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40 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

It's not a plan.  It's a broad outline of recent history and future ambitions.  

 

 

It's a tickling of the bellies of a tiny minority of fans who've been demanding to have their bellies tickled for two months. 

 

Meanwhile the rest of us feel no more confidence that anything will change or that we'll have a good chance of going up next season. 

 

Yet again, what a missed opportunity.

 

Imagine what might have been achieved over these two months had we kept it simple and been demanding decent early signings & a full staff of competent football and non football people in place?

 

Instead those demanding gas bills & words have just given him an easy "look, I've done some of what you asked" without having to do much at all. 

 

I say might have been achieved because I suspect he wouldn't have done a lot, if any, of such genuinely important stuff.

 

After the Trust's letter someone said "let's imagine we're a few months ahead and he's done none of that, now what?"

 

That's where we could have been now. Instead he's just fobbed people off and bought himself a few more months. 

 

 

Edited by HarryBosch
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They aren’t portakabins at all to be fair.... but it’s another lazy and easy cheap shot I suppose. Knock yourselves out. 

 

Not it that I think it will even happen by the way. I doubt anything will appear. Who owns the land. OMBC? 

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21 minutes ago, Chaddy14 said:

The degree of negativity on this forum is staggering. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't? Pessimism and negativity in most responses.

 

I'm personally pleased to see a plan / bit of strategy included, a couple of decent signings re-secured and a statement of direction from / for the club.

 

Do I expect all to happen? Only time will tell if we are all honest.

 

We can only watch this space. BUT please try and cheer up.

 

Glorious stuff...... :lol:

 

I love OWTB. 

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3 hours ago, wiseowl said:

 

losesome - I have a nice, 5 bedroomed country property for sale for £1M - it's called "Woodlands". Now, you will be buying the "name" of the property, together with 3 rescue cats that live in the garden and a rabbit (complete with hutch). I`ll retain good title to the bricks and mortar and surrounding freehold land  and will only charge you a peppercorn rent for the first 12 months. We'll then have a chat next year about the subsequent rent you can pay to me for the privilege of residing at Woodlands and feeding my pets. Of course, get your solicitor (Bodgit & Scarper) to check things through first and then wire me the money next week.

 

Nice doing business with you. 

Throw in the donkey and i will consider it😁

Seriously that's what AL has invested his money in. Until somebody comes along with bottomless pockets of money then we're stuck with him.

All people do is moan,moan,moan . They talk about protest etc but do nowt but moan.

Not buying S/Ts will just make the situation worse, ok if people don't want to do it fine then go and find something else to do on a Saturday. 

AL is certainly not my cup of tea but without credible alternatives what is there???

For now we still have a club and as long as we do I will support it whoever owns it or plays for it.

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He said at his press conference he had bought the club and not the ground, why is he now making it sound like he didn't know what was what? 

 

‘Subsiding’ losses himself = OAFC will be leathering the credit card. He will walk away and the club will owe him a fortune. Not a chance he's gifted us anything. Those who wanted to wait and see when there was a chance to protest properly will regret that once we see those accounts.

 

How can a club who can afford to pay Maouche so much money be making such losses? New training ground structure, how can we afford that? Sign dross so bad that Ashton United send them back. VERA. Maybe he is using his "life savings" to buy these things and the club then owes him for it? Perhaps? Money into the club, money out when club is sold? Be interesting to see what happens with AL if Big George means he gets £500k into his bank account. 

 

If it was your actual pension pot would you spend it on that dope we sent to Ashton within days of signing him. Who was so bad they gave him back? Would you spend your savings on that while your business was losing money?

 

Still, Queensy vs Rovers was all worth it................ 

 

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15 minutes ago, losesome said:

Throw in the donkey and i will consider it😁

Seriously that's what AL has invested his money in. Until somebody comes along with bottomless pockets of money then we're stuck with him.

All people do is moan,moan,moan . They talk about protest etc but do nowt but moan.

Not buying S/Ts will just make the situation worse, ok if people don't want to do it fine then go and find something else to do on a Saturday. 

AL is certainly not my cup of tea but without credible alternatives what is there???

For now we still have a club and as long as we do I will support it whoever owns it or plays for it.

 

We are not stuck with him. Once he cannot pay the debts he is clearly having issues with the club will be taken out of his hands. He's just managing it now but he's had the ST money but I don't think all issues finance wise are settled yet. Reduced ST sales and another summer of pissing about with managers and shite players and he will be having some real issues.

 

It may be perhaps the new landlords will be in a position to both push this change, by making him pay his rent and therefore take over the club as the club will owe them a substantial amount of money. They could then try and operate the club using the North Stands obvious financial benefits. Sounds like some sort of plan to me.

 

He cannot afford to be our owner if the fans stand up to his bullshit. Sooner the better. 

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2 hours ago, Nohairdontcare said:

I could have drawn up a plan like that myself over a few pints on a Sunday afternoon - and I wouldn’t be known for my plan drawing abilities. 

 

There’s nothing in it or to it. 

Absolutely. This board has been read and it wreaks of appeasement. IF the 'plan' worked, fair play. It is just words though and reads as an attempt to buy as much time as possible. In fairness, Corney got 10/15 years until there any ere serious rumblings (from the majority). On the face of it, it seems like Abdallah has taken on as much of a burden. People aren't going to be as patient this time.

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I've looked long and hard at this "Vision and Plan" and the thought was that it's over 12 months too late. Had AL produced something like this a hell of a sight earlier, it could, but not guaranteed, have saved a lot of angst and division among the fan base. It's well written, perhaps by Adam Morallee or someone in his profession and, whilst it is a concise document, it does carry some worrying signs. So here's my two pennorth.

  1. Fast paced and tactically and technically good quality football - in that case we need more technically gifted players than we currently have. I certainly wouldn't put the likes of O'Grady and Branger in that bracket
  2. League 1 status should be achieved relatively quickly - the word "relatively" shouldn't come anywhere in that statement. We can't flounder in a League 2 that was so poor last season. Even the top 6 or 7 teams weren't that brilliant
  3. A commitment to try to achieve League 1 status within 3 years, hopefully sooner - with a settled and balanced team and management, we'd already be there. Looking at three years does not suggest ambition
  4. Championship football is best considered as realistic within a 5 year plan - if he's aiming at League 1 in 3 years, hitting the Championship within another two is pushing it a bit. Get promoted into League 1 immediately, and it is a little more realistic, but still a hell of a challenge
  5. The club's financial situation - so many times have wages been paid late, HMRC on our backs, bills not being paid I don't see a quick fix no matter how much he's pumping in. If the income stream, ie STs, fans through the turnstiles, programme sales, food and drink sales etc, stays the same or, even worsens, he is always behind the 8 ball and won't catch up to stabilise
  6. Currently subsidising the club from his own personal resources until a more stable position is reached - is he writing off what he puts in or will he want it back? Because that presents two very different scenarios. 
  7. Commitment and enthusiasm of fans - he has already gone a long way to destroying that by various actions that need no further emphasising here. STs are down, gates are down and long standing battle-hardened supporters have turned their backs on the club. Now that will take some rebuilding
  8. Begun assembling a Board of Directors - it's about bloody time, but what the hell is Barry Owen doing there again? Hasn't he done enough harm? On the Board, off the Board, on the Board. What's that all about? ML as Sporting Director - this can only be jobs for the boys because his (and AL's) recruitment thus far has been pretty underwhelming. I have a funny feeling that they really do believe that "their players" are far too good to be playing at this level. They're wrong. Here's a novel idea; how about trying to appoint someone with more than a passing/fleeting knowledge of football. That might help
  9. Recognises that the budget is restricted - that's not the 100% quote ratified, is it?
  10. Ownership of stadium, land and buildings - he didn't know they were owned separately?  Yeah, right. Is he aware that a fan led group are aiming to do something about this? He's not mentioned it if he is
  11. The value of the squad has declined significantly - anything to do with the AL/ML recruits? No? OK
  12. 12 Declining commercial income and fan base - well done for bringing in Pat Cluskey to address the former, but the declining fan base is partly down to the deteriorating level of football and the way the club has been run for God knows how many years with little, if any, evidence thus far that it will improve
  13. Radical reorganisation of the football club - it's certainly been radical. It's almost impossible to count who has been ejected through the revolving door, whether it be playing staff, management/coaching staff, office staff, ground staff. So many have gone and we only found out from other fans and Twitter/Facebook. Is the tea lady still here?
  14. Working to appoint a Chief Executive - at last. It's taken far too long
  15. The quality and value of the playing squad has already improved compared to previous years - see #11 above where he contradicts this. Last season was one of the weakest squads I can remember, so thank God we had the loanees or we would have been in trouble
  16. Open to recruitment of players from across the globe - that's a worry if they're anything like Sefil, Menig or Kyeremeh. Are there no players available in the UK?

The rest of it pretty much reiterates what has gone before, so what does this statement mean to me? It tells me that AL has at last realised that he has to do something to try to get the fans back onside. He could not continue without a Board of Directors and losing managers and fans hand over fist for much longer. It tells me that he is making an attempt at trying to do his best for the club, but it doesn't really say anything that we didn't already know. I hope it works, I really do, because I don't want to see this club I have loved for so long go any further down the slippery slope than it already is.

 

I think some of AL's ambitions are pie in the sky and not as simple as he's trying to make out. What he needs to do, and do quickly, is get a manager/head coach in asap; one who will be his own man and not be dictated to. He's already got one new signing (Iacovitti) that he's not been involved with. He's lost players (Clarke, Baxter) that he may have wanted to keep. That rings alarm bells straight away because it smacks of "me and likkle bruv will get the players, you just get them to play". If they're not good enough and the new bloke finds it impossible to get a tune out of them, he'll be out the door as well and we start all over again.

 

As I said at the beginning, it's a well written piece and full of good intentions, but it's not too difficult to pick holes in it. Good luck, AL, I hope your vision becomes a reality.

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On the whole it is a reasonably informative, clearing the air statement.

 

I’ve had a few negative digs at AL’s performance so far, all based on events that can be judged. 

 

I think it is only reasonable to give him the benefit of the doubt until we see how this latest statement pans out - certainly until Christmas. We are not going to sway him from his plotted course short term.  

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24 minutes ago, Bristolatic said:

I've looked long and hard at this "Vision and Plan" and the thought was that it's over 12 months too late. Had AL produced something like this a hell of a sight earlier, it could, but not guaranteed, have saved a lot of angst and division among the fan base. It's well written, perhaps by Adam Morallee or someone in his profession and, whilst it is a concise document, it does carry some worrying signs. So here's my two pennorth.

  1. Fast paced and tactically and technically good quality football - in that case we need more technically gifted players than we currently have. I certainly wouldn't put the likes of O'Grady and Branger in that bracket
  2. League 1 status should be achieved relatively quickly - the word "relatively" shouldn't come anywhere in that statement. We can't flounder in a League 2 that was so poor last season. Even the top 6 or 7 teams weren't that brilliant
  3. A commitment to try to achieve League 1 status within 3 years, hopefully sooner - with a settled and balanced team and management, we'd already be there. Looking at three years does not suggest ambition
  4. Championship football is best considered as realistic within a 5 year plan - if he's aiming at League 1 in 3 years, hitting the Championship within another two is pushing it a bit. Get promoted into League 1 immediately, and it is a little more realistic, but still a hell of a challenge
  5.  The club's financial situation - so many times have wages been paid late, HMRC on our backs, bills not being paid I don't see a quick fix no matter how much he's pumping in. If the income stream, ie STs, fans through the turnstiles, programme sales, food and drink sales etc, stays the same or, even worsens, he is always behind the 8 ball and won't catch up to stabilise
  6.  Currently subsidising the club from his own personal resources until a more stable position is reached - is he writing off what he puts in or will he want it back? Because that presents two very different scenarios. 
  7. Commitment and enthusiasm of fans - he has already gone a long way to destroying that by various actions that need no further emphasising here. STs are down, gates are down and long standing battle-hardened supporters have turned their backs on the club. Now that will take some rebuilding
  8. Begun assembling a Board of Directors - it's about bloody time, but what the hell is Barry Owen doing there again? Hasn't he done enough harm? On the Board, off the Board, on the Board. What's that all about? ML as Sporting Director - this can only be jobs for the boys because his (and AL's) recruitment thus far has been pretty underwhelming. I have a funny feeling that they really do believe that "their players" are far too good to be playing at this level. They're wrong. Here's a novel idea; how about trying to appoint someone with more than a passing/fleeting knowledge of football. That might help
  9. Recognises that the budget is restricted - that's not the 100% quote ratified, is it?
  10. Ownership of stadium, land and buildings - he didn't know they were owned separately?  Yeah, right. Is he aware that a fan led group are aiming to do something about this? He's not mentioned it if he is
  11. The value of the squad has declined significantly - anything to do with the AL/ML recruits? No? OK
  12.  12 Declining commercial income and fan base - well done for bringing in Pat Cluskey to address the former, but the declining fan base is partly down to the deteriorating level of football and the way the club has been run for God knows how many years with little, if any, evidence thus far that it will improve
  13. Radical reorganisation of the football club - it's certainly been radical. It's almost impossible to count who has been ejected through the revolving door, whether it be playing staff, management/coaching staff, office staff, ground staff. So many have gone and we only found out from other fans and Twitter/Facebook. Is the tea lady still here?
  14. Working to appoint a Chief Executive - at last. It's taken far too long
  15. The quality and value of the playing squad has already improved compared to previous years - see #11 above where he contradicts this. Last season was one of the weakest squads I can remember, so thank God we had the loanees or we would have been in trouble
  16.  Open to recruitment of players from across the globe - that's a worry if they're anything like Sefil, Menig or Kyeremeh. Are there no players available in the UK?

 The rest of it pretty much reiterates what has gone before, so what does this statement mean to me? It tells me that AL has at last realised that he has to do something to try to get the fans back onside. He could not continue without a Board of Directors and losing managers and fans hand over fist for much longer. It tells me that he is making an attempt at trying to do his best for the club, but it doesn't really say anything that we didn't already know. I hope it works, I really do, because I don't want to see this club I have loved for so long go any further down the slippery slope than it already is.

 

I think some of AL's ambitions are pie in the sky and not as simple as he's trying to make out. What he needs to do, and do quickly, is get a manager/head coach in asap; one who will be his own man and not be dictated to. He's already got one new signing (Iacovitti) that he's not been involved with. He's lost players (Clarke, Baxter) that he may have wanted to keep. That rings alarm bells straight away because it smacks of "me and likkle bruv will get the players, you just get them to play". If they're not good enough and the new bloke finds it impossible to get a tune out of them, he'll be out the door as well and we start all over again.

 

As I said at the beginning, it's a well written piece and full of good intentions, but it's not too difficult to pick holes in it. Good luck, AL, I hope your vision becomes a reality.

 

Reorganisation is an interesting one for me. If he discovered the place was a mess, how can he trust the staff who were party to hiding that mess? Would you want to bring in people you trust, such as family/close friends? I personally dont see how a new owner changing staff of an unsuccessful company, to try to improve that company and turn it around and make it more efficient is a problem. The problem he has had is the way he has removed those staff, but thats a legal issue hes currently paying for. 

 

I also think he outlines a plan to bring in young talent, and unknown foreign talent for very little, and then hope to hit the jackpot in selling them up the pyramid. This hasn't quite worked out as yet, but that could change? We all had suspicions of his plans re manager interference and foreign imports, but again he states his plan for a head coach and world wide talent. He is trying an unpopular approach, which is currently very unsuccessful. He should just not lie about it as he has previously, and then he may get somewhere.

 

Until he proves his "plan" he will still be unpopular amongst the fan base.

 

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5 minutes ago, youngen said:

 

Reorganisation is an interesting one for me. If he discovered the place was a mess, how can he trust the staff who were party to hiding that mess? Would you want to bring in people you trust, such as family/close friends? I personally dont see how a new owner changing staff of an unsuccessful company, to try to improve that company and turn it around and make it more efficient is a problem. The problem he has had is the way he has removed those staff, but thats a legal issue hes currently paying for. 

 

I also think he outlines a plan to bring in young talent, and unknown foreign talent for very little, and then hope to hit the jackpot in selling them up the pyramid. This hasn't quite worked out as yet, but that could change? We all had suspicions of his plans re manager interference and foreign imports, but again he states his plan for a head coach and world wide talent. He is trying an unpopular approach, which is currently very unsuccessful. He should just not lie about it as he has previously, and then he may get somewhere.

 

Until he proves his "plan" he will still be unpopular amongst the fan base.

 

My two brothers know fuck all about the industry I am in, we are like chalk and cheese. Equally, I know sod all of their business.  If I  owned a business, I  would not allow them within a million miles of it, and vica versa I  expect. Best person for the job and all that. In fact, if it were my business, I'd get someone  truly independent to tell me what I  need to know, not what they think I want to hear.

The problem is he has not tried to make it more effecient, there have been a couple of job changes, otherwise it has been recruiting for the replacement. I really don't tihnk the back of house staffing is as much as a problem as the players and maanger recruitment. Do you?

As you righntly say though, we have to judge him against his plan, but we are judging him also on his performance so far, which has been pitiful so canot be just forgotten.

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3 hours ago, HarryBosch said:

 

It's a tickling of the bellies of a tiny minority of fans who've been demanding to have their bellies tickled for two months. 

 

Meanwhile the rest of us feel no more confidence that anything will change or that we'll have a good chance of going up next season. 

 

Yet again, what a missed opportunity.

 

Imagine what might have been achieved over these two months had we kept it simple and been demanding decent early signings & a full staff of competent football and non football people in place?

 

Instead those demanding gas bills & words have just given him an easy "look, I've done some of what you asked" without having to do much at all. 

 

I say might have been achieved because I suspect he wouldn't have done a lot, if any, of such genuinely important stuff.

 

After the Trust's letter someone said "let's imagine we're a few months ahead and he's done none of that, now what?"

 

That's where we could have been now. Instead he's just fobbed people off and bought himself a few more months. 

 

 

:lol:

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I think I'm his own way AL has already been attempting some of what he talks about in his latest statement. It just hasn't worked BY and large. Getting any player in is always a risk but with players from the English league at least you can gauge to some extent what you are going to get. Foreigners are a bigger risk because there are so many different styles of play abroad and not all can adapt to the physical and often faster English game. Fitness levels too, i mean look at Vera. If he was fit i will eat my hat! 

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14 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

I very much do. 

Maybe back  of house has a different meaning in your industry than mine. I'm refering to Secretary, Admin, Commercial Liason Officers, Ground Staff, Laundry staff. And he's only resctrucred 3 of those.

 

To be clear, i think heeds to focus on Owner & Sporting Director, which clearly he won't, Chief Exec, Head Coach/Manager, Coaching staff, Players, Academy staff and players which IMHO is not back of house. The expediture on the latter will obviously be huge compared to back of house, and have a much bigger effect on income.

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49 minutes ago, youngen said:

 

Reorganisation is an interesting one for me. If he discovered the place was a mess, how can he trust the staff who were party to hiding that mess? Would you want to bring in people you trust, such as family/close friends? I personally dont see how a new owner changing staff of an unsuccessful company, to try to improve that company and turn it around and make it more efficient is a problem. The problem he has had is the way he has removed those staff, but thats a legal issue hes currently paying for. 

 

I also think he outlines a plan to bring in young talent, and unknown foreign talent for very little, and then hope to hit the jackpot in selling them up the pyramid. This hasn't quite worked out as yet, but that could change? We all had suspicions of his plans re manager interference and foreign imports, but again he states his plan for a head coach and world wide talent. He is trying an unpopular approach, which is currently very unsuccessful. He should just not lie about it as he has previously, and then he may get somewhere.

 

Until he proves his "plan" he will still be unpopular amongst the fan base.

 

Barry Owen...

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46 minutes ago, singe said:

Maybe back  of house has a different meaning in your industry than mine. I'm refering to Secretary, Admin, Commercial Liason Officers, Ground Staff, Laundry staff. And he's only resctrucred 3 of those.

 

To be clear, i think heeds to focus on Owner & Sporting Director, which clearly he won't, Chief Exec, Head Coach/Manager, Coaching staff, Players, Academy staff and players which IMHO is not back of house. The expediture on the latter will obviously be huge compared to back of house, and have a much bigger effect on income.

 

The senior admin would be my very first focus.  Its's the foundation and without that nothing solid can be built

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