Is Clowes Blameless?

[DarkFruitsRam7]

Are we allowed to criticise his decision making, given he’s the reason we exist as a football club? If so, does his decision making warrant criticism?

Not a fan of what to me seems a pretty outdated way of running the football club in terms of the team he’s put in place to make the decisions. We also seem to be terrible at attracting players, and you have to wonder whether that’s due to a lack of expertise in the way football transfer markets work.

Thoughts?

Edited August 16, 2023 by DarkFruitsRam7

[The_Sheriff]

My personal opinion is not to criticise clowes.

Hes the reason we have a club. Hes running it sustainably so we dont have this threat again.

Sure the decisions hes made may not pay off but thats normal in life and business.

 

[CapeTownRam]

If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be able to start this topic.

[Tyler Durden]

Beggars can't be choosers eh. Thank MM for that.

We could have either not had a football club to support or that American guy who got done for fraud. Truly spoilt for choice. 

Because obviously being a football club with millions of pounds worth of debts and no ground is an amazing business proposition to take on isn't it. 

[Tamworthram]

5 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Are we allowed to criticise his decision making, given he’s the reason we exist as a football club? If so, does his decision making warrant criticism?

Not a fan of what to me seems a pretty outdated way of running the football club in terms of the team he’s put in place to make the decisions. We also seem to be terrible at attracting players, and you have to wonder whether that’s due to a lack of expertise in the way football transfer markets work.

Thoughts?

To clarify, what do you consider to be the modern and the better way of running a football club?

I don't think anyone should be immune from fair and measured criticism and I reckon DC would agree. 

Appointing PW could be open to criticism but I don't know about the recruitment set up. None of us really know all the targets we've approached and, where appropriate, the reasons the signings didn't materialise. 

[eddy779h34]

I think he did a great job in ensuring we have a club , but I don't think he has the spending power to get us out of this league. I feel we will all be forever grateful, but I think he should pass the baton to someone with serious wealth if possible, now it appears a lot of the debt baggage has gone surely we are a more attractive buy now than when we were in administration 

I thought Ashley may have come back now we a stable 

 

 

[Curtains]

Clowes has made questionable decisions but he saved the club .

I’m very  conficted at the moment .

I think we have to except the situation the club is in for now. 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

Just now, Tamworthram said:

To clarify, what do you consider to be the modern and the better way of running a football club?

I don't think anyone should be immune from fair and measured criticism and I reckon DC would agree. 

Appointing PW could be open to criticism but I don't know about the recruitment set up. None of us really know all the targets we've approached and, where appropriate, the reasons the signings didn't materialise. 

Warne seems very much to be in a traditional “manager” role where he, along with a couple of others (one of whom is his own right-hand man), are effectively running the whole football club. I’ve always been in favour of a director of football model and a clear identity running through the club that means changing managers won’t have a seismic effect on playing style, recruitment style, etc. 

I also don’t think I’ll ever be convinced Stephen Pearce should be anywhere near the club, though it doesn’t wind me up as much as it does others. 

I can’t really criticise the appointment of Warne. I thought it was a bold but good decision at the time. Though I’m certainly having serious doubts about him now. Even if he turns it around and we go up, I think there’s very little chance we end up pushing for the Premier League with him in charge - he just doesn’t seem to have the tactical nous and seems to struggle with pressure.

[swanny]

6 minutes ago, eddy779h34 said:

 

I thought Ashley may have come back now we a stable 

nah not ashleys M.O. Ashley buys when hes the only one left in the room. He doesnt buy a going concern. He buys a basket case no-one else wants that retains assets he can access

6 minutes ago, eddy779h34 said:

 

 

 

[RoyMac5]

We're a business, he's running us, so of course his decisions can be questioned. Not sure there is currently anything to blame though.

[Barney1991]

Depends how long people are wanting to watch mediocrity for in all fairness. Judging by recruitment so far this summer and where we sit with value for players to sell on we could be down in league 1 for another 3 seasons at least. Remember when the Americans owned us before MM and fans moaned about there lack of ambition could have the same bow to it. 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Barney1991

[Ted McMinn Football Genius]

16 minutes ago, The_Sheriff said:

My personal opinion is not to criticise clowes.

Hes the reason we have a club. Hes running it sustainably so we dont have this threat again.

Sure the decisions hes made may not pay off but thats normal in life and business.

 

100% agree with you @The_Sheriff

The man has done everything to give us stability as a going concern. Business isn’t black and white, errors will be made and successes will be achieved in equal measure.

Just happy we have a club, despite some of the recent results over the last 8 months or so.

COYR 🐏🐏🐏

[DiggerB]

9 minutes ago, eddy779h34 said:

I think he did a great job in ensuring we have a club , but I don't think he has the spending power to get us out of this league. I feel we will all be forever grateful, but I think he should pass the baton to someone with serious wealth if possible, now it appears a lot of the debt baggage has gone surely we are a more attractive buy now than when we were in administration 

I thought Ashley may have come back now we a stable 

 

 

How do you know he and his team aren’t seeking external investment?

[Barney1991]

1 minute ago, Ted McMinn Football Genius said:

100% agree with you @The_Sheriff

The man has done everything to give us stability as a going concern. Business isn’t black and white, errors will be made and successes will be achieved in equal measure.

Just happy we have a club, despite some of the recent results over the last 8 months or so.

COYR 🐏🐏🐏

The happy to have a club will soon wear off if we have another 21 oxford home games. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

Should he be immune forevermore? No of course not.

Were the "good budget" comments possibly unwise? Perhaps.

But is there anything to suggest that organisationally there is a problem on the ownership side? No.

We do not know the ins and outs of the EFL agreed business plan, but the very fact the EFL accepted it in lieu of enforcing their restrictions implies its de facto restrictions anyway.

Without knowing what friction may or may not be there behind the curtain between Warne and those above him and if there are any wrongs or just diffenences of opinion, I'm reluctant to take a side.

We're all just frustraited with a very poor start to the season, seemingly a poor transfer window and a complete lack of "good vibes".

We all want out of League 1, but the ownership have given Warne what should be sufficient tools to have a serious go at that and he appears to be making a hash of it.

 

 

[DCFC Kicks]

I have a feeling Pearson is the once making most of the decisions football wise, with Clowes overseeing general finance.

[LazloW]

Blameless for what? A bad start to the season - hardly. Not attracting players - we don’t know who we’ve tried to attract and who, if anybody has ‘rejected’ us. Not spending silly money? Short memories but even if Clowes was Mel rich it wouldn’t make sense to spend as we did before. Clearly Clowes isn’t that wealthy, we’re still under a business plan and everybody seemed to be happy being run more sustainably until we lose a couple of games.  
Even if he was ‘to blame’ (again, not sure what for) I still think he should be given a very significant bit of slack before wading in. He’s got a lot of credit in the bank. 

[Tyler Durden]

39 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Not a fan of what to me seems a pretty outdated way of running the football club in terms of the team he’s put in place to make the decisions. We also seem to be terrible at attracting players, and you have to wonder whether that’s due to a lack of expertise in the way football transfer markets work.

Thoughts?

How do football transfer markets work?

I always thought the dynamics were dead simple, you make an offer for a player then their club decides whether to accept it or not.

But that's if you've actually got any money to spend on transfer fees in the first place.

So not sure entirely how that works for us. Probably how we've ended up with the players we've got this summer. Funny that. 

[Caerphilly Ram]

I don’t know that blame is the right word to use in the title. What is it you’re looking to blame him for @DarkFruitsRam7? 
On the question of whether we can criticise his decisions, I’d say if there’s valid reason then anything is open to criticism. He’s a hero for saving the club, doesn’t mean he’s infallible, he is only human after all. 

[eddy779h34]

41 minutes ago, DiggerB said:

How do you know he and his team aren’t seeking external investment?

I hope so m8