[Archived] Williams & Co

[LeChuck]

I think the only mistake JW has made is to pay big wages to squad players like Zurab and Roberts.

We should be able to say "fine, go elsewhere" to players of that standard if they start asking for £30k+ a week, they're easily replaceable.

People have defended Roberts' wage by saying that it's the "going rate" for PL strikers. If it's the going rate rate then why is no-one else prepared to pay it? It's beside the point anyway, wages are all relative to our budget, not other PL clubs. Squad players are not worth £30k a week to us.

Just think how much stronger our first XI could be if we were paying £15-20k per week for squad players instead of the obscene amounts we pay now.

[Gav]

Williams desearves his own Topic after this latest Comedy show..........I for one think JW is not Good for BRFC any more and needs to think about Retiring..........Some of the things He should Explain:

Why is the wages-to-Income problem not come down when he knows this has been the problem for the last Few seasons...........so much so that you ended up with Benjani on a Pay as you play Deal!!..Why? because we are stuffed so much with the likes of Richters,Roberts,Zurab,Flynn,Andrews that no other clubs can afford them....

-Benni Money?

-Why Allow Sam 3 Right Backs?

-Wheres the Money gone which they have been bidding for these Mystry Strikers All summer long............This Saga was a total disgrace and i have never seen anything like it......What did they get in the end for their seceracy?

I can go on and on but hope Williams doesnt.

I’ve read some cr@p on this site in recent times but this rant unleaded takes the biscuit.

The reason players are on decent wages is because the club backs the managers, that’s the Blackburn Rovers way and it that works. Right backs are the managers decision, not the boards, and the rest of your rant deserves no comment at all.

So we didn’t buy anyone in the transfer window, big deal, get over it and think TAKEOVER

I think the only mistake JW has made is to pay big wages to squad players like Zurab and Roberts.

Its what was required at the time, so I have no problem with paying the wages.

[LeChuck]

Its what was required at the time, so I have no problem with paying the wages.

Required for what?

[rebelmswar]

I hope people will forgive my drunk rants last night. My day was crappy and my love for the club and its desire for success got ahead of my common sense – sadly minute at the best of times. My respect for Mr. Williams will always be high and my appreciatopm for his dedication to the job. I think we have been lucky with who we have on many occasions and like anyone he has made some errors. Buckling to the pressure of the fans when Ince was appointed is number one in my opinion.

His job is to protect Rovers as best he can and as any leader knows you cannot make everyone happy or save everyone. If you are in the dirt - make do, dig in and hold on.

Rovers have a dedicated fan base that have, normally, realistic expectations and an inordinate amount of patients, mental or otherwise.

Rovers is my religion, Ewood is my cathedral, and I will continue to go to mass. Just a shame that the host is sometimes cold and the blood flat.

[DE.]

To be fair I think Unleaded raises some valid points but his anger is misguided... JW is not to blame for a lot of these issues and he should certainly not retire. He's one of the big reasons we're still in this league and we should be grateful for the prudent and careful manner he's orchestrated the running of the club. The only big mistake JW has ever really made is Ince, and that was borne out of trying to please the fans who were raging against his first choice - Sam Allardyce.

Also, whilst I can understand the Trustees point of view in that they don't want to spend any significant money on a project they will soon likely no longer be a part of, I do think Jack may have been disappointed in the way they seem to have totally withdrawn all funding for the club and left us a little vulnerable in terms of cover for the next few months. From a business point of view it makes sense and is understandable, but I think Jack would have wanted the Trust to at least support Rovers a little even at the bitter end. They don't seem to have done that and that is a shame.

[Gav]

Required for what?

Playing football for Blackburn Rovers

[rebelmswar]

Playing football for Blackburn Rovers

Zurab didnt get anywhere near the first team.

[LeChuck]

Playing football for Blackburn Rovers

Zurab and Roberts have never been anything other than bit part players though. We gave Roberts his massive wage when Benni and Roque were at the club.

We need to play hard ball with these average players, if they think they can make more elsewhere then good luck, we'll get someone else to sit on the bench.

Otherwise we're going to continue to be stuck with these average players in reserve, eating up massive chunks of our wage budget.

[Amo]

The only big mistake JW has ever really made is Ince, and that was borne out of trying to please the fans who were raging against his first choice - Sam Allardyce.

You don't honestly believe Allardyce was his first choice, do you? They produced that story to save face. Do you think a man of Sam's ego would accept himself as second-best behind that twerp Paul Ince? Therefore, it was easy to say that we wanted Sam all along, but due to 'personal reasons' it didn't happen.

JW wanted another young manager to follow in Mark Hughes's footsteps - except he didn't do his homework and first offered the job to Alan Shearer (the guy who took his beloved Newcastle down) and then Paul Ince (and we all know how that went...).

[thenodrog]

..........The only big mistake JW has ever really made is Ince, and that was borne out of trying to please the fans who were raging against his first choice - Sam Allardyce.

I can still not understand that particular aberration. Probably never will either. A mistake of incredible proportions. I still cannot think what went on at the interview unless JW was working to the instruction of someone of higher authority who was not even there at the time. 5 mins in that mans company should have been enough to reveal that he was a complete numpty.

JW wanted another young manager to follow in Mark Hughes's footsteps - except he didn't do his homework and first offered the job to Alan Shearer (the guy who took his beloved Newcastle down) and then Paul Ince (and we all know how that went...).

Shearer! Ince! Managers ffs! If brains were dynamite you could put em together and they still wouldn't have enough to blow their caps off!

[rebelmswar]

I can still not understand that particular aberration. Probably never will either. A mistake of incredible proportions. I still cannot think what went on at the interview unless JW was working to the instruction of someone of higher authority who was not even there at the time. 5 mins in that mans company should have been enough to reveal that he was a complete numpty.

I agree, but it didn’t take Mr. Williams long.

Has there been a greater "What the hell have I done?" moment than when he was sat next to that slouching imbecile listening to him say "Not yet".

[thenodrog]

I agree, but it didn’t take Mr. Williams long.

Has there been a greater "What the hell have I done?" moment than when he was sat next to that slouching imbecile listening to him say "Not yet".

Tony Blur's revealed a few about handing over power to Gordon Brown in his book apparently.

[Amo]

I agree, but it didn’t take Mr. Williams long.

Has there been a greater "What the hell have I done?" moment than when he was sat next to that slouching imbecile listening to him say "Not yet".

Which is why Williams wanted to keep him even after we lost 3-0 to Wigan?

[rebelmswar]

Which is why Williams wanted to keep him even after we lost 3-0 to Wigan?

You would hardly expect him to say "I folded to fan pressure and appointed a cretin" do you? He fired him in the end.

[RovertheHill]

I don't know why unleaded wants answers to the questions he raises when he's clearly made his mind up. And like many have said the questions should be directed at the manager and not the chairman. It's funny that Mark Hughes gets the credit for the money made on the Bentleys and Roques yet JW gets the blame for the Rigters. How's that work unleaded?

[DE.]

You don't honestly believe Allardyce was his first choice, do you? They produced that story to save face. Do you think a man of Sam's ego would accept himself as second-best behind that twerp Paul Ince? Therefore, it was easy to say that we wanted Sam all along, but due to 'personal reasons' it didn't happen.

JW wanted another young manager to follow in Mark Hughes's footsteps - except he didn't do his homework and first offered the job to Alan Shearer (the guy who took his beloved Newcastle down) and then Paul Ince (and we all know how that went...).

I seem to recall it coming out at some point that Allardyce had been JW's first choice, but I could be wrong so forgive me if I'm incorrect. I suppose we're both speculating now so the point is moot.

I can still not understand that particular aberration. Probably never will either. A mistake of incredible proportions. I still cannot think what went on at the interview unless JW was working to the instruction of someone of higher authority who was not even there at the time. 5 mins in that mans company should have been enough to reveal that he was a complete numpty.

Agreed... JW has generally been shown to be a shrewd businessman and has appointed mostly good managers, so the Ince debacle was highly uncharacteristic of him. I have no idea how Ince got through the interview process, short of finding an intelligent and eloquent body double to go in his place. I'm sure nobody feels more ashamed than JW about that, though, so I don't want to use it as a stick to beat him with. He ultimately made the right choice in sacking Ince and bringing in Allardyce, and though it cost the club dearly in compensation money and likely contributed to our lack of spending in the last couple of windows especially, dropping out of the Premier League would have been far, far worse.

[92er]

I seem to recall it coming out at some point that Allardyce had been JW's first choice, but I could be wrong so forgive me if I'm incorrect. I suppose we're both speculating now so the point is moot.

Agreed... JW has generally been shown to be a shrewd businessman and has appointed mostly good managers, so the Ince debacle was highly uncharacteristic of him. .

I presume JW has only appointed 2 managers-MH and Allardyce. Uncle Jack was alive when Souness was appointed.

I seem to remember he appointed MH because of "fans power".

[den]

In all my time watching Rovers, I've never had any problem with the board, directors or chairman. The only people in my club that let me down continually, are the players who have no feelings for Blackburn Rovers. There have been far too many of those.

[Gav]

Zurab didnt get anywhere near the first team.

So the manager and JW should be able to predict the future?

They took a decision at the time and we have to live with that, it may have been wrong, but that’s not JW fault.

[trueblue]

This thread is beyond belief.. JW has been nothing other than fantastic for this club (apart for the lapse with Ince)

[grizfoot]

If anything the major achievement this summer was keeping the key existing players we've got, i.e. the likes of Samba, Jones, Nzonzi, ect. We did manage that as well as making seemingly one very good addition to the squad in Mame Diouf. The major areas that needed improving was central midfield and maybe an extra striker, we've got the extra striker in the form of Mame Diouf and Benjani. Unfornately we didn't bring in any extra central midfielders, which would be my only dissapointment so far. But both Jones and Pedersen have been seemingly adapted to thoose positions and we can all hope that Grella will play be able to play more often this season (unlike but a bit of hope nonetheless).

All being said we've maintained the same squad that finished 10th last season, whilst other teams around us haven't really rapidly imporved their quality of their teams. We know money is short and quite rightly John Williams isn't going to risk the future of the club by over-spending to get the player(s) we need to improve our starting eleven. It's time people get their heads around that rather than blaming John Williams who only as the clubs best interest at heart, from previous people's experience of meeting him I'm sure he'd be happy to answer some of the questions people have regarding this on here within reason of course. (e.g. not discussing individual player's wages).

[TimmyJimmy]

I cannot think of any other Chairman I'd swop him for.

Ince had real promise and was talked up by many in the game including Fergy, to his credit JW went out on a limb and took a punt which could have turned out well, as it happens it didn't so JW bit the bullet and took immediate action. Ince and his staff were paid off and JW appointed a manager who was unpopular with the fans at the time but who has since turned out to be a success in the eyes of most of us.

Under his chairmanship we have fought off a few wolves who wanted to grab our club and he is quietly guiding us to a new future under Syed. We've had a non existent transfer window because that's how it had to be, you can't go dicking around with the Balance Sheet whilst someone is looking at the buying it.

Jack Walker was the best thing to happen to us and John Williams is the second best thing to happen to us IMO. They both took/take the hard decisions and for me John Williams has stayed faithful to not only the letter of Jack's wishes but also the spirit of them.

I'm very happy to have him running our club.

[rebelmswar]

So the manager and JW should be able to predict the future?

They took a decision at the time and we have to live with that, it may have been wrong, but that’s not JW fault.

I hope you forgive all mistakes due to the person at faults lack of mystical powers.

You should be the happiest man alive.

[LeChuck]

So the manager and JW should be able to predict the future?

It's nothing to do with predicting the future, it's about analysing the present.

Zurab has never been anything other than backup, and should have been paid as such. If he ever established himself in the first team over a long period of time and at a high level, then maybe we could have paid him £30k a week or whatever he was earning.

We're in no position to be a soft touch over wages. Certainly we need to keep our star players, but we can't pay over the odds for backup.

[Clitherover]

Seven people actually voted this thread up?

Stupid, kneejerk thread, stop talking ###### and go away please!