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Yorkshire  Canary

Possible Hitch

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I for one like the sound of Alex Neil the more i hear of and from him. Leaders by and large are born and develop at an early age if you are not one by your 20s then you probably will never be one so a guy in his 30s seems to be a proven leader albeit i accept he lacks managerial experience, but does have many good things already in his CV.

Our Board post Hughton seem to have set in place a system designed to put checks and balances on the manager probably to try and avoid the wasted spending of the failed premiership year. Adams decent guy but managerial puppet to a certain extent had no option other than to go with this. Neil has already stated that he wants to be in charge that may be a clash

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[quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]. Neil has already stated that he wants to be in charge that may be a clash[/quote]From all we have read over the last couple of days, Yorks, it seems that this is very much the case. Neil is clearly a guy who very much wants to be his own man and left to get on with managing things.But, do you think that things would have got to such an advanced degree re the negociations with Neil if that basic facet had not been agreed between him and the board ? Reading between the lines, it seems that AN would not have even come down to Norfolk for talks if that fundamental understanding was not in place.In a way, it''s promising that the whole runup to the presumed Neil appointment has been played out very much in the glare of the public media. I think that''s what got the whole Adams tenure off on the wrong foot, as thee was a distinct feeling that there had been a lot of fiddle de dee stuff going on in the background, allied to bullsh*t about ''scouring Europe''...so much so that a majority of fans felt hoodwinked and never bought into it. I''m hoping that this time it will be rather different.

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I always got the impression that the structure put in place over summer was specifically for Adams because he had zero managerial experience. The board could then focus on pedalling the fact he had previously performed well as a ''coach'' and this footballing board thingy would be there to support him as a manager.

The whole thing then lost most of its credibility when Royle left almost as soon as he was appointed!

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I am also pretty sure that a lot of this statement stuff is club PR. The club knows this is what the fans want to hear. Strangely he said it!

I am sure the club PR machine is part to do with this. The last time we had a manager that liked to do that he left!

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I doubt if there are any insurmountable hitches, of course things need to be ''right'' but he''s pretty much said goodbye to his players already and it has all gone rather a long way for something that is pretty fundamental to block it now. You''d have thought the ££ on offer would sweeten any concerns he has, we must be able to offer several times what he''s on at Hamilton.

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[quote user="The recurring 5 year plan"]I am also pretty sure that a lot of this statement stuff is club PR. The club knows this is what the fans want to hear. Strangely he said it!

I am sure the club PR machine is part to do with this. The last time we had a manager that liked to do that he left![/quote]Well, I''m not averse myself to a healthy dose of cynicism , 5YP, and have little faith in the truth of many of this board''s utterances over the years.But even I find it somewhat difficult to believe that the Board''s PR machine has already got Alex Neil spouting the party line, before he''s even been installed as manager.No, all that we''ve read and heard from Accies fans seems to point in the direction of this being Neil''s true modus operandi . And I really think that, unless he''d been given some sort of guarantee re control, things would not have got to this stage. He''d have waited in Scotland until another tasty job south of the border would have come along.

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With respect, I think this misunderstands the role of the Football

Executive Board at Carrow Road. The board was set up to relieve the

manager (NA or anyone else) of duties which divert his attention from

managing the team. There is a lot of football-related work, such as

organising the scouting network, the physio and sports science depts,

arranging club tours and so on which, while football related, is over

and above the job of managing the players and team. Of course the work

of the FEB impacts on the manager''s job, which is why the manager is a

member of the FEB. But the Carrow Road setup is NOT the continental

model of Director of Football/Head Coach that appears to have been in

place at WBA and is said to be in place at Liverpool. Alex Neil has

declared that, since he carries the can for failure on the pitch, he

wants the final say in who plays for the club and so on. I''m sure he

doesn''t mean that e.g. he wants the decision as to whether the club can

afford to buy a particular player to be his alone. And I''m equally sure

the FEB has no responsibility for picking the team on a Saturday. The

whole point of the FEB is to unburden the manager of peripheral tasks

and let him concentrate on the primary ones of managing the playing

staff and teams.

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I hope things can be sorted as this guy seems to have great potential, only time will tell if he can make the step up, but if he is still here next season would be the fairest judge of his longer term talents. This season is now about sorting out the mess and if we are really fortunate we may still make the play offs anything more with so many clubs on form and 10 points or so ahead f us would be a bit of a fairy tale. I agree that the basic principles should have been sorted but that seems the only potential block and as with players i love to see up and coming potential in a manager rather than the re cycled journeymen often touted

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Spot on west coast. Neil Adams was in charge of picking the team, signing players etc. The tech director was made to relieve him of a lot of other stuff to allow him to concentrate fully on firstteam affairs. Its nothing like a DOF, a concept that mcnally said he was as against.

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[quote user="westcoastcanary"]With respect, I think this misunderstands the role of the Football

Executive Board at Carrow Road. [/quote]With equal respect, WCC, I do not think there''s been any misunderstanding of the role of the FEB at Carrow Rd by anyone. Certainly not me.But that''s not, I suspect, what Alex Neil is talking about. Pretty much every club now has what amounts to an FEB in place now. They are given all sorts of fancy titles, but, in essence they all do the same job....ie sorting out peripheral stuff, and allowing the manager and first team coach(es) to get on with running the First Team. And it seems that that role is what AN  feels the need to have total autonomy in. I''d agree with him. I''m sure that this pun/analogy must have been used before, but too many cooks spoil the broth !

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[quote user="The recurring 5 year plan"]I am also pretty sure that a lot of this statement stuff is club PR. The club knows this is what the fans want to hear. Strangely he said it!

I am sure the club PR machine is part to do with this. The last time we had a manager that liked to do that he left![/quote]

Spot on. Had this statement have been prior to his initial trip down for talks I''d get it but even then I''d question it.

McNally has acted very quickly so I suspect that they had done some research on Neil already - they''d know if he''d fit in or not. This to me is more of a sit up and take note exercise.

It doesn''t mean it''s not true, it just appears to be too well orchestrated when he''s all but signed. I mean he was practically saying goodbye to Accies yesterday and apparently informed his squad of his decision. You wouldn''t do that if everything wasn''t sorted.

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[quote user="chicken"]

It doesn''t mean it''s not true, it just appears to be too well orchestrated when he''s all but signed. I mean he was practically saying goodbye to Accies yesterday and apparently informed his squad of his decision. You wouldn''t do that if everything wasn''t sorted.[/quote]Quite so, chicken. It does appear that there''s been a refreshing amount of cards being put on the table by both sides over the last few days, and in a semi public setting.Nige talks of Neil Adams being in sole charge of picking the first team etc. Well, that may have ben the case latterly, but clearly that was not what was envisaged in the beginning, with Joe Royle being parachuted in to give him a hand . We''ve never really been informed what the truth was about Royle''s short stay and departure. But one thing seems clear. From everything we''ve learnt from anecdotal evidence about Alex Neil, and , of course, his own statements, he''d not have even considered the Norwich job if  one of the caveats from the board had been that a Joe Royle type figure would be coming in as part of the deal.

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[quote user="westcoastcanary"]With respect, I think this misunderstands the role of the Football

Executive Board at Carrow Road. The board was set up to relieve the

manager (NA or anyone else) of duties which divert his attention from

managing the team. There is a lot of football-related work, such as

organising the scouting network, the physio and sports science depts,

arranging club tours and so on which, while football related, is over

and above the job of managing the players and team. Of course the work

of the FEB impacts on the manager''s job, which is why the manager is a

member of the FEB. But the Carrow Road setup is NOT the continental

model of Director of Football/Head Coach that appears to have been in

place at WBA and is said to be in place at Liverpool. Alex Neil has

declared that, since he carries the can for failure on the pitch, he

wants the final say in who plays for the club and so on. I''m sure he

doesn''t mean that e.g. he wants the decision as to whether the club can

afford to buy a particular player to be his alone. And I''m equally sure

the FEB has no responsibility for picking the team on a Saturday. The

whole point of the FEB is to unburden the manager of peripheral tasks

and let him concentrate on the primary ones of managing the playing

staff and teams.[/quote]I think you would need to be part of that football board (which you may be...) to know how it operates but certainly your summary ties in with what was said by McNally about how it would work, and that we were not moving to a director of football-style set-up.If there was just a hint of having someone who seemed as if he might be a bit like a director of football it was during Joe Royle''s brief stay (even though he wasn''t officially part of the football board). No-one on the board as constituted looks like that.As far as transfers are concerned I doubt we have ever in the modern era let a manager have  total control over whom to buy, and certainly not since Smith and Jones took over.

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Spot on west coast.

The days of a championship or prem club having one manager coordintaing the first to youth teams, scouting, sealing contracts & nutrional teams are long past.

I have every confidence that Neil would work WITH the scouts to identify possible targets and prioritise targets for McNally to secure. That is hardly revolutionary.

Any suggestion that we are in a Hearts type scenario when the FEB or board are dictating purchases (beyond setting the confines of a budget), tactics or selections is laughable paranoia in extremis

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....good to see those hitches didn''t take long to sort. It probably went along the lines of:

AN: "I have some really big queries, I just need to be sure things are right and that I''m going to be the main man"

McNally: "Here, this is your new salary"

AN: "Ok, where do I sign"

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