Bloom speaks...

[Kalimantan Gull]

Well, well, well.

That puts my discussion with [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION] this morning in to a little more focus. REALLY good to see TB rubbishing that Naylor story. I had been worrying that because they hadn't that there was a deal of substance to it. Clearly there isn't. This is what I was really on about this morning, that there was a story out there that Garcia had wanted to bring in his own players that hadn't been smacked down. It has now.

The rest of it is encouraging. I'm GLAD he's pissed off with Oscar. I'm GLAD he comes over as a fan, albeit an incredibly intelligent one. The short list and the fact we are actively monitoring players but leaving the actual recruitment till after the new man comes in is also encouraging. There are definite signs of 'lessons learned' when it comes to recruiting a first team boss.

The Grabban thing still intrigues me. While we lost out to a higher bid the time gap between the medical and Bournemouth's increased bid is not really mentioned. I'm still amazed the Bournemouth have a wage structure that allows them to do that.

Overall very encouraging though. I and many others will be feeling a lot better than we did this time yesterday and, yes, that IS important.

UTA

How did he rubbish it? Rubbishing it would have been saying that there were no problems with the working relationship or recruitment. Instead he backed up the substance of the Argus story - there were disagreements over recruitment, issues with the Grabban transfer, Garcia did put his list of players forward that weren't signed - what we have now is Blooms side of the story.

 

[TSB]

Hmm, interesting that he said this, but he then proceeded to explain that there was a list, but the players were not available, so in a way it was sort of true.

What we don't know is how realistic the list was.

He actually said "Yeah that's not true at all" to the suggestion that Oscar had a "BIG" list.
He went on to say that there were a few Oscar targets that we were unable to get.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Poyet bad, Oscar good - brilliant, in fact. Flair. Young Spanish players. we'll definitely go up now.

Oh wait, Oscar bad. Next bloke ...

Yes - but you are a journalist with contacts and trained eyes and ears. Other supporters like me - support the manager when he is with us, then if we get to hear less than impressive things after the event - because that is when things come out - which are negative our perceptions change. I don't believe Wozza is part of any Club effort to discredit Oscar - but that is interesting information from someone who I trust.

If it was all sweetness and light he would not have gone, and I doubt all the problems were on either one side or the other.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

He's starting to look more and more like a panic appointment made last summer: plainly out of his depth and in a rather bigger job than he realized.

We did well this year to overcome the injury list to get into the play-offs. Give the man some credit for that.

 

[algie]

I always enjoy listening to Blooms interviews. He has that calming and reassurance tone about him.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Poor Old Oscar. Loved by all the fans one minute, and as soon as he's out the door, the trashing starts. Anyone would think there's a deliberate campaign going to change fan perceptions? Surely not!

I'm pleased Oscar has gone but the PR "anti" campaign is hilarious

The vast difference between Barber's lengthy blathering on - truly nothing more than a flimsy "leave it to me Tony, I'll butter them up for you, don't you worry" effort and, I'd say, a misjudged one - and the questions that Bloom has actually gone a long way towards answering while maintaining a good level of professionalism and courtesy should simply be plainly obvious to anyone with both eyes and a reasonable degree of judgement.

 

[chaileyjem]

I think everyone agrees and so does TB in that interview that we had a tough Jan window. But the idea that Conway/Grabban for example would have made any difference and we should have broken our wage structure to do it, is a moot one . We had no chance by Feb of finishing in the top 2 and made the Top 6 as it turns out anyway .

Our Derby defeat was primarily down to bad luck , 3 injured defenders and poor finishing/great goalkeeping (pick) from Ulloa who would have played regardless. And CMS was fit by then anyway.

Obika/Rodriguez didn't work out but it didn't really matter as they didn't have to play.

the key signing (Stephens) did help us into playoffs (some great performances, the goals against Blackburn and Blackpool) and perhaps might have changed things in the first leg at least. If he too hadn't been injured.?



And Lingard (Millwall, Yeovil, Charlton) also played his part.

And who thought the Albion would end the season with 3 current England u21 players in their team (March, lingard, JFC) and dunk ex eng u21.

Would Conway/Grabban or others have made much of a difference ?

That said ask me in August if we haven't made 5 or 6 promising new signings. And Clearly several are already lined up. Then and only then will I really will be worried.

 

[Eeyore]

I'll say it once again, because it feels so good to say it. I am proud that I support a club who's owner is a proud supporter himself and, whatever he does, whether successful or not, is done with what he believes is the clubs best interests at heart. I'm also relieved, having supported the club through those dark days of the 90s.

 

[chaileyjem]

Also fine interview by Johnny Cantor and good scoop by Radio Sussex to land First TB interview.

(I work for BBC - declared interest)

 

[Mackenzie]

Bloom always speaks well. Seems to me Oscar needs to up his communication skills if he wants to carry on managing.

 

[Machiavelli]

Maybe it was Oscar neither being in his office nor answering his phone on transfer deadline day.

That would be "difficult to communicate with" I imagine.

Think you're right here -- although you obviously are provided with a fair bit of information. Tony was quite clear in the interview that Oscar's English was improving, and insisted that he always recognised that the first year would be difficult in terms of adjustment -- language, the Championship, etc -- but his appointment was for the longer term.
This post, however, does put one of your posts from yesterday into perspective, and that relates to communicating with players.

 

[The Camel]

I will probably get slammed for this but;

I didn’t warm to the interview tbh and he sort of shifted all the blame onto Oscar instead of accepting that some bad decisions were made by the club at key moments.


It could be debated that the club should have gone an extra yard with Grabban and Conway and it had a massive knock on effect by missing out. For starters we may have won a playoff place weeks before the end of the season, thus giving Upson and Greer a few games off to recover as Greer was also carrying an injury in the Derby game. We may not have won promotion but we could have got to Wembley, and once you are there anything can happen.


Getting Conway on loan would not have been a massive commitment for a few months and we are seeing now that Cardiff have offered £3m for Grabban, so it would have still been very good business even if we sold him. There is nothing wrong with making wrong decisions but they were sliding door moments which didn’t give Oscar any confidence, and left him with more questions than answers about what we really wanted. Both of these players had storming ends to their season.

Oscar was brought here because he is quiet and not media hungry, exactly what Bloom needed last year so he cannot have it both ways.

Still, it’s his club, money and decisions but nobody is perfect, I just wish he had accepted that the club played a part in Oscar wanting to leave as it would have felt more honest.

If you've got a wage structure, you have to stick to it.

If the players find out Player X is being paid £2000 per week more than them, it gives them incentive to ask for more than the upper limit when their negotiations start on a new contract.

It also breeds disharmony and jealousy.

No player should be allowed to hold the club to ransom and succeed.

Ever.

 

[symyjym]

Wow, you've changed. A year ago your posts read like you were a member of Bloom's inner sanctum!

Well clearly I am a free thinker then.

Gus had good backing over the years but said he wanted to leave in March just a few months after we secured the Ulloa signing. At the time when he was suspended I even thought TB would have him back. That said the email he sent to all the staff and went public was not a professional action.

As it stands the gross misconducts have remained a secret and one that Gus could clear up as there is no pending appeal or court action. It could be that he would find it too embarrassing? Or we can find out that it was unjustified? We do not know, but the ball is in his court on this one.

I will look at everything on its own merit and form an opinion but Oscar made it clear about leaving and did the right thing by offering his resignation and I do not blame him. Gus on the other hand made a song and dance about it instead of doing the same honourable thing.

Gus would have wanted much more investment than Bloom could reasonably afford, but even he may be surprised at how little Oscar got.

 

[elwheelio]

Maybe it was Oscar neither being in his office nor answering his phone on transfer deadline day.

That would be "difficult to communicate with" I imagine.

I'm told Oscar would only talk through a sock-puppet called "Mr Fingers"

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

I can't see the Spanish guys staying. Depends on the new manager & whether he tends to bring his own team with him, but I'd imagine there could be some contracts being paid up.

I imagine they will stay on the payroll until Oscar gets another appointment, then they will go with him.
Depends if we appoint a new manager, who doesn't want them and we pay they off, or Oscar gets a post and they resign to go with him.
So if Oscar gets his new job first, it saves us money.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Yes - but you are a journalist with contacts and trained eyes and ears. Other supporters like me - support the manager when he is with us, then if we get to hear less than impressive things after the event - because that is when things come out - which are negative our perceptions change. I don't believe Wozza is part of any Club effort to discredit Oscar - but that is interesting information from someone who I trust.

If it was all sweetness and light he would not have gone, and I doubt all the problems were on either one side or the other.

I may have expressed myself poorly (and it wouldn't be the first time) but I wasn't trying to make a point about any specific information here - more that there seems to be a tendency by many on here to indulge in extreme wishful thinking based on no evidence whatsoever.

A year ago, an astonishing number of people jumped aboard the Oscar bandwagon and made judgements about the sort of players he was going to sign and the type of football he was going to get us playing before he'd even picked his first Albion team - and now with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight it seems they always knew he was a wrong 'un.

I also don't think it's true to say that the media had a problem with him or found him uncommunicative. I was told by an Israeli journalist I know that Oscar always spoke in cliches and never said anything interesting, but he turned out to be much better than I'd expected - and certainly more interesting than that self-satisfied rear end Pochettino.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I will probably get slammed for this but;



Getting Conway on loan would not have been a massive commitment for a few months and we are seeing now that Cardiff have offered £3m for Grabban, so it would have still been very good business even if we sold him. There is nothing wrong with making wrong decisions but they were sliding door moments which didn’t give Oscar any confidence, and left him with more questions than answers about what we really wanted. Both of these players had storming ends to their season.

Let's hypothetically say for a minute that we didn't get Conway because Oscar himself couldn't decide on getting him back till too late. Would that change your mind?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I'm told Oscar would only talk through a sock-puppet called "Mr Fingers"

Explains the pained expressions on the face of Nathan Jones when giving an interview

 

[Mutts Nuts]

Excellent, excellent interview. Real substance to it, no ducking the tough questions and a very solid, clear explanation of his perspective on events. Good man Tony. A lot of my mojo gets restored by something like that.

Seriously, there is more bloody substance in 20 seconds of what Bloom says there than in any of those blethering emails from his underling.

Did not answer the question as to why O G left compietely ducked it , very guarded answers given on all questions asked, including stating we cannot afford a decent striker from the 3rd division

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

I heard a month ago that Tony and the board were a bit upset at Oscars laid back approach. Turning up late for training, having no input at training, and not doing any prep work on the retained/ released list, which has come out today.
Being 100% behind Oscar, I dismissed it as gossip, but put that with some of Bozza's little nuggets, and maybe all was not as well as we all assumed.