Webber Comments

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

“I always believe in telling the truth and trying to be as transparent as possible. We didn't lie. On day one I said this club was in a mess and would take some sorting out.

“During last year there was a lot of pain, but we said that pain was going to come and when Daniel was getting a lot of stick, it was a case of give the guy a break – he had inherited a ridiculous wage bill, a ridiculously aged squad, a horrendous culture.

“I said when we appointed him we've got the best coach in the league and nothing has ever changed my mind on that. Even last season, the work he did every single day was incredible and we're extremely fortunate to have him.

 

Just wondering what people thought of these comments, particularly 'a horrendous culture'. Anyone able to elaborate on what he is referring to there?

 

[Rich T The Biscuit 562]

I’m guessing that there were a few players and ex-players involved in the club that maybe thought that they were more important than they actually were and that wasn’t good for the group.

[Icecream Snow 761]

Sums it up

 

[Icecream Snow 761]

and a tearful Cameron Jerome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3x03YyI4s

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by Icecream Snow

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,135]

The lineup in that Wednesday defeat was Ruddy, Martin, Klose, Pinto, Djikes, Tettey, Howson, Murphy, Hoolahan, Naismith and Jerome.

 

Ruddy can be excluded as a GK, Martin despite losing his ability still cared deeply, Wes was the same as always, Jerome's commitment could never be questioned. Klose, Pinto and Tettey have been kept on by Farke and Webber which says they prob wern't the problem. Naismith is supposedly a model pro, Webber and Farke wanted to keep Howson and Murphy was an academy product who had a great season that year. 

You've got to wonder what the hell was going on at the time to cause these problems and who were the troublemakers? It's not like the team was full of mercenaries or bad eggs. Sadly we'll never find out but I'd love to know what was going on behind the scenes.

Could it have just been poor leadership throughout the club? In both of those interviews Jerome and Martin point the finger squarely at the players. I wonder if the issue wasn't so much culture as having a squad that had suffered too many failures and had lost that edge and hunger. 

 

Really weird time for the club, would have been fascinating to see a Sunderland style BTS documentary. 

Edited April 28, 2019 by Christoph Stiepermann

[One Flew Over... 33]

Wow. Not seen that Martin interview before. The man deserves his testimonial and hope there is a huge turnout after the parade.

[KeiranShikari 1,410]

I remember seeing another interview with Russ Martin where he mentioned things like players taking photos at the gym and posting on social media about their 'great sesh' despite not actually doing anything. We obviously had a few bad ones about and that does seem to be all it takes.

Thinking about it we had managers that would regularly talk about the importance of the first goal too, in that sense it isn't surprising that we would collapse when we did concede.

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

1 hour ago, Icecream Snow said:

Sums it up

 

 

Russ clearly cared. Interesting he was one of the first ones out under Farke

[KeiranShikari 1,410]

He was also given a new contract under Webber and Farke. I'd imagine if he was a few years younger he'd have done okay under this team.

 

 

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

57 minutes ago, Christoph Stiepermann said:

The lineup in that Wednesday defeat was Ruddy, Martin, Klose, Pinto, Djikes, Tettey, Howson, Murphy, Hoolahan, Naismith and Jerome.

 

Ruddy can be excluded as a GK, Martin despite losing his ability still cared deeply, Wes was the same as always, Jerome's commitment could never be questioned. Klose, Pinto and Tettey have been kept on by Farke and Webber which says they prob wern't the problem. Naismith is supposedly a model pro, Webber and Farke wanted to keep Howson and Murphy was an academy product who had a great season that year. 

You've got to wonder what the hell was going on at the time to cause these problems and who were the troublemakers? It's not like the team was full of mercenaries or bad eggs. Sadly we'll never find out but I'd love to know what was going on behind the scenes.

Could it have just been poor leadership throughout the club? In both of those interviews Jerome and Martin point the finger squarely at the players. I wonder if the issue wasn't so much culture as having a squad that had suffered too many failures and had lost that edge and hunger. 

 

Really weird time for the club, would have been fascinating to see a Sunderland style BTS documentary. 

 

On paper that team is top

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

41 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

I remember seeing another interview with Russ Martin where he mentioned things like players taking photos at the gym and posting on social media about their 'great sesh' despite not actually doing anything. We obviously had a few bad ones about and that does seem to be all it takes.

Thinking about it we had managers that would regularly talk about the importance of the first goal too, in that sense it isn't surprising that we would collapse when we did concede.

 

Reminds me of Paul Ince's comments about Jesse Lingaard

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

3 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

He was also given a new contract under Webber and Farke. I'd imagine if he was a few years younger he'd have done okay under this team.

 

 

 

Always loved Russ, didnt deserve the end to his career here that he got

[Icecream Snow 761]

7 minutes ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

 

Always loved Russ, didnt deserve the end to his career here that he got

Yeah, the 4-0 loss to Millwall was one thing, but it sounded like Farke couldn't handle his influence in the dressing room, hence him going to Rangers and then playing with the U-23s.

[Surfer 1,547]

Well there will be a wonderful opportunity to thank Wes and Russ coming up - hopefully with a Championship Trophy on the pitch. 

[cornish sam 951]

18 minutes ago, Icecream Snow said:

Yeah, the 4-0 loss to Millwall was one thing, but it sounded like Farke couldn't handle his influence in the dressing room, hence him going to Rangers and then playing with the U-23s.

Those things actually made me wonder if it was Russ saying those things. An alternative view might be not that farke couldn't handle his influence but rather he needed to assert his influence and taking down Russ was his way of doing it, kinda like a young lion going after the wise old leader of the pack...

Or alternatively he just thought Russ was a bit past it and he was never going to fit into farkeball...

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,748]

Whoever the hell sanctioned the disgraceful £4m/£7m ?...signing of Yanic Wildschut would have been symbolic of the kind of thing Webber is eluding to as having gone on here...

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

Webber's comments should always be  taken with the odd dollop of salt. It is standard practice to claim you have inherited a mess that only you could sort out.

That said, the significant point about this season, granted all the good work Webber has done, is not that we have got promoted to the Premier League.

It is that a long-term plan (formulated by the board, and with Balls probably playing a key role), of which Webber is only a part, has already started to come together..

And - which is the crucial factor - that this long-term plan in effect involved the brave decision to write off last season, even though we still had a year of parachute payments. This success would not have happened without that.

[Mason 47 1,376]

I could never imagine Zimmermann coming out and saying the things Russ said. It's clear to see the team was fractured and ultimately an underperforming captain criticising an overpaid and unbothered squad shows that.

I love Cam Jerome and Russ for their time with us but they didn't exactly go on to long and fruitful careers at this level.  

[ron obvious 1,502]

1 hour ago, KeiranShikari said:

I remember seeing another interview with Russ Martin where he mentioned things like players taking photos at the gym and posting on social media about their 'great sesh' despite not actually doing anything. We obviously had a few bad ones about and that does seem to be all it takes.

Thinking about it we had managers that would regularly talk about the importance of the first goal too, in that sense it isn't surprising that we would collapse when we did concede.

I think that's true & one of the things that worries me about new players arriving. If they're proven at EPL level they're likely to cost a lot, if they're to be any improvement over our present players, but also they've got to mesh with the rest of the squad with no sense of entitlement. No Billy Big Boots ta very much.

To me this almost certainly means they've got to be unknowns (therefore a bit of a gamble) with the right character & desire to prove themselves even if they have to bide their time.

 

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

31 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

Webber's comments should always be  taken with the odd dollop of salt. It is standard practice to claim you have inherited a mess that only you could sort out.

That said, the significant point about this season, granted all the good work Webber has done, is not that we have got promoted to the Premier League.

It is that a long-term plan (formulated by the board, and with Balls probably playing a key role), of which Webber is only a part, has already started to come together..

And - which is the crucial factor - that this long-term plan in effect involved the brave decision to write off last season, even though we still had a year of parachute payments. This success would not have happened without that.

 

 

[The Great Mass Debater 1,088]

18 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

I think that's true & one of the things that worries me about new players arriving. If they're proven at EPL level they're likely to cost a lot, if they're to be any improvement over our present players, but also they've got to mesh with the rest of the squad with no sense of entitlement. No Billy Big Boots ta very much.

To me this almost certainly means they've got to be unknowns (therefore a bit of a gamble) with the right character & desire to prove themselves even if they have to bide their time.

 

 

We dont need proven players (mercenaries?). We've been promoted with players with little Championship experience. The same lack of experience, what a certain Ipswich boss called 'Young and Hungry', got us promoted before, and kept us up before Hughton set about 'improving' us (albeit with players unproven in the Premier League)

 

A desire to prove one's self is what leads one to play to one's potential. A feeling of being established does not. Perhaps our former players felt they had little to prove