Stephen Bettis live on Football Heaven tonight (6-7pm)

[Sean Thornton]

£10m for Matos

Better known as “undisclosed fee” but why not post nonsense when you’re on a roll.

 

[TJ blade]

Wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if in the very near future these owners put the club back up for sale in the hope they get somewhere near what they paid out for it. I’d be quite happy if that should happen and just hope for once there will be someone employed at the club who can identify a bloody good purchaser. Who that person would be I haven’t a sodding clue.

I said exactly the same at the beginning of the season, regarding putting us up for sale! It's over there heads in everything they attempt! Unless a miracle happens regarding the first team, this lot are stairing down the barrel, and at the minute look stuck on for L1, yes it's still early days, but theve just got that look about them. Worrying is the January window, who the fcks going to join us knowing it's probably a battle to stay up!

 

[Blade59]

Nor sure why Bettis is getting all the flack for the interview. I thought he gave honest answers even if it was only to confirm what we already knew or suspected. We may not like what he was saying but at least we know where we currently stand. Basically the owners plans are to get promoted but with no real strategy as to how we achieve this or how we establish ourselves when we get their.

 

[Railway Blade]

Reading between the lines of what he said "The board are at best naive, at worst incompetent. James Bord is a bad influence and needs to be marginalised ASAP. We have no long term plan. Other than that I thought it went well.

 

[SE1Blade]

Nor sure why Bettis is getting all the flack for the interview. I thought he gave honest answers even if it was only to confirm what we already knew or suspected. We may not like what he was saying but at least we know where we currently stand. Basically the owners plans are to get promoted but with no real strategy as to how we achieve this or how we establish ourselves when we get their.

Agreed. You may not like what he says but I don’t get the feeling that he’s pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes. Whenever he is interviewed he speaks openly and honestly whilst remaining professional and not breaching any confidences, which is what I’d expect.

You can’t clamour for the board to say something and then complain when they do exactly that.

I genuinely don’t know what more he could have realistically said.

 

[blade_ben]

That's a signal that the owners are still looking to invest. They could have put a pause on the whole lot on the back of not getting promoted (PA would have put a stop to it had he still been owner)

I thought Bettis overall did okay, he pretty much confirmed what most of us suspected especially with regards to McBurnie not coming back etc. These owners are new to the game and they are starting to learn, a shame we had to have chaos of Selles for them to get it but here we are.

Despite what others have issue with, the thing I did have quite an issue with is lack of memorial for George. I get what Bettis is saying in terms of how do you measure him against other players of the past who pass away but George is one of the PL top tenners and a double promotion winner with us. I do think George deserves something to honour him at the club.

I wish we could do something like the murals that have been done around Anfield for Jota. Maybe we could on the external of the kop-south stand side

 

[54yrblade]

Nor sure why Bettis is getting all the flack for the interview. I thought he gave honest answers even if it was only to confirm what we already knew or suspected. We may not like what he was saying but at least we know where we currently stand. Basically the owners plans are to get promoted but with no real strategy as to how we achieve this or how we establish ourselves when we get their.

Because how he came over was woeful

He's out of his depth, as are our absent owners

He's one of the reasons why we are where we are.

We had two PL chances to set us up for the future and couldn't take them.

Now, we hang everything on Wilder keeping us up.

Our limitations laid bare. The rest is just words and noise.

 

[Caveblade]

Having just been bombed out of a business after 10 really successful years having been bought by American Private Equity this does not come as a shock.

It will of course sound like a massive over generalisation but PE and particularly US PE organisations seem to be populated by arrogant no knowts who only have one measure. It's profit, not fans, not people. They are not in it for the long term, they are like glorified car salesmen looking to flip a business as quickly as possible having done very little, normally having destroyed the culture for as much money as possible.

We have had a history of disastrous boardrooms, this mob are just the latest chapter. I wasnt a PA fan but at least (despite his completely expressionless face) I think he cared. Don't kid yourself if you think this lot care.

They aren't going to communicate with fans because they don't care. Our business got acquired and in 2 years as an employee I never heard a feckin peep from the "investors" other than seeing everyone getting beaten up on a monthly basis about numbers and people disappearing on a regular basis to try and hit the required profit numbers.

Up the Blades and fuck the Yanks.

 

[Balham]

i think you might be surprised/concerned. I bet there isn’t much change out of that £14m.

You're probably not far off

McGuinness £4-5m
Godfrey loan £3.5m (wages)
Matos £2-3m
Chong £2-3m
Ings/Mee signing on fees £1-2m
Soumaré loan £1m

The only one who has even a remote chance of repaying his transfer fee is Soumaré.

 

[chesblade]

Russo brothers have a big movie coming out next year so hopefully if it's a big success might get a bit more investment from them

 

[Blade59]

Because how he came over was woeful

He's out of his depth, as are our absent owners

He's one of the reasons why we are where we are.

We had two PL chances to set us up for the future and couldn't take them.

Now, we hang everything on Wilder keeping us up.

Our limitations laid bare. The rest is just words and noise.

He came over as nervous as he knew it was not what we wanted to hear. He was open and honest including implied criticism of the owners. He could have been more upbeat and positive but it would have been lies and bullshit. I am not saying he is doing a great job but he deserve some credit for coming on the radio and speaking in the manner he did.

 

[Revolution]

Having just been bombed out of a business after 10 really successful years having been bought by American Private Equity this does not come as a shock.

It will of course sound like a massive over generalisation but PE and particularly US PE organisations seem to be populated by arrogant no knowts who only have one measure. It's profit, not fans, not people. They are not in it for the long term, they are like glorified car salesmen looking to flip a business as quickly as possible having done very little, normally having destroyed the culture for as much money as possible.

We have had a history of disastrous boardrooms, this mob are just the latest chapter. I wasnt a PA fan but at least (despite his completely expressionless face) I think he cared. Don't kid yourself if you think this lot care.

They aren't going to communicate with fans because they don't care. Our business got acquired and in 2 years as an employee I never heard a feckin peep from the "investors" other than seeing everyone getting beaten up on a monthly basis about numbers and people disappearing on a regular basis to try and hit the required profit numbers.

Up the Blades and fuck the Yanks.

You miss one point in your excellent summary.

They never spend any of their own money.

Essentially we are run by potless idiots. Great.

 

[Large Mendonca]

i think you might be surprised/concerned. I bet there isn’t much change out of that £14m.

Well, yeah. Loans cost money too

 

[bladesadviser]

Very disappointing in terms of information being extracted. Would have preferred Staton who is more probing. Not one of SB's better interviews. Became a mates chat at the end about the football regulator. There were questions in there about structure and the need for a DOF that were avoided.

The first part confirmed the chaos that was prevalent at the Club in terms of deciding whether to dismiss CW. There was an admission the owners don't have football experience so why not bring some into the Board who has? SB was excluded from interviewing Selles. RS was recommended to the owners and they spoke to him. There was no formal interviewing of other candidates so he was the only choice. Shambolic and no amount of "they admit their mistakes" disguises the fact those in power do not possess the tools to effectively to manage the Club.

James Bords influence at owner level was skirted around. He is being employed as a consultant so extra costs will be involved. The justification for his role in recruitment was he may unearth a gem for the future! It was telling that despite the assertion CW will be the final arbiter when recruiting new players all targets will still have to go to Bords team to assess.

Some other nuggets;

Dore will not happen until we get promoted to the EPL.
Parachute payments have been forward funded so there will be less money available next year.
The womens team cost £1.5 mill a year to run. They are training at Dore now.
Targets for January have been identified. The loan market will be used. So some of the existing ones are going back. Seems we will have the last minute rush again as SB referenced players becoming available late in the window. So status quo again.
CW is here for the season at least.
The Owners plan seems to be simply limited to get promoted to the EPL. There are financial fall back positions in place should we go down.
Ruben Selles didn't want McBurnie sounds like Bettis did. Again a prime example of the need for a DOF as SB constantly said he was an accountant and didn't get involved in football matters.

Unlike his last interview with Staton I felt this was a stumbling performance repeating familiar strap lines in terms of recruitment regarding the window.

It was inferred lessons had been learnt but Giddings failed to probe on what exactly these were. The only learning that seemed to come across was we shouldn't have sacked CW and now we've got him back everything in the garden will be rosy.

Seems we've reverted back to plate spinning and innovative change has been parked for now.

Thanks for your work on this, very useful. Did Bettis get asked why they didn't look beyond Wilder when Selles was sacked?

 

[Bladesman]

Nor sure why Bettis is getting all the flack for the interview. I thought he gave honest answers even if it was only to confirm what we already knew or suspected. We may not like what he was saying but at least we know where we currently stand. Basically the owners plans are to get promoted but with no real strategy as to how we achieve this or how we establish ourselves when we get their.

I think they went back to Wilder because they realised to do what they want to do likely do will take time, getting that CAT1 status should really be a long term priority. Regardless of what I think of Wilder, he is a safe pair of hands to have in charge while the club decide what the long term goal is beyond promotion.

Unlike many owners, they are at least not stubborn and realised they had made an error in judgement and corrected it. Many owners would have stuck with Selles for longer and likely hired another disaster of a manager.

 

[KMC-1889]

Thanks for your work on this, very useful. Did Bettis get asked why they didn't look beyond Wilder when Selles was sacked?

Didn’t come up, just kept mentioning they acknowledged they made a mistake and worked to correct it.

 

[bladesadviser]

Didn’t come up, just kept mentioning they acknowledged they made a mistake and worked to correct it.

Thanks, to me that was the most important question

 

[GrayBlade]

Reading between the lines of what he said "The board are at best naive, at worst incompetent. James Bord is a bad influence and needs to be marginalised ASAP. We have no long term plan. Other than that I thought it went well.

And in his own words “fully fledged board member” Bettis, despite having 10 years experienced at the Lane to share didn’t seem to have had the balls or the desire to say ‘whoah hang on a minute!. In the interview, he described the chaos as a them and him situation where he stood helpless on the sidelines while ‘they’ ****** up! How so?

 

[Davalon]

Sadly nothing at all to be enthused about.

I was one of those saying people should wait and see during the summer instead of jumping to conclusions early. However, I now have to hold my hands up and sadly concede it is a shitshow after all.

Probably would still have been had we won at Wembley but at least we'd have had a bit more to tide us over for a couple of years.

End of the day though, as fans the best we can do is now get behind the team.

Whilst frustration and annoyance is justified, it's not going to help us get points on a match day.

 

[bertieblade]

And in his own words “fully fledged board member” Bettis, despite having 10 years experienced at the Lane to share didn’t seem to have had the balls or the desire to say ‘whoah hang on a minute!. In the interview, he described the chaos as a them and him situation where he stood helpless on the sidelines while ‘they’ ****** up! How so?

Have you ever sat in a board meeting or for that matter any meeting where the majority vote rules?

No matter how hard you shout and provide a solid foundation for your opinion, if the majority want to vote against you, their decision is carried.
As quoted by a previous poster SB then has to run with what he is given and with that in mind he is in my opinion doing a good job.

It is indicated elsewhere that he was responsible for bringing Wilder back and whilst I was in favour of him leaving in the summer he is I hope, the right guy to save us from relegation this time.

 

[Gin&Juice]

Whole interview brought back a nice childhood familiarity.

 

[skyjam]

any links?

 

[Ned the Donkey]

Russo brothers have a big movie coming out next year so hopefully if it's a big success might get a bit more investment from them

Because ther last film [The Electric State] was such a roaring success?

Netflix's biggest flop​

Netflix is no stranger to taking big swings, but not all of them land. Earlier this year, the streamer released The Electric State, a $320 million sci-fi adventure from directors Joe and Anthony Russo.

That price tag made it the most expensive original film Netflix has ever produced. But the return? Not what the company hoped for. According to Decider, the movie drew only 25.2 million global views in its debut weekend - far below other high-budget titles like Carry-On or The Gray Man.

Critics were not kind either. Business Insider reported that the film was widely panned, earning a bleak 15–17 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviews called it “dumb,” “unfunny,” and “overpriced,” with many questioning why Netflix poured so much money into a project that failed to connect with audiences.

The streaming giant has invested heavily in original movies, spending billions over the past few years, but The Electric State now stands as the company’s most high-profile misfire

 

[beasty]

I am really shocked that this guy is not being taken to task. His position is CEO. Which means he develops and delivers the strategy that is signed of by the none executive board (owners) so who’s decision was it to sack wilder and bring I someone worse.

Who’s responsibility is it to make signings late so they are not fit for purpose (dispote his constant drivel about it being out of our hands)

If he was not involved in these decisions then what exactly does he do????

Maybe a good accountant who can deliver financial support which is a CFO,s job

Raging

Completely agree. He's the CEO and talks like its all someone else's doing. Unbelievable.

 

[Ned the Donkey]

Because ther last film [The Electric State] was such a roaring success?

Netflix's biggest flop​

The book's great though, and prescient - this is where he illustrates the burst water main at the bottom of the Moor:

 

[GrayBlade]

Have you ever sat in a board meeting or for that matter any meeting where the majority vote rules?

No matter how hard you shout and provide a solid foundation for your opinion, if the majority want to vote against you, their decision is carried.
As quoted by a previous poster SB then has to run with what he is given and with that in mind he is in my opinion doing a good job.

It is indicated elsewhere that he was responsible for bringing Wilder back and whilst I was in favour of him leaving in the summer he is I hope, the right guy to save us from relegation this time.

As you ask yes, 11 years a director of a FTSE 100 company plus management roles at others, and a chunk of my life spent in meetings, latterly my own business’s. Sometimes, meeting become a battle and get away from the agendas, but you have to fight to get your views across. I’m not convinced that’s happening.
Anyway, I’m glad that you think Bettis is doing a good job, I don’t.

 

[Davalon]

Because he’s more untouchable than Elliot Ness

Seen one comment today on X from presumably a fan, 'he's intangible as he understands the fabric of the club'

Jesus.

 

[The Crab]

Seen one comment today on X from presumably a fan, 'he's intangible as he understands the fabric of the club'

Jesus.

Brainwashed

 

[S64 Blade]

Seems like Bettis is being rolled out as a fall guy. Reading between the lines he’s not agreed with the big decisions made. Seems like he’s constantly used a bit of a yes/front man rather than adding any real leadership.

He seems like a decent guy, but he doesn’t scream CEO to me, more of a technical operator.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

We got around £12m for Souza. and a further £2m for Kieffer Moore.

So even if Anel and Tanganga cancel each other out, there's no way we forked out anywhere near £14m on the other dross.

Transfer fees
Loan fees
Agents fees
Wages

Apart from 8m Tanganga we signed another 13 players. Bet it's close to 14m.