Some thoughts post press conference

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CPB

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Firstly lets get behind Heckingbottom. He always conducts himself well and seems positive and keen to make something work. Whatever your thoughts on if he's up to the task it's a good mentality to start from.

Now listening properly to that press conference it's well interesting and confusing.
For a start Yusuf actually doesn't come across anything like as bad as what's been written about the conference but hardly good either and to profess he isn't a football man but is the chairman is well..... worrying!

Here is where I think it's interesting.
They suggest that had we been doing even just a smidge better this decision would still have happened because they see the club moving forward differently to how they did in the summer.
I'm not so sure how 100% true this is.

But they also admit that performances and results been vastly better SJ would be allowed to continue.

I'm not so sure the transfer policy is no one coming in.

However I think this next bit is very clear from how I interpret it. The board and Heckingbottom think that the squad is good enough to not need much newomers in at this stage.

I think this is two fold.
Firstly and I agree with this the players here right now can and should be doing better and I'll admit I don't think SJ was getting enough out of most, at least not yet.

They also see the amount spent on this squad and believe that these high few players should be helping us be far better too. Because of this signings are not likely. But fresh impetus tends to drive squads on.

Although sometimes this can be youth.....

The academy is set to be part of this new model more. Whilst i think this is great, prospects need to get there on merit. I do not want to see graduates in the squad to make a point and to be reliant on this is well a bit laughable. Maybe this isn't what they are really meaning though too.

Yusuf and Bettis suggest that part of the decision was that Slav is really a head coach and they wanted a football manager in all manners.

Given they have appointed Heckingbottom and want him to implement the plan I can't help but think that they are wanting essentially is... what Wilder was doing to an extent.
Wilder had his fingerprints on all football matters whilst here, now they want Heckingbottom to put his fingerprints on all football matters.

In my opinion the sacking of Slav isn't just results. I also don't think it's just transfer policy but it may have been a big factor possibly.

I guess though ultimately I guess we just have to see how we go for now we don't have to look at it negatively from the onset but it's hard to not have some serious doubts of course.

In Hecky's cunning plan we trust.
 

The board can say what they like about results not being the problem, but ultimately they wouldn't have sacked him had we been higher in the league! We're getting close to January and the board know that they don't want to have Slav in place any longer as he wanted more players and crucially, whisper this these days at Bramall Lane, he wanted wingers; that's like saying "Thatcher really was a great PM, wasn't she, she sorted out the Unions" at the Orgreave Miners Welfare Club. We can't actually have players who take a man on and have pace can we! Sorry, getting cynical there, although there's truth in it! I was thinking on this summers attempts to sign a winger last night. Seems very suspicious now that we tried but failed at the eleventh hour to sign the wingers that Slav, who presumably thought were coming. One for Visa failure, the other, well who knows why Collado failed, but that all looks very convenient now.

In the summer it appears to me that the board wanted Slav to work with what he's got, supplemented by a few new signings - loans. I don't think Hourihane was his signing because he hardly used him, but maybe under former manager Heckingbottom we'll see an improved Hourihane, just in time for Villa to recall him and sell him to Norwich. That would be typical, wouldn't it!

I think you're right re Wilder's tactics, we're so engrossed in his tactics that it would be too expensive to change it, and why when it did so well for us, until, as the board would see it, Wilder wasn't open to a more united approach on transfers. So now we've got a manager who will dance their tune, because we all know that, with respect to Hecky, he wouldn't in a million years normally have a chance of managing a big club just out of the PL at this stage of his career. I think he was last linked with the Donny Rovers job! That's not to say though that he won't do well, I can see this working, actually, given time, but we'll need investment in the training ground ASAP.
 
Firstly lets get behind Heckingbottom. He always conducts himself well and seems positive and keen to make something work. Whatever your thoughts on if he's up to the task it's a good mentality to start from.

Now listening properly to that press conference it's well interesting and confusing.
For a start Yusuf actually doesn't come across anything like as bad as what's been written about the conference but hardly good either and to profess he isn't a football man but is the chairman is well..... worrying!

Here is where I think it's interesting.
They suggest that had we been doing even just a smidge better this decision would still have happened because they see the club moving forward differently to how they did in the summer.
I'm not so sure how 100% true this is.

But they also admit that performances and results been vastly better SJ would be allowed to continue.

I'm not so sure the transfer policy is no one coming in.

However I think this next bit is very clear from how I interpret it. The board and Heckingbottom think that the squad is good enough to not need much newomers in at this stage.

I think this is two fold.
Firstly and I agree with this the players here right now can and should be doing better and I'll admit I don't think SJ was getting enough out of most, at least not yet.

They also see the amount spent on this squad and believe that these high few players should be helping us be far better too. Because of this signings are not likely. But fresh impetus tends to drive squads on.

Although sometimes this can be youth.....

The academy is set to be part of this new model more. Whilst i think this is great, prospects need to get there on merit. I do not want to see graduates in the squad to make a point and to be reliant on this is well a bit laughable. Maybe this isn't what they are really meaning though too.

Yusuf and Bettis suggest that part of the decision was that Slav is really a head coach and they wanted a football manager in all manners.

Given they have appointed Heckingbottom and want him to implement the plan I can't help but think that they are wanting essentially is... what Wilder was doing to an extent.
Wilder had his fingerprints on all football matters whilst here, now they want Heckingbottom to put his fingerprints on all football matters.

In my opinion the sacking of Slav isn't just results. I also don't think it's just transfer policy but it may have been a big factor possibly.

I guess though ultimately I guess we just have to see how we go for now we don't have to look at it negatively from the onset but it's hard to not have some serious doubts of course.

In Hecky's cunning plan we trust.
We can't totally expect academy graduates to do the business the manager has to beleave individuals are good enough play kids who arnt ready will take us down not up.
Hecki knows exactly what we have and players will come in and some will go .This squad is capable of pushing us up the table .We obviously need recruits to make us strong enough to push into the play offs ,will be an interesting window and 2nd half of the season.
 
I agree with what you have said but would you rather spend 50 million on new cat 1 facilities or 50 million on players that may or may not be up to scratch
with what was said at the press conference I'd go with the facilities
 
It seems bizarre they employed Slav at all, and looks to have been an expensive mistake paying up his and his coaching teams contracts.
 
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I don’t get this academy angle.

We produce a player who is good enough we play them and either sell them right away or within 18 months.. said on another thread I cannot think of a single example where we have let a player go who has then gone on to surpass us. Any player who is good enough gets a shot.

its a great idea in theory but in reality any player who does step up and make it will be sold within 2 windows anyway!
 
It seems bizarre they employed Slav at all, and looks to have been an expensive mistake paying up his and his coaching teams contracts.
Of course they will never admit that they made a mistake. Instead they will try to spin this "new plan" which entails returning to the PL with no money and with our under 23 coach in charge.

I was very disappointed when they forced Wilder out. I was sure CW would have been the best man to take us back up. But he wasn't a "yes man" and that doesn't suit our current leadership. However, I was surprised and pleased that Jokanovic, one of England's most successful managers in recent years, agreed to come to the Lane. I presumed he must have been promised a decent transfer budget in January - I doubt he would have come without assurances of funds.

The rest is only speculation, but like others I imagine that the Prince and his mates were relying on player sales to fund Slav's new year purchases. As we haven't offloaded anyone, he was probably told that the funds wouldn't be there in January, and he had to make to with the players that are already here. I'm guessing that Slav probably said that he couldn't implement his system successfully without incoming transfers. The relationship deteriated and HRH opted to sack him and bring in Hecky on a much lower salary.

That tells us that we are skint, and perhaps anyone who doesn't tow the line of the leadership will be sacked.

I'm worried, because the current leadership appear to be ego-driven and don't have any experience of successfully running a football club, although HRH is supposedly decent at Football Manager. For me, the sooner they sell up and fuck off the better.
 
Firstly lets get behind Heckingbottom. He always conducts himself well and seems positive and keen to make something work. Whatever your thoughts on if he's up to the task it's a good mentality to start from.

Now listening properly to that press conference it's well interesting and confusing.
For a start Yusuf actually doesn't come across anything like as bad as what's been written about the conference but hardly good either and to profess he isn't a football man but is the chairman is well..... worrying!

Here is where I think it's interesting.
They suggest that had we been doing even just a smidge better this decision would still have happened because they see the club moving forward differently to how they did in the summer.
I'm not so sure how 100% true this is.

But they also admit that performances and results been vastly better SJ would be allowed to continue.

I'm not so sure the transfer policy is no one coming in.

However I think this next bit is very clear from how I interpret it. The board and Heckingbottom think that the squad is good enough to not need much newomers in at this stage.

I think this is two fold.
Firstly and I agree with this the players here right now can and should be doing better and I'll admit I don't think SJ was getting enough out of most, at least not yet.

They also see the amount spent on this squad and believe that these high few players should be helping us be far better too. Because of this signings are not likely. But fresh impetus tends to drive squads on.

Although sometimes this can be youth.....

The academy is set to be part of this new model more. Whilst i think this is great, prospects need to get there on merit. I do not want to see graduates in the squad to make a point and to be reliant on this is well a bit laughable. Maybe this isn't what they are really meaning though too.

Yusuf and Bettis suggest that part of the decision was that Slav is really a head coach and they wanted a football manager in all manners.

Given they have appointed Heckingbottom and want him to implement the plan I can't help but think that they are wanting essentially is... what Wilder was doing to an extent.
Wilder had his fingerprints on all football matters whilst here, now they want Heckingbottom to put his fingerprints on all football matters.

In my opinion the sacking of Slav isn't just results. I also don't think it's just transfer policy but it may have been a big factor possibly.

I guess though ultimately I guess we just have to see how we go for now we don't have to look at it negatively from the onset but it's hard to not have some serious doubts of course.

In Hecky's cunning plan we trust.
I agree with how you saw the conference.
I was impressed by what was said, whilst acknowledging they kept a lot hidden.
The finance figures were to some extent illuminating, but the reference to doing another”two seasons in the Championship and two in the Premiership “ would suggest that one possibility is promotion this season by the play offs, then relegation from the Premiership as we will not be good enough, but then back again in year four having bolstered the finances.
 
Alright bringing youth through etc. But we don't even have Cat1 status do we? Unless that's where they are investing but we haven't heard anything
 
Of course they will never admit that they made a mistake. Instead they will try to spin this "new plan" which entails returning to the PL with no money and with our under 23 coach in charge.

I was very disappointed when they forced Wilder out. I was sure CW would have been the best man to take us back up. But he wasn't a "yes man" and that doesn't suit our current leadership. However, I was surprised and pleased that Jokanovic, one of England's most successful managers in recent years, agreed to come to the Lane. I presumed he must have been promised a decent transfer budget in January - I doubt he would have come without assurances of funds.

The rest is only speculation, but like others I imagine that the Prince and his mates were relying on player sales to fund Slav's new year purchases. As we haven't offloaded anyone, he was probably told that the funds wouldn't be there in January, and he had to make to with the players that are already here. I'm guessing that Slav probably said that he couldn't implement his system successfully without incoming transfers. The relationship deteriated and HRH opted to sack him and bring in Hecky on a much lower salary.

That tells us that we are skint, and perhaps anyone who doesn't tow the line of the leadership will be sacked.

I'm worried, because the current leadership appear to be ego-driven and don't have any experience of successfully running a football club, although HRH is supposedly decent at Football Manager. For me, the sooner they sell up and fuck off the better.
Looks to me like the Wilder bit is speculation too. I could speculate Wilder managed to bully lower league club owners but left when it didn't work with PA. And if we are skint as you say that is down to Wilder no one else.
 
In the summer it appears to me that the board wanted Slav to work with what he's got, supplemented by a few new signings - loans.
Yes, I'm pretty sure I recall being a bit surprised in one of his first interviews by Slav saying something along the lines of it should be possible with what we've got. Then he changed from that view in later ones.
 
if we are skint as you say that is down to Wilder no one else.

Hindsight is easy.

Every player that was signed by Wilder in the PL was a decent age with a good record. We all approved of his signings at the time. There was no reason to think, given his record, that Brewster wouldn't be able to hit a barn door with a banjo, McB would be ineffective, Berg would be constantly injured and Burke would forget how to control a ball. Given their record before they signed for the Blades, you can forgive Wilder and the fans for thinking they would be decent signings.

Unfortunately some signings don't work out. It happens at all clubs. Wilder was unlucky enough to have three or four that didn't work out, but no one could have foreseen that. You can blame Wilder if you like but before they kicked a ball his signings had universal approval. I don't think anyone is particularly to blame.

If I selected a restaurant that came highly recommended and had great reviews for a family dinner, and the food turned out to be shit, would it be my fault? I think that the success or otherwise of signings is down to luck - you hope that they retain the form they showed at their previous club and don't get injured, but this isn't always the case.
 
They doubled down on backing this set of players when we were relegated, and this over-estimation of how good they are, and how much they have left to give, has brought us to this point - costing Slav his job.

They have now trebled down on this set of players, installed Heckinbottom, and effectively told us that it doesn't matter whether we win or lose, because there is no will or money to do it any other way.

You appoint a DoF to ensure continuity and cohesion in approach, transfers, style, etc... what we have just done is said 'why introduce such a role when you can just maintain cohesion by giving a manager a five year contract?' and I think we all know where this will inevitably end up.
 
It was a PR disaster and has been rightly ripped to shreds.

Positives:

  • The press asked some decent questions.
  • Heckingbottom is a nice bloke by the sounds of it and I wish him well.
  • We now have a strategy.
  • United World apparently have a scouting network 😂

Negatives:

  • Giansiracusa came across as an absolute clown, I don't know if he thinks that playing this "look at me I don't give a shit if you like me" role will take the flack off the others but he has completely mishandled the situation. He talks like he's just swallowed an MBA textbook. He also patronises Heckingbottom a lot.
  • Why do we think that 'football manager' is a new position?
  • Why did we not have a strategy until yesterday? The question by Shields was a good one and Yusuf bullshitted his way through the answer.
  • The numbers quoted were pie in the sky and intended as soundbites for the "weerz munneh gone?" brigade.
  • No firm commitment on the facilities that are long overdue for updates.
  • We are part of a group and this is now very evident, they are as important as us to the owners and the board. Leveraging fucking synergies can fuck right off.
  • The bullshit about "we've given Paul a contract" doesn't wash with me, Slav had a contract, Wilder had a contract, it means fuck all.
  • Bettis is a bit of a knob, he says a lot without saying anything whenever he is interviewed. Always appears nervous when he's talking.
  • Heckingbottom has not been a successful manager before, he says he's a coach, so why is he now a manager and the best thing since sliced bread?!
  • We haven't got a pot to piss in.
  • The United World CEO seems a bit of a drip, trotted out a few numbers that he won't ever have to stand behind.
  • Abdullah wants nothing to do with the public facing side of it now it's gone to shit.
  • There is the insinuation that the club is a bit of a miserable place at the moment, this is worrying.

Overall it's piss poor handling of the situation by all involved.
 

But do we really though? :)

Agree with your post, but this 'strategy' is nonsense, it's all face saving bullshit. Or at best utterly incompetently handled with the initial Slav decision.
It was tongue in cheek!

The 'strategy' will change whenever a different member of Abdullah's entourage is added to the board.
 
We're currently 50-1 to go down. Worth a punt?
 
The board can say what they like about results not being the problem, but ultimately they wouldn't have sacked him had we been higher in the league! We're getting close to January and the board know that they don't want to have Slav in place any longer as he wanted more players and crucially, whisper this these days at Bramall Lane, he wanted wingers; that's like saying "Thatcher really was a great PM, wasn't she, she sorted out the Unions" at the Orgreave Miners Welfare Club. We can't actually have players who take a man on and have pace can we! Sorry, getting cynical there, although there's truth in it! I was thinking on this summers attempts to sign a winger last night. Seems very suspicious now that we tried but failed at the eleventh hour to sign the wingers that Slav, who presumably thought were coming. One for Visa failure, the other, well who knows why Collado failed, but that all looks very convenient now.

In the summer it appears to me that the board wanted Slav to work with what he's got, supplemented by a few new signings - loans. I don't think Hourihane was his signing because he hardly used him, but maybe under former manager Heckingbottom we'll see an improved Hourihane, just in time for Villa to recall him and sell him to Norwich. That would be typical, wouldn't it!

I think you're right re Wilder's tactics, we're so engrossed in his tactics that it would be too expensive to change it, and why when it did so well for us, until, as the board would see it, Wilder wasn't open to a more united approach on transfers. So now we've got a manager who will dance their tune, because we all know that, with respect to Hecky, he wouldn't in a million years normally have a chance of managing a big club just out of the PL at this stage of his career. I think he was last linked with the Donny Rovers job! That's not to say though that he won't do well, I can see this working, actually, given time, but we'll need investment in the training ground ASAP.
There isn't and never was an Orgreave Miners Welfare hence rendering you analogy worthless ;)
 
The finance figures were to some extent illuminating, but the reference to doing another”two seasons in the Championship and two in the Premiership “ would suggest that one possibility is promotion this season by the play offs, then relegation from the Premiership as we will not be good enough, but then back again in year four having bolstered the finances.
Wow - you'd get bloody good odds on that as an accumulator!
 
I don’t get this academy angle.

We produce a player who is good enough we play them and either sell them right away or within 18 months.. said on another thread I cannot think of a single example where we have let a player go who has then gone on to surpass us. Any player who is good enough gets a shot.

its a great idea in theory but in reality any player who does step up and make it will be sold within 2 windows anyway!
The key to any version of this type of plan they’ve laid out working is that you sell players in their early 20’s for big money rather than in their teens for pocket change. Jebbison is the test of this for this board we know there’s significant interest right now from reputable clubs but his value will be relatively low compared to what it could be with one or two seasons of championship football behind him. So how we handle him will tell you everything you need to know do we hold our nerve and hang out for good value or do we cash out now.
 
Well - I thought I was watching an out-take from an episode of "Succession".
Removing Slav and his trainer-in-chief has removed one obvious big communication problem. Installing Hecky lets them Tippex out the big cross and replace it with a large tick in the Comms box for sure. As long as the players and the fans are shielded from the American-originated fancy Corporate Mind-controlling Management Theory Bullshit-speak then maybe we can pick up the pieces and progress.
 
To me, it sounded like Wilder wanted to do the Football Manager role but the Board didn't trust him. There's got to be trust there, and to be fair, I'd not trust him with my money. I think he'd do what he thought was right but I'm not convinced he lived much outside of the moment. I'd certainly not trust him to implement a strategy without diverging from it. Not Chris' fault, just not that kind of manager.

For me, they've just promoted Heck. Like you'd do in a normal business. He sees it as a challenge and he's a very bright and extremely intelligent football man. I suspect that should the results not be working on the pitch, this strategy allows us to bring a new manager in while he just changes his focus to more of a dof role. We can discuss his managerial history, and I don't believe it's as and as some are painting. I think he's full of ideas and someone who is incredibly well versed in world football. I genuinely believe having him heavily involved with our club is a huge bonus for us. Whether that's football manager, director of football or U-23s manager.
 

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