Tony Bloom is totally deluded!

[London Irish]

Watching the Tony Bloom charm offensive to our different groups of fans over the past week has been a fascinating exercise in football PR and politics.

The message was slightly different in tone to the Argus readers/BBC Radio, which is the most disgruntled group the newer season ticket holders who may be voting with their feet right now - than to the SoL hardcore and the NSC regulars who follow the debates at that hardcore fan level.

The Argus stuff reflected the simplistic club PR message - stay the course, things will get better, we have the right people, a few tweaks and things will go on the upturn.

The SoL message was much more fascinating though, and obviously I'm paraphrasing slightly here. Championship wages are too high and we hope they can come down (paraphrasing: we have no idea if they will or not but bottom line is we won't pay them and hence will not compete with maybe half or a third of Champ clubs on wages). If we somehow get promoted, expect us to get relegated pretty quickly but that will be a good experience given Prem relegation payments.

The vision of Bloom's Albion is quite a downbeat one here - we are effectively a second-tier club and will likely remain so as we don't want to play the wages game. We may get promoted if things go lucky for us but that will be a blip, we will be back down again.

It's hard to avoid the view that Gus was right - there is a ceiling at the club currently and practically it means not funding a team that has a better than evens chance of getting promoted. The faithful at SoL and their counterparts on NSC won't care about this cos for them it's still a big advance. But many others who thought we could match the Southamptons and Stokes and Hulls etc with a new stadium are going to be disappointed.

 

[aolstudios]

Watching the Tony Bloom charm offensive to our different groups of fans over the past week has been a fascinating exercise in football PR and politics.

The message was slightly different in tone to the Argus readers/BBC Radio, which is the most disgruntled group the newer season ticket holders who may be voting with their feet right now - than to the SoL hardcore and the NSC regulars who follow the debates at that hardcore fan level.

The Argus stuff reflected the simplistic club PR message - stay the course, things will get better, we have the right people, a few tweaks and things will go on the upturn.

The SoL message was much more fascinating though, and obviously I'm paraphrasing slightly here. Championship wages are too high and we hope they can come down (paraphrasing: we have no idea if they will or not but bottom line is we won't pay them and hence will not compete with maybe half or a third of Champ clubs on wages). If we somehow get promoted, expect us to get relegated pretty quickly but that will be a good experience given Prem relegation payments.

The vision of Bloom's Albion is quite a downbeat one here - we are effectively a second-tier club and will likely remain so as we don't want to play the wages game. We may get promoted if things go lucky for us but that will be a blip, we will be back down again.

It's hard to avoid the view that Gus was right - there is a ceiling at the club currently and practically it means not funding a team that has a better than evens chance of getting promoted. The faithful at SoL and their counterparts on NSC won't care about this cos for them it's still a big advance. But many others who thought we could match the Southamptons and Stokes and Hulls etc with a new stadium are going to be disappointed.

Which is fine but begs the question, why are catchphrases like 'Premier League Ready' & 'One Ambition' being fired at us?

 

[GT49er]

Actually, at the end of the transfer window the general consensus on NSC was that we had a very good squad.

A general concensus that lasted only until the Leeds and Bolton games proved to be a false dawn.

 

[London Irish]

Which is fine but begs the question, why are catchphrases like 'Premier League Ready' & 'One Ambition' being fired at us?

I'm willing to bet if they could go back in time, Premeir League Ready is one phrase they would carefully erase from the records. Let's see how often Barber uses the phrase in future in his headline PR.

Remember it came at a time when Gus was wringing some money out of the board to build that 4th place team of his. Will clearly be some time before we are back to that again judging by Bloom's SoL remarks.

 

[El Presidente]

Watching the Tony Bloom charm offensive to our different groups of fans over the past week has been a fascinating exercise in football PR and politics.

The message was slightly different in tone to the Argus readers/BBC Radio, which is the most disgruntled group the newer season ticket holders who may be voting with their feet right now - than to the SoL hardcore and the NSC regulars who follow the debates at that hardcore fan level.

The Argus stuff reflected the simplistic club PR message - stay the course, things will get better, we have the right people, a few tweaks and things will go on the upturn.

The SoL message was much more fascinating though, and obviously I'm paraphrasing slightly here. Championship wages are too high and we hope they can come down (paraphrasing: we have no idea if they will or not but bottom line is we won't pay them and hence will not compete with maybe half or a third of Champ clubs on wages). If we somehow get promoted, expect us to get relegated pretty quickly but that will be a good experience given Prem relegation payments.

The vision of Bloom's Albion is quite a downbeat one here - we are effectively a second-tier club and will likely remain so as we don't want to play the wages game. We may get promoted if things go lucky for us but that will be a blip, we will be back down again.

It's hard to avoid the view that Gus was right - there is a ceiling at the club currently and practically it means not funding a team that has a better than evens chance of getting promoted. The faithful at SoL and their counterparts on NSC won't care about this cos for them it's still a big advance. But many others who thought we could match the Southamptons and Stokes and Hulls etc with a new stadium are going to be disappointed.

Agree to an extent, but the effective abolition of FFP (losing £15-16 million a year is now deemed sustainable) does allow TB to spend cash if he so desires. The current squad was put together on the basis of complying with FFP, that artificial barrier won't apply shortly.

As for being a second tier club, that's a fair assessment, we've been lower than that for over 70 years of our history.

 

[jimbob5]

Football fans are thick. They are happy to have a go at the chap who puts his money where his mouth is and is a genuine fan of the club but they still won't have a word said against the chap who was only interested in furthering his own career.

 

[Jim D]

.............

It's hard to avoid the view that Gus was right - there is a ceiling at the club currently and practically it means not funding a team that has a better than evens chance of getting promoted. The faithful at SoL and their counterparts on NSC won't care about this cos for them it's still a big advance. But many others who thought we could match the Southamptons and Stokes and Hulls etc with a new stadium are going to be disappointed.

The message I could see getting sent out was that there is no 'quick fix' and that we were in it for the long haul. This is especially the case with wages and the introduction of our new academy. We're expanding our youth development and we're trying to remain competitive in the wage demands - but we won't compete with clubs offering silly money.

We're probably all guilty of letting our expectations run wild and out of touch with reality - especially under Gus. He was able to get out but we're tied in. This seems to be a case of 'three steps forward and one step back' but if we keep doing that we'll soon be where we want to be. If we end up in League 1 next year then that's no worse than we've been previously. We may lose some of the STHs and casual fans in the short term but they'll be back when the team picks up.

Personally I'm fine with that - disappointed certainly, but not so much to even consider not renewing my ST.

 

[London Irish]

Agree to an extent, but the effective abolition of FFP (losing £15-16 million a year is now deemed sustainable) does allow TB to spend cash if he so desires. The current squad was put together on the basis of complying with FFP, that artificial barrier won't apply shortly.

As for being a second tier club, that's a fair assessment, we've been lower than that for over 70 years of our history.

Sure, arguably third tier - but this was meant to be our golden age now?

Yes the test is whether Bloom spends the extra money the FFP allows. All signs are that he doesn't want to. And yes cue the self-righteous brigade who say we have no right to expect him too - except for the fact that the club decided to sell a vision of Premiership football to fill the stadium.

It's that difference between promise/reality that means the perienniel old-style boardroom critics like Harty are getting more of a hearing now.

 

[byf1]

From the Poyet comments of hitting the ceiling, lets say he meant funds to compete transfer fee or wages wise then am I the only one who was/is so so disappointed in the man. I miss his passion, style of play and hunger to succeed compared to the last two deadbeat personalities we've had but as proved by Garcia last term, we still had a squad capable of doing well. No we didn't end up signing any other 2 million pound players but we competed.

Poyet also obviously alongside the board had the ability to bring in players we had no right to get in the likes of Bridge and Vicente and even Upson for that matter.

Personally I think it was the finances plus the fact he couldn't and wouldn't work with Barber and wanted control over transfers.

 

[glasfryn]

Sure, arguably third tier - but this was meant to be our golden age now?

Yes the test is whether Bloom spends the extra money the FFP allows. All signs are that he doesn't want to. And yes cue the self-righteous brigade who say we have no right to expect him too - except for the fact that the club decided to sell a vision of Premiership football to fill the stadium.

It's that difference between promise/reality that means the perienniel old-style boardroom critics like Harty are getting more of a hearing now.

its what I call smoke and mirrors ....give them clackers and that's will be all the noise they can make

 

[London Irish]

If the club changes PR branding from "Premiership Ready" to "Come on, it's a bit better than that last 70 years of shite you watched" - think that'll be 15,000 crowds at the Amex for the next decade

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Watching the Tony Bloom charm offensive to our different groups of fans over the past week has been a fascinating exercise in football PR and politics.

The message was slightly different in tone to the Argus readers/BBC Radio, which is the most disgruntled group the newer season ticket holders who may be voting with their feet right now - than to the SoL hardcore and the NSC regulars who follow the debates at that hardcore fan level.

The Argus stuff reflected the simplistic club PR message - stay the course, things will get better, we have the right people, a few tweaks and things will go on the upturn.

The SoL message was much more fascinating though, and obviously I'm paraphrasing slightly here. Championship wages are too high and we hope they can come down (paraphrasing: we have no idea if they will or not but bottom line is we won't pay them and hence will not compete with maybe half or a third of Champ clubs on wages). If we somehow get promoted, expect us to get relegated pretty quickly but that will be a good experience given Prem relegation payments.

The vision of Bloom's Albion is quite a downbeat one here - we are effectively a second-tier club and will likely remain so as we don't want to play the wages game. We may get promoted if things go lucky for us but that will be a blip, we will be back down again.

It's hard to avoid the view that Gus was right - there is a ceiling at the club currently and practically it means not funding a team that has a better than evens chance of getting promoted. The faithful at SoL and their counterparts on NSC won't care about this cos for them it's still a big advance. But many others who thought we could match the Southamptons and Stokes and Hulls etc with a new stadium are going to be disappointed.

Top analysis

That PR spin/charm offensive only works in print and at forums of the converted. The fans that can actually be arsed to turn up to games KNOW what they're watching. And that's a club sleepwalking into League One. A huge amount now rests on the January transfer window.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Lot of bluff going on here with TB's comments.
If there's more money available under FFP, I think, if I were one of the top poker players in the world, I wouldn't let SH and DB loose with my £8m stake.

 

[Triggaaar]

Unfortunately that was after 1 game of it closing, almost three months on and it's quite clearly not very good at all.

A general concensus that lasted only until the Leeds and Bolton games proved to be a false dawn.

Well it's easy to criticise with hindsight.

 

[Diego Napier]

Sure, arguably third tier - but this was meant to be our golden age now?

Yes the test is whether Bloom spends the extra money the FFP allows. All signs are that he doesn't want to. And yes cue the self-righteous brigade who say we have no right to expect him too - except for the fact that the club decided to sell a vision of Premiership football to fill the stadium.

It's that difference between promise/reality that means the perienniel old-style boardroom critics like Harty are getting more of a hearing now.

What are those signs you've detected?

The money he's spent so far in the form of his capital outlay, what he's prepared to pay to his staff and players (the player's wages this year are the highest ever) and what he may invest in a new hotel all point to a prudent and even circumspect plan to achieve a long stay in the top flight.

It's rather invidious to bring Poyet's "ceiling" comment into the frame. Gus was a journeyman who was excellent for us until the chickens of the Amex's first year's wild spending came home to roost. TB realised that we were living way beyond our FFP means and reined in the overspend. Gus's comment was bourne out of frustration and resentment over his restricted remit and what he saw as his straitened circumstances.

 

[dangull]

Lot of bluff going on here with TB's comments.
If there's more money available under FFP, I think, if I were one of the top poker players in the world, I wouldn't let SH and DB loose with my £8m stake.

If that's the case why did he employ them in the first case ?

 

[RexCathedra]

I'm afraid, for the good of the club, we're just going to have to buy Bloom out.

I pledge £10.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

If that's the case why did he employ them in the first case ?

Perhaps because he dealt himself a poor hand and is trying to bluff his way out.

 

[Machiavelli]

Which is fine but begs the question, why are catchphrases like 'Premier League Ready' & 'One Ambition' being fired at us?

These are marketing terms. 'PLR' is patently Barber's phrase, and has nothing whatsoever to do with what's going on on the pitch; instead, it's got everything to do with how the club is organised off the pitch. That's what his job is and, as far as I'm concerned, he's doing it brilliantly. Many might not like it, nor his background, but really what's he got wrong?
'One Ambition' is related to what we do on the pitch. Once again, it's a marketing platitude, but really what's wrong with wanting to get into the PL?

 

[Crispy Ambulance]

Nothing wrong with wanting to get to the PL. But the buzz words/phrases are just corporate bollox.