Donald’s biggest mistakes


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Without a doubt it was trying to be one of the lads when leadership was needed.
Twitter etc made him look weak and he lost respect.
The need to be liked is a major character flaw for any aspiring club owner. Eastleigh cost him £10m and it really affected him while he was here, especially with Methven undermining his statements at every opportunity.
 
Hiring all his old pals who where not satisfactory to do their jobs.

Ran down the academy to the bare bones. Surely we should have enough talent to make a impact in league one.

No plans for recruitment, poor judgement in players.

Thinking he could run a Premiership sized club in League 1.
 
Acting like a fan and not a chairman. Twitter, pints and sitting in the away end isn't what a chairman does.

Sticking with his buddies Coton, Hill and Reid. None of them have a clear blueprint.

Being dismissive of stats and the modern approach in game.

Basically getting involved in football because he hasn't got a clue how the modern game works.
 
Attempting to manipulate the fanbase through social media and the fanzines, which has bitten him on the arse now.

In the same vein, leaking info to the fanzines which later turned out to be untrue.

Failure to get messaging between himself and Charlie consistent. Just makes both of them look dishonest.

Bringing in a PR guy as an Executive Director who caused a string of PR disasters.

Appointing an inept recruitment team.

Appointing Phil Parkinson.

I do feel that they’ve tried to take us for idiots.
 
Hiring all his old pals who where not satisfactory to do their jobs.

Ran down the academy to the bare bones. Surely we should have enough talent to make a impact in league one.

No plans for recruitment, poor judgement in players.
Donald should have had nothing to do with recruitment or scouting.

That's the manager's job.
 
Hiring all his old pals who where not satisfactory to do their jobs.

Ran down the academy to the bare bones. Surely we should have enough talent to make a impact in league one.

No plans for recruitment, poor judgement in players.

Making decisions about the football side of the club when he is an insurance broker. AKA a lack of self awareness
 
Posted on another thread but in case you missed it - recent post on our site (oxford) talking about stuart

I’ve always found north East fans bizarre. They really do have an insupportable superiority complex that makes them believe you’re privileged to meet them.

This lot have clumsily tumbled down to our level, like many other sides before with slightly above average support like Portsmouth, Blackburn, Man City, and seemingly want us to all be in awe. They are no different except for the sheer levels of delta between reality and expectation. That article is completely devoid of the actual reasons for their anger , just more emotive nonsense about some romanticized ideal of who they claim to be. So what are these awful crimes the owner has committed. He’s had about 18 months to turn around years of engrained failure embedded into the seeds of their dna. Do they understand what it takes to turn a business around? Methven, for all his ills, may be right about the lack of corporate education up there.

1. Stadium sold off?
2. Name and colors changed?
3. Asset stripped?
4. HMRC payments missed?
5. Failure to buy players? (Griggs must be a record at this level and shows huge commitment given debts and operating losses at this level)

They’re actually showing huge ignorance as to the operating costs at this level relative to the lack of tv revenue and commercial revenue. They built this pitiful lower league existence by being part of the premiership money gravy train for so long, suckling on the teet of sky TVs money and ignoring the plight of the lower leagues. Now they reap their reward. Welcome to the other side of the fence you gravy train muppets. Deal with it or change it if you ever rise from league one, which no doubt they will eventually.

What they really need to learn is a dose of humility and recognition of where they are. The article states that those outside the region won’t understand. Another statement laced in self importance and the equivalent of Christians argument of “the greatest trick the devil pulled was making you think he doesn’t exist”. Impossible to disprove but substantiates nothing. We are perfectly capable of recognizing what we see.

In reality their first season they got to a play off final. Good season. They can look to their own impatience for the demise of their reasonably decent last manager and so called current plight where they are still well within touching distance of the play offs and only half the season gone. How many teams get relegated and bounce back first time?

Given they’ve won f**k all in decades then perhaps they should just enjoy a new league with new stadiums to visit and more real opposition fan base to engage with rather than the plastics of higher leagues.Rather than creating a toxicity, forcing a relatively decent guy out as owner, and ending up with a genuine devil in charge that the likes of Blackpool and Charlton could reference for them
 
All of the criticisms in this thread are valid, which is a long list of mistakes.

I think the biggest one was Maja, because if Maja stayed for the second half of last season (whether because of offering him a new contract earlier, doing a sell and loan back deal, or just an agreement that he would see out his contract), we would have gone up last season. So strategically that was his biggest balls up for me.
This.

Should have just told him he was staying and banned his agent from all areas.
 
Posted on another thread but in case you missed it - recent post on our site (oxford) talking about stuart

I’ve always found north East fans bizarre. They really do have an insupportable superiority complex that makes them believe you’re privileged to meet them.

This lot have clumsily tumbled down to our level, like many other sides before with slightly above average support like Portsmouth, Blackburn, Man City, and seemingly want us to all be in awe. They are no different except for the sheer levels of delta between reality and expectation. That article is completely devoid of the actual reasons for their anger , just more emotive nonsense about some romanticized ideal of who they claim to be. So what are these awful crimes the owner has committed. He’s had about 18 months to turn around years of engrained failure embedded into the seeds of their dna. Do they understand what it takes to turn a business around? Methven, for all his ills, may be right about the lack of corporate education up there.

1. Stadium sold off?
2. Name and colors changed?
3. Asset stripped?
4. HMRC payments missed?
5. Failure to buy players? (Griggs must be a record at this level and shows huge commitment given debts and operating losses at this level)

They’re actually showing huge ignorance as to the operating costs at this level relative to the lack of tv revenue and commercial revenue. They built this pitiful lower league existence by being part of the premiership money gravy train for so long, suckling on the teet of sky TVs money and ignoring the plight of the lower leagues. Now they reap their reward. Welcome to the other side of the fence you gravy train muppets. Deal with it or change it if you ever rise from league one, which no doubt they will eventually.

What they really need to learn is a dose of humility and recognition of where they are. The article states that those outside the region won’t understand. Another statement laced in self importance and the equivalent of Christians argument of “the greatest trick the devil pulled was making you think he doesn’t exist”. Impossible to disprove but substantiates nothing. We are perfectly capable of recognizing what we see.

In reality their first season they got to a play off final. Good season. They can look to their own impatience for the demise of their reasonably decent last manager and so called current plight where they are still well within touching distance of the play offs and only half the season gone. How many teams get relegated and bounce back first time?

Given they’ve won f**k all in decades then perhaps they should just enjoy a new league with new stadiums to visit and more real opposition fan base to engage with rather than the plastics of higher leagues.Rather than creating a toxicity, forcing a relatively decent guy out as owner, and ending up with a genuine devil in charge that the likes of Blackpool and Charlton could reference for them

That's a load of bitter, ill informed shite, not really worth a response and certainly not worth posting on here
 
Posted on another thread but in case you missed it - recent post on our site (oxford) talking about stuart

I’ve always found north East fans bizarre. They really do have an insupportable superiority complex that makes them believe you’re privileged to meet them.

This lot have clumsily tumbled down to our level, like many other sides before with slightly above average support like Portsmouth, Blackburn, Man City, and seemingly want us to all be in awe. They are no different except for the sheer levels of delta between reality and expectation. That article is completely devoid of the actual reasons for their anger , just more emotive nonsense about some romanticized ideal of who they claim to be. So what are these awful crimes the owner has committed. He’s had about 18 months to turn around years of engrained failure embedded into the seeds of their dna. Do they understand what it takes to turn a business around? Methven, for all his ills, may be right about the lack of corporate education up there.

1. Stadium sold off?
2. Name and colors changed?
3. Asset stripped?
4. HMRC payments missed?
5. Failure to buy players? (Griggs must be a record at this level and shows huge commitment given debts and operating losses at this level)

They’re actually showing huge ignorance as to the operating costs at this level relative to the lack of tv revenue and commercial revenue. They built this pitiful lower league existence by being part of the premiership money gravy train for so long, suckling on the teet of sky TVs money and ignoring the plight of the lower leagues. Now they reap their reward. Welcome to the other side of the fence you gravy train muppets. Deal with it or change it if you ever rise from league one, which no doubt they will eventually.

What they really need to learn is a dose of humility and recognition of where they are. The article states that those outside the region won’t understand. Another statement laced in self importance and the equivalent of Christians argument of “the greatest trick the devil pulled was making you think he doesn’t exist”. Impossible to disprove but substantiates nothing. We are perfectly capable of recognizing what we see.

In reality their first season they got to a play off final. Good season. They can look to their own impatience for the demise of their reasonably decent last manager and so called current plight where they are still well within touching distance of the play offs and only half the season gone. How many teams get relegated and bounce back first time?

Given they’ve won f**k all in decades then perhaps they should just enjoy a new league with new stadiums to visit and more real opposition fan base to engage with rather than the plastics of higher leagues.Rather than creating a toxicity, forcing a relatively decent guy out as owner, and ending up with a genuine devil in charge that the likes of Blackpool and Charlton could reference for them

What an absolute load of shite.

edit; has cm / Kildare Mackem written that?
 
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If I had the wherewithal to purchase the club I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole mind. It will take many millions (with dwindling revenue streams) and 2-3 years to get the club operating effectively.

Unless there’s a billionaire that wants to chuck money at it and those timescales can be reduced significantly.

It’s that old throw away comment isn’t it? The easiest way to become a millionaire? Start of as a billionaire and buy a football club.
 
If I had the wherewithal to purchase the club I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole mind. It will take many millions (with dwindling revenue streams) and 2-3 years to get the club operating effectively.

Unless there’s a billionaire that wants to chuck money at it and those timescales can be reduced significantly.

It’s that old throw away comment isn’t it? The easiest way to become a millionaire? Start of as a billionaire and buy a football club.

rewards are decent if you can be successful.
 
And Donald’s biggest mistake was undoubtedly giving ol’ Charlie free reign.

PR bullshit and a superiority complex.
 
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