Webber speaks again

[shefcanary 2,955]

Pink'Un carrying a syndicated interview with Webber and have reported the following excerpt:

"What about the temptation to spend that money on player wages and transfers?

No, because for me as a sporting director you are here to build something that stands the test of time. Players don’t. You could buy the right player, get promoted, get relegated and you are no further forward as a football club. Maybe you’ve had a few nice days out, which I appreciate is important."

Now, one look at the last financial statements confirms:

• in comparison to other EPL clubs in 2021/22 he was not "tempted" to gamble on the value of transfers, the quality of course can be questioned;
• a significant increase in wages on previous EPL seasons was incurred, suggesting he was indeed "tempted" in that respect;
• the requirement to borrow £65m of short term loans against future parachute payments however implies a degree of "temptation" however, albeit a funded "temptation", but it is questionable if this has been money well spent to stand the "test of time".

Again with respect to all the other discussion about Colney in the article, the plans were in place before his arrival as confirmed in the last set of financial statements before his arrival, and would have probably happened anyway. I accept he finessed those plans and with the help of his wife ensured their delivery, but that makes him a good project manager, not some kind of new football superman for the future. Perhaps I am being harsh, but in my view we are "no further forward" than when he arrived.

We are again awaiting a minor miracle from another German Head Coach. For Webber's sake I hope he pulls it off (phnar) because I for one remain unconvinced by the Webber's tenure in control of the club.

I have enjoyed the ride though ...

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

Blimey Webber almost coming close to admitting he may have got things wrong.. Is Hell frozen over by any chance?

[Capt. Pants 5,008]

So is he admitting that as we've been relegated we're no further forward? 

Thinking as a supporter and not an accountant, I'd prefer that all day long rather than boring mid-table mediocrity but with a stable balance sheet.

[Mello Yello 2,572]

I still think he's a Charlatan.....

[crab man 178]

Good interview, back on track with the appointment of Wagner. Mistakes have been made but no job in football is plain sailing. 

[C.I.D 358]

32 minutes ago, Mello Yello said:

I still think he's a Charlatan.....

Prefer ..........'mountebank' ..............sounds much more devious 😎  

[Number9 272]

"It's not fair"

unquote.

[jaberry2 769]

TBH I share most of his views. We are competing against teams with far greater investment than us, hence why we have explored the Attansio investment share options. I hope in the future we get the funds required and can learn from previous mistakes and push on. There's no doubt that we have improved the infrastructure of the club massively, but we do need to improve our player acquisition as there has been far too many mistakes made on that level.

[Mello Yello 2,572]

34 minutes ago, C.I.D said:

Prefer ..........'mountebank' ..............sounds much more devious 😎  

....and him probably at the peak of his career.....and he doesn't like anybody crampon his style....

[essex canary 622]

Whilst Brentford's owner has clearly being putting money in, their Cash Flow Statement for 2021 shows £13 million in year whilst the cumulative figures are somewhat less than £130 million.

Also their wage bill in being promoted was £41 million compared to our £66 million. 

A little short of complete honesty then.

[jaberry2 769]

23 minutes ago, essex canary said:

Whilst Brentford's owner has clearly being putting money in, their Cash Flow Statement for 2021 shows £13 million in year whilst the cumulative figures are somewhat less than £130 million.

Also their wage bill in being promoted was £41 million compared to our £66 million. 

A little short of complete honesty then.

The truth is they have bought and sold very wisely, as have Brighton. There are clearly much better models in terms of scouting players than what we have in place.

[hogesar 10,763]

4 hours ago, shefcanary said:

the plans were in place before his arrival as confirmed in the last set of financial statements before his arrival, and would have probably happened anyway.

I love this assumption they probably would have happened anyway. Based on absolutely nothing than a desperation to undermine achievement 🙂

 

[hogesar 10,763]

3 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Blimey Webber almost coming close to admitting he may have got things wrong.. Is Hell frozen over by any chance?

He's admitted getting things wrong in almost every interview he's given in the past year. Let's stop making absolute rubbish up for a few likes on a forum, 'eh?

1 hour ago, crab man said:

Good interview, back on track with the appointment of Wagner. Mistakes have been made but no job in football is plain sailing. 

Yep. He's still a far more successful Sporting Director than the majority of comparable one's working at a similar level to us. I include CEO's in that. The odd's of finding a better version of Webber for a club our size is practically nil. There's a reason even recently he was interviewed for the Chelsea position. He's in contention for that sort of level, despite what some of our fans think.

2 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

So is he admitting that as we've been relegated we're no further forward? 

Thinking as a supporter and not an accountant, I'd prefer that all day long rather than boring mid-table mediocrity but with a stable balance sheet.

If he thought as a supporter we'd never have bought Pukki (free transfer, failed Celtic risk), never have sold Pritchard to buy Buendia, never have risked a complete unknown to English football in Farke...

That's the reality. A Sporting Director thinking as a supporter would bankrupt the club and fold it in a year, depending which supporter you wanted him to think as.

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

5 minutes ago, hogesar said:

He's admitted getting things wrong in almost every interview he's given in the past year. Let's stop making absolute rubbish up for a few likes on a forum, 'eh?

Yep. He's still a far more successful Sporting Director than the majority of comparable one's working at a similar level to us. I include CEO's in that. The odd's of finding a better version of Webber for a club our size is practically nil. There's a reason even recently he was interviewed for the Chelsea position. He's in contention for that sort of level, despite what some of our fans think.

If he thought as a supporter we'd never have bought Pukki (free transfer, failed Celtic risk), never have sold Pritchard to buy Buendia, never have risked a complete unknown to English football in Farke...

That's the reality. A Sporting Director thinking as a supporter would bankrupt the club and fold it in a year, depending which supporter you wanted him to think as.

"For a few likes" This forum does not have likes you silly silly goose 😉

[hogesar 10,763]

8 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

"For a few likes" This forum does not have likes you silly silly goose 😉

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

1 minute ago, hogesar said:

Oh I thought that was love. Nevermind 🤣

[TheBaldOne66 768]

29 minutes ago, hogesar said:

He's admitted getting things wrong in almost every interview he's given in the past year. Let's stop making absolute rubbish up for a few likes on a forum, 'eh?

Yep. He's still a far more successful Sporting Director than the majority of comparable one's working at a similar level to us. I include CEO's in that. The odd's of finding a better version of Webber for a club our size is practically nil. There's a reason even recently he was interviewed for the Chelsea position. He's in contention for that sort of level, despite what some of our fans think.

If he thought as a supporter we'd never have bought Pukki (free transfer, failed Celtic risk), never have sold Pritchard to buy Buendia, never have risked a complete unknown to English football in Farke...

That's the reality. A Sporting Director thinking as a supporter would bankrupt the club and fold it in a year, depending which supporter you wanted him to think as.

But he’s not a supporter is he? Not of us anyway, he’s a Leeds fan! 

[Capt. Pants 5,008]

43 minutes ago, hogesar said:

He's admitted getting things wrong in almost every interview he's given in the past year. Let's stop making absolute rubbish up for a few likes on a forum, 'eh?

Yep. He's still a far more successful Sporting Director than the majority of comparable one's working at a similar level to us. I include CEO's in that. The odd's of finding a better version of Webber for a club our size is practically nil. There's a reason even recently he was interviewed for the Chelsea position. He's in contention for that sort of level, despite what some of our fans think.

If he thought as a supporter we'd never have bought Pukki (free transfer, failed Celtic risk), never have sold Pritchard to buy Buendia, never have risked a complete unknown to English football in Farke...

That's the reality. A Sporting Director thinking as a supporter would bankrupt the club and fold it in a year, depending which supporter you wanted him to think as.

I was actually challenging his point that we haven't moved forward, which I'm sure he doesn't believe for one second. Sure the balance sheet doesn't look as good as he would like and some of 'his' signings have been questionable, but the club is in a far better state.

[Nuff Said 5,963]

1 hour ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Oh I thought that was love. Nevermind 🤣

 

[wcorkcanary 4,784]

4 hours ago, Mello Yello said:

I still think he's a Charlatan.....

Only cos its the biggest word you know.  

[littleyellowbirdie 3,138]

4 hours ago, Mello Yello said:

I still think he's a Charlatan.....

I'm trying to figure out if he's the keyboard player?

 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

2 hours ago, hogesar said:

 There's a reason even recently he was interviewed for the Chelsea position. He's in contention for that sort of level, despite what some of our fans think.

What level would that be, mid-table Premier League? Aren't they where McNally had us?

Chelsea historical place in football by the way, bottom half Prem, odd spell in the Champs, pre-quasi Russian state ownership.

Edited March 3, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[Mello Yello 2,572]

51 minutes ago, wcorkcanary said:

Only cos its the biggest word you know.  

[cornish sam 1,040]

58 minutes ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

I'm trying to figure out if he's the keyboard player?

 

That's a poisoned chalice, both of them are dead... And not very good getaway drivers

[hogesar 10,763]

55 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

What level would that be, mid-table Premier League? Aren't they where McNally had us?

Chelsea historical place in football by the way, bottom half Prem, odd spell in the Champs, pre-quasi Russian state ownership.

I dont think Boehly has bought Chelsea with bottom half prem historical aspiration..

[cornish sam 1,040]

3 hours ago, jaberry2 said:

The truth is they have bought and sold very wisely, as have Brighton. There are clearly much better models in terms of scouting players than what we have in place.

As others have pointed out previously, our model was set up to pick up unrealised talent in European leagues, that option was taken away from us with Brexit, those great early signings would not be possible today and we haven't quite figured out how to be effective in the new world (though there are signs were adjusting with sara and Nunez starting to come good)

[Mello Yello 2,572]

4 minutes ago, cornish sam said:

That's a poisoned chalice, both of them are dead... And not very good getaway drivers

A poisoned chalice akin to the drummers of Spinal Tap....

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

6 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I dont think Boehly has bought Chelsea with bottom half prem historical aspiration..

Doubt the Everton owner did either though to be fair 

[cornish sam 1,040]

3 minutes ago, Mello Yello said:

A poisoned chalice akin to the drummers of Spinal Tap....

Were they not very good getaway drivers either?

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

7 minutes ago, cornish sam said:

As others have pointed out previously, our model was set up to pick up unrealised talent in European leagues, that option was taken away from us with Brexit, those great early signings would not be possible today and we haven't quite figured out how to be effective in the new world (though there are signs were adjusting with sara and Nunez starting to come good)

Pretty sh*t plan then wasn't it since we knew Brexit was going to happen since the referendum in 2016, long before Webber walked through the door.