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

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Where have they come from?
Where do most owners come from?
The irish lads owned a few pubs. ES fund management.
These lads know how to run a club and are footy fans. Without them we could easily have gone bankrupt like pompey when we got relegated, losing all our players and having to endure another relegation to league 2
If they knew how to run a football club, and what’s in the clubs best interests Ross would’ve went straight after wembley. He didn’t, they’ve came out and backed him whilst Charlies had digs at the fans. None of this is going to end well.
 

Where have they come from?
Where do most owners come from?
The irish lads owned a few pubs. ES fund management.
These lads know how to run a club and are footy fans. Without them we could easily have gone bankrupt like pompey when we got relegated, losing all our players and having to endure another relegation to league 2
I’m not sure being a footy fan qualifies you to run a football club, mind...
If they knew how to run a football club, and what’s in the clubs best interests Ross would’ve went straight after wembley. He didn’t, they’ve came out and backed him whilst Charlies had digs at the fans. None of this is going to end well.
...as evidenced here;)
 
If they knew how to run a football club, and what’s in the clubs best interests Ross would’ve went straight after wembley. He didn’t, they’ve came out and backed him whilst Charlies had digs at the fans. None of this is going to end well.
Yeah, sacking managers has worked wonders for us hasn't it?
That's your opinion on the sacking, more fans would argue sacking him is the wrong thing to do, so you'd have more fans saying they didn't know what they were doing if they'd got rid of him.
Youre a bit precious if you can't take a few home truths from Charlie ffs.
Digs. He said that Charlton are a big club, sold more tickets and been in the prem recently, so Safc should be realistic and realise we're not the only club in league one that shouldn't be there.
And that Charlton fans made more noise.
A bit silly, but said in the heat of the moment in a raw interview and if you get upset about that you're a bit of a snowflake (Imo like)

I’m not sure being a footy fan qualifies you to run a football club, mind...
But it shows they're passionate about footy and they know the lower leagues.
They've owned a club before

I'd say they are more qualified than 90 percent of other owners.
 
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Aye as @Grumpy Old Man says, the lads who did the interview weren’t aware. Think it started going round about the time they were travelling in to record the show
It wasn't much before the show started, that is true.

Just wanted to say thanks for a great show and for loads of great stuff this season. RR has come in for some massively unfair stick IMO so after Tuesday's pod I hope those who have given it out have been magnanimous enough to admit they were wrong...
 
Yeah, sacking managers has worked wonders for us hasn't it?
That's your opinion on the sacking, more fans would argue sacking him is the wrong thing to do, so you'd have more fans saying they didn't know what they were doing if they'd got rid of him.
Youre a bit precious if you can't take a few home truths from Charlie ffs.
Digs. He said that Charlton are a big club, sold more tickets and been in the prem recently, so Safc should be realistic and realise we're not the only club in league one that shouldn't be there.
And that Charlton fans made more noise.
A bit silly, but said in the heat of the moment in a raw interview and if you get upset about that you're a bit of a snowflake (Imo like)


But it shows they're passionate about footy and they know the lower leagues.
They've owned a club before

I'd say they are more qualified than 90 percent of other owners.
I’m really concerned at their football ethos. They are clearly excellent at making a club profitable. However I am far less convinced that they know what to do on the football side. And while I don’t want them picking the team, they are ultimately responsible for the direction the football club takes on the pitch.
 
I’m really concerned at their football ethos. They are clearly excellent at making a club profitable. However I am far less convinced that they know what to do on the football side. And while I don’t want them picking the team, they are ultimately responsible for the direction the football club takes on the pitch.
It sounded to me as though they had a handle on this too.

Tbf taylor has changed his story a few times already
He didn’t want to come here. End of. I reckon it was all about location. Ultimately if he was in any doubt then it was a non starter. Maybe he’s more comfortable playing in front of 11,000 :)
 
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It sounded to me as though they had a handle on this too.
Not convinced. “We bought promoted players” was a pretty shite plan for this year. Lack of basic understanding of analytics and what successful modern clubs are doing is an obvious weakness. And that’s just two things in the midst of what was a good podcast. That leaves out all the clear, broad-brush mistakes that were made by the club last season in football terms. As I said, I have no doubts whatsoever that from a day to day operating perspective we will be better run than we’ve ever been under the current owners. However, that will be squandered if we continue to build the club on the pitch as we did last season.
 
I’m really concerned at their football ethos. They are clearly excellent at making a club profitable. However I am far less convinced that they know what to do on the football side. And while I don’t want them picking the team, they are ultimately responsible for the direction the football club takes on the pitch.
Yeah, they seem to have done differently to what they said they would do (dortmund model).
We've bought has beens from the champ and generally older (26+) players. Luke09 (and ozturk at a push) are perhaps the only players that sits within what we were promised.
However, we've never had this much communication from owners. They've consistently set targets, and have again for next season. I think they've been a breath of fresh air.
They've been here a short time and have made mistakes, they will make mistakes in the future. Youve got to be incredibly lucky to get everything right.
 
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Yeah, sacking managers has worked wonders for us hasn't it?
That's your opinion on the sacking, more fans would argue sacking him is the wrong thing to do, so you'd have more fans saying they didn't know what they were doing if they'd got rid of him.
Youre a bit precious if you can't take a few home truths from Charlie ffs.
Digs. He said that Charlton are a big club, sold more tickets and been in the prem recently, so Safc should be realistic and realise we're not the only club in league one that shouldn't be there.
And that Charlton fans made more noise.
A bit silly, but said in the heat of the moment in a raw interview and if you get upset about that you're a bit of a snowflake (Imo like)


But it shows they're passionate about footy and they know the lower leagues.
They've owned a club before

I'd say they are more qualified than 90 percent of other owners.
Can never justify having a dog at fans about noise! If the team gave us something to sing about the noise would have been there.
 
Can never justify having a dog at fans about noise! If the team gave us something to sing about the noise would have been there.
Yeah.
It wasnt a great thing to say, said in the heat of the moment (and was the truth like). However I'm not going to dislike someone over somethng so innocuous.
I've said far worse (by mistake!). Folk forgive me.
It's hardly the crime of the century
 
Can never justify having a dog at fans about noise! If the team gave us something to sing about the noise would have been there.
Probably an error to say that. The board and manager have made mistakes. It’s a refreshing change to hear admittance if that and as they have already identified targets I would expect a better season with more attacking players next year.
 
Just listened to the 1st 30 minutes on drive to work. Not convinced at all, saying all the right things, but they’ve done that all season.

I’d like to know how they’re going to improve the squad, from a team that played 60 games and scored only 80 goals. To a team that earns 100 points?

Actions speak louder than words for me. Happy for them to prove me wrong, time will tell over the next two months.
 
Just listened to the 1st 30 minutes on drive to work. Not convinced at all, saying all the right things, but they’ve done that all season.

I’d like to know how they’re going to improve the squad, from a team that played 60 games and scored only 80 goals. To a team that earns 100 points?

Actions speak louder than words for me. Happy for them to prove me wrong, time will tell over the next two months.
I mean that's absolutely fair enough, but what did you expect from an appearence on a podcast beyond them, in your words, "saying all the right things"? They can hardly play out next season and win the league. :lol:
 
Where have they come from?
Where do most owners come from?
The irish lads owned a few pubs. ES fund management.
These lads know how to run a club and are footy fans. Without them we could easily have gone bankrupt like pompey when we got relegated, losing all our players and having to endure another relegation to league 2

How's that? Ellis Short paid off his own debts.
 
How's that? Ellis Short paid off his own debts.
A few things really. There's a very real chance Short was going to stop funding our losses if a legitimate buyer didn't turn up, they were that buyer. Secondly, they in effect paid off £25m of high interest bank debt through their commitment to funnel that £25m back into the club from Madrox. And also Donald has been funding ongoing losses this season.

There's a much bigger picture than just 'Short removed the debt', though that was clearly a crucial part of securing our future.
 
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Funny listening to Charlie getting all uppity when for the first time RR asked him some challenging questions. I wish he could have been told, you don't set the agenda, you don't come on here telling us what we can and cant say on our podcast. Don't like it, there's the door.
 
Give them both a lot of credit for doing these interviews, in particular at a sensitive and difficult time. It wasn't skirting round edges, it was in as deep as you can really expect to go. If people actually want them to publicly slate the manager or individual players on a webcast then you are asking for the beginning of the end of the current team spirit we have finally ascertained.
Everyone has an opinion ofcourse and there will be differences, but you can't go online and destroy one of our players confidence or say something that results in an agents phone call the day after, looking for a move. He has backed the manager and made it clear about finances, and so it is now up to us to support the club or not, if that is your choice.
Let's get behind them again, it is the only way forwards.

Just listened to this and glad that we have this owner. Impossible to take this year out of context and expect perfect fixes to deep problems. Feel much more hopeful for next year having listened to this. They seem under no illusions about what needs to happen and are spot in to create the 100 point target.

Funny listening to Charlie getting all uppity when for the first time RR asked him some challenging questions. I wish he could have been told, you don't set the agenda, you don't come on here telling us what we can and cant say on our podcast. Don't like it, there's the door.
Perfectly sensible response. You don’t do personal criticism if employees in public. It’s basic HR management and the managers job, in private - not the board’s.
 
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