once_bitterne Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 This was always going to be a very difficult Summer for the club as our manager and top players are all being coveted by other clubs. Is our Chairman qualified to be dealing with this? I have my doubts. I can't see any way that a former Ice Hockey head coach has the first idea about what he is meant to be doing here. Krueger readily admits he knows little about football and, when he got involved with the club believed it to be from a motivation\sports science point of view (which he is qualified to do) and did not have any intention of becoming Chairman. He's going to be eaten alive by the likes of Daniel Levy and co. I genuinely believe that he sits behind his desk and doesn't have to first idea about what tasks he should be doing. (which is probably why is happy to spend hours speaking to the Red Jacketed Militant or days going on bike rides giving leg rubs to fans.) What makes it worse is that his boss also doesn't have the first idea about running a football club either. It's a huge gamble to have someone with no experience of either being a chairman of a large organisation or football in general running a PL club. Yes our former Chairman came from a banking background but it was far easier to learn the ropes with a club our size being a huge fish in L1. If you take the main tasks that should have been completed since they took over I would say they were: New Contract for MP New Contract for Cork Improved deals for the 4 England players Communicate the plans for the future of the club to the fans, and more importantly the players. Now, not all of these would be possible but they haven't done any of them. There is the perception in the press that we are a rudderless ship at present a feeling that is certainly filtering down to the players which makes it all the more likely they will leave. I can't help thinking that having a hard-nosed person like Purslow at the helm would be a lot better than the jolly Canadian from the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wopper Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Always has a stupid grin on his face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffton Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 I have to say, even as a glass half full type of person, whilst at first I was quite happy about him I am starting to have my doubts. Happy to be proved wrong, but I wonder if we wouldn't have been better off with a proper 'football person' at the top. That said he is only the chairman, the club is run by a board and that board does include people with football experience, so who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
positivepete Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Yes, he is the chairman not the CEO. The CEO and Les Reed will be sorting out the football matters, and I am sure they are. As a club we tend to do our business behind closed doors not through the media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltonaggro Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 John Williams was the right man. Local lad (born in Totton) who knows about the history of Saints and the city, key to the rise and glory days at Blackburn in the 1990s, and good enough to be influential on the Board at the new model Manchester City in recent years. No brainer. So we appointed Ralph... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 John Williams was the right man. Local lad (born in Totton) who knows about the history of Saints and the city, key to the rise and glory days at Blackburn in the 1990s, and good enough to be influential on the Board at the new model Manchester City in recent years. No brainer. So we appointed Ralph... One need not have excluded the other as I see it. Chairman - RK CEO - JW. We needed a Finance Director so that was Gareth Rogers, but they rolled him into a CEO as well. I'm still not clear what Hans Hofsetters role is on the board, and what his particular specialism is. Either way, I think Williams had the experience here, trying to ignore the 'local bloke' influence on it, but he'd shade it over Purslow in my book who has a bit of 'baggage' from his Liverpool days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toon Saint Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 I think 'maximising our potential' and 'I'm in sports to win things' is about the closest RK has got to defining our targets/ambitions. The problem is that gap between the CL ambitions spouted by Cortese and the cold reality of the situation inherited by the board, in terms of transfer debt and the bill for training ground. Those dreams simply weren't sustainable with the level of investment KL wanted to provide. It's very hard for the club to come out and say 'we are going to balance the books this transfer window, sell a couple of key players, and then look to rebuild next summer once the infrastructure is in place.' Anything less than saying we are wanting to be competing for Europe is going to sound like failure in the eyes of the fans - thus, why RK resorts to all these non-committal vagueisms. He is a master of those, and therein lies his value to Katharina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Now, not all of these would be possible but they haven't done any of them. Yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 John Williams was the right man. Local lad (born in Totton) who knows about the history of Saints and the city, key to the rise and glory days at Blackburn in the 1990s, and good enough to be influential on the Board at the new model Manchester City in recent years. No brainer. So we appointed Ralph... I have to agree with that - he should have been appointed Chairman with a new Chief Executive/Managing Ditector working under him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintbob40 Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Les Reeds background is as a coach. Being on a transfer committee doesn't necessarily qualify him to negotiate with agents, players, clubs and his own board on transfer matters. The rudderless ship perception is one that I have heard a few times. Then again if it is inertia and the status quo you are looking for then perhaps this is a masterstroke! Let's judge the management team on where we are on 1st July....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltonaggro Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 One need not have excluded the other as I see it. Chairman - RK CEO - JW. We needed a Finance Director so that was Gareth Rogers, but they rolled him into a CEO as well. I'm still not clear what Hans Hofsetters role is on the board, and what his particular specialism is. Either way, I think Williams had the experience here, trying to ignore the 'local bloke' influence on it, but he'd shade it over Purslow in my book who has a bit of 'baggage' from his Liverpool days. Yes, that could have worked Badger. It seems that with Krueger and Hofstetter Katarina is appointing business people that she feels she can relate to / trust, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are the right people to redirect a club in the upper third of the Premier League. Cortese had an advantage in that post takeover he couldn't fail to win over the fans at Saints, plus he had a three year 'apprenticeship' as the club moved up the leagues. As Saints fans we are all hopeful that KL has got it right, and that the new look board is about to pull a series of rabbits out of hats - but you can't help thinking that a wise head like Williams would have managed the fears and expectation of players and fans, just that little bit better. Plus for me, the local lad profile would have helped in Williams filling Cortese's (built up) shoes, he might even have been an upgrade on the 'master'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint1977 Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Yes, that could have worked Badger. It seems that with Krueger and Hofstetter Katarina is appointing business people that she feels she can relate to / trust, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are the right people to redirect a club in the upper third of the Premier League. Cortese had an advantage in that post takeover he couldn't fail to win over the fans at Saints, plus he had a three year 'apprenticeship' as the club moved up the leagues. As Saints fans we are all hopeful that KL has got it right, and that the new look board is about to pull a series of rabbits out of hats - but you can't help thinking that a wise head like Williams would have managed the fears and expectation of players and fans, just that little bit better. Plus for me, the local lad profile would have helped in Williams filling Cortese's (built up) shoes, he might even have been an upgrade on the 'master'... I'd sadly have to agree and I still think Williams could turn this situation around. Reed have been furious at RK's comments on the last game of the season after his statement had started to stem the flow. Rogers as a CEO doesn't quite work at a club of Saint's size. I'd been glass half full since NC left but I'm starting to think the re-building will start in 2015/16 as a Championship club if I'm being honest judging by the way Jonathan Barnett, the tabloids and Liverpool/Man Utd are running the agenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Didn't John Williams appoint Allardyce? Hard to take seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Tel49 Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 Didn't John Williams appoint Allardyce? Hard to take seriously. With the exception of Newcastle, where he was not given enough time, Allardyce has a record that would stand anybody's scrutiny and was using Sports Science at Bolton more or less ahead of the pack. Like Pulis he is an effective rather than a "pretty" manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 21 May, 2014 Share Posted 21 May, 2014 I think one of those 2 would have helped stabilise things a little (Williams, preferably). But KL wanted to do it her own way, I must admit I'm a bit nervous as people involved with different sports coming into football hasn't ended well in history. I know we've all had our own experiences with a certain Rugby coach. From what I've seen so far, the board is coming over as very naive, esp. RK. He's obviously a talker, someone who rally's the troops with a good old fashioned speech, I imagine he's got 'inspirational speaker' somewhere on his CV - but you need more than that in football directorship, he's not a coach any more - he's the director of a football club, and some of the comments he has come out with are incredibly ill-advised. I think as a club (Fans/players) - we want to know the plan, the talk so far has just been waffle - nothing really said that means anything. RK's speech at the players awards was the most pointless piece of waffle I've ever heard....so I can sense the frustrations, and I can sense the agitation as we just wait....and wait......but it's too early for a full blown meltdown, let's just sit tight for a little longer and wait to see the actions. As the always say, actions speak a hell of a lot louder than the words spoken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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