Will Still interview in the Athletic

[Rick O Shea]

Well if that's the case why did they not just stick with Dodds till end of season before getting Beale ?

Better drama for the next season of Netflix (I'm sure there'll be one, regardless of what they're saying at the moment).

 

[mart]

Despite all the waffle about us not being ambitious in this thread.
I suspect Still would jump at the chance to come to a club like us with the structure we have in place.

 

[Get Into Em]

He’ll end up somewhere like Hull or West Brom, clubs that actually make an attempt to get promoted.

If they don't get promoted, they're fucked. Both of them.

That's not ambition, that's laziness from their boards to put the clubs future at risk in the hope of securing a massive bit of revenue from the Premier League. It's something that a countless number of other clubs have done in the past, and something that has set a countless number of other clubs back several years. Sometimes even worse that just setting them back when looking at clubs like Derby/Reading.

Hull, for example, have just published accounts in which they have Operating Losses of £21,000,000 for 22/23 season. Their wages are/were +130% of their turnover - it's likely more now given their big name signings that will undoubtably be on large wages. That's unsustainable, no matter how rich, or ambitious their owners are. FFP doesn't allow them to sustain that level of expenditure.

It's absolutely staggering to me that anyone would be envious of this, or point to these clubs as examples of clubs with 'ambition', despite this 'ambition' being a clear disguise of the owner(s) gambling with the clubs' future.

 

[Robanner]

Next appointment will certainly tell us a lot about the ambition of the owner. If it’s some no mark like Heckingbottom it’s not going to go down well with the fanbase.

It surely has being Dodds until the end of the season with the aim of ending up as high in the league as we can…..

 

[Shandy drinker]

Will will still still come here

 

[MonkeyLove]

It’s a bit of a come and get me plea.

But I wonder if his star has fallen a bit. I notice that Reims have only picked up 2 points out of the last 12.

His prominence out of nowhere was based on his superb record last season. I don’t know enough about French Football to know what par is for Reims but I think he went 13 unbeaten last season and they beat PSG which anyone can say is impressive. Are they still performing as well or are they more now at what would be expected.

 

[Wearside Wanderer II]

So basically it's about opinions based on no evidence whatsoever?

The only evidence is that he was given a two and a half years contract, but we should give Speakman the benefit of the doubt that he may have included a clause we know nothing about and that Beale was a stop gap?

Yes, exactly that, would be silly to assume we are paying him up his 28 months left.

 

[one footed wonder]

Don’t get this selling club malarkey being used as a stick to beat the club it is sadly the reality for every club in the world bar maybe a handful.

The critical point is how you replace and being prepared to invest in replacements that what this fella will be on about.

depending on his criteria of what replacing/investing well looks like it could rule him out aye but selling players won’t be what he is talking about in terms of his frustrations with Reims transfer policy in my opinion

 

[Get Into Em]

Don’t get this selling club malarkey being used as a stick to beat the club it is sadly the reality for every club in the world bar maybe a handful.

The critical point is how you replace and being prepared to invest in replacements that what this fella will be on about.

depending on his criteria of what replacing/investing well looks like it could rule him out aye but selling players won’t be what he is talking about in terms of his frustrations with Reims transfer policy in my opinion

You quite literally need to sell players if you want to progress. FFP doesn't allow clubs (or most clubs, it seems) to just pump money into transfers.

It's a boring, lazy, unbacked argument to have a dig at the club.

 

[tynevalleyblackcat]

Yeah, and a manager is the most important signing a club can make.

So why are we so shit at it?

Our system does not require a manager. It requires a head coach.

 

[Mercia Blackcat]

Yes, exactly that, would be silly to assume we are paying him up his 28 months left.

That's not the point being made though is it which was that if someone is wilfully being employed as a 6 month stop gap then being offered a 30 month contract is deception.

 

[zebedee]

I really don't get why everyone is so excited by the idea of this football manager whippersnapper of a coach coming to a massive club like ours

 

[Safc88]

Might just be me but spunds like hes touting himself all over

Canny bad crack when the club he currently manages gave him his first chance and were paying big fines not long ago for him to manage

 

[Kenna]

I really don't get why everyone is so excited by the idea of this football manager whippersnapper of a coach coming to a massive club like ours

Let's get Mic Mac on the phone instead

 

[mackembulldog]

things.

Professional… probably not for us then Sorry quote didn’t work

 

[Howard the Duck]

Might just be me but spunds like hes touting himself all over

Canny bad crack when the club he currently manages gave him his first chance and were paying big fines not long ago for him to manage

I don't like the way he touts himself about whilst still in a job (it would bother me massively if a SAFC manager did that) but Reims haven't treated him well at all at times so I'm not sure how much loyalty he owes them. They were paying his fines but that was basically in lieu of a decent/competitive salary for a Ligue 1 coach so he was effectively paying them himself. I can't remember the exact details but didn't they sack their previous manager (to whom Still was assistant) because he was absent as his daughter was basically dying and then didn't allow Still to resign in solidarity due to some contractual clauses that would mean he'd owe them a fortune?

 

[Wearside Wanderer II]

That's not the point being made though is it which was that if someone is wilfully being employed as a 6 month stop gap then being offered a 30 month contract is deception.

Of course it’s deceptive, I don’t think they really thought he was here long term.
It was all skewed when Dodds said he didn’t want it till season end in December, now play offs look unlikely it’s more of a easier job just told on with no pressure.

 

[Mantobar]

How's that Italian Nice fellow going on

 

[Alfa]

Still would represent more of a gamble than Beale. He’s got absolutely no experience of managing in England (bar Preston U14’s) which wouldn’t be a huge red flag in itself but he’s got very little experience as a number 1 full stop.

 

[riffraff]

But I wonder if his star has fallen a bit. I notice that Reims have only picked up 2 points out of the last 12.

Half a team at AFCON plus a couple have been sold last summer with no real effort to replace them I believe.

He’d be a risk and I think it’s a risk a PL club wouldn’t be prepared to take. There’s more upside to a Championship club taking a chance but it’s one helluva financial risk for a PL club to take. I’m thinking go get him.
I’ve be droning on for 40yrs about SAFC needing to try something different to the norm because there’ll always be clubs financially or geographically placed to beat us to our targets.

Yes, exactly that, would be silly to assume we are paying him up his 28 months left.

Post Curbishley one year is industry standard. Of course the bigger name managers and/or desperate clubs come to their own arrangements. I think Beale sat down at the casino table with a bad hand. It’s even worse now.