New Director Of Football

[frany104]

Get him gone. Waste of space

[Mendi]

6 hours ago, frany104 said:

Get him gone. Waste of space

[HybridFox]

10 hours ago, StanSP said:

Change our kit to red

The most despised away kit to date

[ozleicester]

Who ever signed Lee Congerton is responsible. 

When I told the lovely Mrs Oz we had signed him....she said, "wasnt he the twat that buggered up Sunderland on that show we watched"

If that was Rudkin, then.. Rudkin OUT!

[ozleicester]

10 hours ago, Daggers said:

Stop making me read more posts, this was about cutting down my effort not increasing it. Think of me as the Elvis Hammond of posting.

At least we know why youve been travelling a bit this year...Did you you manage to sort everything out with "Travelex?"... hows the ankle?

[adamkhalifa]

As DOF, this guy needs to made accountable. I'd send Rudkin packing, end of season, whether we survive or not.

 

[Lambert09]

He chanced his way into the role and we all forgave him as things were going well on the pitch… I don’t think any of us know what he’s responsible for and what he wasn’t. Was he riding the crest of others brilliance? or was he a large component.. we just don’t know. 

 

What we do know, is that before he had this role he was thought of as completely incompetent and out of his depth … and that was with a far less important position. I’m not sure how he magically would have become this football guru when anyone close to him had nothing but bad things to say. Odds are… he’s finally been found out

Edited 6 April 2023 by Lambert09

[Daggers]

5 hours ago, ozleicester said:

At least we know why youve been travelling a bit this year...Did you you manage to sort everything out with "Travelex?"... hows the ankle?

Oddly, I too carry a near permanent ankle injury. Unlike Elvis, I maintain a quiet dignity. 

[fox_favourite]

We need a stronger, more football switched on DoF. He’s been here too long and I think we need a freshening up from top to bottom. Rudkin included. 

[escape2victory]

He needs more help at the very least. They need to review the structure of the footballing side of the club. If I’m not mistaken Rudkin is the DOF for Leicester and Leuven as well as the academy director.
 

At the very least they need to appoint someone to oversee the academy day to day, to take that off his plate and ideally appoint a new sporting director for the first team alongside Rudkin, to assist with planning/strategy for the first team squad 

[sacreblueits442]

17 hours ago, Foxxed said:

Would it be Susan's decision to sack him if supported by Top? Or is it Top's decision alone?

 

I have more faith in Susan than Top currently.

 

Rudkin helped us build the club that won the league and FA cup. But on the other hand it all seemed to unravel without Vichai's guidance.

 

...when Rodgers came in, he was allowed to become instrumental in the way the club was to be run!!!

  Seagrave was part of this where we took on his suggestions and no doubt acquiest to other area where he tampered with existing processes.

  This you would have,  I imagined, would have usurped Rudkin and with Congerton parachuting in, there was so much control given away which sought to override existing processes. 

  As we can see, Rodgers s not creative, he builds on the creativity of others and seeks out projects where the infrastructure is already in place.

 We eventually removed Congerton to take back some control of the direction and vision of the club.

  Rudkin's failure would be the contracts given to players and that would have been⁶ reviewed and sanctioned above him, you would think there is a Financial Director looking at these areas and having an input.

  It seems it is going to take sometime to get us back on track,  and Rodgers will no doubt find himself at Atalanta, along with his right hand man.

[berniethebolt]

3 minutes ago, escape2victory said:

He needs more help at the very least. They need to review the structure of the footballing side of the club. If I’m not mistaken Rudkin is the DOF for Leicester and Leuven as well as the academy director.
 

At the very least they need to appoint someone to oversee the academy day to day, to take that off his plate and ideally appoint a new sporting director for the first team alongside Rudkin, to assist with planning/strategy for the first team squad 

Understand the logic to re-enforce, but as a director he should be accountable for me, thats why he will be a paid a huge salary as the road ultimately leads to the decision makers.

A typical DOF overseas all football matters in the club, so it's his remit to understand the pathway from signing juniors (14+) to full blown academy to first team including succession planning, contracts at a strategic level.

So looking at footballing matters, the club looks like its failed to plan, made poor signings, signed off in unsustainable contracts and players with a value are walking for free. All I suspect would of had his sign-off (we are talking millions here so all decisions will need a director signoff) so Frankly a mess.

So he should be accountable and if its not him then it can only be a select few others and if not then what exactly is he doing day to day? 

 

 

 

[Manini]

Remember when Ian Ayre was at Liverpool, and he went to Ukraine to sign Konoplyanka. Got videoed shirt off dancing on the bar with a pint in his hand and he didn’t sign Konoplyanka. That’s probably the sort we’d end up with. 

[CosbehFox]

Speaks volumes that in the time of needing a decent contact book. Rudkin goes to the bloke managing the first team when he was under 18s manager 

[Foxy-Lady]

On 05/04/2023 at 15:00, indierich06 said:

I think my main issue with Rudkin is that he's basically found himself in the role of DOF through virtue of being at the club for a long time, rather than because he has any real relevant qualifications or experience.

 

Culture starts at the top and works it's way down - and the feeling I get from Rudkin is that he relies on those below him to do the right thing, rather than instilling any strategy, direction or leadership himself. He isn't equipped to do anything else. He seems a nice enough/unoffensive bloke, and someone like that is fine to have on board during the good times, but at the end of the day - regardless of whether we stay up or go down - we need someone heading up the footballing side of the club who is going to instill a culture and strategy to turn things around, and I don't think Rudkin is the guy.

problem with that he is actually NOT a nice bloke....he is actually very manipulative and controlling with an autocratic/dictatorial leadership style.  

 

He somehow manipulated his way into the owners trust right from the outset which led to his rapid rise through the ranks and his fingerprints are over pretty much every football related decision from the Academy upwards as he has always micro-managed the Academy....even when he was promoted to the DoF.   But somehow, he always manages to dodge the bullets that should be coming his way which i have to begrudgingly give him some credit for...!

 

Genuinely NOT a very popular person with players and staff .....except those who he chose to protect like Beaglehole, Peake and Cawley who were all his YES men at the Academy and stayed in post for far too long because of his protection.

.

And he was thoroughly disliked by Big Nige which pretty much says it all to me about his lack of character.....and that was long before the issues arose with Big Nige's son in Thailand.

[Kilworthfox]

On 05/04/2023 at 12:56, Stadt said:

Rudkin's presided over failure after failure. It's obvious he needs to be replaced.

 

Who would you want to replace him? Trickier with DOFs as there's less information around them.

 

The essentials:

• Data and analytically driven
• Strong recruitment record
• Good negotiator
• Track record of appointing/working with managers & recruitment teams to focus on academy/u21 signings 

 

Michael Edwards is currently unattached, pay him £1m+ a year and he'd join - teams think nothing of paying a 3rd choice keeper that but not a DoF, silly.

Chris O'Laughlin is sporting director at Union Saint Gilloise, Tony Bloom approved and their rise has been fantastic.

Frank Arnesen is getting on a bit but he's worked in England before, overseen a strong Feyenoord revival - could tempt Slot.

Svend Graversen has been at Midtjylland for a while and they continually punch above their weight, recruit well, develop well etc.

 

It would be an exciting opportunity for 98% of DoFs/sporting directors out there, we can double, treble or quadruple their wages, work from the best training ground itw, they'd have their opportunity to put their stamp on a club with a lot of benefits.

 

Any names you think we should be looking at?

 

Are we really overlooking that during his tenure we won the league and fa cup? 

 

Did he have nothing to do with that success? 

 

Data driven.... No thanks if rather go with what I see and feel rather than numbers in a defined box. 

 

 

 

 

Edited 6 April 2023 by Kilworthfox

[Kilworthfox]

14 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

Speaks volumes that in the time of needing a decent contact book. Rudkin goes to the bloke managing the first team when he was under 18s manager 

I know for a fact that Rudkins contact book is very valuable. 

 

Just because we fans don't see it doesn't mean he doesn't have a value to the club. 

[Trelleh]

From temporarily filling in the gaps while we find a new manager in the championship to making critical decisions for the future of our football club and having an overwhelming amount of influence on a premier league winning owner.

 

Staggering.

[ParkerPen]

14 minutes ago, Kilworthfox said:

Are we really overlooking that during his tenure we won the league and fa cup? 

 

Did he have nothing to do with that success? 

 

Data driven.... No thanks if rather go with what I see and feel rather than numbers in a defined box. 

 

 

 

 

I feel nostalgic for the 1980s also, but not that much

[Poznan34]

Julian Ward is leaving Liverpool this summer, was assistant DoF to Edwards and currently DoF. Might be worth a go, although recently linked with Ajax. 

 

Paul Mitchell is off to Man Utd, no chance. Although he was close to coming here after he left Spurs circa 2016. 

 

Interesting we have not replaced Sormaz. I think he was a Balsom hire, who has since moved on. Worrying if we're not keeping up with movement in data as it's only going one way. 

 

Really, we need a full reset - work out what style of play we want and go from there. It will be a huge job so we could pull in a big name, providing we stay up. 

 

 

 

 

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, Kilworthfox said:

Are we really overlooking that during his tenure we won the league and fa cup? 

 

Did he have nothing to do with that success? 

 

Data driven.... No thanks if rather go with what I see and feel rather than numbers in a defined box. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry Jon, won’t happen again.

[Smooch85]

The main take is, would any other club in the land take rudkin as a DOF. The answer is absolutely not. 

[Kilworthfox]

8 hours ago, ParkerPen said:

I feel nostalgic for the 1980s also, but not that much

Please explain. 

[Kilworthfox]

6 hours ago, Stadt said:

Sorry Jon, won’t happen again.

Thats not my name. 

 

Are you able to explain why you don't agree? 

[berniethebolt]

9 hours ago, Kilworthfox said:

Are we really overlooking that during his tenure we won the league and fa cup? 

 

Did he have nothing to do with that success? 

 

Data driven.... No thanks if rather go with what I see and feel rather than numbers in a defined box. 

 

 

 

 

Rudkin needs to be measured on his success over a rolling 5 period, that's typically how businesses work.

 

The league title was a good starting point as this magic moment of madness (with that squad, that finished 12th the following season) gave us access to the top table for a period.

 

At that moment the squad had a wage bill of 20 million? So roll forward 5 years and our wage bill sits at 80+ million, with two maybe 3 players who are worth 50+ million, my conclusion is we have been far to loose in what we pay and have a squad of good overpaid players, and a lot of average very overpaid players. 

 

Looking at these players, our two main sellable assets in Maddision and Tielemans are about to walk either for zero or no where near their value as we have completely failed from a business perspective to secure a resale either  through a contract negotiations or selling on when we knew this was not happening.

 

Looking at squad, we have 7/8 walking for free with no resale, all need replacing at the cost of 100s of millions. It thankfully gives us a chance to reset the mess.

 

The club has secured loans against future TV money several years in advance to free up cash flow, which tells me we are struggling to pay our bills based on the current structure.

 

Our academy (although it takes time) is yet to produce a player of real quality, a gem. What I see is currently producing at crop of Championship level/league one level players, no gems at all. 

 

All these are connected to the first team squad, acdemey off the pitch and falls at the DOFs door.

 

So in my opinion since the title perhaps not a complete failure but where we stand now it looks that way. 

 

The next 5 years are going to take something really special to sort it out (of course I hope it does and its possible), but based on decisions and current situation in the last 5 years with what Rudkin has precided over do we want him to manage the next 5? For me I think it needs a fresh face with fresh ideas.