Al's radio interview 17/11/18

[deyres42]

1 minute ago, League one forever said:

Your standards are obviuosly different to mine. 

 

 

I have no opinion on it, merely pointing out why it isn't difficult to understand.

[League one forever]

Your implying it’s normal or it’s justified. Hence it’s not difficult. 

 

I would argue its the opposite and not easy to understand. 

 

Its completly unnecessary and unprofessional. It’s a private matter. 

 

He sounds very bitter. He should let his results do the talking. 

[deyres42]

4 minutes ago, League one forever said:

Your implying it’s normal or it’s justified. Hence it’s not difficult. 

 

I would argue its the opposite and not easy to understand. 

 

Its completly unnecessary and unprofessional. It’s a private matter. 

 

He sounds very bitter. He should let his results do the talking. 

I think you're overthinking it just a tad

[League one forever]

4 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

I think you're overthinking it just a tad

Does that mean you agree?

[lookersstandandy]

Have just listened. Mike Minay asked a couple of my questions.... sadly he didn’t quite deliver them as they were intended, nor did he follow up like I would’ve wished & so they didn’t illicit the responses I was hoping for.

 

I guess we also have to respect the fact English is not Abdallah’s first language - and his English has a lot of room for improvement - albeit I think it’s got marginally better this last 12 months.

 

Having said the above, my take on it is that he was so underprepared for what he was getting himself in for, that much of the mess that has ensued afterwards is down to him learning some very basic lessons - that one would reasonably expect a proficient businessman not to have to learn - on the job.... and he’s been stubborn & not listened to others giving sound advice along the way. The main thing I will take from the interview, is that he’s asking us to wait for him to learn everything himself before he knows what to do - and that’s if he learns them correctly & subsequently makes the right decisions.

 

He seems to be placing a fair amount of blame on Wellens for some of the more extravagant player recruitees in Jan, which I find mildly disingenuous. I still don’t see why it took him weeks to sack him following relegation however & Mike Minay chose not to push that with him.

 

That aside, because of the way FFP works in the lower leagues (I think it’s called SCMP - Salary Control Management Protocols), I’m assuming his explanation about ‘still having to pay debts from last & the year before’, relate specifically to him having to balance the income/cost ratio more aggressively this season to get us back on an even keel - partly due his own misplaced profligacy & partly down to his shoddy due diligence / Corney’s undoubted inability to tell the truth. However, I’m cutting him a lot of slack by answering this for him. He could do worse than to employ a native English speaker who was proficient in business administration/management, who could answer this more articulately for him - however I think that’ll be unlikely. In short, one might hope therefore to see some funds released in Jan, or more likely next summer.

 

No-one will convince me he has yet devised a suitable medium/long term Plan. I don’t even think he’s capable yet, such is his underpreparedness and seeming inability to delegate to anyone else. What I did get from the interview however, was his passion & - taking his words on face value - commitment. His passion/impulsive nature got him into this mess, as there is no way any sound business man - without being a lifelong Latics fan - would’ve taken us on without the land & fixed assets he does not own. For this much at least I guess I should be grateful, for we were close to being liquidated under the previous admin. I felt his personality come through a little in the interview. I liked his joke about not being 15th if he was picking the team. I feel more compassion/empathy towards him as a result, I just wish he’d hurry the fook up & work out what I deem to be obvious.

Edited November 18, 2018 by lookersstandandy

[Wardie]

3 hours ago, Ryan said:

Wellens still hasn’t been paid by AL according to his first Swindon presser...

Which just goes to show how easy he finds it to bad-mouth his [former] employers on a public platform. He really should have been paid by now, unless there is some kind of legal wrangling going on in the background. I don't think he will have any qualms in doing the same at Swindon, should a similar situation arise, on or off the field.

[Ryan]

2 hours ago, kowenicki said:

 

My heart bleeds. 

Whether you believe he ‘deserves it’ or not is beside the point...

[Dave_Og]

New club motto "Slowly, Slowly"

 

It's not that catchy but I'd be happy with it.   The results (to a point, obviously) are not relevant.  Unless there are proper foundations put in then they will be irrelevant anyway so I would be happier to spend the budget on a very competent CEO/Secretary/Marketing Chief and whatever is needed off the field than another fourth division striker who may or may not come off anyway.

[Pietastic]

We are Oldham...ambition and hope should be formulated around this simple fact. x

[Dave_Og]

15 minutes ago, Pietastic said:

We are Oldham...ambition and hope should be formulated around this simple fact. x

 

That makes AL's plan look like detailed micro-planning!

[kowenicki]

3 hours ago, Ryan said:

Whether you believe he ‘deserves it’ or not is beside the point...

 

I know.  I repeat... my heart bleeds.

[Hands on]

It rather looks like he took on our club for the right reasons.

 

It rather looks like too much money was spent last year.

 

It rather looks like he trusted SC and now understands that his trust was misplaced.

 

I suspect he is having to put £200k per month into the club because all the season ticket money for this year went as soon as we paid it over.

 

As I have suggested before he has difficulty bringing money into the UK because of all the money laundering etc restrictions and proof of origin which would explain the late payments which were already a feature of this club under SC.

 

He has said more to us than SC did in his 14 years.  Slowly slowly it is then.

[alwaysblue]

10 minutes ago, Hands on said:

It rather looks like he took on our club for the right reasons.

 

It rather looks like too much money was spent last year.

 

It rather looks like he trusted SC and now understands that his trust was misplaced.

 

I suspect he is having to put £200k per month into the club because all the season ticket money for this year went as soon as we paid it over.

 

As I have suggested before he has difficulty bringing money into the UK because of all the money laundering etc restrictions and proof of origin which would explain the late payments which were already a feature of this club under SC.

 

He has said more to us than SC did in his 14 years.  Slowly slowly it is then.

Spot on.

[oafcmetty]

1 hour ago, Hands on said:

As I have suggested before he has difficulty bringing money into the UK because of all the money laundering etc restrictions and proof of origin which would explain the late payments which were already a feature of this club under SC.

 

I've heard tales of briefcases full of cash being hard to explain at Mcr airport

[Kusunga_Is_God]

You could tell he was getting frustrated and almost angry at the question over fans doubting he can run this club. I have been critical of the way he has done things but I am prepared to give him time because what else is there? I do have concerns as to why wage payments are still an issue but I am led to believe that most of our threatening debts have been taken care of...

[boundaryblue80]

23 hours ago, lookersstandandy said:

No-one will convince me he has yet devised a suitable medium/long term Plan. I don’t even think he’s capable yet, such is his underpreparedness and seeming inability to delegate to anyone else. What I did get from the interview however, was his passion & - taking his words on face value - commitment. His passion/impulsive nature got him into this mess, as there is no way any sound business man - without being a lifelong Latics fan - would’ve taken us on without the land & fixed assets he does not own. For this much at least I guess I should be grateful, for we were close to being liquidated under the previous admin. I felt his personality come through a little in the interview. I liked his joke about not being 15th if he was picking the team. I feel more compassion/empathy towards him as a result, I just wish he’d hurry the fook up & work out what I deem to be obvious.

 

Decent summing up that Andy. Albeit, from the angle of cutting him a lot of slack. At times, it literally felt like an interview of him just repeating "we work hard", "we work very hard", "mistakes have been made", "for the good of the club", "we try to fix things", "we work hard"....he probably said the words "work hard" about 50 times. Soundbites won't get him far.

 

I found very little actual substance in all 25 minutes of the interview tbh. It was a very Corney-like interview. His answer to the question "fans have no confidenice in your ability to run Oldham Athletic" was "If I'm not here, the club doesn't exist anymore" was pure cringe. An owner that has to (supposedly) remind the fans of this is already on a slippery slope. I'm surprised he didn't add "be thankful we're not Stockport."

 

A couple of snippets that stood out was that he said he liked to go and watch the players training. You can see where the inference that he meddles comes from. And I thought it was an eye-opener about him saying that now we are in League Two he can't just go to Ligue One clubs and ask for players. I do think that was his plan all along at League One level....using his contacts to bring over some young promising French players on loan but now we've been relegated, it's left his plan in pieces. Both that and having to pay for all the surprise pop-up debts Corney hid away.

 

I have had a lot of sympathy for AL over the first 6 months what with Wellens utter incompetance & the mess the previous owner made. That sympathy has fast depleted though for various reasons. This lack of a plan of sorts (outline, not anything detailed) is the biggest concern because we all know we've very few assets. So we're being asked to believe in blind faith. When asked by Mike Minay "are you looking for help, extra sponsorship, looking down avenues like that to bring in better revenue for the club?" all we got in reply was "I'm here to work hard, we need time and we will get there slowly, slowly but we are gunna get there." Mike presses further "how far are we away from being a sustainable football club" and AL replies "we are gettng there, slowly slowly working hard with the foundation, I keep repeating foundation because I want to start from the bottom and rebuild it slowly, slowly."

 

There is little evidence of this foundation being set. I was told that our Club Secretary left the club over the weekend (on good terms, I'll add.) It's extremely worrying at present and feels like we are getting empty words to fill the vacuum. All we can do is sit tight and see if AL does manage to set this foundation in place to build from. I'm not bought by this 25 minute interview of mostly waffle and charm offensive though. We've seen that all too many times before. Walk the walk please, Abdallah!

 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by boundaryblue80

[deyres42]

Think it is a league requirement that you have a designated secretary.

 

Perhaps his brother will step into the breach

[lookersstandandy]

17 hours ago, boundaryblue80 said:

 

Decent summing up that Andy. Albeit, from the angle of cutting him a lot of slack.....

 

A couple of snippets that stood out was that he said he liked to go and watch the players training. You can see where the inference that he meddles comes from. And I thought it was an eye-opener about him saying that now we are in League Two he can't just go to Ligue One clubs and ask for players.......

 

 

Likewise Ross...... I agree that Mike Minay pointing out Abdallah had been at training that morning was revealing. Taking him on his word he doesn't interfere in team selection;

• At worst I interpret it to mean he has to do and see everything himself and is trying to micro manage every last facet of the club / doesn't delegate, something that is only going to p1ss staff [playing or otherwise] off.
• At best I interpret it to mean he is well intentioned & keen as mustard, wanting to learn about everything such that he can do his job better.

I guess the truth will be somewhere between the two and he is going to need a crash course in how to manage largely English human resource better. Culturally, there are worlds apart between business practices in Dubai and the UK.

 

Re The Ligue 1 comment, Mike Minay asked my question, was he happy, satisfied or disappointed with his performance of foreign recruitment? At this point I'd have rather Mike stopped talking, waited for him to answer and then responded accordingly.... but he carried on which let Abdallah off the hook. If his performance to date is anything to go by, I'm glad he can't access as many players for us, because they've added little or nothing.

 

Branger-Engone for instance I think is rubbish. Maouche nowhere near good enough. Zeus, who knows? Missile OK. Gevaro the only one who I think is worthy of the 1st 11. From last year, only Nazon was decent - and even then it stopped Wellens playing Davies & Doyle up top together to fit him in, when it was fkin obvious Doyle needed a big lad alongside him. Moimbe a liability. Placide not very good. The less said about Omrani the better. If Abdallah's belief that he can unearth European/World talent - because of his former Agency connections - is true, he's got a long way to go to prove it to me.

Edited November 20, 2018 by lookersstandandy

[TheBigDog]

2 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:

Branger-Engone for instance I think is rubbish. Maouche nowhere near good enough. Missile OK. Gevaro the only one who I think is worthy of the 1st 11. 

Top scouting report that... let's hope no one from TRFC reads this forum

[latics22]

1 hour ago, boundaryblue80 said:

 

Decent summing up that Andy. Albeit, from the angle of cutting him a lot of slack. At times, it literally felt like an interview of him just repeating "we work hard", "we work very hard", "mistakes have been made", "for the good of the club", "we try to fix things", "we work hard"....he probably said the words "work hard" about 50 times. Soundbites won't get him far.

 

I found very little actual substance in all 25 minutes of the interview tbh. It was a very Corney-like interview. His answer to the question "fans have no confidenice in your ability to run Oldham Athletic" was "If I'm not here, the club doesn't exist anymore" was pure cringe. An owner that has to (supposedly) remind the fans of this is already on a slippery slope. I'm surprised he didn't add "be thankful we're not Stockport."

 

A couple of snippets that stood out was that he said he liked to go and watch the players training. You can see where the inference that he meddles comes from. And I thought it was an eye-opener about him saying that now we are in League Two he can't just go to Ligue One clubs and ask for players. I do think that was his plan all along at League One level....using his contacts to bring over some young promising French players on loan but now we've been relegated, it's left his plan in pieces. Both that and having to pay for all the surprise pop-up debts Corney hid away.

 

I have had a lot of sympathy for AL over the first 6 months what with Wellens utter incompetance & the mess the previous owner made. That sympathy has fast depleted though for various reasons. This lack of a plan of sorts (outline, not anything detailed) is the biggest concern because we all know we've very few assets. So we're being asked to believe in blind faith. When asked by Mike Minay "are you looking for help, extra sponsorship, looking down avenues like that to bring in better revenue for the club?" all we got in reply was "I'm here to work hard, we need time and we will get there slowly, slowly but we are gunna get there." Mike presses further "how far are we away from being a sustainable football club" and AL replies "we are gettng there, slowly slowly working hard with the foundation, I keep repeating foundation because I want to start from the bottom and rebuild it slowly, slowly."

 

There is little evidence of this foundation being set. I was told that our Club Secretary left the club over the weekend (on good terms, I'll add.) It's extremely worrying at present and feels like we are getting empty words to fill the vacuum. All we can do is sit tight and see if AL does manage to set this foundation in place to build from. I'm not bought by this 25 minute interview of mostly waffle and charm offensive though. We've seen that all too many times before. Walk the walk please, Abdallah!

 

 

Bang on, he even answered some questions for him and almost made excuses for the questions. He only seemed slightly more comfortable when it was a fan question which he would say a few times before,  this is a question from the fans to cover himself. It wasn’t exactly probing questions and if he repeated the foundation ,time time line, he just let him get away with it.  Personally I don’t think we got anything more than from this than his opening press conference. It was good to hear from him, but don’t personally feel it wasn’t  much of a eye opener. It also seemed like a time pressured interview or al wasn’t happy with the questions, at the end u hear mike say to someone else in the room “yeah just this and one more”.

[Lags]

If I had a pound for every time I heard a Latics fan say " I'd love to know what Bunn's doing in training all week" I'd be well off for a month or two. Perhaps Al had the same question in his head and thought, you now what I'll go look.

[rudemedic]

11 hours ago, Lags said:

If I had a pound for every time I heard a Latics fan say " I'd love to know what Bunn's doing in training all week" I'd be well off for a month or two. Perhaps Al had the same question in his head and thought, you now what I'll go look.

Very interesting view. As an (ex) agent, I bet AL has watched training at a few clubs. Given our staffing issues I wouldn't mind betting AL has some suggestions to put forward. 

 

As long as they are suggestions and Bunn and his coaching staff are free to disregard them, if they want, that would be fine by me. 

[Lags]

3 hours ago, rudemedic said:

Very interesting view. As an (ex) agent, I bet AL has watched training at a few clubs. Given our staffing issues I wouldn't mind betting AL has some suggestions to put forward. 

 

As long as they are suggestions and Bunn and his coaching staff are free to disregard them, if they want, that would be fine by me. 

 

There won't be an owner, Chairmen or board member in any football club that hasn't told the manager what he/she thinks. That's not interfering that's what everyone does, say's their opinion. That would be somewhere well short of picking the side.

Edited November 20, 2018 by Lags

[Nohairdontcare]

Nothing of major interest in that interview -  that I’m guessing was a highly sensitive up yours from AL to the Chron. 

 

[rudemedic]

1 hour ago, Lags said:

 

There won't be an owner, Chairmen or board member in any football club that hasn't told the manager what he/she thinks. That's not interfering that's what everyone does, say's their opinion. That would be somewhere well short of picking the side.

Yep. Would agree. However you might not find many owners/chairpeople watching training.