At the moment with our current shambles who is the real villain of the story? Pace? Kompany or could it be a ploy from Parker to get his own players?

The penguin.

Once the window closes we will be able to answer this, but there are too many question marks that we don't know until then. 3 solid ins and news of injury return dates and the canvas gets painted with a sun and not a fading moon.

Shambles? Stop with the bed wetting.

Shambles?
Patience, my dear.

Dave Longwell

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... group.html

Kompany by leaving has left us in a real mess, make no mistake.

Rick_Muller wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 8:56 am

Dave Longwell

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... group.html

Hard to disagree with the logic that this has had a significant impact but some bits of it don't make sense.

Why would reports for agents criticise players, who presumably the agents are being asked to sell? Why would the academy manager even be writing the report? Doesn't sound like something that would even concern him.

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:08 am

Hard to disagree with the logic that this has had a significant impact but some bits of it don't make sense.

Why would reports for agents criticise players, who presumably the agents are being asked to sell? Why would the academy manager even be writing the report? Doesn't sound like something that would even concern him.

There are many unanswered questions as you suggest, but the "facts" as far as being reported are that this individual sent a WhatsApp message that included appraisals of all the squad apparently after the Cardiff game (where it was clearly evident that we had a great team spirit following the 2 opening games!) and then the morale of the players is so shot most of them (if not all of them!) want out of the club.

References such as (quoted from the Mail article):

'lazy/not good attitude' - could apply to any of the Kompany signings!
'big waste of money' - perhaps Tresor?
'miles off it in the Premier League and too weak for England' - Perhaps Trafford?
'strange athletic shape' - no idea on this one, but if the player in question saw it they'd be upset.
'disaster - mad guy' - I would guess at Foster, which is a really nasty statement!
'rubbish' - could be any of them but if it mentioned the player they'd be upset wouldn't they!

For me it is clearly this WhatsApp that has screwed us over and created the massive problem for the club.

Leveraged buyouts are the real villain.

FeedTheArf wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:28 am

Leveraged buyouts are the real villain.

MBAs, financiers, venture capitalists...

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:08 am

Hard to disagree with the logic that this has had a significant impact but some bits of it don't make sense.

Why would reports for agents criticise players, who presumably the agents are being asked to sell? Why would the academy manager even be writing the report? Doesn't sound like something that would even concern him.

My thoughts are that this report was possibly requested by the board so that they can evaluate their 'assets' and see which ones they need to sell on. Maybe Longwell was Williams and the Board's eyes and ears on the training ground?

Longwell has written his brutally honest report and sent it to the U 21's group instead of the intended recipients by mistake. As you have stated there is absolutely no logic that this report would have been written for agents.

However, if the report had been written for Williams and the board, if you are a player and you see that your employers think that you are lazy, mad, odd looking or have a bad attitude etc., how much would you want to continue working for said employer?

It's all conjecture of course but it makes more logical sense than it being written for agents, especially with so many players wanting to leave.

It will be interesting if the truth ever comes out.

Look we all knew we had to sell or get rid of players but 17 and counting is a bit much .

No blame it is what it is .

Beat Rovers and most will be happy .

If it was a report for the board I very much doubt it would use the kind of language quoted. At least you would hope not.

Given the quotes taken from it then it certainly can’t have been written for the board.

It would appear, from the report in the Sun (!) that Trafford was one of the 3 players praised. Think another was Brownhill

RHansburyEsq wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:41 am

If it was a report for the board I very much doubt it would use the kind of language quoted. At least you would hope not.

And definitely wouldn’t be written on WhatsApp

Anonymous Claret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:38 am

My thoughts are that this report was possibly requested by the board so that they can evaluate their 'assets' and see which ones they need to sell on. Maybe Longwell was Williams and the Board's eyes and ears on the training ground?

Longwell has written his brutally honest report and sent it to the U 21's group instead of the intended recipients by mistake. As you have stated there is absolutely no logic that this report would have been written for agents.

However, if the report had been written for Williams and the board, if you are a player and you see that your employers think that you are lazy, mad, odd looking or have a bad attitude etc., how much would you want to continue working for said employer?

It's all conjecture of course but it makes more logical sense than it being written for agents, especially with so many players wanting to leave.

It will be interesting if the truth ever comes out.

There are quotes within that don't seem to be written for the board, such as explaining the number of signings made and how "they" were struggling to get value.

Maybe an agent who had been approached by the club wanted an "inside line" on the players they had been asked to sell.

If these were just the views of the academy manager would the players get so upset? Yes, they'd be ****** off with him but if the first team coaching team don't share those views, simply get rid of him and get rid of the problem.

Bordeauxclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:42 am

Given the quotes taken from it then it certainly can’t have been written for the board.

But it also wouldn't make sense to sell your house and make sure the estate agent markets it as having noisy neighbours, subsidence and damp that you've tried to conceal.
The whole WhatsApp thing is very strange and I'm more leaning towards a perfect storm of a manager leaving after promising the world, players who believe they've outgrown the club and that club more than willing to listen to offers.
To keep with the house analogy, it's like ALK have decided to rent out a room in their rather large house, got a bit carried away and now find themselves living in the conservatory.
Let's hope for some quality incomings with the emphasis on quality otherwise it's gonna be a long season.

Moriarty?

Bordeauxclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:42 am

Given the quotes taken from it then it certainly can’t have been written for the board.

It could have been written for a member of the SMT such as Williams who would then have edited it and presented it in a professional manner to the board.

The main factor is that Longwell could have been the spy in the camp. When you have a multi million pound business such as BFC it makes sense that you would have someone keeping an eye on the players, especially when they are worth millions of pounds.

As I say its all conjecture but it is certainly more plausible than being written for agents.

The fact that Parker is Chief Coach and Kompany was Manager, tells me who the board are pointing the finger at. Maybe, just maybe, they should shoulder some of the blame for allowing Kompany enough rope to hang us true supporters out to dry!

Anonymous Claret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:38 am

My thoughts are that this report was possibly requested by the board so that they can evaluate their 'assets' and see which ones they need to sell on. Maybe Longwell was Williams and the Board's eyes and ears on the training ground?

Longwell has written his brutally honest report and sent it to the U 21's group instead of the intended recipients by mistake. As you have stated there is absolutely no logic that this report would have been written for agents.

However, if the report had been written for Williams and the board, if you are a player and you see that your employers think that you are lazy, mad, odd looking or have a bad attitude etc., how much would you want to continue working for said employer?

It's all conjecture of course but it makes more logical sense than it being written for agents, especially with so many players wanting to leave.

It will be interesting if the truth ever comes out.

Could well be this if Academy and Alan Pace are next to each other in his contacts.

spt_claret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 10:21 am

Could well be this if Academy and Alan Pace are next to each other in his contacts.

It makes more sense that it was written for Pace or someone at the club.

The agent theory makes no sense at all. It is my understanding that agents usually act on behalf of individual players. Why would an agent want reports on numerous players that they don't represent?

Anyway the good news is that we have signed Hannibal. Let's get Anthony, Sarmiento and a couple more through the door and smash that bunch of clowns on Saturday lunchtime.

Buck stops with Pace

Rick_Muller wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:24 am

There are many unanswered questions as you suggest, but the "facts" as far as being reported are that this individual sent a WhatsApp message that included appraisals of all the squad apparently after the Cardiff game (where it was clearly evident that we had a great team spirit following the 2 opening games!) and then the morale of the players is so shot most of them (if not all of them!) want out of the club.

References such as (quoted from the Mail article):

'lazy/not good attitude' - could apply to any of the Kompany signings!
'big waste of money' - perhaps Tresor?
'miles off it in the Premier League and too weak for England' - Perhaps Trafford?
'strange athletic shape' - no idea on this one, but if the player in question saw it they'd be upset.
'disaster - mad guy' - I would guess at Foster, which is a really nasty statement!
'rubbish' - could be any of them but if it mentioned the player they'd be upset wouldn't they!

For me it is clearly this WhatsApp that has screwed us over and created the massive problem for the club.

So we're supposed to believe that the club who used an AI app to recruit young players have some bloke doing analysis who looks at all the data from performances and training and writes those sort of comments?

Strange athletic shape could be Obafemi… More the build of Gladstone Small than a footballer. Not that it should make a difference - plenty decent players don’t have the most athletic physique.