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Ecko

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  1. Our Model - It doesn’t work

    in Football Chat

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Harry said:

    For the last few years, Bristol City FC has been attempting to create its own ‘model’. Their idea of the optimum way to run a football club to provide it with the best chance of success. 
     

    The ‘Model’ is supposed to be one where everything at the club is ‘aligned’.
    It says that all of our teams from the under 8’s through to the first team will play the same way. 
    I’m not sure that’s quite such a good idea but hey ho. 
    But the most crucial element for me is that the model says that the first team will play a certain way and that we have a ‘Technical Director’ to oversee this and ensure it’s on track and everything is aligned. 
     

    Personally, at this level of football, I don’t think that works. 
    The scene is such that, any manager coming into the club should be of a certain ‘type’ and conform to a certain set of principles. 
    The club have created a philosophy (call it an identity if you like) as to how they want to play football and any manager should align (there’s that word again) with that. 
     

    The Technical Director runs the recruitment side of the business. 
    He determines what players we sign and what manager and coaches we sign. He will try to conform to the club principles and appoint managers and coaches who will ‘fit’ and sign players who will ‘fit’. 
     

    We see this sort of model at the top end of the game. Many of the biggest clubs run on a Director of Football type of model, where the manager has only limited say in the player recruitment and is basically just tasked with getting on with it, with the rather expensive tools he is provided. 
     

    This doesn’t work at our level. We see this in all it’s gory (yes, not glory) with the Tinnion/Manning appointment. 
     

    We have a club philosophy that desires to play in a certain way and players have been signed to attempt to slot into that style. 
    We now have a manager who has been appointed who clearly likes to adopt a very different philosophy. 
    I don’t blame Manning for this. We approached him. He didn’t apply for this job. He had a clear and evident CV, a body of work behind him, that was obvious to anyone who bothered to look that was at odds with our own club model. 
     

    Furthermore, this new manager, whilst not having players who can play his way, doesn’t have very much say in how to fix this. 
    His first transfer window and we make 4 permanent signings - 3 of which we wanted before the new manager got here. So the new manager arrives, doesn’t have players he wants and then the ‘club model’ signs 3 players that ‘the club model’ wanted. 
     

    This is a huge issue for me. We are attempting to recreate models that have had success at places like Brighton, Brentford and even bloody Luton. But whilst those clubs had certain recruitment models, they didn’t dictate a ‘playing philosophy’ throughout the club. They just had very thorough and clever scouting and recruitment modelling. It didn’t dictate the playing style. Whenever there was a manager change the new boss still has his own free reign in terms of how he played and the recruitment model would then have to ‘align’ with the managers philosophy - not the other way round. 
     

    When Dean Smith took over from Mark Warburton, he did things differently and they recruited accordingly. Likewise when Frank then took over from Smith, he had different philosophies on pressing, defensive positioning, midfield solidity etc. and the club then recruited accordingly. 
    Luton played a certain way under Jones, but when Edwards arrived he harnessed what was already good but brought his own style to it and the club then recruited accordingly. 
     

    What we have at Bristol City is a dictatorial model, whereby the Technical Director and Recruitment Team have defined a model and anyone that arrives at the club must buy-in to that model. There is no wavering. Yes, a new manager might have a bit of a say in some signings but generally they are targeted based on our defined modelling. 

    Surely it’s obvious to anyone that this just doesn’t work. The talk of ‘everything at this club is aligned, from the under 8’s to the first team’ is just a false platitude. It’s a strapline that they think is clever “hey look at us, we’ve got an identify and model, we’re unique”.

    That might work well at Barcelona or Man City but it’s pointless in the championship. It’s not what will actually bring success on the pitch. 
     

    To achieve success on the pitch at this level you need a manager who is allowed to run the first team in his own way. Who won’t be dictated to by inferiors who spout about an identity and an alignment throughout the club. 

    It’s time for Manning to depart, in my opinion, but it’s also time for the club to drop the nonsense and stop acting like a billy big bollox. The club think that they have a clever way of doing things and that it’s the only way of separating themselves from the challenging division we are in. 
    It’s not clever. It’s nonsense. Drop the bullcrap. 
     

    The way to achieve success was evident to us a few years ago when a man called Steve Cotterill was appointed. I wasn’t his biggest fan when he got here, and I also think the time was right for him to go, but the period he was here, there is no denying that he’s been the only manager in recent years that’s done things his own way and said “balls” to the ownership and ‘model’. 
    Cotterill worked with an experienced Chief Scout and identified the best available players and signed them to fit a way of playing that HE wanted. 
    None of this “we’re all aligned from the u8’s to the tea lady”. 
    Just an experienced manager with an experienced chief scout, putting together a squad that would play to the managers identity, not the clubs identity. 
     

    It’s time to ditch the bullshit. 
    Get out there and employ a manager with cahuna’s, one with a CV that demands respect from his players, let him bring in the players that HE wants, not players that the ‘club’ have targeted for the last few windows. Let him put his own team together to play the way that HE wants. 
     

    The current model stinks. There are people in positions of authority that have real negative impact on this club who are not fit for purpose. 
    We need a board of directors who can appoint a respected manager, who in turn will be empowered to bring in his own trusted recruitment team or chief scout, sign his own players and have zero meddling from unqualified  nobodies. 
     

    Our model is shit. And we will get nowhere with it. 

    Pin this. Spot on. Fair play Harry.

  4. Positives from today

    in Football Chat

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Top Robin said:

    Yes it was poor, but even amongst the numerous negatives there are aways some positives, and they are:

     - We were not outplayed and looked fairly solid in midfield and defensively 

    - We restricted them to a couple of chances (yes they scored from one)

    - They scored against the run of play

    - If we can improve things in the final third, we will be much better

    - we have some decent players waiting to come back who should really improve things.

     

    Step away from the keyboard Liam. Haven't you got Brian's cock to polish?

    • Facepalm 1

  7. Lansdown, Tinnion, Manning, Downsy…

    in Football Chat

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

    I think you have all completely missed my irony.

    I made it clear ages ago I want the Lansdowns to go, but their fan club trot out Tan (who as many have pointed out has twice got Cardiff to the Prem) as some sort of reason we should stick with our clueless owners.

    I do apologise. 

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
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