There’s an interview on iFollow as well. Given this is the first we’ve heard from him I was quite impressed. Spoke well. Sounds like he has a plan. Early days of course but he filled me with abit of confidence he knows what he’s doing. Seemed a good leader. It was also nice to see someone solely focussed on making the team better. No time wasted on sorting out beer kiosks and flat breads like Khaled did.
There's a definite ayre of optimism right now. Maybe this appointment shows they know what the fans want and what it takes to move forward?
After he had done smirking at the Collins question and started answering it, I got to understand where they were coming from. I still don't agree he should have gone at that point though.
To be fair, Khaled had to also focus on flatbread and kiosks, as he was both CEO and director of football/sporting director/whatever you wanna call it bud. Its why I think its a very good move to separate the positions. Hopefully it works out!
Don't disagree that Khaled was spinning many plates and wearing different hates but always used to frustrate me simply because quiet often he'd be asked a question about the football and answer it with a statement about the fan experience and when asked a question about the fan experience he'd answer with references to a recent win on the pitch.
Fills me with some optimism does that interview. Comes across well, and hopefully the board backs the new coach with what is required. Let's start with a brick sh%? House centre back
Mlinton, Good to see you're finally fronting up after 112 days in your new position of Director of Football or is it Sporting Director? Either way, it’s a step in the right direction so kudos to you. I can see you’re a natural with your generic alpha-boy delivery though unfortunately your shiftiness in front of camera belays this confidence and it appears you’re wetting your pants which is understandable since you’ve never been in this position before. Having said that, you’re obviously telling us what we want to hear - so we’ll let that pass for now - and hopefully you can now start delivering the required players to your new head coach. Please be focused in your recruitment - quality not quantity is required - as the last thing we need is a scattergun approach of previous pre-seasons. Please don’t leave it another hundred days before we hear from you again. In the meantime, practice standing still and remember to go to toilet before the next interview. We’re here to help and call anytime. Big hugs. Ronnie Jr
At the time of Collins' sacking I said it was so bizarre in terms of timing there must have been something behind the scenes that we didn't know about. Now I hear there wasn't, it was just 'maximising the press'. The management wanted Collins to play a certain way. I don't like that at all. I don't like it because that is not how you treat people who have by all accounts given their all despite problems. Yes, football is a cut throat business but he moved his family to come back and you sack him on a tactical roll of the dice? I don't like it because in my opinion Collins took a team of mainly weak minded players, who had talent in abundance for all to see but could never concentrate or deliver for more than 45 minutes (that's a fair summary isn't it) to the playoffs and then got the sack. I don't like it from a sporting point of view. Now we'll never know how the story could have ended. It's the equivalent of a boxer, trading blows round after round, edging some rounds but losing others, they have taken a beating in the past two rounds but somehow made it to the final round. They're behind on points but can now throw everything at this one round. The bell goes, the boxer stands... and the trainer throws in the towel. The season ended with a shrug. I hope Darrell realises that although the club have given him the responsibility, if he tries anything the club don't prefer, he'll be sacked regardless of league position. I know that's hyperbole but it is the logical conclusion from this admission. Sorry for the downbeat post but I'm not happy.
I'm happy we've got Clarke in, do I trust those above him? Nope...... They would have had Thalhammer if they could, cannot see why they thought he was the answer to unite the fans and the club. Unless they show Clarke some serious loyalty I don't see why he should show any to us, the board still have alot of work to do on the field and off.
Is the board’s priority to unite the fans or to get us promoted? If we got promoted by Thalhammer would that have a better unifying effect than getting a mid table finish under Mick McCarthy/Warnock/Hecky? Let’s be honest we’re all fickle and just want to see us winning and to a lesser extent playing attacking football. Would Thalhammer have brought that? I don’t think any of us know, but clearly he was an option. Based on Mladen’s comments perhaps he was ruled out as the process was going on rather than he was our number one choice. But we’ll never know for sure.
There will be some in our fanbase that will never take to him because of the kryptonite word "data" they'll home in on the psychology degree, which to be honest isn't a bad degree to have when running an assessment on players personalities and to see if they will fit on the squad, but they will ignore "Sport and Exercise Science" part. The fact he's not played competitive football will overshadow the fact that he was at Leicester during successful periods that gained them European football qualification.