Mr. Slugworth

We're clearly not going to sign Bent, or Defoe or anyone else good for that matter.  Pierre Boya, anyone???

What amuses me about this post us that he contradicts himself. First off he says we are not going to sign anyone then he says expect last minute freebees and loans. I'd rather they didn't piss our money away and spent it wisely. Neither Fred nor Roeder have promised us anything.

I meant permanent, long-term signings, not token gestures and desperate stop-gaps

True, but absolute quality - best two deals we could have done imo (apart from Sibbers  )

Imaging a Campbell and Woodgate CB pairing with Taylor and the young lads learning their game...  Frightening.

I've been reading through the news this morning and it seems quite clear that we're about the witness Part 2 of 'Glenn and Freddy's' devious 'lie to the fans to keep them from the truth' campaign.  The plain truth is simply this: THERE IS NO MONEY!! There never was, cos we blew it all last year!!

Glenn:  "There aren't any quality players..."; "We may need to loan more players..."

Freddy: "Munch, munch, munch..." 

We've been led to believe that we're gonna sign players this January.  Expect another last minute free transfer swoop and a couple of loan deals...  Unnacceptable.  The kids are playing well, but ffs, we're Newcastle United here, we're bigger than that!

And we could have had Campbell / Woodgate.  F**king shocking.  I'd be delighted if we finish the season in the top half of the table...

Would you look at that, they just changed it... 

Plays for us, apparently... (see end)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_John

 

You mean linked to us right?

 

I dont think he would be alright, certainly good back up when everyone is back, but if his attitude is as bad as suggested he wont have any part of sitting on the bench.

 

 

 

 

No, Wikipedia reckons he signed for us today...

Collins John (born October 7, 1985 in Zwedru, Liberia) is a Dutch footballer playing for Watford F.C in the English Premiership. John was born in Liberia, but his family emigrated to the Netherlands after the murder of his father, during the genocide in the Liberian Civil War.

[edit] Football career

Collins John was born in Zwandru, Liberia, although plays his international football for the Holland Under-21s - John has also recieved 1 cap for the Dutch senior side. Collins was signed by Fulham in January 2004, for a fee thought to be in the region of £600,000, from Dutch Eredivisie side FC Twente. John was amusingly introduced to Fulham fans, at half time during their game in the 2003-2004 Premiership season against Tottenham Hotspur, by former Fulham midfielder John Collins. His debut for the club came against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on March 20, 2004. He scored eleven Premiership goals in the 2005-2006 season, despite only starting 15 of the thirty-seven games he appeared in. Despite not starting every game, and usually coming off the bench, he became Fulham's top goalscorer during that season, with 13 goals in the Premiership and other competitions. Brian McBride and Heiðar Helguson were behind with 12 and 11 goals respectively. One of those many goals coming against Middlesbrough FC; A volley from his weaker foot was later to be named "Goal of the Month" by the BBC and was in the running for "Goal of the Season".

On August 16, 2006 he was linked to a £5million move to Premiership rivals Newcastle United F.C..

Plays for us, apparently... (see end)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_John

Just gonna throw this one in there...  'Big Dunc' Ferguson is unnattached to any club and is available on a free transfer, so is there any mileage in a pay-as-you-play 6-month contract to see us through till the summer.  He's 35 and might not play much, but i'd sooner that then see us blow our load with £12m on Peter 'Beanpole' Crouch.  He could get a few goals and he's a "passionate" lad.    He'd be an extra body in the squad and it seems to have worked with Sibbers...  With Owen back in the summer, we might be able to attract someone a bit more promising than Robo Crouch, and it'd give us more of the (limited) transfer kitty to get the full-back positions sorted out...

Thought you might like that 

Sorry if this has been covered on other threads.  It's hardly a secret that we're after a new striker/stikers in the January window (especially with Rossi and Luque certain to leave).  Unless we buy, we'll only have:

Martins, Sibierski, (Owen), (Ameobi).

Clearly, we need another couple of forwards, preferably a big target man and a 6-yard box poacher.  So the question is, who would you like to see fill these roles?  Not sure about this Boya guy but he sounds like he's a long way off.

My preference would be for a player to hold up play i.e. Crouch, Carew, Zigic or Koller or even Beattie (could work) and a young English goalscorer like Eastwood or Nugent.

Even with that, we'd need to replace Sibbers at some point.

How does everyone see Glenn fitting Owen and Martins into the same team? Can't see how it would work...

Suppose I get my Christmas wish this year and the Fat One loosens his incompetant, chubby f@#king grip on the boardroom, and just suppose that the Polygon/UBS thing isn't pure fantasy...

Where will be be this time next year?  Who'll be in charge of the team, how will the club's structure change, where will we be in the league etc. Your thoughts.

I reckon the 'new owners' would want to clear the lot out and hire some guys who actually know what they're doing.  I like Glenn, but I can't see a role for him post takeover (a la Pardew).  Ideally, he'd be made first team coach under a world renowned manager like Hitzfeld but let's face it, it ain't gonna happen.  I'd wager that we'd see the return of a certain former no. 9...

The point is that it would appear to be too much for managers/coaches like Roeder = he needs help.

Rushian mate, I see your point but I really do think that the effect that Comolli has had at Spurs has been significant.  The entire structure of the club has been changed (although I think that David Pleat was D of F with Hoddle??) and in particular, the recruitment of younger foreign players will reep rewards (look at how they did this at Arsenal - Fabregas, Toure, Senderos etc.).  I'd just love to have a few more N'Zogbia's coming through (and I wish Rossi was ours... £200k!!) instead of blowing millions and millions on the likes of Boumsong, Luque, Viana, Marcelino etc. MILLIONS ffs!!!  Even if we got 1 or 2 kids coming through, it'd save so much money and the best way to do that is to recruit the best talent, at home and abroad.  That is why i would like to see a forward thinking D of F brought in.

Don't agree with Rushian at all, just look at the spurs / chelsea models to see how it should work...  Glenn is the coach and i'd suggest he needs help with transfers / scouting etc.  Look what happened this summer...

Does anyone know if NUFC actually has any of the staff that i've left blank? If not, any value in sending a letter to PR department and asking why not?? 

Good shout, excellent post Martin Jol!

Anyone seen him play?  He's got 3 caps for Ireland already...  Ready for first team??

If results don't improve, who's for moving Glenn upstairs and bringing in someone like Alan Curbishley??

It'd be a shame imo as Glenn is an excellent coach.  Would have been better to bring in someone like Houllier in the summer and appoint Glenn as his assistant...

Yeah, i agree with that.  A specialist skills / technique coach sounds like a progressive idea.  A Dutch or French coach would be good imo as they have a background of highly technical training.

As for Fat Fred having his fingers burnt, he should get over it.  If you sack someone from your business you still have to replace them.  It should even teach you a bit more about what type of person you're looking for...  Alan Murray and Phil Boersma had no pedigree.  Souness was obviously (painfully so, to everyone apart from Fred) not the man for the job, so letting him spend money and choose his mates as his backroom staff was throwing good money after bad. 

There needs to be a degree of trust between the Chairman, D of F and First Team manager as there is with Spurs or Chelsea.  It's a waste of fucking time otherwise...  It seems to me that Glenn is on the ball and is trying to force Fred's hand on a few points but the fat fucker is so short-sighted that he's resisting.  Glenn can't believe his luck at landing the job so won't argue but a top manager wouldn't put up with that shite.  They're hired as the experts on what's needed on the playing / coaching / technical side and for some reason, Fred thinks he knows better.  In business, you wouldn't hire an 'expert' on something and then tell them how to do their job.  Thats why you fucking hired them!!

If Fred is clever (which he isn't) he'd realise that he has a big fucking fight on his hands to maintain the current status quo, as the fans won't put up with this shite any more.  If Sir John and Dougie want to cash in, Fred will lose his majority and with the fans against him, he might as well try and cut his losses.  In that case, he can 'add value' to the club by putting a few measures in place to make it more attractive to potential investors i.e. Doug Ellis appointing MO'N.  One such measure would be to appoint a good D of F.

There's talk of us appointing a Director of Football but imo that's just the tip of the iceberg.  If we are to really shake this club down we need to see a complete reorganisation of the structure from the top down.  It won't happen, but we can dream...

How a top 'international' football club should be structured / managed imo:

To manage the business side:

Club President:  i.e. Sir John Hall

Chairman: Someone other than Fat Fred i.e someone with a bit of vision (money), foreward thinking etc. like Daniel Levy at Spurs;

Chief Executive: Someone to actually run the club i.e. with business experience like Peter Kenyon, David Gill etc.;

Vice Chairman: Anyone but Dougie ffs;

Chief Operating Officer / Company Secretary: i.e. Russell Cushing;

Finance Director: Someone with City experience, understanding of economics etc.;

Commercial Director: Someone with marketing experience to increase revenue / build brand;

Board of 6-8 Non-Executive Directors with specialist knowledge i.e. lawyer etc.

To manage the playing side:

Director of Football: As detailed in previous posts i.e. Gerard Houllier, Frank Arnesen etc.;

First Team Manager: Glenn Roeder??  Would have preferred a M'ON but he wouldn't have worked well with above;

Assistant Manager: Someone good at coaching - there's plenty about (abroad?? i.e. Quieroz) or even John Carver;

First Team Coach: Not Clarky please, someone with a bit of experience, track record etc.

Assistant Coach: Lee Clark maybe?

Goalkeeping Coach: Terry Gennoe

Conditioning / Fitness Coach: Paul Winsper

Assistant Conditioning / Fitness Coach:

Ambassador / Striking Coach: Alan Shearer (why not? he was good you know...);

Defensive Coach: We fucking need someone...

Video Analysts / Prozone Experts;

Charity Case: Terry Mac;

Reserve Team Coach: What was wrong with Tommy Craig??;

Assistant Reserve Team Coach: Young up-and-coming coach (wouldn't cost much, surely?);

Academy Director: To link up with D of F - Brian Klug or someone, the guy we have (can't remember name);

U19 Manager: Kenny Wharton or someone like that?;

U17 Manager:

Academy Coach: Peter Beardsley;

Academy Coach:

Academy Goalkeeping Coach: Adam Smith;

Education Manager: responsible for academy, reporting to academy director;

Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Roddy MacDonald;

Reserve Team Doctor:

Rehabilitation Doctor: To work with the Crocks (full time job!!);

Physios: At least 3 to go round + Derek Wright (for amusement value);

Masseurs: Again, at least 3 to go round, preferably 4 like Chelsea;

Chief Scout: to report to D of F, liase with first team manager;

European Scout: Someone like Comolli from his time at Arsenal;

Scouts: An entire, integrated network, not Terry fucking Mac;

Youth Scouts: to search for the N'Zogbia's and Rossi's (£200k = steal);

Video Analysts / Prozone Experts.

Might seem like a lot of people, but i've looked at the structure of the top clubs i.e. Chelsea, Man Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich etc. and that's how it looks...  I really think that if we'd invested a little bit of the money from the fabled £200m that Sir John was bitchin' about into the non-playing side, we'd be seeing the benefits today...  Any thoughts?

Someone who has good contacts and can set up a world class scouting and recruitment network i.e. Arsenal, Spurs; someone who can (in conjuntion with academy director) manage the academy and coordinate integration with first team; someone who can restructure the coaching staff in-line with current practice i.e. video analysis, specialist coaches etc. as favoured by Mourinho, Benitez etc.; someone who can liase with the manager as to potential targets and research their background so that we don't fuck up as per Luque (how difficult can it be ffs) but bring in the N'Zogbia's.  We are sooo far behind the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and even Spurs in this regard (let alone the first team!!!) that it makes me very fucking angry.  Fred, you're a businessman ffs, it's called 'benchmarking' i.e. following examples of good practice. Basic fucking stuff.  It makes good business sense to invest in the future.  How much are Spurs worth now compared to when Glenn Hoddle was in charge?

I totally agree with Martin Jol.  Like it or not, Robert Huth had a point when he said that the smoggies are more 'progressive' than us and the likes of Spurs and Liverpool have certainly benefitted immeasurably from a more holistic, progressive and modern leadership.  We have on our hands here an international brand, a PLC seeking to compete in the international marketplace and so this insular 'gotta be a geordie' bullshit simply won't do...  Why the f*ck did we let Martin O'Neill get away from us??? MO'N and a quality D of F and we'd be fucking laughing!

Comolli, or someone like Frank Arnesen or Houllier (or even a f*cking Sir Bobby at this stage) would afford us a chance to set up some progressive scouting and recruitment drives a la Spurs and be at the races when it comes to signing up young foreign talent (a few more N'Zogbia's and a few less Luque's PLEASE!!!).  Who do we have scouting for us at present? Terry Mac and David Mills plus a few other goons.  When it came to buying a new striker (ffs, we'd known we'd need one for long enough) why the f*ck did Roeder feel he had to check on Kuyt so many times and so last minute.  I look at the likes of Arsenal (Toure for £200k for f*ck sake) and Spurs and weep.  We're supposed to be a top club, surely we have an extensive dossier of info on potential targets in each position???  Why the hell not??  The relative success of Bolton (Big Sam has 21 full time assistant technical staff i.e video analysts, masseurs etc.) and Wigan should make us all really pissed off.

Don't forget though that we had a D of F under Sir Bobby by the name of Gordon Milne and the success of that was debatable (one of Bob's old mates, did the paperwork etc.) and we shouldn't even entertain the idea of some twat like Howard Wilkinson or David Pleat bleeding us dry.  This is obviously a commercial decision and Fred want's someone in who won't "rock the boat".  I think we can all agree that that's exectly what NUFC needs!!!

Fred, f*ck off, or make some major changes to how you run OUR club.  The fans will NOT accept this shite for much longer!

Quotes attributed to Sir John in the Chronicle this afternoon:

"We have also got to look at ourselves and may appoint a director of football to take some pressure off the manager and make sure we take advantage of modern technology."

I have to say, it's about time.  This would be a major step forward for this football club and would free up Glenn to do what he does best and coach the first team.  I would personally favour a continental style D of F like Comolli although I expect Fred would prefer and Englishman (Geordie).  Your thoughts please.