[Albion] Paul Barber: The Transfer Window

[jezzer]

The only shame about Barbers comments is it's clear some of the more ridiculous comments on here and elsewhere from the brain-dead JCLs have hit home, when a thicker skin is going to be required - all clubs have dickhead fans and since we've been at the Amex the percentage has seemingly increased exponentially and now we are in the prem the social media frenzy is in full swing and enters overdrive in the transfer windows/ deadlines - they're just gonna have to rise above it.

 

[Taybha]

Have I missed something here? What's all this about sitting down with PB over a beer? Are we all invited? Mine's a cider, please.

It will be a select hand picked group of NSC lickers and their wags , no doubt it will end in tears when two of the wags realise they've actually been online dating with the same 300+ loyalty point licker .

 

[Murray 17]

It's nice of PB to offer to meet some fans.

However, as he hasn't admitted to making any mistakes, or suggested that the club would do anything different next time, what's the point?

Probably just as significant is it's too late, the damage has been done. If, in 10 years' time, we're a mid-table Championship side, we'll look back on this period saying, "remember when we finally reached the PL, after all those years of trying, and we didn't sign a striker in 4.5 months ? "

 

[Audax]

I couldn't disagree more.

I certainly don't want Barbers emails being filtered and doctored by a "communications expert" (whatever that is) to smooth over anything that would have our resident snowflakes up in arms, thanks very much. I'd much rather read EXACTLY what he has to say, word for word, warts and all, without it being bathed in soft-focus lighting to stop my bottom lip from wobbling when I'm reading it.

Barber is an intelligent, literate and articulate writer who is perfectly capable of getting across his message without some kind of yoghurt-knitting, elbow-patched Fanshaw type character dumbing it down and smoothing it over before it goes out to the masses. I'll have it from the horses mouth, thanks.

That's cool. I quite like the warts-and-all as well. The problem with that, though, is it can actually get in the way of engaging effectively with the broadest possible audience. This thread being a perfect example of that. Sometimes it's better to put some make up on the warts so you can get some of the detractors to convert from destructive criticism to constructive criticism. Or even, in some cases, to convert them from posting stuff that's only use is in determining that the author is angry to posting stuff that actually tells the club *why* they are angry (via constructive criticism).

 

[jezzer]

Easy 10 as always so bang on - what next? A club spin doctor? No thanks.

 

[WhingForPresident]

[MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] would PB be up for a curry and drinkies? thx hun xx

 

[Triggaaar]

Have I missed something here? What's all this about sitting down with PB over a beer? Are we all invited? Mine's a cider, please.

Just 5 of us I think. It's quite simple, be a Brighton fan and join PB for a beer. You seem to have failed those requirements though.

 

[LlcoolJ]

It will be a select hand picked group of NSC lickers and their wags , no doubt it will end in tears when two of the wags realise they've actually been online dating with the same 300+ loyalty point licker .

That gif is brilliant. Not sure what I like best. The nonchalant attempt to block the cup, followed by tidying of hair? The presumably innocent bird getting hit by the drink and then the cup on rebound as she tries to remove herself from the situation? Or maybe best, the fact that the angry bint doing the drink luzzing appears to have soaked her own phone? So much in two seconds.

 

[Easy 10]

That's cool. I quite like the warts-and-all as well. The problem with that, though, is it can actually get in the way of engaging effectively with the broadest possible audience. This thread being a perfect example of that. Sometimes it's better to put some make up on the warts so you can get some of the detractors to convert from destructive criticism to constructive criticism. Or even, in some cases, to convert them from posting stuff that's only use is in determining that the author is angry to posting stuff that actually tells the club *why* they are angry (via constructive criticism).

Engaging with the keyboard warriors and WUM's on here will achieve nothing, he's never going to get the detractors to convert because they'll never climb down from their entrenched views. I've been around here long enough to know that much. I'm of the view that there really wasn't much to add after Tony Blooms open letter, but Barber clearly had an itch to scratch and so felt moved to justify the clubs failure and put his side of it. Which, like I say, I think was not really needed. But having said that, I'd STILL rather read exactly what he had to say than see a sugar-coated, edited version of his thoughts, courtesy of some faceless "guru" at the club.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I see where you're coming from, but I think that's wide of the mark. I think the reality is somewhere far closer to the heart and the intention being in the right place, but the ability to put the intention into written words just isn't up to scratch. His presentation (in the OP in particular, but I've noted it before) is very much in CEO-language. It's all top-level notation format, and at times quite blunt. That's fine for internal use within the club, but far too easy for the public to misinterpret.

Seriously: he could hand that exact copy to a communications expert, along with a verbal explanation of what he wants to get across, and the communications expert would then turn it into something that *actually* says what he wants to say in language that's fine-tuned for us, not the board or staff at the club.

I'm personally of the opinion that his only mistake here is in writing to us directly, without the communications expert filtering the words. Given I have on many occasions in the past taken on the role of wordsmithing for CEOs, I'm quite happy to cut him some slack here: As I said yesterday, carefully reading between the lines and I'll now add "ignoring the obvious clanger" (it's not that he mentioned "naive" and "spiteful" fan comments itself that's a problem, rather how he mentioned them) can result in a much better understanding of his intent.

I'd rather he doesn't take any time out to go and learn expert communications skills. His time is far better spent running the club. Instead, he either needs to hire a communications expert and/or make better use of the ones the club already has. And when I talk about communications expert, I'm not talking about a "PR specialist". I'm talking about a "Community Manager" (but not a Social Media expert, although that'd be a good start - I'm talking good old-fashioned computer games industry community people). If they don't have one, they should get one, and that person should be empowered to come here and talk to the fans on this board directly, on a day-to-day basis.

I do understand what your saying.

I believe there was a buffer man between Bamber and Mullery, wasn't that Harry Bloom?

Like you said it needs someone between Barber and the fans, i think he is guilty of trying to do the lot.

 

[Audax]

However, as he hasn't admitted to making any mistakes, or suggested that the club would do anything different next time, what's the point?

He's not explicitly admitted to any mistakes, but he's also not explicitly denied making mistakes either. For me, a fair interpretation actually falls somewhere in the middle. He's spent some lines trying to explain why transfers can (and have in many cases for us this window) fail to get across the line through no fault of the club's. Important here for all of us to *not* interpret that as a denial that mistakes were made (I think some here have, and that's an incorrect assumption). He's also made clear that the club will be looking to analyse everything they did during the window just finished, with a view to doing better next time around. That's an implicit admission that mistakes *may* have been made.

 

[Commander]

Anyone else remember the days when football was just something you did on a Saturday? Now it's all transfers, loyalty points expensive home tickets that have to booked weeks in advance, arguments because an already millionaire footballer didn't sign to earn more millions. I love football but seems the fun is getting sucked out of the game in this league.

I think people just take it too seriously these days. It is still possible to buy a ticket, turn up on a Saturday, have a few beers and groan about the Albion losing again, then go home to real life and forget about it.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

- the recruitment team – scouts, analysts, coaches, our manager – looked at thousands of players in the past year or more; relatively few strikers are ever available and even fewer matched our specific brief.

So they dont just watch YouTube highlights like the rest of us?
Maybe thats where it all went wrong, coz we all know thats the way to scout a striker....

 

[Murray 17]

He's not explicitly admitted to any mistakes, but he's also not explicitly denied making mistakes either. For me, a fair interpretation actually falls somewhere in the middle. He's spent some lines trying to explain why transfers can (and have in many cases for us this window) fail to get across the line through no fault of the club's. Important here for all of us to *not* interpret that as a denial that mistakes were made (I think some here have, and that's an incorrect assumption). He's also made clear that the club will be looking to analyse everything they did during the window just finished, with a view to doing better next time around. That's an implicit admission that mistakes *may* have been made.

Yes, he hasn't explicitly made any admissions. The professional, if you like, way the club has been run in recent years, would suggest we will never find out the results of any internal review unfortunately.

 

[Audax]

Engaging with the keyboard warriors and WUM's on here will achieve nothing, he's never going to get the detractors to convert because they'll never climb down from their entrenched views. I've been around here long enough to know that much. I'm of the view that there really wasn't much to add after Tony Blooms open letter, but Barber clearly had an itch to scratch and so felt moved to justify the clubs failure and put his side of it. Which, like I say, I think was not really needed. But having said that, I'd STILL rather read exactly what he had to say than see a sugar-coated version of his thoughts, courtesy of some faceless "guru" at the club.

And I've been a professional tasked with getting keyboard warriors and detractors to convert and climb down for enough years to know it *can* be done, and it *can* produce strong results. As such, it's worth doing. In the right time and place (just as warts-and-all often has it's place as well).

In many respects I agree that Barber's missive was unnecessary given Bloom's far better open letter. But I think I also understand why he went ahead with it.

To be fair to him, I don't think what he wrote actually needs much revision. A few words here and there to simply clarify intent, as well as avoid any unnecessary hackle-raising phrasing.

 

[Me and my Monkey]

The only shame about Barbers comments is it's clear some of the more ridiculous comments on here and elsewhere from the brain-dead JCLs have hit home, when a thicker skin is going to be required - all clubs have dickhead fans and since we've been at the Amex the percentage has seemingly increased exponentially and now we are in the prem the social media frenzy is in full swing and enters overdrive in the transfer windows/ deadlines - they're just gonna have to rise above it.

I quite agree. There has been some very undignified goings-on here on NSC. PB seems like a nice, honest, hard working chap, even though he does has a touch of the Head Master about him, spelling it out to the naughty children. I'm willing to take what he has said at face value, as I see no really convincing reason not too, although some would no doubt call me naive. If I and my team had bust a gut to try and get the best deals for the club, ultimately to be frustrated by unforeseeable events, I would be at the least disappointed at the blame and vitriol being fired in our direction. However, the beautiful thing about football is that it is accessible to all of humanity, so it's inevitable that the reaction on NSC will reflect the full diversity of human nature. It's just that NSC is such a big, noisy forum, and in my experience of life the complainers always make the most noise, without in any way being representative of the majority. As you say, maybe skins need to be thickened.

I wonder if I've earned that beer now?

 

[sydney]

And I've been a professional tasked with getting keyboard warriors and detractors to convert and climb down for enough years to know it *can* be done, and it *can* produce strong results. As such, it's worth doing. In the right time and place (just as warts-and-all often has it's place as well).

In many respects I agree that Barber's missive was unnecessary given Bloom's far better open letter. But I think I also understand why he went ahead with it.

To be fair to him, I don't think what he wrote actually needs much revision. A few words here and there to simply clarify intent, as well as avoid any unnecessary hackle-raising phrasing.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........pointless post of the week .....please can we have a game soon ...i'm going bonkers here....!!

 

[LamieRobertson]

I've said on other threads and subjects that Paul was instrumental in how good the last two seasons have been. Just as I gave him flack over the Hyypia period, so he deserves a lot of praise for turning the club fully around again. Here I think he's been a little over-sensitive.

For me (yes I'm repeating myself) we had a 5/10 window because we ended up with a weaker striker pool than last season (three instead of four, one of who is long term injured). However good the rest of the recruitment was (Ryan apart - and he may yet come good - it looks pretty decent to me) our greatest need was not only not fulfilled, we've put ourselves at a disadvantage. Replacing Akpom would have taken it up to a 7. Adding either two strikers or one REALLY good one would have made it a 9.

I don't blame Paul for any of that and I accept (largely) the reasons given on the OP for why it happened. Where I take exception is the club's insistence on trying to control the conversation. It's quite clear they don't like criticism even if it's justified. It's also quite clear, however, that the tone and misguided nature of some of that criticism is what makes the people it's aimed at prickly. It would annoy me too.

I see no value at all in a face to face discussion about our summer window business. It's over and done and it's time to get behind the players we do have and go back to making the Amex one of the best atmosphere's in the PL, like it was against City. If the discussion were to include how the club views social media and discussion of it's affairs on the internet and print, then of course I'd be interested

Totally agree with that last paragraph..but it's a pity some can't let go and are happy to continue sniping at every opportunity ..as I said right at the beginning of the thread ..rock on Saturday when we get back to watching a game of football

 

[Me and my Monkey]

Just 5 of us I think. It's quite simple, be a Brighton fan and join PB for a beer. You seem to have failed those requirements though.

I could maybe force down a beer. Room for a sixth?

 

[Weststander]

I think people just take it too seriously these days. It is still possible to buy a ticket, turn up on a Saturday, have a few beers and groan about the Albion losing again, then go home to real life and forget about it.

10,000's still do that. NSC and Facebook football groups comprise a niche who love chatting and bickering about football. On transfer deadline evening I spotted 2,050 viewing NSC at one point. Although only one forum (obviously the best), that's just 1 in 13 of Amex home seats.

Other supporters and fans can take it or leave it between matches.