Albion Roar - 18/04/15 with guest Paul Barber

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

It's simple. Decide who you randomly hate the most TB/SH/Burke/Jones/PB /CH and then blame him for everything that goes wrong at the club (and possibly your life too), regardless or not of whether he was here when the decision was made.

As CEO the buck stops with him. Has to. End of.

 

[Icy Gull]

First up. Paul Barber does not pick and choose who we buy, both he and Tony employ people to do that. They have to trust those charged with bringing in the players to make the right decisions. As was the case this summer, those charged with that responsibility failed and paid with their jobs, pressure is now on the new lot.

What Barber has been able to do is to clear the financial decks so that we do indeed have more money than ever to spend on players, who sadly this season have not turned out to be worth it.

There seems to be a basic misunderstanding of Barber's role at the club on this thread, which I hope is addressed on the show this evening. If it was Barber picking and choosing who we sign then I would indeed be worried.

No argument with any of that but where have I said Barber buys and sells players? I have actually asked who does these days and suggested I would be happier if the club had spent money on keeping Barnes, rather than getting excited about any additional money we might get, as he proves himself good enough to help keep Burnley up.

As TB's right hand man I'm pretty certain he will have an input into just about everything that goes on, except he is obviously totally blameless for any of this season's cock ups. He obviously really is that good as it seems he negotiates player deals that bring in money but none that involve spending it poorly.

 

[hart's shirt]

We are delighted to welcome REMF team manager Paul Barber

Will there be a contract offer with the Albion for any of the REMF team who manage to score?

 

[Hotchilidog]

True. But it all happened on his watch and as CEO the buck stopped with him, which ended in them getting the sack rightly. So at best, as a paying customer, Im looking at the CEO to offer a full and frank apology for the absolue cluster**** of the summer and a guarantee it wont happen again.

That aside he WOULD have been in charge of the "we are keeping Sami mandate" and as a result this is probably the daftest decision since letting GM sign for that lot up the road for an extra 500 quid a week. So I MUST know. Why? Why did we keep him for so long unless they ABSOLUTELY KNEW 100% he would resign thus waiving compensation.

Sami to this day could (contractually) still be in charge waiting the sack, we all know we would be below Blackpool in the table if that was the case and planning L1 football.

As regards to players he has to trust the judgement of those employed to make those decisions and judge them accordingly, which he has done.

As for Sami, well I agree, he should have been fired. However maybe the club did have an idea that he would resign. If they did I vey much doubt they would say publicly. The most important thing for me is that Sami is gone. A lot of public statements by football clubs are politics and may not necessarily reflect conversations behind the scenes.

I am much more concerned with whether we have learnt any lessons from last summer. Any repeat of the mistakes will mean another missed opportunity at going for the playoffs. I don't give a crap about how much we spend. I am however very much concerned that whatever is spent is spent on our OWN players who can be expected to make a good contribution to the side.

 

[Hotchilidog]

No argument with any of that but where have I said Barber buys and sells players? I have actually asked who does these days and suggested I would be happier if the club had spent money on keeping Barnes, rather than getting excited about any additional money we might get, as he proves himself good enough to help keep Burnley up.

As TB's right hand man I'm pretty certain he will have an input into just about everything that goes on, except he is obviously totally blameless for any of this season's cock ups. He obviously really is that good as it seems he negotiates player deals that bring in money but none that involve spending it poorly.

No argument form me re Barnes we dropped the ball there and should have done more to keep him, within reason at least. We have revamped the scouting network and hired a new head of recruitment, whose name momentarily eludes me, so there are now people in place that have to prove themselves in the transfer market. it will be the recruitment staff who spend who are responsible for the wise (or unwise) spending of our playing budget.

 

[Ernest]

Would he do the ice bucket challenge again but this time with boiling water ?

 

[WhingForPresident]

What is love?

 

[El Presidente]

As CEO the buck stops with him. Has to. End of.

Why him and not the Chairman?

 

[El Presidente]

What is love?

According to Belinda Carlisle, it's a big scary animal

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Why him and not the Chairman?

Fair point but I feel the words £200zillion pound stadium, training complex, underwriting losses etc etc coming into play.

Therefore it has to be the man that is basically paid to run BHA on the day to day by Bloom (esp as Bloom has other business interests internationally and is not always in the UK) . That man is Paul Barber. He is paid (estimated and according to some) good value at over £600k a year.

 

[El Presidente]

I don't give a crap about how much we spend.

I suspect that's because it's Tony Bloom's rather than your, money that's being spent though.

Take a look at some of the biggest signings of players in this division

McCormack £10.5 million, Fulham are below us
Brian Ruiz £10.6 million (see above)
Jordan Rhodes £8 million, Blackburn are mid table
Assombalongs £5 miillion, Forest mid table
Gary Hooper £5.5 million for Norwich, he has scored 11 this season
Ricky Van Wolfswickle £8.5 million for Norwich, scored once for them and farmed out to France

Wasting money is easy (we've done it pretty well ourselves over the years too, Liam Dickenson, Ryan Harley, James Tunnicliffe etc.), what's lacking is good decision making.

 

[El Presidente]

Fair point but I feel the words £200zillion pound stadium, training complex, underwriting losses etc etc coming into play.

Therefore it has to be the man that is basically paid to run BHA on the day to day by Bloom (esp as Bloom has other business interests internationally and is not always in the UK) . That man is Paul Barber. He is paid (estimated and according to some) good value at over £600k a year.

He negotiated the sale of Ulloa for £8.5 million, for a player who cost us £2 million only 18 months earlier. He's done well on that score and on the remit that Tony Bloom has set him.

TB appointed the manager
TB appointed David Burke

I think it is oversimplistic to blame PB for things outside of his control area, such as Gary Dicker breaking Will Hoskins' leg, and scuppering the deal to re-sign Murray.

 

[Julio]

Does he think we've lost our identity over the last two years?

I think they know we have - club realised a bit too late they had over commercialised much of the Albion experience and lost the fine balance between understanding the lifeblood of the club (the loyal fans, who are there, day in day out, irrespective of league or ground) and selling your soul to the modern football world.

The move from the anodyne "one club..." slogan to "together" seems tacit acknowledgement the fans haven't been on the bus recently. Any concerns from fans seem to be dismissed with disdain, and it very much feels like the message is we're the experts, we know what we're doing, you've never had it so good - stop moaning and buy more. Well, if we hadn't have turned the noise levels up against Sammi at the Millwall game (for which club and press criticised fans) chances are it would be League 1 next season.

It feels we can't identify with those running the club and we can't identify with the team (half loans, most unlikely to be around much longer).

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Any chance you could have [MENTION=743]Henfield One[/MENTION] or [MENTION=6]Lord Bracknell[/MENTION] on at the same time?

It would be VERY interesting to hear a debate between Barber and one of those who are able to eloquently present their concerns about the direction of the club.

This. Get it all out in the open. Lance the boil.

 

[Hotchilidog]

I suspect that's because it's Tony Bloom's rather than your, money that's being spent though.

Take a look at some of the biggest signings of players in this division

McCormack £10.5 million, Fulham are below us
Brian Ruiz £10.6 million (see above)
Jordan Rhodes £8 million, Blackburn are mid table
Assombalongs £5 miillion, Forest mid table
Gary Hooper £5.5 million for Norwich, he has scored 11 this season
Ricky Van Wolfswickle £8.5 million for Norwich, scored once for them and farmed out to France

Wasting money is easy (we've done it pretty well ourselves over the years too, Liam Dickenson, Ryan Harley, James Tunnicliffe etc.), what's lacking is good decision making.

Indeed I do not give a crap whether we spend or a lot (which is no guarantee of success) or a little. I too think people are fixated on the wrong thing.

 

[El Presidente]

Indeed I do not give a crap whether we spend or a lot (which is no guarantee of success) or a little. I too think people are fixated on the wrong thing.

Are you saying SIZE DOESN'T MATTER?

 

[Easy 10]

3, what is the one area on the pitch that you think needs improvement?

That bit in the north-east corner is looking a bit threadbare of late.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I would like know what is Paul Barber's favourite film ? You can judge a lot about someone by asking this

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Are you saying SIZE DOESN'T MATTER?

It does in the films you watch EP !

 

[El Presidente]

It does in the films you watch EP !

I think you will find the opposite is true US.

The phrase "Twelve inches long but I don't use it as a ruler" comes to mind