Poll

Who do you want as manager

Michael Appleton
19 (5.9%)
Derek McInnes
9 (2.8%)
Alex Neil
1 (0.3%)
Chris Wilder
68 (21.1%)
Steve Cooper
12 (3.7%)
Frank Lampard
105 (32.6%)
John Terry
1 (0.3%)
David Wagner
10 (3.1%)
Valérien Ismaël
30 (9.3%)
Garry Monk
0 (0%)
Eddie Howe
37 (11.5%)
Nicky Butt
1 (0.3%)
Marco Silva
4 (1.2%)
Other (British based coach)
6 (1.9%)
Other (Foreign based coach)
19 (5.9%)

Total Members Voted: 322

Author Topic: New Manager Thread 2020 (Archive)  (Read 441338 times)

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WBA

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3075 on: June 15, 2021, 12:27:05 AM »
I'm not angry, I'm resigned to the club being in the toilet. Who exactly is going to pick "the right man" as head coach? Ken with no football experience and still wet behind the ears on the board?  Who is going to identify and sign the players, the canteen staff? Who gets to negotiate the players contracts, the club shop manager?  Then what happens when the manager appointed inevitably gets sacked? Who gets to plan the pre-season, the kit-man?

I thought the statement went far beyond what it might have, pulled no punches and was honest.

Dowling could have left at any time.  Sometimes an organisation loses a couple of key people for one reason or another and it can be difficult in the short-term.   

You would think as they've pulled the plug on Dowling they have someone lined up on an interim basis to deal with the Head Coach appointment and the summer window.   Someone needs to fill the role and manage Dowling's existing people until he's replaced or they put in a new structure.

They'll probably use specialist consultants for the review of football operations. 

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3076 on: June 15, 2021, 12:50:30 AM »
I thought the statement went far beyond what it might have, pulled no punches and was honest.

Dowling could have left at any time.  Sometimes an organisation loses a couple of key people for one reason or another and it can be difficult in the short-term.   

You would think as they've pulled the plug on Dowling they have someone lined up on an interim basis to deal with the Head Coach appointment and the summer window.   Someone needs to fill the role and manage Dowling's existing people until he's replaced or they put in a new structure.

They'll probably use specialist consultants for the review of football operations.

In full agreement.
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3077 on: June 15, 2021, 01:06:35 AM »
I thought the statement went far beyond what it might have, pulled no punches and was honest.

Dowling could have left at any time.  Sometimes an organisation loses a couple of key people for one reason or another and it can be difficult in the short-term.   

You would think as they've pulled the plug on Dowling they have someone lined up on an interim basis to deal with the Head Coach appointment and the summer window.  Someone needs to fill the role and manage Dowling's existing people until he's replaced or they put in a new structure.

They'll probably use specialist consultants for the review of football operations.

I have no idea why you would assume they have someone lined up to manage the football operations. Up until yesterday Dowling was in charge of the recruitment of the new manager. No chance they have anyone on board who has a clue what is going on. Else they wouldn’t have left Dowling in charge of the recruitment process to begin with.

I’m also intrigued to know who these special consultants are. So we are going to outsource the future of the football club to a third party recruitment agency who don’t own the club and aren’t employed by the club. Never going to happen.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3078 on: June 15, 2021, 01:10:49 AM »
I have no idea why you would assume they have someone lined up to manage the football operations. Up until yesterday Dowling was in charge of the recruitment of the new manager. No chance they have anyone on board who has a clue what is going on. Else they wouldn’t have left Dowling in charge of the recruitment process to begin with.

I’m also intrigued to know who these special consultants are. So we are going to outsource the future of the football club to a third party recruitment agency who don’t own the club and aren’t employed by the club. Never going to happen.

I'd be a bit suspicious of having a bunch of outside consultants in to advise on the football club structure. They could be anyone, maybe Villa or Wolves fans amongst them.
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3079 on: June 15, 2021, 01:17:42 AM »
I'd be a bit suspicious of having a bunch of outside consultants in to advise on the football club structure. They could be anyone, maybe Villa or Wolves fans amongst them.

It’s all make believe nonsense. There are no consultants. Listening to the Chris Lepkowski liquidator podcast special this evening and they are scathing about the board and the statement, and I agree with every word they have to say. Both deeply concerned about the future of the club. Mark Miles has been part of the committee searching for a manager! No sane club ever tries to appoint a DOF after appointing a manager. The DOF is supposed to lead the search for the manager and to work with him. Even more barmy would be to just give the entire budget to the manager to control all the recruitment and contracts.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3080 on: June 15, 2021, 05:12:34 AM »
It’s all make believe nonsense. There are no consultants. Listening to the Chris Lepkowski liquidator podcast special this evening and they are scathing about the board and the statement, and I agree with every word they have to say. Both deeply concerned about the future of the club. Mark Miles has been part of the committee searching for a manager! No sane club ever tries to appoint a DOF after appointing a manager. The DOF is supposed to lead the search for the manager and to work with him. Even more barmy would be to just give the entire budget to the manager to control all the recruitment and contracts.
Chris L last month was on about sporting consultants himself if the Dowling situation ever happened. I'd never heard of such a thing and wouldn't be hugely confident but they do exist .
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3081 on: June 15, 2021, 05:19:04 AM »
Just playing devils advocate.... who was that fosun guy who randomly came on board last month from wolves?? i wonder whether he's the person looking for the new manager

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3082 on: June 15, 2021, 07:16:06 AM »
We need to beg and plead and pay Mr Hodgson for 12 months to operate as a “special advisor” for football related stuff.

We then need to appoint a DoF ASAP and allow them 12 months to put some things in place.

In regards to the head coach, I would be looking at getting a young ish one in and draw on Hodgson’s experience and give him 2 years to get us up.

This next season now is about making sure the club doesn’t drop any further.

Damage limitation

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3083 on: June 15, 2021, 07:30:07 AM »
We need to beg and plead and pay Mr Hodgson for 12 months to operate as a “special advisor” for football related stuff.

We then need to appoint a DoF ASAP and allow them 12 months to put some things in place.

In regards to the head coach, I would be looking at getting a young ish one in and draw on Hodgson’s experience and give him 2 years to get us up.

This next season now is about making sure the club doesn’t drop any further.

Damage limitation

Roy back as DOF would be a very good appointment! Not so sure he'd be interested but you never know.
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3084 on: June 15, 2021, 07:36:58 AM »
Just playing devils advocate.... who was that fosun guy who randomly came on board last month from wolves?? i wonder whether he's the person looking for the new manager

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3085 on: June 15, 2021, 07:47:58 AM »
Pulis has got to be worth a tenner at 18/1 with Sky Bet.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3086 on: June 15, 2021, 07:49:04 AM »
Pulis has got to be worth a tenner at 18/1 with Sky Bet.

He seems to be getting quite a mention on twitter by various people...........surely not???
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3087 on: June 15, 2021, 07:57:59 AM »
What us fans want and what the board want / do are very different things.

In ideal circumstances, we would have a good DOF who has a clear identity for the club and all appointments are on board with that.

However we are not in that position, as a club you could say since we introduced a DOF, 15 years ago, 5 of those years were successful and that was the Ashworth era.

In the 4 seasons under Lai, we have gone through 3 x DOF (Hammond, Terraneo and Dowling) and through 6 x head coaches / managers (Pulis, Pardew, Moore, Shan, Bilic, Big Sam) and we are currently in the division lower than when he first took over!

So the facts state, what we are doing isnt working, one or two appointments go wrong, you stick with it, when you have got through 9 staff in 4 seasons (plus their own staff they would bring) you know somethings not right!

We are spending fortunes hiring and sacking people, its well known we are up for sale, we have stuck with a DOF for the sake of it, cut the middle man out and just get a manager for our current situation.

Football consultants sound fine but somebody at the club presently has to identify the right consultants, whats to say we dont end up with the Terraneo / Dowling equivalent of the football consultancy world?! 9 staff in 4 seasons should be standing out we arent very good at this!

Big Sam it would seem was advising the board, he is our consultant, i would say to him, recommend a manager and if we go up, Big Sam gets a commission, he is money motivated, that would suit him.

I would even be tempted to try and get him back for the actual job, any romantic notion of future planning, vision, identity for the Albion has gone in my view until Lai has sold up, he wants out and the quickest way to do that is go up.

Lets keep it simple, football worked fine for over hundred years without DOF, Football operations, etc a forward thinking club needs those things, we are not a forward thinking club, we are going here and now so dont keep wasting money on DOF, their entourages, etc.

The right manager should have a contacts book and scouts they use, go that route for a couple of seasons, we may end up where we are now but at least its one person making the decisions for the playing side instead of a few people doing and nobody being happy and getting what they want.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3088 on: June 15, 2021, 08:01:04 AM »
Roy back as DOF would be a very good appointment! Not so sure he'd be interested but you never know.

Roy's 74 in August. He's stated he plans to take a break from the game to spend time with his family. Although a vastly experienced football man to my knowledge he has never been a DoF.

He probably hasn't held transfer and contract negotiations since his time at Fulham, in Italy or even Scandinavia as a club the size of Liverpool probably had a man for such things. We certainly did.

Given his life stage,  lack of experience in the role and stated desire to take a break what makes you believe he's the man for the job in a role which clearly needs a complete overhaul at a club in apparent turmoil?
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3089 on: June 15, 2021, 08:03:46 AM »
Excellent post Albion79. I share your view that we should and get Big Sam back on a two or three year contract. He certainly has the contacts in both the UK and Europe as he showed last season.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3090 on: June 15, 2021, 08:08:37 AM »
Roy's 74 in August. He's stated he plans to take a break from the game to spend time with his family. Although a vastly experienced football man to my knowledge he has never been a DoF.

He probably hasn't held transfer and contract negotiations since his time at Fulham, in Italy or even Scandinavia as a club the size of Liverpool probably had a man for such things. We certainly did.

Given his life stage,  lack of experience in the role and stated desire to take a break what makes you believe he's the man for the job in a role which clearly needs a complete overhaul at a club in apparent turmoil?

Exactly why we should offer him an advisor role, rather than a dof role.

We need football experience in ASAP

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3091 on: June 15, 2021, 08:24:05 AM »

I’m also intrigued to know who these special consultants are. So we are going to outsource the future of the football club to a third party recruitment agency who don’t own the club and aren’t employed by the club. Never going to happen.

You seem to dismiss the notion of consultancy and agents straight out of hand when they’re becoming pretty common place in football.

I’ve no doubts that they will be seeking advice from agency firms regarding prospective new managers now Dowling has gone.
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3092 on: June 15, 2021, 08:37:56 AM »
The very fact that he got stung for £200m in the first instance should leave us in no doubt that he doesn't know what he's doing and his subsequent strategy doesn't amount to anything more than cluelessly flailing around. On that basis, the prospect of him taking a more hands on role doesn't bode well.

This is a good point, I've never understood how such successful businessmen can be so clueless when it comes to football. The Venky's are similar. Great at the chicken business but so naive at football. You would think some of their knowledge would carry over, but clearly not.

I think based on Ken's statement, people will be very upset with our next appointment.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3093 on: June 15, 2021, 08:46:47 AM »
Excellent post Albion79. I share your view that we should and get Big Sam back on a two or three year contract. He certainly has the contacts in both the UK and Europe as he showed last season.
He also "achieved" the second worst win percentage by a permanent manager in the history of the club, as well as lying to the fans and the media about his potential willingness to manage us in the Championship. He had his chance and failed dismally.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3094 on: June 15, 2021, 08:53:58 AM »
IMO it's highly unlikely that Dowling would have gone without thinking about the consequences, & I doubt very much that there's a void.

The phrase
Quote
reassess how our football operation functions
suggests that they are going to a flatter structure with the Head Coach reporting to Ken.

On that basis, they have probably identified who they want as Head Coach, & it's likely to be someone that they know.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3095 on: June 15, 2021, 09:02:25 AM »
Guys how do you think Fosun found Lage for the Dingles? They asked Mendes to find him. It just happened that Mendes didn't need to look too far because bless my soul he was a Mendes client.

How do you think Allardyce found Okay and Diagne? Do you think he was sat at home watching reruns of Celta Vigo v Alves and highlights of the Turkish Super Lig? I somehow doubt it. My guess he asked an agent or agents to find him a defensive midfielder and centre forward who he could get on loan. He might have had the recruitment department at the Albion do a quick video scouting job on them but he hasn't seen them play live that is absolutely certain.

Football agents will work for anybody who pays them. Football consultancies that operate like an integrated management consultancy in mainstream commerce  are somewhat rarer beasts but a CEO of a football club would only need to put in a couple of phone calls to the right people and he would be long way down the road to finding one. The club already has a relationship at least one of the people I would call were I in that position.

However it does not change the pool of suitable qualified candidates. As a somewhat frustrated Executive Search consult once remarked to me "I can't knit you an 11th  ***** Head of Structured Products Trading  there are 10 of them that fit your criteria and budget you have to chose one of them." She was right and so it is with Head Coaches. 
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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3096 on: June 15, 2021, 09:06:21 AM »
IMO it's highly unlikely that Dowling would have gone without thinking about the consequences, & I doubt very much that there's a void.

The phrase  suggests that they are going to a flatter structure with the Head Coach reporting to Ken.
This'll be the same Ken who knows next to nothing about the playing side of football. The structure you're suggesting would be a void because there would be no-one at senior level who knows anything about the playing side.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3097 on: June 15, 2021, 09:13:09 AM »
Dowling walked or got fired, whichever is the truth, because he wanted to hire the manager who would have definitely got us promoted within 2 seasons, Chris Wilder.  Its madness that Lai has allowed personal feelings influence a business decision which would have only been good for the club.

I can see Wilder managing another Championship club , maybe Bournemouth. With Jokanovic at Sheffield United already settled in and is probably looking at getting new players in , I can see Sheffield United walking away with the Championship with Swansea, Fulham joining them in promotion. Why ?  Because they have stability at they are already getting down to the business of getting players in or the new season. By the time our new manager is at that stage all the good players will have gone.

I can see us finishing mid table at best and probably in the same position as we are now next summer without a manager !!!

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3098 on: June 15, 2021, 09:16:27 AM »
I think we need to pay some consultants to look at the viability of paying some other consultants to do some consulting.  And I think we will need a working party to oversee the consultancy process.

On the other hand we could just try and get a half decent manager before August.

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Re: New Manager Thread
« Reply #3099 on: June 15, 2021, 09:21:12 AM »
New article up today on Atheltic about it all. Nothing juicy heres a few snippers i wasn't aware of but you may be.

- Lai expected a better performance than the one he got last season in the PL. We know the money squandered was due to lack of relationship between LD and Bilic though.  This is where he lost faith in LD i guess.

-Madeley points out that the clubs exactly where it was when LD took over but with a weaker squad overall

- Few decent deals but more costly rubbish deals than good overall

- Done the Academy over but it seems to be recovering now under new team headed by Richard Stevens

- Easier to find a good manager than the right DOF so may go without one, to start with at least due to time constraints

- Dowling did not want Valerian Ismail or Alex Neil due to their style of play so club may turn to them as LD wanted Wilder or Wagner

- Xu Ke (Ken) is popular at the club and well liked but lacks football knowledge and contacts required for club at our level. Same for Mark Miles.

- Staff concerned that Lai and advisors will take more hands on approach leaving club open to abuse from agents.


Closes with-

"Despite a week of turmoil, many of the positive conditions remain in Albion’s favour.

The club remains big in Championship terms, the budget remains strong, the squad has a solid base. The fear comes from having little knowledge and even less trust in those now charged with making sure the conditions are exploited."