Our Chairman.

[Jims Dentist]

1. We don't have a manager yet
2. Decisively would've been putting your foot down six months before the end of the contract. Marco was never realistically signing a new contract because if he was it would've been done last summer.
3. Swiftly and decisively would be describing how Bournemouth announced a replacement before the end of the season

Very well said Sir.

[General]

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

[cookieg]

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

So would a DoF that specialises in football have made Silva sign a new contract? Of course he couldn't just as a DoF who specialises in football couldn't make players sign a new contract. TK or SK had no more power over making Silva sign a contract than any football other specialist. And do you not think SK was not aware of what was going in with Silva? Even Silva was stating that he didn't know what he was going to do. You are so quick to lay all this at TK's door without actually knowing what went on.

[alfie]

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

So would a DoF that specialises in football have made Silva sign a new contract? Of course he couldn't just as a DoF who specialises in football couldn't make players sign a new contract. TK or SK had no more power over making Silva sign a contract than any football other specialist. And do you not think SK was not aware of what was going in with Silva? Even Silva was stating that he didn't know what he was going to do. You are so quick to lay all this at TK's door without actually knowing what went on.

Especially as Silva made a point of saying only a couple of weeks before his announcement, that he had a meeting with the management about next season and they were all on the same page.
As for Bournemouth, Iraola made his intentions known well before the season ended, so they had ample time to find a replacement, whereas Silva waited and bluffed his way out.

[General]

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

So would a DoF that specialises in football have made Silva sign a new contract? Of course he couldn't just as a DoF who specialises in football couldn't make players sign a new contract. TK or SK had no more power over making Silva sign a contract than any football other specialist. And do you not think SK was not aware of what was going in with Silva? Even Silva was stating that he didn't know what he was going to do. You are so quick to lay all this at TK's door without actually knowing what went on.

Forgive me, but you seem to be a bit flustered and taking too much to heart. This isn't personal.

Marco left to a league he acknowledged was lesser, and for a lesser pay packet, his frustrations and move were emotionally driven. Yes, this was Benfica and his home town, but it clearly wasn't a clear cut decision, you can tell that reading his interview on Benficas site. He was looking for more than just financial, in my opinion he wanted reassurances for us about things changing which were structural and that helped him think he could do more with us.. squad size and transfers were clearly important to him

Yes, I think a permanent director of football who built their career working up the ladder could've seen us sign players and Marco to contracts in a more timely fashion than TK.

There are a number of reasons why..

First - being in the country
Second - day to day interactions with the players and managers to get a more holistic understanding of them and the club

Those are very basic

Thirdly - having a better understanding of the mechanisms of how football works in the country

Fourth - being accountable in a professional way that isn't to a dad who's bankrolling things. Why this, in my opinion, could make a difference.

Optimising for financial long-term of club.

Letting two of your most prolific goalscoring assets leave the club for free in the same summer would be a negative mark on most professionals and I'd be surprised if any/many clubs do it with the same regularity that we seem to. Even TK acknowledged the only reason we got money for Anguissa is because Anguissa was doing us a favour and being kind. This is a player who went on to win the Seria A with Napoli (which shows value but also potential that we simply would've ended up seeing leave the club for free).

Tk says he takes longer to get deals because he's saving £5m each deal, giving the example of two deals meaning £10m saved to be spent on players.. but after the season Wilson has had, do we really think he's worth than £10m?


I also think a season, present operator would think more strategically about contingencies and have a more versatile approach to timing of getting deals done, instead of often just waiting until the end of each window - which has proven to be a risk for us and left us exposed in terms of quality and squad numbers.

If we had the right squad numbers, if we'd negotiated the deal for Pepi in Jan with confidence, would we have got into Europe?  If we had got into Europe would Marco have stayed.


I do think these relationships, and the jobs and how a person is accountable to it and approaches the day to day of it, including the depth of knowledge they'd have built up in this, could make a measurable difference.

It's my opinion, but it also is to a degree common sense.

If someone has a depth of expertise and commits to an industry and role full-time, you are likely to often get better results and commitment than someone doing it part time.

The other aspect is cultural.. Marco could've grown disenchanted with the club in the second half of the season after we didn't get in a striker in Jan that he wanted, with Kusi Asare not being deemed ready.. whether that was Pepi or not, we needed more up front.

Did form drop off from the squad because they sensed a change in Marco?

Many on this forum noticed it.. I don't think a DOF who's day to day is focused solely on the club would've let such important things go by without doing something more about it.

[alfie]

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

If SK has been at fault over Silva leaving I think he was too trusting that he was going to sign a new contract. As said above as soon as we were safe he should have forced the issue and if Silva wasn't going to sign then put him on gardening leave.

I put this more in everyone's trusting TK to make a judgement on keeping Silva tbh.

I see SK as a solid, reliable self-made man, who is pretty reasonable and grounded.

It makes sense that he likes cricket given his Pakistani heritage and being a first generation immigrant to the US. Its very much in keeping with what you'd expect.

I think there needs to be completely distinct lenses when we look at our ownership, one is SK - he's the one who bought the club and finances it and ultimately makes the key decisions in terms of direction of the club.

Tk is the other, the son of a billionaire who grew up in privilege and in the U.S.

I'm not criticising the fact he grew up in privilege or the U.S, you can't blame a kid for being born to their parents circumstances.

It's what the kids end up being like and their character and what that's grounded in, and where the line is re what they achieve for themselves and how.

For me TK comes across a bit aloof still and slightly like an only child.. dad's enabled him (as is his right to do), and Tony has toys he's buying and slowly learning from.

If TK had built his career from the ground up, he'd probably have learned the hard way, or through working his way into a position of authority, that Silva not being signed and clearly having reservations was something be wary of and accounted for.

For me, the fact that he got blind-sided by Marcos ultimate decision to me smacks of this naiveté. The fact he had a statement written for one outcome without knowing the answer and then got so thrown by Marco not renewing that his dad stepped in to write the comment instead, to me shows the difference in maturity when it comes to operating professionally at a high level.

To have not sorted Marcos contract sooner, and left it stay unsigned until the contract was over, and to even have that as an OK way of moving forward was a huge risk and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

As others have said, Bournemouth had someone lined up straight after Iraola announced he was leaving and before the end of the season. Getting that clarity and moving that quickly and with the candidate they got in is a sign of a well run club.

Our transfer business being so slow is TKs main responsibility for me, and I'm not sure he's around much- transfer deadline days promoting AEW in the US instead of filling out the squad shows me where his priorities lie.

There's a catch - is TK the one who keeps the purse strings open? The relationship being what it is, or does SK want to support whoever would be in the DOF role..?

I imagine a permanent DOF that specialises in football would do better than TK.

So would a DoF that specialises in football have made Silva sign a new contract? Of course he couldn't just as a DoF who specialises in football couldn't make players sign a new contract. TK or SK had no more power over making Silva sign a contract than any football other specialist. And do you not think SK was not aware of what was going in with Silva? Even Silva was stating that he didn't know what he was going to do. You are so quick to lay all this at TK's door without actually knowing what went on.

Forgive me, but you seem to be a bit flustered and taking too much to heart. This isn't personal.

Marco left to a league he acknowledged was lesser, and for a lesser pay packet, his frustrations and move were emotionally driven. Yes, this was Benfica and his home town, but it clearly wasn't a clear cut decision, you can tell that reading his interview on Benficas site. He was looking for more than just financial, in my opinion he wanted reassurances for us about things changing which were structural and that helped him think he could do more with us.. squad size and transfers were clearly important to him

Yes, I think a permanent director of football who built their career working up the ladder could've seen us sign players and Marco to contracts in a more timely fashion than TK.

There are a number of reasons why..

First - being in the country
Second - day to day interactions with the players and managers to get a more holistic understanding of them and the club

Those are very basic

Thirdly - having a better understanding of the mechanisms of how football works in the country

Fourth - being accountable in a professional way that isn't to a dad who's bankrolling things. Why this, in my opinion, could make a difference.

Optimising for financial long-term of club.

Letting two of your most prolific goalscoring assets leave the club for free in the same summer would be a negative mark on most professionals and I'd be surprised if any/many clubs do it with the same regularity that we seem to. Even TK acknowledged the only reason we got money for Anguissa is because Anguissa was doing us a favour and being kind. This is a player who went on to win the Seria A with Napoli (which shows value but also potential that we simply would've ended up seeing leave the club for free).

Tk says he takes longer to get deals because he's saving £5m each deal, giving the example of two deals meaning £10m saved to be spent on players.. but after the season Wilson has had, do we really think he's worth than £10m?


I also think a season, present operator would think more strategically about contingencies and have a more versatile approach to timing of getting deals done, instead of often just waiting until the end of each window - which has proven to be a risk for us and left us exposed in terms of quality and squad numbers.

If we had the right squad numbers, if we'd negotiated the deal for Pepi in Jan with confidence, would we have got into Europe?  If we had got into Europe would Marco have stayed.


I do think these relationships, and the jobs and how a person is accountable to it and approaches the day to day of it, including the depth of knowledge they'd have built up in this, could make a measurable difference.

It's my opinion, but it also is to a degree common sense.

If someone has a depth of expertise and commits to an industry and role full-time, you are likely to often get better results and commitment than someone doing it part time.

The other aspect is cultural.. Marco could've grown disenchanted with the club in the second half of the season after we didn't get in a striker in Jan that he wanted, with Kusi Asare not being deemed ready.. whether that was Pepi or not, we needed more up front.

Did form drop off from the squad because they sensed a change in Marco?

Many on this forum noticed it.. I don't think a DOF who's day to day is focused solely on the club would've let such important things go by without doing something more about it.

All that is perfectly acceptable, except the DOF will not be signing off the deals, that will still be TK, so cost cutting/money saving issue will probably still apply.

[Fulham Tup North]

I saw an interesting article on FB about his involvement in sport. He's a Cricket fan, not much of that in the States. His involvement in sport is more to do with him having something to do with his son. You can't fault a man for that. Tony appreciates the time they have together. The Jags have benefited from that and hopefully in time we will as well.

The Khan's have acted both swiftly and decisively to replace Marco Silva I haven't seen any praise from the usual suspects for them doing that,
The moaners would have been queuing up to post if they had dragged their heels.

Once again there is NO apostrophe in Khan's unless you are using the possessive singular (which would not make sense anyway). It's Khans with no apostrophe.

Having got that off my chest....

Hopefully there will be less errors in the future now   

[HV71]

"Hopefully there will be less errors in the future now    "

Shouldn't that be " fewer" ?