![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | Going, going… - Report at 17:58:54
@stainrodnee: "What bugs me most is that under Warburton we did improve and, as I understood it, he didn’t want to leave." It is all moot, since Warburton will not be coming back to W12, but I have to ask, where is MW now? To answer my own question, since last June he has been a "first team assistant coach" at WHU. Now I wouldn't seek to put any of the blame on him for WHU's current plight - he is by no means the Top Dog there and besides, they were worriying signs at that club before he ever arrived. But I would ask, why would someone who has filled the top job at several well-known clubs have been reduced to accepting this much lower role? As a temporary stop-gap, maybe, but not after all this time, during which he hasn't been seriously linked with any major job. Nor does he lack the requisite coaching knowledge and skills, or even the ability to man-manage, as he has demonstrated at a number of clubs, including yours and mine.. Rather it can only be because you can't trust him not to go behind his employer's back in whatever job he currently holds, or apply for a "better" job the minute his current job is going well and his stock his high. Which is why no-one at Brentford would trust him as far as they could throw Michael Beale - and he's a fatty, too. Meaning that no matter how much chaos there might be in the W12 henhouse at present, the last thing you want to do is bring in a fox to sort it, no matter how much he assures he's not at all hungry just now, thank you very much. |
![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | I hitched a ride with a vending machine repairman — Report at 21:24:33
Superbly written piece as ever, with nothing I could add. I also enjoyed @PastCaringNW2's comment which followed re Moneyball/Billy Bean etc, and which seemed to me to be a very thoughtful anlaysis of the root cause of the club's problems. However, I am not persuaded by his proposed solution, namely: "Bring Warbs in as DoF and give him complete control. Let decency be the guiding principle and see where that takes us. If he'd even have us at this point. " Our own experience at Brentford is that there is no better person to have at the helm when things are going well and he can claim his share* of the credit etc. But it's when things go wrong that you see the real man, i.e. he starts pointing the finger at everyone round him and refuses to take any of the blame. In other words, you think you're getting a snake charmer, but in the end, you're getting a snake. * - His share being 100%... |
![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | Fleetwood cack — Report at 14:44:32
Mention of Andre Dozzell reminds me of the time I saw his father Jason training on his own in a park in Ealing, when he was between contracts. Let's just say that the cones beat him comfortably. |
![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | It's a tempting offer - Preview at 22:23:04
'Hoop Meister' suggests writing a book. Should it be an autobiography, the title is already here: "Stuck in the Ibis Budget watching fcuking Andre Dozzell" Even if you were a nun, you couldn't resist a come-on like that! |
![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | All eyes on a new owner with Derby now requiring snookers - Interview at 20:35:21
@OldPedro: "would be interested to see how the city council could justify spending £80mil on buying the stadium from Morris" That £80m only came from MM's imagination i.e. by "buying it" for that sum from DCFC, that sum went onto the club's books to help it avoid FFP. Meaning it's worth nothing like that in the real world. Meanwhile, MM is said to have borrowed £20m on hefty interest rates from Michael Dell (he of computer wealth) to finance this. Meaning that he probably needs this sum at least to get him off the hook, but can't ask any more, if the Council are the only buyer. P.S. Dell has lent money at high interest rates to a number of football club owners, including eg the Yanks who bought Burnley. |
![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | Gambling with FFP — Column at 16:13:05
Re. Francis Bowles: "... the penny hadn't really dropped for me until now, that as well as having parachute payments, relegated clubs also had a higher FFP loss threshold. I knew both factors existed but had never thought of the joint impact, which as you point out makes, or should make, their advantage grossly unfair." I imagine the thinking behind it is this. If a promoted team is to have any chance of competing in the PL, they will likely have to add PL-standard players to their squad. And offering PL wages on its own won't be enough to attract them, they'll also require longish contract (say 3 years?). Therefore clubs need to know that they are protected against immediate relegation, where PL contracts in the Championship could ruin them, hence the Parachute payments. And although clubs increasingly try to impose "relegation clauses" in players' contracts, this is often easier said than done, since the most in-demand players will simply sign for another PL club, therefore restricting promoted clubs chances of competing once again. Which I imagine explains the "tapered" application of parachute payments, after the first couple of seasons in the Championship, most relegated clubs should have cleared out their PL remnants. All of which has a certain logic to it (imo), but it has the effect of making the financial/competitive gap between the Championship's "Haves" (in receipt of parachute payments) and "Have Nots" (not in receipt) FAR greater than that between the poorest PL club and the richest, relatively speaking. But if you were simply to scrap parachute payments and additional FFP allowances received by relegated clubs, then you'd be condemned to endless "yo-yo'ing" of random clubs in and out of the PL, with few, if any, having any realistic hopes of getting established and eventually taking their club to the next level (new stadium, training ground, Academy, commercial, sponsorship etc). A Rock and a Hard Place, methinks. |
![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | News Comment | Class of 2020 could fire Brentford to the big time - Interview at 01:44:44
Miss Terraces - We Bees will all miss terraces too. But we've been allowed to keep ours while we build our new stadium. And that's a real stadium, not some makey-uppy project on someone elses car lot or the exercise yard of the local prison, ready in good time for The Big Time (see above). |
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