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Twentyman vs. Ashton Match Thread


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Listened to most of it. Geoff did a great job, as ever, pressing and probing- thought it was an interesting interview tbh.

Few thoughts:

Good:

  1. I would concur that Holden has done not bad in the circs- bit of a Cup run x 2, top half of Championship, loads of injuries. Do we want Holden out at this stage? I don't.
  2. I would concur that we are lucky to have the Lansdowns- looking at some of the other clubs- they are in a rights mess- we are not borrowing at 9-10% or mortgaging our assets etc, borrowing against future transfer instalments FFS! We are not in that position, is it perfect no but I'm quite happy we have the Lansdowns during this Pandemic in particular.
  3. I think we can get closer to the top 6 IF players return and hit the ground running. Mawson has already made a difference.
  4. I do think our owners are seen as not too bad for how they run the club, in football- maybe in some areas more than others?

Bad:

  1. Signing Brunt- why? Then him living 100 miles away- whyyyy! Total waste- aging player in the first instance and this only exacerbates the issues.
  2. The Solihull thing- very strange goings on.
  3. Following on from his injury comments in the Post interview, did he mention injuries in recent years again? Anyway if he reiterated that, missed parts of it- he was wrong then and wrong now- it's been bad since Autumn 2017.
  4. Claiming Mawson was fixed here- was Fulham I thought?

The Hard to Accept but perhaps pragmatically acceptable to some extent:

  1. The contract thing- he's right, we anticipated fans return by December- hell October for more limited capacity/Test events. Did one materialise? Either way, cash and uncertainty is a real problem.

On the contract thing, it would not surprise me if this is going on right across the Championship- I only hope that we are planning, planning, planning- analysing, and going out to take full advantage- there will be a lot of clubs unable to offer some good out of contract players what they want, we might be able to exceed some of these. We don't need to splash on fees- some very good free agents will be out there this summer.

I have mixed views on Ashton, but he needs to have the best summer of his time here. The best.

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6 minutes ago, Street red said:

http://www.solihullsportsinjuryclinic.co.uk/meet-the-staff.html.

Not unless it's this place with a man called John Williams that's treated des walker Peter Shilton etc in the past going by the website 

I looked at that one. I think it’s just a recovery/rehab unit, ie physio, osteo etc. Doesn’t appear to me that they have state of the art scanning facilities. 
They state they “have access to” scanning, which in my experience means they likely arrange it through the Spire. 

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1 minute ago, Harry said:

I looked at that one. I think it’s just a recovery/rehab unit, ie physio, osteo etc. Doesn’t appear to me that they have state of the art scanning facilities. 
They state they “have access to” scanning, which in my experience means they likely arrange it through the Spire. 

Yeah they seem a smaller outfit looking it up there is few dotted about.. Think we will have to keep digging.

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I listened to the first 5 minutes and couldnt stomach it. Geoff was just after an argument to me. I want insightful journalism not the sensationalism that I personally heard.

 

All for a bit of Ashton bashing at the moment, things are in a tricky spot. However it seemed more like the interviewer was trying to play the part of the disgruntled fan, and we all know disgruntled football fans can be unreasonable.

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7 hours ago, IAmNick said:

The piece in the Walsh saga that slightly confuses me is how these line up:

Holden speaks extremely highly of Walsh, and gives him the no 8 shirt as others have mentioned. It sounds like his first choice midfield would contain him.

Holden hasn't played Diedhiou that much this season (700 league minutes out of over 2,000, 6 starts and 15 subs).

Walsh and Diedhiou are out of contract at the end of the season.

Diedhiou has been offered by all accounts a pretty substantial contract.

Walsh has not yet been offered a new contract.

I'm struggling to line all that up in my head... If Walsh is so highly rated, and Diedhiou wasn't played for half the games so far this season then why is the latter the one we've offered a contract to? My only thought can be that Diedhiou cost us a lot more and would be seen as more of a financial loss/failure if he left us for free. But then that contradicts the idea that all signings (or the like) go through Holden.

Maybe I'm missing something here?

Walsh is coming back from injury and we , perhaps, just need to see him in action a bit to verify that he still has has  the same performance levels as before.

 

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7 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:
  1. The Solihull thing- very strange goings on.

I'm definitely not picking on anyone and I appreciate that the world ends at the M4, just west of Bath and just south of Weston-super-Mare for a lot on here.

However some of you might br aware of like I am from personal experience that there is human habitation near Soihull, oh and that there are all different types of CT scanners and MRI scanners.  I had the 'privilege' of an MRI in the local hospital (which is even further north than Solihull), about a year later I had an MRI scan (for unconnected research purposes) at a specialist research MRI scanner at a university, even further north.  Having seen both scans I can assure you that the imaging of the latter was far far superior, oh and the skill of the radiographer and radiologists used is also important.

So are 90 minute trips up the M5/M42 a couple of times over a serious injury a major conspiracy, or just some common sense to get the best for the players?

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7 hours ago, Kempson said:

I listened to the first 5 minutes and couldnt stomach it. Geoff was just after an argument to me. I want insightful journalism not the sensationalism that I personally heard.

 

All for a bit of Ashton bashing at the moment, things are in a tricky spot. However it seemed more like the interviewer was trying to play the part of the disgruntled fan, and we all know disgruntled football fans can be unreasonable.

On the contrary GT seems to nail insightful journalism by the right questions, then challenging the answers. Which part was unreasonable or sensationalist ?

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20 minutes ago, Hxj said:

I'm definitely not picking on anyone and I appreciate that the world ends at the M4, just west of Bath and just south of Weston-super-Mare for a lot on here.

However some of you might br aware of like I am from personal experience that there is human habitation near Soihull, oh and that there are all different types of CT scanners and MRI scanners.  I had the 'privilege' of an MRI in the local hospital (which is even further north than Solihull), about a year later I had an MRI scan (for unconnected research purposes) at a specialist research MRI scanner at a university, even further north.  Having seen both scans I can assure you that the imaging of the latter was far far superior, oh and the skill of the radiographer and radiologists used is also important.

So are 90 minute trips up the M5/M42 a couple of times over a serious injury a major conspiracy, or just some common sense to get the best for the players?

Yep. That may well be the case. Just trying to establish it. 
I am only suggesting so far that the most superior scanning facilities in Solihull might be the Spire, yet we have a Spire 10 minute drive from the training ground with the same level of facilities.  
It’s things like this that some people like to have a bit of a background reason for. There could be a very good reason for it, you’re right. Be nice to know though. 

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7 hours ago, Kempson said:

I listened to the first 5 minutes and couldnt stomach it. Geoff was just after an argument to me. I want insightful journalism not the sensationalism that I personally heard.

 

All for a bit of Ashton bashing at the moment, things are in a tricky spot. However it seemed more like the interviewer was trying to play the part of the disgruntled fan, and we all know disgruntled football fans can be unreasonable.

Don’t know about him looking for an argument, but it’s very very plain to hear is his voice that he really doesn’t like Ashton at all. Very clear. 

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With the debate now focusing on every-so-important question of medical facilities in Solihull, does that indicate it was a actually a reasonable performance from MA?

As for calling us Bristol, personally I'm not bothered.  I'm glad he's not a fan, as I want our CEO to make decisions with his head not his heart.  He's there to run a business, not to win matches himself.

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4 minutes ago, Rob k said:

It’s quite clear he’s an absolute bullshitter yet there are still people who will defend him to the hilt 

imagine working for him - god i feel sorry for LJ and DH 

Sorry, but you may not like him and you may not like what he says, and it may be your opinion that he is ‘an absolute bullshitter’, but you cannot by any stretch of the imagination claim that that is ‘quite clear’.  It is just you opinion, to which you’re entitled.

I have no reason to think that he is not telling the truth, though I suspect  everyone will present the truth in a way that is most flattering to themselves.  What is more interesting is to accept what he says as fundamentally true, but then to debate the situation that he presents.  The contract situation, for instance, I suspect is being played out in clubs all over the country.  There will probably be Liam Walsh’s at most clubs, but is there a sudden explosion in the transfer market with clubs cheaply picking up players who will be out of contract in the summer?  No.  It appears that clubs all accept that the transfer market is almost dead at the moment and the sensible thing to do in the present crisis is to sit and wait, leaving contract negotiations for later in the year.  For what it’s worth, that seems to me to be the prudent way forward.

I’m afraid that it’s naive to think that Mark Ashton is untypical of CEOs in football clubs (and other industries for that matter) all over the country.  Whether we like it or not, this is the modern world.

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9 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Listened to most of it. Geoff did a great job, as ever, pressing and probing- thought it was an interesting interview tbh.

Few thoughts:

Good:

  1. I would concur that Holden has done not bad in the circs- bit of a Cup run x 2, top half of Championship, loads of injuries. Do we want Holden out at this stage? I don't.
  2. I would concur that we are lucky to have the Lansdowns- looking at some of the other clubs- they are in a rights mess- we are not borrowing at 9-10% or mortgaging our assets etc, borrowing against future transfer instalments FFS! We are not in that position, is it perfect no but I'm quite happy we have the Lansdowns during this Pandemic in particular.
  3. I think we can get closer to the top 6 IF players return and hit the ground running. Mawson has already made a difference.
  4. I do think our owners are seen as not too bad for how they run the club, in football- maybe in some areas more than others?

Bad:

  1. Signing Brunt- why? Then him living 100 miles away- whyyyy! Total waste- aging player in the first instance and this only exacerbates the issues.
  2. The Solihull thing- very strange goings on.
  3. Following on from his injury comments in the Post interview, did he mention injuries in recent years again? Anyway if he reiterated that, missed parts of it- he was wrong then and wrong now- it's been bad since Autumn 2017.
  4. Claiming Mawson was fixed here- was Fulham I thought?

The Hard to Accept but perhaps pragmatically acceptable to some extent:

  1. The contract thing- he's right, we anticipated fans return by December- hell October for more limited capacity/Test events. Did one materialise? Either way, cash and uncertainty is a real problem.

On the contract thing, it would not surprise me if this is going on right across the Championship- I only hope that we are planning, planning, planning- analysing, and going out to take full advantage- there will be a lot of clubs unable to offer some good out of contract players what they want, we might be able to exceed some of these. We don't need to splash on fees- some very good free agents will be out there this summer.

I have mixed views on Ashton, but he needs to have the best summer of his time here. The best.

Brunt had a driver for his 100 mile journey to training...:laugh:

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47 minutes ago, Harry said:

Yep. That may well be the case. Just trying to establish it. 
I am only suggesting so far that the most superior scanning facilities in Solihull might be the Spire, yet we have a Spire 10 minute drive from the training ground with the same level of facilities.  
It’s things like this that some people like to have a bit of a background reason for. There could be a very good reason for it, you’re right. Be nice to know though. 

I think dr John Williams is the clubs doctor, as poster in the link a bit higher up he’s listed as doctor under the academy and if the picture is correct could swear I’ve seen him for first team where more serious injuries and occur. So seems it’s a case of sending players to see someone specific rather than for the facility itself 

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If this solihull place is so good why do we have so many issues with injuries ?

I'm saying this with my tongue firmly in my cheek but as they say...many a true thing has been said in jest. 

In my zero medical experience I just struggle to believe solihull is the closest place for 'all of our scans' to be done (Ashton's words not mine). Hopefully it's just a coincidence that he is a brummie  

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Geoff never really got on top. First real punch was always crucial. Ashton only let his guard down once. Talking about sell on clauses complacency shine through and his laugh at the end effectively killed Geoff off. Geoff had his chance when talking about all our injuries and the fact that the club even went to March twice to make sure it was all down to mother nature but he never took it.  

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1 hour ago, Harry said:

Don’t know about him looking for an argument, but it’s very very plain to hear is his voice that he really doesn’t like Ashton at all. Very clear. 

That’s because he’s a true football man.

Re Ashton, paraphrased “you know I can’t talk about contractual, sensitive financial stuff”....but if it makes me look good, I’ll break the rules, e.g. Brownhill, Webster sell-on.  That’s a cynical view, and he’s careful how he words things.  But like in January....”has Brownhill got a release clause?”.  His reply “I don’t talk about the quantum of the deal but no, no, Brownhill doesn’t have a release clause in this window”.  Which of course was probably true, but that wasn’t the question.

He’s always an interesting listen, even if you don’t like him.  My particular focus with him is recruitment / talent id, and I get he can’t talk about targets, but we will see where we are at the end of this window, and again in the summer.

Just waiting for Fam to land the “I’ve signed a pre-contract” bombshell.

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8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That’s because he’s a true football man.

Re Ashton, paraphrased “you know I can’t talk about contractual, sensitive financial stuff”....but if it makes me look good, I’ll break the rules, e.g. Brownhill, Webster sell-on.  That’s a cynical view, and he’s careful how he words things.  But like in January....”has Brownhill got a release clause?”.  His reply “I don’t talk about the quantum of the deal but no, no, Brownhill doesn’t have a release clause in this window”.  Which of course was probably true, but that wasn’t the question.

He’s always an interesting listen, even if you don’t like him.  My particular focus with him is recruitment / talent id, and I get he can’t talk about targets, but we will see where we are at the end of this window, and again in the summer.

Just waiting for Fam to land the “I’ve signed a pre-contract” bombshell.

That’s one of my gripes with him too. Signings don’t work out? Let’s be clear, that’s the head coaches responsibility....

Injuries?? We just can’t do the same stuff as usual with covid implications 

Fam’s contract? He has too many agents

Brunt not working? Yeah fair enough we maybe shouldn’t have done it, but Keith Downing knew him well

General trading? Oh come on Geoff you know that’s one thing we (I) am very good at, that’s all rosy, clubs are phoning me asking us how we do it we’re (I’m) that good 

I think Geoff sees through it too for sure

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2 hours ago, Hxj said:

I'm definitely not picking on anyone and I appreciate that the world ends at the M4, just west of Bath and just south of Weston-super-Mare for a lot on here.

However some of you might br aware of like I am from personal experience that there is human habitation near Soihull, oh and that there are all different types of CT scanners and MRI scanners.  I had the 'privilege' of an MRI in the local hospital (which is even further north than Solihull), about a year later I had an MRI scan (for unconnected research purposes) at a specialist research MRI scanner at a university, even further north.  Having seen both scans I can assure you that the imaging of the latter was far far superior, oh and the skill of the radiographer and radiologists used is also important.

So are 90 minute trips up the M5/M42 a couple of times over a serious injury a major conspiracy, or just some common sense to get the best for the players?

Oh stop talking sense you, I was enjoying the conspiracy theory until you said that, as I don't particularly like Ashton as a human.

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

Brunt had a driver for his 100 mile journey to training...:laugh:

I need to get me a job driving overpaid footballers up and down the country!!

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1 hour ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I’m afraid that it’s naive to think that Mark Ashton is untypical of CEOs in football clubs (and other industries for that matter) all over the country.  Whether we like it or not, this is the modern world

A pal of mine is CEO/MD of a global company....

He manages to employ authenticity/sincerity & has an 'open door' approach which brings trust..

Can definitely be done.

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Perhaps the most concerning thing for me was the Brunt living situation.

Every single time we’ve known of a player in similar circumstances (Hartley, O’Neil, Tomlin) it’s ended up either with the player having a short stay or just going tits up.

Its completely rookie stuff that and I’m amazed we didn’t insist on it when negotiating. If, as I suspected, we wanted Brunt to be a bit of a lieutenant in the dressing room - we can’t have that if he’s half committed to the club.

I genuinely expected better and even though it’s a small thing, my worry is that it is the tip of the iceberg and there’s negligence/naivety in many decisions we make.

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2 hours ago, red panda said:

With the debate now focusing on every-so-important question of medical facilities in Solihull, does that indicate it was a actually a reasonable performance from MA?

As for calling us Bristol, personally I'm not bothered.  I'm glad he's not a fan, as I want our CEO to make decisions with his head not his heart.  He's there to run a business, not to win matches himself.

Depends how you look at it. I think most fans accept the covid situation and how it’s impacted us as it has every club. That’s a given so he doesn’t score any points for spelling that out.

I sense the general mood of supporters is a lack of trust towards the club at board level. Mixed messaging, inconsistent communication.

Ashton did nothing to alleviate the lack of trust for me. He came across as defensive and tetchy. He’s not naturally charismatic so that doesn’t help. I sense he knows he’s not particularly popular and reading between the lines of a few things he's said there’s been poor communication at the club this season. He had to reiterate and rephrase a couple of things Holden has said and this indicates to me they’re not always on the same page.

I notice how he didn’t take any supporter questions either, as in live calls. That suggests a bit of insecurity as he no doubt wanted to prepare for whatever was thrown at him. He probably had a rough idea of the topics 20man was going to throw at him.

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