Only cos he's too old to sell, otherwise we'd be cashing in and scouring the non-league sides for a raw young newsbot.
Some of us are old enough to remember when we played at 3pm on a Saturday. Eeee, those were the days... Now it's Sundays, Fridays, Wednesdays... any day bar Saturday.
I’ve been talking about lack of communication for years. And it all stems from listening to what Radio Sheffield had to say about Ben Mansford. A few times I heard them say how good Mansford was for Barnsley - always made himself available to talk to the media - which promotes the club at every opportunity and also its great for the fans - that creates a bridge between the club and the fans with up to date information. A CEO has to be capable of promoting the club and building bridges between the club and fans. We have had nothing that comes anywhere near Mansford since he left the club. I also find it strange that he is disliked by many on here - saying that he was a poor CEO. If he was so poor - how come Leeds offered him a huge wage increase to move to Leeds ???
I agree certainly the best communicator we have had as CEO/General Manager. Some would say we heard too much from him but I disagree. Leeds fans also seemed to like him and given he was appointed by Cellino that is probably testament to him doing a similar job there. I think Blackpool have done well appointing him and Linton Brown as commercial director.
If he was so good, how come Leeds didn't keep him when they changed owners and he had to venture far to Maccabi Haifa to get a job? He certainly mastered the phrase "our magnificent fans".... but that makes a good CEO not.
Which shows he couldn't cut through his effectiveness under new scrutiny. I cant deny he was moderately likeable and his walk that put him in hospital, you have to give him huge credit. But apart from propping up Flitcrofts disastrous start to a season, the beyond disastrous recruiting of Frimpong et al and his 6 week radio silence through Little Lees epic losing run... aside from telling the fans they were fantastic... what did he do well exactly?
Got to say i disagree with your evaluations of Steele, Ramage, Cranie and O'Grady. - Steele was a quality keeper, and to fetch up his post Barnsley career when he's consistently played at a level above Barnsley is a bit daft. - Cranie likewise, Played premier league football since he left us and is now at a team above us in the table while getting games. - O'Grady may be seen as a bit limited but was a very good striker for us, did his job and got goals. Then he ended up moving to a club in a better position in every sense in Brighton.
He was, in my opinion, a very good press officer. What you have described is in the remit of that position. We could certainly do with another like him. Whether or not he was a good CEO - I couldn't comment as I'm not privvy to anything that would allow me to assess his performance in that position.
Okay, if I concede we had a better goalie - although I don't think he was, that still leaves 10 outfield players, I'll concede Cranie and at a push Ramage would add to this team now, but the rest? Come on, have a word, you'd play Mellis over Mowatt? Or O'Grady over Woodrow? Or Tom Kennedy over anyone who can lace a pair of boots? So you can have 3 players from that team, 3 from 11 would be in with a shout, so which is the worse side?
As I say, I'll give you 3 from the 11, which still leaves 8 players, you're not picking O'Grady infront of Woodrow I presume?
I think we've had 38 or 39 managers since 1961 when I started watching them. To me, thats a lot of managers in 58 years. As poor managers go you'd be hard pressed to beat McSeveney Iley Anderson Spackman, worst of a bad bunch for me. More so because he was an outstanding player and had good ideas on how to play the game properly. But he didn't. Hart Morais.
Perhaps that's the Chinese way. (Waits for Level 42 jokes). Inscrutably silent or quietly clueless. Hmmmm I wonder which.
