Team and fans take the blame

[MickTheBeard]

I find it strange that after the boards incompetence to run the club from the beginning of their occupation with a plan to be self funding after a period of a  foundation of buying and selling of players building a kitty to move forward a strong academy and expand our fan base instead we build an unfinished stand what would give us a income a better training ground to improve our players technical ability not started to make the back of the hammyend a death trap just to go to toilet and now it has all gone haywire the board have created this disastrous situation they don't want to fund their mistakes they have created.Mr khan how did you make your money if you can't sort out little Fulham and why did you buy us it seems it's become a nuisance to you.

[St Eve]

Makes perfect sense to me!

[H4usuallysitting]

I find it strange that after the boards incompetence to run the club from the beginning of their occupation with a plan to be self funding after a period of a  foundation of buying and selling of players building a kitty to move forward a strong academy and expand our fan base instead we build an unfinished stand what would give us a income a better training ground to improve our players technical ability not started to make the back of the hammyend a death trap just to go to toilet and now it has all gone haywire the board have created this disastrous situation they don't want to fund their mistakes they have created.Mr khan how did you make your money if you can't sort out little Fulham and why did you buy us it seems it's become a nuisance to you.

As you already know -

The Riverside stand has been delayed, due to covid, the complexity & the contractor going bust.

We understand that the new training ground is in the planning stages.

You're correct - when the Khan family took over Fulham they made some big mistakes...that was 10 year's ago, the last 3 years have been very decent.

What would you like the Khan family to do (within FFP) too improve?

[hovewhite]

What am I missing,what have the fans to do with blame?

[The Old Count]

Great post by the eloquent and erudite Mr Beard.

I look forward to seeing him back up his critique of the owners by stumping up the half a billion quid plus it would cost to buy the club and sorting it all out. Or, at the very least, suggest someone who could do better.

[filham]

We are almost mid table premier league , that is not bad for us so the Khans havn't done too bad on the football front.
Tey have however failed badly with the stand and you would have expected them too have had experience with projects like that.
Lets look at the excuses given above.

!. Covid
Other projects continued practically unhindered. Any delay should have been minimal.
2. Complex Project
The complexities were known from the start and it was essential to select a contractor with experience of this type of work. In fact the complexities were with thesteel structure built over the river and this part of the work seemed to go quite well.
3. the contractor going bust.
It seems that an unsound contractor was selected, even so the situation should have been identified early on and a replacement contractor put in place with minimum delay.
No money should have been lost because the contractor should only have been paid for work done.
All major projects have risk and that risk has to be carefully managed from the beginning, it seems that the Khans did not have experienced contract management in place.

[H4usuallysitting]

We are almost mid table premier league , that is not bad for us so the Khans havn't done too bad on the football front.
Tey have however failed badly with the stand and you would have expected them too have had experience with projects like that.
Lets look at the excuses given above.

!. Covid
Other projects continued practically unhindered. Any delay should have been minimal.
2. Complex Project
The complexities were known from the start and it was essential to select a contractor with experience of this type of work. In fact the complexities were with thesteel structure built over the river and this part of the work seemed to go quite well.
3. the contractor going bust.
It seems that an unsound contractor was selected, even so the situation should have been identified early on and a replacement contractor put in place with minimum delay.
No money should have been lost because the contractor should only have been paid for work done.
All major projects have risk and that risk has to be carefully managed from the beginning, it seems that the Khans did not have experienced contract management in place.

1) Were you on site?

2) Were you on site?

3) The current Premier League leaders used the same contractors, and have a similar problem...
Please advise who the inexperienced contract manager's are?

[Twig]

Personally I feel that the years under the Khans have been a mixed bag.
Transfer business that started so very poorly has definitely improved a lot. Our key remaining issue is the average age of our squad which impacts on squad value and therefore has a knock on impact on our FFP situation when we move to replace older players with younger ones (as we inevitably must).
Managerial appointments were wildly unpredictable but after some poor,  surprising and just plain weird managers we have thankfully settled on Silva who is a Gem.
Infrastructure investmenthas been a bit of a curate's egg. The new stand has been farcically slow to come on stream. Our extension of our training facilities is hugely welcome but again, progress has been slow. Do we need a more experienced Head of Contracts Management? I've no idea. Eventually however these investments will pay off. Hopefully the appalling facilities at the Hammy End will be addressed next (and more efficiently).
Ticket pricing policy has sadly gone from good to bad. I don't care too much about a limited number of high net worth tourists splashing a fortune to watch us, that brings in some useful cash. I do care that we are charging some of the very highest prices in the entire Prem for little kids and youngsters and providing fewer low cost tickets for our core fan base. That is how you alienate family support, lose your next generation of supporters and degrade the atmosphere at our ground.
F & B has never been great but the expensive, generic, bland, poor quality rubbish we now have is the worst value proposition that I can remember.
Fan representation, the recent public spurning of the well intentioned FST was ill judged and arrogant. It should never have happened.
Overall I suppose I'd give the Khan era a 6 or 7 out of 10. (Which is probably better than the majority of club owners so I guess we need to be grateful for what we have).

[LittleErn]

We are almost mid table premier league , that is not bad for us so the Khans havn't done too bad on the football front.
Tey have however failed badly with the stand and you would have expected them too have had experience with projects like that.
Lets look at the excuses given above.

!. Covid
Other projects continued practically unhindered. Any delay should have been minimal.
2. Complex Project
The complexities were known from the start and it was essential to select a contractor with experience of this type of work. In fact the complexities were with thesteel structure built over the river and this part of the work seemed to go quite well.
3. the contractor going bust.
It seems that an unsound contractor was selected, even so the situation should have been identified early on and a replacement contractor put in place with minimum delay.
No money should have been lost because the contractor should only have been paid for work done.
All major projects have risk and that risk has to be carefully managed from the beginning, it seems that the Khans did not have experienced contract management in place.

I think that is fair other than the Covid point. The delay was not caused directly by Covid. My understanding is that Covid caused a rethink of the best ways to utilise the space. It was decided that the existing design did not match up to the new reality, which  necessitated a redesign and new planning permissions being required (trust me, that can't be hurried!) I think that this is evidence of the Khans business acumen rather than the opposite.

[Roberty]

I did read somewhere that occupation of the new Riverside was restricted until the new walkway was open to the public on none match days.

If that is the case it's chicken and egg! They will need the walkway closed until the fit out is complete.

You should also not underestimate the planning process and the delays inherent in that, especially when every application for changes will trigger an avalanche of objections from both sides of the river and the dog.

[H4usuallysitting]

We are almost mid table premier league , that is not bad for us so the Khans havn't done too bad on the football front.
Tey have however failed badly with the stand and you would have expected them too have had experience with projects like that.
Lets look at the excuses given above.

!. Covid
Other projects continued practically unhindered. Any delay should have been minimal.
2. Complex Project
The complexities were known from the start and it was essential to select a contractor with experience of this type of work. In fact the complexities were with thesteel structure built over the river and this part of the work seemed to go quite well.
3. the contractor going bust.
It seems that an unsound contractor was selected, even so the situation should have been identified early on and a replacement contractor put in place with minimum delay.
No money should have been lost because the contractor should only have been paid for work done.
All major projects have risk and that risk has to be carefully managed from the beginning, it seems that the Khans did not have experienced contract management in place.

I think that is fair other than the Covid point. The delay was not caused directly by Covid. My understanding is that Covid caused a rethink of the best ways to utilise the space. It was decided that the existing design did not match up to the new reality, which  necessitated a redesign and new planning permissions being required (trust me, that can't be hurried!) I think that this is evidence of the Khans business acumen rather than the opposite.

Exactly this..... For about 30 year's I worked on very large projects - can't think of one that was easy or wasn't changed from the original specification....

[HV71]

Personally I feel that the years under the Khans have been a mixed bag.
Transfer business that started so very poorly has definitely improved a lot. Our key remaining issue is the average age of our squad which impacts on squad value and therefore has a knock on impact on our FFP situation when we move to replace older players with younger ones (as we inevitably must).
Managerial appointments were wildly unpredictable but after some poor,  surprising and just plain weird managers we have thankfully settled on Silva who is a Gem.
Infrastructure investmenthas been a bit of a curate's egg. The new stand has been farcically slow to come on stream. Our extension of our training facilities is hugely welcome but again, progress has been slow. Do we need a more experienced Head of Contracts Management? I've no idea. Eventually however these investments will pay off. Hopefully the appalling facilities at the Hammy End will be addressed next (and more efficiently).
Ticket pricing policy has sadly gone from good to bad. I don't care too much about a limited number of high net worth tourists splashing a fortune to watch us, that brings in some useful cash. I do care that we are charging some of the very highest prices in the entire Prem for little kids and youngsters and providing fewer low cost tickets for our core fan base. That is how you alienate family support, lose your next generation of supporters and degrade the atmosphere at our ground.
F & B has never been great but the expensive, generic, bland, poor quality rubbish we now have is the worst value proposition that I can remember.
Fan representation, the recent public spurning of the well intentioned FST was ill judged and arrogant. It should never have happened.
Overall I suppose I'd give the Knan era a 6 or 7 out of 10. (Which is probably better than the majority of club owners so I guess we need to be grateful for what we have).

Very good post

This is a well thought out and very fair assessment of the Khan's tenure. The only thing I would add regarding ticket prices is that they don't represent value especially when set alongside teams like Arsenal ( both in terms of the offering both on and off the pitch )
Sure you can sell expensive tickets on a one off basis - but is that really sustainable?

[Logicalman]

We are almost mid table premier league , that is not bad for us so the Khans havn't done too bad on the football front.
Tey have however failed badly with the stand and you would have expected them too have had experience with projects like that.
Lets look at the excuses given above.

!. Covid
Other projects continued practically unhindered. Any delay should have been minimal.
2. Complex Project
The complexities were known from the start and it was essential to select a contractor with experience of this type of work. In fact the complexities were with thesteel structure built over the river and this part of the work seemed to go quite well.
3. the contractor going bust.
It seems that an unsound contractor was selected, even so the situation should have been identified early on and a replacement contractor put in place with minimum delay.
No money should have been lost because the contractor should only have been paid for work done.
All major projects have risk and that risk has to be carefully managed from the beginning, it seems that the Khans did not have experienced contract management in place.

Please correct me if I have gotten the wrong impression here, but was this same contractor involved in building work at Anfield as well?

[SP]

Well done Mick, a late but very welcome entry for post of the year.

[filham]

We are almost mid table premier league , that is not bad for us so the Khans havn't done too bad on the football front.
Tey have however failed badly with the stand and you would have expected them too have had experience with projects like that.
Lets look at the excuses given above.

!. Covid
Other projects continued practically unhindered. Any delay should have been minimal.
2. Complex Project
The complexities were known from the start and it was essential to select a contractor with experience of this type of work. In fact the complexities were with thesteel structure built over the river and this part of the work seemed to go quite well.
3. the contractor going bust.
It seems that an unsound contractor was selected, even so the situation should have been identified early on and a replacement contractor put in place with minimum delay.
No money should have been lost because the contractor should only have been paid for work done.
All major projects have risk and that risk has to be carefully managed from the beginning, it seems that the Khans did not have experienced contract management in place.

1) Were you on site?

2) Were you on site?

3) The current Premier League leaders used the same contractors, and have a similar problem...
Please advise who the inexperienced contract manager's are?

I don't know who the Contract Manager was, who does, but it is clearly to their advatage to remain unknown.

Is the Liverpool stand so far behind proggramme as ours, who does, I would think it is to their advatage to remain unknown

[ron]

Makes perfect sense to me!

It gives James Joyce a run for his money!

[demeant0r]

I find it strange that after the boards incompetence to run the club from the beginning of their occupation with a plan to be self funding after a period of a  foundation of buying and selling of players building a kitty to move forward a strong academy and expand our fan base instead we build an unfinished stand what would give us a income a better training ground to improve our players technical ability not started to make the back of the hammyend a death trap just to go to toilet and now it has all gone haywire the board have created this disastrous situation they don't want to fund their mistakes they have created.Mr khan how did you make your money if you can't sort out little Fulham and why did you buy us it seems it's become a nuisance to you.

Jesus Mick, have you heard of commas and full stops?

[kiwian]

Makes perfect sense to me!

It gives James Joyce a run for his money!

Google translation would be helpful.

[Neil D]

I find it strange that after the boards incompetence to run the club from the beginning of their occupation with a plan to be self funding after a period of a  foundation of buying and selling of players building a kitty to move forward a strong academy and expand our fan base instead we build an unfinished stand what would give us a income a better training ground to improve our players technical ability not started to make the back of the hammyend a death trap just to go to toilet and now it has all gone haywire the board have created this disastrous situation they don't want to fund their mistakes they have created.Mr khan how did you make your money if you can't sort out little Fulham and why did you buy us it seems it's become a nuisance to you.

Jesus Mick, have you heard of commas and full stops?

The Romans didn't use them either...

[toshes mate]

I did read somewhere that occupation of the new Riverside was restricted until the new walkway was open to the public on none match days.

If that is the case it's chicken and egg! They will need the walkway closed until the fit out is complete.

You should also not underestimate the planning process and the delays inherent in that, especially when every application for changes will trigger an avalanche of objections from both sides of the river and the dog.

Thankfully at least one FoF member is paying attention and using their grey matter.

The Stand and the Pier were/are a whole and without one there is a problem with the other. Planning on the training ground was first passed quite a time ago and so renewals and updates may be required

Blaming COVID-19 is simply a way of ignoring the fact almost everybody in power got COVID-19 wrong but I don't see heads rolling anywhere least of all where it started to go wrong at the WHO. The UK's inflation was caused, to a large part, by the overspend on the virus at a time our economy was in reverse because of the crazy policies advocated.

The absence of any kind of sensible energy policy in the last several decades did us no favours but governments have made the problem much, much worse all on their own. It isn't a surprise that previously sound companies went bust in such a wretched mess and the fall out to be endured.

The Khans meanwhile have had little or no need to get stuff wrong although with the winter window open a cold wind could blow no good and change all that.

And the team on the pitch where it matters most is not doing so bad all things considered.