Rowe; In jail if not for Webber?

[chicken 2,627]

6 minutes ago, ridgeman said:

Give it a rest the word going round was that Knapper didn’t rate Idah , if that’s true then he joins many on this board.

And yet, the messiah that is Farke said he was a great prospect and a fantastic natural finisher and started him in the premier league. In addition to that, he is a fully fledged international already.

Now, if you had told me that Knapper had said he felt that Idah's progression had stalled, I would find that more believable. As it stands though, I wouldn't trust much rumour like that. We've had a few stories now and all have some sort of believable merit. I doubt Knapper would arrive, look at a player for little over a month and then chuck them out like that - it'd be an incredibly foolish move considering our model if nothing else.

[Sufyellow 222]

2 minutes ago, chicken said:

You appear to be failing to address the reality of what is happening hear. You see how he is thanking the fans of both Norwich and Portsmouth? It's making it very clear that these are the words of one individual who is no longer part of our club.

You keep suggesting that this is some huge disaster as if we are the Titanic after we have hit the iceberg and got all of the toffs off (with Big Vince) into their underfilled lifeboats... We're not there yet.

You are all "we're doomed" and yet I can hardly recall you meaningfully posting a lot before. Strange that you have suddenly cropped up on a non-footballing weekend to say the same thing over and over again without much substance to back it. 

I have seen how disgusting the media and social media have been in the last few weeks,  don't underestimate the damage this could do. I don't know why you are being all defensive,  it's not as if I am attacking anyone,  I just believe our club should make a statement and distance its self from him. Go and look at how this has grown since this morning, see what is being said, some of it is way off mark, do we keep quiet. I have posted quite a bit , not that it's at all relative. 

[chicken 2,627]

1 minute ago, Sufyellow said:

I have seen how disgusting the media and social media have been in the last few weeks,  don't underestimate the damage this could do. I don't know why you are being all defensive,  it's not as if I am attacking anyone,  I just believe our club should make a statement and distance its self from him. Go and look at how this has grown since this morning, see what is being said, some of it is way off mark, do we keep quiet. I have posted quite a bit , not that it's at all relative. 

It's funny how you are attacking various posters with incredibly bad perception.

I'm not being defensive - that would be to just say that you are talking rubbish and you are blowing this all out of proportion.

I've merely pointed out that your contribution has mainly been to repeat the same or similar view repeatedly. Which isn't that this "could" be bad for the club, but that it already is. It'll be a test of the PR department but if they can't handle this then frankly, they'll deserve whatever comes their way.

What you are failing to address though, is that so far, everyone is condemning his choice of words at least, and not the club. None of the players past or present, not Sterling, nor the Kick it Out campaign.

You are basing everything on social media like X, yet in another comment you said you came here to get away from the BS on there. Reality is that X and Facebook are pretty much not the go to platforms anymore. Social media has moved on to be more about Instagram, snapchat and others. Mainly because people are growing tired of the random conspiracy slanted sociopathic rants people tend to go on and how quickly nothing stories can be blown up into massive storms for no reason other than one person wanting it to be that way.

The media has always been disgusting. Especially the likes of the Sun, Daily Heil and various other gutter tabloids who all have hacked phones and refused to apologise for massive misleading of the public. I really couldn't give a monkeys what sources like that have to say, largely because they are worse than hypocrites as they will have been involved in far worse just to get a story, or a photo of a grieving family or some such. Scumbags the lot of them.

I don't work in PR, but if I did, holding back a day or two wouldn't be the end of the world. It's a weekend and there are lots of good reasons for not firing back too quickly, for example, involving the players current and former in how the club would like to deal with it. That way, it has their backing. It gives them the opportunity to own the offense which is theirs, and not others to attempt to take ownership of too.

Additionally, as Kamara already has, it gives the players the opportunity to also express themselves. At this point, if all of the players say similar things, the PR is almost self written:

"As a club we stand in solidarity with our players, past and present, and would like to underline our commitment to the Kick it Out campaign. We support the comments made by those players and have reached out to express our support of them whether they wear yellow and green still or not."

Jumping in could disempower and also look like we fear repercussion which would inevitably invite it. 

[......and Smith must score. 1,345]

Hopefully after all this the Pink Un powers-that-be will realise that wheeling Webber out for interviews probably won’t end well.

They may think it’s worth it to generate traffic but it seems a very high risk strategy to me.

[hogesar 9,676]

38 minutes ago, ridgeman said:

Give it a rest the word going round was that Knapper didn’t rate Idah , if that’s true then he joins many on this board.

If he doesn't rate Idah but rates his replacement that he signed, then we really are doomed.

[Sufyellow 222]

19 minutes ago, chicken said:

It's funny how you are attacking various posters with incredibly bad perception.

I'm not being defensive - that would be to just say that you are talking rubbish and you are blowing this all out of proportion.

I've merely pointed out that your contribution has mainly been to repeat the same or similar view repeatedly. Which isn't that this "could" be bad for the club, but that it already is. It'll be a test of the PR department but if they can't handle this then frankly, they'll deserve whatever comes their way.

What you are failing to address though, is that so far, everyone is condemning his choice of words at least, and not the club. None of the players past or present, not Sterling, nor the Kick it Out campaign.

You are basing everything on social media like X, yet in another comment you said you came here to get away from the BS on there. Reality is that X and Facebook are pretty much not the go to platforms anymore. Social media has moved on to be more about Instagram, snapchat and others. Mainly because people are growing tired of the random conspiracy slanted sociopathic rants people tend to go on and how quickly nothing stories can be blown up into massive storms for no reason other than one person wanting it to be that way.

The media has always been disgusting. Especially the likes of the Sun, Daily Heil and various other gutter tabloids who all have hacked phones and refused to apologise for massive misleading of the public. I really couldn't give a monkeys what sources like that have to say, largely because they are worse than hypocrites as they will have been involved in far worse just to get a story, or a photo of a grieving family or some such. Scumbags the lot of them.

I don't work in PR, but if I did, holding back a day or two wouldn't be the end of the world. It's a weekend and there are lots of good reasons for not firing back too quickly, for example, involving the players current and former in how the club would like to deal with it. That way, it has their backing. It gives them the opportunity to own the offense which is theirs, and not others to attempt to take ownership of too.

Additionally, as Kamara already has, it gives the players the opportunity to also express themselves. At this point, if all of the players say similar things, the PR is almost self written:

"As a club we stand in solidarity with our players, past and present, and would like to underline our commitment to the Kick it Out campaign. We support the comments made by those players and have reached out to express our support of them whether they wear yellow and green still or not."

Jumping in could disempower and also look like we fear repercussion which would inevitably invite it. 

Firstly I have not attacked anyone. Kick it out have said they want to speak to the club in a statement. And I haven't complained that they should of already put out a statement. Agree with alot of what you said though. 

[chicken 2,627]

6 minutes ago, Sufyellow said:

Firstly I have not attacked anyone. Kick it out have said they want to speak to the club in a statement. And I haven't complained that they should of already put out a statement. Agree with alot of what you said though. 

You have accused me of being defensive and Branston of being angry.

All I can see is you and one or two others jumping up and down demanding a club statement. If Kick it Out - who the club are said to work closely with, want to speak to the club, then I suspect that the club will not issue any statement until that has happened. It'll likely be with their consultation and that of the players - IMHO, as it should be.

It certainly shouldn't be on the demands of fans who are not directly involved when it is more important that those players should be the ones making demands if any are to be had. 

[The Bunny 310]

4 hours ago, hogesar said:

OK. He's visibly done very little and certainly nothing of note that's spoken about. Apart from loaning out a goalscoring sub and replacing with an unfit, non scoring one.

Shush

[Midlands Yellow 3,995]

1 hour ago, chicken said:

I could give it a go...

The club would like to publicly distance itself from the comments made by former sporting director Stuart Webber. The beliefs he shared in a recent interview are not shared by the club, nor any of it's current employees. The club is strongly committed to the kick it out campaign and has reached out to all of the players both current, former, and Raheem Sterling, to reassure them that these are not Norwich City FC values.

P.S. Stuart, don't let the door hit you on the way out... Dion Dublin on the other hand...

That statement is to the point and something like this needs to be done ASAP. 

[Sufyellow 222]

2 minutes ago, chicken said:

You have accused me of being defensive and Branston of being angry.

All I can see is you and one or two others jumping up and down demanding a club statement. If Kick it Out - who the club are said to work closely with, want to speak to the club, then I suspect that the club will not issue any statement until that has happened. It'll likely be with their consultation and that of the players - IMHO, as it should be.

It certainly shouldn't be on the demands of fans who are not directly involved when it is more important that those players should be the ones making demands if any are to be had. 

Telling someone to wind their neck in sounds angry to me , when someone has a different opinion, don't you think? You seem defensive,  I wasn't attacking the club, but you seem to think I was, that's probably more to do with that's how it has been for the last couple of years on all social media including here. 

[chicken 2,627]

Just now, Midlands Yellow said:

That statement is to the point and something like this needs to be done ASAP. 

It will be, I am pretty confident. I would say that where you have plausible time, you use it. Imagine putting out a statement and then finding out that the players in question and the kick it out campaign are not happy with it? You want them all on board from the get go.

I'd have the player liaison team on it today with the players, 9am tomorrow I would be on to the Kick it Out campaign. Meeting with all of them tomorrow if possible, statement in front of the board by close of play, out by the end of the day if not first thing Tuesday.

I would not want to proceed in any other way for risk of undermining the statements from the Kick it Out campaign or those of the players like Kamara - which is praiseworthy in it's own-right.

I could be a real own goal if you were to go about it in any other way and face accusations of being more concerned about your own public facing than that of the players involved or the campaign that seeks to protect and support them. It really needs to be about those players and looking after them. 

[chicken 2,627]

6 minutes ago, Sufyellow said:

Telling someone to wind their neck in sounds angry to me , when someone has a different opinion, don't you think? You seem defensive,  I wasn't attacking the club, but you seem to think I was, that's probably more to do with that's how it has been for the last couple of years on all social media including here. 

When you repeat something over and over again and state how slow the club is in responding to this or how people are denying it is dragging the club in or damaging to the club and then overstate this in the repetitive nature of your posts then yes, it comes across as an attack.

Take a step back for a bit, look at these things logically, ignore "social media" it really isn't a reliable source of anything and frankly, since Elon Musk took over and rebranded it "X" that place has become a cesspool of village idiots, racists, Incels and Russian bots. 

[Sufyellow 222]

1 hour ago, chicken said:

When you repeat something over and over again and state how slow the club is in responding to this or how people are denying it is dragging the club in or damaging to the club and then overstate this in the repetitive nature of your posts then yes, it comes across as an attack.

Take a step back for a bit, look at these things logically, ignore "social media" it really isn't a reliable source of anything and frankly, since Elon Musk took over and rebranded it "X" that place has become a cesspool of village idiots, racists, Incels and Russian bots. 

Social media , is showing every media outlet that is reporting it. Sky, BBC the guardian and every other outlet there is , hard to ignore. When did I state people were denying it and the club are acting to slow?  You really need to read what people are saying before commenting. 

[Monty13 2,235]

1 hour ago, Midlands Yellow said:

That statement is to the point and something like this needs to be done ASAP. 

Exactly it’s not hard to write it should have been out and made already. Taking the time to make a short distancing statement that’s so obviously required is not a good look IMO.

Edited March 25 by Monty13

[BroadstairsR 2,174]

If Kamara's statement is of his own wording, he clearly has more up top than Stuart Webber.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

1 hour ago, Monty13 said:

Exactly it’s not hard to write it should have been out and made already. Taking the time to make a short distancing statement that’s so obviously required is not a good look IMO.

Don't forget, whether we like it or not, the club will have to put out something that Zoe is comfortable to support.

[spencer 1970 207]

What an odd man Webber is?! He seems more "dinosaur" on comments like that. Think of it this way, it's great news he's already gone, as if he made those comments whilst still in his old job, he'd have got the bullet which could have left us in a tight spot during the run in. 

Why are we giving this ex employee so much airtime anyway? Cheerio 👋🏼

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,286]

On 23/03/2024 at 20:21, hogesar said:

Because wording something awfully when trying to draw comparisons between young Black players vs situations he'd seen as part of his charity work helping those communities does not make someone racist.

I generally believe actions mean more than words. And somebody can be accused of making a racist comment without necessarily being a racist.

He does good things like charity work for the accolades. It’s a good move, given his character, which is undeniably classic narcissist. 

[Six Pack 93]

4 hours ago, Rock The Boat said:

Don't forget, whether we like it or not, the club will have to put out something that Zoe is comfortable to support.

Is Zoe Webber the majority shareholder of the club ? If keeping her at the club is detrimental to the club's wellbeing then she must be asked to resign. What is important is how other people, in particular potential trainees view the club - who cares about making Zoe Webber comfortable ! 

[Greavsy 2,415]

12 minutes ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

He does good things like charity work for the accolades. It’s a good move, given his character, which is undeniably classic narcissist. 

Another person who must be good because they do charity work........ 🤔 

The masks always slip.....

[MC_NCFC 67]

31 minutes ago, Greavsy said:

Another person who must be good because they do charity work........ 🤔 

The masks always slip.....

Exactly that. There is nothing more narcissistic than the person who constantly mentions what a good person they are due to their charity work. 

[Channon’s Windmill 327]

22 minutes ago, MC_NCFC said:

Exactly that. There is nothing more narcissistic than the person who constantly mentions what a good person they are due to their charity work. 

So true, showcases exactly what Webber is, narcissist to the core.

[......and Smith must score. 1,345]

2 hours ago, spencer 1970 said:

What an odd man Webber is?! He seems more "dinosaur" on comments like that. Think of it this way, it's great news he's already gone, as if he made those comments whilst still in his old job, he'd have got the bullet which could have left us in a tight spot during the run in. 

Why are we giving this ex employee so much airtime anyway? Cheerio 👋🏼

A thoroughly unlikeable man is Stuart Webber. I thought David McNally was bad but this guy trumps him by some distance

I think someone brought up in a small Welsh town is more likely to be a ‘ dinosaur ‘ but he just can’t seem to stop shooting himself in the foot almost every time he opens his mouth. His narcissism coupled with a massive ego look like lifelong afflictions and I don’t think he’ll ever change.

I’m not convinced he’d have got the heave-ho if he’d still been our DoF. Our majority shareholders have a pretty poor CV in reading the room.

 

[Monty13 2,235]

6 hours ago, Rock The Boat said:

Don't forget, whether we like it or not, the club will have to put out something that Zoe is comfortable to support.

I don’t think anyone is calling for the club to stick the knife in or attack her husband. A simple this does not reflect the views of NCFC style statement should be the response, if she can’t support that that’s a huge conflict of interest.

I’m one of those that has the view that Zoe is her own person and shouldn’t be tarnished by association with whatever her husband does just because she’s his wife, but by that same token she has to embody that. Publicly supporting the core values of NCFC shouldn’t be an issue for any employee.

[S_81 802]

1 minute ago, ......and Smith must score. said:

A thoroughly unlikeable man is Stuart Webber. I thought David McNally was bad but this guy trumps him by some distance

I think someone brought up in a small Welsh town is more likely to be a ‘ dinosaur ‘ but he just can’t seem to stop shooting himself in the foot almost every time he opens his mouth. His narcissism coupled with a massive ego look like lifelong afflictions and I don’t think he’ll ever change.

I’m not convinced he’d have got the heave-ho if he’d still been our DoF. Our majority shareholders have a pretty poor CV in reading the room.

 

Given his 90% commentary, some of what he said about our fans, and his comments on the women’s team - it’s almost been a build of him thinking he can get away with saying what he likes and his bosses tolerate it as in his mind he’s such a talent. We’ll never know how the club would have responded to this upping of the ante, but I also have my doubts that it would have equalled the sack. 

[sonyc 5,526]

26 minutes ago, S_81 said:

Given his 90% commentary, some of what he said about our fans, and his comments on the women’s team - it’s almost been a build of him thinking he can get away with saying what he likes and his bosses tolerate it as in his mind he’s such a talent. We’ll never know how the club would have responded to this upping of the ante, but I also have my doubts that it would have equalled the sack. 

Indeed yes. His comments about "the Snakepit divorcees" alone told you what he thinks of fans. It was a cover all comment and meant to convey disgust. His further comments about "if 90% isn't good enough" also indicated the way he thinks. His comments now about black footballers is clearly how he thinks. It's not something one can apologise for. You can't take it back as if a slip of the tongue.

The Everest thing is another case in point. He wants a challenge. Fine. But why keep talking about it? Just do it. Quietly. He is a brittle man who happens to have done well to become a sporting director at a young age. He has been lionised. Perhaps he is the archetypal alpha male, lording over everyone? I don't know but he clearly has a very big view of himself. That much is undeniable. Yet, that view doesn't appear to have been built on anything solid. Like years of reflection. Some people don't think much of themselves which is unhelpful and caused by many factors. Others think too much of themselves but don't have the ability, yet, to think through that. The wisdom is hard earned. 

This episode, one of many, may well do him no good in the short term, but after a few years of thinking about himself it will probably do him a power of good. He needs to realise he is like the rest of us. Not much at all at the end of the day. I've never gone with all this praise of the man. Our successful teams did well because of the day to day man management and the players themselves as much as anyone. A SD should be setting the scene in the background, taking a very broad view, like a chairman or senior director in a company. And not front of house explaining how great he is. 

His comments are a disappointing read (only just got round to reading what this is all about this morning) and I just wish he was a past figure in the club's history. A footnote. But it appears he can't be a footnote.

 

 

[S_81 802]

2 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Indeed yes. His comments about "the Snakepit divorcees" alone told you what he thinks of fans. It was a cover all comment and meant to convey disgust. His further comments about "if 90% isn't good enough" also indicated the way he thinks. His comments now about black footballers is clearly how he thinks. It's not something one can apologise for. You can't take it back as if a slip of the tongue.

The Everest thing is another case in point. He wants a challenge. Fine. But why keep talking about it? Just do it. Quietly. He is a brittle man who happens to have done well to become a sporting director at a young age. He has been lionised. Perhaps he is the archetypal alpha male, lording over everyone? I don't know but he clearly has a very big view of himself. That much is undeniable. Yet, that view doesn't appear to have been built on anything solid. Like years of reflection. Some people don't think much of themselves which is unhelpful and caused by many factors. Others think too much of themselves but don't have the ability, yet, to think through that. The wisdom is hard earned. 

This episode, one of many, may well do him no good in the short term, but after a few years of thinking about himself it will probably do him a power of good. He needs to realise he is like the rest of us. Not much at all at the end of the day. I've never gone with all this praise of the man. Our successful teams did well because of the day to day man management and the players themselves as much as anyone. A SD should be setting the scene in the background, taking a very broad view, like a chairman or senior director in a company. And not front of house explaining how great he is. 

His comments are a disappointing read (only just got round to reading what this is all about this morning) and I just wish he was a past figure in the club's history. A footnote. But it appears he can't be a footnote.

 

 

I’m no fan of his, but there’s no doubt that he had some major successes when it came to signing players here. And some of the initial failures are now successes - albeit we needed instant results at that point in time from them. Of course he had a fair few errors on the recruitment front too - but we still made reasonable money back from most. The training/facilities side of things arguably he’s even better at. 
 

So whilst I don’t like the guy, I can certainly recognise why he has a high opinion of himself professionally. 
 

My dislike of him, like others who feel the same - is based upon his attitude / ego. He’s a very dislikable individual on that front - who either arrives with or quickly establishes chips on his shoulders. He cannot handle even the mildest criticism. And he allows these grievances to govern his communication output. And he also can’t help but divulge too much of his own internal thought process. Classic narcissistic traits. 
 

I think his next club would do well to have a structure where he doesn’t come out and front fans / media. Keep him behind the scenes, working closely with an individual / role that is more appropriate / able to do the PR stuff. 

[......and Smith must score. 1,345]

7 hours ago, Rock The Boat said:

Don't forget, whether we like it or not, the club will have to put out something that Zoe is comfortable to support.

Who gives a **** whether Ms Ward supports the statement or not ( assuming there is a statement ) ? It would be better if she did agree with the contents but when all's said and done she's an employee of NCFC.

If she doesn't like it she can always leave.

Edited March 25 by ......and Smith must score.

[sonyc 5,526]

3 hours ago, Monty13 said:

I don’t think anyone is calling for the club to stick the knife in or attack her husband. A simple this does not reflect the views of NCFC style statement should be the response, if she can’t support that that’s a huge conflict of interest.

I’m one of those that has the view that Zoe is her own person and shouldn’t be tarnished by association with whatever her husband does just because she’s his wife, but by that same token she has to embody that. Publicly supporting the core values of NCFC shouldn’t be an issue for any employee.

And here is the very nub of the governance problem at our club! A right old conflict of interest.

Zoe's husband has hit all the papers for the wrong reasons. And it reflects on the club but his wife is a very senior executive. She is her own person and she may actually disagree profoundly with his opinion of the world. She had to drag him through the door in that blanket protest affair. 

It's all unacceptable...thank goodness when Attanasio finally (fully) arrives.

Edited March 25 by sonyc

[mannings bandy legs 389]

8 hours ago, spencer 1970 said:

What an odd man Webber is?! He seems more "dinosaur" on comments like that. Think of it this way, it's great news he's already gone, as if he made those comments whilst still in his old job, he'd have got the bullet which could have left us in a tight spot during the run in. 

Why are we giving this ex employee so much airtime anyway? Cheerio 👋🏼

Would he have been sacked? I have my doubts,considering who would have had to make that decision.