It is not Bloom, Barber or even Burke...... It is FFP

[father_and_son]

What I meant was tough from his perspective. If the stories are to believed then he quit because he could not get what he wanted in the transfer market and had to work under tight financial constraints. I agree with your positive comments about Oscar I think he's great and did a great job within the financial restraints.

I am however disappointed that rather than try and forge ahead despite our situation he chose to leave. Of course I write this without knowing what it was that OG wanted and what TB had said was going to happen next season.

Given that I consider both Oscar and Tony to be decent men I find it sad they could not find some middle ground from which they could move forward.

Completely agree. Thought Garcia was better than just walking away from a "difficult" job of convincing TB to give him more control, when he's already accomplished the "bloody nightmare" job of getting us to the play-offs this season!

 

[Lethargic]

This, it's how you use it, not how much you have. If we are going to waste ours away on toot like Obika and Lita then that's our own fault. We need a manager that accepts the restraints and understands it's a building programme. Other clubs have shown it can be done, we need to do the same.

Agreed although FFP is a huge millstone around our necks judging on the comments in the Argus (I will assume they are correct) it is more about how and who we target as signings. At the end of the day the manager/coach must have the final say so on playing staff.

 

[Giraffe]

At the risk of raising hackles in a few quarters, here's a certain Uruguayan speaking to The Independent last April.

"People think it [Financial Fair Play] will make teams more equal, but it will make things worse. Ten teams will be spending fortunes over three years of parachute payments and 10 teams will be under Financial Fair Play rules. So there will be two Championships: the ones that have been in the Premier League, and the rest. So you’ll have to be unbelievable – very smart at recruitment, players playing at their best, lucky with injuries, and then be a good team on the pitch."

Somehow Oscar got us to sixth place without many players playing at their best, and without any luck as regards injuries, so he deserved our greatest respect and thanks for that. But the phrase that jumps out at me is "very smart at recruitment" - and that's where we fell down. While we wait for our new training facilities to churn out some Wilfried Zahas and Nathaniel Clynes, we have to be even better at unearthing value.

"Smart" was finding Spanish Dave and persuading Vicente to come over, recognising that Bridge and Upson could be major contributors at this level, spotting Solly March and getting in Rohan Ince. But the opposite applies to some of our other acquisitions - Obika just filled a shirt and a space on the bench. We might as well have put Ernest in the number 22 jersey. Due diligence doesn't seem to have been done on Kemy, whom Oscar pretty quickly decided wasn't worth the effort. And getting the right player for your team pattern matters. CMS was successful in a system completely unlike ours, but we have simply refused to play to his strengths. And look how well Sam Vokes has done playing with another striker at Burnley.

Since we are at the wrong end of the FFP restrictions, we can't afford to waste any of our playing budget. And that certainly means we don't bring in players that our next head coach doesn't know and doesn't want.

Very good post. We need appoint a manager who we have enough confidence to recruit the players he wants within the budget he is given. Gus definitely had an x factor about him that made it easier to recruit a player. I see no need for David Burke's role at all if you have faith in the manager.

 

[Gritt23]

Given that I consider both Oscar and Tony to be decent men I find it sad they could not find some middle ground from which they could move forward.

Trouble is, throughout their time with us, I considered :

Gus and Tony, good men.
Dick Knight and Tony, good men.
Charlie and Tony, good men.
Oscar and Tony, good men.

All have ended on a sour note. I find the pattern worrying.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I'm suspending all judgment until I see whether the FA have the b4lls to implement FFP fines. If they don't then the Albion are left looking foolish for not overspending, to some degree. If the FA DO institute fines, expect them to be suspended until a protracted legal appeal is over... and the club concerned have bought their way into the Premiership.

It's got the potential to be a huge mess, but also to be hugely beneficial to a club like ours. It just depends on the testes.

Like I said - judgment reserved for the moment.

We won't look foolish because of FFP because even without that we wouldn't be over spending. The mantra is one of having a sustainable football club and business into the future and it is over spending that will prevent that. You run a successful business by having more income than outgoings and that has bugger all to do with FFP and more to do with having a sustainable business model.

 

[CheeseRolls]

At the risk of raising hackles in a few quarters, here's a certain Uruguayan speaking to The Independent last April.

"People think it [Financial Fair Play] will make teams more equal, but it will make things worse. Ten teams will be spending fortunes over three years of parachute payments and 10 teams will be under Financial Fair Play rules. So there will be two Championships: the ones that have been in the Premier League, and the rest. So you’ll have to be unbelievable – very smart at recruitment, players playing at their best, lucky with injuries, and then be a good team on the pitch."

Somehow Oscar got us to sixth place without many players playing at their best, and without any luck as regards injuries, so he deserved our greatest respect and thanks for that. But the phrase that jumps out at me is "very smart at recruitment" - and that's where we fell down. While we wait for our new training facilities to churn out some Wilfried Zahas and Nathaniel Clynes, we have to be even better at unearthing value.

"Smart" was finding Spanish Dave and persuading Vicente to come over, recognising that Bridge and Upson could be major contributors at this level, spotting Solly March and getting in Rohan Ince. But the opposite applies to some of our other acquisitions - Obika just filled a shirt and a space on the bench. We might as well have put Ernest in the number 22 jersey. Due diligence doesn't seem to have been done on Kemy, whom Oscar pretty quickly decided wasn't worth the effort. And getting the right player for your team pattern matters. CMS was successful in a system completely unlike ours, but we have simply refused to play to his strengths. And look how well Sam Vokes has done playing with another striker at Burnley.

Since we are at the wrong end of the FFP restrictions, we can't afford to waste any of our playing budget. And that certainly means we don't bring in players that our next head coach doesn't know and doesn't want.

I don't think that FFP is a reason for failure and incidentally I don't believe that 4th and 6th in the Championship is anything like failure. However FFP is a big obstacle to overcome and it is only possible with everyone at the club pulling in the same direction. If OG felt that this was not the case, it is probably as well for everyone, that he has decided to go now, rather than soldiering on hoping that things will improve. We don't need a witch hunt, but the club needs to listen very carefully to the criticisms laid at their door and react accordingly. Something as simple as speeding up the decision process, for signing a new player, may be the sort of thing that can make a major difference, in supporting the next Manager/Head Coach.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Very good post. We need appoint a manager who we have enough confidence to recruit the players he wants within the budget he is given. Gus definitely had an x factor about him that made it easier to recruit a player. I see no need for David Burke's role at all if you have faith in the manager.

I'm actually in favour of a structure that includes a director of football, general manager, or whatever title he/she has, but the role has to be very clearly defined, their duties limited, and - obviously - it has to be the right person.

In theory this person provides the continuity if the manager/head coach leaves, setting the footballing tone and agenda and ensuring that there is a shared footballing vision between the youth set-up, development squad and first team that does not change if a new head coach comes in. He should be constantly looking for promising coaches who fit our vision, just in case a head coach or manager walks/gets the sack/falls under a bus.

In many ways it should be the most important role in the club. By all means let that person handle contract negotiations and extensions, but it NEVER seems to work in this country if he/she is also responsible for recruitment with no (or little) input from the coach who has to work with the players the DoF signs. Tottenham and Sunderland provide very clear examples of what can go wrong when that happens.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I agree with the OP with regard to the unfairness of FFP. But I still think both managers left because of the recruitment system and policy that is headed by Burke. Grabban was signing, despite FFP, yet Burke managed to fudge the transfer. Conway was ready to sign but the contract BHAFC offered was only to the end of season. Burke is on record saying he wants players wages down and it looks like he negotiates down as well. Also I thought his comments were off putting to the current team. I mean if your out of contract and Burkes saying this stuff about wages reducing, it's not very encouraging.
PLR my ass!