New general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill admitted he understood the frustrations expressed by some shareholders at this evening’s PLC AGM held in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite at Portman Road.
"I thought it was a great opportunity for supporters who have been part of the club for a long time, a lot of season ticket holders, to voice their opinion of what think at this particular time,” O’Neill said.
"They don’t get a chance during the season to do that [other than] tonight, to raise their concerns about certain areas of the club and to feel that they are being listened to is very important.”
He admits he can understand the frustrations given the Blues’ current position at the bottom of the table.
"Most definitely, and the club feel it as well as the supporters, that there are those frustrations,” he added.
"What we’re trying to do is obviously rectify where [we can] and listen to the supporters and the shareholders and try and make a difference going forward.
"There’s no doubt about it, we are in a difficult position and probably the hardest times we had for a while and in order for us to move forward, as you heard from Paul Lambert this evening, we’ve all got to pull together, we’ve got to listen, we’ve got to put a plan in place and we’ve got to implement that plan and do it very quickly.”
Explaining his new position, he added: "It’s a bit of an advancement on my normal role as an academy manager or academy director, however you want to word it.
"It’s a title that Marcus spoke to me about over the last few months and it’s ‘general manager of football operations’, as well as running the academy.
"As I explained in the AGM, it’s to really ignite and bridge the gap with the academy and the first team. We operate out of the same building at Playford Road.
"And to look at all areas of the club in the management of the football operations, so I’ll keep Paul Lambert by taking away some of the day-to-day activities so he can concentrate on just doing the training programmes and making sure he’s picking the team for matches.
"An administrative role is part of that. It also is looking at operations in general, how we operate going forward and where he would like certain things to be put in place it’s my job to liaise with Marcus and obviously the relevant staff down here.
"There are lots of heads of department that I’m working with to make sure it flows a lot better than it had been.”
O’Neill, a former academy player himself whose father Tommy was in the Blues’ 1975 FA Youth Cup-winning team, says fans will hear more from him in his new position.
"I think there will be occasions when I’ll work with Steve Pearce and the media team and obviously Paul where appropriate.
"If I’m coming out and speaking in front of the fans or the general media, it’ll be to try and address football operations [matters] and if Paul can’t for whatever reason I’ll be coming out and answering questions.”
O’Neill, a Loughborough University graduate who at one time was the academy’s head of sports science, is involved in the club’s plans for the January transfer window.
"I can tell you that there’s a team of people who have started working very hard over the last few weeks, ever since Paul came in really, about possible improvements to the squad.
"No decisions have been made yet obviously because the window hasn’t opened, but we are working very hard behind the scenes to look at areas and you heard in the AGM that Paul would like some experience to add to some of the younger players that we’ve got and we are working hard as a team of people to try and make that happen.”
Has a budget been set for Lambert to work within during January? "Not yet, no.”
You can read TWTD’s live blog of the AGM on the Forum here.