| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... 08:00 - Aug 29 with 2152 views | FrankfurtBlue |
......because he hasn't (yet) inflicted on us the woes suffered by Bury and Bolton recently similar to being pleased that the world leader is President Trump because he has't (yet) started a nuclear war?
I am being deliberately provocative, but only to make the point that Evans is similar to Trump in that he is out of his depth and, for whatever reason, continues to fail to appoint people with more experience/knowledge to help him. I am pleased that Evans hasn't (yet) taken the decision to close the club down, but that is pretty is as far as my appreciation is concerned.
His ownership of this club has to viewed as an unmitigated failure, taking us from Premiership aspirants to 3rd tier football for the fist time in 62 years. We are completely reliant on Paul Lambert, as there is nobody else at the club to question any of his decisions or oversee the running of the club.
For those who believe that his millions should be appreciated, my argument would be that he has spent the majority of that money (very) unwisely. He now appears to be out of his depth financially, and puts as little as possible into the club, but he still will not sell it.
Be pleased that we have not suffered like Bury and Bolton, but let's not paper over the cracks and pretend that everything is well at our football club. |  | | |  |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:05 - Aug 29 with 1806 views | Muncher |
Better to have spent it unwisely than not to have spent it at all. |  | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:07 - Aug 29 with 1792 views | FrankfurtBlue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:05 - Aug 29 by Muncher |
Better to have spent it unwisely than not to have spent it at all. |
Really? Please explain. | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 with 1788 views | ElephantintheRoom |
You could add that there are never any clear accounts to show how a small town football club with a very small staff allegedly burns through so much money. A bit of clarity would be helpful - plus there is no getting away from the fact that being owned by a tax-avoiding spiv who is basically a 21st century Stan Flashman is nothing much to be proud of | |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 with 1787 views | BloomBlue |
So who did Sheepshanks have at the club to question his poor decisions?
When he and Burley took us from the Premiership to administration? |  | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:11 - Aug 29 with 1762 views | trncbluearmy |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 by BloomBlue |
So who did Sheepshanks have at the club to question his poor decisions?
When he and Burley took us from the Premiership to administration? |
Sheepy was chairmen of a board of directors not the owner,a massive difference |  | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:13 - Aug 29 with 1755 views | artsbossbeard |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 by BloomBlue |
So who did Sheepshanks have at the club to question his poor decisions?
When he and Burley took us from the Premiership to administration? |
Whilst offering Finidi & Sereni mouth watering weekly wages which were obviously going to trigger pay rise claims from the senior members of the squad at the time. |  |
| Please note: prior to hitting the post button, I've double checked for anything that could be construed as "Anti Semitic" and to the best of my knowledge it isn't. Anything deemed to be of a Xenophobic nature is therefore purely accidental or down to your own misconstruing. | | Poll: | Raining in IP8 - shall I get the washing in? |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:14 - Aug 29 with 1748 views | artsbossbeard |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:11 - Aug 29 by trncbluearmy |
Sheepy was chairmen of a board of directors not the owner,a massive difference |
Who was at the helm when town went into administration? | |
| Please note: prior to hitting the post button, I've double checked for anything that could be construed as "Anti Semitic" and to the best of my knowledge it isn't. Anything deemed to be of a Xenophobic nature is therefore purely accidental or down to your own misconstruing. | | Poll: | Raining in IP8 - shall I get the washing in? |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:14 - Aug 29 with 1750 views | homer_123 |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 by BloomBlue |
So who did Sheepshanks have at the club to question his poor decisions?
When he and Burley took us from the Premiership to administration? |
Sheepshanks is ultimately responsible for our current state.
We had some great times under his stewardship but his decision to recklessly back Burleys spending cost us dearly.
Evan's decisions have proved poor and we are now where we are. |  |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:14 - Aug 29 with 1746 views | trncbluearmy |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 by ElephantintheRoom |
You could add that there are never any clear accounts to show how a small town football club with a very small staff allegedly burns through so much money. A bit of clarity would be helpful - plus there is no getting away from the fact that being owned by a tax-avoiding spiv who is basically a 21st century Stan Flashman is nothing much to be proud of |
Think you really are better of on the archant message board pundit | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:16 - Aug 29 with 1733 views | artsbossbeard |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:14 - Aug 29 by homer_123 |
Sheepshanks is ultimately responsible for our current state.
We had some great times under his stewardship but his decision to recklessly back Burleys spending cost us dearly.
Evan's decisions have proved poor and we are now where we are. |
Decisions being the correct word.
I've no issue with his financial input, it's allowing Hurst a free hand on things that ultimately cost us. | |
| Please note: prior to hitting the post button, I've double checked for anything that could be construed as "Anti Semitic" and to the best of my knowledge it isn't. Anything deemed to be of a Xenophobic nature is therefore purely accidental or down to your own misconstruing. | | Poll: | Raining in IP8 - shall I get the washing in? |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:19 - Aug 29 with 1716 views | FrankfurtBlue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:09 - Aug 29 by BloomBlue |
So who did Sheepshanks have at the club to question his poor decisions?
When he and Burley took us from the Premiership to administration? |
It is no consolation to me to question whether previous regimes were any better. It doesn't cut out the repeated mistakes that are still being made at the club presently. | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:29 - Aug 29 with 1681 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:14 - Aug 29 by homer_123 |
Sheepshanks is ultimately responsible for our current state.
We had some great times under his stewardship but his decision to recklessly back Burleys spending cost us dearly.
Evan's decisions have proved poor and we are now where we are. |
To be fair, we may not be in our current state had we not finished 5th. We got over excited.
However, it was all worth it, as that was the highlight of my time as an iTFC supporter. |  |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:36 - Aug 29 with 1671 views | Muncher |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:07 - Aug 29 by FrankfurtBlue |
Really? Please explain. |
He has spent his own money propping up our club with good intentions.
The alternative being that if he didn't come in to invest we would have continued to be self sufficient, spending what money we could generate. That level of budget would have seen us in league two a long time ago. | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:50 - Aug 29 with 1649 views | Guthrum |
That is rather a simplistic analysis, resting entirely upon the supposition that our decline to League One (a path also trodden by many of our rivals in the years we were maintaining our Championship place) was entirely under the control of Marcus Evans.
It ignores the financial changes in English football which have led clubs like Bolton, Bury and so many more to spend more than they can afford in a desperate attempt to win promotion or avoid relegation. It ignores the fact that the pool of competent administrators and outstanding managers is (on the evidence of what we see at many other teams) is extremely small. Sure, anyone can point to the odd one or two extremely well run clubs. But Bolton and Bury represent only the tip of an iceberg when it comes to those who are struggling, with varying degrees of desperation, just to survive from one season to the next. Even supposedly flourishing setups like the much-envied Derby County are having to sell major fixed assets (the stadium) just to cover their season-by-season costs.
Evans is not only just on the tier above Dale and Anderson when it comes to the quality of ownership. There is a whole load of incompetence and bad practice between those who got their clubs ejected from the League (or very nearly so) and where we are. Coventry, Portsmouth in the early 2010s, Blackpool, Leeds (a whole string), Birmingham (owner banged up), to name just some of the worst. Everyone below the top few in the Prem are struggling financially, spending beyond their means. So are we, but far from being among the worst.
As I said, dropping a division is something many other teams have done in the time we continued to fight for our place in the Championship. Subsequently, Evans at least funded keeping much of the squad together (plus a few signings), providing the tools for us to be in our current position of topping the division.
He hasn't even tried anything mad like changing our name or colours. Or moving us to another town 60 miles away.
As well as the ones which didn't work, he has some successful appointments - McCarthy and (as far as things are going off the pitch and, this season, on it) Lambert.
I'm not trying to pretend that Evans is somehow perfect, or that he hasn't made some particularly damaging mistakes (e.g. the appointment of Keane, insufficiently tight supervision of Hurst). But neither is he among the worst or most incompetent of owners we have seen even in the last decade. |  |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:54 - Aug 29 with 1638 views | FrankfurtBlue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:36 - Aug 29 by Muncher |
He has spent his own money propping up our club with good intentions.
The alternative being that if he didn't come in to invest we would have continued to be self sufficient, spending what money we could generate. That level of budget would have seen us in league two a long time ago. |
How do you know his intentions were good, i.e. to benefit the club and its fans? I always thought he originally intended to invest a few million, get the club into the Premiership and recover the full value of the debt for which he paid 20%. It didn't work out that way. He cut back and has overseen our steady demise since.
There is no "the" alternative. Your entire second paragraph is conjecture. | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:13 - Aug 29 with 1616 views | FrankfurtBlue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:50 - Aug 29 by Guthrum |
That is rather a simplistic analysis, resting entirely upon the supposition that our decline to League One (a path also trodden by many of our rivals in the years we were maintaining our Championship place) was entirely under the control of Marcus Evans.
It ignores the financial changes in English football which have led clubs like Bolton, Bury and so many more to spend more than they can afford in a desperate attempt to win promotion or avoid relegation. It ignores the fact that the pool of competent administrators and outstanding managers is (on the evidence of what we see at many other teams) is extremely small. Sure, anyone can point to the odd one or two extremely well run clubs. But Bolton and Bury represent only the tip of an iceberg when it comes to those who are struggling, with varying degrees of desperation, just to survive from one season to the next. Even supposedly flourishing setups like the much-envied Derby County are having to sell major fixed assets (the stadium) just to cover their season-by-season costs.
Evans is not only just on the tier above Dale and Anderson when it comes to the quality of ownership. There is a whole load of incompetence and bad practice between those who got their clubs ejected from the League (or very nearly so) and where we are. Coventry, Portsmouth in the early 2010s, Blackpool, Leeds (a whole string), Birmingham (owner banged up), to name just some of the worst. Everyone below the top few in the Prem are struggling financially, spending beyond their means. So are we, but far from being among the worst.
As I said, dropping a division is something many other teams have done in the time we continued to fight for our place in the Championship. Subsequently, Evans at least funded keeping much of the squad together (plus a few signings), providing the tools for us to be in our current position of topping the division.
He hasn't even tried anything mad like changing our name or colours. Or moving us to another town 60 miles away.
As well as the ones which didn't work, he has some successful appointments - McCarthy and (as far as things are going off the pitch and, this season, on it) Lambert.
I'm not trying to pretend that Evans is somehow perfect, or that he hasn't made some particularly damaging mistakes (e.g. the appointment of Keane, insufficiently tight supervision of Hurst). But neither is he among the worst or most incompetent of owners we have seen even in the last decade. |
Thanks for your reply. Interesting read.
I do try to simplify things otherwise it becomes a long and uninteresting read for many. Yes, the game has run away from him. Some have coped with that better than him, some worse. We are Div 3 not because of circumstances beyond his control, but because of his lack of control!
A few questions to you about Evans' running of the club. He is coming up for his 12th anniversary at the club. In that time, has he ever appointed a CEO with any prior football experience? What about a DoF with any football experience? Has he ever attempted to have a supporter representative appointed to the Board or as an adviser? Does he make the same mistakes repeatedly? | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:18 - Aug 29 with 1602 views | RegencyBlue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:36 - Aug 29 by Muncher |
He has spent his own money propping up our club with good intentions.
The alternative being that if he didn't come in to invest we would have continued to be self sufficient, spending what money we could generate. That level of budget would have seen us in league two a long time ago. |
I'm not having that!
Evans had no connections whatsoever with Ipswich until be bought the club and the original plan clearly had nothing to do with good intentions. He was also looking at purchasing Southampton at the time
He bought us because like many a fool before him he thought he saw a way of making money out of a football club. Plan A was obvious - buy the clubs debt at a fraction of its face value, pump a few million in to gain promotion and then, with access to the Premiership millions pay himself back the full debt amount. He could then either sell us to someone as a Premiership club or continue to 'dip in' when it suited him.
Unfortunately for Evans his business gamble, and that is all it was, blew up spectacularly in his face, largely due to his own incompetence and there wasnt a plan B! Years of under investment have followed and we were well on our way to League 1 before Hurst accelerated the process last season.
There are signs that Lambert has finally got Evans to begin to realise what it is to run a football club but its taken twelve years to bring us to where we are now and its going to take a long time to put the damage right. |  | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:23 - Aug 29 with 1587 views | Muncher |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:18 - Aug 29 by RegencyBlue |
I'm not having that!
Evans had no connections whatsoever with Ipswich until be bought the club and the original plan clearly had nothing to do with good intentions. He was also looking at purchasing Southampton at the time
He bought us because like many a fool before him he thought he saw a way of making money out of a football club. Plan A was obvious - buy the clubs debt at a fraction of its face value, pump a few million in to gain promotion and then, with access to the Premiership millions pay himself back the full debt amount. He could then either sell us to someone as a Premiership club or continue to 'dip in' when it suited him.
Unfortunately for Evans his business gamble, and that is all it was, blew up spectacularly in his face, largely due to his own incompetence and there wasnt a plan B! Years of under investment have followed and we were well on our way to League 1 before Hurst accelerated the process last season.
There are signs that Lambert has finally got Evans to begin to realise what it is to run a football club but its taken twelve years to bring us to where we are now and its going to take a long time to put the damage right. |
By good intentions I mean that he was only ever going to profit from his investment (which granted was his primary motivation in buying the club) if we became an established premier league side, it is a win:win situation, our interests were and still are effectively aligned. | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:41 - Aug 29 with 1562 views | rickw |
You say "but he still will not sell it." but he's said he would sell the club if a decent buyer ever comes along - obviously not a Ken Anderson type.
We've seen how much trouble Bolton have had in finding new owners and that would be at bargain basement prices, there aren't a queue of Sheikhs, Russian Oligarches, and Chinese Billionaires looking for L1/Championship town based clubs |  |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:41 - Aug 29 with 1562 views | Guthrum |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:13 - Aug 29 by FrankfurtBlue |
Thanks for your reply. Interesting read.
I do try to simplify things otherwise it becomes a long and uninteresting read for many. Yes, the game has run away from him. Some have coped with that better than him, some worse. We are Div 3 not because of circumstances beyond his control, but because of his lack of control!
A few questions to you about Evans' running of the club. He is coming up for his 12th anniversary at the club. In that time, has he ever appointed a CEO with any prior football experience? What about a DoF with any football experience? Has he ever attempted to have a supporter representative appointed to the Board or as an adviser? Does he make the same mistakes repeatedly? |
I disagree. It is a combination of Evans' mistakes and trends in the wider football environment.
Sure, if he'd played every hand perfectly, we probably wouldn't have ended up dropping a division, maybe even got promoted. If Jewell had repeated his Bradford and Wigan achievements rather than the Sheff Weds and Derby ones. If McCarthy hadn't reverted to defensive mode after 2015. Even, if some decisions had gone the other way in Hurst's opening matches. Lots of ifs. But the world and people in it are not perfect.
He has been battling against negative changes in the footballing world. Parachute payments and their massive increase, lax FFP enforcement, EPPP and academy categorisation. Our club has a record of voting on the right side in all those issues, but been overruled in every case.
Evans has always relied on the Manager to run the footballing side of the club. There isn't that kind of Board*, CEO, or DoF. He appoints one man, with a successful track record (even Keane had won promotion at Sunderland), and gives them the responsibility. That man then becomes his senior advisor, tho it has been stated that he sometimes talks to other staff, including the club Captain. Also speaks with other owners and figures within the football world. Would adding in further people necessarily improve the quality of the advice?
Unless you count "failing to spend lots of money in the transfer window", I'm not sure he does repeatedly make the same mistakes.
* There is a purely administrative board of the PLC, on which a fan representative does sit. | |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 10:08 - Aug 29 with 1514 views | FrankfurtBlue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 09:41 - Aug 29 by Guthrum |
I disagree. It is a combination of Evans' mistakes and trends in the wider football environment.
Sure, if he'd played every hand perfectly, we probably wouldn't have ended up dropping a division, maybe even got promoted. If Jewell had repeated his Bradford and Wigan achievements rather than the Sheff Weds and Derby ones. If McCarthy hadn't reverted to defensive mode after 2015. Even, if some decisions had gone the other way in Hurst's opening matches. Lots of ifs. But the world and people in it are not perfect.
He has been battling against negative changes in the footballing world. Parachute payments and their massive increase, lax FFP enforcement, EPPP and academy categorisation. Our club has a record of voting on the right side in all those issues, but been overruled in every case.
Evans has always relied on the Manager to run the footballing side of the club. There isn't that kind of Board*, CEO, or DoF. He appoints one man, with a successful track record (even Keane had won promotion at Sunderland), and gives them the responsibility. That man then becomes his senior advisor, tho it has been stated that he sometimes talks to other staff, including the club Captain. Also speaks with other owners and figures within the football world. Would adding in further people necessarily improve the quality of the advice?
Unless you count "failing to spend lots of money in the transfer window", I'm not sure he does repeatedly make the same mistakes.
* There is a purely administrative board of the PLC, on which a fan representative does sit. |
IMO, he didn't have to play every hand perfectly. He needed, and still needs, to get good people in to play the hands dealt with some expertise. There are major problems with the "appoint a manager and let him get on with it" approach.
A good DoF would ensure that the respective youth teams and seniors all play to the same system, that good recruitment takes place under a managed scouting network, that contracts are attended to, that a long term plan is put into place (where a manager might only be concerned with the short term, ahem MM), that sales are made for top dollar. Relying "on the Manager to run the footballing side of the club" can work, but is prone to failure.
A good CEO would be there to oversee all of the above and the non-playing side of things with the help of an elected supporter, e.g. ensuring that 60 year old season ticket holders are not screwed, and that our feathered neighbours are not allowed to encroach on our backyard, rather than just ensuring that the turnstiles get a lick of paint now and again.
You are right, the football landscape has changed. Problem is, Evans approach to the running of a football club has not changed with it. There are numerous examples of how a good management structure can help. Unfortunately, one example is up the A140. [Post edited 29 Aug 2019 10:22]
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 12:43 - Aug 29 with 1442 views | braveblue |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 08:50 - Aug 29 by Guthrum |
That is rather a simplistic analysis, resting entirely upon the supposition that our decline to League One (a path also trodden by many of our rivals in the years we were maintaining our Championship place) was entirely under the control of Marcus Evans.
It ignores the financial changes in English football which have led clubs like Bolton, Bury and so many more to spend more than they can afford in a desperate attempt to win promotion or avoid relegation. It ignores the fact that the pool of competent administrators and outstanding managers is (on the evidence of what we see at many other teams) is extremely small. Sure, anyone can point to the odd one or two extremely well run clubs. But Bolton and Bury represent only the tip of an iceberg when it comes to those who are struggling, with varying degrees of desperation, just to survive from one season to the next. Even supposedly flourishing setups like the much-envied Derby County are having to sell major fixed assets (the stadium) just to cover their season-by-season costs.
Evans is not only just on the tier above Dale and Anderson when it comes to the quality of ownership. There is a whole load of incompetence and bad practice between those who got their clubs ejected from the League (or very nearly so) and where we are. Coventry, Portsmouth in the early 2010s, Blackpool, Leeds (a whole string), Birmingham (owner banged up), to name just some of the worst. Everyone below the top few in the Prem are struggling financially, spending beyond their means. So are we, but far from being among the worst.
As I said, dropping a division is something many other teams have done in the time we continued to fight for our place in the Championship. Subsequently, Evans at least funded keeping much of the squad together (plus a few signings), providing the tools for us to be in our current position of topping the division.
He hasn't even tried anything mad like changing our name or colours. Or moving us to another town 60 miles away.
As well as the ones which didn't work, he has some successful appointments - McCarthy and (as far as things are going off the pitch and, this season, on it) Lambert.
I'm not trying to pretend that Evans is somehow perfect, or that he hasn't made some particularly damaging mistakes (e.g. the appointment of Keane, insufficiently tight supervision of Hurst). But neither is he among the worst or most incompetent of owners we have seen even in the last decade. |
If he appoints the managers, sets the budget, appoints MDs and sets out the strategic plan I think it is fair to say it’s his fault!! | | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 12:47 - Aug 29 with 1436 views | Guthrum |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 10:08 - Aug 29 by FrankfurtBlue |
IMO, he didn't have to play every hand perfectly. He needed, and still needs, to get good people in to play the hands dealt with some expertise. There are major problems with the "appoint a manager and let him get on with it" approach.
A good DoF would ensure that the respective youth teams and seniors all play to the same system, that good recruitment takes place under a managed scouting network, that contracts are attended to, that a long term plan is put into place (where a manager might only be concerned with the short term, ahem MM), that sales are made for top dollar. Relying "on the Manager to run the footballing side of the club" can work, but is prone to failure.
A good CEO would be there to oversee all of the above and the non-playing side of things with the help of an elected supporter, e.g. ensuring that 60 year old season ticket holders are not screwed, and that our feathered neighbours are not allowed to encroach on our backyard, rather than just ensuring that the turnstiles get a lick of paint now and again.
You are right, the football landscape has changed. Problem is, Evans approach to the running of a football club has not changed with it. There are numerous examples of how a good management structure can help. Unfortunately, one example is up the A140. [Post edited 29 Aug 2019 10:22]
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A good manager can get that integration throughout the club just as well as a DoF. Lambert is doing that. McCarthy wasn't so bothered about the youth setup. Having extra people in the command chain can lead to friction as much as improving the organisation.
The example of Norwich is not so straightforward. Only a year ago, their fans were still protesting at stagnation and lack of funds, about the quality of the manager and the squad.
Two bits of chance good fortune turned things around: Farke hit upon a system which worked and, funded by the Maddison money, they found in Pukki a quality affordable striker who could get the goals to make it work.
We did the latter with Waghorn, but the tactics weren't right so the impact was less.
Wasn't so far back that Norwich were shambolically relegated, but then found a decent manager, a decent lower-division striker, pulled things together and charged right through to the Prem. | |
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| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 13:09 - Aug 29 with 1422 views | ActionMan |
A better way to look at it is this. If the best thing you can say about Evans is that we're not Bolton or Bury then you probably still don't have much good to say about Evans. You are really putting him up against two of the worse outfits and saying look he's good by that standard, Bury being a 4th division side recently and Bolton close to dropping to that level, both of which are two of the worse run clubs in the country.
This doesn't absolve Evans here though in anyway. He inherited a relatively healthy club with a stable management team, set of players, decent youth set up, out of administration, gates of 25k looking up towards promotion again and a club that had actually made a profit in 2007, the last time we were ever to do so without player sales. The debt was around 30million at this time, and relatively stable due to the measures Sheepshanks and Bowden brought in post administration, we weren't losing money hand over fist as many keep forgetting, we didn't have much funds for big transfers but the foundations where stable and they were there.
Then Evans came along, appointed Simon Clegg, sacked Magic, hired Keane, paid over the odds for players, the three men never sat in a room together, spending started getting out of control and the team started dropping down the league. Keane gets canned, Jewell gets hired, expenditure continues to spiral out of control with rubbish signings, loan after loan, players signed for large fees walking away for free due to the lack of leadership, and low and behold it's 2012 and we're on the brink of relegation with the clubs debt approaching £80million and gates dropping. Then Evans saviour came along, Mick McCarthy who sacked off the journeymen, brought in solid but basic players and made it work to keep us up. Evans then decided the spending had to stop and started to bring in his blue austerity measures, sacks Clegg, appoints Milne and Mick then struggles his ars3 off to make us competitive again. In a season we're chasing Playoffs, and then we follow it up with a magic season, despite selling Cresswell, and we get to the winter of 2014, we're dead certs to go up, we need 2 or 3 quality players to bring in and make it happen. We get Conor Salmon and Noel Hunt. We then don't go up, we're forced to sell Mings.
Mick however is a miracle worker and on a small budget brings in the likes of Pittman, Niles, Fraser and we go again and come up slightly short. Evans cuts the budget back again, we're forced to sell Murphy, replaces with leon Best (a deal personally negotiated by our owner at the 11th hour) and without an injection of quality into the squad to replace the quality we lost from the previous season we are nearly relegated, in fact without Tom Lawrence we would have been. However Mick is no fool, he works his magic despite further cuts and we recover again and were unlucky not to get at least a Playoff spot, the fans turn on Mick, the press turns on Mick, the fans demand young and exciting, the press demands young and exciting and we get Paul Hurst, Evans reduces the budget to what 4th or 5th lowest in the Championship, releases key players, sells whoever he can and gives the remains to an untried manager and the obvious to everyone, bar us, happens.
Contract chaos, debt of a 100 million, third division football, record low gates, not one manager who's not had a relegation fight on his hands, no cup progress since the early Keane days, record FA Cup defeat, lowest league finishes in decades, one decent managerial appointment and although the club still exists, Evans is an unmitigated failure and it's all his own doing - not because he's a bad man, or has any evil intent, he's just not good at running this football club and is now nowhere near wealthy enough to make any difference here.
We can on one hand say at least the club exists, but as supporters we should want our club to be a competitive force again. We understand he can't throw millions at it but we expect him to give Lambert a fighting chance which to be fair, he has, but only after the manager went public about it. |  | | |
| Is being pleased that Marcus Evans is owner of our club..... on 13:14 - Aug 29 with 1415 views | BigManBlue |
I have to agree, I'm not an Evans hater but if all we can say is "he's not destroyed the club" then that's hardly high praise. |  |
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