Two hours at the Academy

[Stat Brother]

Most importantly [MENTION=225]Hamilton[/MENTION], did you ride over?

 

[Hamilton]

Most importantly [MENTION=225]Hamilton[/MENTION], did you ride over?

Oh the shame. No

 

[Hampster Gull]

Yes but ling did it take to get out of the car park?

Great post Hamilton

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

I have to feel sorry for Paul Barber, he takes endless unwarranted criticism on this board. Now he relates to a supporters questions by inviting him to a private open day.....and he gets slagged off.

Yep, he really can't win it would seem.

If he ignores e-mails he'd be considered out of touch with the fans, but by responding to them it apparently shows how little he does.

 

[Horses Arse]

Great to hear about the academy and how fantastic the facilities are. Also great to hear that someone questioning Paul Barber got a positive vibe about his attitude and desire with regard to the club.

You can only speak as you find and my experience is that whilst he communicates rapidly and extensively there's little substance behind what is said. He seems to be a PR man first and foremost and this comes across very strongly; spin, spin and more spin. That's not to say that there are not more attributes behind the PR spin but I can't help but feel that if he focused on being a CEO rather than a PR guru we'd be getting along a little better. I also still don't like CEO's handing out preemptive threats of legal action to a football forum - its all a bit too Blackpool for my liking and completely over the top. In addition, and whilst this may be absolutely nothing to do with Barber, I also find it concerning that Tony appears to have received some pretty dodgy advice over the last 12 months or so.

Who knows, perhaps he's learnt from some of the crass behaviour in the past, including sodding clackers (if that was him!)

I don't trust the bloke in the slightest but would love to be proved wrong.

 

[Hamilton]

Call me a cynic, but could it be that Barber realised the good PR that would come from the OP inevitably posting the result of his training academy experience on here, the OP therefore treated like a hotel inspector/food critic during his tour.

Possibly, but a bit of a high risk on the part of the club. After all, I didn't post any of the email exchanges I had with PB before Christmas and they had no inclination that I was a regular NSC contributor. It's a lot of effort to go to for a minor piece of coverage. Anyway, we all know that [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] is PB in disguise. Has anyone ever seen them in the same room together?

 

[Hamilton]

Great to hear about the academy and how fantastic the facilities are. Also great to hear that someone questioning Paul Barber got a positive vibe about his attitude and desire with regard to the club.

You can only speak as you find and my experience is that whilst he communicates rapidly and extensively there's little substance behind what is said. He seems to be a PR man first and foremost and this comes across very strongly; spin, spin and more spin. That's not to say that there are not more attributes behind the PR spin but I can't help but feel that if he focused on being a CEO rather than a PR guru we'd be getting along a little better. I also still don't like CEO's handing out preemptive threats of legal action to a football forum - its all a bit too Blackpool for my liking and completely over the top. In addition, and whilst this may be absolutely nothing to do with Barber, I also find it concerning that Tony appears to have received some pretty dodgy advice over the last 12 months or so.

Who knows, perhaps he's learnt from some of the crass behaviour in the past, including sodding clackers (if that was him!)

I don't trust the bloke in the slightest but would love to be proved wrong.

I see exactly what you are saying, and in that regard he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Whether we like it or not, PR is an essential part of any organisation's make up. How often have we wished that the CEO of say a train operating company might demonstrate that they a little more in touch.

When it comes to acting like a CEO that is looking at the operations of the club he did cover substance like operating costs, the myths of what 'premier league ready' actually means, priorities for the improvements at the club, how to make the academy pay for itself etc etc.

I left with many of my views on greater fan involvement, more visibility of the board still top of my mind, but I also left seeing that the guy running the team 100% cares about getting things right and that this will involve some disagreements, lots of listening and some mistakes along the way.

 

[spence]

Nice post mate. Not sure about the Blue and white being a big part of him though. He is simply doing a job in which he gets paid astronomically for. I've never understood the hatred for him and i refuse to jump onto the bandwagon either. He does seem to be a real approachable person though.

Axing Gully girls will always be a stain on him though from many supporters but at the same time we were FFP compliant. I like the way he responds to fans quickly by email. That's a good relationship

 

[W.C.]

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BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.


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BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH I saw Inigo Calderon for God’s sake!

That is pretty amazing it has to be said.

 

[Ernest]

This must be the NEW tactic , take someone to TEA and CAKE at Lancing and INSTANTLY turn out a LICKER

 

[Horses Arse]

I see exactly what you are saying, and in that regard he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Whether we like it or not, PR is an essential part of any organisation's make up. How often have we wished that the CEO of say a train operating company might demonstrate that they a little more in touch.

When it comes to acting like a CEO that is looking at the operations of the club he did cover substance like operating costs, the myths of what 'premier league ready' actually means, priorities for the improvements at the club, how to make the academy pay for itself etc etc.

I left with many of my views on greater fan involvement, more visibility of the board still top of my mind, but I also left seeing that the guy running the team 100% cares about getting things right and that this will involve some disagreements, lots of listening and some mistakes along the way.

I don't underestimate the difficulty of the role but that shouldn't mean we sit back and fail to question. It's good to hear/see people questioning rather than following the OTT Barber is God view that was purveying at times from some influential people here. It is equally good that someone who has his own mind and has questioned the approach has left the discussion with a positive feeling.

I have to admit to having Ernest's following post at the back of my mind though!!!

"This must be the NEW tactic , take someone to TEA and CAKE at Lancing and INSTANTLY turn out a LICKER"

 

[Hamilton]

This must be the NEW tactic , take someone to TEA and CAKE at Lancing and INSTANTLY turn out a LICKER

I invite you to take me to the CLIFTONVILLE for breakfast so that my demons may be EXORCISED.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Anyway, we all know that [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] is PB in disguise. Has anyone ever seen them in the same room together?

I have

 

[Mayfair Seagull]

Paul Barber is like a politician. He appears to say all the right things.

Absolutely right.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I have just spent two hours at the training academy with Paul Barber.

Let me tell you how this meeting came about. Before Christmas, after a post on NSC in support of the removal of Sami Hyypia, I decided to email Paul Barber direct: After all, no point in complaining on social media and not making one’s feelings known to the club.

He replied to my email within minutes. What ensued was an email exchange over the next 48 hours with a frank, but friendly discussion over what the Albion could or could not be doing for the better. All this ended with an offer to visit the training academy in the New Year. Well, I couldn’t turn the offer down could I?

So, this morning I arrived at the academy at 11.00am expecting a short meeting and a coffee. Instead, I was afforded a couple of hours during which I had the chance to hear quite a lot of what Mr Barber feels about the Albion, and during which time I was able to share my personal views on the need for more transparency, more fan involvement and the need to remember our past whilst looking to the future.

Behind the scenes, the Albion have a philosophy, something we don’t see. It centres on exceeding expectations; aiming high; treating people well and making things special. If you are ever lucky enough to go to the training academy, then you’ll see this in buckets. From the second I was greeted by the receptionist to the moment I left, every person I saw about the place exudes a positive attitude. The first team look very at home in their surroundings and everyone mixes in a relaxed and harmonious environment. There’s a culture about the place that feels relaxed, confident and professional. And it feels like this all comes from the leadership style that both Tony Bloom and Paul Barber must have played an instrumental role in putting in place.

And, I have to report that the pantomime villain of the piece is far from Mr Nasty. Confident, yes. Engaging, yes. Frank, open and honest, yes. But, he also admits to mistakes – yes we have to do better with the new ticketing system; yes we can involve fans even more and we will. This is a CEO that genuinely loves what he does, and genuinely wants the best for the Albion. He may be a Spur, but it’s clear that a big part of him is blue and white too. He was incredibly open; about why he took the job, about his relationship with previous managers; about the ‘fall guy’ image he has with fans. We discussed the whole ‘customer’ language, and I can tell you now, we’re fans first and foremost, but that doesn’t mean a club should strive to offer first class customer service.

I haven’t changed my mind on some of the issues I originally raised in my first email exchange with Mr Barber, and it is up to us as fans to express how we feel directly to the club (rather than just sound off about them on social media), but I’m left with a sense that we have a CEO that will listen. Obviously he can’t say yes to every idea – you set a strategy and you follow it – but I could see that the strength of his leadership comes from how he listens to people and takes on board feedback. The more constructive feedback he gets, the more it helps improve the club in the future.

As for the visit, I could go on and on about the attention to detail when it comes to the under 11’s, under 12’s, under 13’s etc; I could talk about the coaching facilities they have and how they store and use data; I could talk about the Bang & Olufsen relaxation area where players can kick back or watch videos of their previous performances on banks of PC terminals; I’ve seen the running hills; I’ve seen the finger print recognition that gives you access to key areas; I’ve seen the design of the catering areas that nicely separates development squad from first team squad - it almost acts as an incentive for breakthrough players to want to make the leap from B to A.

I believe I saw the future of our club this morning, and I think it is in very good hands.

And, I’ll be honest. I had to stop myself from being the kid in a sweetshop. There was a part of me walking round like a star struck youngster, but I think I hid it well. I saw Inigo Calderon for God’s sake!

Great post. As an aside I have two friends with daughters in the U11s girls team, I think coached by Sneaky George Parris, and I ended up with one at Charlton. He was painting a very similar picture of the academy to you. It all augers very well for the future. I do maintain that it was focused on in preference to the current first team squad however. Just an opinion.

I have

You're him as well.

 

[fat old seagull]

You've misinterpreted my point. I'm not slagging him off, as you claim. I'm just of the view that he works too hard, doesn't need to respond immediately to emails from fans/supporters, and should spend more time with his family or relaxing. For further evidence, see post 48.

Yes I now see that is what you meant, so I do apologise for the misinterpretation. But as I wasn't the only one who considered it a criticism you might agree the original post was a little ambiguous in its intent. Anyway no harm done I hope.

 

[Ian Bairds Fist]

I see exactly what you are saying, and in that regard he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Whether we like it or not, PR is an essential part of any organisation's make up. How often have we wished that the CEO of say a train operating company might demonstrate that they a little more in touch.

When it comes to acting like a CEO that is looking at the operations of the club he did cover substance like operating costs, the myths of what 'premier league ready' actually means, priorities for the improvements at the club, how to make the academy pay for itself etc etc.

I left with many of my views on greater fan involvement, more visibility of the board still top of my mind, but I also left seeing that the guy running the team 100% cares about getting things right and that this will involve some disagreements, lots of listening and some mistakes along the way.

Hamilton, can you explain what he said about 'greater fan involvement' and what was positive about it? I've spoken to several people that have had similar experiences (not tours but long dialogue), only for the promises to never materialise. It's pretty easy to talk the talk...

 

[Ian Bairds Fist]

I don't underestimate the difficulty of the role but that shouldn't mean we sit back and fail to question. It's good to hear/see people questioning rather than following the OTT Barber is God view that was purveying at times from some influential people here. It is equally good that someone who has his own mind and has questioned the approach has left the discussion with a positive feeling.

I have to admit to having Ernest's following post at the back of my mind though!!!

"This must be the NEW tactic , take someone to TEA and CAKE at Lancing and INSTANTLY turn out a LICKER"

This. Paul Barber is an employee of a second division football club - that's not really something anyone should be in awe of and questions should always be asked, and answers scrutinised, if necessary.

 

[Hamilton]

Hamilton, can you explain what he said about 'greater fan involvement' and what was positive about it? I've spoken to several people that have had similar experiences (not tours but long dialogue), only for the promises to never materialise. It's pretty easy to talk the talk...

The 'greater fan involvement' was more my agenda, but when we discussed this he recognised the need to get fans involved in the more nitty gritty stuff rather than just making senior club reps available via fan Q&As. The latter seems important, but passive to me. In particular, he cited the approach of the new Commercial Head, Paul Beirne, and how that part of the club needs to get fans involved in discussing things like ticketing processes, or stuff like atmosphere inside the ground etc. and how they can use information from these interactions to change things for the future. I'll be looking to see how the club's commercial team do go about approaching fans for their views on very specific things in the future. I hope they do, and that they are vocal about this.

Personally, I am pro supporter's trusts and seeing representation on the board. PB doesn't think this works and thinks it can be divisive (i.e. how can one fan from a trust represent fans anymore than directors you trust) and that it only adds to more confusion at board level, slowing down decision making. I see his point to a degree, but am of the view that more than any club we would benefit from a trust's involvement as it could only build greater relationships with the fans and cement the 'community' club ethos.

 

[Machiavelli]

Yes I now see that is what you meant, so I do apologise for the misinterpretation. But as I wasn't the only one who considered it a criticism you might agree the original post was a little ambiguous in its intent. Anyway no harm done I hope.

No harm, and ambiguity accepted. It happens some time at this end: