Millbrook Saint Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Hope people have learned about keeping unhappy players. All we have when Saints are mentioned this season was 'they sold too many players', yet last summer was the first time we didn't sell. The result was an unhappy squad and no time to reinvest when the sale did happen in January. Selling and replacing got us our success. One season of struggle and the pundits just bleat on with the same generic crap, no actual insight or awareness of what's been going on. Bertrand will probably go and people will moan again. Personally i'd rather just sell anyone who doesn't want to be here, get the best price and move on. If you can end up rubbish with Van Dijk in the team, there's zero point keeping anyone who'll force a move like that. Plenty of decent young talent out there. Won't get it right every time but our record has been decent. Even Tadic, Romeu, Hojbjerg were all replacements for players sold and they'd be in most people's teams despite a difficult season. Well leicester didn't do too bad keeping Mahrez. At the end of the day the **** in charge wasn't strong enough to control the situation. We can't just accept our players will go, it'll be open season on us from every club in the division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baird of the land Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Well he does manage to say and awful lot of words and sound impressive and you walk away with no idea regarding any issue. Not sure if that’s good or bad in a chairman to be honest. I disagreed strongly with blackmore’s view that we should hand Hughes the transfer kitty based on him being a former player, ignoring his rather poor transfer history as a manager. I was very curious regarding the Sadio Mane portion. Was Krueger implying our strategy had shifted to not trying to sign another mane. Not particularly happy at the constant lowering of ambitions. Worried that pathway for younger players may suffer even more than it currently does going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joesaint Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 A least Hughes will stay, think it was quite fair what was said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 What I understand from him talking about a change in ambition and mistakes being made makes me think we tried telling players they would not be allowed to leave if they signed for us unless we wanted to sell them, and therefore we ended up signing a lower quality of player. Hopefully we get back to signing higher quality - the only way to get to a point where we can keep top players is to keep signing them and actually finish closer to the top. Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krissyboy31 Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 A least Hughes will stay, think it was quite fair what was said. If he gets proper backing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 TBF I don`t think that Adam Blackmore gave him an easy ride... You can tell Blackmore sympathises with Krueger but is f**ked off with Les -and of course would rather be interviewing him. Good interview by Adam Blackmore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 What I understand from him talking about a change in ambition and mistakes being made makes me think we tried telling players they would not be allowed to leave if they signed for us unless we wanted to sell them, and therefore we ended up signing a lower quality of player. Hopefully we get back to signing higher quality - the only way to get to a point where we can keep top players is to keep signing them and actually finish closer to the top. Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk and we still won't keep them.... the only way for us to keep top players is to have a stupidly wealthy owner prepared to stick two fingers up to FFP and turn us into a new Man City or Chelsea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgey Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 We really need a new head of scouting. The deeply unimpressive Ross and our clear lack of black box means we are relying on Hughes - no idea what influence he had at Stoke but their transfer dealings were worse than ours. Time to fish for the best of the Championship - let’s face it the fact 3 teams stayed up suggests it is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit of a plonker Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 At least he recognised football has been crap and improved under Hughes, with a return to trying to win games as opposed to just not losing. Think it is pretty clear that we will be sanctioning a few sales this summer, with the talk of re-investing sales into the squad. Not convinced there is a transfer kitty without sales, based on what he said. Hope we get rid of the ones we need to ship out, who have a reasonable value. Expect to see us near the bottom of the net spend league again. Overall, can't argue too much with what he says, pretty honest and realistic. But action is more important than words right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Saints Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Good news about Hughes. Bad news about Reed. Rare for someone to fail so miserably and keep their job in football these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasoneuelllfanclub Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Well he does manage to say and awful lot of words and sound impressive and you walk away with no idea regarding any issue. Not sure if that’s good or bad in a chairman to be honest. I disagreed strongly with blackmore’s view that we should hand Hughes the transfer kitty based on him being a former player, ignoring his rather poor transfer history as a manager. I was very curious regarding the Sadio Mane portion. Was Krueger implying our strategy had shifted to not trying to sign another mane. Not particularly happy at the constant lowering of ambitions. Worried that pathway for younger players may suffer even more than it currently does going forward.Kruegar suggested we go back to signing players like Mane who stay for two years then move on. I don't have issue with this as long as club are transparent and align fans expectations rather than make billy big balls statements about the ambition. After all kruegar said himself back in January we are a small club. I guess we could see likes of Promes come in for a couple of years before making the obligatory move to Liverpool Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Billy Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 I was impressed with Blackmore’s line of questioning, no holds barred. Ralph came across as composed but giving away very little. I’m finding it very difficult to come to any conclusions from that interview and a little bit none the wiser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Good interview. Refreshingly waffleless from Ralph apart from his weird championship type winning feeling comment. Good he didn't make excuses, mistakes made, also intimated Pellegrino wasn't up to it without saying as much. Good questions from Blackmore, really rate him, asked a lot of questions and made points fans have been saying for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Ralph on SSN right now. Pretty decent too - Hughes clearly wanted, so let's hope it gets sorted. Personally think this is the best he's been. People will moan about him but there's not many senior leaders in football which would be quite so forthright about their failings, mistakes and learnings. They've still got to walk the walk but decent (re)start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Well that was a slightly better interview than I expected, largely because Adam pulled no punches. You can tell he is really p*ssed off at Les and the club in general for mugging him off for months., incredibly disappointing that seemingly no one is going to pay the price for this appaling season. Does anyone have any incidence that they won't just repeat the same mistakes next season? I'm gearing up for a terrible January window for the third time in a row... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 He talked a lot about learning but not much about change. Let’s wait and see what does change...I believe not much will change."judge us on out response" we'll they could have said the exact same thing after our poor end to the last season. I assume if we do poorly next year they will just say the same thing again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 “Les Reed and Ross Wilson [the recruitment chief] are excellent leaders in our football department,” he said. “We have to see the bigger picture – we don’t need a wholesale change here. We need to take a few percentage points, fix those and we can surge back up. That’s our reality" Very concerned about that. The fact they don't feel that wholesale changes are needed despite regressing in almost every area from the academy to the first team show how out of touch they are. We need some serious leadership to underline how unacceptable the last two years have been and it doesn't look like the Gaos are capable of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusic Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 What I understand from him talking about a change in ambition and mistakes being made makes me think we tried telling players they would not be allowed to leave if they signed for us unless we wanted to sell them, and therefore we ended up signing a lower quality of player. Hopefully we get back to signing higher quality - the only way to get to a point where we can keep top players is to keep signing them and actually finish closer to the top. Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk I read that bit as we would go back to a model of buying players with promise who we can develop, give a platform to and then let go to bigger clubs for a profit and begin the cycle again. Which is what did us well for a couple of years largely because the recruitment under Koeman was good. As opposed to trying to keep players like VVD (and probably Bertrand) who wanted to move on. Easy to say, harder to do successfully as it puts a lot of pressure on signing quality players on a frequent basis and thats partly why we have regressed the last two years, signings haven't replaced the quality we lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 I read that bit as we would go back to a model of buying players with promise who we can develop, give a platform to and then let go to bigger clubs for a profit and begin the cycle again. Which is what did us well for a couple of years largely because the recruitment under Koeman was good. As opposed to trying to keep players like VVD (and probably Bertrand) who wanted to move on. Easy to say, harder to do successfully as it puts a lot of pressure on signing quality players on a frequent basis and thats partly why we have regressed the last two years, signings haven't replaced the quality we lost.Massive pressure on Wilson. I have seen nothing from him so far to suggest he is anything particularly special unlike the previous bloke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Benali Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Don't believe anything he says. Just pure PR bull****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 I hope someone at the fans forum calls out the club for its carefully choreographed PR campaigns over the last few years with scheduled interviews in January and at the end of the season with nothing in between which comes across as inauthentic and patronising to fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_Ash Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Ralph saying big mistakes were made Judge them on reacting to the mistakes next season Adam having a pop saying not a peep from les when he is the head of football at the club Saying the club bought into their own hype and pellegrino was clearly the wrong man Ralph brushes off the jibe about appointing pellegrino when he was just the same if not worse than the fella they just sacked In talks with Mark Hughes now and he is at the top of the list The speed is essential to get this done. We were on the side of this new window as it hurts clubs like us We must tap into the window early and have already started that process Hughes will be part of the transfer committee but he brings a far deeper knowledge base due to his experience of the league and he will be integral part of it with Les Reed with the board for the financial part of the process Was a scary first year for Gao family, they watched the games when in China and always in contact. We aim to get involved in the Asian market, along with under armour but that is a slower process. The family are important with that Adam pointing out unless you win football matches, all this branding talk is pointless... Ralph saying this is a tough league, and we are now more humbled to be in it, we have to recognise the importance of fans Will do fans forum and have to improve communication with fans We must reiterate that it starts at St Mary’s and we got distracted a year ago trying to branch out. We have to make it better at home and reconnect with the fans at home. That must be the priority Adam says Hughes has brought back a bit of aggression that Poch and Ronald brought Ralph admits that we lost our way and it started to be fun again under Hughes, even during the arsenal and Chelsea games The amount of draws we got was just unacceptable and we must play to win unlike what we have done recently Management team is in place, lots of conversations started after the Swansea game. We will try and create something and we have learned something after this season. As chairman I see no reason for change and we have to get the manager in and in quickly. Les and Ross are good people and we have to accept this season was not good enough and I will not be self congratulating about it Thanks for that, saved me listening as watching Evil Genius. That reads ok to me, they are not happy with the season, realised that mistakes were made and hopefully trying to rectify them, first off by tying Hughes down for a bit longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manji Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 I thought that was actually a very good interview from RK. He has learnt a lot from when he first joined and he is a man that loves sport and competition. The total absence of Les Reed is telling, as were the comments from RK saying he is not happy with how this season went. I actually find myself trusting him with the club. I also think that Les will find his wings clipped within the club at least, if not publicly. I certainly hope I never see another Les Reed interview whilst he is still at the club. That’s exactly how I read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint-Fred Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 In other words we will use the well publicised and controlled vvd situations to continue selling any and all top players and the niave / dumb fans will lap it up as "we don't want another vvd situation " So we are going to be Liverpool feeder club after all...funny how it's all to do with trying to keep one player..yet Hughes is managed with an unhappy Boufal in the squad without hurting morale. The issue was two **** managers who couldn't motivate the squad with or without players who wanted to leave. A decent manager would have dealt with the situation. So now we have to roll over and sell whenever Liverpool come calling again as the "learning" was don't keep players rather than employ a decent manager? The sooner these idiots leave our club the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 What I picked up on was the fans' forum not only at the start of the season, but also in the middle. Now, surely Les Reed would need to be on that forum for it to have any validity. It will be interesting to see whether he will be in attendance, as he will certainly be getting a lot of flack and deservedly. And then imagine what a mid season forum would have been like this season, when it had become obvious that the clown was totally out of his depth and that he would take us down if he stayed. Might that have got shot of him earlier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyd Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 At least he recognised football has been crap and improved under Hughes, with a return to trying to win games as opposed to just not losing. Think it is pretty clear that we will be sanctioning a few sales this summer, with the talk of re-investing sales into the squad. Not convinced there is a transfer kitty without sales, based on what he said. Hope we get rid of the ones we need to ship out, who have a reasonable value. Expect to see us near the bottom of the net spend league again. Overall, can't argue too much with what he says, pretty honest and realistic. But action is more important than words right now. The VVD money is largely there and he said we will move quickly in the market. To say there is no budget or that we will be near the bottom of the net spenfd league is unfounded hearsay. The club is wealthy and is aware that many of the squad are poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Sound's like everyone is swallowing the blag again , Ralph was brought in for just that reason ! This! From that it seems nothing is going to change - no interference from China and carry on as you were boys, and oh and generate your own transfer kitty - no additional funds from new owner! All too easy to say we made mistakes without being specific about which ones. Mr. "Fits like a Glove" will take us to around 10th and that is the new Southampton Way and ambition. Feel good factor is high as we stayed up (and did he really mean, it's like winning the PL title?? Think he is confusing Championship with PL), but there is no way this season can be excused, and if we don't put things right we might not be so lucky next time. BTW - where's the 5 pledges Ralph - promised in Feb and still no where to be seen?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimatt Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 As mentioned by others, he's saying the right things. Words are only words though and our club has a strong history of selling ******** PR. It will be telling whether they continue to do everything on the cheap or if we see a change in transfer strategy back to what made us successful. Also Les Reed is a complete coward. All too happy to get his face out there when times are good and now he hides from the fans and the media. Pathetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Le God Posted 15 May, 2018 Author Share Posted 15 May, 2018 This! From that it seems nothing is going to change - no interference from China and carry on as you were boys, and oh and generate your own transfer kitty - no additional funds from new owner! All too easy to say we made mistakes without being specific about which ones. Mr. "Fits like a Glove" will take us to around 10th and that is the new Southampton Way and ambition. Feel good factor is high as we stayed up (and did he really mean, it's like winning the PL title?? Think he is confusing Championship with PL), but there is no way this season can be excused, and if we don't put things right we might not be so lucky next time. BTW - where's the 5 pledges Ralph - promised in Feb and still no where to be seen?? What is wrong with a 10th place finish in the Premier League? That would be a good season for Saints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian lord Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 Not sure what more you can expect - plenty of contrition and honesty. Acceptance of mistakes. Lets just hope they sort out the faulty black box and also get someone who can operate the damn thing as well as Mitchell did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 What is wrong with a 10th place finish in the Premier League? That would be a good season for Saints. Nothing, but I said around 10th meaning probably lower, and the lower you aim the lower you might end up. My main worry is what I took from that (and could well and hope am wrong) is we'll make a few minor twinks and it'll all be fine - we need a lot more than that. I don't mean spending loads, as we clearly will not do that - would be good if we spend wisely and slightly more that we get in. We certainly need more accountability within the management team, and if Les is staying let's get someone else with footballing experience as there is a lack of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamplemousse Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 What is wrong with a 10th place finish in the Premier League? That would be a good season for Saints. If 8th and a cup final wasn't good enough, then 10th certainly wouldn't be at all. I wouldn't be happy with just 10th, I'd like us to finish 7th or 8th, assuming the top 6 remains as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verlaine1979 Posted 15 May, 2018 Share Posted 15 May, 2018 I read that bit as we would go back to a model of buying players with promise who we can develop, give a platform to and then let go to bigger clubs for a profit and begin the cycle again. Which is what did us well for a couple of years largely because the recruitment under Koeman was good. Hang on, in what sense hasn't that been our model all the time? Trying to hold players to three years rather than two is simply a function of us starting to adopt five year contracts rather than four, and even then the VVD situation is probably a special case because the PR impact of it being Liverpool every single time was starting to undermine the club's attempts at branding. There has been no change in our recruitment model, just in the quality of its outputs, and for that the scouting group and transfer committee must take all the blame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint in Paradise Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Well I am sorry to say this but yet again it seems to me that Ralph is just trying to B.S. fans and alas some are still falling for this nonsense. Trust is earned Ralph its not a given just because of a job title so don't forget that Actions, Ralph, speak a lot louder than your management mumbo jumbo. If the virtually anonymous owner and you don't act soon Mark Hughes will have no option but to walk away from this small club (your words Ralph) clusterf**k. He,or indeed any decent manager,won't put up with such nonsense like C.P. and then M.P. appeared too. Indeed some fans haven't forgotten that R.K. left because of the Boards head in the sand actions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsbridge Saint Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Get Hughes in. I never want to see the dogmatic stubborn pig-headed unwavering adherence to defensive possession based football, with no variation, ever again at Saints. That was entirely down to the Boards appointment of two continental knob jockeys who probably slept with the UEFA Coaching Manual. At a Board level surely Reed has to contribute something to the dissemination of last season. I would love to know (1) how he explains the non-delivery of attacking football under Pellegrino and (2) Why the football Board stuck with Pellegrino for so long when it was clearly failing in mid-December. I don't think Gao is going to be tipping any money into the club for a transfer kitty - don't really see why he should. The club needs to be sustainable on its own income and expenditure without relying on injections of Capital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbelievable Jeff Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Glad to see Blackmore asking difficult questions - I've been critical of him in the past for not doing it so have to give him praise now. Looks like we're going back to buying and selling - which worked in relation to league position, but was soul- destroying for fans... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Duckhunter Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Indeed some fans haven't forgotten that R.K. left because of the Boards head in the sand actions. Nothing to do with money he could earn then? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halo Stickman Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Insightful, no-pulling-punches, interview from Blackmore – he's a top bloke and excellent local football reporter, imo. Krueger is very good at presenting a polished PR spin; but, in fairness to him, I'm pretty happy with his responses. Only time and actions will tell us whether Saints have actually learnt from the experiences of the past two seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 (edited) Nothing, but I said around 10th meaning probably lower, and the lower you aim the lower you might end up. .What do you think Burnley's aim was last August? I'd suggest it wasn't "finish top 4". I don't quite get the desperation for over-claiming. Seems to me it just creates an excuse for people to moan about the club if we don't achieve it. Whatever happens we ar not going to challenge top six every single season without fail forever and ever. No club our size does, we won't as we've seen. A chairman saying it at the start of every season won't change that. Edited 16 May, 2018 by CB Fry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 A few months ago, Ralph said it was a collective accountability. Now (and fair enough) he says the buck stops with him, he is the chairman.. Is this a result from committing to the club now Gao has taken over or just a bit of standing up and taking it now we are safe? It is obvious that Les is not talking on purpose. Probably allowing the dust to settle for a bit before he says a few words. More so when we sign a couple of decent players. I reckon (if Les stays) the days of talking shyte to the camera will be much more few and far between Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint in Paradise Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Nothing to do with money he could earn then? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Did Saints even offer to match that offer? Did they agree to make funds available to get him the players he wanted so that Saints could continue to improve? Do owners realise that they have to spend even to stand still let alone progress these days and if they don't why didn't someone tell them? I think the answers are, No, No and No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr X Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Wish he would cut to the reality & stop waffling, admit the club made a disastrous appointment in Pellegrino! Admit that we got cocky thinking we were too good to go down & admit that Les reed is mostly responsible for appointing such a disaster. No surprises that Les stays that was clear when it all went quiet from him Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSAINT Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/16227373.BIG_INTERVIEW__Krueger_questioned_over_Saints__failures/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rooney Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Good Interview by Adam. Asked the questions we wanted to be asked and good news-Fans Forums are to come back. Those attending must not waste the opportunity to seek out the answers we want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Adam tried really hard to put Krueger on the spot, but ultimately failed. Lip-service to the issue of accountability. Trying to blame the VVD situation. Clearly everyone who wants to leave will be allowed to. No light at the tunnel whatsoever. And, most worryingly : "When Sadio Mane came and he told us he wanted to be the best football player in the world he truly believed that. He came and played his two years and he went and now he’s playing in the Champions League final. We allowed that pathway and we were an important part of that and we should be proud of that but we got away from that. Maybe our ambition made us reach for a pathway that wasn’t ours. " I see business as usual at SMS next year. And the target is only mid-table. Gonna be another toughie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Get Hughes in. I never want to see the dogmatic stubborn pig-headed unwavering adherence to defensive possession based football, with no variation, ever again at Saints. That was entirely down to the Boards appointment of two continental knob jockeys who probably slept with the UEFA Coaching Manual. At a Board level surely Reed has to contribute something to the dissemination of last season. I would love to know (1) how he explains the non-delivery of attacking football under Pellegrino and (2) Why the football Board stuck with Pellegrino for so long when it was clearly failing in mid-December. I don't think Gao is going to be tipping any money into the club for a transfer kitty - don't really see why he should. The club needs to be sustainable on its own income and expenditure without relying on injections of Capital. Good post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Wish he would cut to the reality & stop waffling, admit the club made a disastrous appointment in Pellegrino! Admit that we got cocky thinking we were too good to go down & admit that Les reed is mostly responsible for appointing such a disaster. No surprises that Les stays that was clear when it all went quiet from him Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Yep. The waffle here is miles better but there's still enough of it to be interminable. I wonder if he's the same in private? A bit of straight talking would be fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 (edited) Glad to see Blackmore asking difficult questions - I've been critical of him in the past for not doing it so have to give him praise now. Looks like we're going back to buying and selling - which worked in relation to league position, but was soul- destroying for fans... We've continued to buy and sell. Just because we kept VVD for another six months doesn't change our basic modus operandi. Problem is we've largely bought crap and were reluctant to invest when that became apparent. Edited 16 May, 2018 by shurlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint1977 Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Good interview by Blackmore and whilst Ralph is Mr PR Spin at least he is there to take the tough but necessary questions. Blackmore’s disgust at Reed’s year and a bit silence is evident although I’m not sure how people are interpreting that Reed is definitely staying. The DT interview is far from clear Les is staying and the Echo one too. At senior level there will be some sense of collective responsibility, Ralph pushing Les under the bus was never going to happen and probably not a good behaviour if it did. However, I think Les will either be moving on or in a much-reduced role where he has some input on signings with Hughes and Wilson but stays out of first team affairs. I’d have less of an issue with this as long as Reed stayed to his brief and didn’t interfere with tactics and set up etc. The fact Les isn’t be mentioned around the managerial appointment is also an indicator to me that Les’s role is changing/reduced/going Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 16 May, 2018 Share Posted 16 May, 2018 Hang on, in what sense hasn't that been our model all the time? Trying to hold players to three years rather than two is simply a function of us starting to adopt five year contracts rather than four, and even then the VVD situation is probably a special case because the PR impact of it being Liverpool every single time was starting to undermine the club's attempts at branding. There has been no change in our recruitment model, just in the quality of its outputs, and for that the scouting group and transfer committee must take all the blame.What Krueger said in the interview about shifting our ambitions with regards to players suggests we only signed players who were ready to commit long term, which players looking for a platform wouldn't want to do. Hence ending up with players who are limited like Carillo, Redmond etc over the last couple of years. Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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