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Pat Murphy on Mel Morris


Red Ram

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All of the above post by @EssendonRam may have be relevant in a business which churns out nuts and bolts, cars, train carriages or even bread rolls but this business is dealing with people. Multiple personalities and human frailties, performances and thousands of stakeholders emotionally involved. The reasons stated for Mel's tenure being 'abysmal' (not my opinion at all) don't stand up even in such corporate language. 

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43 minutes ago, EssendonRam said:

I'd suggest Mel-related threads will continue until there's ANY sign that he's tempered the manner in which he's running the club....and should continue as a sign of disapproval.

I sincerely hope I've missed some signs but why would Rowett's appointment be cause of itself to think he's finally learned and adapting???

As for Mel applying best practice from business, it depends what you're referring to. Leadership groups? Perfectly standard. Player empowerment? Standard also.

Communicating via text message with managers and players? Strong form of instant communication; nothing inherently wrong with it at all as long as it neither becomes the sole form of communication nor serves to usurp reporting lines.

And that's the problem: they're peripheral issues and 'motherhood' ones at that.

The core competencies of an executive are (a) where Morris has demonstrably failed thus far; and (b) where he defies even basic business practice, namely:

1. Define the objectives of the business over the immediate, medium- and longer-terms and the strategy underpinning them. Under the previous owners, Derby had that and stuck to it. Can anyone honestly argue that Morris has defined anything for the club other than in general terms?

2. Oversee the success criteria by which the objectives shall be measured. Put in place the structure which reinforces the objectives and the criteria for measuring success.

3. Recruit the best experts to fill the structure, give them their KPIs, and monitor their accountabilities.

To put it bluntly, if short term form fluctuations are leading to repeated sackings, then the plan is nonsensical and irrelevant.

4. "Trust but verify". It's an MBA maxim.

Essentially, it means that the reporting and monitoring of people, processes, policies and outcomes must be both sufficient to give clear and early warnings of deviations from expectations but also not so intrusive that it become an end in itself.

It never replaces the need to conduct root cause analysis.

I could go on but ?I won't.

On every level, Morris's discharge of his accountabilities since taking over our club has been abysmal. Every single one. 

Haven't a clue what you're on about tbh, i push buttons in a factory all day for 40k a year.

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1 hour ago, EssendonRam said:

I'd suggest Mel-related threads will continue until there's ANY sign that he's tempered the manner in which he's running the club....and should continue as a sign of disapproval.

I sincerely hope I've missed some signs but why would Rowett's appointment be cause of itself to think he's finally learned and adapting???

As for Mel applying best practice from business, it depends what you're referring to. Leadership groups? Perfectly standard. Player empowerment? Standard also.

Communicating via text message with managers and players? Strong form of instant communication; nothing inherently wrong with it at all as long as it neither becomes the sole form of communication nor serves to usurp reporting lines.

And that's the problem: they're peripheral issues and 'motherhood' ones at that.

The core competencies of an executive are (a) where Morris has demonstrably failed thus far; and (b) where he defies even basic business practice, namely:

1. Define the objectives of the business over the immediate, medium- and longer-terms and the strategy underpinning them. Under the previous owners, Derby had that and stuck to it. Can anyone honestly argue that Morris has defined anything for the club other than in general terms?

2. Oversee the success criteria by which the objectives shall be measured. Put in place the structure which reinforces the objectives and the criteria for measuring success.

3. Recruit the best experts to fill the structure, give them their KPIs, and monitor their accountabilities.

To put it bluntly, if short term form fluctuations are leading to repeated sackings, then the plan is nonsensical and irrelevant.

4. "Trust but verify". It's an MBA maxim.

Essentially, it means that the reporting and monitoring of people, processes, policies and outcomes must be both sufficient to give clear and early warnings of deviations from expectations but also not so intrusive that it become an end in itself.

It never replaces the need to conduct root cause analysis.

I could go on but ?I won't.

On every level, Morris's discharge of his accountabilities since taking over our club has been abysmal. Every single one. 

Is this even English?

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6 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

I heard last weekend that Morris invited Mac and Powell round to his house and they watched videos of games, providing all parties weee okay with this I don't see a problem.

Thats taking the piss

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1 hour ago, philmycock said:

Pat Murphy sounded like a dick when he interrogated Nigel Pearson that time at Leicester

I have to say that, IMO, PM has little or no interest in or love for DCFC and would be perfectly happy to regurgitate anything produced by any journo on the subjevt of Mel's chairmanship of the club. Bring back Larry Canning!!!

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Stuart webb writes interesting stuff about Lionel Pickering and his failings as a director due to behaving like a fan.

i suspect Lionel was nothing compared to mel. 

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2 hours ago, PodgeyRam said:

On the whole they are, yeah. If you go into the newsroom at BBC Radio Derby, the Derby Telegraph or BBC Online, you will find many hard working, honest journalists. You get the bad eggs, but don't let that detract from the work that most of the good ones do and I would class Pat Murphy as one of those.

Hold the phone! The DET has a newsroom!?  I thought they just employed a youth to sift through twitter and Facebook regurgitating posts and coming up with new ideas for clickbait.  I had no idea that they still did news too! What day do they do this?

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In an ideal world to some, Morris should put up and shut up. I, for one, can't understand why on earth he would do that and I don't believe it's a reasonable stance to take. 

At the end of the day, it's Morris' club. We can say it's our club and moan like bitchy Forest fans, but I'm not the one putting a million £ of my own money in each week. It's one of the reasons that I'll let him crack on and hope beyond hope that it works out for him. 

I think the best thing that can happen for us, for him and for everyone associated with the club that he gets someone in who he 100% trusts. I don't think he's had that since he has been here. He obviously trusts some of the players, which I don't actually see anything wrong with, but I don't think he's fully trusted a manager. I do think McClaren's first spell has probably had an impact on that. I just hope Rowett is the man that he can put his faith in. 

It's easy to say what Morris can do, and we can all have opinions. We can all proclaim to be the most patient of supporters, but it's not entirely true. I'd definitely question those he has hired and ask why he put his faith in them. I know from the Breakfast club banquet that it sounded like Clement said one thing then totally did another, which is obviously not ideal. Pearson, perhaps, did something similar. 

I've got faith in Morris to get it right, he just needs to find the man to put his faith in initially and then we can go from there. 

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2 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

In an ideal world to some, Morris should put up and shut up. I, for one, can't understand why on earth he would do that and I don't believe it's a reasonable stance to take. 

At the end of the day, it's Morris' club. We can say it's our club and moan like bitchy Forest fans, but I'm not the one putting a million £ of my own money in each week. It's one of the reasons that I'll let him crack on and hope beyond hope that it works out for him. 

I think the best thing that can happen for us, for him and for everyone associated with the club that he gets someone in who he 100% trusts. I don't think he's had that since he has been here. He obviously trusts some of the players, which I don't actually see anything wrong with, but I don't think he's fully trusted a manager. I do think McClaren's first spell has probably had an impact on that. I just hope Rowett is the man that he can put his faith in. 

It's easy to say what Morris can do, and we can all have opinions. We can all proclaim to be the most patient of supporters, but it's not entirely true. I'd definitely question those he has hired and ask why he put his faith in them. I know from the Breakfast club banquet that it sounded like Clement said one thing then totally did another, which is obviously not ideal. Pearson, perhaps, did something similar. 

I've got faith in Morris to get it right, he just needs to find the man to put his faith in initially and then we can go from there. 

This is a massively important point, I think.

I reckon Mel Morris just wants someone at the helm who is as invested in Derby County as he is. He thought that was McClaren. Then the Newcastle stuff happened. He probably thought that was Clement too. But maybe something went on behind the scenes to lead him to believe that wasn't the case.

Is Rowett invested in Derby County? All of the noise of the last 7 days would suggest yes. 100%.

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10 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

Sam Longson

Lionel Pickering

Mel Morris

 

All Derby men who bought the club they loved and supported. 

Sam was ruined by Jack Kirkland who hadn't got a clue about football management. Maybe Mel is suffering the same fate with Sam Rush?

Are we questioning Sam Rush now? IMHO he's been the best thing to happen to Derby County this side of the Millennium.

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Meddling chairman who long to be involved in the football side but obviously cannot appoint themselves as chairman will not have a successful football club. Period.

Should a chairman be talking with players ... Absolutely not if its talking about the manager who sits in between them in the reporting lines.

Should a chairman be going through the match after a game.... Absolutely not if its to constantly question the manager and his decisions etc

Sorry, but any chairman should simply stay away football until the days he authorises player signings and sacking/appointing managers (Both frequent at Derby). He should lay down and approve the strategic vision off the field and Sam should be delivering that.

Anything else, I simply don't agree. Chairman who own the club carry too much power. We fall into this category. Really disappointed with this.

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For me if the story is true then it is a worry in terms of what goes on in the texts between him and players ,I believe as chairman / owner his best position to adopt with the players is one of being a bit distant as being too close to players can only lead to problems ( of course we only have unconfirmed reports of this), finding a manager who he can be close enough to to go over games and that kind of stuff is ok if he can find that man , I'm hoping that this man is rowett , as a recent ex player and full of ambition and passion for the game he may tick all the boxes for Mel and Mel being so passionate about the club and keen to back the right manager he may well tick all the boxes for rowett ,,, my advise to Mel would be keep a healthy distance from players but find the manager you can build a real close relationship with and trust,, for me that's the clear answer the inevitable conflicts / problems that being a passionate fan owner of the club must throw up

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38 minutes ago, Nuwtfly said:

This is a massively important point, I think.

I reckon Mel Morris just wants someone at the helm who is as invested in Derby County as he is. He thought that was McClaren. Then the Newcastle stuff happened. He probably thought that was Clement too. But maybe something went on behind the scenes to lead him to believe that wasn't the case.

Is Rowett invested in Derby County? All of the noise of the last 7 days would suggest yes. 100%.

I hope to god your right mate, this does seem a reasonable explanation for what has happened

previously. Hopefully we can now see GR given some money to invest in new players 4 ish in, 8 ish out,

as I do believe he is the chosen one  :thumbsup:

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I suspect this is one of those where the truth looks different to all parties.

It also seems to me, the sport is resistant to change. Its a result in my opinion of the money involved getting far beyond what could ever be considered sensible regarding the risks.

The people with the money are trying to do what they can to ensure its not being wasted.

The football side of things is still fundamentals of getting xi men to kick a ball a bit better than the other team's xi. Its basically impossible to get a level of control over it beyond setting a budget and hiring people to get you there.

I think Mel needs to trust more in the people doing the football side of things. Talk to them, learn from them, discuss their decisions if you want, but give the trust.

 

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9 hours ago, Ewe Ram said:

All of the above post by @EssendonRam may have be relevant in a business which churns out nuts and bolts, cars, train carriages or even bread rolls but this business is dealing with people. Multiple personalities and human frailties, performances and thousands of stakeholders emotionally involved. The reasons stated for Mel's tenure being 'abysmal' (not my opinion at all) don't stand up even in such corporate language. 

First, @Ewe Ram, I was in fact replying to a post which suggested that Mel Morris had erred perhaps by trying to introduce business principles in an otherwise-backward football environment.

I was merely pointing out that the aspects of his chairmanship over which he can be rightly criticised reflect precisely the opposite.

You're quite right that football is a more emotional 'business' than one which produces widgets or whatever; that is PRECISELY why it behoves the chairman of a football club NOT to make decisions on the same, emotional basis as a fan.

I'm quite happy to praise those aspects of Morris's chairmanship which I think he does well; the marketing and pre-game atmosphere around PPS is just one example.

I have also never doubted that Morris wants the best for our club. He's certainly stumped up cash more willingly than any previous Derby owner I can recall.

They're commendable and I credit him for them.

But the fact remains that Morris bought a club which was in the ascendant across most of its business as a result of a steady, concerted plan to rebuild the business from the depths of 2007-8. Nigel Clough was given 5 years to undo the excesses and build competitiveness on-field; albeit with huge constraints but the constraints were always known well ahead of time by him.

Morris, by contrast, has had "miscommunications" with Steve McClaren, Paul Clement and Nigel Pearson. He's appointed two long-term managers who've lasted (between them) less than two-thirds of a single season. He fostered an environment where players (and Academy heads) feel it is ok to undermine the work of the coaching staff.

By his own account, he could not explain how either Clement or McClaren weren't delivering what they were expected to deliver - I omit Pearson because there may've been legal reasons for his inability to adequately explain what took place.

Instead, he resorted to snide and cowardly carping knowing they could not respond.

Lastly - and I apologise for how directly I am going to say this - if you think that the emotion in football is adequate excuse for not laying out a detailed long-term strategy with measurable goals; for failing to have well-defined and strong lines of authority within the org structure of the club; and so many urgent (read panicked) changes in direction such that we - Derby - now have a team with at least 5 different 'creators' over 3 seasons, then I'm afraid you simply do not understand what it takes to be successful.

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