Duff linked to Swansea

Hope I don't get attacked by a mechanical fish...

 

Based on the fact we lost Ismael to WBA on 24/06 so we are in the same window of then trying to find a new head coach when most teams are now preparing for pre-season we actually appointed Schopp on the 29/06 so I guess that means we need to take the time and get the appointment right but this then is probably going to have a knock on to our player recruitment also.

 

Every time I get frustrated that duff is probably leaving I just remind myself that while he's undoubtedly a good manager he isn't perfect. He's also the guy who played Josh Martin and Jon Russell nearly 40 times between them. We've had far far worse managers but we've also had managers just as good and will again.

If he chooses to leave to join the first team that offers him a job then I don't blame him one bit, it's more money isn't it. But it also means he's not quite the man I thought he was.

I wish him nothing but the best but as a club we have gone through much worse than losing a manager

 

He was pro lockdown as well, the tw4t

 

But the appointment of Schopp was a result of Conway completely disregarding the usual recruitment model, don’t think that will happen again. We also lost assistant coach, head physio, head of sports science and various others that summer as well. That can’t be allowed to happen now.

 

Well I hope we have learnt from.past mistakes

 

He's full of *****

 

possibly but I always got the impression he knew what the deal was, in fact, he quite often referred to the clubs model in accepting we would sell players.

I did actually wonder if he was referring to himself when he said it more recently.

It’s difficult to draw any other conclusion than he was talking ***** in his first interview and has just been offered a load of cash…..

which I don’t blame him for, and also, perhaps that’s an irrational and emotional reaction from me. He had raised expectations due to his phenomenal management in the last 30 games or so.
Bad start (which would have been possible without Anderson and Thomas) and he might think he would come under pressure….

I guess the reality is somewhere in between all of this.

my overriding feeling is one of disappointment as a think we were on the verge of something pretty special under him. He was a perfect match for the values of the club.

 

I'm over him now, like going out and shagging your ex-missus best mate. Good luck to him but we've been here before Wilson, Ismael and Struber all thought the grass was greener in recent times.

Important to keep the bulk of the side together and make another promotion push, we support Barnsley FC not Michael Duff.

 

Sadly so and at a time when others are seemingly signing players at record pace - there's already been over 40 transfers into League 1 clubs from other EFL clubs announced and clubs like Bolton and Portsmouth are right at the forefront.

Even more frustrating given that any reasoned analysis of our not gaining promotion last season would point to the time it took us to get up and running at full speed as compared to Plymouth. There's no doubt at all that by March we were the second best team in the division (behind Ipswich) but the fact that it had taken us to November to get players up to speed and fully integrated into Duff's system gave us too big a margin to catch up. Plymouth, as we know to our cost, were fully up and running from game 1.

So we have a long way to go, again, in a short space of time. It's all made trebly frustrating by the fact that this is probably going to be the season where there is the best opportunity to get out of this division in and for a while. Derby are still in flux and the three teams relegated hold no particular fear for me. I hope the Board get this but fear they may not given the apparent lack of strategic nous (amongst other things) at CEO and the apparent rigid adherence to dogmatic policies.

Surely the owners don't want to keep losing upwards of £6m a year by missing out on the best opportunity to get out of this division? A permanent residence at this L1 level can only be sustained with them pumping in huge sums each season or by swingeing and drastic cuts to non-first team costs, that much is financially obvious.

When he goes I'd like the Board to be able to say that we (1) offered Duff a significantly improved contract, (2) had equivalent players lined up to ensure that any departures including key loans like Thomas were offset, and (3) had players lined up to enable the marginal improvement needed on last year's team - ie strikers - to be in place. If that's done then I can focus my personal ire solely on Duff.

If not then there will always be something for me about whether one of the things Duff was doing was reacting to having a potentially weakened deck of cards to play with here next season through no fault of his own. We also know that Khaled's record through at least three windows now is one of going at a snail's pace and/or not getting the positions we need, coming to a head for Duff when he had to intervene, hold a crisis meeting with Khaled and pull strings at Burnley to bring in Thomas before he was left high and dry for centre halves when Edwards and Cundy were both injured in short order on the back of McCarthy's long term absence.

So whilst there are people through this thread saying don't blame the club without knowing the facts I think where I am is that I'm not going to blame Duff either without knowing the full facts.

Noting that he hasn't yet officially gone but assuming that in the real world he will then the club needs to get it's act together swiftly so that we aren't playing catch-up from too far behind again.

 

Beautifully summarised and 100% accurate.

 

Maybe his exciting news was Duff will be leaving. To be fair, he didn't say it was exciting in a good way. With a thread that's currently up to 45 pages, you can't deny the news has sparked interest.

 

I can't keep up with this thread. The posts are appearing faster than baby rabbits. Every time I come back to it there's another 5 or 6 pages.

I wouldn't mind, but it's like wading through treacle.

 

The board doesn't have any proper footballing knowledge, the only one just, is Khaled who appointed Poya and very nearly went with JFH...... Dropped lucky with Duff but I'm not convinced he is good enough and we need better in that department if we are to progress as a club

 

Well documented that Poya came very close to be appointed instead of Val before Khaled was even at the club.

 

Khaled El-Ahmad, Barnsley FC Chief Executive Officer, said: “We welcome Poya and Ferran to the Club. Both are good people, talented coaches with a clear leadership and tactical philosophy.

“Poya was on the radar back in 2019 and as we went through our recruitment process it became clear to all parties that Poya and Ferran can take Barnsley FC forward.

 

Still don’t get how the “data driven” approach can produce such varied results as Stendel, Ismael and Duff compared to Schopp, Asbaghi and Morais…

 

Clueless, which I can forgive but it's the mistruths that have been a common theme throughout his tenure

 

My mistake it was Struber appointed instead.

 

All the reports this morning are saying Duff is likely to take a few of the backroom staff from here with him. I really hope Disco isn't one of them. I'm not saying I'd put him in charge full time, but having him around gives some sort of continuity.