Tony Stewart has his say on last January

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

WOW! jUST WOW!

Have you lot heard yourselves?

Why cant you just believe the chairman and that what he says is the truth of the matter? I totally believe that we were let down by the recruitment people and that the chairman was bamboozled by the tech guy with his fancy software etc.

I feel for Warny even with all his faults but he is learning how to be a manager and everything that comes with it. For me Warny is the way forward for the club and has the potential to become a good manager. Yes he made mistakes but who here does not make mistakes! The trick is to learn from them.

The club is in a new era where wages and price tags are out of control and value for money has to be taken into account.

From where I'm sitting the club is in good hands and I am excited about the future.

UTM!

There’s a lot of truth in what you say but whilst most fans want to believe what the chairman says his track record for getting signings over the line has been different in the Warne era than it was during Evans as manager.

Is it down to the difference in “aggressiveness” between Warne and Evans?

Anyway it’s history now, let’s see what fish we can land under the new recruitment regime.

[millavanilla]

What a ridiculous statement to make it’s down to the chairman??
What evidence and not opinion or rumours do you have that it was 100% down to TS?

It could well be that paul warne was given money to spend but wouldnt spend it..but whatever the situation, its down to the chairman..

[Back of the net]

As far as I know

TS is in charge of money

Trotter scouts players for warne and rob

PW and rob are in charge of getting players in based on TS money and trotters info

Douglas sorts contracts and wages.

Could be wrong but that’s how I think it works

However with no set budget it leaves Paul warne asking Tony Tony can a get some pocket money

Not after an argument however still not sure that’s 100% correct.

Maybe TS gave the money and the player didn’t want to come?
Maybe at the last minute the player then asked for stupid money in wages and we thought it was too much to ask?
Maybe the club or agents were asking for too much?
Blackstock anyone ??

Man City have pulled out of negotiations because of stupid fees wages etc.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying TS hasn’t played a part in it however to say it’s all down to TS imo is unfounded and guess work.

[wendun]

If TS ever asked my advice on the way forward I would tell him what he probably already knows. Championship football for a club like ours is unsustainable. Even to be competitive in L1 may become increasingly difficult as excessive wage demands and fees are rapidly trickling down inspired in part by short-termist greed of agents. Football seems able to defy economic realities but - at the risk of being proved wrong once again - it can't go on and some external financial shock may see several clubs go to the wall. TS couldn't possibly inject enough money into RUFC to ensure medium term Championship survival so he's doing what he has to do - managing expectations. My hunch is that over the next decade RUFC will establish as a mid-table L1 club with gates of around 7000 and occasional flirtations with both promotion and relegation.

[mellowmiller]

There’s a lot of truth in what you say but whilst most fans want to believe what the chairman says his track record for getting signings over the line has been different in the Warne era than it was during Evans as manager.

Is it down to the difference in “aggressiveness” between Warne and Evans?

Anyway it’s history now, let’s see what fish we can land under the new recruitment regime.

This ^^ highlights the point.
Getting players to sign for the club seemed to be no problem when Steve Evans was manager, in fact it was so easy that several people on here derided the high number of players signed by that manager despite the successes of his era.
Since then, despite a revamp of the recruitment set up, it now seems to be much more difficult to get players to sign for the club and that failure undoubtedly contributed to the loss of our Championship status which could and should have been avoided.
TS has been the common denominator throughout both scenarios so what's the underlying problem?

[wendun]

mellow, I tried to explain the "underlying problem". TS has simply realised that wages and fees are increasing exponentially and he can no longer p*ss money down the drain. No way could our Championship status have been maintained for more than a season or two.

[Stovicmiller]

What a ridiculous statement to make it’s down to the chairman??
What evidence and not opinion or rumours do you have that it was 100% down to TS?

in the past we have been in for this player and that player, million pound bids just could not get them over the line, is that because when you pay peanuts you just get monkeys working for you. We could say we have a 300 million bid in for Messi but if you only offer him 5 grand a week he's hardly likely to come. It's bout opinions and mine is its down to the chairman for not pushing for these two players. I've said before bout using the man City Cup money for two good loan players, its money the chairman didn't account for and it could have been the difference between staying up or going down.

[millertop]

I was hoping they’d learnt something season before but no I don’t think they did.

TS has said he’s learnt from mistakes in the transfer window, I think they might have and hopefully won’t make that mistake again.
It will still come down to money though which is quite right, don’t feed the greedy

[Silly-miller]

Not after an argument however still not sure that’s 100% correct.

Maybe TS gave the money and the player didn’t want to come?
Maybe at the last minute the player then asked for stupid money in wages and we thought it was too much to ask?
Maybe the club or agents were asking for too much?
Blackstock anyone ??

Man City have pulled out of negotiations because of stupid fees wages etc.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying TS hasn’t played a part in it however to say it’s all down to TS imo is unfounded and guess work.

I don’t think I said that at all I think I just broke down the chain of command

However by not setting a transfer budget (and he said he doesn’t) it leave any manager we have asking for cash rather than getting on with the job.

Agents players and clubs have a part in it too of course I’m not gonna deny that, but tony needs to set a budget even if it’s small

I defend TS a lot because some people think he does everything himself and is to blame for everything that goes wrong HES NOT, but I’m not gonna lie and say he’s perfect.

[mikemiller]

What many will find puzzling is that we had no problem in getting timewasters like Blackstock and Halford "over the line", but we can't get any Premier/Championship reserve player signed, even for just a few weeks until the end of the season. Very strange... and not entirely believable.