First Ferran Soriano interview

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Has Mancini been sacked?

 

[Skashion]

EH? Last week they hadn't said anything and were getting dogs abuse for that, and now they've not said anything new? Sure ...

Pray tell Billy, what have they said there that surprised you? I can't think of a single thing in there that we didn't already know. I could have written Ladyman's piece without attending that conference/briefing. Their vision and mandate is pretty clear.

 

[Plaything of the gods]

Personally I'd rather a CEO be good at making sure the club is run well rather than paying lip service to the supporters because lets face it - you aren't going to please all of them all the time. Ever.

I agree. His role as CEO is to establish the vision, the strategy, the objectives and the plan to get us there, and to then keep us on track with executing the plan by ensuring that we have the right resources at the right time. Looks like he's doing pretty well so far.

Still, it wouldn't harm for certain posters to stand by the phone in case that call comes.

 

[Seasideblue]

EH? Last week they hadn't said anything and were getting dogs abuse for that, and now they've not said anything new? Sure ...

Pray tell Billy, what have they said there that surprised you? I can't think of a single thing in there that we didn't already know. I could have written Ladyman's piece without attending that conference/briefing. Their vision and mandate is pretty clear.

They told us Kun is staying

We are not in for Falcao

We are well advanced on our transfer targets to name but three. plus plenty of other stuff that I found interesting

 

[moomba]

It's still our club and we should be holding the employees of it accountable.

Unfortunately its not "our club", it never has been, we were just fortunate (or unfortunate in some cases) to pick it to support. The club has never, and will never, be supporter owned, and while we can say what we want about its employees, the only people/person that can hold its empolyees to account is the owner.

I disagree. We may not own the club, but it is our club. The day I don't feel that way is the day I'll give it all away.

 

[Ronnie the Rep]

It's still our club and we should be holding the employees of it accountable.

Unfortunately its not "our club", it never has been, we were just fortunate (or unfortunate in some cases) to pick it to support. The club has never, and will never, be supporter owned, and while we can say what we want about its employees, the only people/person that can hold its empolyees to account is the owner.

I disagree. We may not own the club, but it is our club. The day I don't feel that way is the day I'll give it all away.

You are both wrong (and right). A club is an organic thing that grows and changes depending on how the team performs, how much money is invested, the personality of the manager and owner etc. these change over time and so does the image of the club. The owner, in effect just look after the club until they sell it on. The fans change as well, we grow older and have other things on our agendas. The prices increase so the fan mix changes (look at the arse) if we become successful we attract more overseas fans, etc

In conclusion, I think long term nobody owns a club, we all just go along for the ride

 

[Blueto]

Strangely, I read that in Rafa Benitez voice in my head.
Especially every time I read 'manager'.

 

[George Hannah]

EH? Last week they hadn't said anything and were getting dogs abuse for that, and now they've not said anything new? Sure ...

Pray tell Billy, what have they said there that surprised you? I can't think of a single thing in there that we didn't already know. I could have written Ladyman's piece without attending that conference/briefing. Their vision and mandate is pretty clear.

They told us Kun is staying
We are not in for Falcao
We are well advanced on our transfer targets to name but three. plus plenty of other stuff that I found interesting

and 'less than six in' - that should kibosh a few dream teams - it has mine.

 

[cleavers]

Unfortunately its not "our club", it never has been, we were just fortunate (or unfortunate in some cases) to pick it to support. The club has never, and will never, be supporter owned, and while we can say what we want about its employees, the only people/person that can hold its empolyees to account is the owner.

I disagree. We may not own the club, but it is our club. The day I don't feel that way is the day I'll give it all away.

You are both wrong (and right). A club is an organic thing that grows and changes depending on how the team performs, how much money is invested, the personality of the manager and owner etc. these change over time and so does the image of the club. The owner, in effect just look after the club until they sell it on. The fans change as well, we grow older and have other things on our agendas. The prices increase so the fan mix changes (look at the arse) if we become successful we attract more overseas fans, etc

In conclusion, I think long term nobody owns a club, we all just go along for the ride

moomba, we may invest our emotions, time, and small (relative to the owner) amounts of money into the club, but they aren't enough for it to be truly ours. We can call it "ours", and like you I often do, but the reality is we'll never be able to make any decisions that truly matter. We maybe had a chance when Swales was ousted, and perhaps again before Thaksin took over, but that is gone forever now.

Unfortunately the only thing that owns the club now, is the amount of investment in it. Currently (and hopefully for a long time to come) that is considerable, and provided by Sheik Mansour, and bringing in the highest revenues the club has ever seen.

Luckily the current owner has a long term vision of making us one of the biggest clubs in world football, we've just completed stage one, making us recognised worldwide (thanks to Mancini, a bit of typical City, and Sergio).

We are about to embark on stage two, getting us to, and stabilising us as, one of the top 10 clubs in the world, but to achieve this we need to make the last 8 in the champions league regularly (once would be a start), and win our domestic league more than once in a blue moon.

The final stage will be to make us one of the top 5 clubs in world football, and the long term plans we have, are clearly aiming us towards that goal.

We are very fortunate to have this opportunity, that such a good structure has been put in place, and that we have an owner that is looking so long term.

I find it amazing that some of our fans are so hung up on one individual, who was probably already holding us back. He leaves with our thanks for giving most of us the best 3 years we've ever had, but I'm looking forward to better times still, hard as that is to believe. I just hope I can still afford to be there regularly to see it.

 

[moomba]

I disagree. We may not own the club, but it is our club. The day I don't feel that way is the day I'll give it all away.

You are both wrong (and right). A club is an organic thing that grows and changes depending on how the team performs, how much money is invested, the personality of the manager and owner etc. these change over time and so does the image of the club. The owner, in effect just look after the club until they sell it on. The fans change as well, we grow older and have other things on our agendas. The prices increase so the fan mix changes (look at the arse) if we become successful we attract more overseas fans, etc

In conclusion, I think long term nobody owns a club, we all just go along for the ride

moomba, we may invest our emotions, time, and small (relative to the owner) amounts of money into the club, but they aren't enough for it to be truly ours. We can call it "ours", and like you I often do, but the reality is we'll never be able to make any decisions that truly matter. We maybe had a chance when Swales was ousted, and perhaps again before Thaksin took over, but that is gone forever now.

Unfortunately the only thing that owns the club now, is the amount of investment in it. Currently (and hopefully for a long time to come) that is considerable, and provided by Sheik Mansour, and bringing in the highest revenues the club has ever seen.

Luckily the current owner has a long term vision of making us one of the biggest clubs in world football, we've just completed stage one, making us recognised worldwide (thanks to Mancini, a bit of typical City, and Sergio).

We are about to embark on stage two, getting us to, and stabilising us as, one of the top 10 clubs in the world, but to achieve this we need to make the last 8 in the champions league regularly (once would be a start), and win our domestic league more than once in a blue moon.

The final stage will be to make us one of the top 5 clubs in world football, and the long term plans we have, are clearly aiming us towards that goal.

We are very fortunate to have this opportunity, that such a good structure has been put in place, and that we have an owner that is looking so long term.

I find it amazing that some of our fans are so hung up on one individual, who was probably already holding us back. He leaves with our thanks for giving most of us the best 3 years we've ever had, but I'm looking forward to better times still, hard as that is to believe. I just hope I can still afford to be there regularly to see it.

I don't know who is hung up on things. I'm certainly only interested in what is best for the club going forward. How we act, what we represent, whats important to us. I've not criticised the club once for sacking Mancini, and have said several times that hiring and firing is the right of the people in charge. I'll judge the effectiveness of those sort of decisions down the line, based on performances and results not soundbytes and spin though.

I see quite a lot of comment about any criticism of the club being a defence of Mancini, in most cases it has nothing to do with it. Maybe people need to accept that criticism of the club and/or its employees isn't necessarily a defence of the former manager.

I should add that I have no problem with Soriano, since I watched that Barca doco I've been looking forward with to seeing what he (and Txiki) can do at the club. That remains the case and I'm pleased to have them both at the club. And as I mentioned in my post that started this that IMO I don't think he has been neglecting the supporters.

Just that I do see it as a key part of his job. I suspect he will be only too aware as well that if he doesn't have the supporters on side, his job implementing the plans and vision of Sheikh Mansour will be ten times as hard.

And no matter what anyone says, I'll never see the clubs as anything other than mine. And IMO that entitles me to criticise or question people involved in the club (including the person who does legally own the club) if and when I think it's due.