In Conversation with Kevin McCabe (Octagon)

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Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
I'd love to sit down with KM, pour him a malt & get him to loosen his tie and chat openly about what happened. No blame game, just honest chat. None of this stage managed fan forum nonsense. It was about ego & empire building. Around that time we went from being just a football club to a multi faceted business with football at it's core, and it's taken us all this time to come back around and my fear is that if/when we get promoted, the old urges will surface again.
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His empire was more valuable than United when he took over. The proof of that pudding is the fact that the empire has funded the club to the tune of around a net sixty million.


I know, I know, it's his own fault.

Rich man has ego. Must be some billionaires on here then .. :)
 

Sean Thornton said:
His empire was more valuable than United when he took over. The proof of that pudding is the fact that the empire has funded the club to the tune of around a net sixty million.


I know, I know, it's his own fault.

Rich man has ego. Must be some billionaires on here then .. :)
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Careful,little excitable puppy is around.
 
I'd love to know the truth about circa 2006/07.

Kidd comes in during the second half of the season but despite Warnock apparently endorsing it, is kept away from the dugout and allegedly the dressing room much of the time.

Coincidence that Robson then appeared?

Warnock told me and another 20 or so at a dinner that he believed we wanted Robson at the start of the Prem season, and offered him a derisory deal hoping he'd walk because they knew there would be a backlash if he was sacked.

I take some of what he says with a pinch of salt but based on events I can see the possibility of that.

As much as Robson was an England hero of mine, like many others I was heads in hands at his appointment, and no-one will persuade me otherwise that his name was a key factor in giving him the role to globalise the club, rather than fully focusing on a sensible appointment to cash in on a very good Championship squad already in place with money available for quality additions.

That season wasn't a strong league and I fully believe a reasonably competent manager would have taken us back up with flying colours.

Trusting Turry on that one was KM's biggest mistake imho.
 
Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
I'd love to sit down with KM, pour him a malt & get him to loosen his tie and chat openly about what happened. No blame game, just honest chat. None of this stage managed fan forum nonsense. It was about ego & empire building. Around that time we went from being just a football club to a multi faceted business with football at it's core, and it's taken us all this time to come back around and my fear is that if/when we get promoted, the old urges will surface again.
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Agree with this. Have no doubt sacking Warnock was correct. He was given a target and failed.
The crowd had turned against him and it would have turned nasty if he’s stayed.

McCabe had big big plans for SU. The irony is that in a way he was “too ambitious”, trying to run before walking.
He wanted to raise our profile to “international” levels and took his focus into off field matters and “world domination”.

McCabe wanted a massive global name, think at the time we were chasing Kenny Dalglish too.
Also offered a director of football job to ex England Graham Taylor.

Also let’s not forget Brian Robson was just the front man to attract top level players and loanees.
His assistant was Brian Kidd, who had a fantastic reputation as assistant manager and tactics man.
He was Alex Ferguson’s assistant and is now Pep Guardiolas assistant, so he’s rated at a world class level.
 
Sean Thornton said:
His empire was more valuable than United when he took over. The proof of that pudding is the fact that the empire has funded the club to the tune of around a net sixty million.

I know, I know, it's his own fault.

Rich man has ego. Must be some billionaires on here then .. :)
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You've misunderstood me, it's not a pop at KM, nor his property empire nor his funding of the blades. Just more the clash of ego's with NW, his seeing the prem as our natural place and his ambition for a global football brand that needed a 'name' that made BR so attractive. As i said, no blame game, i'd just love to hear him speaking 'off the record'. :)
 
Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
You've misunderstood me, it's not a pop at KM, nor his property empire nor his funding of the blades. Just more the clash of ego's with NW, his seeing the prem as our natural place and his ambition for a global football brand that needed a 'name' that made BR so attractive. As i said, no blame game, i'd just love to hear him speaking 'off the record'. :)
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He's very open. If you're willing to listen to him. I've seen people ask him the most ridiculous questions and later accuse him of lying when he doesn't say what they believe is true. The very fact that he still interacts with fans gives you an idea of the true nature of the man.
The many claims "he couldn't answer my question" tend to come from the more ignorant elements of our fan base.
 
McCabe fucked up, time and time again..I've little sympathy there, he got ahead off himself thinking we'd 'made it' and put the football club into a perilous position, ultimately heading towards L2.

Fair play to the bloke, he brought Princey in and he wrote off/turned to equity, a lot of the soft debt owed to his companies. (reducing gross debt from £70m in 2012 to £1.9m in 2017 according to Swiss ramble blog)
Together, with the great appointment of Wilder, they've managed to put us back on an even(ish) keel in the Championship.

McCabe is certainly the bloke who's suffered most from his errors.

The question now is where do we go from here and how do we progress as a club?
Has the partnership broken down?

if so, what are the implications?

UTB!
 
Sean Thornton said:
He's very open. If you're willing to listen to him. I've seen people ask him the most ridiculous questions and later accuse him of lying when he doesn't say what they believe is true. The very fact that he still interacts with fans gives you an idea of the true nature of the man.
The many claims "he couldn't answer my question" tend to come from the more ignorant elements of our fan base.
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The single-cells?
 
Esablade said:
McCabe fucked up, time and time again..I've little sympathy there, he got ahead off himself thinking we'd 'made it' and put the football club into a perilous position, ultimately heading towards L2.

Fair play to the bloke, he brought Princey in and he wrote off/turned to equity, a lot of the soft debt owed to his companies. (reducing gross debt from £70m in 2012 to £1.9m in 2017 according to Swiss ramble blog)
Together, with the great appointment of Wilder, they've managed to put us back on an even(ish) keel in the Championship.

McCabe is certainly the bloke who's suffered most from his errors.

The question now is where do we go from here and how do we progress as a club?
Has the partnership broken down?

if so, what are the implications?

UTB!
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He only 'fucked up' because he tried too hard.
Robson was brought in because he had managed in the Prem and had a wealth of personal and professional contacts in the top levels of the game which I believe in KM's eyes probably overrode BR's personal deficiencis.
McCabe was clearly prepared to buy his way back to the PL but it went horribly wrong.
Maybe he should have walked away at that point and minimised his losses?
.
 
McCabe fucked up because he wanted to change us from plucky provincial club into an international brand.
The real irony in all this is that if anything, McCabe was too ambitious.

He saw the off field opportunities of having his club in the PL, assumed on field we’d be fine and decided to speculate and stick his fingers in other pies. On field promotion back to the PL was close but we just failed and off field there was a world property crash.
As I said in all decisons there’s an element of judgement and luck.

The other irony is that last season is the least ambitious the club has been in years.
We chose a cheaper option manager with no experience in league 1 and we downsized the player budget
But by some miracle we performed better than any other season, maybe our luck is changing after all?
 
,Who was the young player, released by Warnock but given another chance by Robson, seem to remember he was a midfield player, and played in pre season friendlies?
 
Harrisblade said:
He only 'fucked up' because he tried too hard.
Robson was brought in because he had managed in the Prem and had a wealth of personal and professional contacts in the top levels of the game which I believe in KM's eyes probably overrode BR's personal deficiencis.
McCabe was clearly prepared to buy his way back to the PL but it went horribly wrong.
Maybe he should have walked away at that point and minimised his losses?
.
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But isn't the relevant part of his post:

The question now is where do we go from here and how do we progress as a club?
Has the partnership broken down?

if so, what are the implications?

We can argue about what KM should have done ten years ago but it won't change what happened and ascribing blame serves no real purpose. Shouldn't we be more concerned about the future?
 
Rodders said:
So McCabe puts £30m in, to get it back he:

Needs promotion to the PL, which needs investment

To add investment he brings in the Prince, but to attract the Prince, he writes the money off

giphy.gif
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By wrote off I guess he means it's been transferred to equity shares, £10m and a share premium account £27m. It's moved from the assets and liabilities section of the balance sheet to the capital section.

He was owed £37m. Now he's not. He can recover his money by selling the shares. Depending on the sale valuation obviously. Or lose all or some of it.
 

Esablade said:
McCabe fucked up, time and time again..I've little sympathy there, he got ahead off himself thinking we'd 'made it' and put the football club into a perilous position, ultimately heading towards L2.

Fair play to the bloke, he brought Princey in and he wrote off/turned to equity, a lot of the soft debt owed to his companies. (reducing gross debt from £70m in 2012 to £1.9m in 2017 according to Swiss ramble blog)
Together, with the great appointment of Wilder, they've managed to put us back on an even(ish) keel in the Championship.

McCabe is certainly the bloke who's suffered most from his errors.

The question now is where do we go from here and how do we progress as a club?
Has the partnership broken down?

if so, what are the implications?

UTB!
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I agree entirely with your final 2 paragraphs, the next couple of strategic moves / appointments / investment decisions/ non decisions are absolutely crucial in shaping our future.

Get it right & the financial pot of Premier league gold becomes a distinct possibility.

Get it wrong, we regress & face the possibility of losing the clubs greatest asset.

No pressure then!
 
Know his father.
James Ashmore would have made a career in the game but Warnock and an injury counted against him.
Always lots of boxes to tick when Warnock was boss
 
bertieblade said:
Know his father.
James Ashmore would have made a career in the game but Warnock and an injury counted against him.
Always lots of boxes to tick when Warnock was boss
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James was one of those extremely gifted players that never seem to make it. Joe Cole Ilk imo. from my time in the youth systems every academy had one, by far the most gifted player on the pitch and yet they never ever seem to make it... Sheffield Wednesday had one called Scott Needham. who would have been same age. James spent time in Hungary same time as Matt Lowton.
 
Sean Thornton said:
He's very open. If you're willing to listen to him. I've seen people ask him the most ridiculous questions and later accuse him of lying when he doesn't say what they believe is true. The very fact that he still interacts with fans gives you an idea of the true nature of the man.
The many claims "he couldn't answer my question" tend to come from the more ignorant elements of our fan base.
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Well he wouldn't answer my question. I asked him how he was fixed for investing in an up and coming Airline that had admittedly, some teething issues. He just laughed and "had to take this phone call".

Bastard.
 
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The Crab said:
Well he wouldn't answer my question. I asked him how he was fixed for investing in an up and coming Airline that had admittedly, some teething issues. He just laughed and "had to take this phone call".

Bastard.
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I told you not to spin the line that Brian Robson was Piloting the Plane
 
Worksop II said:
I told you not to spin the line that Brian Robson was Piloting the Plane
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To be fair, the landing was quite impressive given the amount of White Lightning Brian had consumed along the way. The plane didn't burst into flames until most of the people had gone down the chutes.
 
I've sat and talked to Mr Mcabe, or Kev

He got united at heart, acknowledges some of his mistakes but is adamant that Robson was just an unlucky manager...some players had to be sold, some wanted to go,

Would i do it if i had his money...yes, would i make mistakes ..yes ..shit happens
 

Ghostshark said:
I've sat and talked to Mr Mcabe, or Kev

He got united at heart, acknowledges some of his mistakes but is adamant that Robson was just an unlucky manager...some players had to be sold, some wanted to go,

Would i do it if i had his money...yes, would i make mistakes ..yes ..shit happens
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Might have been a bit luckier if he wasn't pissed all the time.
 
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