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Roker Rapport Podcast: With Stewart Donald (Tues 28th May)

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Why are you so angry fella? I made a joke pretty much based on the tone of your initial question.

I don't know exactly what Bally does, I tried to give an answer. Calm down.
I was asking a simple question and you answered in a rather weird manner

Donald came over extremely well.

Methven was awful. Fancy not expecting to talk about the performance of individuals. It’s football not a factory.
He shouldn't be discussing the performances of employees in a public forum.
 
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Think he's had quite a bit on his plate since he took over, to say the least. Things like scouting etc he'll leave to other people and rightly so. They're the ones who should be questioned imo.

I agree it should be left to those he has employed as he is a football fan and businessman by his own admission.

So what has he put in place to make sure those he has employed are the absolute best they can be? It's his remit to those also, you have the academy manager speaking about moving walls as to how he has improved mood. Has the academy manager been brought in to improve the mood and cut costs or to revolutionise how we coach, scout and manage potential assets by learning from the best?

The scouting has been left to an English football man, what is his remit? Do the same as you did at Wigan or revolutionise how we find players at well below their intrinsic value?

It just seems so basic where the priority is getting every department to be ok ran at as low a cost as possible.

Sounds far harsher than I mean it to be and at the end of the day it's just my opinion and it may be wrong. I'm very grateful for the improvement from Short.
 
Why on earth the Grigg/Ross angle was pursued for so long when the owner of the club can hardly hang them out to dry was bizarre. Whilst well intentioned, it was a waste of time.

Also, the owner was allowed to ramble on too much with no real forensic questioning on the finances was not the best. If there was a structure to be followed, Donald quickly took over that and did the interview he wanted.

Fair enough it was probably daunting for the pair doing it and hopefully they learn but ultimately these podcasts are only ever going to tell us things from Donalds’s perspective as the minute he gets really pushed it will be culled. Ultimately RR is his mouthpiece.
 
What annoyed me was him saying he could have done more on Maja when on Twitter he couldn’t wait to say how he’d basically bent over backwards to accommodate them and that it was Maja and his agent who were acting up. It’s especially galling when Ross says that Maja had told him personally he wanted to stay so I don’t think it would have taken too much effort to keep him.
 
Why on earth the Grigg/Ross angle was pursued for so long when the owner of the club can hardly hang them out to dry was bizarre. Whilst well intentioned, it was a waste of time.

Also, the owner was allowed to ramble on too much with no real forensic questioning on the finances was not the best. If there was a structure to be followed, Donald quickly took over that and did the interview he wanted.

Fair enough it was probably daunting for the pair doing it and hopefully they learn but ultimately these podcasts are only ever going to tell us things from Donalds’s perspective as the minute he gets really pushed it will be culled. Ultimately RR is his mouthpiece.

I agree, the Grigg stuff was a bit of a tough listen and bless Donald, he was trying his very best to be open, was a little harsh on him and I don't blame Methven for intervening in somewhat of an annoying manner. But it did kind of echo what many fans will be asking.

I'm far more interested in what the thinking was behind the appointments, whats the philosophy behind areas of the club, how exactly is it being improved, how precisely we plan on doing things better than everyone else.

He spoke about wages and correctly said a 40k a week player could fetch you 6 top league one players, well how exactly do you plan on finding those top players? Are they available below market value? Do they fit into a tactical plan or is that a question for Jack Ross who will be very aware that if we start the season slowly he will be sacked?
 
I agree, the Grigg stuff was a bit of a tough listen and bless Donald, he was trying his very best to be open, was a little harsh on him and I don't blame Methven for intervening in somewhat of an annoying manner. But it did kind of echo what many fans will be asking.

I'm far more interested in what the thinking was behind the appointments, whats the philosophy behind areas of the club, how exactly is it being improved, how precisely we plan on doing things better than everyone else.

He spoke about wages and correctly said a 40k a week player could fetch you 6 top league one players, well how exactly do you plan on finding those top players? Are they available below market value? Do they fit into a tactical plan or is that a question for Jack Ross who will be very aware that if we start the season slowly he will be sacked?
Yep, there were a lot of openings that could have been pursued yet not tackled. They shot their bolt on the Ill advised Grigg line of questioning and it was over from that point really.
 
What annoyed me was him saying he could have done more on Maja when on Twitter he couldn’t wait to say how he’d basically bent over backwards to accommodate them and that it was Maja and his agent who were acting up. It’s especially galling when Ross says that Maja had told him personally he wanted to stay so I don’t think it would have taken too much effort to keep him.

I actually think its really good that he admitted that mistake although he somewhat flip-flopped when saying it wasn't sure it would have made a difference. It offers some hope he may do differently in the future.

Had he offered more, earlier, he would have stayed. Its all about making the right decisions and in hindsight it's easy but he is accountable for employing those capable of making those decisions with the best probability of a positive outcome.
 
he doesnt hold the abanklsyts to account-he isnt their line manager-thats my point..their line manager holds rhem to account...and stewrat holds that person to account..
That doesn’t track though. You’re talking about him not needing sufficient technical knowledge to hold the football side of the club to account. How on earth can we move forward if that is truly the case?
 
I actually thought he’d pushed it a bit far at the point Methven stepped in. But that was my only criticism of the way he interviewed. It was much better overall.
It works quite well for the image of the podcast though, in that they are going to slightly annoy the owners with difficult questions. There was clearly a bit of tension in the room at the point unlike previous podcasts so it's useful for RR to show some of their 'non-fans' that they are taking the opportunity seriously.

Absolutely right for Methvan to say what he did though, as much as some fans want blunt answers, this wasn't the place for the owners to criticise players.
 
It works quite well for the image of the podcast though, in that they are going to slightly annoy the owners with difficult questions. There was clearly a bit of tension in the room at the point unlike previous podcasts so it's useful for RR to show some of their 'non-fans' that they are taking the opportunity seriously.

Absolutely right for Methvan to say what he did though, as much as some fans want blunt answers, this wasn't the place for the owners to criticise players.
Yeah it was a little bit of panto I guess. Probably right for everyone.
 
Thanks!



Not yet but can certainly ask



SD approached us to do the Pod, not the other way around! Very happy that he did though as there was a lot that needed to be said



Pretty much all of the questions either came from here or Twitter
mind i agreed when charlie rebuked the interviewer, it was out of order tryin to get stewart to comment on tactics etc
 
I get Methven's point mind, if I was the manager the last thing I'd want would be the owners discussing individual player performances before we've even sat down to properly debrief after the season, doubt the players would like it either, would come across as pretty unprofessional. Equally it's not something Donald can answer, "why wasn't Ross able to fit Grigg into his style of play" is something only Ross can answer. Donald could give an opinion as a fan, but that's not really what the podcasts are for. I'm glad the interviewer brought it up, it's something the fans are wondering and, in a way, I like knowing for certain that the owners are aware of it, but it wasn't something they could answer and wasn't something I'd want them spending long on. Methven was right to move the conversation along, albeit he sounded a bit blunt about it
I don’t get his point at all. It’s not sensible to expect an interview with a fanzine not to focus on individual ‘employee’ performance. It’s just not.

In another business yes, maybe, but in football where performances are laid bare to the watching customers, we’re going to talk about individuals.

If he doesn’t want to talk about individuals he shouldn’t do the interviews.
 
I don’t get his point at all. It’s not sensible to expect an interview with a fanzine not to focus on individual ‘employee’ performance. It’s just not.

In another business yes, maybe, but in football where performances are laid bare to the watching customers, we’re going to talk about individuals.

If he doesn’t want to talk about individuals he shouldn’t do the interviews.
Nonsense.
 
If they talking to fans who invest then great.
If they are talking to potential big money investors then that’s great too.
I can’t see a problem with them talking to investors at which ever level they invest
I know everything is great and that but they did yesterday to invite investment . They’ve told us that they have saved us from Armageddon and we are the best run and financially the soundest club in the football league . That message isn’t for us
 
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