Andy Ricthie

Does anybody else think this -

The reason bobble hat diditn bring any players in was not because he didnt want to, but because he knew that the money that shephard, (and some bloke called Cryne, apparently),was offering is peanuts and he didnt want to be laughed at by the other clubs when they received the bids.

I still dont beleive for one minute that any manager would not spend money, but this was the reason given by the Shephard as to getting rid of ricthie. Maybe he knew that he could only bring in inferior players, (Leon Knight, Grant McCann), with the money available. It also shows why Chopra, Steve Foster and Eddid Johnson turned us down in the summer.

The situation with the bid for williamson shows how ridiculously out of touch with the football world Gordon Shephard is. Maybe Ricthie knew this and refused to offer these stupidly low bids for players.

If so, Then weve lost a perfectly good manager because we have a chairman that, in terms of running a professional football club, is inept.

Just in case i get a threatening post and a letter through my door, all this is just my opinion and would happily be proved wrong.

 

You are not alone with those thoughts.

 

I disagree, in fact i think if the 4 players we brought in after ritchie had left had been brought in earlier then we would be in a better position now. I reckon Ritchie would have done more with those players and the extra players would have pushed the current squad alot harder. Look at how thin our squad is now, that is down to Ritchie and Ritchie alone, his naiveity has put us in this position. Look at the players we brought in after he left:
McCann - Proven league 1 central midfielder, just made the Nothern Ireland squad, can play in a number of positions = good squad player.
Wallwork - Big, Strong dirty midfielder something we have needed for a long time.
Knight - Striker who has scored goals throughout his carrer. Yes it didnt work out for him at oakwell but he was better than Wright and Richards.
Reid - Looks good in patches, quick and left footed which is what we were going to miss when McIndoe left.

All 4 players could and should improve the squad. Knights gone now so lets see who Davey brings into replace him and give the players he brings in a chance no matter what division they come from.

 

Wish we could've got Wallwork back in August.

 

RE: Wallwork

Agreed, his added steel would have made us a dfferent prospect this season. If he was Daveys choice of player to bring in then maybe thats the sort of player were talking to at the minute.

 

RE: Wallwork

Let's hope so.

 

I 100% believe

That Ritchie didn't bring players in because he couldn't get better with the money he had available, and £25K and £100K for Division 2 players makes me feel my hunch is correct.

I think he had a small amount of money available

I think he didn't want to waste what little he had on dross

I also think the sale of McIndoe probably led to the mother of all rows, he gave the chairman the ultimatum of sell him and that's it, and the chairman sacked him for a moderate pay-off on the condition of he keeps quiet - you want out, I don't mind if you go, take this to keep quiet, off you go.

 

RE: I 100% believe

the situation with McIndoe is clear - he had a clause in his contract and there was nothing that shepherd or ritchie could do about that.
i agree with original post in that no manager would not want to spend someone elses money. however, the money that barnsley were offering did not attract players that would improve the club and so we did not sign anyone.
i also think that ritchie was naive in that he left himself open to criticism.
finally, i think that shepherd is doing his best but - going on the radio and criticising your manager plus signing players after you sack your manager shows him to be inept - clearly motivated to improve the club but inept none the less.

 

i understand peoples views on AR

how they think he is the reason for the thin squad and maybe he was too loyal HOWEVER a number of players did turn down contract offers from us so to me that says he wanted to strengthen and in a week when he said he wanted experience players GS offers him 2 kids, now yes maybe AR was not super at naming exact players he wanted but if GS was trying to get players in surely would try to meet what little criteria has been set e.g. experience

In the end GS like everyone wanted to see more bodies, AR wanted quality and the 2 had a difference of opinion obviously!

Leon Knight was a waste of money for me and his record at this level is shocking, Richards for all his faults has a btter goals to games at this level and even though he missed some howlers that is simply down to form, i cannot remember knight even missing a chance so to me at least Richards is in the position to miss the chance!!?!?

Reid does look good in parts but he needs to do simple things btter, i.e laying the ball back to the full back instead of trying to beat 2/3 men at a time!

Wallwork was not available while AR was here, he only became available once Tony Mowbray took over so there might of been a small overlap??

McCann i think will do a job, his deadball play is impressive and he looks neat and tidy, he is also good at arriving late in the box which could lead to goals, give him time i think he'll become an asset!

One thing that cannot be doubted about AR he did get the best out the players so with a bigger squad and he signed some good players e.g. howard, hayes and devaney even Richards to a point!

 

I see what you're saying but I think that if the signings we eventually made would have been made earlier we would be doing better than we are now. I thought Knight would be a good signing as he is a proven goalscorer which is what we need, it's just a shame he couldn't settle properly at Oakwell. Wallwork looked great and really served an important purpose and had he not been attacked we would certainly have been better for having him. McCann looks ok as a Howard replacement and does nothing wrong when played so is a decent player to have, he provides the strength in depth that we are lacking throughout the team. Again for K. Reid, he's only a youngster so it's unfair to expect miracles but he's not getting paid much so there's no harm in having him in the team. We obviously had the money to make these signings and the fact they were mad as soon as AR left suggests he was blocking positive moves for the team.

Also: Chopra never turned us down we didn't make an offer, because we knew clubs such as Cardiff were interested and there was no way we could match them financially.

 

Wallwork only became available

after Tony Mowbray took over which was a month before AR left, obviously he will not have come and said wallwork your not wanted but it was a few weeks into the job if i remember reports correctly that, he basically became available when we signed him!

 

"He's not getting paid much so there's no harm in having him in the team"

FFS. Do you honestly believe that is an acceptable criteria

 

RE: "He's not getting paid much so there's no harm in having him in the team"

no I meant he's a decent player and it's not like he's getting mega bucks so he makes a sensible addition

 

RE: i understand peoples views on AR

I think there were faults on both sides, ricthie was reluctant to strengthen and Shephard should not have been airing his opinions in public. if my boss did that about me i woudnt be happy.

Apart from Wallwork, who was exactly what we needed, the rest just brought extra numbers. Which is what we needed but maybe ricthie was thinking his players would get him through till the right players came up. Well never know now.

 

Maybe, just maybe, AR's contract talks, along with the alleged 'budget' for new signings, waspart of the reason for his split with the club .... maybe, just maybe, AR wanted to be put on a par with other Championship managers.</p>

I don't know what AR was offered or what other Championship managers are paid and it could be the same reason why a more high profile manger was not offered/given the job after AR's departure, but, it's a thought !</p>

If the money ain't there, .........</p>

</p>

 

Okay, fair play.

I can't see there being much chance of making him permanent though.

 

How is Leon Knight not scoring any goals better than Richards - who did score goals?

bizarre logic

 

Also - what I find bizarre is how Wallwork, since he was stabbed, has suddenly become a fantastic player. He didn't find a Red shirt in 180 minutes of football.

 

was about to post exactly the same thing!

to me he looked like he could be decent but was off the pace, passing was off the boil and was clearly unfit? Yet, it seems if he had not got stabbed then we would have been on the edge of the playoffs by now.

 

Princess Diana syndrome.