Statement from McCabe - Official Site

[Revolution]

The prince has to have the bottle to keep investing until it happens. I'm afraid he's appears to be dithering at the moment.

If those "in the know" are to be believed, this is the exact opposite of what is happening. It has been said on this board a number of times in the last 2 months that the Prince was ready to put the money in and McCabe would not put in matching funds.

I don't know whether that is true, but you certainly can't draw the conclusion you've drawn above unless you have info that isn't in the public domain.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Pete , agree it's not the manager . There life span is I think now 7 months . It's ensuring everything in the background is kept as status quo . Scouts , coaching , kit man , tea man , all back room staff keeping that level of continuity , and not having a start all over again , every time a new manager comes through the door. The football club then does have some DNA , blue print , benchmark to work from which is imprinted in the club , and every bugger knows there job , role and responsibility , even down to the laundry ladies.

Watford had 5 managers in one season and we're still successful . Other clubs can crack the formula , so I am sure we can . Is Adkins / McCabe partnership the one to start the successful legacy . We may be once starting to make our own luck , by learning from others , and all at BDTBL not having there head up there arses thinking they know best . ( look were that's got us in the past )

UTB

Big salaries spent on another rung of management between the manager and the Board , including a Director of Football and associated teams of support staff, would be a major decision when the football squad is in so much need of investment. I know, chicken and the egg, but surely Adkins, Wilkins, Crosby and Turnbull can get us out of this league in good shape and ready to compete in the Championship without all that extra expense.

 

[Woodwardfan]

If those "in the know" are to be believed, this is the exact opposite of what is happening. It has been said on this board a number of times in the last 2 months that the Prince was ready to put the money in and McCabe would not put in matching funds.

I don't know whether that is true, but you certainly can't draw the conclusion you've drawn above unless you have info that isn't in the public domain.

KM has put in £4m already this season, he said so on Saturday. He would be daft to just keep on throwing good money after bad if there wasn't a solid plan for change. Besides we don't know which league we will be in next year so the time is not right. I thought KM said the manager would be backed on loan signings now though.

 

[Worksop II]

I thought KM said the manager would be backed on loan signings now though.

In 2009 after the Playoff defeat to Burnley when we ended the game with Loanees Craig Beattie and Arturo Lupoli up front

McCabe stated that we had to stop relying on Loans ............................

Mr Fuckin Flippy - just the same recycled shite

He is back to page one of the excuse book, and we have all heard em before

 

[Therusstler]

So he says him and he prince have spent 8million each this season, so 16 million plus 2.5 from Murphy, that's 18.5 million ....

What a load of old bollocks.....

So he says him and he prince have spent 8million each this season, so 16 million plus 2.5 from Murphy, that's 18.5 million ....

What a load of old bollocks.....

A quick tot up shows that our first team wages cost nearly 8 million alone, (based on me guessing some wages which I don't have a clue about obviously) - have attached my working out like a good student.

So when you factor in the cost of the rest of the squad, the cost of the rest of the staff, matchday etc etc its not that unbelievable

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Big salaries spent on another rung of management between the manager and the Board , including a Director of Football and associated teams of support staff, would be a major decision when the football squad is in so much need of investment. I know, chicken and the egg, but surely Adkins, Wilkins, Crosby and Turnbull can get us out of this league in good shape and ready to compete in the Championship without all that extra expense.

Woody , I am not advocating bringing in another uneccessary tier of management . This would cost money , which could be better spent , and would there be any added benefit .

What we need and have to aim for is some form of continuity with a SUFC identity of how we play and how we go about things both on and off the pitch. Our trouble is that we have been piss poor at organisation and having no real future forward thinking , but had hoc , hear and now approach.

Yes Adkins and his back room staff can get us out of this league ( even this season , with one or two good loan signings ) .

My view with back room staff , managers , it's like players , round pegs in round holes . All knowing there roles and responsibilities . If you change a manager , progress carries on with minimum disruption , and not having to start all over again from a blank sheet of paper .

This IMO has been lacking at the lane with autocratic not democratic management at both board and football levels.

Adkins I feel is changing this , and realises he is now the catalyst to move SUFC forward , can a leopard change its spots in McCabe and buy into this ethos . That's the question.

UTB

 

[Woodwardfan]

A quick tot up shows that our first team wages cost nearly 8 million alone, (based on me guessing some wages which I don't have a clue about obviously) - have attached my working out like a good student.

So when you factor in the cost of the rest of the squad, the cost of the rest of the staff, matchday etc etc its not that unbelievable

plus the cost of the Academy.

 

[PeteBlade]

No need for an argument, it's a worthwhile discussion.

Put a decent manager at any stage each of our last 7 managers were appointed and we would be miles better off by now.

I would have chosen Sean O'Driscoll on two of those occasions and would probably have got it wrong each time looking at his career since. I was definitely against the appointments of Robson, Blackwell, Speed, Adams and Wilson though. I was delighted when Weir, Clough and Adkins were appointed though. It's not easy.

Considering the performances of all those managers, our club overall is in great shape and ready to support a push towards the Premier League with everything in place. That is quite remarkable and great tribute should be paid to KM who has seen it through despite the huge expense and of course the fans. The prince has to have the bottle to keep investing until it happens. I'm afraid he's appears to be dithering at the moment.

What we do agree on Woodwardfan is that Adkins is the right man for the job and should be backed to finish the job I believe he can do.

No manager is perfect and I think he has made some errors and I have been disappointed with signings like Woolford and Sammon but I think given the right backing he will get us out of this league playing attacking and exciting football.

I do think, that we need to properly back him so he has the best opportunity.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

And not many teams seem to be taken aback on the pitch at BL.

Not many will be taken aback by a stadium that’s been a regular haunt for 5-6 years. Maybe the first time but BL is now all too familiar to League 1 teams.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

"Rest assured, our position is not a result of lack of effort, investment or ambition from the owners"

So is it by design? Divine intervention? The alignment of the planets?

.

Clearly you didn’t read it properly. It’s all down to back luck. We were simply unlucky in all those playoff games and it had nothing to do with being worse than the opposition on the day.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

"One only needs to look at the number of play-off matches the Blades have lost in recent times to think that luck has not been on our side", the reason for this Kevin is because not enough money has been spent on quality players, hence why we've always fallen just short when it comes to the play offs.

And in at least 3 of those playoff failure seasons, it’s because we missed out on autos largely because we sold our best striker/ top scorer (2 in the case of Deae and Fjortoft) mid-season. That’s nowt to do with luck.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

He has taken a back seat, brought in football people, clough and brannigan, fans happy with this, don't work, get rid of clough, most fans hapoy, bring in adkins, most fans happy wth this, costs the club to get rid of clough and his crew but lets forget that, adkins reign not quite working out as planned, its mccabes fault, doesn't know out abart football, what else can he do? He supports the board, doesn't make football discisions buts puts the funds in place to support the board/manager, not working? Owners fault, some of you lot should grow up and realise the fault lies elsewhere, managers and players.

That’s half the story.


Appoints Robson- Fans furious and bemused.


Claims Beattie has flu and sells him off.


Chucks Kyle Walker into a BOGOF deal for Naughton.


Sacks Blackwell 2 games into the season


Appoints Wilson to the fans’ ire again before saying fans don’t know what to look for in a manager (after he chose Robson!- Meanwhile, the fans’ preferred choice goes on to win the champions league whilst we fail to get promoted).


Promises that we’ll finish the window stronger than we started it before replacing Nick Blackman with Jonathan Forte.


Sacks Wilson with nobody to come in and save the season in the hope that new manager syndrome can save us from his January screw-job.


Sells McDonald to a promotion rival but announces “game-changing” “think Liverpool” investment just as the transfer window closes.


Expectations are huge after the “investment” and the run Clough took us on. All we need is to retian the players from that run and add a quality striker. We lose 3 of the best players of that team (selling off our prized asset again) and add Michael Higdon up front. We sign loads of players but none of a calibre that you wouldn’t have expected us to sign before the “investment”.


Then, sweet mother of god, we sign John Brayford. Finally, we have spent money on a player to suggest we are serious about getting out of this league.

Tie Murphy down to a new contract. Board member says only way teams can take him from us is on a video game.


Sack clough, appoint adkins and immediately sell our best player (murphy) again whilst having the mouthpiece saying it wasn’t motivated by finance and all funds will be reinvested into the team.


Fail to land targets in August but suggest it’s all hunky dory because we have a good squad.


January comes round, it’s clear the squad is not good enough. Remove a few squad players and bring in nobody leaving us with little chance of even making the top 6.


Come on the radio to tell everyone it’s all down to bad luck whilst also issuing a very public statement to the entire championship that if they want any of our players, there is not a damn thing we can do to stop them from taking them regardless of whether they’ve just signed a new contract.



I don’t think he’s quite the pantomime villain some paint him to be but at the same time, he has done so much wrong and shown naivety, arrogance and contempt for us as a fan-base on numerous occasions whilst leading the club to possibly it’s worst ever period.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

He has made mistakes, who hasn't, but he has put managers in and supprted them, are you honestly saying if you were fortunate enough to be in his shoes you would have got the right people in and been successful? There is an enormous amount of luck in getting it right

There is and nobody would get every decision right but not many would have been stupid enough to go down the Robson route, to sack a manager 2 games into a season, to appoint Wilson over RDM and then tell the fans arrogantly that they don’t know what to look for in a manager but he does.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

If somebody else (not afan) was runnin/owning our club for the last few years and a certain rich, self made man and a football fan who was a blade wanted to buy our club some woukd be wetting themselves, then a few years later when it doesn't work out slag him off because he doesn't know what he is doing, unlike some on herewho obviously are rich self made millionaires who have never had to make an important discision in there lives but can tell someone else how to do it, fuckin priceless

Not a self maid multi-millionaire? = you cannot criticise the chairman

Not an experienced, qualified football manager? = You cannot criticise any managerial decisions.

Never played professional football?- You cannot criticise the players.


It’s going to be a very quiet forum if we can only criticise people who work in the same field as that which we are a specialist in.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I'm deducing you've got some high level (higher than my bookkeeping at an old people's home 20 years ago at any rate) finance/accountancy background and there's nothing very particular if that's what you're after. It's more a direction of travel.

Summarised in another thread but may be best to hear it from the horse's mouth.

My take is he's right behind Adkins. His answer can be read as mealy-mouthed but it's like asking a scientist for certainty. Or a philosopher if the sun's going to come up.

(Not verbatim) Q: Will Nigel be here next season if we're not promoted?
A: People move around all the time.

He then does go on to be much more categorical.

As always, for me, it's not so much the words on the page as the tone of voice, all the non-verbal stuff.

He doesn't give interviews often so I reckon it's worth listening - and trying to figure out from there what's going on.

I heard some of it and did hear the bit at the end where he was asked about Adkins.


He replied along the lines of he had faith in Adkins and expects him to be here next season but you never know if in football.


I took it to mean unless he does exceptionally poorly (taking us near relegation places) or has some sort of mystery fall out a la Clough, then he’ll be here.


I hope that proves to be the case as it’s the first time in an age and probably the last time for a long time that we’ve appointed a manager most of us wanted based on their achievements in the game. It would be foolhardy to throw that away without trying him with his own team. Bassett failed in his first season with someone else’s team. He was given time, went out and bought Deane and Agana and the rest is history.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Yup. But Colin spent the money " for the future" remember. That's not McCabes fault. Other than for letting NW deal with the financials that is

Warnock talks about this in his book. He basically says that he couldn’t go out and sign a player of the same calibre as Hulse because he wouldn’t be able to guarantee them first team football. In the circumstances, the best he could do for a contingency striker was John Stead and Luton Shelton.


Perhaps better scouting could have resulted in us unearthing a better player who could step up and be the main man in Hulse’s absence but it wasn’t to be. We had plenty of forwards who had some useful attributes (Nade, Shelton, Stead, Webber, CKR etc.) but none of them were real leaders of the line able to effectively play as the 1 up front which was a problem for us.

 

[PeteBlade]

Clearly you didn’t read it properly. It’s all down to back luck. We were simply unlucky in all those playoff games and it had nothing to do with being worse than the opposition on the day.

It was also Carlos Tevez's fault

 

[BushBlade]

Clearly you didn’t read it properly. It’s all down to back luck. We were simply unlucky in all those playoff games and it had nothing to do with being worse than the opposition on the day.

It's the bit about the managerial appointments being reasonable at the time that got me.
Robson; well known for being too fond of a drink. Just sacked for failing to do what we then employed him to do. By Jeremy Peace, the man who had turned West Brom around and has kept them in the PL for several seasons. But KM knew better.
I can only assume he forgot about the spell at boro when Venables was brought in to do Robson's job for him.

Wilson. Again, a manager who had just been sacked for failing to do what we then employed him to do. A man with a long history of failing to do what we'd employed him to do, with a number of clubs. And to put the icing on it, a pig.

Blackwell. Again, a man sacked for failing to do what we then employed him to do. A man with no history of achievement as a manager. A coach massively out of his depth.

Speed. Right man, wrong time, never stood a chance.

Adams. Gamble. Mixed record, looked like he was turning his career around but still essentially a lower league manager.

Weir. Fucking joke. At a time when the last thing we needed was another gamble, we gambled.

Clough. Oddball with an enigmatic record. I'm still unsure if he's a good manager or not. Seems to be stuck in the eighties.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Warnock talks about this in his book. He basically says that he couldn’t go out and sign a player of the same calibre as Hulse because he wouldn’t be able to guarantee them first team football. In the circumstances, the best he could do for a contingency striker was John Stead and Luton Shelton.


Perhaps better scouting could have resulted in us unearthing a better player who could step up and be the main man in Hulse’s absence but it wasn’t to be. We had plenty of forwards who had some useful attributes (Nade, Shelton, Stead, Webber, CKR etc.) but none of them were real leaders of the line able to effectively play as the 1 up front which was a problem for us.

He said at the time Shelton, like Fathi was " for the future" . His books a rewrite if he says otherwise. I take the point he couldn't get someone of Hulses quality as a back up but you'd go for someone who had some track record. After all he had around two million to spend.

 

[Woodwardfan]

It was also Carlos Tevez's fault

No Richards and Scudamore, one had an obvious vested interest too. I'm convinced the other will join the West Ham Board when he leaves the Prem.

 

[Reynoldo]

It's the bit about the managerial appointments being reasonable at the time that got me.
Robson; well known for being too fond of a drink. Just sacked for failing to do what we then employed him to do. By Jeremy Peace, the man who had turned West Brom around and has kept them in the PL for several seasons. But KM knew better.
I can only assume he forgot about the spell at boro when Venables was brought in to do Robson's job for him.

Wilson. Again, a manager who had just been sacked for failing to do what we then employed him to do. A man with a long history of failing to do what we'd employed him to do, with a number of clubs. And to put the icing on it, a pig.

Blackwell. Again, a man sacked for failing to do what we then employed him to do. A man with no history of achievement as a manager. A coach massively out of his depth.

Speed. Right man, wrong time, never stood a chance.

Adams. Gamble. Mixed record, looked like he was turning his career around but still essentially a lower league manager.

Weir. Fucking joke. At a time when the last thing we needed was another gamble, we gambled.

Clough. Oddball with an enigmatic record. I'm still unsure if he's a good manager or not. Seems to be stuck in the eighties.

There are not many manager out there who haven't been sacked for failing to do the job they were employed to do ?? It would leave many to choose from - all you point relate to negatives about the individuals, leaving out any successes,although I do agree with some of them

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Weir. Fucking joke. At a time when the last thing we needed was another gamble, we gambled.

.

To be fair, it was common knowledge then we didn't have a pot to piss in and nobody even half decent wanted the job so all we could do was gamble. It proved to be an awful appointment but there was no way we could bring in a proven manager at that time.

 

[Woodwardfan]

He said at the time Shelton, like Fathi was " for the future" . His books a rewrite if he says otherwise. I take the point he couldn't get someone of Hulses quality as a back up but you'd go for someone who had some track record. After all he had around two million to spend.

Ironic that our manager couldn't attract players to the Prem. When a bigger club comes knocking and all that!! Massive wasted opportunity which we are still suffering for.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

No Richards and Scudamore, one had an obvious vested interest too. I'm convinced the other will join the West Ham Board when he leaves the Prem.

I seem to recall Mr West Ham Trevor Brooking being involved as well. Was he on the disciplinary panel?

I think McCabe can rightly feel aggrieved by the Tevez affair. But having secured compensation in addition to parachute payments, the failures since then border on criminal.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

He said at the time Shelton, like Fathi was " for the future" . His books a rewrite if he says otherwise. I take the point he couldn't get someone of Hulses quality as a back up but you'd go for someone who had some track record. After all he had around two million to spend.

I don't think he denies Shelton was for the future. From memory, I think his book indicates Stead was the best he could attract as a back up to Hulse. When he talks about Hulse's injury, I seem to recall him bemoaning the fact it was too late to sign another proven striker and saying he couldn't have signed one who wasn't going to play if Hulse was fit.

 

[pommpey]

I don't think he denies Shelton was for the future. From memory, I think his book indicates Stead was the best he could attract as a back up to Hulse. When he talks about Hulse's injury, I seem to recall him bemoaning the fact it was too late to sign another proven striker and saying he couldn't have signed one who wasn't going to play if Hulse was fit.

My point exactly

When we were in the PL, we had no strength in depth.

When you get promoted, you effectively break the bank to invest in PL level players and have plenty of resevre strength, or you'll be back down, first attempt.

Oh ...

pommpey

 

[judge]

I think one of McCabes big issues is that he has spent money. We've thrown money at players and managers, but it's often been very misguided. We're rarely let any manager settle in and as a result we have had a cycle of sacking managers time and time again, meaning that the latest manager has players left over from 5-6 managers ago!

In recent years, since the prince came on board we've had this obsession with signing players from a league or two leagues above. It was there before under McCabe, but now it seems to be the blue print.

The biggest failing though is taking the work done by managers like Warnock and recently Clough and just disregarding it all. They all did a lot of good work and perhaps had some things right, but because they were characters which clashed with the hierarchy, the ideas get binned. I don't blame McCabe/ the prince particularly, they're doing what they think is right. They're not football people, but they think they are. They need a director of football, not a committee

I personally think Adkins is the right man at the wrong time, it'll take a while to get things right or a lot of luck. Looking at this division, the luck may well play a part this year... Imagine this seasons league 1 with Danny Wilsons side from his first season...

How has he spent money ?
Not having a go at you personally swiss but i cant think of a single transfer since relegation from the prem that wasnt funded by an outgoing transfer or ticket sales i.e cup runs

Going all the way back to jags for beattie
Beattie for ched etc etc

 

[BushBlade]

He said at the time Shelton, like Fathi was " for the future" . His books a rewrite if he says otherwise. I take the point he couldn't get someone of Hulses quality as a back up but you'd go for someone who had some track record. After all he had around two million to spend.

What wages were available? Enough to tempt a PL standard player to come to us to warm the bench?
And how much was Robson given six months later after the horse had bolted?

 

[BushBlade]

There are not many manager out there who haven't been sacked for failing to do the job they were employed to do ?? It would leave many to choose from - all you point relate to negatives about the individuals, leaving out any successes,although I do agree with some of them

If they hadn't had any successes they wouldn't have even been managers. With one or two notable exceptions, you have to achieve something to keep getting jobs. Otherwise, you just end up as someone's assistant.

 

[BushBlade]

To be fair, it was common knowledge then we didn't have a pot to piss in and nobody even half decent wanted the job so all we could do was gamble. It proved to be an awful appointment but there was no way we could bring in a proven manager at that time.

But how does that tally with us being a 'well run club'? We're so well run we can't attract a manager?

I heard a different story, about Kenny Jackett. But it may be bs so I won't repeat it.