Bernstein/Keegan Split

[Citizen Green]

I’ve just posted about this in another thread and I think it’s a really pivotal/interesting topic in the clubs recent history that hasn’t really ever been discussed much in public.

With hindsight I think it’s fair to say Bernstein was right on the Fowler signing as that took our outlay on forwards to £27.5m in just over 8 months with a new stadium move on the horizon, only Anelka delivered imo.

When you look back it left us without a pot to piss in until the Sheikh took over, and left us buying over the hill has-been’s for a good 5 years.

Does anyone have any insight as to how Bernstein got to the point when he wouldn’t go on? Imagine some of the young talent that money could have been better spent on at the time!

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Hope to see more on this.

 

[BlueMoonPodcast]

I’ve just posted about this in another thread and I think it’s a really pivotal/interesting topic in the clubs recent history that hasn’t really ever been discussed much in public.

With hindsight I think it’s fair to say Bernstein was right on the Fowler signing as that took our outlay on forwards to £27.5m in just over 8 months with a new stadium move on the horizon, only Anelka delivered imo.

When you look back it left us without a pot to piss in until the Sheikh took over, and left us buying over the hill has-been’s for a good 5 years.

Does anyone have any insight as to how Bernstein got to the point when he wouldn’t go on? Imagine some of the young talent that money could have been better spent on at the time!

We interviewed David Bernstein a few years ago on the podcast and, while he didn't go into too much depth about the disagreement, he does talk about it - and being the chairman, but not a majority shareholder - briefly in here (it's about mid-way through the audio): https://www.bluemoonpodcast.com/david-bernstein

He said: "When things are tough, people don't know want to know. They're happy to leave things to you. When City were in that real problem in 1998, a lot of people were scared - the fans were angry, it was a very volatile situation and I had a very, very free hand. I was given a free hand and it was fantastic. It enabled me to do, with some very good colleagues, build up a team of people who could do a lot very quickly and I think it was a great four or five years.

"As we started to get more successful, other people wanted to get more active. There were differences of views about some key things, about management - certainly about buying players. I thought we were beginning to throw money around that we shouldn't have been. There were one or two signings that I won't go into specifically, but you'll probably know which ones they were, that I disagreed with strongly - and I proved to be right.

"In the end, I felt that the strong role I'd been able to play over four or five years, was becoming dissipated. I wasn't a major shareholder. I was a shareholder, but not a major shareholder. In the end, of course, the people who provide the money and hold the shares have the final say. That whole situation became much less straight-forward, much more mixed, and I wasn't happy with it.

"You can imagine how reluctantly, having had a wonderful time with my club that I loved so much, to step away wasn't easy. But I wasn't prepared to compromise on things like that."

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

Bernstein was always cautious, and thank god he was. The state we were in and the amount of players we had on the books when he took over was a disgrace as much so as our league position. Him and Big Joe were the right men in the right place at the right time. Not sure him and Keegan were ever a good fit - Keegan was used to splashing the cash at '90's barcodes and Fulham in the early Fayed days. I was never comfy with us becoming a sort of retirement home for dipper hasbeens at the end of their careers under Keegan.

 

[Citizen Green]

Bernstein was always cautious, and thank god he was. The state we were in and the amount of players we had on the books when he took over was a disgrace as much so as our league position. Him and Big Joe were the right men in the right place at the right time. Not sure him and Keegan were ever a good fit - Keegan was used to splashing the cash at '90's barcodes and Fulham in the early Fayed days. I was never comfy with us becoming a sort of retirement home for dipper hasbeens at the end of their careers under Keegan.

I think it really damaged us in what could of been a very prosperous period for the club had that money been better spent.

You look at the optimism going into the Prem in 2002, and then 3/4 years later the state we were in with Pearce at the helm and the new stadium feeling alien, a lot of it was due to this scattergun spending approach imo.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

I think it really damaged us in what could of been a very prosperous period for the club had that money been better spent.

You look at the optimism going into the Prem in 2002, and then 3/4 years later the state we were in with Pearce at the helm and the new stadium feeling alien, a lot of it was due to this scattergun spending approach imo.

Strange time for sure. Hard to believe we were walking into every bit as bad a state (apart from league posn) just before the takeover as we were when Bernstein arrived.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

I think it really damaged us in what could of been a very prosperous period for the club had that money been better spent.

You look at the optimism going into the Prem in 2002, and then 3/4 years later the state we were in with Pearce at the helm and the new stadium feeling alien, a lot of it was due to this scattergun spending approach imo.

True that, our spending across 02/03 and 03/04:

Bischoff - £700k.
Distin - £4m.
Loran - Undisclosed.
Vuoso - £3.5m.
Anelka - £13m.
Schmeichel - Free.
Kerkar - Free.
Belmadi - Loan.
Sommeil - £3.5m.
Fowler - £6m.
Seaman - Free.
Tarnat - Free.
Sinclair - £2.5m.
Sibierski - £700k.
Reyna - £2.5m.
McManaman - Free.

Total - £36.4m. So honestly, take the £19.5m spent on Anelka, Distin and Sinclair and do the same, you then had £17m to spend, which in those days given who other people were signing couldn't compete with the top 3 but we would have been fair game for anyone else. Missed opportunity, considering the likes of Okocha went for free.

 

[Segga]

Anelka doesn’t get talked about much when discussing old players does eh? I thought he was great for us for the most part. He was a Unbelievable signing at the Time, bit of a coup for us I remember where I was at the time I heard he signed. What was the reason we seemed to have a free run at him? Was he seen as a bit temperamental and no one willing to take a risk on him? He was well above our level at the time.

 

[Onholiday(somemightsay)]

Anelka doesn’t get talked about much when discussing old players does eh? I thought he was great for us for the most part. He was a Unbelievable signing at the Time, bit of a coup for us I remember where I was at the time I heard he signed. What was the reason we seemed to have a free run at him? Was he seen as a bit temperamental and no one willing to take a risk on him? He was well above our level at the time.

Fallen out with PSG / France and Houllier turned down down the option to convert his loan deal to permanent at Liverpool (didn't they Diouf instead after the World Cup or am I mixing my history)?

My understanding was that he wasn't seen to be worth the baggage that came with his talent (all of his brothers acting as agents and advisors and his 'Le Sulk' persona).

Considering the goal return and the quality of the player we landed, he was an absolute synch.

And for what it's worth, I'm sure I heard from an ex-pro that the transfer was heavily stacked in add-ons so we never paid anything like the £13M quoted at the time of I remember correctly............

 

[cheekybids]

Anelka doesn’t get talked about much when discussing old players does eh? I thought he was great for us for the most part. He was a Unbelievable signing at the Time, bit of a coup for us I remember where I was at the time I heard he signed. What was the reason we seemed to have a free run at him? Was he seen as a bit temperamental and no one willing to take a risk on him? He was well above our level at the time.

Anelka was superb for us, what annoyed me was the lazy crap that was written “Le sulk” had a better goal return for us than at Arsenal, Madrid & Dippers.