The big question: Do you trust Tony Bloom and his team with the Albion?

[devonsi]

Implicitly... who dared to dream ;-) uta

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Interesting point as I felt the same at Derby. Sadly I have to say Barber is largely instrumental in the way the club 'feels' and is perceived. I appreciate he has a job to do but his personality and approach to the task does not help him in my opinion.

I work in a Corporate bullshit. Barbers statements and manner are Corporate bullshit par excellence. This is great when you are flogging laptops or widgets but less so when talking about Inigo Calderon or 4-4-2. He is clearly learning (I don't think we have been referred to as customers for a while) but we are miles away from how Derby relate to thier fan base at this point. This is all the more bizarre as this was something that worked well when we moved into our new surroundings.

 

[happypig]

If the Question means "Do you trust Bloom, Barber and Burke" then I'm the man from Del Monte, I say "yes".

Where, in my opinion, the problem lies is that all three have different priorities;
Bloom is a fan, first and foremost, he just happens to be a very wealthy fan and has sunk a huge amount of money into the club he loves. He wants the same as all of us, success on the field and promotion to the premier league.
Barber is a money man and has been appointed to manage the business side of the club, which he seems to be doing well with; even if you don't agree with his decisions, he generally makes the right ones for the business success of the club (which in accountants terms is not the same as football success).
Burke is there to find and sign players. You could argue that he hasn't been overly successful in some of his signings but I wonder how much he is hamstrung by the finances.

Consider what I think has been a very real scenario; We sold Bridcutt and Barnes for undisclosed sums but for argument's sake lets say we got £3.5m. Oscar goes to Burke and says "We are weakened by LB and AB's sale. Go buy me replacements."
Burke goes to Barber and says "I need to spend some of that £3.5m" Barber says "Here's £1m, do your best"
Burke like the look of Lewis Grabban, Grabban likes the look of BHA but Burke has to go back to Barber and when his wages demand is revealed, the deal's off.
So we end up with Dale Stephens and David Rodríguez to replace Liam Bridcutt and Ashley Barnes. Financially, it's a positive but in footballing terms we're worse off.

If I were the manager I would find it difficult to work under these conditions and it's this that needs changing; maybe not a change of personnel but a change of role/reporting. Burke, Barber and the new manager need to report directly to Bloom and the playing budget needs to be transparent (to them if not to us).

 

[Bold Seagull]

I appreciate this may not be the full picture but it requires discussion. This ain't North Korea.

My heckles were raised as soon as you backed up the article with talk of libel. You've given your opinion, I've countered it with mine. Like you say, it ain't North Korea.

 

[solly]

Without doubt doing the best for the club, the worst crticism that could be levelled is maybe a little niave in the workings of a football club and the transfer / loan market. lets face it we would be still at Withdean without him

 

[Lenny Rider]

Basically the next manager will be the most important appointment in the club's history.

If we get it right, then all this crap will be soon forgotten, if we get the wrong man in and the results take a dip, supporters will start voting with their feet, 27,000 could soon become 22,000 until you end up with a nightmare scenario that the number of empty seats almost equal the occupied ones.

But this wont happen if we get the right man of course.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Burke, Barber and the new manager need to report directly to Bloom

They already do

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

You have to break a few eggs to make the perfect omelette. #TeamBloom

 

[Cheshire Cat]

There's been a lot of quite heated, yet remarkably civil, debate over the past 48 hours or so since the news that Oscar may have tendered his resignation broke.

Much of this has focused on the involvement that Tony Bloom and, more specifically, his management team have in first team matters, including the selection and acquisition of players.

The crux is: do you trust Tony Bloom and his management team with their stewardship of the Albion, to steer it in the right direction, accepting that where mistakes are made, lessons will be learned?

No.
They have failed to strengthen the squad when it was patently obvious last season and this that we were not good enough to get promoted, either automatically or via the play-offs. Poyet was right about the ceiling. We have banged into it hard two seasons running, and unless there is serious investment in better players, not just cheap players on loan, we will at best crash into it agai next season - or more likely be staring upwards as it recedes into the distance.
They have learned nothing.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

No.
They have failed to strengthen the squad when it was patently obvious last season and this that we were not good enough to get promoted, either automatically or via the play-offs. Poyet was right about the ceiling. We have banged into it hard two seasons running, and unless there is serious investment in better players, not just cheap players on loan, we will at best crash into it agai next season - or more likely be staring upwards as it recedes into the distance.
They have learned nothing.

Poyet was very, very wrong about the 'ceiling'.

And his ill judged comments highlighting his ignorance were not his finest hour.