[Official Site] CLUB STATEMENT - VALÉRIEN ISMAËL

and so it begins.....

 

I thought we were going to be last season's Hull?

 

how very true!!

 

Unfortunately the baggies look ready to Chuck some prem cash about so I wouldn’t be surprised if Val wanted Helik, styles, woodrow and Morris. So I’m wondering which ones he’ll land. Btw I reckon he’ll already have mowatt.

 

You're wasted on here. Should be on stage at the end of a pier somewhere.

 

After last season, Val leaving has always had an air of inevitability about it. Our club is no different to any other in that regard.
Its employees will seek progression if that brings with it more money and perceived career development. Football fans have become conditioned to it. Whether it's Hazard leaving Chelsea for Real Madrid or Devante Cole leaving Motherwell for Barnsley. Whether it's Brendan Rogers leaving Celtic for Leicester or Ismael leaving Barnsley for WBA.
There is no one club loyalty or mentality in football anymore. Whilst that's sad and whilst us fans might crave it, we dont expect it anymore......
......and for those on here that have / will use this as yet another opportunity to give the club / its owners another kicking, this move by VI isn't at the behest of our club. He is the one who wanted to leave.
The people who stay at the club will take this in their stride because they're professionals. Whether they work in Reception, the Comms Team, or the coaching team, they will want to see us succeed next season.
The players who stay have been dedicated and committed to the club during their time with us. They've been growing and developing with us. For as long as they stay I'm sure they will continue to to show the same dedication and commitment. They will move on in time also but its not in their interest to give less than 100% while they're here.
Many on here won't like the fact that we have to trust the Board to make another good appointment. I do.
In adversity we will continue to find strength.

 

Completely agree that it is not the clubs fault, and tbh can’t entirely criticise Val. Even though I think West Brom may not be the amazing prospect he thinks.

There are some examples of dedication and commitment out there though. Think Vardy for Leicester and Grealish for Villa. Both have been touted by “bigger” clubs. Both have opted for now to stay.

 

It's disappointing, largely because he will be missed but also because he was here for less than a season. He didn't stick around long enough to see what could happen.

I wonder, was it really a necessary move? Yes, West Brom are a larger club with greater funding but Barnsley finished fifth and that was with the poor start that he had no control over. Even accounting for the opposition getting to grips with how to counter the tactics, a similar if not better points haul is possible. Our young squad is another year older, their stocks very much on the rise. Young Toby still hasn't completed a full Championship season. With the likes of Morris for the entire season and the addition of Cole and perhaps some new recruits with that two million plus whatever they had put aside anyway the squad could be in a stronger position than ever.

Add in the fact that there is an off chance that West Brom will struggle with the drop down with players leaving and becoming restless as we know can happen. They could do a Bournemouth. Add also the possibility that the existing West Brom players might not buy into those tactics or be fit and young enough to pull them off.

In summary, I reckon he's barely better off, from a footballing perspective at least. Even the lure of money makes less sense to a coach, where it is less about making hay while the sun shines, short career etc. and more about developing a reputation and so having a very long career.

The silver lining for Barnsley is there is continuity. Val's tactics have been demonstrated and proven. The remaining coaching staff and players will be bought into it and can carry on implementing it. So long as a new coach doesn't come in and undo all the work in a bid to stamp their mark on the football, which I doubt will happen, we should be fine. Stendel introduced the press, Struber shored up the defence, Ismael eliminated the farting around... each contributed and the lessons should persist.

 

Name them.

 

Red Rain for one!

 

Let me get this straight. I am not for passing for the sake of it. I am all for passing, but passing should be passing with a purpose. That is only possible if you have players in space, be that players in wide positions in space, or players ahead of the ball in space. If you are to get that, you need plenty of movement, and of course you need good passers. There is no question that we would all prefer to see that, but there is a question about what you do when you do not have those things, when the opposition cover your movement and when there is no-one in space. VI solved that problem by instructing his player to hit the ball long and into the open spaces, often beyond the opposition defensive line. His team then pushed forward quickly as a unit. They tried to win the ball back high with their press. It was more effective than I expected, but it was ugly. It relied upon us being able to change the whole of the pressing unit after an hour, because although the players were fitter, they were not super-human. I did not enjoy it, and I said so. But I also do not enjoy the attempts to draw the opposition forward and create the space to play in between their lines, that passing the ball along the line of the back 4 represents. It is boring, and it is how Southgate's England are currently trying to play.

Like many others on the BBS, you are insisting that it is an either / or situation. That either we play one way, or we have to play another. There are lots of ways to play the game, even if our owners insist on the press. Our last 3 coaches all played the press, but they all played the game in different ways. Of the 3, I preferred Struber's way, but I am convinced that there are still many new ways out there. So let us have no more of this either / or talk. Let us have open minds to what the next coach brings. Let us give him time, let us try to understand what he is trying to do, and let us not turn against him if results take a while to come because he is trying to change the way that the team plays. If performances are right, results will come in time.

 

Did he say he preferred tippy tappy football?

 

Say what you want about RR, he’s stuck to his guns, plenty of people now saying “the football was sht anyway.” were no doubt involved in the pile on RR suffered earlier.

 

I still haven't got over Bobby Doyle leaving so still a bit to go before I'm sorry Vals left

 

Let’s not kid ourselves that the club aren’t happy with the situation. This is why the buyout clause is in the contract. We’ve not just made a big profit on a head coach but he’s also added a lot of value to players like Anderson, Helik, Brittain, Styles & maybe even Morris, Woodrow, Palmer & Sibbick too. It’s a deal that’s worked out well for everyone.

Just be realistic about the situation. A former player who played for Bayern Munich & went for big fees & will no doubt have earned big money in his career has not left his family behind to earn the kind of money Barnsley can offer him. He’s come here to use us a stepping stone. He’s after going to the top & I’ve no doubt his aim will be to do well with West Brom & then move on to an even bigger club. The club will know that & so do any fans with a bit of common sense.

I see posts about loyalty but what loyalty do we show players & coaches? What loyalty do players we sign show their previous clubs who we sign them from? It’s just the game. If Mowatt & a couple of others leave & we were in a relegation battle there’s a good chance Val would be sacked. It happened with Stendel. What loyalty did we show the likes of Jordan Clark who turned down Man City to stay with us & then we release him a couple of seasons later? I remember us turning down bids from Crystal Palace for Matt Done only to release him a year later. Didn’t show him any loyalty after denying him a huge move. We release players all the time that show us loyalty but we don’t care because we don’t see them as good enough.

 

I've got to say. The huge pivot I've seen in the last 24hrs regarding our playing style has been a thing of wonder.

 

There’s not really a pivot. Just those that didn’t like it are now more vocal about it and those that liked it no longer have a reason to defend it…

I enjoyed the football, I’m disappointed he’s left, but I’m not going to suddenly say the football was **** and I’m not going to go around defending his style now that he’s no longer our manager, there’s no point.

 

I wish him well, I think he did a brilliant job & was 100% committed to doing the best job he could for us while he was here which is all I can ask of a manager.

I don’t agree with some that he took over a bad side or that he stopped us from been in a relegation battle.

I felt we were always too good for that & would finish mid table, probably a season like Luton’s. We’d shown mid table form under Struber & had a lot of promising young players & apart from Brown didn’t lose anyone of any note last summer.

I only thought the season badly because everyone knew Struber was off & there was a lot of uncertainty over Mowatt & Woodrow.

Having said that he still did a fantastic job. I don’t know many times where a Barnsley manager has got about 20 points more than I expected them to. Most of the time we tend to finish in a place that tallies up with our budget.

He clearly had a knack for changing a game, his subs were nearly always well timed & the correct one. I think one of the biggest difficulties in moving to a bigger club will be getting big players to buy into not starting every week or coming off earlier in a game like he managed with Dike, Morris & Woodrow but that’s nothing I need to worry about.

As for style of play it wasn’t nearly as bad as some have made out. Yes there were some crap games but think back to when we’ve been good in league one & teams come to shut up shop & hoof it long. There’s been some stinkers. It’s a compliment to us that teams couldn’t cope with our pressing style & had to resort to hoofing it long as they couldn’t play through us.

And the away wins at Brentford & Bournemouth were outstanding. Memorable wins where we played brilliant football.

 

No pivot from me; I've always thought, and said on here, that the football wasn't particularly good to watch. I'm as fickle as the next fan, so would have taken those wins all day long, but bar the odd bright spot, I won't miss the kick-and-rush.

 

I think when someone is your coach you see the positives especially when they are winning games but once they’ve left you can be a bit more objective. You can also try and see the potential for good in perhaps going in a slightly different direction.