Significant investment by FPP has been made

[partridge amongst the pig]

"There’s a large scouting network now being put in place by Tony Coton, including substantial numbers of scouts in this country, Scandanavia and elsewhere."

That's one less thing for the whingers to bawl about.


That's exactly what they're doing according to CM in that interview in the Echo.

All "the whingers" were "bawling" about was the the idea of the scouting network initially being scaled back to the point where it was almost pointless having anything in operation.

The signings since we went down to this division have been scattergun at best. It's been said time and again that you don't need a big pot of money to get out of this league - a big pot of money that SD seemed obsessed about, especially just after the takeover.

What has been proven is that the key to getting back up is sensible recruitment of players who know the league and who can do simple jobs together within a team. Something that our lack of scouting has made very difficult.

Bawl over.

Aye we've only lost a year and a bit of scouting. Great eh? Fancy people bawling about that. It's not like we're midtable in league one.

The club could literally shit in every drawer in your house and you still wouldn't complain.

Basically what I said. In about three hundred less words...

 

[Mackemansj1]

Aye, I’m sure a bunch of billionaires are unsavvy and naive enough to be fooled into investing in those thread when they thought they were investing in SAFC.

They’re probably always getting the wool pulled over their eyes, it’s a wonder Michael Dell lets them manage all his investments.

I’m not saying they are daft but short isn’t either sliver tongued Quinny sweet talked him and he dove into a space he had zero knowledge of and made a pigs ear of it. They’ve had dealings in other sports haven’t they? Which might help them, but just saying well they’ve got loads of money they ain’t daft etc might not be true if it’s a space they know nowt about. Maybe this is them dipping the toe in, learning the ins and outs and then if all goes well they will fully try to takeover.

 

[fyl2u]

Not if those making the footballing decisions continue to fail, which then results in us NOT getting promoted this season.

Well, we'll have to wait and see on that front, won't we?

For the time being, this seems like a very positive thing happening on the financial side of the club, with an apparent plan in place for it to be used to improve the sides of the club that currently seem most lacking - increasing our scouting network and improving academy recruitment and bringing in more academy coaches.

Considering how poorly our U23 and U18 teams have been doing, I'm all for an improvement happening there that will hopefully benefit us at some point in the future, especially while "massively expanding our scouting network" to hopefully improve the standard of players coming into our first team.

It's a good day. Let's enjoy it!

 

[Deleted member 7101]

Aye we've only lost a year and a bit of scouting. Great eh? Fancy people bawling about that. It's not like we're midtable in league one.

The club could literally shit in every drawer in your house and you still wouldn't complain.

I don't think there is any dispute that the scouting,recruitment and the Academy development has been poor for some considerable time. What is not so certain is whether or not the people working in those areas are not up to the job or whether they have been restricted in their efficiency by fiscal and other constraints.
Whilst we don't yet know the details,it seems as though this investment will be specifically targeting these clearly underachieving areas. If that is correct it may be that it enables performances from all concerned to be significantly improved.? I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
That said, we can't focus all our attention on it....we have to get out of this league this year, and January may be interesting.

 

[fyl2u]

All "the whingers" were "bawling" about was the the idea of the scouting network initially being scaled back to the point where it was almost pointless having anything in operation.

The signings since we went down to this division have been scattergun at best. It's been said time and again that you don't need a big pot of money to get out of this league - a big pot of money that SD seemed obsessed about, especially just after the takeover.

What has been proven is that the key to getting back up is sensible recruitment of players who know the league and who can do simple jobs together within a team. Something that our lack of scouting has made very difficult.

Bawl over.

They were essentially bawling that their prime steak wasn't cooked yet, when they'd actually only just put it in the pan and hadn't even lit the gas yet.

Patience. It's good for your heart.

 

[partridge amongst the pig]

If the original intent was to make us financially stable by cutting everything back to bare bones so that they could rebuild it themselves with a firm plan in mind and the right people in the right jobs, then I can't see what the problem is. The club was haemorrhaging money a couple of years ago. It needed to be cut back to the point of being able to pay for itself in order to look good for investors. We now have the investors we were coveting and because of their input we can start building things back up again.

Patience, man. It's a virtue, and it gets rewarded. The club has a plan here. The bumpy bit is almost over. Chill out and enjoy the rest of the ride.

If you want to lose weight you don't starve yourself entirely otherwise you'll end up with a few other serious problems. You cut back and adopt a sensible diet.

The club seemed to massively scale back it's scouting and then spent millions on a demotivated name in an act of blind faith to try and get us promotion. If this was part of the plan it wasn't a particularly sensible one.

 

[hudson88]

“In recent months, Richard Hill and Tony Coton [Head of Recruitment] have understandably but unfairly taken a lot of flak for having to manage, on their own, a very complex and difficult situation.

“It’s been about taking a step back to try and take two forward and that’s why this investment is important, so we can get on the front foot in these areas.

“I’d ask that people judge the results of Richard and Tony’s work over a 3 year period, not making them take the blame for a structure that simply had to go.”


Quotes from Methven. Hill and Coton are staying put.

Which is fair enough, if they’ve still done a shit job when they’ve actually had some money then I’m sure a few people having a pop on here or twitter will be the very least of their worries. Same as with SD and CM.

However, people are still quite rightly concerned that those at the club being tasked with spending this investment on the infrastructure etc don’t seem to have done very well over the last 18 months. Now this may be due to stripping everything back and not having a pot to piss in behind the scenes, but it still gives justifiable concerns.

That doesn’t make people Mags, WUMs or bellends. It means they have a different opinion on certain people at the club. It doesn’t mean they want this to fail either. I have huge concerns, but hopefully I’m wrong and this is the 1st step to us getting back into the top flight and being competitive rather than just making up the numbers whilst leaking money left right and centre. And as always, I (and others with concerns) will be behind the team tomorrow

 

[ab 65]

Is it OK if I have reservations about the blokes tasked with using this investment wisely?

amen

 

[fyl2u]

If you want to lose weight you don't starve yourself entirely otherwise you'll end up with a few other serious problems. You cut back and adopt a sensible diet.

The club seemed to massively scale back it's scouting and then spent millions on a demotivated name in an act of blind faith to try and get us promotion. If this was part of the plan it wasn't a particularly sensible one.

Owning a company and wanting to lose weight are two very different things. If anything it's more like repainting the walls inside your house. You have a choice, just paint over the top of the stuff that's there, which is quicker and cheaper but will mean you'll suffer greater problems in the future, or you can strip the existing paper and start again, which takes longer and costs you slightly more money at first but means that things will be better in the future.

Both are acceptable routes with their own pros and cons. They've taken the latter route. That's fine with me.

 

[deleted user 785]

If the original intent was to make us financially stable by cutting everything back to bare bones so that they could rebuild it themselves with a firm plan in mind and the right people in the right jobs, then I can't see what the problem is. The club was haemorrhaging money a couple of years ago. It needed to be cut back to the point of being able to pay for itself in order to look good for investors. We now have the investors we were coveting and because of their input we can start building things back up again.

Patience, man. It's a virtue, and it gets rewarded. The club has a plan here. The bumpy bit is almost over. Chill out and enjoy the rest of the ride.

Call me old fashioned but having a good football team is beneficial to the club. Good scouting can help that, it can make the club money. To nigh on render it useless for a year is nonsensical. We've now ended up with a very average league one squad.

Oh and give it a rest with the patience bollocks. We've been piss poor for years and I'm utterly sick of watching boring football with players seemingly signed with no fore thought. You lap it up though as you seem to think everything is fine

 

[Wansbeck Viking]

Which is fair enough, if they’ve still done a shit job when they’ve actually had some money then I’m sure a few people having a pop on here or twitter will be the very least of their worries. Same as with SD and CM.

However, people are still quite rightly concerned that those at the club being tasked with spending this investment on the infrastructure etc don’t seem to have done very well over the last 18 months. Now this may be due to stripping everything back and not having a pot to piss in behind the scenes, but it still gives justifiable concerns.

That doesn’t make people Mags, WUMs or bellends. It means they have a different opinion on certain people at the club. It doesn’t mean they want this to fail either. I have huge concerns, but hopefully I’m wrong and this is the 1st step to us getting back into the top flight and being competitive rather than just making up the numbers whilst leaking money left right and centre. And as always, I (and others with concerns) will be behind the team tomorrow

Spot on mate.

People get shot down too easily for simply voicing their concerns. I’m over the moon this investment is happening but at the same time cautious to how it will be spent.

 

[fyl2u]

Call me old fashioned but having a good football team is beneficial to the club. Good scouting can help that, it can make the club money. To nigh on render it useless for a year is nonsensical. We've now ended up with a very average league one squad.

Oh and give it a rest with the patience bollocks. We've been piss poor for years and I'm utterly sick of watching boring football with players seemingly signed with no fore thought. You lap it up though as you seem to think everything is fine

You're absolutely right, good scouting can help that, but are you saying our scouting system was good before SD and CM bought the club? IMO it needed tearing down and rebuilding, and that's what's happened.

As someone that enjoys being an SAFC fan regardless of what division we're in, I'm all in favour of them overhauling anything that needs overhauling even if it means a couple of seasons down here in League 1 while we adjust things. It doesn't make me angry that we're down here, as I still love being an SAFC fan. In my opinion, we should thank the skies that we've got owners in charge that actually seem to have a plan, a desire to change things for the better and the financial acumen to be able to bring in hugely rich investors.

What we were doing before SD and CM came in certainly wasn't working. More of this sort of thing, I say!

 

[JVokes]

Spot on mate.

People get shot down too easily for simply voicing their concerns. I’m over the moon this investment is happening but at the same time cautious to how it will be spent.

100% i just want the investment to be used wisely, but at the same time the isn’t anything wrong with voicing our concerns with the recent 18 months, not like anything we say on here will change what happens at the club.

 

[deleted user 785]

You're absolutely right, good scouting can help that, but are you saying our scouting system was good before SD and CM bought the club? IMO it needed tearing down and rebuilding, and that's what's happened.

As someone that enjoys being an SAFC fan regardless of what division we're in, I'm all in favour of them overhauling anything that needs overhauling even if it means a couple of seasons down here in League 1 while we adjust things. It doesn't make me angry that we're down here, as I still love being an SAFC fan. In my opinion, we should thank the skies that we've got owners in charge that actually seem to have a plan, a desire to change things for the better and the financial acumen to be able to bring in hugely rich investors.

What we were doing before SD and CM came in certainly wasn't working. More of this sort of thing, I say!

Cut back on scouting after paying 200k for new seats, massively over spending on Grigg.
Scouting should have been a priority. No ifs or buts. Its inexcusable imo

 

[Lord Potts]

Blimey and EIGHT figure investment! So that will be £99,999,999 then.

 

[fyl2u]

Cut back on scouting after paying 200k for new seats, massively over spending on Grigg.
Scouting should have been a priority. No ifs or buts. Its inexcusable imo

INEXCUSABLE!!!!!!



Get a grip of yourself man. Chill out and enjoy a good day for the club without picking everything apart for something to moan at for a change. You'll feel better for it.

 

[Teed]

I heard at work that the figure is £50m.

Said in the Echo that it's a figure approaching £10. so probably $10m

 

[deleted user 785]

Blimey and EIGHT figure investment! So that will be £99,999,999 then.

Or 10m

INEXCUSABLE!!!!!!



Get a grip of yourself man. Chill out and enjoy a good day for the club without picking everything apart for something to moan at for a change. You'll feel better for it.

You're happy with it, well done. You're a great fan.

 

[G Force]

“In recent months, Richard Hill and Tony Coton [Head of Recruitment] have understandably but unfairly taken a lot of flak for having to manage, on their own, a very complex and difficult situation.

“It’s been about taking a step back to try and take two forward and that’s why this investment is important, so we can get on the front foot in these areas.

“I’d ask that people judge the results of Richard and Tony’s work over a 3 year period, not making them take the blame for a structure that simply had to go.”


Quotes from Methven. Hill and Coton are staying put.

What’s that got to do with us not hiring players to compliment the balance of our squad, or with the right raw tools.
Our recruitment has continued from the days of Short of signing a player and then us trying to work out where they play, ending up with players out of position, or being stuck with too many with similar abilities. The squad is still woefully unbalanced. The plan has seemingly been to sign freebies from the championship or players who have been part of a promotion winning squad rather than their individual merit. Really only Willis, O’Nien and Dobson have gone against that.

Absolute cop out that statement.

Like Parkinson we can do nothing but hope they turn out well. We’ve no choice but to back them, support and hope yet again. We’ve been there with money but with the wrong people making the decisions before

 

[fyl2u]

You're happy with it, well done. You're a great fan.

I am happy. The club is on stronger footing than they were this time last week, with a firm plan in place to improve overall recruitment and youth development that explains why things were cut back so much in the first place.

Why would you want to be angry? It's bad for you, and it's also a choice! Just choose not to be angry. It's easy! Life is good!