ozvillafan Posted March 16, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted March 16, 2016 So they Sacked Almstadt... and he was a Fox appointment? If so, that's a massive vote of no confidence in the CEO and he should go too (I suspect he will shortly). That being the case... why are they looking for a new Sporting Director? Isn't that what the (new?) CEO should be doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 5 hours ago, DCJonah said: Well clearly he was more involved than everyone who wanted to put it all on Sherwood made out. How is that clear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 19 minutes ago, srsmithusa said: How is that clear? To be fair, nothing is clear because the club's communication strategy is less transparent than North Korea's. But... http://www.villatalk.com/topic/13595-hendrik-almstadt/?do=findComment&comment=1912956 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 My assumption would be that Fox threw him under the bus, possibly to save his own skin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 16, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) 8 hours ago, DCJonah said: There are strong rumours that the key people responsible for this year are to be sacked. Almstadt is the first to go out of that group, to me that indicates that he was involved I agree with all of that. None of that means he was involved in transfers though. You may think that him being sacked first means he was involved in transfers, but that's a complete assumption made by you, hence why i questioned it. Him being sacked first is in no way evidence that he was involved. Almstadt could just have easily been sacked because he did **** all and he was the easiest person to get rid of because we wouldn't miss whatever it was he did. The timing of his departure is nothing to do with how involved or uninvolved he was. Edited March 16, 2016 by Stevo985 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 It is my assumption that whatever he did, he was complete shit. Was probably changing the paper towels and hand wash for £1m a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Money ball is what you described. Great for Baseball, shitty for Football. "Moneyball" if you want to call it that (or just heavy use of data), is now responsible for winning the NBA, NFL, IPL as well as what was originally written about in the book, and there are many sports betting firms like Smart odds and Sporting index making huge profits predicting the outcome of matches using this data. The fact is this is the future whether you like it or not. Whether Almstadt and Reilly are good at it is another question... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 9 hours ago, VillaCas said: I have no facts on this but are we really in the top six wage bills? Arsenal, MU, MC, Chelsea, Liverpool are probably top five - I find it hard to beleive we are next? Personally I would be surprised if we are top half? Clearly I could be wrong but it seems counter-intuitive We are well in the top half, we spend more than Everton and more than Stoke. Our wage bill is a whopping £20m+ more than what Stoke pay!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 4 hours ago, lexicon said: My assumption would be that Fox threw him under the bus, possibly to save his own skin. Technically the press release said it was by mutual consent. Fox and Reilly could also be on their way but digging their heels in more regarding their leaving terms. Like I said before, I don't mind the idea of there being a transfer committee. If Reilly goes, we will still need a head scout, and I think he has found some relatively decent unknown players. I think having someone looking at stats as part of the recruitment is a good idea. However ultimately if there is no cohesion between what they're working on and a manager who knows what he wants his team to look like, then it's going to fail. Perhaps they were given more power than they should have, but that goes down to Fox and Lerner giving them that much power and probably Sherwood for not having a clue on how to build a football team. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bose Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 I agree that the future is in having a recruitment department but it needs to set up correctly. Once again look at Southampton. They had Paul Mitchell (now at Tottenham) and his job was very different from a DoF. Quote At Southampton, Mitchell has overseen an entire department dedicated to this science. In a large open-plan room at the club's new football development centre, there are literally 10 computer screens of matches being watched throughout the day by full-time staff. In another corner is the base for a team of scouts who physically get out and identify potential players right the way from the age of five upwards. They include men like Rod Ruddick, who spotted an eight-year-old Gareth Bale at a six-a-side tournament in Newport. Another thing Southampton have done is set up a system called the "black box". Quote The most intriguing element of the department, though, is what is known as the "black-box". It is a small room with a phone, a desk and a row of chairs that faces a giant screen. Southampton designed their own computer software that is used in this room and, with just a few clicks, Mitchell and his team could be watching any player, team or target anywhere in the world. Yet the "black-box" is not used solely for identifying players but also analysing Southampton's own squad and future opponents. Having a manager with his set of scouts is outdated. We need to set up something efficient and well planned like Southampton have. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Bernstein,Little and now Almstadt. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 18 hours ago, rodders0223 said: Money well spent. Cracking appointment! As far as I can see he knackered any deals we had lined up in Jan which basically put the nail in the coffin he built last summer!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, bose said: I agree that the future is in having a recruitment department but it needs to set up correctly. Once again look at Southampton. They had Paul Mitchell (now at Tottenham) and his job was very different from a DoF. Another thing Southampton have done is set up a system called the "black box". Having a manager with his set of scouts is outdated. We need to set up something efficient and well planned like Southampton have. People have a tendency to talk about the "Southampton way" as though it is the only way. It is a successful way granted, but like anything only if you get it right. Paul Mitchell is at Tottenham because it worked for Pochettino, not the other way around. It might make me a Luddite but ultimately the safest system any club can employ is to build a backroom team around the manager, it is they who have to send the team out onto the pitch. Yes, there should be stable elements to that system, chairman/board/CEO/advisers etc. but for the main part it should be 100% the managers choice IMO who fulfills those important scouting roles. If you chop and change managers once every season because your Boardroom is a farce then you also need an owner willing to suck it up financially without it affecting the team beyond those changes. Either that or he needs to sell to somebody who will, pronto. Edited March 16, 2016 by dont_do_it_doug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 2 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: People have a tendency to talk about the "Southampton way" as though it is the only way. It is a successful way granted, but like anything only if you get it right. Paul Mitchell is at Tottenham because it worked for Pochettino, not the other way around. It might make me a Luddite but ultimately the safest system any club can employ is to build a backroom team around the manager, it is they who have to send the team out onto the pitch. Yes, there should be stable elements to that system, chairman/board/CEO/advisers etc. but for the main part it should be 100% the managers choice IMO who fulfills those important scouting roles. If you chop and change managers once every season then you also need a chairman willing to suck it up financially without it affecting the team beyond those changes. It doesn't make you a luddite. The manager structure works for small & medium size clubs that typically only have to deal intra-division in a single country, but premier league clubs are organisations of hundreds / thousands of people these days. Giving the responsibility of 7 days of training sessions, matchday tactics, worldwide scouting networks & transfers involving teams of agents, lawyers and other hangers on to a single man is a bit of a stretch these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 we tried the Southampton way in the summer and it failed, sell your best players and bring in players from abroad and hope they settle well and we made a balls of it. Some teams work different ways and they are successful and we need to do something similar, if any team in Europe we should try to study it would be Sevilla who have thrived in last 10-12 years or so due to clever scouting and 1 genius Director of Football who rules over the club. we just need find that genius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bose Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 3 minutes ago, Zatman said: we tried the Southampton way in the summer and it failed, sell your best players and bring in players from abroad and hope they settle well and we made a balls of it. Some teams work different ways and they are successful and we need to do something similar, if any team in Europe we should try to study it would be Sevilla who have thrived in last 10-12 years or so due to clever scouting and 1 genius Director of Football who rules over the club. we just need find that genius We didn't fail this summer because we did the "Southampton way". We failed because it was a shit set up with the wrong people and we failed to replace experienced players who were key players for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) 1 minute ago, bose said: We didn't fail this summer because we did the "Southampton way". We failed because it was a shit set up with the wrong people and we failed to replace experienced players who were key players for us. I myself was referring to the last decade. I couldn't tell you in what way we do things and I doubt Aston Villa could either. Edited March 16, 2016 by dont_do_it_doug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 12 minutes ago, mwj said: It doesn't make you a luddite. The manager structure works for small & medium size clubs that typically only have to deal intra-division in a single country, but premier league clubs are organisations of hundreds / thousands of people these days. Giving the responsibility of 7 days of training sessions, matchday tactics, worldwide scouting networks & transfers involving teams of agents, lawyers and other hangers on to a single man is a bit of a stretch these days. Oh no, I didn't mean all of that should be left to a single man. The club needs vision and direction, but the team who put that in to place needs to be built around the manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bose Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 1 minute ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: I myself was referring to the last decade. I couldn't tell you in what way we do things and I doubt Aston Villa could either. That I think we all can agree with! I was quoting Zatman though not referring to your post. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 46 minutes ago, bose said: We didn't fail this summer because we did the "Southampton way". We failed because it was a shit set up with the wrong people and we failed to replace experienced players who were key players for us. We also have to point out that Southampton have been relegated to League One and gone bust in the time since they picked up Gareth Bale as an eight year old, so it's not always been roses. They made errors in appointing the likes of Harry Redknapp and Clive Woodward but ultimately stuck with the plan, even if the personnel weren't always right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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