Doug on CWR (1 Viewer)

Mucca Mad Boys said:

He never said anything of the sought that he doesn’t want to operate a squad big enough. He specifically said ‘no comment’ to the size because, presumably, that’s delegated to MR. He just spoke about the changes he made. If anything, I’d say he’s guilty of pumping up his own actions since he’s become owner and that’s if I’m being cynical.

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He did make points about hiring a doctor and making training pitches better to reduce the need for a bigger squad because of less injuries to save on costs .

We've had 2 key Injuries this season that's it

Mucca Mad Boys said:

He never said anything of the sought that he doesn’t want to operate a squad big enough. He specifically said ‘no comment’ to the size because, presumably, that’s delegated to MR. He just spoke about the changes he made. If anything, I’d say he’s guilty of pumping up his own actions since he’s become owner and that’s if I’m being cynical.

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I think it's clear he doesn't like using loans, in which case he needs to fund a bigger squad or be realistic about what we can achieve.
Hopefully he'll realise,I appreciate its a learning curve for him.

SBAndy said:

Only half the story though. Most players we may be interested in will command transfer fees. Just plucking this example out of nowhere, but if Robins decided he wanted a backup RB and wanted to spend £3m on him it’d be a fair challenge to say “is that a worthwhile use of resources?”.

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Sure. But the budget is still there. Why a £3M RB and not a £30m one?

If he’s about to drop £5m on 31 year old then step in and ask why but that’s not the same thing as how big his squad is.

We need a bigger squad full stop

Some are maybe missing the point. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a much bigger squad, just a squad that Robins trusts/utilises to play when needed. Rotherham, for example, using 35 players, many of which were obviously not good enough for this league. What’s the point ?! There’s also no point having experienced players sat around not playing and causing issues in the camp because of it

Let’s seem how the summer plays out before burning our season tickets.

clint van damme said:

There's a middle ground between a bloated squad and a paper thin one.
I just find it strange that people are arguing against a bigger squad when it's not something we've had to worry about.
I think the squad been to thin has bit us on the arse in two of the last three seasons at least.

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Yeah agree with you.

That said I think if the quality of our bench was higher we’d mitigate having a smaller squad with more rotation.

Evo1883 said:

We need a bigger squad full stop

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Doug was like, "if we can stop players getting injured then we don't have to buy many more".

usskyblue said:

Just listened to the interview and there’s some strange fuckingtakes on here.

Doug said the recruitment team is on it and he’s getting a shitload of phone calls.

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This^^^

Doug is invested in CCFC. Both emotionally and financially. He is clearly a clever bloke who seems to be a success in life. I am sure he is well aware of what we need as a football club trying to get to the premier league and stay there. It's in his interest to achieve this. Sit back and enjoy the ride. (Journey)

clint van damme said:

I think it's clear he doesn't like using loans, in which case he needs to fund a bigger squad or be realistic about what we can achieve.
Hopefully he'll realise,I appreciate its a learning curve for him.

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That was true last season, we don’t know what’s changed and we know Prem loans don’t come until late in the summer window.

It just seems people have latched onto his comments about the medical team & performance director. In reality, he gave a politicians answer where he avoided the subject of the question and pumped up his own achievements instead. Even MR said the same when asked about what areas need strengthening i.e. ‘no comment / I’m not going into that’. What DK did say he was ‘ambitious’ and want to get the club to where he wants it to be.

Both MR and DK and are avoiding setting out their stall in public until they know what’s what. Which is smart.

I guess the squad in nominal terms is maybe the right size it's just that the number of players we have to the standard we really want is a lower % of that number than it needs to be

Saddlebrains said:

Robins will rapidly lose patience

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Said every single season.

Saddlebrains said:

Think his comments on squad size lend credence to what I've been told and said on here that he doesnt like loans,(Sometimes you end up with players who dont play) .

I'm not trying to catastrophise here but if he doesnt add the depth Robins needs, wants and deserves, and supplement that with 1 or 2 quality loans that we all know are needed to get out of this league, Robins will rapidly lose patience

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Without doubting your inside knowledge, Robins having £20+ million to spend last season is hardly a cause to panic. The squad was short last season, undoubtedly. However, he was given record sums to spend to bring in quality players. Honestly, last season I doubt a few loans would’ve made the difference in the end but that’s up for debate.

Robins is first and foremost, is a pragmatist and he knows he’s been given a lot of say in how to build this squad and a generous timeframe to achieve our goals as things stand. Compared to our competitors, such as Hull and it could’ve been easy to demand instant promotion after our 22/23 season. DK could’ve easily got ahead of himself in that context. Sure, MR will voice frustrations because manager will always need ‘more’, whether it be that bit extra quality or quantity.

DK obviously can’t rest on his laurels but in the end, just about every step he’s taken has been positive for the club to date. I’m generally sceptical of DK but I accept his general points from the FZ, need to expand commercial revenue, improving the clubs infrastructure and the need to be ‘sustainable’. However vague that last point around sustainability actually is.

Some of this years innovations regarding the FZ and disabled supporters won’t be the most popular but are necessary developments to keep us competitive commercially.

SBT said:

Which other clubs are deliberately not reinforcing their squad depth?

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Norwich used the same amount of players as we did as did Watford. Leicester used 2 more, Southampton 2 more Leeds 3 more.

SAJ said:

Norwich used the same amount of players as we did as did Watford. Leicester used 2 more, Southampton 2 more Leeds 3 more.

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I don’t think that was because they prioritised medical infrastructure over new signings though…

Anyway, the original quote was misreported on here

Evo1883 said:

We need a bigger squad full stop

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I agree we do we do need numbers but to play devil's advocate however if this season we had better than Allen , godden, Kelly , tavares etc on bench then the inspact of injuries probably would have been felt less.

If we do upgrade quality it's at least a step in right direction even if squad size remains smallish. But ideally we do both of course

We were actually pretty lucky with injuries really this season.

I doubt Robins is going to lose patience any time soon. He’s never had it so good in his entire management career.

Every manager at every club wants more. I can’t recall ever hearing a manager say anything other than they need more quality and greater depth ….

I wouldn’t therefore read too much into the fact that Robins says the same …..

SAJ said:

Norwich used the same amount of players as we did as did Watford. Leicester used 2 more, Southampton 2 more Leeds 3 more.

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And it is worth looking at what these 2/3 more are doing too. Are they significantly contributing to results or is it just some academy kid getting a run out/player filling a roll for the last 10 minutes of an easy victory.

There is no arguing our squad lacks depth in some areas. Sheaf getting injured early in the season and Sakamoto mid season clearly cost us points but at the end of the day finances are a balancing act and deep down everyone knows that a strong first team is the priority. Who genuinely would advocate that we sell our best players so we can get two mediocre replacements?

We only need a very small number of signings to be competitive next season and I would rather go big on AM/GK than a second choice RB. One place we really could do with improving though is our use of youth. Having the odd teenager in the squad that can come in and play a game or two would help us out immensely. Well worth keeping an eye on kids surplus to requirements at teams higher up.

Alex1987 said:

We were actually pretty lucky with injuries really this season.

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We weren’t really, because they happened in places where we were already precariously light.

biggymania said:

I think a lot of folks believe that for everything to work the owner and the manager have to be in perfect agreement and alignment and if not, then it's all drama and arguments.

Robins and Doug may make statements publicly that appear to conflict or contradict which makes sense because ultimately the CEO is responsible for making sure the club is run correctly and isn't haemorrhaging money. Robins of course is mostly focused on his squad and assembling the best squad he can to achieve their objectives. They're not always going to perfectly align - in an ideal world, Robins would have a massive high quality squad full of the best loans and best permanent signings in the division. The reality is we can't afford it, so we have to thread the needle between what is ideal and what is actually possible.

I think it's been pointed out already that Doug is willing to take feedback publicly and change decisions - I believe the same is likely to be true internally. So when it comes to things like not doing enough business in January or not using the loan market enough, he'll be listening to Robins & the recruitment there - but he'll only agree if it fits within whatever budget they have. That may lead to Robins having to say no to the loan market because it reduces his budget for permanent deals.

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Good post biggy

I don’t think you need a massive squad, just more depth in areas where we lack. We desperately needed a winger or maybe two in January in case of injuries and we didn’t sign anyone. Then Sakamoto got injured and Wright was out for a few games too. If we can replace any outgoing players with better quality and then supplement it with decent loans I’ll be happy

Ian1779 said:

We weren’t really, because they happened in places where we were already precariously light.

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Agree to disagree. We had very few long term injuries all season.

Have people actually listened to it? I listened to it after about 3 pages on this thread and thought I must have been listening to a different interview.

Anyone thinking that the interview was negative, go and google / YouTube a Tim Fisher interview…

Then come back on here to discuss further.

chiefdave said:

Have people actually listened to it? I listened to it after about 3 pages on this thread and thought I must have been listening to a different interview.

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This

chiefdave said:

Have people actually listened to it? I listened to it after about 3 pages on this thread and thought I must have been listening to a different interview.

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Quite. Boosh strikes again...
Peddled misinformation & everyone jumped on it without checking first.

My two takes:

- Despite King saying we weren’t going to spend in January, we bought Torp and the Peterborough winger for significant money. Some of our fans often read far too much into media statements about speculative subjects like potential transfers.

DK, like all businessmen has kept his cards very close to his chest and since he’s taken over, we don’t hear rumours or mutterings about incoming transfers until they’re announced… hence we’ve there’s now people hiding in the bushes at Ryton for sightings!

- With revoking season tickets, that would be season tickets revoked from the Family Zone at the end of the season, not an outright ban from buying season tickets elsewhere in the stadium the following. Doug King mentioned he looked at the data and 1000 out of 3000 tickets have on average been unused each game, which is far too many especially when there’s only a finite amount of very affordable tickets. King then made the fair point that maybe a ST isn’t the right option for someone if they can’t make 8 games a season and should look to use the ticket exchange etc.

There’s somethings I have been critical of Doug King for (like that silly song!) but people wanted cheap tickets for families, and he lowered the price and expanded the family zone, then 1/3 of people didn’t show up, we lose out on the f&b money and looks crap when we say we’ve sold out and we’ve got people wanting affordable tickets. The freeze this year has been well appreciated by most but there’s grumblings about the £8 admin fee and the launch of SkySports+ (which is an efl agreement - not down to CCFC). Sometimes it feels like nothing is good enough for our fans even though for the first time in over 25 years we’re starting to looking like a proper football club again.