The NSWE Board

[stewiek2]

4 hours ago, WHY said:

Nice to see Elmo in there as well. I’m guessing Sawiris likes having him around. When we were deep in the mire under Dr Tony I wonder if Elmo put a call it?

Elmo and Nas, the Egyptian football mafia. We got the counter strike on the Saudis

[stewiek2]

Nas at more and more games after turning up at few games a season. He's liking this Emery bloke. Think we're going to see a lovely summer war chest for the Don from him and Wes. I dare say deals are already being done in readiness for preseason.

And TWO future monarchs as Villa supporters. That's almost Franco/Real level of top tier support.

[brummybloke]

5 hours ago, brommy said:

We all know most owners like to feel good about themselves and important in their social standing. Hopefully, rubbing shoulders with the direct heirs to the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms will go some way to nourish their continued ownership of Villa.

That relationship between William &George and our club, wes and especially sawiris will love and just another reason sawiris I can't see leaving the club. I imagine it would give him even more status in egypt if its possible, rubbing shoulders with the real Prince in a social environment.

And thank the lord the ginger Prince is no where near our club

Edited April 9, 2023 by brummybloke

[sidcow]

8 hours ago, stewiek2 said:

Nas at more and more games after turning up at few games a season. He's liking this Emery bloke. Think we're going to see a lovely summer war chest for the Don from him and Wes. I dare say deals are already being done in readiness for preseason.

Something on the BBC gossip column said we're going to smash our transfer record and give Emery a huge summer transfer budget. 

I think the BBC source was from one of those dodgy news sites though. 

Anyway these guys don't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down.  I'm sure they are massively enthused right now. 

Glad to see what looks like Nassef's son celebrating with him. Make sure he gets the bug too. 

[Captain_Townsend]

My first post.

Just to say these owners are incredible.  First they came to the rescue in the summer of 2018. Then they stood firm when Spurs wanted Grealish. Next they hired Dean Smith and took us back to the promised land. They then funded the purchase of players that have, for the most part, grown into the club and the top flight. Yes, Gerrard was a mistake but maybe we had to make that mistake to getvto where we are with a genuinely top class manager.

We are very lucky indeed.

[mjmooney]

Henceforth, they shall be known as 

THE EMERY BOARD 

[Kingman]

On 10/04/2023 at 11:22, Captain_Townsend said:

My first post.

Just to say these owners are incredible.  First they came to the rescue in the summer of 2018. Then they stood firm when Spurs wanted Grealish. Next they hired Dean Smith and took us back to the promised land. They then funded the purchase of players that have, for the most part, grown into the club and the top flight. Yes, Gerrard was a mistake but maybe we had to make that mistake to getvto where we are with a genuinely top class manager.

We are very lucky indeed.

Ohh not on your nelly, We'll soon beat that enthusiasm out of you! 

[MSvillain]

In light of the Alemany news, these guys continue to amaze me with where they want to take the club 

[sidcow]

[Villatillidie95]

I think this overhauling of off the pitch staff is very promising. Its refreshing to get people who have been there and done it, putting them in the right role at the right time. Barca have seemingly got Deco lined up for the Alemany replacement, whilst West Ham put Mark Noble in as their sporting director.

Obviously it good be advantageous to have someone who knows the club well in positions like sporting director, but i feel much more comfortable putting a seasoned operator in that role and giving them the autonomy to act as they see fit, rather than putting someone in due to history, and having them learn on the job.

NSWE are clearly serious people and its so refreshing that we have a long term aim and are being proactive rather than just going with the flow and reacting to events.

[DaveAV1]

On 09/04/2023 at 15:03, stewiek2 said:

And TWO future monarchs as Villa supporters. That's almost Franco/Real level of top tier support

Considerably higher level, given the result of a certain European game almost 218 years ago. 

[Villaphan04]

 

 

[Demitri_C]

Any decent pics of edens and sawiris today at the game?

They must be loving it at the moment as much as we are

[maqroll]

@OutByEaster? You mentioned the interesting power dynamics in play with the board. 

I'm fascinated by how this might play out. All of a sudden there are a lot a cooks in the kitchen. Purslow ceded a decent chunk of power the day Emery signed. The entire Gerrard fiasco and  Emery's incredible success has surely knocked Purslow down a few pegs. Enter Alemany who seems like a big personality who has come to Villa with assurances of money and power. And now Heck. 

I think the power structure is 

Emery

Alemany/Purslow

Heck

Lange

I think it's possible that Lange gets squeezed out or leaves of his own volition. 

I think NSWE need Purslow to guide the North Stand rebuild and Villa Park related business. I don't expect him to be involved in player acquisition and transfer negotiations going forward. That'll be Alemany's exclusive area. I could see Lange being useful to Alemany but for how long?

Looks like Heck is the guy to market the Villa brand and increase Villa's profile in North America and Asia. The NBA has a massive presence in China and Heck will be familiar with the process for clubs to push into that market. Looks like the MLS deal is looking dicey now, but Heck would likely be heavily involved in any other projects with MLS and V Sports.

 

[OutByEaster?]

I dunno - I don't necessarily see Purslow being the guy for the group - I think they'd put 'a Purslow' into each club they own - I think he's influential in the Premier League, he has knowledge, contacts and obviously the ability and experience to do the role, but I think that's his focus, the Premier League - he spends much of his energy making sure that the rules of the league don't get changed in ways that would negatively affect us - that and the big picture at the club.

I think Alemany is more a players guy - someone who makes deals, someone who translates a managers' dream into players at the right prices at the right times - his whole focus seems more on the team. Now Purslow has done a lot of that while he's been here, but it might be that he's decided that he'd rather concentrate on the big picture fights, the 'club' stuff and leave player negotiation to someone else - it's possible that decision might have been made for him - but I think those two can comfortably co-exist, with Alemany the first team guy who reports to Purslow but carries out some of the duties he used to do.

In the past, Alemany has done more than that, but for both men, it might be a case of doing more of what you're best at and letting the other guy do the rest. I guess it might also be a case of both getting to do more of the bit they enjoy.

Heck I can't quite figure, I don't know too much about him but from what I can gather he's someone who grows a business through marketing, increases reach and visibility and penetration and all those other words that get marketeers all excited - which is interesting in that I think he can do that without necessarily overlapping with Nicola Ibbotson in her role as Commercial Director - Nicola is a deal maker in marketing terms, she's the one selling the space on the front of our shirts, and I think Heck is different, I think he's the one trying to make that space more valuable - so they will naturally have to work together, but again, I think they can do that without getting in each others way.

Purslow again appears in that picture, he's worked closely with Ibbotson in making shirt deals at a couple of different clubs and seems to be quite involved in those deals - whether Heck to an extent restricts Purslow's involvement isn't quite clear, but if his focus is more on promotion of the brand than sale of it, again I'd say it should work.

Heck though has done more than that in the past, he's run teams, so whether he's stepping back into his specialisation and away from a general role, I don't know.

Paul Tyrell will I guess continue to be Paul Tyrell - taking the big picture stuff from some of those people and translating it into plans that get carried out by people who know how to do it.

Lange is more difficult - especially since Lange's role has always been a little bit difficult to understand anyway - in the past, we've had this trio of people - manager, Purslow and Lange - presenting players, coming to a consensus and then Purslow making the negotiations. Of those people, I'm guessing that Alemany will replace Purslow in terms of what Purslow does now, but that Purslow will still be involved in terms of ratifying transfers and purchases with the board, how Lange works I'm less clear on - if he's going to be presenting data to Alemany, then I think that's a lesser role, if he's going to be Alemany's right hand man, his eyes and ears, picking out players, recommending them, assessing them, then it's going to take a very big lump of trust on Alemany's part to make that work - especially since it's quite probable that Alemany already has people who do that. That's the relationship I can't figure.

Unless...

If we upscale this to the group level, I don't see Purslow as CEO for V Sports - he's a Premier League specialist with a big job already, I don't see Ibbotson as being the group person because different markets require different contacts and experiences and selling a Premier league shirt is different to selling one for an Egyptian club, or an MLS one, but the two new guys I can see having a group role.

If Heck can grow business's then he can grow Villa, Vittoria and the future group clubs, if his job is visibility and marketability, then I think that's a skill he can carry across the group - and looking at that across the group gives him something he'll 'run' which maybe takes away from him stepping back into his specialisation with Villa.

Player markets are peculiar in that they are global, but also extremely contained - all of the worlds best players end up under a reasonably limited number of global agencies - the contacts Alemany has in Europe are contacts that are good for the whole world - and I think his role is definitely one that can be scaled up for the group - which might make more sense in that he'd then have a Lange type figure at each club who liaises with the manager and CEO of that club on his behalf....maybe.

Or maybe Lange's role goes group wide and he becomes responsible for collecting data on players at all sorts of different levels on behalf of the group - making recommendations to Alemany on who might be worth signing, that Alemany then takes to the CEO and Manager at the clubs involved and then puts to the board for financing.

It's difficult to understand exactly how this is going to work - but we now have a number of senior people who have run large sports teams on our books - that ought to have a positive effect I think - it'll be fascinating to see the impacts they have.

 

[AntrimBlack]

I think these appointments are very exciting. Hopefully not going to be a case of `too many cooks'.

[AntrimBlack]

The owners must be delighted with the progress under Emery.

Our future is so bright.

[avfc1982am]

                             Naz(ow)  & Wes(ow)

                                    Purslow(ceo)

                 Alemany(sd)             Heck(com)

      Emery(gov)     Lange(an)              

 

I also can't tell what is going on however, my theory is.... a cdm, right side of defence, a keeper and we have a xmas tree formation 

[allani]

9 hours ago, maqroll said:

@OutByEaster? You mentioned the interesting power dynamics in play with the board. 

I'm fascinated by how this might play out. All of a sudden there are a lot a cooks in the kitchen. Purslow ceded a decent chunk of power the day Emery signed. The entire Gerrard fiasco and  Emery's incredible success has surely knocked Purslow down a few pegs. Enter Alemany who seems like a big personality who has come to Villa with assurances of money and power. And now Heck. 

I think the power structure is 

Emery

Alemany/Purslow

Heck

Lange

I think it's possible that Lange gets squeezed out or leaves of his own volition. 

I think NSWE need Purslow to guide the North Stand rebuild and Villa Park related business. I don't expect him to be involved in player acquisition and transfer negotiations going forward. That'll be Alemany's exclusive area. I could see Lange being useful to Alemany but for how long?

Looks like Heck is the guy to market the Villa brand and increase Villa's profile in North America and Asia. The NBA has a massive presence in China and Heck will be familiar with the process for clubs to push into that market. Looks like the MLS deal is looking dicey now, but Heck would likely be heavily involved in any other projects with MLS and V Sports.

 

That depends on how you are measuring the power structure and it will be very different based on specific scenarios.

From a club perspective - ultimately Purslow will still be at the top of the tree.  His job though is more administrative so it depends whether you think that translates into "power".  The others are likely to report into him (and then he'll probably be the one reporting to the Board / owners.  But I don't think he has the power to fire them, change their priorities, etc.  He ultimately is responsible for ensuring that we succeed as a business. 

But if you are looking at say player recruitment - then the power dynamic would be very different.  The question is whether the manager dictates to the DOF what style of football we should be playing and what type of players we need or the other way around.  My gut feel is that Emery and Alemany will work very closely on that but that Emery basically describes what he wants and then it is up to Alemany to find players that match the profile but that then Emery has the final decision on which players to sign.  I don't think there will be much of a clash there.  I am convinced that Alemany wouldn't be joining if Emery wasn't here and that he's confident that they share a "vision" - I also wouldn't be surprised if Alemany wasn't someone that Emery identified when he took the job.  Purslow's job would be more restricted to setting Emery / Alemany a budget (fees and wages) and approving any deals from a FFP / financial perspective (maybe with some input from Heck in terms of identifying how additional marketing opportunities might impact on the budget for a specific player).  

It seems to me that rather than having too many cooks, all we are doing is setting ourselves up to operate like a proper business - with "elite" level experts responsible for their specific area but all of them working together to ensure that everything is aligned to the same purpose.  Who has "power" depends on each specific situation and the end answer is probably no-one (although I guess ultimately it is NS + WE), each decision will have been approved (either explicitly or implicitly) by all interested parties.  Emery doesn't want players thrust on him that don't fit his system, Alemany doesn't want a president interferring and signing players that don't fit with his vision / Emery's vision, Lange doesn't want to spend ages analysing players to target / agree a deal with only for the manager / DOF to throw a hissy fit and say "nah I want someone different" and Purslow doesn't want a DOF signing players that we can't afford (in the short or long term).

I really don't see any of this as knocking Purslow down a peg or two.  I think we're just seeing that maybe we've accelerated our development and that maybe Emery has opened a couple of doors / created an opportunity that were / was not there before.  We're also probably seeing some ramping up on the V-Sports side as the decision on the US franchise gets closer.

[macandally]

9 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I dunno - I don't necessarily see Purslow being the guy for the group - I think they'd put 'a Purslow' into each club they own - I think he's influential in the Premier League, he has knowledge, contacts and obviously the ability and experience to do the role, but I think that's his focus, the Premier League - he spends much of his energy making sure that the rules of the league don't get changed in ways that would negatively affect us - that and the big picture at the club.

I think Alemany is more a players guy - someone who makes deals, someone who translates a managers' dream into players at the right prices at the right times - his whole focus seems more on the team. Now Purslow has done a lot of that while he's been here, but it might be that he's decided that he'd rather concentrate on the big picture fights, the 'club' stuff and leave player negotiation to someone else - it's possible that decision might have been made for him - but I think those two can comfortably co-exist, with Alemany the first team guy who reports to Purslow but carries out some of the duties he used to do.

In the past, Alemany has done more than that, but for both men, it might be a case of doing more of what you're best at and letting the other guy do the rest. I guess it might also be a case of both getting to do more of the bit they enjoy.

Heck I can't quite figure, I don't know too much about him but from what I can gather he's someone who grows a business through marketing, increases reach and visibility and penetration and all those other words that get marketeers all excited - which is interesting in that I think he can do that without necessarily overlapping with Nicola Ibbotson in her role as Commercial Director - Nicola is a deal maker in marketing terms, she's the one selling the space on the front of our shirts, and I think Heck is different, I think he's the one trying to make that space more valuable - so they will naturally have to work together, but again, I think they can do that without getting in each others way.

Purslow again appears in that picture, he's worked closely with Ibbotson in making shirt deals at a couple of different clubs and seems to be quite involved in those deals - whether Heck to an extent restricts Purslow's involvement isn't quite clear, but if his focus is more on promotion of the brand than sale of it, again I'd say it should work.

Heck though has done more than that in the past, he's run teams, so whether he's stepping back into his specialisation and away from a general role, I don't know.

Paul Tyrell will I guess continue to be Paul Tyrell - taking the big picture stuff from some of those people and translating it into plans that get carried out by people who know how to do it.

Lange is more difficult - especially since Lange's role has always been a little bit difficult to understand anyway - in the past, we've had this trio of people - manager, Purslow and Lange - presenting players, coming to a consensus and then Purslow making the negotiations. Of those people, I'm guessing that Alemany will replace Purslow in terms of what Purslow does now, but that Purslow will still be involved in terms of ratifying transfers and purchases with the board, how Lange works I'm less clear on - if he's going to be presenting data to Alemany, then I think that's a lesser role, if he's going to be Alemany's right hand man, his eyes and ears, picking out players, recommending them, assessing them, then it's going to take a very big lump of trust on Alemany's part to make that work - especially since it's quite probable that Alemany already has people who do that. That's the relationship I can't figure.

Unless...

If we upscale this to the group level, I don't see Purslow as CEO for V Sports - he's a Premier League specialist with a big job already, I don't see Ibbotson as being the group person because different markets require different contacts and experiences and selling a Premier league shirt is different to selling one for an Egyptian club, or an MLS one, but the two new guys I can see having a group role.

If Heck can grow business's then he can grow Villa, Vittoria and the future group clubs, if his job is visibility and marketability, then I think that's a skill he can carry across the group - and looking at that across the group gives him something he'll 'run' which maybe takes away from him stepping back into his specialisation with Villa.

Player markets are peculiar in that they are global, but also extremely contained - all of the worlds best players end up under a reasonably limited number of global agencies - the contacts Alemany has in Europe are contacts that are good for the whole world - and I think his role is definitely one that can be scaled up for the group - which might make more sense in that he'd then have a Lange type figure at each club who liaises with the manager and CEO of that club on his behalf....maybe.

Or maybe Lange's role goes group wide and he becomes responsible for collecting data on players at all sorts of different levels on behalf of the group - making recommendations to Alemany on who might be worth signing, that Alemany then takes to the CEO and Manager at the clubs involved and then puts to the board for financing.

It's difficult to understand exactly how this is going to work - but we now have a number of senior people who have run large sports teams on our books - that ought to have a positive effect I think - it'll be fascinating to see the impacts they have.

 

Good post and read.  I guess nearest analogy could be the Red Bull approach?  

Edited May 14, 2023 by macandally