Pat Murphy on Mel Morris

[EssendonRam]

10 hours ago, reveldevil said:

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

Do you know how many buttons you must push every hour/day to not get sacked? And how many to be considered a good button-pusher?

Do you understand what happens if you decide to goof off and not push your buttons?

Cobbled down, that's all that all of the leadership-speak means.

 

PS: Your 40k pa is more than I'm earning right now!

[1977 Ram Raider]

16 hours ago, Sparkle said:

I sometimes wonder how i would be if it was my money? I think I would take a direct interest especially when there seems insufficient effort 

Ooh don't let Keogh hear you say that, he'll throw his toys out the pram. 

[AucklandRam]

15 hours ago, EnigmaRam said:

Meh, all I care about is what I see on the pitchi praise good performances both team and individual and if it's a poor performance by an individual or by the team I will say why.

did the aliens land in the Arizona desert? 

Hypothetically speaking... How would you feel if we had a top manager at the club who was doing great but left because he felt he couldn't work with our ego maniac of an owner? It's happened before...

[Day]

8 hours ago, rammieib said:

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

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.

Would you be disappointed if I told you it wasn't true? None of it. 

I know many (not you personally) will want to use this as further factual proof of a interfering chairman but it's complete and utter fiction I have been reliably told.

[G STAR RAM]

11 minutes ago, David said:

Would you be disappointed if I told you it wasn't true? None of it. 

I know many (not you personally) will want to use this as further factual proof of a interfering chairman but it's complete and utter fiction I have been reliably told.

Which bits are utter fiction?

To be fair we all know for a fact that 2 out of the 3 points are factual.

[G STAR RAM]

46 minutes ago, EssendonRam said:

First, @Ewe Ram, 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.

Playing devils advocate here but I think MM probably has more of an idea on how to make something successful than most of us on here.

[Day]

9 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Which bits are utter fiction?

To be fair we all know for a fact that 2 out of the 3 points are factual.

McClaren, coaching team and players have never watched games round Mel's house.

Does not receive or send regular texts to the players, 

[Ewe Ram]

But @EssendonRam you are using people's opinions and making them into facts. 

I'm not saying that you don't need processes and strategies, what I'm saying is that as soon as you involve people in this you make such things unstable. People are not machines. 

I've been PA to a few business owners including the owner of a football club, very successfully. I think I know more about it than you give me credit for. 

[AutoWindscreens]

1 hour ago, EssendonRam said:

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 agree with this.

When justifying the purchase of Johnson and Butterfield, Mel said he gave Clement what he wanted/needed because he was operating a 'no-excuses policy' - i.e. he didn't want injuries to give anyone an excuse for underperformance.

Then when justifying the sacking of Clement he said Clement wasn't pursuing 'the Derby way'.

But what did 'the Derby way' have to say about the purchase of Johnson and Butterfield? You can't have a 'Derby way' and also a 'no-excuses policy' which gives managers whatever they say they need in the short term.

[barnsley ram]

16 hours ago, DerbyMark said:

Mel's had a lot of stick on here recently but he has ploughed shed loads of money into the club (some of it wasted on certain players I agree but that's hardly his fault).

I'd rather have a fellow live long supporter running my club than some of these dodgy foreign investors with no attachment to or understanding of the club and it's community, but just see it as another business venture.

If there is a criticism of Mel it's that he's possibly too hand's on and needs to take a step back and allow the team manager to run team affairs..

But he obviously cares about Derby County.

Can't knock him for that.

yes mel is where he is for being so caring

[barnsley ram]

Just now, AutoWindscreens said:

I agree with this.

When justifying the purchase of Johnson and Butterfield, Mel said he gave Clement what he wanted/needed because he was operating a 'no-excuses policy' - i.e. he didn't want injuries to give anyone an excuse for underperformance.

Then when justifying the sacking of Clement he said Clement wasn't pursuing 'the Derby way'.

But what did 'the Derby way' have to say about the purchase of Johnson and Butterfield? You can't have a 'Derby way' and also a 'no-excuses policy' which gives managers whatever they say they need in the short term.

you can do what you want if you  own the club!

[Alph]

Mel set Clement an objective and then backed him financially. He didn't stop him buying anyone because of the "no excuses policy"

It was down to Clement to select the right players to meet his objective

[Ghost of Clough]

1 hour ago, EssendonRam said:

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.

By "miscommunications" do you mean the managers agreeing to do one thing than do another?

What do you mean by the second bolder bit? If by going to someone in a senior position over their manager when they feel unfairly treated by that manager, is that actually unusual in common day work?

How do you know he hasn't set well-defined plans in place? Why does he have to tell you exactly what he wants frim the club?

[cosmic]

8 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

Interested to know what you base that on cosmic old fruit.

 

8 hours ago, philmycock said:

Seriously?

Yeah I just think if you look at the state we were in before he joined; relegated in 2002, flirting with administration, the Three Amigos buying the club in 2003, selling Huddlestone and Rasiak for pittance (2005), "Worst Team in History" (2007/08), Paul Jewell and the state he left the squad, we've not had a lot to cheer about. The club on the whole has been a right state. 

It was only until GSE brought in Rush that we started finding extra revenue from commercial partnerships, and finally had some teeth in the transfer market, bringing in top loan signings from clubs previously out of our reach. And let's not forget it was Rush who brought in McClaren which gave birth to the best football we've seen at Pride Park since the Jim Smith era. All of these things helped us command a new level of respect in the football world and made Derby County a top 6 team again. Rush has been pivotal in bringing about the changes necessary to get us closer to where we want to be. He's done his job, and our failures in recent seasons cannot be attributed to him. 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

17 minutes ago, cosmic said:

 

Yeah I just think if you look at the state we were in before he joined; relegated in 2002, flirting with administration, the Three Amigos buying the club in 2003, selling Huddlestone and Rasiak for pittance (2005), "Worst Team in History" (2007/08), Paul Jewell and the state he left the squad, we've not had a lot to cheer about. The club on the whole has been a right state. 

It was only until GSE brought in Rush that we started finding extra revenue from commercial partnerships, and finally had some teeth in the transfer market, bringing in top loan signings from clubs previously out of our reach. And let's not forget it was Rush who brought in McClaren which gave birth to the best football we've seen at Pride Park since the Jim Smith era. All of these things helped us command a new level of respect in the football world and made Derby County a top 6 team again. Rush has been pivotal in bringing about the changes necessary to get us closer to where we want to be. He's done his job, and our failures in recent seasons cannot be attributed to him. 

People questioning Sam Rush has me questioning the sanity of some of our football fans.

Sam Rush had the balls to thank Nigel Clough for all he had done and made the call to sack him, replacing him with MacLaren. That season we were languishing in 17th I think it was and only just narrowly missed out on promotion.

If Sam Rush isn't one of the best things to happen to Derby since the turn of the millennium, along with Mel Morris, then what the hell is?

It would be interesting to know why fans all of a sudden have started turning on Sam Rush? How long until the tea lady starts taking a ribbing.

[SSD]

Mel Morris might be a superb investor but as a football chairman he is completely woeful. There's a difference between being calculated and smart with money and managing a football club. If I had a billion pounds in the bank I'd love more than anything help to invest in my football team. But does that make me a qualified football chairman, hell no! Because the bloke has invested so much money into the club he deems himself to have a golden shield to protect himself from criticism.                                                                                             The best chairmen don't make it a circus and make their clubs to become a laugh stock in front of the media and the football community. It's not all about the money for me. Any mug could pump in money if they had the resources to do so. I couldn't care less if we spent millions and millions on players. I want a club I can be proud of supporting and money doesn't come into that equation.

[EnigmaRam]

26 minutes ago, SouthStandDan said:

Mel Morris might be a superb investor but as a football chairman he is completely woeful. There's a difference between being calculated and smart with money and managing a football club. If I had a billion pounds in the bank I'd love more than anything help to invest in my football team. But does that make me a qualified football chairman, hell no! Because the bloke has invested so much money into the club he deems himself to have a golden shield to protect himself from criticism.                                                                                             The best chairmen don't make it a circus and make their clubs to become a laugh stock in front of the media and the football community. It's not all about the money for me. Any mug could pump in money if they had the resources to do so. I couldn't care less if we spent millions and millions on players. I want a club I can be proud of supporting and money doesn't come into that equation.

What exactly is a qualified football chairman when it's at home!?!?! Is there a course I can take?

im not sure what he's expected to do to please some of you lot I really don't!!

[SSD]

4 minutes ago, EnigmaRam said:

What exactly is a qualified football chairman when it's at home!?!?! Is there a course I can take?

im not sure what he's expected to do to please some of you lot I really don't!!

Maybe injecting some stability into the football team. The endless amounts of bad press from the media which is completely justified. People management. He's a crap owner. Money isn't an issue for me. Making a fool out of the club hurts me more. 

[G STAR RAM]

2 hours ago, David said:

McClaren, coaching team and players have never watched games round Mel's house.

Does not receive or send regular texts to the players, 

The first part would seem a strange story to make up. 

The second part I am assuming the 'regular' is the part that is being disagreed with. We both know for a fact that texts have been sent between him and at least one player?

[EnigmaRam]

8 minutes ago, SouthStandDan said:

Maybe injecting some stability into the football team. The endless amounts of bad press from the media which is completely justified. People management. He's a crap owner. Money isn't an issue for me. Making a fool out of the club hurts me more. 

What's this bad press then?