Webbers full interview, out now

[hogesar 9,676]

1 minute ago, Captain Holt said:

 

You of course have the right. I think you're wrong, but an opinion should never be used against anyone. The Internet is awful, if you'd have the debate in a pub and move on. On here, you savagely pick apart every part of your opponent like it's the bloody hunger games.

Ah, I couldn't see because the poster you have quoted i've blocked. I wonder if he ever paid his charity bet to @nutty nigel or if he's hoping he's got away with it...who knows.

Don't get me wrong, I'm expecting the same people who didn't like him before to still not like him. No interview he done, nothing he could have said to have actually changed that. For me it's about next season and certainly at that level I rate him.

[king canary 7,607]

4 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I like him. Plenty on here are about to use that against me, of course. 

The fans comment was unneccessary but I'd rather him say what he thinks, even if it's going to upset a few people. He did say the entire club lost belief, not just the fans. 

He could quite easily have done the usual relegation interview but he decided to be open and honest again. He'll be criticised by the same people, their opinion isn't going to change.

Primarily, I'm glad it looks like he's staying and the rest is just noise.

Honestly I don't care if I do or do not like him generally. I always thought he came across as a bit of an arrogant sod even when things were going well, not someone I'd particularly want to spend time with but that isn't really relevant.

The question is, is he good at his job? The tweet thread you shared from Bethnal makes an interesting point that most Sporting Directors aren't in the media to anywhere near the extent Webber is. That is his choice, he's clearly chosen from day one to make media & fan relations part of his job. In this respect he's failing miserably. He's set up with the most softball possible in-house interview and he still manages to say a bunch of dumb **** that he knows is going to **** off the fans, all to burnish 'brand Webber' as this super upfront and 'tell it like it is' type guy.

You say its open and honest- from the key quotes I don't think it is. It may be how he sees things but there seems to be plenty of blame for fans, local media and others but very little sense of his own input. 

[Grant Holts Moustache 105]

As fans we did give up pretty early. We all knew we were going down and that early loss against Watford where we were so poor just confirmed that point of view.

Where I sit in the Barclay was generally pretty quiet all season. There were plenty of empty seats as it went on.

Think it's a fair comment and we were right to give up too.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,024]

I sat and listened to every word Stuart Webber said, I dislike the man even more than I did before. I know I have been a critic of the quality of the protests but what he said about "20 fans and a bed sheet" is bang out of order. 

What he said about not renewing your season ticket if you are unhappy demonstrates to me that he has absolutely no idea about being a fan of a football club, it is not that simple, if it was I would not have renewed mine. 

There was no admission of getting anything wrong, blamed the fans, blamed the media.

The sooner Stuart Webber is not part of the club I love the better..........

[TheBaldOne66 687]

9 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I like him. Plenty on here are about to use that against me, of course. 

The fans comment was unneccessary but I'd rather him say what he thinks, even if it's going to upset a few people. He did say the entire club lost belief, not just the fans. 

He could quite easily have done the usual relegation interview but he decided to be open and honest again. He'll be criticised by the same people, their opinion isn't going to change.

Primarily, I'm glad it looks like he's staying and the rest is just noise.

Where did he say the entire club lost belief? He said they still believed but it was difficult!

 

But don’t let the truth get in the way of your love in for all things Stuart and Delia do or say 

[king canary 7,607]

2 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

Webber is just constantly contradicting himself.

A while ago, he accepted he sent Farke into the Premier League without a suitable squad (or to war without a gun), now he's saying his record in those 38 games is what got him the sack.

He said he wasn't about to sign a load of relegated players, then this summer signed Kabak, Sargent and Rashica.

He accused McNally of pis*ing money up the wall before he pis*ed a load of money up the wall.

And even here, he is talking about wanting to spend time with his family whilst embarking on a mission that will keep him away from home for weeks on end, see him leave the house before his kid gets up and presumably get home once he's already in bed, all so he can "do something for me for the first time in 38 years".

The guy is unhinged.

Yep

Equally his claim we gave up too soon doesn't stand up to scrutiny, nor his claim the majority of fans stayed to back to the team after Spurs. 

[hogesar 9,676]

Just now, king canary said:

Honestly I don't care if I do or do not like him generally. I always thought he came across as a bit of an arrogant sod even when things were going well, not someone I'd particularly want to spend time with but that isn't really relevant.

The question is, is he good at his job? The tweet thread you shared from Bethnal makes an interesting point that most Sporting Directors aren't in the media to anywhere near the extent Webber is. That is his choice, he's clearly chosen from day one to make media & fan relations part of his job. In this respect he's failing miserably. He's set up with the most softball possible in-house interview and he still manages to say a bunch of dumb **** that he knows is going to **** off the fans, all to burnish 'brand Webber' as this super upfront and 'tell it like it is' type guy.

You say its open and honest- from the key quotes I don't think it is. It may be how he sees things but there seems to be plenty of blame for fans, local media and others but very little sense of his own input. 

1) I agree. No one has to like a Sporting Director.

2) Is he good at being a Sporting Director? I look at all his roles and surmise yes, definitely. If he left today this club would be significantly better on and off the field than when he left.

3) I think the fact he's decided to speak is partially because there's not really anyone else at the moment to do it. And the alternate is anyone else coming out would be 'covering for Webber' and the whole saga drags on anyway.

4) I think it is open and honest without throwing personnel under the bus. He can be open and honest, but also be wrong in your (our) opinion. 

5) I don't think him sitting there saying "Yeah I got it all wrong" would appease anything, it would just encourage the same people to claim he doesn't know what he's doing and needs to be sacked.

Ultimately, the only thing that really matters to me is that he's here next season because I think we're much better off with him than without him.

[WD40 720]

3 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

Webber is just constantly contradicting himself.

You’re bang on with this. He’s a massive hypocrite. 

[hogesar 9,676]

5 minutes ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

Where did he say the entire club lost belief? He said they still believed but it was difficult!

 

But don’t let the truth get in the way of your love in for all things Stuart and Delia do or say 

"Belief through the whole club and the whole area disappeared"

That's an exact quote, you absolute genius.

But don't let the truth get in the way of your love in for petty point scoring on an online forum.

Edited May 26, 2022 by hogesar

[canarydan23 4,060]

2 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yep

Equally his claim we gave up too soon doesn't stand up to scrutiny, nor his claim the majority of fans stayed to back to the team after Spurs. 

I fear those pinning their hopes on the fact that he did a great (let's be honest, a f*cking fantastic) job with our previous two promotions will be sorely disappointed. For me, something has happened to him that's changed him irrevocably. Drunk on his own ego maybe, some form of breakdown, but the old Webber that did such a great job for us is gone and not coming back. What we're left with is a busted flush.

[AJ 1,221]

My summary is what a load of rubbish. It's very good that he has spoken out, and that the club have commented - as pointed out above none of the other relegated clubs have done anything similar to fair play.

As for the content, he's quite happy to blame everyone else rather than admit that the recruitment wasn't good enough. It doesn't take a genius to realise losing your best two defensive players (Buendia, Skipp) will make us extremely weak defensively, and selling your star player with the most assists (Buendia) and letting your other solid CAM leave (Vrancic) and not replace any of them that the system would no longer work.

How is it that a Premier League club, with a host of analysts, a Director of Football and a Sporting Director failed to spot that replacing a DM was crucial. And then how, when it was very obvious by January that was a key position that needed to be filled, did we decide to not sign anybody? Sacking Farke for poor investment still doesn't ring right for me. No problem if we had gone for a manager who could push us forwards, instead of a very sideways step with Dean Smith.

[TheBaldOne66 687]

Just now, hogesar said:

"Belief through the whole club and the whole area disappeared"

That's an exact quote, you absolute genius.

If he said that, I must have missed it, for which I apologise mr perfect. 
 

You truly are the biggest tool on this message board, especially with how you are such a **** to other posters! 
 

 

[king canary 7,607]

1 minute ago, hogesar said:

2) Is he good at being a Sporting Director? I look at all his roles and surmise yes, definitely. If he left today this club would be significantly better on and off the field than when he left.

3) I think the fact he's decided to speak is partially because there's not really anyone else at the moment to do it. And the alternate is anyone else coming out would be 'covering for Webber' and the whole saga drags on anyway.

He's good at parts of the job, the most high profile elements though? Not so good recently. 

I think 2 and 3 blend together in that from day one he seems to have appointed himself as spokesperson. Now we don't know if this is something he was asked to do when taking the job or if this is something he's chosen to make a part of his role. I get a sense it is the latter, I think he's very aware of his 'personal brand' and wants to make himself as high profile as possible. Nothing wrong with that per se but he needs to get better at this part. If he's keen to stay in football I'm not sure owners of other clubs would want an SD who keeps causing ruptures with the fan base. You mentioned you thought it was funny earlier- I don't think any sensible business wants its senior exec deliberately winding up its customer base. It just isn't good business.

[KeiranShikari 1,412]

2 minutes ago, AJ said:

How is it that a Premier League club, with a host of analysts, a Director of Football and a Sporting Director failed to spot that replacing a DM was crucial. And then how, when it was very obvious by January that was a key position that needed to be filled, did we decide to not sign anybody?

I honestly think we tried for the smaller more talented squad but missed so changed tracks to spreading out slightly more quality. He just about admitted to the second half of that.

[hogesar 9,676]

2 minutes ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

If he said that, I must have missed it, for which I apologise mr perfect. 
 

You truly are the biggest tool on this message board, especially with how you are such a **** to other posters! 
 

 

I'm fine with posters who don't accuse me of lying and get it spectacularly wrong.

Someone like you? No, I have zero time for you.

[Midlands Yellow 3,986]

10 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Ah, I couldn't see because the poster you have quoted i've blocked. I wonder if he ever paid his charity bet to @nutty nigel or if he's hoping he's got away with it...who knows.

Don't get me wrong, I'm expecting the same people who didn't like him before to still not like him. No interview he done, nothing he could have said to have actually changed that. For me it's about next season and certainly at that level I rate him.

Fully paid up so don’t make assumptions. I had to cut out the middleman though as he was at his most helpful best (once again) I know you’ll do isolated unblocks though and read this as your ego wouldn’t allow otherwise. 

[hogesar 9,676]

3 minutes ago, king canary said:

He's good at parts of the job, the most high profile elements though? Not so good recently. 

I think 2 and 3 blend together in that from day one he seems to have appointed himself as spokesperson. Now we don't know if this is something he was asked to do when taking the job or if this is something he's chosen to make a part of his role. I get a sense it is the latter, I think he's very aware of his 'personal brand' and wants to make himself as high profile as possible. Nothing wrong with that per se but he needs to get better at this part. If he's keen to stay in football I'm not sure owners of other clubs would want an SD who keeps causing ruptures with the fan base. You mentioned you thought it was funny earlier- I don't think any sensible business wants its senior exec deliberately winding up its customer base. It just isn't good business.

Oh 100%, he doesn't talk corporate enough and even if you think the fans have been sh*t, you don't say it in football. I think he's rubbish at that part, which I don't really see as a vital Sporting Director role. Let's be honest, plenty hated him last relegation but we heard nothing during the season whilst things were going well - I imagine should the same happen he'll not get many mentions on here.

Personally I'd rather he wasn't the spokesperson but I think events this season meant it had to be him that came out, albeit in a safe environment.

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

There are a lot of contradictions, not so much within this interview as with things he's said previously. Soft skills and PR clearly aren't his strong suit, but that isn't what we pay him for.

I can totally see how some people dislike his demeanour and his arrogance; I'd prefer him to show a bit more humility, personally, but he is who he is and I'll judge him on his overall contribution to the club. Over a five-year span, that's enough for me to give him the benefit of the doubt over his poor recruitment last summer and his altercation with the fans.

I've not seen anything from Dean Smith to convince me he was the right appointment, but again, I'm prepared to wait and see what he does with the squad and how we start the season before I rush to judgement. 

I still feel that for a club of our limited means, we're in a reasonable position, both in footballing and financial terms. As I said two years ago when lots of people were talking about a losing mentality and a club in crisis, let's see how the new season starts.

I've got less faith in Smith than in Farke to get us promoted, but ultimately he's got plenty of Championship experience and know-how, so he at least deserves a crack at it rather than us rolling the dice again. And as for Webber, I suspect that if next season starts badly, the focus of the ire may shift more towards the board and the owners than to the Sporting Director trying to constantly weave silk purses on a limited budget.

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,415]

Haters are gonna hate I suppose.

[Capt. Pants 4,236]

40 minutes ago, Ulfotto said:

True and I agree about the fans giving up comment. 

I guess it will be up to people to agree or disagree with it as an assessment.

 

What did you see from the fans to justify that comment? As you agree with the statement at what point did you give up?

A massive error to blame the fans, that never ends well.

For the record I'm blaming relegation fairly and squarely on Webber. The horrendous recruitment and **** show noise he created are the main reason we are going down. I don't like the man and I want him gone.

[vlad666 203]

I’ve just looked up the definition of spreading ourselves too thin. It means we signed a load of rubbish players if anyone was wondering. 
On a side note can you imagine if Webber was your boss? You can see why so many people left their jobs. 

[Virtual reality 709]

I for one am absolutely flabbergasted to discover that PL points are available based on the fans enthusiasm within the stands. Who knew 🤷‍♂️

[Chichcan 148]

I loved his take on the Superleague that it would have been Norwich vs Tottenham in Shanghai

I’m not sure it was quite that

Im also wondering what the 2 big announcements coming up in the next few weeks are?

[HazzaJet 253]

I still want Webber to be here next season. He’s done great for us in the Championship and as it stands my theory behind why he failed in the signings this season is because he was working on a very tight budget and couldn’t sign the players he needed - we all know there is quite a difference in price between an experienced Championship player and an experienced PL player

I know just about everyone else wants him out, but I’m not going to want him out until he fails for us in the Championship

[Virtual reality 709]

1 minute ago, Chichcan said:

I loved his take on the Superleague that it would have been Norwich vs Tottenham in Shanghai

I’m not sure it was quite that

Im also wondering what the 2 big announcements coming up in the next few weeks are?

Gilmour is coming back for another season and we’ve accepted a bid for Pukki….

[Rottingdean canary 117]

Gilmour would be great in the Championship 

[1902 1,167]

7 minutes ago, Virtual reality said:

Gilmour is coming back for another season and we’ve accepted a bid for Pukki….

Gilmour is exactly the kind of player who we would do well with in the Championship. In a team who are on the front foot, he would probably do well. In a relegation battle when you have about 0.23%, possession, he is a liability.

[Google Bot 3,278]

Are people that fragile that they think he's blaming fans? 

He's explaining how they failed on the pitch in the opening games, and how confidence towards the team drained incredibly quickly despite the previous season success.  And he's right, it's been dead at home most of this season, loved going back - but equally it's been frustrating.

So why people are pretending that we were all bouncing and rallying behind the players is beyond me? Think back to the **** players like Gilmour and Cantwell received from "Fans".

You're basically lying to yourselves, and your posting history is damning if you want to go down that route - Only a few people here truly stood out at defending the cause. (LDC etc.).  I was saying I had full belief early on, but I never truly felt it.

[norfolkngood 1,087]

12 minutes ago, Chichcan said:

I loved his take on the Superleague that it would have been Norwich vs Tottenham in Shanghai

I’m not sure it was quite that

Im also wondering what the 2 big announcements coming up in the next few weeks are?

Delia has sold the club and they are bring their own DOF 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

Thought I'd approach with an open mind

I've paused it at 4 minutes 17 seconds in.

He's blaming the fans for not making Carrow Road a difficult place to visit

Tell you what Webber, why don't you just sling ya hook.