Mel Morris Speaks

[eddie]

2 minutes ago, TETRA said:

Sorry Mel it just all doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why let a Manager sign so many new expensive players if you just wanted him to work with the existing players who have done so well over the last few seasons before Clement arrived, & improve them. Then bring some players in to add to that. Surely developing a team that's consistently successful but also plays hi tempo attractive football will take any new manager sometime to develop, certainly a great  deal longer than eight months. Football is all about getting results, unfortunately in the league we are in you can't always do that with hi tempo pretty football. You have to grind out many games throughout the 46 game season. Clearly if he wants both we are going to be churning over managers on a endless regular basis, going nowhere. Sadly the Sir Alex Ferguson's in this world are strictly ONE OFF'S. As we all know football isn't a perfect science. I would think the majority of fans just want to get back into the Premiership, we can worry about the pretty hi tempo football once we are there. 

This might come across as beng a really puerile answer, but I'm making it because it just seems so obvious to me and I'm baffled as to why so few others seem to think along the same lines.

The players we have signed have been largely 'flair' players. The head coach then basically coached the flair out of them and sent them out to be ultra-cautious workhorses. At least Nigel Clough waited until we were winning before he shut up shop - Paul Clement seemed to be doing that from the kickoff.

As for the sentence I have highlighted - I don't think that you could ever be more wrong if you tried, certainly as far as I am concerned. Three words.......

 

Billy

Bloody

Davies

 

He got a bunch of workers promoted playing sterile, turgid, flairless, soulless football.

Coming back to the last couple of months, I no longer looked forward to the matches over the last few months - the last decent performance was Hull, and everything since then has been downhill. Now I'm actually looking forward to Saturday - because I honestly don't know what's going to happen.

I don't support the sacking 100% - but I can sure as hell see why it happened.

[TETRA]

18 minutes ago, TETRA said:

Sorry Mel it just all doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why let a Manager sign so many new expensive players if you just wanted him to work with the existing players who have done so well over the last few seasons before Clement arrived, & improve them. Then bring some players in to add to that. Surely developing a team that's consistently successful but also plays hi tempo attractive football will take any new manager sometime to develop, certainly a great  deal longer than eight months. Football is all about getting results, unfortunately in the league we are in you can't always do that with hi tempo pretty football. You have to grind out many games throughout the 46 game season. Clearly if he wants both we are going to be churning over managers on a endless regular basis, going nowhere. Sadly the Sir Alex Ferguson's in this world are strictly ONE OFF'S. As we all know football isn't a perfect science. I would think the majority of fans just want to get back into the Premiership, we can worry about the pretty hi tempo football once we are there. 

You could argue this is what Leicester have done this season, why do we want to be different.

[YouRams]

1 hour ago, cheron85 said:

This actually seems more reasonable than earlier in the day... Clement was trying to play efficient football (no one is pretending it was fun to watch) to try and get promoted this season where Mel wants us to play with style and build up to promotion...

I take back my complaints from earlier about his madness... 

I agree with this, but to me Mel completely contradicts himself saying he wasn't interfering with team selection. I wonder what was said during these discussions him and Clement had, I'm guessing they were rather suggestive. He even names a player during the interview he'd of played. It all seems control freakish to me. I appreciate what he's trying to do for the club but it's in danger of becoming the Mel show "the Derby way" he speaks of is "the Mel way" or the highway. 

[Mafiabob]

20 minutes ago, eddie said:

McClaren was sacked because he had made his own position untenable.

Judging by the last 24 hours who really believes that now... 

 

[RicME85]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03j1pdk

 

[deano180]

3 minutes ago, YouRams said:

I agree with this, but to me Mel completely contradicts himself saying he wasn't interfering with team selection. I wonder what was said during these discussions him and Clement had, I'm guessing they were rather suggestive. He even names a player during the interview he'd of played. It all seems control freakish to me. I appreciate what he's trying to do for the club but it's in danger of becoming the Mel show "the Derby way" he speaks of is "the Mel way" or the highway. 

Micro managing i believe, only ever ends one way

[eddie]

2 minutes ago, Mafiabob said:

Judging by the last 24 hours who really believes that now... 

 

Not being party to #ITK information, I don't have anything otherwise to go on. If you do, then please enlighten us.

[wixman1884]

5 minutes ago, Mafiabob said:

Judging by the last 24 hours who really believes that now... 

 

I do. 100%

[CBE]

Just heard the interview. Here is a bloke who interferes and contradicts and blogs and bluffs rather well. 

[Mafiabob]

1 minute ago, eddie said:

Not being party to #ITK information, I don't have anything otherwise to go on. If you do, then please enlighten us.

Nope me neither, but no one really knows why Mac really went do they?

Agreed didn't help himself... But as we all speculate... We all have differing views as why.

 

[Ted McMinn Football Genius]

1 hour ago, SaintRam said:

Obviously open to some interpretation but that's definitely what it looks like. Saw this job as a short term stepping stone in his (what he thought must have been nailed on) successful managerial career. 

Maybe our position as Head Coach/ Manager was a stop gap between Real Madrid and Ancellotti's next appointment, With a nice payoff scheduled in between rather than being out of work completely. 

Cynical maybe, but that's modern day football isn't it?

[Mafiabob]

2 minutes ago, wixman1884 said:

I do. 100%

I don't but I'm sure it will be all pure speculation 

[Shang]

Just listened to the extended interview on BBC Radio Derby. Mel clearly isn't happy with the style of play, lost it's attractiveness and attacking flair we had last season that worked so well for us.

I think PC was trying to approach this too cautiously, yet we're in a worse off position than we were last season, so Mel is right, we have taken a step backwards.

For people talking about spending £25 million and not asking for promotion, he responds to that pretty clearly. He believes in a no-excuse policy, if the manager asks for a player he will get him for him. Mel even mentions that one or two named players were brought in because Clement specifically requested them.

After that I am more relieved that Mel is doing this for the right reasons, I am super interested to see who takes the reins next, this club will be a managers dynasty if they are willing to embrace it.

[Ambitious]

Excellent interview and touches on many beliefs I also have about the club. So much so, I'm really relaxed with him at the club. 

I think people are getting too strung up on the promotion talk. Of course he wants promotion, however for him, and me for that matter, it isn't the be all and end all of the measure of success. 

I can say with 99.9% certainty that Clement wouldn't have been sacked had we been playing good football and showing signs of progression. I also don't doubt that Clement would have been given the criteria to hit when he first joined the club. For me, the only area he has met expectations is the league position.  The top six has to be the target and we're in it. 

Nevertheless, you scratch under the surface and it's a complete mess. Well, not a complete mess, but it smacks of inexperience at the very least. I, and no one else, can really tell Clement how to do his job. I'm sure if I was as knowledgeable as he is then I would have at least been made assistant manager of Ilkeston Town, nevermind Real Madrid. 

I just feel that a clear structure has to be in place. I was/am a big fan of McClaren due to the way we set up. I guess a plan B would have been nice, but Plan A was excellent. It was easy to see everyone knew their role, whether they had played every minute of the season or just a five minute cameo a few months ago. The system was put in place and it was clear and concise. 

Morris has touched on what he expects from Wassall - the same that was expected from Clement - and I hope he can achieve that. 

For me, the first objective is to build the team spirit and the squad harmony. If we keep playing under a gray cloud then it's going to get much worse before the end of the season give us a bit of break. I would argue that means rounding up the players, certainly your Weimann's, Bent's, Hanson's...etc, and giving them a CLEAR route into the first team. It's just a case of effective communication. Obviously, I don't know what went on behind closed doors but it certainly didn't seem like this was the case under Clement. 

The second objective is to find a system, to stick to it and to focus on our own game. As good as this 'war room' sounded, I do think the emphasis was placed too much on what the opposition may do rather than what we could do to them. I feel like we were reasonable at snuffing out our opponents, but our own game suffered because of it. I remember a comment @brisvegas made years ago about Billy Davies after our slaying of Nottingham Forest. He came out after the game and said that they practised the whole week to combat the forward runners from midfield - when he should have been focusing on his own team. I'm not saying to be fully ignorant towards the opposition, but I'd say the focus needs to be more 85-15 rather than 50-50. 

The third objective is to get the best out of the players. For example, I certainly hope that I've seen the last of Martin running the channels and Bradley Johnson as a defensive midfielder. I also hope there will be a more attacking/creative influence in the middle of the park. Bryson's goal on Saturday needs to be the norm, not the exception. I also want to see a little more sense go into the starting line-up. The balance, especially in the final third, has been nothing short of horrendous. 

It's a tough job for anyone to sort out, but I don't think the season is dead just yet. I believe a very good result against MK Dons would put us on the right path, or at least change the mentality.  

[MuespachRam]

Of course he wouldn't have been sacked if we had been playing nice football and improving, that goes without saying. 

As for giving players a "clear route into the first team" well thats simple, play/train better than the others.

 

[Van der MoodHoover]

39 minutes ago, LazloW said:

Perhaps PC put it to Mel that it's all very well for him to say promotion isn't a priority and building something special over the long term but he's not the one getting slaughtered every week by incredibly impatient fans who can't stand the idea of a sideways pass nevermind waiting a year or two for promotion...  And Mel disagreed.

just a thought.

But we've waited a couple of seasons where, with good football being played, there wasn't any slaughter going on, despite us not achieving promotion.

I can see what Mel is driving at and it's very laudable. Execution will be a challenge for any manager/coach. Not least because it's a relatively sophisticated message to try to convince potential signings to join. 

[Chris Mills]

Smoke and mirrors. 

If one of Clements requirements was to have a regular 11 why do we have so many players in the squad? Offload some and keep the players happy. It's rubbish, the recruitment team is just as responsible for that as Clement. 

"Here you go Paul, here is 25 million, go buy some players and then make a regular 11. In the mean time we won't offload any though, so good luck keeping everyone happy in the dressing room". 

Guessing another requirement was for him to introduce u21 players into the squad, again, how with a squad of that size? 

Its all well and good having a philosophy, Mel, but all aspects of the club need to support it. 

[CBE]

MM was quite firm in saying PC had the only say in signings this season. Most of the 25 million was spent pre season buy the procurement team. I don't think we should label PC with anything re signings , the football wasn't great yet top 6

 

[EastKentRam]

Quote

 

Q) If that is the case, why did you allow him to sign the number of new players that came to the club?

A) Firstly, I believe in a no-excuses policy so if a manager is saying to me he needs to hire a new striker or he needs to cover at left-back, I can hardly say no to that.

Our plans for the Academy have been sort of difficult because Max Lowe would have come in to cover for Craig Forsyth. He is still going to be out for another three or four months, at least.

So the factors really aren't quite as clear, as Paul didn't embrace things, but one example is Jamie Hanson, probably the best example. We had George Thorne injured for quite a few games this season. I think every time Jamie Hanson has played he has done well. I thought he might have featured more or at least been on the bench more than has been the case.

I don't think Paul was quite as clearly focused on the Academy as we wanted him to be.

 

Q) Something else that has been suggested is that you have tried to influence team selection. Is there any truth in that?

A) Absolutely no truth whatsoever.

 

 

Those two answers are hilarious. 

Mel thinks certain youth teamers should have been closer to the squad. Ex Real Madrid and PSG coach doesnt believe they're good enough.

I think Mel is full of ****. All his answers are full of contradictions.

And that's from someone who doesnt even hate the decision to sack him if a replacement had been lined up. It's looking suspiciously like MM is getting to involved in the management side of the club.

 

 

[toddy]

2 hours ago, oodledoodle said:

He's said all along it isn't promotion or bust. The aim is to go up in the next few years. Some of you are making up your own plans in your own heads and getting angry when they're not being followed.

Just maybe it went like this.......For the last two seasons we have played some great football and narrowly missed out twice on going up, if you are offered the job do you think you can maintain the performances and to us to the next level?

Yes, but I will possibly need a couple of quality players which I will identify once we get settled into the season.

Ok, there will be as much money as you need available to bring in players to strengthen the side and take us to the next level........  and probably why Mel did what he did at the end of the Reading game, because he knew it wasn't working with the novice and hence why Clement is gone, if it wasn't then he would be still here and given a season or two to build Mel's dynasty.

No, the official spiel is always, no we not looking for promotion this season, it is what it is. PR to deflect any pressure away from the club, coach and players.

I do think to was right to sack Clement, the performances were poor apart from Wolves and Hull, masses amount of cash spent on players being played out of position.

Not too sure Wassall is right, would have thought before Clement was sacked that a new coach would have already been identified.