan and adding an easier couple of bullet points to his CV.

 

[KZNSeagull]

I firmly believe that Tony Bloom is in the process of and will deliver a stable football club with a secure long term future and excellent facilities to rival the best in the land.

If either Paul Barber or David Burke were not doing their jobs properly, they would be replaced. All I can assume is that both are doing their jobs as the board wishes, until such times as they are replaced. If David Burke is still in his job at the end of the transfer window, then I can assume that the board are happy with him.

I do not believe that the club and Oscar are contradicting each other. Oscar may well have given the club a list of players he wanted but as we do not know who those players are, whether they were available, how much they wanted paying and whether they actually wanted to come and play for us, we cannot tell whether something untoward has gone on or not. Same with Grabban - if what Naylor says is true then yes, there may well have been an issue with that transfer process, but again, as DB is still in his job, I can only assume that TB was happy with that process. Until such time as we get cast iron evidence to the contrary, I will have to assume that DB is also doing his job as well as the board requires.

What I do not believe for one second is that TB, having invested heavily in this club to make it into a first class outfit, is deliberately holding back on strengthening the first team squad.

 

[c0lz]

Yes in Bloom we trust

But someone needs to answer question's why A very good manager and coach wanted to leave even before a ball was kicked in the playoff's and did this have a big part in the performance's.

 

[Chris001]

Yet what exactly do we know about Burke?

On the plus side last season
Ward
Ince

On the minus side
Agustein
Lopez

On the undecided side
Andrews
Stephens
Lingard

Small details and not important - see the bigger picture

 

[Chris001]

I firmly believe that Tony Bloom is in the process of and will deliver a stable football club with a secure long term future and excellent facilities to rival the best in the land.

If either Paul Barber or David Burke were not doing their jobs properly, they would be replaced. All I can assume is that both are doing their jobs as the board wishes, until such times as they are replaced. If David Burke is still in his job at the end of the transfer window, then I can assume that the board are happy with him.

I do not believe that the club and Oscar are contradicting each other. Oscar may well have given the club a list of players he wanted but as we do not know who those players are, whether they were available, how much they wanted paying and whether they actually wanted to come and play for us, we cannot tell whether something untoward has gone on or not. Same with Grabban - if what Naylor says is true then yes, there may well have been an issue with that transfer process, but again, as DB is still in his job, I can only assume that TB was happy with that process. Until such time as we get cast iron evidence to the contrary, I will have to assume that DB is also doing his job as well as the board requires.

What I do not believe for one second is that TB, having invested heavily in this club to make it into a first class outfit, is deliberately holding back on strengthening the first team squad.

Good post

 

[Gritt23]

I think this is one of the things that I and a few others get most irritated about. You are portrayed as some anti-Bloom lunatic if you question any aspect of the club's processes or decision-making. That is just mad.

I completely trust Bloom as a man and an owner of the Albion, of course you do, why on earth wouldn't you. Look at what he has staked, look at what he has saved in the form of an Amex that the money was no longer there for, and put in. His motives are 100 per cent genuine, I have no doubt of that.

But that does not mean, unless you have no thoughts in your head, that you agree with everything being done on his watch. Nor can you have failed to notice the two good managers gone in 12 months. Nor can you have no questions about the recruitment operation, which both managers in question have put in play in one form or another.

And we are by no means the only club wrestling with the whole Director of Football, Director of Football Operations question, and the way accountability is divvied up. Far bigger clubs than us are undecided about exactly how successful it is.

Which is a long way of saying 100 per cent yes, but your point about learning from mistakes is well made.

This, absolutely this!

I will always have deep affection for Tony Bloom, how could I not. The money he has pumped into the stadium and academy is beyond my wildest dreams, but that doesn't mean I will always, automatically agree with every single decision he subsequently makes. It also doesn't automatically make him a success at running the club on a day to day basis. there have been rich men walk into football clubs before, pumping cash in and making a right dogs dinner of it. I'm not saying he's anywhere close to a Mark Goldberg, but there is more to running a club than just writing cheques.

The key is learning from the mistakes, and the phrase from barber yesterday that despite the change of job title for the new guy, the roles and responsibilities remain the same, worries me somewhat. Those "roles and responsibilities" have not been popular with the last 2 managers, and maybe that should be a sign that a rethink is necessary. We've known of Oscar issues for a while, and we appear to think the problem is him, and not the role.

I just hope the next guy gets the full story from the off, and doesn't reach October thinking that the level of player recruitment is below the expectations he left his interview with.