Stephen Bettis speaks to local Media

[Nick Jansky]

People on here seem to blame everyone at the club, but in reality why not blame the FA/PL they are the ones that allow the window to close nearly 4 weeks after the season starts.

That's the real issue, imo.

Certain people on here will actively look for things to blame the club for, and if there isn’t anything they will make things up.

The club gets things wrong because “the club” is a collection of human beings. I also get things wrong for the same reason. After all, “to err is human”. In fact the only people who don’t are those that constantly whine about the club because, of course, they are perfect in every way.

 

[Rodley]

Or your understanding of the word asked Rodney……

In terms of holding a person in power to account, Staton was like Archibald Cox compared to the largely useless exercise of us all asking questions on here to no one connected to the club.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Fuck me. It’s Mrs Ratbag from Viz…..

He talked about most of those things. Choosing not to believe him doesn’t mean your take is correct.

It is. Nerrrr.

 

[stringjunior]

Came over as shifty, nervous, and very unconvincing.
Piecing it together.
Oue pre-season in Portugal was between 16- 23 July.
We know that during that week, because the club told us that Ily agreed to stay and the club went so far as record a video announcing his signing of the contract, whilst over there.But we didn’t get his signature on the contract.That should have been in Bettis’s briefcase, in Portugal, rather than a video camera.
He now tells us that Ily changed his mind from 11 pm, at night to the next morning at 10 am.This must have been the Saturday after the `Derby friendly, on 29th July. Which then led to `Illy jumping on a plane that Sunday.They wouldn’t have played him against Derby, if it was otherwise.
So we let at least 6 days go by without getting Illy’s signature on the contract.Our most valuable asset.Very poor.
Staton was right, we didn’t net the fish on the line and let it wriggle free, to our very great cost.
Moving on,one of the strangest, amateurish and indeed indefensible decisions this club has made recently, has been to let Arblaster go out on loan, and in the shop window, before signing him up to a new contract.He has great potential, and other clubs will already be sniffing round.If we lose him, there is no defence.It will be pure incompetence, on our part, yet again.

I think Bettis does a reasonable job of explaining the complexities of the situation. You seem to believe it's straightforward. Yet you're not the CEO so....

 

[Sean Thornton]

In terms of holding a person in power to account, Staton was like Archibald Cox compared to the largely useless exercise of us all asking questions on here to no one connected to the club.

Yet the great inquisitor of RS couldn’t add to the questions the useless posters on here wanted answering. A point you seem incapable of grasping.

 

[Rodley]

Yet the great inquisitor of RS couldn’t add to the questions the useless posters on here wanted answering. A point you seem incapable of grasping.

What use are the questions if they’re being asked on here?

They needed to be asked, it’s taken weeks for someone from the club to be asked them. Hence my original post…

“Staton asking the difficult questions that less established mediums have been unable to ask. Quality stuff. Should have happened weeks ago.”

 

[Nick Jansky]

Moving on,one of the strangest, amateurish and indeed indefensible decisions this club has made recently, has been to let Arblaster go out on loan, and in the shop window, before signing him up to a new contract.He has great potential, and other clubs will already be sniffing round.If we lose him, there is no defence.It will be pure incompetence, on our part, yet again.

Ollie’s emotional investment in Sheffield United is greater than Ndiaye’s in OM. He’s going nowhere any time soon.

That’s apart from the fact that you have no idea about talks between Ollie, his agent & the club.

The wider football world already knows all about Ollie, that hasn’t suddenly happened because he’s gone to Vale.

So you are talking uninformed bollocks, I’m afraid.

 

[Sean Thornton]

What use are the questions if they’re being asked on here?

They needed to be asked, it’s taken weeks for someone from the club to be asked them. Hence my original post…

“Staton asking the difficult questions that less established mediums have been unable to ask. Quality stuff. Should have happened weeks ago.”

Note to everyone.

Don’t bother asking questions you bunch of impotent cunts. It’s a waste of time. What you need is an actual journalist who will ask your questions but can’t find an Avenue of his own to put our CEO on the spot.

Oh, hold on…….

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

There was a few Fannies on here bemoaning our business during the window - “just do the deals”, “just buy someone!!” Etc. Bettis explains the business of football well, he knows it better than anyone on here - there’s no spin in his interview it’s just how football business is.

A few of us basically said what Bettis has said here a few weeks back, I hope those Fannies now understand it a little bit better now.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Did anyone ask about the woeful injury record

 

[Proper Blade]

Extremely worrying to have a CEO incapable of taking any responsibility or admitting fault with anything.

• He doesn't think we started the season underprepared.
• He says we did everything we could to keep Iliman.
• He doesn't regret selling Iliman because we made a big profit on him.
• He says we did everything we could to keep Berge.
• He thinks we moved as quickly as we could in the transfer market.

If you just listened to Bettis, you would think the club haven't made a single mistake this summer and everything was perfect. They did all they could and regret nothing.

What an embarrassing interview from a CEO not fit for purpose.

 

[Rodley]

Note to everyone.

Don’t bother asking questions you bunch of impotent cunts. It’s a waste of time. What you need is an actual journalist who will ask your questions but can’t find an Avenue of his own to put our CEO on the spot.

Oh, hold on…….

You didn’t lump on Apple shares yesterday did you?

 

[Proper Blade]

There was a few Fannies on here bemoaning our business during the window - “just do the deals”, “just buy someone!!” Etc. Bettis explains the business of football well, he knows it better than anyone on here - there’s no spin in his interview it’s just how football business is.

A few of us basically said what Bettis has said here a few weeks back, I hope those Fannies now understand it a little bit better now.

Yes I understand it much better now - the club did everything perfectly but it's so complicated and deals take so long and there are so many parties involved and we couldn't possibly have done anything differently. It is never the club's fault - us idiots just don't understand football that's all. That's why we started a Premier League season with a midfield of Basham, Osborn and Norwood. We couldn't possibly have done it any differently.

Am I starting to understand it a little better?

 

[Nick Jansky]

Did anyone ask about the woeful injury record

Yes. They are investigating the reasons for it, including nutrition & training methods.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Yes I understand it much better now - the club did everything perfectly but it's so complicated and deals take so long and there are so many parties involved and we couldn't possibly have done anything differently. It is never the club's fault - us idiots just don't understand football that's all. That's why we started a Premier League season with a midfield of Basham, Osborn and Norwood. We couldn't possibly have done it any differently.

Am I starting to understand it a little better?

You certainly don’t understand how football business works.

It’s easy to criticise, but what would you have done differently, Einstein?

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Takeover doesn't seem any closer... for the next transfer window

 

[Bladesman]

Slow, inactive, unacceptable window on the whole. We looked disorganised and best, skint for the most and negligent at our worst. We must look like a Sunday league outfit operationally, to the professionalism of Premier League club hierarchies.

No matter of positive signings, Hamer, Archer or whoever - for however good they may be - will gloss over how poor the leadership of the club were. Silent for the most past, save for an accountant on twitter, who once told by the manager of the club to be quiet, continued anyway. Shambles.

Bettis' defensiveness here will be personal pride, but they were poor.

It seemed like we put a lot of focus on trying to keep Ndiaye and Berge here to the point of distraction. Berge has been in the shop window nearly every transfer window previously but I understand the club just wanted some form of contract extension to be done on his deal so we could get a better value for him in the future were he to go.

You also can't dictate when other clubs will buy your players. It does seem like we would have sold Berge much earlier in the window had Burnley met our valuation sooner.

So I think reading between the lines, the plan this summer was to sell Berge to give us some additional transfer funds and try to retain Ndiaye. It dragged on longer than we wanted and it fucked us somewhat.

 

[Pedro Verde]

.But we didn’t get his signature on the contract. That should have been in Bettis’s briefcase, in Portugal,

You cannot force a player to sign a contract

 

[Weasel]

Well I'm on the camp that says Bettis and co (whilst not perfect) seem to genuinely have tried their best and I can get on board with what he is saying. Makes sense to me. I also have to deal with large Corporate financial transactions / buy outs in my day job and I know from personal experience that deals are not easy to complete when you have legal technicalities and lawyers involved and the more parties involved the more layers you have to go through with everyone wanting a piece (though I'd wager my deals might just be a little bit more complicated than a football transfer but I won't bore people with that). He does a very good job and if you can't see that then that's your failing. Lucky to have him on board. And well done for doing the interview to try and set the record straight. He isn't obliged to do so. I like the man/snek.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Yes I understand it much better now - the club did everything perfectly but it's so complicated and deals take so long and there are so many parties involved and we couldn't possibly have done anything differently. It is never the club's fault - us idiots just don't understand football that's all. That's why we started a Premier League season with a midfield of Basham, Osborn and Norwood. We couldn't possibly have done it any differently.

Am I starting to understand it a little better?

Doubtful.

 

[Bell4]

Its not just us that has been calling for the window to be closed early.

Its also not our fault that clubs bid when they do, it was pretty well known we would only really buy if we had to sell first, and that came late in the window because the two clubs in question didn't want to pay what we wanted.

Imagine if we'd have accepted the bid for Illiman and Sander 5 weeks before, but only got 5m + 10m for example. We'd have lost out on 15m which is basically Hamer or Archers transfer fee and there would have been uproar.

And there's the argument that there is no guarantees we'd have done any better in those 3 games with our squad now.

You certainly don’t understand how football business works.

It’s easy to criticise, but what would you have done differently, Einstein?

Nick

Why do you regularly tell people they don’t understand how football business / or football works ? And also belittle and insult them

 

[Stanthemanfan]

2 questions would have put to him would be, why have some of our signings been past the deadline to be eligible to play in the next game and why are some of our signings not match fit some of we played millions for

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Yes I understand it much better now - the club did everything perfectly but it's so complicated and deals take so long and there are so many parties involved and we couldn't possibly have done anything differently. It is never the club's fault - us idiots just don't understand football that's all. That's why we started a Premier League season with a midfield of Basham, Osborn and Norwood. We couldn't possibly have done it any differently.

Am I starting to understand it a little better?

Correct.

 

[Working Class Hero]

At the end of the day, we've got promoted and improved ONE position in the starting lineup (Berge for Hamer), and for the first 4 very important games we've been weaker in several positions because of how slow we've been. Anyone calling that a success is either deluded or incompetent.

 

[Katzenjammer]

I've not listened to it or anything, I just feel a desire to climb on top of his car bonnet, pull my trousers down and shart on his windscreen, and my instincts are generally rather sound, to be fair.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Nick

Why do you regularly tell people they don’t understand how football business / or football works ? And also belittle and insult them

Partly because they make really ridiculous statements as if they are facts without having a clue what they are talking about and, when challenged on it, are unable to support their position but make even more ridiculous statements to attempt to save face. I’m not talking about opinions, it’s some of the really stupid stuff. And it gets very irritating.

Also, because anyone levelling public criticisms at others is fair game to get some back.

 

[Rodley]

I've not listened to it or anything, I just feel a desire to climb on top of his car bonnet, pull my trousers down and shart on his windscreen, and my instincts are generally rather sound, to be fair.

 

[Scarebus]

2 questions would have put to him would be, why have some of our signings been past the deadline to be eligible to play in the next game and why are some of our signings not match fit some of we played millions for

The first question is just a variation of any other question regarding signing taking so long, you'll get the same answer. Parties involved, complexity etc...

Second answer is relatively obvious isn't it?

Traore is Swedish league fit, needs experience.
Hamer is fit, preseason & minutes with Cov
Mcatee is fit, preseason & minutes with city
Archer is fit, preseason & minutes with villa
Larouci did preseason with us
Souza was fit but missed Portugal
Slimane did preseason with us picked up an Injury
Thomas is fit, preseason with Leicester
Trusty is fit, preseason with Arsenal

Davies was a free agent & hasn't played regularly

Not sure what we've done wrong there.

 

[bibbity bobbity boo]

Bettissssssss addressssssesss the SSSSSS24SSSSu forum:

 

[Nesh Blade]

The tricky thing is that the majority of us wish that football didn’t run like the business that it is. Yes we’d all like the club to remain solvent and “live within our means”, but we also want to keep our best players especially when they are as exciting as Ndiaye. It’s difficult to agree with Bettis that selling our players for a profit is a big positive because we all just want to go to the Lane and see the best players. It’s pretty hard to be a fan following a club in modern football- knowing who the CEO is and watching him chat for 30 mins is not why any of us got into football.