Joe Sims interview with JL

[bcfc01]

15 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Just finished watching too. As a format it did work ok. JL seemed relaxed and it was interesting to hear him give longer form answers.

Still plenty in there that stinks of BS, and going forward, the structure of the club with no CEO and Tinnion effectively heading up the entire football operation is worrying.

But if they are at least able to communicate more like this, then that would be a start. 

I thought it was a relatively informative interview and JL came across very well, although I take some of his comments with a pinch of salt.

However, it wasn't exactly a grilling of JL and I never expected that, but there were several opportunities to ask some follow up questions such as the comment made by JL that they felt (I assume thats JL and BT as there's no one else) that the players were in danger of being de-conditioned after being given excessive days off in the international break. The obvious follow up would be "so Dave Rennie got it wrong" ? And - "but the results after the breaks weren't too bad" ?

There were other such opportunites but to be fair to Joe he isn't an experienced or intuitive interviewer ala 20man and it was never going to be a hard slog for JL anyway.

The one question that should be asked but never will be as JL will not put himself in the position is simply "why was NP sacked" ? And not let him off the hook until he answers the question directly. Just find the words Jon, no bullshite.

As for communication, they have a PR/comms dept, why not use them more ?

[frenchred]

6 minutes ago, stortfordred said:

Brighton freely admit they plan for the next manager. It is silly not to. Nothing to do with morals. Nice could have jumped ship himself and possibly wouldn't have been well enough to continue anyway.

Balance of fairness, JL did state that they are continually monitoring for both players and coaches

[Bat Fastard]

The top ten budget is just that - a budget. He does not say that the budget is fully utilised and would be unwise to do so because he will be involved with many negotiations in the coming months. He has to be circumspect and is right to say that it is a game of opinions. In my opinion he has sacked some very good people who have built the squad, rationalised the structure of the football club and seemed to be on the right track in most  things apart from injuries.  Changes of manager/head coach are not guaranteed to produce a better outcome.  I believe that is was not broken and he didn't need to fix it. Maybe Nigel was a grumpy old git  but so am I, and grumpy old gits may still have something to offer. Nigel has achieved a great deal and should be proud of his body of work.

[Mr Popodopolous]

24 minutes ago, NickJ said:

Suck up it was then.

No disrespect to Joe, dont know him but where were the challenging follow up questions, there weren't any.

JOE:  Question

JON:  Answer

JOE: Oh right. Next question.

 

A few points:

JL moaned about the effect of covid, like we were the only team affected

JL said they had no one else lined up due to their morals - except that isnt true as theyve done it before

Could go on but the interview just reinforces my opinion of the so called leadership.

In some ways it did affect us worse than many due to our model, as we all know on here

That's an us issue though, we sold players either from academy or occasionally from elsewhere, at a profit to push up transfer and wage spending 

NP called the model bonkers in February 2022 and he was spot on. I understand it on one level but it is a crazy policy fraught with risk. Worrying that the Lansdowns haven't admitted it was flawed even post Covid.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Zuni]

2 minutes ago, Redhed123 said:

They wanted him gone since last year

Yep, just a matter of when and not if.

[TV Tom]

5 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Another thing to be gleaned from the interview is that it appears there is no sale/investment on the horizon, and the Lansdowns are sticking around for now.

Also, far from disinterested and spending all his time in Bermuda, JL is very much still involved in the day-to-day running of the club "I speak with Brian all the time". 

In fairness to Jon, unlike his dad he is a massive City fan through and through and has been since a young boy, the constant abuse he gets just doesn't sit easy with me

[spudski]

2 minutes ago, Harry said:

I don’t have any criticism of Joe Sims performance in this interview. It was always going to be relatively soft but he did at least try to ask relevant questions - perhaps just didn’t follow up on the answers as much as a more hard-nosed journalist would. But that’s not what Joe is so I wouldn’t have expected any more. I thought he did a decent job. 
 

As for Jon. There’s one point I’ve not seen mentioned on the thread yet but which sent my alarms bells ringing. 
He was quite clear on a couple of occasions that he “didn’t want to talk about the football side of things because he’s not the expert and there are far better qualified people to talk about that”. 
And yet, on a couple of occasions he was more than willing to say “we haven’t given the players the best platform for their fitness” and “we’ve almost been de-conditioning them”. 
 

So he can’t comment on the football but he’ll happily give an expert opinion on the fitness of the players. 
Again, if you are the widely respected and highly profession Dave Rennie you must be astounded by this! 
 

My other observation - he pretty much confirmed what many posters here have always denied with regard to the recruitment team. 
He clearly says that the manager doesn’t get to come in and say “I want this player”. He can say “I want this position with these qualities” and then the recruitment team will find players that for that profile and present them to the manager for consideration. 
As I’ve always said - whoever the manager is doesn’t necessarily get their choice of players. They get a shortlist of players from the analysts. 
 

I suggest someone in house, or outside, has given JL an opinion about conditioning and he's believed them to be right, rather than him just thinking that himself. 

No one can be that stupid...

[Merrick's Marvels]

8 minutes ago, spudski said:

What would that come under in the annual Club accounts?

Don't know - one for our finance experts to answer, methinks

[ciderwithtommy]

4 minutes ago, spudski said:

I suggest someone in house, or outside, has given JL an opinion about conditioning and he's believed them to be right, rather than him just thinking that himself. 

No one can be that stupid...

In fairness to JL, he says the time off afforded to our players is unheard of at this level. So maybe he’s talking to other clubs, our players, other fitness coaches, who knows. But it’s interesting for sure, sadly I would imagine DR and NP are not in a position legally to give their side of it.

Edited November 3, 2023 by ciderwithtommy

[clunes]

I thought it was a decent interview and JL came across well. It didn’t need to be a grilling. Only those foaming with rage on OTIB want that. 
It seemed to me as an attempt by a new presenter starting channels of dialogue, which JL admitted haven’t been good recently. 
There’s much more chance of another interview now, than there would have been if it had been an interrogation.
There is obviously something behind the scenes that none of us are party to, and neither will we be. And that’s ok. Working relationships change and go sour. The execs get paid to make decisions whether fans agree with them or not. Thats what they have done. Hopefully the next bit of recruitment will be decent, but it won’t please everybody and that will be the next thing tooic to discuss. 
Onwards and hopefully upwards. 

[spudski]

1 minute ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Don't know - one for our finance experts to answer, methinks

Mr Pops..

Just now, ciderwithtommy said:

In fairness to JL, he says the time off afforded to our players is unheard of at this level. So maybe he’s talking to other clubs, our players, other fitness coaches, who knows. But it’s interesting for sure, sadly I would imagine DR and NP are not in a position legally to give their side of it.

Most likely...I can't see him just thinking it. 

[petehinton]

1 minute ago, ciderwithtommy said:

In fairness to JL, he says the time off afforded to our players is unheard of at this level. So maybe he’s talking to other clubs, our players, other fitness coaches, who knows. But it’s interesting for sure, sadly I would imagine DR and NP are not in a position legally TM give their side of it.

Curtis said yesterday, the structure of the time off was exactly the same as they’ve done over the past 2 years. Funny how it’s suddenly an issue now, when Pearson isn’t being issued a new contract, but it wasn’t 18 months ago when it wouldve been more expensive to pay them all off. 

[AG City]

Why is this Simms bloke always exaggerating a Bristol accent? It’s almost as if he doesn’t speak like this normally, but feels the need to over compensate to cover something. 

[steveybadger]

6 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

In fairness to Jon, unlike his dad he is a massive City fan through and through and has been since a young boy, the constant abuse he gets just doesn't sit easy with me

Agree. Criticise his / his dad’s decision making, pull him up if he’s demonstrably being economical with the truth. But no need to be personally unpleasant about him no matter how angry people are.

[Davefevs]

17 mins - re new structure.

GM - CEO

TR - Football Ops

BT - Technical Director

“Bristol Sport” - Commercial (although not specifically mentioned)

I actually agree with the new set-up, and it’s morph from NP and RG.

But, we now get to see whether it works, whether we have the right people in role with the right skills.  You could question that with BT appointed to role in Nov 2022, whether with RG going they could’ve morphed to the new set up straight away, ie not appoint Phil Alexander.

[Kid in the Riot]

2 minutes ago, spudski said:

I suggest someone in house, or outside, has given JL an opinion about conditioning and he's believed them to be right, rather than him just thinking that himself. 

No one can be that stupid...

Probably. I think he also mentioned that it was unusual for clubs to give that amount of time off to players, suggesting we were an outlier. So he (or someone else) had obviously done some research.

Assuming he is correct that the players got 10 days off (and I believe this is true) then that means they didn't train from 8th Oct - 17th Oct, and so only returned to training on the Wednesday before the Coventry game.

I'm no expert but that does feel like you're risking going into the Coventry game a bit undercooked. 

[chinapig]

9 minutes ago, Harry said:

So he can’t comment on the football but he’ll happily give an expert opinion on the fitness of the players. 
Again, if you are the widely respected and highly professional Dave Rennie you must be astounded by this! 

Yep, it's like somebody who is functionally innumerate telling @Davefevs how to do his analytics.

[nebristolred]

4 minutes ago, AG City said:

Why is this Simms bloke always exaggerating a Bristol accent? It’s almost as if he doesn’t speak like this normally, but feels the need to over compensate to cover something. 

He's from Kingswood and went to SBL. I'm pretty sure it's authentic 

Actually thought Sims was alright. Bit nervous but that's fine, would rather have an actual fan interviewing him even if it is a bit watered down rather than someone who doesn't have a clue.

Edited November 3, 2023 by nebristolred

[TV Tom]

2 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Probably. I think he also mentioned that it was unusual for clubs to give that amount of time off to players, suggesting we were an outlier. So he (or someone else) had obviously done some research.

Assuming he is correct that the players got 10 days off (and I believe this is true) then that means they didn't train from 8th Oct - 17th Oct, and so only returned to training on the Wednesday before the Coventry game.

I'm no expert but that does feel like you're risking going into the Coventry game a bit undercooked. 

IF true it's a shambles

[bcfc01]

3 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Probably. I think he also mentioned that it was unusual for clubs to give that amount of time off to players, suggesting we were an outlier. So he (or someone else) had obviously done some research.

Assuming he is correct that the players got 10 days off (and I believe this is true) then that means they didn't train from 8th Oct - 17th Oct, and so only returned to training on the Wednesday before the Coventry game.

I'm no expert but that does feel like you're risking going into the Coventry game a bit undercooked. 

Curtis did say yesterday that the players went away with their personal training plans.

I'd think that on return they would all be tested against those plans and previous stats prior to any break.

The bottom line for me is that Dave Rennie is an expert, JL and a hell of a lot of others in football are not.

[ciderwithtommy]

1 minute ago, petehinton said:

Curtis said yesterday, the structure of the time off was exactly the same as they’ve done over the past 2 years. Funny how it’s suddenly an issue now, when Pearson isn’t being issued a new contract, but it wasn’t 18 months ago when it wouldve been more expensive to pay them all off. 

Agree to an extent. But it’s an issue now as we have a ridiculous injury crisis, whilst giving time off to our squad that is “unheard of at this level”. I know the convo can then evolve to “how many injuries were avoidable” etc but ultimately if we are giving more time off than average, and have a higher then average injury list there may be a problem. I would say, at the least, the leadership would want and be entitled to answers. Not implying for one second that DR etc are in the wrong either. 

[nebristolred]

16 minutes ago, Harry said:

My other observation - he pretty much confirmed what many posters here have always denied with regard to the recruitment team. 
He clearly says that the manager doesn’t get to come in and say “I want this player”. He can say “I want this position with these qualities” and then the recruitment team will find players that fit that profile and present them to the manager for consideration. 
As I’ve always said - whoever the manager is doesn’t necessarily get their choice of players. They get a shortlist of players from the analysts. 
 

I actually think this sounds worse than it is. I doubt there's a single football club in the top 3 or 4 divisions that doesn't have a recruitment and/or analyst team that does this role, that's entirely normal.

The only potential alarm bells there are to say that the manager doesn't get to come in and make a suggestion or say I want X player. I'm not sure JL actually said that to be fair to him, and I'd be amazed if they as a club refused to look into a potential signing that the manager wanted. The signings of King and James really suggest that's not the case.

Again, lots of things worry me about the organisation of the club at the moment but I'm not sure that is actually one of them.

[Graham76]

Jon gleefully referencing his regular discussions with BT.   No doubt they were scheming behind Nigel's back.  

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, Northern Red said:

Yep, I'd guess maybe half of that, possibly a little bit more.

Commonly thought it's £15k a week which seems about right for a proven Championship player on a free

[RedorDead BCFC]

7 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Probably. I think he also mentioned that it was unusual for clubs to give that amount of time off to players, suggesting we were an outlier. So he (or someone else) had obviously done some research.

Assuming he is correct that the players got 10 days off (and I believe this is true) then that means they didn't train from 8th Oct - 17th Oct, and so only returned to training on the Wednesday before the Coventry game.

I'm no expert but that does feel like you're risking going into the Coventry game a bit undercooked. 

And the Coventry game, we looked unfit and out of sorts. 

[the1stknowle]

15 minutes ago, Harry said:

I don’t have any criticism of Joe Sims performance in this interview. It was always going to be relatively soft but he did at least try to ask relevant questions - perhaps just didn’t follow up on the answers as much as a more hard-nosed journalist would. But that’s not what Joe is so I wouldn’t have expected any more. I thought he did a decent job. 
 

As for Jon. There’s one point I’ve not seen mentioned on the thread yet but which sent my alarms bells ringing. 
He was quite clear on a couple of occasions that he “didn’t want to talk about the football side of things because he’s not the expert and there are far better qualified people to talk about that”. 
And yet, on a couple of occasions he was more than willing to say “we haven’t given the players the best platform for their fitness” and “we’ve almost been de-conditioning them”. 
 

So he can’t comment on the football but he’ll happily give an expert opinion on the fitness of the players. 
Again, if you are the widely respected and highly professional Dave Rennie you must be astounded by this! 
 

My other observation - he pretty much confirmed what many posters here have always denied with regard to the recruitment team. 
He clearly says that the manager doesn’t get to come in and say “I want this player”. He can say “I want this position with these qualities” and then the recruitment team will find players that fit that profile and present them to the manager for consideration. 
As I’ve always said - whoever the manager is doesn’t necessarily get their choice of players. They get a shortlist of players from the analysts. 

Edit - whilst typing this I note others have indeed brought up Jon’s medical and performance expertise 

On the recruitment point, is that a bad thing? (Asking genuinely). My understanding was for a while now, the club have been open that recruitment isn't a single person decision but that no one will be brought in without the manager's sign off. At the very least, there must be occasions when Nige led the recruitment process, or Matty James and Andy King are very coincidental choices by the recruitment team. You will know much more than me on this. 

On the physio point - completely agree. Hinting around this thing about conditioning and training is absolutely unacceptable and if there is an issue it needs to be explicitly addressed as a major reason for the changes or completely buried. These hints and passing comments are the worst of both worlds. 

[Silvio Dante]

29 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

So to be clear you are saying James is on “more” than £27k a week?

You joined here a couple of days ago but know this for certain?

Interesting.

 

24 minutes ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

Was one of the Saturday night joiners I think

And shockingly, highlighting something around a player Pearson signed. It’s almost like there’s an agenda.

(FWIW When Nige came in one of the things he said was that he wanted to have a “consistent” wage amongst the squad with no outliers on high earners. To then suggest, as the poster has, that he signed players contrary to that strategy - when I think it’s fair to say he’s  got no history of bull - suggests the poster, coincidentally joining this week, is once again briefing to try and support the Lansdowns and put Nige in a bad light. It would be funny if it wasn’t so obvious)

[Mr Popodopolous]

24 minutes ago, Harry said:

My other observation - he pretty much confirmed what many posters here have always denied with regard to the recruitment team. 

He clearly says that the manager doesn’t get to come in and say “I want this player”. He can say “I want this position with these qualities” and then the recruitment team will find players that fit that profile and present them to the manager for consideration. 
As I’ve always said - whoever the manager is doesn’t necessarily get their choice of players. They get a shortlist of players from the analysts.

It is increasingly it seems the modern way to a degree. Not my area of expertise but a manager coming in, ripping it up, starting again etc..is somewhat inhibited with FFP and can be bad for stability too.

New manager coming in and deciding he doesn't like him, him and him, but wants to add gim, him and him can be ruinous.

This feels like another extreme though, some sort of balanced approach is probably needed.

[Kid in the Riot]

6 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

Curtis did say yesterday that the players went away with their personal training plans.

I'd think that on return they would all be tested against those plans and previous stats prior to any break.

The bottom line for me is that Dave Rennie is an expert, JL and a hell of a lot of others in football are not.

Not even necessarily from a fitness perspective, it's just a 10 day break off the pitches so close to a league game that seems odd. 

Players wouldn't usually train three consecutive days before a game either, they usually have the Wednesday off. 

[GrahamC]

1 minute ago, Silvio Dante said:

 

And shockingly, highlighting something around a player Pearson signed. It’s almost like there’s an agenda.

(FWIW When Nige came in one of the things he said was that he wanted to have a “consistent” wage amongst the squad with no outliers on high earners. To then suggest, as the poster has, that he signed players contrary to that strategy - when I think it’s fair to say he’s  got no history of bull - suggests the poster, coincidentally joining this week, is once again briefing to try and support the Lansdowns and put Nige in a bad light. It would be funny if it wasn’t so obvious)

Nige was in charge for 2 and a half years, to the point where if you listened to his press conferences (much as I enjoyed many of them) you could often anticipate what he was going to say.

He must have said he wanted an equitable wage structure about thirty times.

I actually forgot to reference Tomas Kalas in those we have lost to reduce the wage bill & he was the most obvious example where it was not the case.

Doing this (paying James even more than Kalas) would be the complete opposite of that, so strikes me as utter bollocks.