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Post by a more piratey game on Mar 6, 2016 16:36:53 GMT
There has been much moaning, over a very long period, about the way the Board has worked within itself, and how it interacted with the fans, and how everything was a bit disjointed and amateurish. Friendly for the fans, as long as they didn't get too close, but amateurish and probably very squabbly and maybe petty between Board members etc
My own suspicion, based on not much, is that NH wandered into this world and was ill-prepared to manoeuvre within it - he didn't have the grasp of the history and the politics to enable him to manage the 'ambiance' (or 'atmosphere for posh people' as I think Micky Flanagan puts it)
With the old guard not having gone far, what might Wael and the other newbies to BRFC usefully be told to enable him to manage things better than NH?
I sense that he has deeper pockets, broader and better-qualified connections, and perhaps a much broader perspective than those who have previously had his role, but skill doesn't get you everywhere. A lot comes down to people at the end of the day, and I think you get some funny buggers in football! |
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irishrover
Global Moderator
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,372 
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Post by irishrover on Mar 6, 2016 17:44:36 GMT
Technocratic is a good way of describing this new era I think. It implies professionalism but it also implies a greater distance between owners and fanbase which is the reality of the way ownership structures in English football are going - something that is a much bigger issue than any of the people involved in our recent takeovers.
With that in mind the I think the key thing to remember that even within that context fans should not be treated like standard consumers - to do so is to make a major category error of misunderstanding what your core business actually is. The relationship between fans and club is not built on the usual rational assumptions that underpin consumerism - football simply wouldn't survive if it was. The club is only worth anything and only has any potential at all because of the irrational emotional connections between fans and the club. That must be respected. So what I say is;
1. Honest communication which means admitting limitations and failures rather than trying to put a half hearted PR gloss over everything. This involves accepting the fact that you cannot have a 100% positive relationship with fans - nor can you control the terms of that relationship. There will be moaning, there will be unrealistic expectations, there will be unfair criticism. That is the reality of the position. That doesn't mean fans are your enemy, too many people in football have this absurd attitude. Part of the job is dealing with that effectively and recognising as a positive force that can be harnessed rather than running scared of aspects of your own fanbase. 2. Proper leadership, which means accepting accountability for all actions, outcomes and relationships that the club has. No kicking downwards towards scapegoats- managers, players, coaches, fans, tea-ladies etc. If you are at the top of the organisation the buck stops with you - end of story. You are responsible for the performance of the people in that organisation. When you sack someone, when you blame them for failure, when you parcel out blame on some external force then you are also weakening your own position because you are ultimately just as responsible for that breakdown. Failure in any aspect of the organisation is as much your failure as anyone else's. Look to yourself first and be clear about that accountability. That is proper leadership that people can respect. 3. Have some sense of vision that people can buy into that has a realistic timescale and accepts the possibility that there will be bumps in the road. Don't constantly promise the earth and then come up short or people will simply cease to believe you. 4. Take advantage of the fact that you are a complete outsider and run a heavy roller over all of the little vested interests, petty recriminations and out of date practices. Generate a genuine fresh start with open attitudes and structures that are fit for the 21st century football world - not stuck in an old fashioned you scratch my back I scratch yours mentality amateurish cronyism that has been the reality in English football for most of its history.
I'd say on the whole they are off to a superb start. |
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Post by a more piratey game on Apr 19, 2016 15:49:25 GMT
I saw this in The Economist. I think its probably the direction that Wael wants to take us in, with the new 'Moneyball' guy doing the analysis to support things. Any thoughts peeps?
PS Nice wordplay on 'Das Boot' in the title, I thought
German football - The making of a Fussballwunder - The world’s best footballing nation masters the mental aspect - Oct 3rd 2015
Das Reboot. By Raphael Honigstein. Nation Books; 288 pages; $17.99. Yellow Jersey; £18.99.
ALMOST half of the goals scored in football are virtually random, reckons Martin Lames of the Technical University of Munich. And football’s best loved narratives—the come-from-behind win, the giant-killing—are those that upset expectations. But Raphael Honigstein’s new book “Das Reboot” focuses on the bits of the game that are not random, and how a well prepared team faces anything but a coin-flip.
After a long period as a footballing superpower, the German side became complacent. The nadir was the European Championships in 2000, when it failed to win a game, even losing to England in a match Mr Honigstein describes as “an all-round embarrassment of footballing poverty”. 14 years later, Germany would humiliate Brazil, the World Cup hosts, 7-1 before defeating Argentina to take home the trophy.
Mr Honigstein’s tale is of unsung innovators as well as national heroes. Dietrich Weise and Ulf Schott, two former players turned officials at the national football association, became convinced that Germany needed to expand its youth programmes. After the Euro 2000 debacle, Germany’s top professional clubs were ordered to set up academies. They were initially resistant to the financial burden, but after ten years, more than half of the players in the top division were academy graduates, saving clubs millions on transfer fees.Coaching also evolved, with the appointment of a former international striker, Jürgen Klinsmann, to the national team in 2004. He irritated many by commuting from California, but he brought a new focus on the mind: Mr Honigstein describes quasi-“management seminars”, with team-building and language classes alongside football. But he also got his limited talent playing a fast, attacking football that was a hit when Germany hosted the 2006 World Cup, which one player described as “Germany’s Summer of Love”. The third-place finishers were thronged at the Brandenburg Gate.
By 2014, Mr Klinsmann had handed over to his former assistant, Joachim Löw, but the team was stocked with players who had had Klinsmann-style training since childhood. One such exercise was the Footbonaut, which fires balls at different speeds and trajectories at players, who must control and pass the ball into a highlighted square until it becomes second nature. Mario Götze (pictured) used the machine for years at his club. In the 2014 World Cup final, he controlled a cross with his chest and volleyed the ball into the net, winning the championship with an exact replica of the training the machine provided. It was “one fluid, instant motion”, a successfully fulfilled plan to defeat randomness.
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GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
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Post by GasMacc1 on Apr 20, 2016 15:01:52 GMT
"...Germany’s top professional clubs were ordered to..."
I cannot imagine ever reading that "the FA ordered England's top professional clubs..." to do anything!
But if there is a benefit for the clubs, they might do it of their own volition.
I think Darrell is a bit of a statto on the quiet - he always seems able to have the relevant performance data at his fingertips. He was quick to admit to Ed Hadwin on Radio Bristol after the Yeovil game that he'd been caught out on the number of home wins we'd had!
It seems to me that football clubs find it difficult to innovate, but once there is a breakthrough everyone very quickly follows. The competitive advantage is therefore very short-lived.
It would be great to have a strong youth development programme, known for playing "the Rovers way".
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