New Sporting Director / DOF

[tomphil]

Whilst we definitely need some serious work on set pieces it's a poor do with all the coaches a club already has and the experience already here we need to get yet more bodies on the wage bill for something as basic as this.

Maybe a start would be finding the right players for the right situations instead of getting the same guy to take nearly everything. Morton for instance rarely took one good corner or free kick yet was still stepped up to then when he was on.

Schoolboy stuff that.

[RevidgeBlue]

23 hours ago, only2garners said:

Isn’t that the whole raison d’etre for the Forum?

Pretty uncalled for seeing as the Fans Forum appears to have become little more than a tea and biscuits Club nodding along in agreement with everything the Football  Club comes up with.

Someone has to hold the Club to account with a critical eye even if you are not prepared to.

[AllRoverAsia]

Plymouth are a big club.

Holy shit, I learn something new every day.

Is the Pune trip still on and who is going and when.

[only2garners]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Pretty uncalled for seeing as the Fans Forum appears to have become little more than a tea and biscuits Club nodding along in agreement with everything the Football  Club comes up with.

Someone has to hold the Club to account with a critical eye even if you are not prepared to.

That seems pretty uncalled for as well Rev, for what I intended as a joke.

I keep plugging away trying to get over fans’ views and improving things as and when we can. It’s only a consultative forum, not a negotiating one, which quite a few on here don’t seem to grasp.

[rigger]

5 minutes ago, only2garners said:

That seems pretty uncalled for as well Rev, for what I intended as a joke.

I keep plugging away trying to get over fans’ views and improving things as and when we can. It’s only a consultative forum, not a negotiating one, which quite a few on here don’t seem to grasp.

So what does a consultative forum do ?

[only2garners]

41 minutes ago, rigger said:

So what does a consultative forum do ?

Err… It consults? The Forum is a group of fans with whom the club consults on issues of interest to the fans. We have no right to force the club to do anything, but we hope to get our points across.

Often fans look at the minutes and see statements that the club makes and seem to assume that somehow it’s an agreed position, when usually it’s just the club’s response to a question.

[RevidgeBlue]

26 minutes ago, only2garners said:

Err… It consults? The Forum is a group of fans with whom the club consults on issues of interest to the fans. We have no right to force the club to do anything, but we hope to get our points across.

Often fans look at the minutes and see statements that the club makes and seem to assume that somehow it’s an agreed position, when usually it’s just the club’s response to a question.

Comes across very much the other way round in the minutes. I realise theat from the Club's point of view the FF has always been a box ticking exercise to some extent but these days it appears from the minutes to be the case that the Club sets out their position on a particular matter and everyone either agrees or says nothing. There doesn't appear to be much if any critical analysis at all.

[rigger]

42 minutes ago, only2garners said:

Err… It consults? The Forum is a group of fans with whom the club consults on issues of interest to the fans. We have no right to force the club to do anything, but we hope to get our points across.

Often fans look at the minutes and see statements that the club makes and seem to assume that somehow it’s an agreed position, when usually it’s just the club’s response to a question.

The non forum fans, can only come to any conclusions from what we read. Reading the minutes from previous meetings it would seem more listening than consulting goes on. I realise that the minutes are edited by the Rovers, so they may give a sanitised version of events. But if you think the minutes have been edited to the point of giving a false impression of the Fans Forum points of view, then that should be your first statement at the next meeting.

Edited May 25, 2023 by rigger

[wilsdenrover]

When anyone has half decent ‘communication skills’ I like to ask myself:

- why are we being told this

- why now

- what has been left out

 

[Mashed Potatoes]

10 hours ago, only2garners said:

That seems pretty uncalled for as well Rev, for what I intended as a joke.

I keep plugging away trying to get over fans’ views and improving things as and when we can. It’s only a consultative forum, not a negotiating one, which quite a few on here don’t seem to grasp.

It baffles me that those who are so keen to criticise the forum don't put themselves forward to be part of it.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

It baffles me that those who are so keen to criticise the forum don't put themselves forward to be part of it.

Deffo agree there. I know fans forum members put their opinions and ours accross to the club. Same way Rovers trust does

[only2garners]

11 hours ago, rigger said:

The non forum fans, can only come to any conclusions from what we read. Reading the minutes from previous meetings it would seem more listening than consulting goes on. I realise that the minutes are edited by the Rovers, so they may give a sanitised version of events. But if you think the minutes have been edited to the point of giving a false impression of the Fans Forum points of view, then that should be your first statement at the next meeting.

It may be that I am guilty from time to time of not fully expressing the whole discussion, but there is a danger that could end up in pages and pages of minutes which not many would read. By necessity a set of minutes is just a summary of what discussion takes place at a meeting rather than a verbatim record. Typically I tend to end up with points raised by Forum members and the final comments by the club in response. I guess that does make them look like we ask a question and the club responds, but mostly it doesn't happen like that in reality.

The club do see my draft minutes and often make some small changes but the vast majority of the changes they make are entirely sensible, often my typos. I can only think of a couple of changes that I have queried and we have easily reached a compromise. And they were mostly in the John Williams/Tom Finn era. We will also occasionally talk about a subject which the club asks not be minuted - there was one on Tuesday. Again that's fairly rare now but was rife whenever John Williams came.

Anyway, none of this has much to do with Gregg Broughton, so any follow-up would be better on the FF thread.

[Sweaty Gussets]

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23570618.gregg-broughtons-12-months-blackburn-rovers-director-football/

[Mike E]

1 hour ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23570618.gregg-broughtons-12-months-blackburn-rovers-director-football/

We have to subscribe now? Balls to that.

[Sweaty Gussets]

13 minutes ago, Mike E said:

We have to subscribe now? Balls to that.

Article below:-

 

Rovers made clear their intention, upon the departure of Tony Mowbray, they would look for a director of football and head coach set-up, a ‘European model’ as it is sometimes referred.

 

For much of last summer it was expected, given the feeling of priority, that it would be the head coach appointed first, followed by the director of football.

As things came to pass, it was Gregg Broughton appointed first, on June 8 2022, and within two weeks Rovers had their new head coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson.

 

Broughton’s appointment afforded him the chance to intervene in the managerial process, Tomasson having been locked in talks with another club, understood to be FZ Zurich, before his decision to make the move to Ewood Park.

It would feel remiss not to give Broughton credit for, at the very least, helping to get Tomasson over the line. The stock of the head coach has undeniably grown over the course of the last year.

Upon Broughton’s appointment it was announced the departments that would fall under his remit would be first-team, Academy, recruitment, medical, athletic performance and analysis.

In the last 12 months, Rovers recorded a highest league finish since relegation from the Premier League, Academy director Stuart Jones declared it the most successful period of his tenure, while all other departments have been strengthened in terms of personnel.

It could be argued the role of a director of football is overplayed, both in terms of success and disappointment.

Indeed, the success of Rovers’ Academy within the last year has been a long process, rather than an overnight impact.

The talent of Adam Wharton has been well known for some time. Yes, there needed to be pathways and opportunities, and the connection between the first-team and Academy is stronger than ever, but there have been numerous people down the years who have played key roles in Rovers being able to hand debuts to five players within the 2022/23 season.

 

However, this is undoubtedly his area of expertise, and with the Academy placed at the forefront of the club’s plans, it was what made his appointment seem a good fit.

Equally, on the flip side, Rovers’ recruitment came under fire in January for the deadline day debacle that saw the club fail to register Lewis O’Brien and Ethan Brierley, but also fail to deliver a striker.

The caveats would be that the recruitment department, which has received significant investment in both resource and personnel since Broughton’s appointment, identified the players in question, and several strikers who it was felt would make a difference, and the failure to land them was out of their hands.

Broughton himself held his hands up that because it fell under his remit he would accept responsibility for those failings, and that lessons would be learned, having ultimately been let down by long-time processes the club had in place.

The impacts of medical, athletic performance and analysis are harder to judge from an outside perspective, other than outlining the investment in the areas and the ongoing work behind the scenes to improve in all areas.

Rovers’ recruitment was mixed last summer, Dom Hyam subsequently named player of the year at the end of a debut season, with Sam Szmodics in third, with Callum Brittain’s impact hampered by injury and the emergence of Joe Rankin-Costello.

 

Tyler Morton clocked up 46 appearances during his season-long loan spell, though deals for George Hirst and Clinton Mola didn’t work.

Given both were loan to buy deals, no harm was done on a financial front, even though Hirst’s status as No.1 striking target proved part of the goalscoring downfall.

Rovers have made a quick start this summer, announcing the signing of Niall Ennis on a free transfer upon leaving Plymouth Argyle.

The club will target a similar number of signings to the six made last summer.

Money for transfer fees appears tight, unless recouped through players sales, a contrast to the £4.5m spent last summer.

However, Rovers do have the benefit of time on their side, with the late appointments of director of football, head coach and head of recruitment hampering last summer’s efforts.

Given the currency that many supporters place on the recruitment element of Broughton’s role, it feels as though it is that on which he will be mainly judged.

That doesn’t just go for players however, and the part he played in the recruitment process of the head coach shouldn’t be overlooked.

While appointments behind the scenes have been positive, so to have the contract extensions.

Broughton quickly identified this as a key reason why the player-trading model the club had previously wanted to employ just simply wasn’t working.

He arrived too late in the piece to affect the departures of Joe Rothwell, Darragh Lenihan and Ryan Nyambe last summer, while the club were in a precarious position with Ben Brereton who has also moved on, but other contract renewals have been plentiful and positive.

 

Thirteen players have since signed new contracts, many of them long-term, including a five-year deal for Adam Wharton, correcting what could have been a costly mistake when he was signed to a two-year deal, plus an option, only six months earlier.

Broughton too has communicated well, giving a frank and honest assessment of the January window in particular, and while the answers haven’t always been what supporters would want to hear, he has been willing and able to provide the rationale behind them.

It is rare of people in his role to speak openly, and it should be seen as a step forward given what has come before.

Undoubtedly he will be judged over a longer time than just 12 months, and it will need that for the things he has looked to implement to come to fruition.

The January window fall-out was undoubtedly the toughest time of his tenure, and there is an element of trust he accepts he, and the club, will need to win back from fans as a result.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Sweaty Gussets

[ChrisyG]

Was something mentioned about dome head and JDT going to India in early June?

Has anyone heard anything about that?

[tomphil]

When you weigh everything up i think hes done a decent job so far.

Ok we all want perfection and January was embarrassing although i'm not sure it was all his fault but otherwise a good start to the new set up at Ewood.

All eyes though now are on the signings this summer, no desperate stuff for the sake of bodies please lets have pieces of the jigsaw.

[Sweaty Gussets]

4 minutes ago, tomphil said:

When you weigh everything up i think hes done a decent job so far.

Ok we all want perfection and January was embarrassing although i'm not sure it was all his fault but otherwise a good start to the new set up at Ewood.

All eyes though now are on the signings this summer, no desperate stuff for the sake of bodies please lets have pieces of the jigsaw.

Agreed, getting the like of Phillips on a long-term contract when it looked like they were off has been a positive. 

In general I feel there's an actual plan now by people who know what they are doing. If JDT leaves I'm confident we would get a good replacement. If a player refuses to sign a new contract I'm confident they would be sold before walking away on a free.

January aside, and not finding a quality striker in the last 2 windows, I think he's had a positive impact on the club. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

51 minutes ago, ChrisyG said:

Was something mentioned about dome head and JDT going to India in early June?

Has anyone heard anything about that?

 

[martonrover]

1 hour ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

 

Lucky old JDT 😂 How the hours will fly by !

[Sweaty Gussets]

39 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Lucky old JDT 😂 How the hours will fly by !

I think he'll be making full use of the club's Ryanair account when the drinks trolley comes round!

[chaddyrovers]

8 hours ago, ChrisyG said:

Was something mentioned about dome head and JDT going to India in early June?

Has anyone heard anything about that?

Maybe they have gone this week already