WTF is going on?

[MadAmster]

Hi Ramondo, I don't think we've met before. Interesting, well written piece. You should enter the fray more often. I was one of those who was happy when Mel took over. A change of direction couldn't be bad, could it? In the end it was. Nigel Clough had worked wonders a budget of half a shoestring. On the couple of occasions he pushed the boat out for a transfer, it didn't come off. Conor Sammon being the biggest example. He did do better with his bits of string acquirements though. IMO the pick was Chris Martin. Many slated him in his loan spell of 13 games or so. I saw what he could do and was well chuffed we got him over the summer on a permanent and free deal. I think that was the kind of thing that led to NCs sacking. When he spent money it didn't come off. Money was becoming available and GSE didn't trust him with it based on his track record. Add to that the safety first tactics that would never have us do better than midtable and you can see exactly why he was shown the door.

Enter the Mac at half time against Ipswich. The same players with tweaked tactics suddenly looked the exact opposite of what they had been 15 minutes previously. IMO NC had got himself stuck in a rut, a sort of siege mentality, and couldn't extricate himself. Shame because he's a decent, honest, hard working guy who deserved better.

Enter Mel. I was one of those who welcomed him. I saw more than a fair few fans online sharing your viewpoint but always without any reasons. They never explained WHY he was a wrong un. The ground sale was, as you so rightly say, a huge red flag. It meant we posted a profit of £14M. Had we not sold the ground we'd have made a £66M loss. Many fans only saw the headline figure of a profit at the end of the season.

There is a slightly positive side to his legacy, IMO. He was ridiculed when he said he wanted half the first team to be Academy products. He's managed that and we're lucky we had those players available or we'd have been down months ago. Of course, every silver lining has a cloud and, thanks to his recklessness, we may well lose many of those young players for nothing come the summer as their contracts run out and, under the current transfer embargo, we can't offer them, or the more senior players who will be out of contract, a new one. The irony of it.

[Oldtimeram]

How about the George Clooney link? I'm sure Morris would love to hang on to his coat tails for a bit of "Look at me" publicity. His ego would not be able to resist it

[ramAnag]

Hmmm...I may be mistaken but it seems more than a tad coincidental that one little comment from yours truly earlier in the week suddenly sparks the return of Rats and Ramondo.
I suspect someone may be playing games, but if that really is Ramondo he does himself an injustice...he, and the other mods at the time along with the much missed Ella, showed far more foresight than he is claiming. As I remember it...and I’d only just started contributing at the time...Ramondo warned about the ‘dangers’ of Morris from the start, long, long before the ramifications of ground sales and FFP etc.
I was firmly of the belief that a local ‘boy’ made good...genuine fan turned benefactor...could only be good for the club. Ramondo warned otherwise.

I stuck with my view, as did others...most notably Swale and Stenson of the current crop of contributors. Only when Clement started to lose the plot...Morris started to lose his rag and the very early season injury to Hughes led to the panic buying of Bradley (Derby City) Johnson and Butterworth did I began to have any sort of doubt.

Ramondo called it from the outset...he was right, I was wrong. As regards the authenticity of the return of Ramondo and Rats...I’m not so sure, and I’m even less convinced that there’s a snowball’s chance of Morris returning.

[Trickytreesreds]

That's it then, Morris returning is now a dead cert,

[Ramondo]

Unless I have somehow hacked the account then I think it would be tricky to fake the post count. To be honest, I'm shocked I could remember the bloody password!! I'm on a Whatsapp group with Rats, and it was mentioned on there that my name had come up and it prompted me to nosy on in for a look around. It's probably why Rats turned up at the same time.

Anyway. I don't think I warned against Mel specifically from the outset, because I knew little about him. My concern was not about the individual but about moving away from a group of owners that had run the club on sound financial footings for several years and had just got us to within a whisker of promotion. I know what fans are like, a local millionaire takes over and the demands for spending start all over again, so the risk was that we were going to go down the route of irresponsible spending which 'could', if unsuccessful, lead to disaster.

It might have worked out. Mel might have been great. I wish he had been.

[Ramondo]

Enter Mel. I was one of those who welcomed him. I saw more than a fair few fans online sharing your viewpoint but always without any reasons. They never explained WHY he was a wrong un.

I'm not sure why people had an issue with him from the start. I didn't have a problem with him at that point, I just had a problem with moving from the model that GSE had been using to an unknown. But multi millionaire owners who are fans and have big egos (we can assume an owner has such an ego because why else would they want to own their own football club) can be a dangerous thing to have at the helm.

On your other points, completely agree. Clough was just too stubbornly set in his ways to allow the team to progress, he's really better suited to the lower leagues. A couple of loan additions and a change in playing style and we nearly made it up. Mac half time intervention against Ipswich was not only a game changer, it was a season changer!

And yes, Morris did wonders for the academy. That would have been his legacy if he'd not screwed everything else up!

[ramAnag]

Unless I have somehow hacked the account then I think it would be tricky to fake the post count. To be honest, I'm shocked I could remember the bloody password!! I'm on a Whatsapp group with Rats, and it was mentioned on there that my name had come up and it prompted me to nosy on in for a look around. It's probably why Rats turned up at the same time.

Anyway. I don't think I warned against Mel specifically from the outset, because I knew little about him. My concern was not about the individual but about moving away from a group of owners that had run the club on sound financial footings for several years and had just got us to within a whisker of promotion. I know what fans are like, a local millionaire takes over and the demands for spending start all over again, so the risk was that we were going to go down the route of irresponsible spending which 'could', if unsuccessful, lead to disaster.

It might have worked out. Mel might have been great. I wish he had been.

Well...if it really is you Ramondo...welcome back to both you and your rather splendid avatar. If you could stick around and encourage Ella and Van der Laan’s Header to return too the forum would be an infinitely better place.

[Andy_Faber]

to rA and anyone else interested, just to (not quite) clear up the fake/hacked account thing, as moderator I USED to be able to view source data to derive whether accounts were being misused (and on that basis could confirm that you-know-who's accusation regarding Rattae's account was false), but GDPR laws mean I now can't do so directly and have to ask admin. Best to assume that fellows such as Ramondo are who they say they are and welcome them back

[Trickytreesreds]

to rA and anyone else interested, just to (not quite) clear up the fake/hacked account thing, as moderator I USED to be able to view source data to derive whether accounts were being misused (and on that basis could confirm that you-know-who's accusation regarding Rattae's account was false), but GDPR laws mean I now can't do so directly and have to ask admin. Best to assume that fellows such as Ramondo are who they say they are and welcome them back

Don't be daft, "you know who", has the knowledge and vision to foresee everything.
How dare you question his wisdom

[Trickytreesreds]

So rumours circulating that Mad Mel is looking to pay off the MSD debt on the stadium, in order to avoid a -15.
In exchange he gets a sleeping investment under the new owners name?
MMMMMMMMM, it wouldn't surprise me, I doubt he could let go completely.