Woeful season, but potentially invaluable lessons learned for the future?

[Bozza]

All? We didn't get ANY of them last summer!

None? Really? Without even thinking....

Baldock - got
Stockdale - got
Hughes / a very decent third centre back - got
COG - got
Bennett (I'm led to believe he was more favoured than Ward by Hyypia) - got

You could argue they weren't the right targets, but you certainly can't argue we got none of our targets.

 

[Simster]

None? Really? Without even thinking....

Baldock - got
Stockdale - got
Hughes / a very decent third centre back - got
COG - got
Bennett (I'm led to believe he was more favoured than Ward by Hyypia) - got

You could argue they weren't the right targets, but you certainly can't argue we got none of our targets.

Who was our main target then if it was not Baldock? Or Stockdale for that matter?

We got Stockdale in because we wouldn't pay for Kuscak. Honestly, there's not much between the two, but Stockdale cost £1m just to sign, and that's before wages. So whilst Stockdale is up to standard, it wasn't good business really, if you ask me.

I can't remember who our striker target was, but Baldock wasn't secured in the summer, we got him much later than planned. And in the end, he felt like a panic buy.

I do remember the likes of midfielder Adam Clayton choosing mid-table Boro over our tight outfit, though. And that was a familiar tale all summer.

 

[stss30]

Yes. That's not the Premier League Ready phrase though, is it?

I'm sure he's very disappointed with the way things have turned out.

It's a similar statement of intent. All I'm saying is I wish the club would stop with the mixed messages. Upping prices and talking bullishly is all well and good but if the fans don't see results or investment they will begin to vote with their feet.

 

[Lower West Stander]

I imagine IF the budget is higher it is due to the transfer fees for Baldock, Stockdale,O'Grady and Kayal. But lets be honest that doesn't scratch the surface of the profit we made from selling Ulloa, Bridcutt and Buckley. If you sell three of your top players and the club keep spouting the 'Premier league ready' stuff you would expect almost all of that money to be reinvested on top quality replacements. Instead it seems the club realized all too late that the squad wasn't strong enough and we started scrabbling around for loans who could fill in the gaping holes in our squad left by their departures.

This is what annoys me more than anything else.

I'm still not clear if the club is run as a business or not. All the banging on about FFP and Barber's petty pricing policy on matchdays implies that it is but if that is the case then we aren't going to able to compete with clubs which are just subsidised by rich financial backers or don't care about losses because a Championship football club doesn't have a sustainable business model.

 

[nwgull]

It's a similar statement of intent. All I'm saying is I wish the club would stop with the mixed messages. Upping prices and talking bullishly is all well and good but if the fans don't see results or investment they will begin to vote with their feet.

I'd imagine that out of all 24 clubs in the Championship, about 19-20 of the respective Chairman would've had similar aspirations for the season of a top 6 finish. It's arguably the most competitive league in the world, so it's a bit unfair to hold someone to am optimistic prediction as if it were a promise or money back guarantee.

If football (or sport in general) were so predictable, it'd be very dull - a bit like the Scottish Premier League.

 

[stss30]

I'd imagine that out of all 24 clubs in the Championship, about 19-20 of the respective Chairman would've had similar aspirations for the season of a top 6 finish. It's arguably the most competitive league in the world, so it's a bit unfair to hold someone to am optimistic prediction as if it were a promise or money back guarantee.

If football (or sport in general) were so predictable, it'd be very dull - a bit like the Scottish Premier League.

I agree, but my point is if we had genuine aspirations of trying to get promoted, in my opinion we would either keep hold of our best players at pretty much all costs OR reinvest in some quality replacements. Perhaps some big mistakes were made and we will be back on track next season, I hope so anyway...

 

[Lincoln Imp]

I'm pretty sure the bit about TB flying back to Oz just before xmas and then having to fly almost straight back again is fairly easily verifiable. Much of the rest can be deduced from TB's travel schedule.

Perhaps, having silently forced SH through the door, he flew to Australia a couple of days before the departure became public and then U-turned in Melbourne Airport the moment it did, the 24,000 mile round trip being an elaborate charade designed to conceal the fact that Hyypia had been sacked. Alternatively, Sami actually did resign of his own volition. Are there any other possibilities?

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

We targetted Ballsack like we did with Toko toward the end of Oscars reign. Sim is right we got him late because BC held on and held on for a higher fee.

Lets be clear he was neither an Oscar signing nor a Sami signing but a BURKE spreadsheet signing.

 

[Bozza]

We targetted Ballsack like we did with Toko toward the end of Oscars reign. Sim is right we got him late because BC held on and held on for a higher fee.

Lets be clear he was neither an Oscar signing nor a Sami signing but a BURKE spreadsheet signing.

He was a target of BHAFC. We got our target. [MENTION=232]Simster[/MENTION] said we got none of our targets. He's wrong.

 

[nwgull]

I agree, but my point is if we had genuine aspirations of trying to get promoted, in my opinion we would either keep hold of our best players at pretty much all costs OR reinvest in some quality replacements. Perhaps some big mistakes were made and we will be back on track next season, I hope so anyway...

Mistakes were definitely made on the recruitment front - nobody would deny this. TB has effectively admitted it and held himself accountable by sacking the man in charge of recruitment. For me, the key thing is that we have a manager in place before the summer transfer shenanigans begin this year. It was encouraging to hear Paul Barber state that CH had been effectively looking at where the squad needed strengthening since January. I'm sure that plenty of potential targets will have already been identified.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Perhaps, having silently forced SH through the door, he flew to Australia a couple of days before the departure became public and then U-turned in Melbourne Airport the moment it did, the 24,000 mile round trip being an elaborate charade designed to conceal the fact that Hyypia had been sacked. Alternatively, Sami actually did resign of his own volition. Are there any other possibilities?

I think maybe next Xmas what we need is a TB Tracking app similar to the ever-popular Santa Tracking app.

 

[Simster]

He was a target of BHAFC. We got our target. [MENTION=232]Simster[/MENTION] said we got none of our targets. He's wrong.

No I didn't. I said we got none of our targets in the summer.

With the exception of Stockdale, I was spot on.

 

[KZNSeagull]

We targetted Ballsack like we did with Toko toward the end of Oscars reign. Sim is right we got him late because BC held on and held on for a higher fee.

Lets be clear he was neither an Oscar signing nor a Sami signing but a BURKE spreadsheet signing.

But he was still a target which we eventually signed. That he may have been the wrong target is a different issue, so, fingers crossed, that lesson has been learnt already and remedies put in place with the new recruitment setup.

 

[Mackenzie]

1) All Championship Clubs sell their prized assets. Nearly all Champ clubs make a healthy average profit from selling players. So you can get away with it.

2) The recruitment team didn't have a lower budget.

Are you an employee of BHAFC?

 

[Notters]

Lets face it the season as a whole has been pretty horrendous, and we've been arguably pretty lucky to survive (assuming we get 0 points from our next two games).

However, hopefully the people associated with the club have learned some valuable lessons

Bloom

-Got lucky by all accounts that Hyypia resigned as I truly believe we would be all but relegated by now if he was still in charge. When there is a large amount of unrest amongst our fanbase as a whole (and not just a loud negative minority on here) I would say things need to be seriously looked into instead of keeping blind faith with a manager.

-Investment, you simply cannot get away with selling some of your prized assets and trying to get replacements on the cheap, we've gone from having a top Championship striker in Ulloa to lower league players who will all have to be moved on at the end of the season, however despite the lower budget our recruitment team was obviously doing an awful job and it was a smart move to get rid of Burke

-Although he's relatively new to becoming a football chairman, I hope this seasons developments have prompted him to have a closer understanding of what's actually going on at the club, instead of trusting that the suits will do a good job and taking an apparent back seat role.

Barber

-Seems to have relented recently with the constant price hikes, hopefully he's beginning to realize the fans are no mugs and will vote with their feet (and wallet) if we're getting the piss taken out of us.

Has he ****. The removal of the smartcard discount has massively increased beer and food costs for me.

 

[Bozza]

No I didn't. I said we got none of our targets in the summer.

With the exception of Stockdale, I was spot on.

One > zero. You were wrong. 100% wrong. You can't be more wrong.

Regardless, I still stand by Hughes (Jul 14th), COG (Jul 18th) - so that's three without me even thinking, looking or trying to make a pedantic point.

Beyond that we could argue the toss on August signings, the likes of Baldock, Holla and Bennett. The fact is most clubs make signings after the season begins. We clearly did more than is ideal, however.

 

[stss30]

Mistakes were definitely made on the recruitment front - nobody would deny this. TB has effectively admitted it and held himself accountable by sacking the man in charge of recruitment. For me, the key thing is that we have a manager in place before the summer transfer shenanigans begin this year. It was encouraging to hear Paul Barber state that CH had been effectively looking at where the squad needed strengthening since January. I'm sure that plenty of potential targets will have already been identified.

Yep, that's a huge positive that we haven't had the luxury of in recent offseasons and you would hope with the wealth of experience Hughton has in the Championship he knows exactly what sort of players we need for a big improvement on this seasons lackluster effort.

Has he ****. The removal of the smartcard discount has massively increased beer and food costs for me.

Fair enough, can't say I buy anything from the kiosks, always will be stupidly overpriced.

 

[nwgull]

August is definitely still summer in my book.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I'm sure lessons have been learnt.


If we can get our main striker in before the pre-season tour then that would be a good start.

 

[Lush]

Personally I'm still very very nervous about next season, mainly because I'm not sure that Hughton IS the man to take us up.

For me, the best bit of the end of the season video was Nathan Jones, in the rain at Fulham, showing the passion that's lacking in Hyypia, Hughton AND the team when they play under them. I wish he was Assistant Manager or even Joint Manager.