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Iwans Big Toe

Guardian Interview with Ed Balls

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[quote user="Iwans Big Toe"]"I might spend the next five years doing some teaching and some Norwich City and some television maybe"Discuss.[/quote]

Not sure what there is to discuss?   The thing we should be interested in is his Chairmanship of NCFC, an important role, but not one that is going to take up all his time, so as an ex-politician will be doing all sorts of things apart from that to work and also keep in the public eye. 

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[quote user="Iwans Big Toe"]"I might spend the next five years doing some teaching and some Norwich City and some television maybe"Discuss.

[/quote]That leaves off the start and the end of the quote, accidentally or deliberately to give the impression Balls is being blase and half-hearted about his work with Norwich City. That he "might" stir himself enough to do a bit for us. Whereas the "might" refers to the idea that while he could happily fill his life with those listed activities he might also return to public service. The full quote is:"And I’m quite happy with the idea that I might spend the next five years

doing some [teaching at] King’s [College, London] and at Harvard, and

some Norwich City [where he is chairman] and some television maybe. But I think I’d be disappointed if I didn’t do something that felt like

it was public service … I’d love to have a chance to do that kind of

thing again.”

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[quote user="morty"]Whats to discuss, his position at Norwich City is unpaid, and isn''t full time.[/quote]So are you happy that one of the most senior positions at the football club is filled on a part-time basis? Or would you prefer to see someone who can give a guarantee that they are focused solely on Norwich City?What about the might''s and maybes in Ed''s interview? Is that showing enough commitment from senior management at the club? Would that level of commitment be acceptable from other staff members, players, groundsman, tea-lady etc?Discuss.As always Morty I expect a well thought out and insightful response from you and I respect your opinion.

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[quote user="FenwayFrank"]Someone''s looking for a new stick[/quote]People at the club seem desperate to hand out these sticks though don''t they?

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[quote user="Iwans Big Toe"][quote user="morty"]Whats to discuss, his position at Norwich City is unpaid, and isn''t full time.[/quote]So are you happy that one of the most senior positions at the football club is filled on a part-time basis? Or would you prefer to see someone who can give a guarantee that they are focused solely on Norwich City?What about the might''s and maybes in Ed''s interview? Is that showing enough commitment from senior management at the club? Would that level of commitment be acceptable from other staff members, players, groundsman, tea-lady etc?Discuss.As always Morty I expect a well thought out and insightful response from you and I respect your opinion.

[/quote]I''m interested in what happens on the pitch, instead of desperately looking for another stick to beat the club with.Its a part time, unpaid position, I don''t know what else to tell you that will help you understand this.

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We need to worry more what Moxey and the man from mulbarton are doing than a part time, unpaid chairman.

Balls clearly loves the club and I can''t believe he would do anything to jeopardise it (it whatever way he has any control of that) but he''s not the one making the transfer decisions, he''s not the one managing the day-to-day finances and he''s not the one managing the players.

We have very highly paid employees to carry out the important roles that will ultimately determine how we perform on the pitch and whether we go up, stagnate or get relegated(!).

Put the stick down and walk away. Or, pick it back up and use it on those that deserve some critisism.

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What on earth has Ricky Martin done to deserve criticism. I know loads of posters have a rabid dislike for him. Is that enough?

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[quote user="Iwans Big Toe"][quote user="morty"]Whats to discuss, his position at Norwich City is unpaid, and isn''t full time.[/quote]So are you happy that one of the most senior positions at the football club is filled on a part-time basis? Or would you prefer to see someone who can give a guarantee that they are focused solely on Norwich City?What about the might''s and maybes in Ed''s interview? Is that showing enough commitment from senior management at the club? Would that level of commitment be acceptable from other staff members, players, groundsman, tea-lady etc?Discuss.As always Morty I expect a well thought out and insightful response from you and I respect your opinion.

[/quote]

If you want a full-time executive chairman

that will cost a great deal of money. We have never had that. Munby was

unpaid and part-time and so was Bowkett. Munby had a full-time job away

from the club and Bowkett in particular had several other business

interests that meant he certainly could not focus entirely on Norwich

City. How come you never levelled this complaint against Bowkett? Or

against Munby? Or against Sir Arthur South, who had any number of other

activities on his plate?Chase was in effect a full-time

chairman, but in his time we didn''t have a high-profile and highly-paid

CEO as well. Chase in practice filled both those jobs.

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Our chairman is an economist sought after by King''s College and Harvard with an acute understanding of communication from a high profile political career. He is also a fan.

What more do you want?

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[quote user="morty"]Whats to discuss, his position at Norwich City is unpaid, and isn''t full time.[/quote]

Morty gets all excited as he can jump on another post that someone has bothered to put up.

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[quote user="Dicky"][quote user="morty"]Whats to discuss, his position at Norwich City is unpaid, and isn''t full time.[/quote]

Morty gets all excited as he can jump on another post that someone has bothered to put up.[/quote]How else is he going to beat Nigel to the 40,000 post count? [;)]

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Nutty: I didn''t critisise Ricky Martin, however I genuinely want to know what he does within the club.

My point was I don''t know why Ed Balls gets so much negativity when there are people getting paid a lot of money that don''t seem to get as much attention and who have much more of a direct influence on the club.

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Actually you summed it up perfectly...

"What on earth has Ricky Martin done.."

I work with a good friend of Ricky Martin and even he couldn''t tell me what his actual role is. "He organises a lot of events" was the best he could come up with.

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[quote user="Fiery Zac"]Nutty: I didn''t critisise Ricky Martin, however I genuinely want to know what he does within the club.

My point was I don''t know why Ed Balls gets so much negativity when there are people getting paid a lot of money that don''t seem to get as much attention and who have much more of a direct influence on the club.[/quote]
Well I got the wrong end of the stick then buddy because the only people you mentioned were Jed Moxey and Ricky Martin. So if it wasn''t them and it isn''t Ed Balls who is it?
As for what Ricky Martin does. I don''t know now. His job may have changed. But last I heard he was Technical Director. Not Director Of Football. Or even Technical Director Of Football. The role of Technical Director was that he managed Colney. He''s responsible for conditioning, fitness, medical, physio, sports science, sports analysis, academy, the infrastructure, the training ground, players’ rest, relaxation, wellbeing, nutrition, hydration and more besides. He also delivered our fantastic category one academy. His remit will be to have got those areas up to best in class. He''s meticulous and I''ll wager he has achieved that. This leaves the manager free to look after the first team and the coaching of the first team.
He probably organised a few events too. 
I have actually seen people frothing at the mouth at the mention of Ricky Martin''s name....

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?? Why do I have to be critisising anybody? If at all, I''m critisising those fans who have nothing better to do than spout jibes at Ed Balls for no good reason. I was merely pointing out that we should be more worried about those paid at that club and their contribution. I was then simply wondering what our technical director does. Thanks for answering that (although your long list of responsibilities may be intended to look impressive but a lot of it is the same thing). Who did all that before that role was made for him..

Also we gained academy one status 2 years before he became technical director.... Anyway I was genuinely just asking a question I don''t know the answer to as am interested in what the highly paid staff actually do.

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[quote user="Fiery Zac"]?? Why do I have to be critisising anybody? If at all, I''m critisising those fans who have nothing better to do than spout jibes at Ed Balls for no good reason. I was merely pointing out that we should be more worried about those paid at that club and their contribution. I was then simply wondering what our technical director does. Thanks for answering that (although your long list of responsibilities may be intended to look impressive but a lot of it is the same thing). Who did all that before that role was made for him..

Also we gained academy one status 2 years before he became technical director.... Anyway I was genuinely just asking a question I don''t know the answer to as am interested in what the highly paid staff actually do.[/quote]
OK so I tell you what it is and you tell me it amounts to the same things. It doesn''t. That list is very important because everything that involves the players needs to be best in class. If those things aren''t up to scratch we''d never sign a player. They''re not my list they''re David McNally''s job description. The reason the role was created was to free the manager to look after the first team and coach the first team. Ricky Martin was charged with achieving cat one at a club AGM. He also passed the next audit when it came round. You genuinely asked me a question and I genuinely took the trouble to answer it. If you don''t like the answer it doesn''t make it any less genuine. Or true. You can take it as fact or you can look it up yourself. There''s no pleasing some folk[;)]

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[quote user="Fiery Zac"]Put the stick down and walk away. Or, pick it back up and use it on those that deserve some critisism.[/quote]
It was this comment that made me think you were criticising. Apologies if you didn''t mean Moey and Martin. It read that way though.
Now perhaps you could help me out with what Ed Balls did for his 90 grand?

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