Claudio Fannieri

Trouble is they will be too busy moaning and groaning about another sideways or backwards pass or more importantly fecking off home 10 minutes before the end of the game 😂

I understand that Rudkin has to navigate through FFP and that is not easy, however he is responsible for signing off the following contract negotiations to players who have ended up remunerated well above there ability and probably at a significant increase to where they came from, including - Soumare Bertrand Vestergaard Praet Daka Perez Ward - contract renewal Hamza - contract renewal I would beg the question do we even negotiate in relation to personal terms or do we just accept the first request from the agent, when in reality that is there cheeky request and would be prepared to drop £20k - 30k below the first ask, wouldn’t shock me if we could have saved £6-8m a year on the above by negotiating harder.

You called it early doors yesterday that the deal for Sensi wouldn’t happen and you also alluded it was down to Rudkin. I cannot believe how blinkered people are to his accountability in all of what has gone before us and my biggest fear is that he will see off the manager who is doing a bloody good job of undoing the mess.

Quick question who is to blame and who loses their job when results on the pitch are not good? the answer is the Manager and quite often his backroom staff now in the case of a Director of Football or Sporting Director, their role includes advising the owner or making the decision to hire & fire managers, set the philosophy and strategy of the club, buy and sell players that have been identified by the recruitment team and managers, manage contract negotiations with existing players and staff, amongst other tasks. At what stage does Rudkin not take responsibility and accountability for his part in the current financial position, the shitshow regards contract negotiations and the current state of our wage bill and inability to move players on, our relegation from the premier league and his refusal to push for the removal of the poisoned dwarf when it was clear he has downed tools after 2 thrashing’s away to Brighton and Spurs. In any other club or industry he would have gone in the summer if not before. I am amazed that anybody can defend him from that list. Yes we won the league in 2016 and FA Cup in 2021 but that is history, if we can sack Ranieri 9 months after leading us to the title then in the same way Rudkin has to go for the relegation and countless other issues under his watch.

More from the point that most of our Heads of Recruitment don’t stay around that long, is that through ambition or frustration. there has been so many of our back room and scouting team move on, it does beg the question why? And never do they return in a more senior role, is this because the reason they left is still there?

I think it’s a mix of who we have appointed as head of recruitment since Walsh has left, Macia was excellent, Congerton an absolute disaster and Glover has done ok, the question I have, is how much influence and control does Rudkin have now in comparison to when Walsh and Pearson were here. If he has more of a say and influence on our recruitment strategy then that would be a concern, especially if he is overruling managers over players for example with the predigree of Sensi at a fairly risk free fee. What will be interesting to see is how long Glover hangs around, I wouldn’t be shocked to hear he is leaving within the next 6-12 months.

Coady looked really good in pre season prior to his injury, Vesty stepped in to cover and has been a revelation. In fairness to Coady he is now being judged on the odd game here and there and fleeting appearances from the subs bench, he hasn’t been a failure.

I am not pretending I know, I am quoting what Enzo has said and also what has been reported by the media and past history. If you want to believe Rudkin is blameless then you are entitled to your opinion, I am merely expressing mine.

He also stated he wasn’t made aware of the situation until the window had opened, do you think a senior director of a business should withhold that kind of information from the Manager, it directly impacts, I know if that happened to me in my industry, I would be fuming and yes if it left me in a position where my integrity had been damaged then my working relationship with that director would be pretty much untenable. Why is it so difficult to grasp?

I have listened to Enzo’s press conferences and also what has been reported, so do your think Rudkin and Enzo sat there laughing over a cup of coffee as to what a hoot it would be to fly Sensi over complete a medical and sign his paperwork to then not do the deal for shits and giggles, and Enzo along with it all, despite the personal embarrassment and risk to personal and professional relationships he may have.

So we didn’t fly Sensi over here, complete his medical and him the sign the paperwork and then still pull the plug on the deal, do you think Enzo was fully aware that would happen?

I don’t think anyone is saying we should be reckless with our spending and run the risk of an FFP breach and potential points deduction, what is infuriating me and no doubt Enzo, is the fact that Rudkin has not communicated the position clearly enough or early enough, Enzo seems a man of principle and therefore I imagine his frustration and anger will be more in relation to the embarrassment of persuading Sensi to join us and then the club flying him over for a medical and sign his papers to then pull the plug. if that was me i would rightly be fuming especially if I had worked tirelessly and took advantage of contacts and relationships to set it up for Rudkin and the clubs heirarchy to jettison the deal at such a late stage. I very much doubt this is about not signing a player but more about the circumstances and how this played out, this will have created what could be irreparable damage to the trust and day to day working relationship. people shrugging their shoulders and going oh well, I don’t think grasp the severity of what went on yesterday and the lasting damage these kind of feck ups can have.

Make no mistake, I can only imagine the frustration Enzo is feeling in regards to the piss poor communication from his Director of Football as to the financial position and how that would constrain our January recruitment, but then on top of that he is now having to listen to the sarcastic jeers and moans from a minority of the supporters, yes whilst his reaction might be seen to be a little emotional, we only see a fraction of what goes on behind the scenes. Enzo seems to have the players backs and appears to be very popular with the squad, which suggests a very strong respect and buy in for his methods and how he is improving the players and squad overall. I imagine much of his frustration towards fans reactions is a protection of his players, who are busting a gut to get us back up, are 10 points clear and in the 5th round of the FA Cup and yet the players aren’t really getting the recognition, as there is audible discontent and by the end of the game they are getting clapped off by a half empty stadium. I imagine the players and manager love away games where there is a real togetherness. The fans need to think long and hard, who are we better off retaining Enzo or Rudkin, I know where my support sits and I think it’s important the players and manager feel the love and appreciation of what could be a momentous season, if you have frustrations vent them at the whopper who continues to steal a living as our Director of Football.

I am going to have a right old rant but in a constrained and structured manner. Firstly in his defence, I completely understand that due to FFP moving players on such as Soumare, Daka, Souttar and Kristiansen and not showing a loss on book value is really really difficult, so in that sense I am cutting him some slack. However there are also a number of players who have minimal or no book value that surely we could have reached some sort of sensible compromise over and been able to shift on. I honestly believe we could have raised £10-15m moving on Iversen, Thomas and Iheanacho, however I bet we refused to budge on our valuations and therefore we end up sending 2 on loan and one will walk out the door for free. There is an arrogance and stubbornness to not sell below a certain valuation, which is to be commended at the right times but when you have a number of fringe/unwanted players who have low or no book value, surely there comes a time during the later stages of the summer window or early doors in January where you stop cutting your nose off to spite your face and start doing deals to create wriggle room for cash flow or to give FFP wriggle room to support the manager to strengthen the squad. A big part of his job is recruitment and moving players on, yes it is complex but it seems to me he literally draws up a list of the squad, then puts a minimum valuation next to their name and if the bid/enquiry doesn’t meet that then it’s no go. Even the summer window whilst the recruitment was good, the inability to move on players left us with an unbalanced and bloated squad. Maddison and Barnes at least were sold early but let’s be honest they were hardly earth shattering deals then Castagne and Hirst were the only other exits for fees. Then there is the communication or in his case the lack of it, how has he sat back and allowed Enzo to speak with Sensi and persuade him to join, to then fly him over, complete a medical and sign the paperwork to then pull the plug, that is absolutely disgraceful, shows a complete lack of respect to Enzo, who has been made to look pretty foolish, this isn’t about not getting his shiny new player, this is the damage to reputation and credibility of both Enzo and the club, not only with Sensi, but also his representatives. We have come across as tinpot and I am not sure Enzo will be happy to be associated with such piss poor incompetence. The truth is, we have a world class training facility, we have ambitions to expand the stadium and we have one of the upcoming coaches/manager in Europe and yet we have a Sporting Director who I doubt would be employed by any of the other 91 clubs in the country in that capacity……it is time to get rid before he undoes anything else that is good about this club. We have the infrastructure and coaching team capable of taking club forward and to a bright future, however we have a sporting director who is akin to Mr Bean. Top act now and remove him as he is clearly out of his depth and bring in an experienced forward thinking person to take the club forward.

What an absolute shambles, how Rudkin survives this will be a miracle and if he does shows just how rotten the club is at the top

Once Smithies retired and Iversen had gone on loan to Stoke, it always felt Ward would stay as experienced cover in the event either Mads or Jakub get injured

I suppose the difficulty is, if you loan out an academy player, where do they go that will give them the grounding and opportunity to play in a similar style as to how we play? I can’t see too many clubs affording us that option. Therefore whilst academy football is nowhere near as competitive as a loan in league 1 or 2, maybe the club believe the better prospects are better off staying in and around the club, training with the 1st team and opportunities will come. Too be fair to Enzo he has bloodied a good few this season and others seem to be on the cusp and training regularly as part of the first team sessions.

Great post, as you say this kind of football isn’t for everyone, personally I absolutely love it and I love watching the patterns of play, our movement and how we retain possession awaiting the opponents to make a mistake in their defensive shape and pressing lines and then boom 💥 we pounce with speed and precision to try and take advantage. and yeah I think I am a bit of a football neek as my lad would call it (nerd/geek) 😂

😩 will be an absolute disaster if we lose one of the brightest up and coming coaches/managers in the country possibly even Europe as a consequence of Rudkin, if Enzo does go then I can see it turning pretty toxic for Rudkin, he got away with it last season as we have done so well this season, but if he fecks this one up I cannot see how he survives, although the hoofball mob will be delighted 🫣

Don’t be a miserable Norris 😂

Fecking ridiculous that Rudkin takes time off at such a critical time, yeah he and Top might be very close but priority has to be the club and his role at such a key time, or as you say delegate to somebody else.

Sod it I thought I would start the fun on what will probably be the usual damp squib of a day 😂 Outs Souttar Praet and a few academy loans Ins Sensi +1 (Enzo’s bulldozer)

Hopefully a permanent deal, I reckon £12-13m + add ons gets this done.

The moaning element of our fan base maybe we can do a deal to sell them to a club with more pashun and play hooooooooofball

I am pretty passionate about this as you can tell with my 100 odd posts on this topic 😂 I am a massive fan of Enzo and what he is doing, there is another point to factor in, most if not all the players have bought into his methods and talk passionately about his energy and focus ……. what do you think will happen if / when he leaves and we end up with one of the usual suspects in the job, and the wheels well and truly come off, but as long as get it forward quicker hey ho