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The single most important attribute


Dave
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Now I know what we're all hoping for is a new owner that miraculously ticks all of the following boxes but let's not kid ourselves; it's not going to happen. I know they're all vital in their own way which of the following do you feel is singularly most important in the wake of the disaster that has been Ashley's tenure?

 

Ambition

Pretty obvious this one - the ambition to make NUFC a Premier League club capable of challenging in the top half of the table and beyond. Shepherd for all his faults most certainly had this in abundance and its widely believed Ashley did not. We need someone who wants us up there and is willing to put the graft and money in to at least try and achieve it.

 

Communication

The PR whilst Ashley has been owner has been laughable. Contradicting statements, things being leaked to the press rather than coming out officially, the utter silence during the Keegan debacle etc etc. Basically we were treated like Sports Direct customers and I'm sorry but football supporters are not the same. They can't walk out and go elsewhere (well, unless your name is Lee Stewart). We need someone who keeps the fans in the loop which leads me on to...

 

Honesty

If we're skint as fuck, be honest about it. Don't try and fob us off with hints of 'wow' signings and ridiculous notions of challenging for EVERYTHING in a couple of years. I may be speaking for myself here but had Ashley said from day one that we needed a few years consolidating down the lower reaches of the league then I'd have been much more understanding in the long run. As it happened we got mixed messages with the players initially signed on huge wages followed by the appointment of Keegan who always liked spending money. We need someone who isn't afraid to be up front and tell us where cut backs have to be made.

 

Decisiveness

The dithering over managerial situations and transfer targets fucked us up royally this season. Shearer was given a pathetically short amount of time to save our status and predictably it wasn't enough. I'm not sure any manager could have turned things around. We need someone who recognises that in football a week is a long, long time.

 

Appointments

Don't really have to explain this. Llambias, Keegan, Kinnear, Hughton, Wise, even Shearer - all pretty fucking stupid in one way or another. The press and fans were predicting chaos from day one and so it proved. We need someone who understands how football works (and generally in this country that's in a very old-fashioned way) and makes appointments in the dugout and the boardroom accordingly.

 

Cash

Ashley was tight as fuck. I don't care how bad the finances were, he gambled on us staying up whilst making a profit most significantly in January and lost. How's that loss feeling now Mike? £20m investment in January < £100m loss in the summer... We need someone with a few quid behind them who isn't afraid to speculate to accumulate.

 

Plans

The amount of knee-jerking done by Ashley this season has been hilarious when you sit back and think about it. The ill-fated system he implemented then failed to back when the ridiculously unsuitable manager left. The selling/not selling/selling of the club. Make your fucking mind up! We need someone with balls who will make some plans and bloody stick to them through thick and thin.

 

Other

You tell me.

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Aye, if you could scrap 'decision making', it'd probably make it a more interesting sorta poll.

 

So, in that case... sadly - i'd have to say cash. You need it to merely survive in today's football.

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Aye, if you could scrap 'decision making', it'd probably make it a more interesting sorta poll.

 

So, in that case... sadly - i'd have to say cash. You need it to merely survive in today's football.

 

Done.

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Knowledge of the game at boardroom level, it doesn't come easy and is needed as much as anything.

 

You can work your way at it but in the end your decisions, your ambition, your communication, honesty and appointment making will all be down to the experience you have in football, namely in the boardroom.

 

If a consortium takes over i hope they appoint a chairman that's in the game or just left and has done it in this Prem and knows what they are doing.

 

Knowledge/experience, whichever way you look at it, that's the key for me, no more cowboys having a pop, lets get a real Chairman in such as Rick Parry or David Dein (not saying its the right guy but that kind of experience and current position)

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Without cash, you can't implement any of the other attributes (aside from honesty and communication) - for whatever reason. Aye you can make plans but you're severely hindered.

 

The game revolves around money now.

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another important element is relationship with your manager and the level of mutual trust established. keegan said his relationship with ashley was great because they never spoke, that needed to change, and Ashley should've backed his manager when he had the chance to. the system established just complicated matters, no one knew the exact limits of their job, everyone fighting for power, wise and co operating elsewhere, an unobjective lackey with no experience of football hired as boss, etc. the chairman/owner and the manager have to get their working relationship sorted and then the rest follows, you can't really do it arse-backwards.

 

We also saw Shepherd undermine Robson in a number of ways, the sale of Speed, publicly announcing it was his last season, denying him backroom infrastructure etc, which lead to SBR's eventual demise.

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Knowledge of the game at boardroom level, it doesn't come easy and is needed as much as anything.

 

You can work your way at it but in the end your decisions, your ambition, your communication, honesty and appointment making will all be down to the experience you have in football, namely in the boardroom.

 

If a consortium takes over i hope they appoint a chairman that's in the game or just left and has done it in this Prem and knows what they are doing.

 

Knowledge/experience, whichever way you look at it, that's the key for me, no more cowboys having a pop, lets get a real Chairman in such as Rick Parry or David Dein (not saying its the right guy but that kind of experience and current position)

 

:nods:

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Sensible planning is a very important attribute but it's no good planning for the future if you have no balance with the short-term as it's just words otherwise, you have to take action to actually be able to get there first. This is what ultimately took us down in the end as like it's been said, once his "plan" went balls up he jumped from one crazy idea to the next in the hope that it would give us some breathing space and we'd then forget everything that had gone on.

 

Placing a person with the pull that Wise had in the system was never going to fly with a manager like Keegan who has his own mind and vision and not many others would accept it, no matter who the DOF is. The only person who should be in charge of buying players is the manager, bottom line because they have to take the heat if it doesn't work out and ultimately lose their job.

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Burnley didn't have money, nor Swansea or Reading or Hull. None of the chairman were planning or even thinking of getting promoted either so it wasn't ambition.

 

Choosing a wise, ambitious manager was the most important thing.

 

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Burnley didn't have money, nor Swansea or Reading or Hull. None of the chairman were planning or even thinking of getting promoted either so it wasn't ambition.

 

Choosing a wise, ambitious manager was the most important thing.

 

 

How did you deduce that?

 

I agree that the characteristics of the manager are paramount.

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