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What price Webber?

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On 25/05/2019 at 09:47, Aggy said:

 A Sky sports article mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Webber was one of the best candidates in the UK with actual experience and success. Presumably the tabloid journalists have just got round to reading that....

It doesn’t seem the right fit for me. He’s not done it at a big club before or even taken a club like us to say, Europe/continuous relative success in the Prem. He has (as far as I’m aware) no links to Utd (which Utd seem to be keen on - “knows the ‘United way’”). He wouldn’t have the same level of control there as he has here. Utd are a mess.

I expect he’ll stay with us for another season or two. Then, if we are successful, he might go to a top top side. If we stagnate/get relegated, I’d guess he’ll go abroad.

I thought his initial job was Liverpool and by the ways he scouts players he was responsible for bringing in Suarez. I believe with Huddersfield and Norwich he has proven without doubt his process of selection works. Imagine using the same selection process and then being able to look at the best players in the world ? From a selfish angle I would want him to stay, but in fairness to him he has always said it’s an i will help you Norwich because it will make another huge step in my career.

If this is true the only way I could not see it happening would be that Ole Gunner has already been garunteed to much power.

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6 minutes ago, Well b back said:

I thought his initial job was Liverpool and by the ways he scouts players he was responsible for bringing in Suarez.

I've never heard Webber mentioned in the Suarez signing, all the credit usually goes to his boss at the time Damian Comolli. Webber said he brought Sterling to Liverpool from QPR though.

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16 minutes ago, Well b back said:

I thought his initial job was Liverpool and by the ways he scouts players he was responsible for bringing in Suarez. I believe with Huddersfield and Norwich he has proven without doubt his process of selection works. Imagine using the same selection process and then being able to look at the best players in the world ? From a selfish angle I would want him to stay, but in fairness to him he has always said it’s an i will help you Norwich because it will make another huge step in my career.

If this is true the only way I could not see it happening would be that Ole Gunner has already been garunteed to much power.

He was head of recruitment or something similar at Liverpool though, not technical/sporting director. Utd wil lwant someone with a track record as a sporting director at a top club or someone who “knows the club” I would imagine.

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5 minutes ago, Icecream Snow said:

I've never heard Webber mentioned in the Suarez signing, all the credit usually goes to his boss at the time Damian Comolli. Webber said he brought Sterling to Liverpool from QPR though.

Yeah, Webber was head of recruitment for the academy, so he spotted Sterling (although every club in England knew about Sterling and were trying to get him). 

Webber also had two not so successful spells at Wolves and QPR  - but given the issues at both clubs when he was there I don’t think any of the blame can really be laid at his feet. 

Huddersfield was the first time he became a Director of Football, so only has a few years experience in that role. Worth noting he also has a UEFA Pro Licence. The amount he’s achieved before 40 is ludicrous. 

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1 hour ago, FenwayFrank said:

I bet he hasn’t passed his cycling proficiency test

I'm reminded of the Might Boosh (the comedy series that Bake Off presenter Noel Fielding used to star in), but I doubt that was the intention 😛

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21 hours ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

This. 

If Webber is offered a job by Manchester United, virtually any job, he's going to take it. He isn't a Norwich fan, has no connection to the club other than the fact he's an employee, so if Man Utd make him an offer then he'll be gone in a heartbeat, and who could blame him?

 

Would suggest he has a big connection to the club.   Think you may be underestimating the season we've just had and the justified affection he's been shown by the fans.   Suspect like the players, all staff are all now very much fans of this club.  Look even at how If I Pinto left and he's hardly played.  The support they all got last season was second to no club!   SW knows he's very much appreciated and highly regarded by us all and none of Man Utds money can by that!    

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If 'Webbo' wants to prove himself beyond the success he has achieved here......Then he should ignore Man ure and take on a real challenge at Leeds United.....  😉

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Sorry GED, can’t agree with that. 

As much as he would’ve enjoyed last season and the adulation he has rightly got, there’s no way that would be enough to keep him if a big club came in with the right job.

apart from his wife also being employed he won’t have anything like the same connection with the club like us fans. Don’t forget at the beginning of the season many of ‘us’ fans were questioning his judgement. Also I expect he was equally chuffed at Huddersfield but showed no issue dumping them for us (a very strange and presumably money/power driven decision given they’d just been promoted).

Ive a lot of respect for the job he’s done here but also accept he’ll move on when the next step in his career is offered. Thankfully the Man U one, in its current guise without the autonomy he will want, isn’t the one. I just pray we get at least one more season to help secure our premier league status.

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That may not be such a joke Mello...

....if and when QSI take over Leeds you can be sure that significant restructuring will take place, with Champions League ambitions to the fore. There has also been significant off-field capex at Leeds in the last 18 months, predominantly aimed at bringing through younger - local Yorkshire if possible - talent.

Elland Road has been bought back and the U18s and U23s both won their respective leagues playing exactly as the 1st Team.

Tribal approaches aside Leeds deserves somebody to build a long term vision for the club, area and aspirations of young Yorkshire footballers..there will be plenty good enough there, given good education and fair opportunity.

Whilst good work has been done, QSI will take things to a whole new level and somebody like Webber - a Leeds fan - would be an excellent choice to preserve good principles as black gold sovereign wealth money rains down. 

Unlike the Manchester United role - which looks a bit of a PR sop on the surface - Sporting Director at Leeds could be an excellent fit. 

Be careful what you wish for...

Parma

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1 hour ago, ged in the onion bag said:

Would suggest he has a big connection to the club.   Think you may be underestimating the season we've just had and the justified affection he's been shown by the fans.   Suspect like the players, all staff are all now very much fans of this club.  Look even at how If I Pinto left and he's hardly played.  The support they all got last season was second to no club!   SW knows he's very much appreciated and highly regarded by us all and none of Man Utds money can by that!    

That's nowhere near enough to keep him here should Man Utd come calling. I'm sure lots of valued employees leave their company for a bigger one if they get head-hunted, and the fact that they're so valued and important is why they've been head-hunted in the first place.

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Those are great points Parma – in a hard-nosed football and business sense that would fit and I for one had completely forgotten Mr Webber was a Leeds fan, which could tip the balance if his head was turned. A more likely future destination than Man U, as there could be further north if Ashley’s sale of Newcastle goes through. They’d be a tempting challenge if the new owners take a hands-off approach. To paraphrase, the supporters there would ‘love it, just love it’ if someone like him rolled up at Sid James. But those two clubs’ recent history highlights just how good life is for us and as a few said earlier it does feel too soon for a parting of the ways, especially as missing from the cv is how can he hack it in the Prem up against a shedload of moneybags clubs.

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18 hours ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

From memory most years accounts showed that McNally got nearer £1m . It was made up in different ways - bonuses for various reasons , pension payments as well as salary . I would expect Webber to have a Success based package - will be very interesting when we see this years accounts 

There you go.

So are Manchester United going to put him in charge of the entire football side of things and pay him 1.5/2 million?

Or are they just going to put him in charge of transfers and then in that case would he be paid that level as it would not be so senior.

 

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20 hours ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

From memory most years accounts showed that McNally got nearer £1m . It was made up in different ways - bonuses for various reasons , pension payments as well as salary . I would expect Webber to have a Success based package - will be very interesting when we see this years accounts 

Will it be in the accounts? McNally's package was, because he was a director., but Webber isn't on the board.

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32 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

Will it be in the accounts? McNally's package was, because he was a director., but Webber isn't on the board.

Good point Purple. I had overlooked that . The highest paid director last year was £100k all in image.thumb.jpg.62d7bd4c3b27a34da2eeead6e98cf5d1.jpg . It was considerably higher the year before but as you say SW is not a director. 

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Lets not kid ourselves he would obviously go to Man U if they offered him a sporting director role there. he has made it clear on numerous times he's not a Norwich fan and based on what I've seen of him I wouldn't expect him to have any loyalty to us if a bigger and better role comes up. This is one of the reasons I have always been a little nervous about the amount of control and power our new "structure" announced last season gave to Mr & Mrs Webber because I worry about our ability to continue to operate smoothly in the wake of his departure if he suddenly gets an offer he can't refuse. I accept its inevitable given how football works (people like to bring in their own people etc) but in essence every major role at the club on the football side of things now at the club (recruitment/academy/player contract negotiations) is occupied by Webber recruited people and whilst I am sure he wouldn't take all of them with him (as a club like Man U will already have their own people) his departure has potential to bring about significant disruption. One of the oft cited benefits of having a Sporting Director is the ability to replace the coach/manager (whether sacked or poached) with a minimum of disruption. It would be interesting to know if the board have a similar plan for if someone poaches the Sporting Director.

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On ‎26‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 11:55, lake district canary said:

No they aren't - they are crediting Webber with a bit more nous than to chase a big club because it is big or chasing money because its money.  He will go when the right opportunity presents itself and the timing is right. People underestimate him if they think he will go to ManUtd just because it is ManUtd.

Hopefully he will think there is plenty to do here for the foreseeable future - we are still progressing and while we are moving forwards and on the up, who knows where that could end up?  Ambition is one thing, but not all ambition means moving somewhere that is bigger and has more money.  

 

He may though not fancy seeing his reputation take a dip by virtue of being associated with a possible relegation next season which, however cautiously optimistic we may be, remains a big possibility. At the moment his stock is at a massive high. he's being credited with everything good that happened last season even though some of it is not really much to do with him. If we get relegated then in the same way he will probably get blamed for things that were not down to him either.

He may be sitting there, looking at his supposed £20m budget for the premier league (with prices for decent champ players starting at around £15m) and our lack of cashflow this summer in comparison with virtually every other competitor in the same division and feel he's operating with one hand tied behind his back whereas he could go to Man United and if they see an upturn in player recruitment he will be credited with it and see his reputation continue to grow. He may of course be sitting there thinking "I can show them how we do this against all the odds" and back himself but he may also see staying with us as a huge risk if he has offers on the table from the likes of Man United.

I agree I don't think he would go just to head up a recruitment committee for Man United but if offered anything resembling a Sporting Director type role (even if not as an actual director) I think he would bite their hand off.

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I don't think that when Webber goes he will leave the structure/club in disarray as that would reflect very badly on him and impact subsequent chances of employment. He is meant to be developing a long term view and reduce the impact of upheaval from a change in the management team and if there was no realistic succession plan then he would have unequivocally failed in that remit.

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11 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

Lets not kid ourselves he would obviously go to Man U if they offered him a sporting director role there. he has made it clear on numerous times he's not a Norwich fan and based on what I've seen of him I wouldn't expect him to have any loyalty to us if a bigger and better role comes up. This is one of the reasons I have always been a little nervous about the amount of control and power our new "structure" announced last season gave to Mr & Mrs Webber because I worry about our ability to continue to operate smoothly in the wake of his departure if he suddenly gets an offer he can't refuse. I accept its inevitable given how football works (people like to bring in their own people etc) but in essence every major role at the club on the football side of things now at the club (recruitment/academy/player contract negotiations) is occupied by Webber recruited people and whilst I am sure he wouldn't take all of them with him (as a club like Man U will already have their own people) his departure has potential to bring about significant disruption. One of the oft cited benefits of having a Sporting Director is the ability to replace the coach/manager (whether sacked or poached) with a minimum of disruption. It would be interesting to know if the board have a similar plan for if someone poaches the Sporting Director.

A lot of the recruitment team were at Norwich before Webber - the only person he brought in is Scott. The analysis team, that have been so highly praised, were largely recruited by Lee Darnborough. 

Zoe Ward was at Norwich before Stuart Webber arrived and if he was given the Man U job then she might not necessarily leave. 

While Webber is the boss, it isn’t a situation where he does everything himself. His heads of departments will do the day to day stuff and should Webber leave then they will still be around to carry on. A new Sporting Director shouldn’t need to come in and tear everything up like Webber had to. 

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2 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

A lot of the recruitment team were at Norwich before Webber - the only person he brought in is Scott. The analysis team, that have been so highly praised, were largely recruited by Lee Darnborough. 

Zoe Ward was at Norwich before Stuart Webber arrived and if he was given the Man U job then she might not necessarily leave. 

While Webber is the boss, it isn’t a situation where he does everything himself. His heads of departments will do the day to day stuff and should Webber leave then they will still be around to carry on. A new Sporting Director shouldn’t need to come in and tear everything up like Webber had to. 

I hope not Bethnal but I also just hope that there is a plan in place because it is inevitable in my view that Webber will move on at some point if offers start coming in. Perhaps the plan might be to move Farke to Sporting Director (his original ambition as I understand it) and bring in a new younger coach to work under him but what is crucial is that we are not left with a vacuum at a key moment with nobody to fill it and it makes me a little nervous because as with the first few years of the McNally reign, our success of late has come primarily from the board/owners stepping back and letting other "football professionals" get on with running the club. As you say if Zoe Ward were to stay then perhaps along with Ben (can't remember his surname) on the corporate side of things that would give the level of continuity we need but I just hope that as with the manager there is a list of possible successors for when Webber goes. 

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4 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

I hope not Bethnal but I also just hope that there is a plan in place because it is inevitable in my view that Webber will move on at some point if offers start coming in. Perhaps the plan might be to move Farke to Sporting Director (his original ambition as I understand it) and bring in a new younger coach to work under him but what is crucial is that we are not left with a vacuum at a key moment with nobody to fill it and it makes me a little nervous because as with the first few years of the McNally reign, our success of late has come primarily from the board/owners stepping back and letting other "football professionals" get on with running the club. As you say if Zoe Ward were to stay then perhaps along with Ben (can't remember his surname) on the corporate side of things that would give the level of continuity we need but I just hope that as with the manager there is a list of possible successors for when Webber goes. 

There is no doubt that there will be a list of potential replacements for Stuart Webber. I was told that he said in an interview that he was drawing this list up himself. 

I’d be amazed if Farke wanted to step back form being Head Coach. It is a far more lucrative role and he is obviously doing a very good job of it right now. Maybe later in his, if he should have a string of failures, but for now he is definitely a head coach. 

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39 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

 

While Webber is the boss, it isn’t a situation where he does everything himself. His heads of departments will do the day to day stuff and should Webber leave then they will still be around to carry on. A new Sporting Director shouldn’t need to come in and tear everything up like Webber had to. 

You don't think some would follow him out of the door then ?

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Just now, TIL 1010 said:

You don't think some would follow him out of the door then ?

If he went to Man U? Nope. No offence to the guys at Norwich who have been doing good jobs, but if you are starting from scratch at Man U then you aren’t coming to Norwich for Kieran Scott or Steve Weaver when you have a global pool of talent to choose from. 

If he went to somewhere like Southampton, then much more likely he might want to take some with him. 

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58 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

...our success of late has come primarily from the board/owners stepping back and letting other "football professionals" get on with running the club.

I doubt their involvement ever changes except in the minds of their critics who blame them for poor times but refuse to credit them in good times.

Did they "step back" all four times we've been promoted to the prem and then "step forwards" to get us relegated?

 

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13 minutes ago, lappinitup said:

I doubt their involvement ever changes except in the minds of their critics who blame them for poor times but refuse to credit them in good times.

Did they "step back" all four times we've been promoted to the prem and then "step forwards" to get us relegated?

 

We just don't know how involved they are and if it has changed.

Certainly my view is appointments like Adams and Gunn felt like owners getting too sentimental in their appointments but for all I know McNally might have been really keen to appoint Adams. 

I don't think it would be unreasonable to speculate that Farke would have been the appointment they'd been least involved in since they took over simply due to the nature of the new structure.

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2 hours ago, king canary said:

We just don't know how involved they are and if it has changed.

Certainly my view is appointments like Adams and Gunn felt like owners getting too sentimental in their appointments but for all I know McNally might have been really keen to appoint Adams. 

I don't think it would be unreasonable to speculate that Farke would have been the appointment they'd been least involved in since they took over simply due to the nature of the new structure.

But they were clearly heavily consulted about the move to a Sporting Director model, and appointed Webber. And would have been asked at minimum to approve Farke’s offer. To suggest they somehow deserve less credit for those events than for Adams and Gunn’s appointments is twisted logic IMHO.

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1 minute ago, Nuff Said said:

But they were clearly heavily consulted about the move to a Sporting Director model, and appointed Webber. And would have been asked at minimum to approve Farke’s offer. To suggest they somehow deserve less credit for those events than for Adams and Gunn’s appointments is twisted logic IMHO.

That wasn't what I meant to suggest- should have added the caveat you mentioned that they made the decision to hire Webber. 

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Good to see SW dampening down the flames this morning.

Comes across as a genuine and positive message.

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While I agree unique that it was a good interview by Webber, the standout thing for me is confirmation there has been no contact from Man U. If there had been a serious interest the story might be different.

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On ‎28‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 11:20, lappinitup said:

I doubt their involvement ever changes except in the minds of their critics who blame them for poor times but refuse to credit them in good times.

Did they "step back" all four times we've been promoted to the prem and then "step forwards" to get us relegated?

 

I think its no coincidence that our periods of success have coincided with the board bringing in Mcnally and then Webber and effectively stepping back and allowing them to run the show, at least in terms of the football side of things. They get credit for that and the good times the appointments have brought of course.  Much credit can be given for recognising your own limitations rather than ploughing on and doing the same thing again and again. Its a shame that Mcnally appeared to lose the plot a bit in his latter years which set us back again.

 In contrast, it appears to me, in periods where our board have had to have more direct involvement in football matters (or I suppose in the case of Moxey just made an appointments that wasn;t great) our decision making has been less successful and I would say on occasions a little too sentimental/emotional at times. 

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