The truth about Sven

[kingfox]

I didn't like him, when he said Michael Ball could well turn out to be our best signing. 

 

He might not be the one to blame, but he was one deluded fooker. 

[HankMarvin]

People still debating the manager who is still hindering our progress now & inability to strengthen the playing staff now until the likes of Gallagher, Wellens, Danns & Beckford can be moved on. Which is a near impossibility given their deals.

Of course Sven's name isn't on the contracts, but what board is going to bring in a high profile manager and then not bring in the players who he told them would get them out of this division?

They were naive as hell, that's undoubted. He was the most disastrous appointment since Peter Taylor, and the negative effects will be just as long lasting.

The fact he allowed Notts County to walk away from their contractual obligations is undoubtedly brilliant & admirable in this era, can't argue with that at all.

Wonder if he told Topp he could keep his £1.5m, for the second year of his contract?

Feel for Nige & co trying to strength us with both hands tied behind their back, knowing that other clubs can have our pants down because we HAVE to sell & HAVE to contribute to their ongoing contracts because of how unsustainable they are.

All hail Sven... The man who did **** all for a decade since he outspent the whole of Europe added together spending quarter of a billion buying the Italian league... And was sacked from every single job since making a career out of under performing & subsequent payoffs.

Nice guy though, just like every con man

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why would he tell Topp to keep the £1.5 million - he was sacked from his job, would  you if you was owed money on a contract of employment. Totally different situation to Notts County.

 

[HankMarvin]

So, multi-millionaire Sven tore up a contract for a huge wodge of money that he would never have been paid anyway.

Had Notts County gone into administration, Sven would never have worked again in this country. His reputation would have been completely ruined.

He did what any decent businessman would have done, which was to take a financial hit in order to protect his reputation, and extricate himself from a potential PR disaster.

Sven isn't evil. I don't think though that we should be clapping him on the back for that though.

 

 

Didnt't stop Tal Ben Haim having a good go at pompey, then playing for QPR again

 

[Col city fan]

It matters not who signed the cheques.

They were Sven's targets and then it was his job to manage them.

He identified some dross targets, then couldn't manage them.

Though the finances are important, Sven was ultimately sacked because it was clear he wasn't good enough at the job he was brought in to do ie. management.

An 'all round nice guy' doesn't neccessarily a manager make.

[Dan LCFC]

So because of what happened at Notts County (which was an absolute farce admittedly) it means he's not at all responsible for the mess here?

 

Sorry, not having that, I don't care how he came across, the evidence is there for all (other than the blinkered) to see.

[Dan LCFC]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, anyone blaming Sven for the contracts of our highest earners is naive beyond belief and just afraid to put blame where it belongs.

 

Managers pick their players, businessmen try to sign them. It's up to the suits to keep the manager inside of their budgets. If a mother and a child are in a supermarket and the child keeps throwing sweets and junk food in to the trolley, when it's time to pay if the bill ends up being huge and the kid ends up being fat, who do you blame?

 

That said, being "nice" (as I've no doubt Sven is) doesn't make you a good football manager and his choice of players and his tactical approach were largely both shit. I'm not suggesting for one moment he was a great manager (although nowhere near as bad as people make out, he was two points off the play-offs - not relegation.) But I do think it's important to place blame appropriately and, sadly, that's with our owners and directors.

 

Hopefully they've learnt. 

 

I find it worrying that Sven is in this case compared to a kid in a supermarket - if he's as irresponsible as that then he shouldn't be in charge.

[Kitchandro]

So you're saying he's a nice guy so therefore he's not to blame for us being in the shit.

 

Since when has being a nice guy had anything to do with succeeding at a football club or business in general? I could not care less if he was a gentlemen. That doesn't mean he wasn't here for the money or that he didn't do his job badly. So why people keep feeling the need to tell me he's a nice guy I've no idea. Nobody would care if somebody told you Tater Peeler was a nice bloke. Or that Dennis Wise is good to his kids, and Chelsea.

 

It's true, he's not responsible for the amount of money we spent. But he is responsible for how badly it was spent. I'm not claiming he came here just to screw us over and rob us blind, and I don't agree with some people who may be implying that.

 

But don't forget that if he had been good at his job the money might have been spent on players good enough to get us promoted. If we'd have gone up we wouldn't be in this shit, not to this extent anyway.

 

So yeh, he's a nice bloke, he didn't cock up on purpose and he's not the only one to blame for the mess we're in. But his failure is certainly a big factor.

 

I'm just fed up seeing these threads about Sven. I wouldn't mind if nobody criticised him ever again if it meant I wouldn't have to read about people defending him or claiming Pearson is the devil.

[Babylon]

The gulf in class between Sven and Coco !  

 

Sven, look at his track record.

 

Coco, do the same.

 

no comparison and people still blame Sven for Pigheads atrocities.

 

 

For the record Sven needed to go, but he is ten times the manager than our current clown.

Shame his record here isn't ten times better... Unless you talk about outlay.

[smudger63]

It matters not who signed the cheques.

They were Sven's targets and then it was his job to manage them.

He identified some dross targets, then couldn't manage them.

Though the finances are important, Sven was ultimately sacked because it was clear he wasn't good enough at the job he was brought in to do ie. management.

An 'all round nice guy' doesn't neccessarily a manager make.

Sounds an awfull lot like our current manager!

[Kitchandro]

Am I the only one who's trying to work out what Coco is all about?

 

Speaking of which; naming a girl baby Coco: shocking, yes?

[Babylon]

Andrew Neville negotiated fees and wages and wrote out the contracts for all the players on too much wonga . 100% fact .ok ,he must have been in conference with the thais all the way through but he did them all. since then we've had whelan and now robinson and now richards, all have come in to sort out his failures  . Neville was and still obviously is useless at his job and not trusted  .

I presume he has been writing out contracts for players signed by Pearson also, and nobody has complained about what they earn.

This crap about pinning blame on one person or trying to clear someone of the blame entirely is utter nonsense.

Sven should have picked better players. Sven should have been interested in what we were paying and what someone would earn. The clubs suits should have thought ahead and said no!

[sphericalfox]

The fact that some posters can't understand or get through their brains, is that it is a fact that Sven made a list of prospective targets. Guess what there were probably wingers on there. Nobody wanted to sell them to us, or overpriced them. We probably couldn't afford them after Neville squandered excess money on contracts and transfer fees anyways.

 

It is possible to think that Sven didn't do a bad job considering he was picking up the pieces from Sousa, and converting a team into one that played passing football. He nearly did it, then got sacked when the owners who sanctioned the money being spent, and publicly declared their budget to be rinsed, realised that with FFP coming, if we didn't go up we were going to be in trouble. At this point all the boo-boys convinced Top & Co to send Sven packing.

 

Now it is possible on the return of Pearson to support him, and think that he possibly could get us out of this league. To admire what he did at Hull, and hope that he can both replicate that clear-out and team ethics back in our current squad.

 

Because we have more to clear out than Hull did, it was always going to be a longer drawn out challenge for him.Therefore, for me Pearson has another year to do what needs to be done.

 

People specifically using the OP's comment of a 'nice guy', but he was a clown arguements are missing the real point and trying to imply Svenites of that being the sole or majoritive reason why they still think he was a good manager. That really is pathetic.

 

I've said that Sven got things wrong, as Pearson has done this season. Sven took some punts on players that didn't work out, so has Pearson. It amuses me how staunch some posters can be, and simply can't be objective due to their prejudices, misconceptions, and misinformation.

[Babylon]

Sounds an awfull lot like our current manager!

Except this one didn't pay £3m/£5m £2.5/£4.5m for them.

[sphericalfox]

Except this one didn't pay £3m/£5m £2.5/£4.5m for them.

Which means the owners cracked down on Neville's chequebook?

[Dan LCFC]

So you're saying he's a nice guy so therefore he's not to blame for us being in the shit.

 

Since when has being a nice guy had anything to do with succeeding at a football club or business in general? I could not care less if he was a gentlemen. That doesn't mean he wasn't here for the money or that he didn't do his job badly. So why people keep feeling the need to tell me he's a nice guy I've no idea. Nobody would care if somebody told you Tater Peeler was a nice bloke. Or that Dennis Wise is good to his kids, and Chelsea.

 

It's true, he's not responsible for the amount of money we spent. But he is responsible for how badly it was spent. I'm not claiming he came here just to screw us over and rob us blind, and I don't agree with some people who may be implying that.

 

But don't forget that if he had been good at his job the money might have been spent on players good enough to get us promoted. If we'd have gone up we wouldn't be in this shit, not to this extent anyway.

 

So yeh, he's a nice bloke, he didn't cock up on purpose and he's not the only one to blame for the mess we're in. But his failure is certainly a big factor.

 

I'm just fed up seeing these threads about Sven. I wouldn't mind if nobody criticised him ever again if it meant I wouldn't have to read about people defending him or claiming Pearson is the devil.

 

Pretty much this. I have never known anything like the fact some people still try and absolve him of blame.

[Babylon]

The fact that some posters can't understand or get through their brains, is that it is a fact that Sven made a list of prospective targets. Guess what there were probably wingers on there. Nobody wanted to sell them to us, or overpriced them. We probably couldn't afford them after Neville squandered excess money on contracts and transfer fees anyways.

 

I've heard it all now... No winger in world Football would sign for us and Neville had wasted all the money!! Even though we managed to sign Beckford minutes before the deadline.

[sphericalfox]

Pretty much this. I have never known anything like the fact some people still try and absolve him of blame.

 

Or try to blame him for EVERYTHING. 

[Babylon]

Which means the owners cracked down on Neville's chequebook?

Or this one thought he could get better players for less. Morgan and Wood v Mills and Beckford.

[sphericalfox]

I've heard it all now... No winger in world Football would sign for us and Neville had wasted all the money!! Even though we managed to sign Beckford minutes before the deadline.

 

You've heard it all. Read my post again Babs. It was speculative. Nobody knows the facts. Yet they'll make the full fact statements that Sven didn't try to sign wingers, and didn't address the width issue. Do you know how stupid that sounds?

[Babylon]

Or try to blame him for EVERYTHING. 

And you are doing exactly the same to Neville.

[Babylon]

You've heard it all. Read my post again Babs. It was speculative. Nobody knows the facts. Yet they'll make the full fact statements that Sven didn't try to sign wingers, and didn't address the width issue. Do you know how stupid that sounds?

He did try to sign a winger as we were in for Routledge, the problem is we did not sign one. To go a whole summer and not get one is just ridiculous. There are more wingers out there than him. Like them or loathe them Pearson got in two who can do the job if needed easily enough.

[sphericalfox]

And you are doing exactly the same to Neville.

 

Incorrect. I am clearly stating that Neville negotiated the contracts, and signed the cheques. Our owners most certinaly were in involved, and yes Sven should have been more hands on with the budget. However, when you have a big name manager, and owners who publicly declared how much they intended on spending (and more if needed), how exactly is what I've already posted blaming Neville for everything? I've posted this numerous times, please show me where I've blamed Neville solely for the mess we are in?

[Kitchandro]

The fact that some posters can't understand or get through their brains, is that it is a fact that Sven made a list of prospective targets. Guess what there were probably wingers on there. Nobody wanted to sell them to us, or overpriced them. We probably couldn't afford them after Neville squandered excess money on contracts and transfer fees anyways.

 

It is possible to think that Sven didn't do a bad job considering he was picking up the pieces from Sousa, and converting a team into one that played passing football. He nearly did it, then got sacked when the owners who sanctioned the money being spent, and publicly declared their budget to be rinsed, realised that with FFP coming, if we didn't go up we were going to be in trouble. At this point all the boo-boys convinced Top & Co to send Sven packing.

 

Now it is possible on the return of Pearson to support him, and think that he possibly could get us out of this league. To admire what he did at Hull, and hope that he can both replicate that clear-out and team ethics back in our current squad.

 

Because we have more to clear out than Hull did, it was always going to be a longer drawn out challenge for him.Therefore, for me Pearson has another year to do what needs to be done.

 

People specifically using the OP's comment of a 'nice guy', but he was a clown arguements are missing the real point and trying to imply Svenites of that being the sole or majoritive reason why they still think he was a good manager. That really is pathetic.

 

I've said that Sven got things wrong, as Pearson has done this season. Sven took some punts on players that didn't work out, so has Pearson. It amuses me how staunch some posters can be, and simply can't be objective due to their prejudices, misconceptions, and misinformation.

 

Sousa's team played passing football, if you'll remember. They just couldn't do it over the halfway line, and couldn't score or defend if their lives depended on it. So there shouldn't have been any problem making us into a passing team. And there wasn't, at first. Fast forward a year though and we were unrecognisable, playing ugly football ineffectively. So no, he didn't nearly do it, he was getting further and further away from it.

 

If I was the manager I'd want to manage the club properly. If the owners told be to make a list as long as my arm of players I wanted to sign, I'd say bollocks to that, I'll come to you with the players I definitely want one at a time and you tell me if you're willing to spend the money to get said player. That would be a sensible way to run things and it would ensure that I'd know what kind of squad I would be working with. Maybe its just he was being paid so much money anyway that he wasn't bothered if he turned up for pre-season training to be told we hadn't signed one winger but we'd managed to get all 5 centre mids on the list. I mean really, what kind of manager would want to work like that?

 

But then he's always been a yes man, incapable of making tough decisions or trying to do things the proper way.

 

But again, your last few sentences are just stupid. No he didn't get things wrong like Pearson, he got things much more wrong than Pearson. He didn't take a punt on players that didn't work out like Pearson, he took a punt on twice as many players that didn't work out than Pearson, and wasted far more money in doing so.

 

Their failures aren't comparable.

[Kitchandro]

You've heard it all. Read my post again Babs. It was speculative. Nobody knows the facts. Yet they'll make the full fact statements that Sven didn't try to sign wingers, and didn't address the width issue. Do you know how stupid that sounds?

 

Hmmmm....

 

 

The fact that some posters can't understand or get through their brains, is that it is a fact that Sven made a list of prospective targets.

 

Sounds like you claim to know some facts there...

[sphericalfox]

He did try to sign a winger as we were in for Routledge, the problem is we did not sign one. To go a whole summer and not get one is just ridiculous. There are more wingers out there than him. Like them or loathe them Pearson got in two who can do the job if needed easily enough.

 

I think every bastard in the league saw the stupid money we were throwing out the window and added zeros to price tags. Winger are not as easy to find. Good wingers that is are not easy to find, and we would have been rinsed.