I think Schopp would be highly offended with such a comparison given our CEO's performance in that interview.
It shows they were on the radar, due to us being successful. But would the same players, playing a better style of football, have been on their radar and encouraged bids regardless of where we were in the table? Any success brings with it scouts, and scouts won't give a player one game to prove themselves. So was it that after 5/6 games nobody felt compelled to make an offer that us as fans, or the club, would have been happy with? We're also talking potential bids, but some comments in this thread have suggested we had bids.
Just ..flash in the pan.. season, a one off. Other clubs must have thought the same not coming in for any of our players. And been proved right this season by how they've performed. I'm not backing Conway or even a fan.. But ..The Plan works better at a lower level. That's where we as a club are and have been for a while
I didn’t mind the interview too much, he was a little too upfront about the measure of success - that was depressing to hear if not entirely shocking. It seems like a sustainable business model for us is in league one unless we can magic another 5k-10k fans from somewhere.
The guy comes across as completely inept. Has done in every interview/meeting he's done in my opinion. Contradicts himself, says things that are blatantly untrue, uses meaningless soundbites, doesn't seem to know anything that's going off at the club or that the customers en masse are asking him and generally comes across awfully and massively out of his depth. I wouldn't put him in charge of running the raffle at the dog and duck yet he's somehow got in charge of a multi million pound player sales company.
I wouldn't have any confidence in him if he was stood on the Car Park shouting "Half time draw. Parnd a go"
They didn’t choose us, we chose them, we were the only ones who accepted their bids, Hull, Middlesbrough & Brentford we’re ahead of us in their pecking order and they are just ones I know of.
I wouldn't be surprised to find they're using scanners to take money from cards in people's pocket as they walk throughout the stadium
They got rid of Nice because Jim Ratcliffe was desperate to get hold, and they were due to repay a loan taken out at a very punitive rate of interest. Allegedly. In summary, they lucked out.
Brentford didn't operate anywhere near as similar a plan. Similar stats based recruitment but that's about it.
They owe their owner a significant sum. Not saying their scouting isn't tip-top, it obviously is but without him they'd be League 1 or 2. They aren't sustainable without him.
Those that have been around a long time will know that this was the policy of the then Chairman Sir Joe Richardsback in the 50s and 60s. That nearly didn't end well. The saleable player seam became exhausted at about the same time as the Barnsley Bed. Yes we are going to have to sell players because we always have done to balance the books but we need to sell those who are going to the top e.g. Stones. Our plan did not ought to be but for £0.5m sell for £1.0m with a quick turnover. We need to build a team that can compete at our current level. This will require a lower turnover of players. Fans do not see making money by selling players as success.
They also wouldn't be able to afford some of the players they've recruited if they weren't spending 130% of their revenue on wages. That idiot from Leeds on £30k a week when you're a Championship club with crowds of 10,000. Proper model that.