I'd heard the uni friends story too, Jay. Wouldn't surprise me if Sormaz was dropped in without due process. Feels like there's a bit of a culture of mates' rates when it comes to recruitment at the club.
Yeah but see what I mean. Communication from flatman has been diabolical. Nobody has got a clue what's going on and the club can't even be arsed to update minutes of the fab meetings
I'd be far more likely to believe claims of jobs for the boys if Sormaz was a friend of Neerav. The guy who is actually funding it all. As it stands the story goes that Sormaz was given the job because he was an old uni friend of James Cryne. Well, he wasn't a uni friend of James Cryne, so why should we give any credence to the other half of the story? Doesn't mean James didn't know him, but lots of people in football knew Sormaz. There are videos of him on YouTube delivering data analysis in football presentations. I can't balance the claim that the board, who inject millions into the club of their own money, employed someone, in probably the most influential role at the club, because he's mates with the son of one of the board members. When there's so much of your own wealth at stake, you'd surely want the right person. I don't know James Cryne, but I haven’t heard anything from anyone who has met him other than he's a decent sort. So while I can certainly believe, if he had met Sormaz and was impressed by him, he would recommend him to the board, which would be the right thing to do, I don't believe he'd insist on his appointment or have the influence to do so. I think the appointment of Sormaz was a mistake. But I think that's all it was and was made in good faith after the proper procedure. I've witnessed recruitment in my line of work where the successful candidate looked for all the world like they were the right choice but it turned out they were anything but.
Jon is a proper hardworking, northern grafter. I enjoyed his company and took a lot from working under him.
It's quite amazing how many threads on this page (Flatman, Dyer, Flags, Concourse TVs, Off the Pitch, ...) are started by the same person, complaining about something different with the club. Things are not great, that's for sure, but I've never understood the need to look for issues, and complain about absolutely everything about the club you're supposed to support / love.
Maybe they want the club to be the best it can be whether somethings are achievable or not is a different matter.
I still think that given the Cryne family’s share in the club that James will have had some input on Mladen’s appointment. Their paths will almost definitely have crossed as data analysts.
If this is the case, then Safe Standing at Oakwell should be scrapped then. Much more important parts to spend money on which will benefit a more wider range of fans.
You would hope given James was the resident expert on Data Analysis etc he was involved in some way it would be bordering negligent not to. But as Jay said ultimately the only person who could sign off his appointment would have been Neerav as he would a) be paying for it & b)as Chairman been working with him.
Just a question mate and not argumentative at all, but what football background did James have other than his dad being owner of the club at the time, I assume he got the role of spreadsheet guru through his dad btw......just asking
Short answer is would not know. But his Dad who owned the club is different to a minor shareholder appointing.
I weren’t asking whether his dad was major or minor. His dad did a fantastic job saving our club, what I do believe is that James would never have got the job if his dad wasn’t who he was pal, or do think different?