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Reply | Frank on Radio Suffok
at 21:40 5 Oct 2019
We always turn the radio down for a few mins when Frank comes on! Worst regular caller ever. Sooo boring |
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Reply | Might be reading too much into Lamberts presser
at 11:22 30 Oct 2018
From what I've heard second hand, it was how Doig dealt with people that was the issue (all through the club), not Hurst. Everyone seemed to like Hurst but Doig was a Sargent Major and told people exactly what he thought on day one, and got their backs up before anything actually started. You can say things once you know people, but first impressions count, and his first impression wasn't to win friends and influence people, it was "look at me". Some of the sounds bites I've heard about him telling Bart he is not being an international standard keeper for instance, is unlikely to provide confidence and enthusiasm for the job. It can switch someone off completely, especially is it's the first thing you hear from your new boss (or his side-kick)!
Basically I think Doig got Hurst the sack. |
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Reply | Dean Ashton on Talksport
at 14:33 25 Oct 2018
Second hand I know, but from what I've heard:
1. Klug does NOT get on with Hurst and wants to leave. ME is supposedly doing his best to iron that one out as he sees Klug as being key to the future and the deal on offer to Hurst was that the structure is agreed long term and he cannot change it (in the way Keane did). This was actually a point made by ME in his interview at the end of last season.
2. Players do not have an issue with Hurst but most do not like - at all - the way Doig deals with them. This is possibly the reason for a few changes at first team level - to pull Doig away from the coal face.
No other snippets. |
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Reply | Apparently Evans has had enough and Hurst is off
at 12:12 19 Sep 2018
I have heard that "quite a few people at the club" (not sure if this is players or coaches) are not particularly happy with how Doig operates. The issues appear to be with him not Hurst. I suspect they play good cop / bad cop and the bad cop maybe being a bit too bad / vocal for a few peoples liking - especially if he is trying to handle senior coaching staff in a particular way. How big a deal this is, I've no idea. It could just need a word to reign it in a bit, or or could be more serious or a fundamental approach to his job. No idea. It was a very short conversation with someone passing on a comment made to him from within the club. |
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Reply | Spence
at 08:18 19 Sep 2018
Agreed. He had the look of a rabbit in the headlights almost form the word go. Spent a lot of time looking around him as if unsure where he was or what he was doing. It was as if he was concussed. Very strange. There was also another similar incident to Saturday when he stopped instead of clearing the ball: Pennington(?) played him the ball to run onto to take forward. He watched it, the attacker came cross him from the right and instead of quickly reacting and at least clearing it, he stopped in his tracks and allowed the striker to take it off him and move into the penalty area. Just very strange. He had to be taken off. Not at the races. How much has that mistake on Saturday affected him mentally? I suspect a period out of the team to rebuild confidence. The idea of him being able to play through it (as he should being an experienced member of the squad), looks unlikely to work given last nights performance. |
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Reply | How bad is Knudsen.
at 09:44 24 Aug 2018
Depends on who you are comparing him with. We have had many over the years that were better, but some that were far worse: I offer Graham Harby as an example.
I'd put him as average and not a priority to solve right now - but the position will need to be addressed one way or the other in the next 4-5 months - it will either result in a new contract for him (if nothing else but to hold some transfer value) or an acknowledgement we will need to deal with LB next summer, either from within or an external transfer... |
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Reply | My sincere thanks to the referee
at 07:02 19 Aug 2018
I’m not sure it was even a foul - looked like he got the ball first from my angle. The first one he def got the ball and slid into the player afterwards through momentum. The twitter feed even had “great tackle by Edun” followed by “ref blows for a foul though” then “and books Edun”. PH didn’t think the second was even a foul when he was interviewed after the match. So Edun is young, commits three fouls, two of which are dubious as to whether they were fouls, and the ref books him twice. Very poor refereeing as he should have spoken to him and his captain to ask him to calm down - that’s how you are supposed to hide young inexperienced players. I noticed none of our players even thought it necessary to go a defend Edun so they must have assumed he was getting the “calm down” talk.... |
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Reply | Disability entry problems at the ground
at 06:52 19 Aug 2018
Warner unfortunately finally had to stop a few weeks ago. They were recruiting to replace him last I heard. I think someone started this week.... |
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Reply | One petty thing that annoyed me today
at 06:49 19 Aug 2018
I think The corner taker was supposed to be Edun as there was a moment that they all looked st each other when we got our first one.... |
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Reply | Oursquad is too big
at 14:12 8 Aug 2018
Not sure it's too big, but getting competitive. There are say 12 players - a whole team - there that have yet to play more than a few games at championship (or even professional) level that can't be classed as seasoned "senior" professionals ready to play 46 games straight:
Cotter, Woolfenden, Emmanuel, Rowe, Edun, Chalobah, Dozzell, Bishop, Nydam, Downes, Folami, Morris. All of these qualify for the U23s.
The balance are older professionals that have that experience and are 'ready made'. That's about 16 players. The match day squad inc subs is 18. If we have injuries like last season - say 10 (and even if this is too high I suspect it will always be 5 or 6) - that leaves about 20 to choose the 18 from.
Take away a couple going out on loan, the the number is probably about right. |
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Reply | Hurst to get the profits to spend
at 15:01 28 Jun 2018
The wage budget should be the same in total - i.e. as we have removed say 7 players from the wage bill say at an average of £8K per week = £56K total, then we can add to the squad with either less, the same or more players to that ongoing value, at cash flow level without any major change to way it is being financed within the budget. Transfer fees and agents fees are a separate entity in the P&L. |
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Reply | Michael Crowe off to Preston...
at 11:07 5 Jun 2018
Saw him in a few U23 games last season. Not hugely impressed TBH. The decision came as no great shock to me. |
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Reply | Legal question re: redundancy
at 09:00 4 May 2018
Companies do not legally have to offer voluntary redundancy. If they do there will be separate terms offered for this process.
If the consultation period "intention to make role(s) redundant" has started and the employee resigns and leaves at any time before the final consultation has taken place and the redundancy is signed (min of 3 weeks unless any compromise agreement is signed, but no set max period), then the person cannot be paid the redundancy package - they just leave as normal. The main reason for this is because the redundancy package has lots of "tax free" elements that effect the Inland Revenue so this can be seen as defrauding the Government.
Conclusion - unless you want to walk away from the package being offered, sit tight until the end of the process - unless you are offered anything specific by the Company to go early (but if this is the case you will have to pay full tax etc. on the offer). |
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Reply | Are the Mick outers happy yet?
at 13:21 26 Mar 2018
I just hope that the season ticket price reduction doesn't turn out to be part of the same pot of money that ME puts into the Club - e.g. "I support it by £5m a year, reducing ticket prices cost me £1m, so now the pot that is available is only £4m".
I just have a feeling that will come out of the woodwork in one form or another, during the coming 6-12 months. If it does, then yet again we will be paying for the mistakes he has made since being the owner - and the buck should stop with him, not us! |
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Reply | One plus point Evans has and may not have even realised
at 12:36 22 Mar 2018
I wonder if the change that the Club is alluding to would be MM moving to director of football doing all the deals etc. in the background (which he seems to be good at) with a new fresh face left to coach and run the team with a better brand of "modern" football with associated tactics?
i.e. changing the structure so as to keep MM at the club (which ME appears to want) but appeasing the fans by having a young fresh (local?) face.
Not sure where this would leave TC. I suspect without a job, which could be a problem for MM.... |
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Reply | So just to sum up Evans 10 years in charge
at 13:33 22 Feb 2018
The headline losses people state do hide the fact that ME ensures that the gross figures get recorded on the P&L rather than the net figure he actually paid. Therefore any interest payments etc. are based on total values he did not actually commit.
As an owner of a business once said to me when I challenged a decision "it's my business and my money. If I make a bad call the only person that has to live with the financial impact is me as I will have to cover it myself". The problem with ME is that he made HUGE mistakes that cost millions because he didn't (assuming he does now) understand football, but instead of taking that on the chin he has pushed the financial burden of his own failings onto the operation and in turn to its customers (us) by producing an inferior product and started the downward spiral.
The change to football finances over the 10 years means that club ownership at a high level is now beyond ME. The total 10-year losses get quoted when in the last 5 years since MM has been at the helm the losses net out to circa £4m per year - one year was a profit - less tax deductions (so nearer £3m?). This is probably the true level he can afford to subsidise the club long term (you would have thought he would know you can't make money from a football club when he committed to buy) and is near the bottom of the owner-underwritten losses league table for the Championship and also for a lot of Div1 clubs too, so we are going nowhere fast - in fact unless we over-achieve Vs budget we will be relegated.
As I've said before on other posts I have it on good authority from friends in the City that ITFC is "available". However ME wants to recoup his headline (rather than actual) financial input -(remember the terms of the original takeover!). If he were to write off his losses then we would have a new owner. Other clubs do it so that can be the only real stumbling block.
I suspect though that the time is probably getting near when he will have to make a decision as the company is going backwards so the market value Vs debt recovery gap is widening every year. I honestly believe the change of sponsorship is step no.1 to getting the club off his hands. The financial cost is just too rich for him. The alternative is to try another tact and, having learnt his lessons, actively invest for a proper push with the right people at the helm so that there is a real opportunity at promotion and a return on investment. However we are back to the original terms which premiership football for 5 years before he can withdraw is financial commitment, so I don't see this happening as he would be nowhere close to seeing any return. So option 3 is to stay doing what he is doing, which as a business man makes no sense as it would be heart ruling head... |
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Reply | Handball?
at 12:55 22 Feb 2018
There is also the other bit of the law about gaining an "unfair advantage" when the handball is accidental. That is why you see many whistles blown when the ball bounces up and hits a hand / arm which has given the attacker the advantage that cannot be allowed to continue.
The law as stated above is not the complete picture. |
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Reply | Nail hit firmly on the head
at 14:50 1 Feb 2018
I think the biggest issues for the club are:
1. No obvious cohesive plan - The Club says one thing and then does what (at least appears to us) to be the opposite, and nothing actually done seems to stack up with the "headline" objectives made, so are they real objectives?
2. Very poor customer relations - our PR is shocking. Far too distant and allowing someone to make such obvious digs / negative statements at or about your customer base (i.e. MM statements re fans) would not be tolerated by any "normal" company. The person would be marched out the door. You cannot alienate your customers or they are no longer customers (= drop in season ticket holders / match day attendance).
3. An owner who either cannot afford what he purchased (everyone knows all clubs except those at the very top of the Premier League run at a loss), or has lost interest in the project he purchased. Right now his £6m - which is probably nearer £4m average per season over the last 4 years net net - is a lower "investment" or "subsidy" or whatever you want to call it - than pretty much anyone in the Championship and also quite a few in League one. Therefore like-for-like we are not being funded to the same value as those we are competing with but still declaring unrealistic objectives that then can't be followed up by actions. Which comes back to No.1 |
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Reply | Club up for sale.
at 14:51 9 Jan 2018
Over a period I've heard from more than one contact in the City that the Club has been available for sale for a good 2 years now (memory fades, could even be 3 years), but the lack of interest has surrounded how much Marcus Evans has been trying to recoup his total investment - i.e. cover the debt incurred within the ME group. Maybe this position has changed and he is now being more realistic and it has kick-started things. Certainly he is not investing nearly enough to have a realistic promotion push and the financial gap is widening by the season taking the club from a position of "good management = a few higher paces in the division = play offs" to a position now where "good management = a few higher places = keeps us in the division". Where we were maybe 6th or 7th highest spenders in the league 7 or 8 years ago, we are now about 10 places below that level of investment, which means in practice promotion is only going to happen should all the stars align - which is quite unrealistic. In the meantime he is spending circa £4m net per season for the Club to tread water, so neither camp (Marcus Evans or ITFC) are ticking any boxes when it comes to a return - financial for ME or the Premier League for ITFC... |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 7 | | Comment Votes: | 37 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 44 |
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