Freedman on Summer Recruitment (And past mistake)

[BWFC_Insane]

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I wasn’t there for the beginning of that season but we finished like a train. We only just fell short. The mistake I made in the summer was not recruiting a certain type of player. I felt the existing players would reproduce what they had done but that wasn’t the case, so we started very poorly. I felt the players deserved to be given a go in their second year in the Championship and they did produce some wonderful moments, but certainly not enough of them.

Can't fault the honesty. I agree with him that for whatever reason we didn't do enough in the summer and didn't replace enough. He also bought in the wrong type in Beckford when we needed a more honest worker up there.

Anyhow, onwards and upwards, hopefully.

[Bruce Rioja]

You can fault his honesty in every post match interview. However, I'm more concerned about his lack of managerial ability.

[jaffka]

This season has been a disaster. Massively underachieved.

[Athers]

“We have got a few players out of contract, which will give us a little bit of breathing space financially and let me recruit exactly the profile of player I need in the Championship.”

Biggest deviation I've seen yet from, "Maybe we'll sit down and talk with X sometime" etc. Off you pop chaps!

[Norpig]

Looks like his thinking at the beginning of the season was the same as a lot of fans, we finished well last season so lets give those players a chance. Sounds like a good managerial decision (pity he did not state this at the beginning). Those players let him down, themselves down and the team down, however, is because these players did not agree with tactics.

Basically reading between the lines, he is saying I have learned from my mistakes and I will get it right this summer. Therefore, if he doesn't and we have yet another bad start he will have to go. It could go either way, I am willing to give him the chance.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

More quotes, in case you're work-blocked:

The chairman was fantastic and backed our financial commitments once again. Certain personnel let their team-mates down but we soon turned that around. We got a few loans in and picked up results.

You can’t look into next season and wonder what’s going to be happening – you have to be positive, and we will be in the summer. We have got a few players out of contract, which will give us a little bit of breathing space financially and let me recruit exactly the profile of player I need in the Championship. We have a fantastic nucleus of a good group there. It’s a group who want to face in the right direction and come in to train very hard every day towards it.

There is no secret in the Championship, you have to have the right kind of profile in a player. You look at Burnley, Leicester, Derby, the teams right up at the top, those kind of players that are needed in the Championship are what we are trying to get in the summer.

[Bruce Rioja]

Be very interesting to see who is and isn't involved in this lap of appreciation business tomorrow.

[Athers]

Be very interesting to see who is and isn't involved in this lap of appreciation business tomorrow.

Not many fans I suspect!

I remember when it used to be the crowd saluting the players and staff for a great season, these days they thank us for turning up

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Coupled with quotes from earlier this week on the BBC:

There will be a transition, of course, and that happens naturally. We’ve privately made some decisions on what we’re doing financially and certain players will be affected by that. But we are going to keep the nucleus of the squad that I believe is at the right mentality to take the club forward. I don’t want players here because it benefits them financially or it benefits them to stay around the area. I want players who come in here that want to get better as people and players, working hard on the training ground.

Is the team getting more like my own? Of course, over time a manager is going to try and get his own personnel or those who fit his own personality and that has been happening over the last three or four months.

I have got to have one eye on the financial balance sheet – we’re trying to run a business here. But I have got to have another eye on the playing squad and making sure that we’re competitive next season.

We are going to try and balance the books but also make sure that the type of player we bring in is a younger type who has the potential to get into the training ground and get better.

That’s where my first love is, coaching, and that’s how I learned my trade at Crystal Palace, getting in younger players and that’s what we’re closer to getting here. You look at the squad these days, it is a lot younger, and that comes with financial benefits as well.

Bolton fans pay good money to watch their team. They are entitled to an opinion and I’ve got no problem with that at all. There have been certain days where I have been disappointed myself. But I think you have to look at the big picture, where we are and what we’ve had in the last 10 years. We had fantastic success. I’m not the kind of coach who is going to come in and blow my budget. It has happened too often that clubs put themselves in jeopardy with new owners or losing points because of administration.

I’ve tried to be honest and upfront with fans and told them it’s going to be a difficult period but we’re going to pull through it. I think the football we’ve been playing and the fact we have got a few youngsters coming into the team, it’s very positive going forward. Everyone wants to win every game and I’m no different. But we have to be realistic in where we are going and have a plan as to where we are going.

[TANGODANCER]

Everyone wants to win every game and I’m no different. But we have to be realistic in where we are going and have a plan as to where we are going.

[/quote]

Not sure I understand the logic there? We should be at least trying to win every game, even though we won't, that needs no explanation. But what plan can you have that isn't based on trying? Intent isn't a plan, it's an aim, a hope even. Much of what the man says sounds a bit "gobbledygookish" to me.

[BWFC_Insane]

Everyone wants to win every game and I’m no different. But we have to be realistic in where we are going and have a plan as to where we are going.

Not sure I understand the logic there? We should be at least trying to win every game, even though we won't, that needs no explanation. But what plan can you have that isn't based on trying? Intent isn't a plan, it's an aim, a hope even. Much of what the man says sounds a bit "gobbledygookish" to me.[/quote]

In the context of the interview as I watched it, what he was talking about was the plan he was trying to put in place and how some of it was about looking to the long term.

Essentially it is saying that whilst we were struggling this season he still had to keep his eye on the long term plan rather than spunking lots of money for a hopeful instant fix.

[TANGODANCER]

Everyone wants to win every game and I’m no different. But we have to be realistic in where we are going and have a plan as to where we are going.

Not sure I understand the logic there? We should be at least trying to win every game, even though we won't, that needs no explanation. But what plan can you have that isn't based on trying? Intent isn't a plan, it's an aim, a hope even. Much of what the man says sounds a bit "gobbledygookish" to me.

In the context of the interview as I watched it, what he was talking about was the plan he was trying to put in place and how some of it was about looking to the long term.

Essentially it is saying that whilst we were struggling this season he still had to keep his eye on the long term plan rather than spunking lots of money for a hopeful instant fix.

But that's what I mean by being confused. This long-term "plan" has as much substance as a soap bubble unless it's outlined. Or is it a "secret" plan not to be divulged so that no one will know whether it actually worked or didn't? I mean, if we were to finish up getting relegated, will we just have to accept the plan didn't work and think of another? Maybe my thinking is old-fashioned, but what's so different than what twenty odd other teams and managers will be doing? As I said, he confuses me...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Everyone wants to win every game and I’m no different. But we have to be realistic in where we are going and have a plan as to where we are going.

Not sure I understand the logic there? We should be at least trying to win every game, even though we won't, that needs no explanation. But what plan can you have that isn't based on trying? Intent isn't a plan, it's an aim, a hope even. Much of what the man says sounds a bit "gobbledygookish" to me.

In the context of the interview as I watched it, what he was talking about was the plan he was trying to put in place and how some of it was about looking to the long term.

Essentially it is saying that whilst we were struggling this season he still had to keep his eye on the long term plan rather than spunking lots of money for a hopeful instant fix.

You speak Duggie fluently, almost like it was your native language...

[thebish]

I think dougie is being fairly clear... he wants a younger, hungrier squad made up of the kind of player that will scrap for points and buy into what he is trying to do... he doesn't want the players who think they are owed a living or for whom the reason they are still at Bolton is because their family is settled or because they won't get as much wonga going somewhere else... he will spend the summer doing his best to build that squad out of a nucleus of what we already have and (having offloaded some dead wood) bring in some new faces to freshen it up.

bloody controversial and mercurial bastard that he is!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Translate this for me then "We have a fantastic nucleus of a good group there. It’s a group who want to face in the right direction and come in to train very hard every day towards it."
Because my translation is we've got about three players who are ok (the nucleus) with twenty odd that are crap (the protoplasm), and together they form a cell. The cell wants to look northwards and are prepared to come in every day and, with help from orienteering coaches, struggle against their natural tendency to face south, east and west.

[thebish]

Translate this for me then "We have a fantastic nucleus of a good group there. It’s a group who want to face in the right direction and come in to train very hard every day towards it."
Because my translation is we've got about three players who are ok (the nucleus) with twenty odd that are crap (the protoplasm), and together they form a cell. The cell wants to look northwards and are prepared to come in every day and, with help from orienteering coaches, struggle against their natural tendency to face south, east and west.

I think you're trying too hard spotty - the dougie-out collective still love you - don't worry!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Translate this for me then "We have a fantastic nucleus of a good group there. It’s a group who want to face in the right direction and come in to train very hard every day towards it."
Because my translation is we've got about three players who are ok (the nucleus) with twenty odd that are crap (the protoplasm), and together they form a cell. The cell wants to look northwards and are prepared to come in every day and, with help from orienteering coaches, struggle against their natural tendency to face south, east and west.

I think you're trying too hard spotty - the dougie-out collective still love you - don't worry!

For me, it's been mainly about his disconcerting use of English right from the off, when he was seeking sanctuary up north with his kids. I've never wavered in my opinion that there is a secret esoteric hidden Dan Brown-like code in his every utterence, if only I could find the key to it.

[TANGODANCER]

For me, it's been mainly about his disconcerting use of English right from the off, when he was seeking sanctuary up north with his kids. I've never wavered in my opinion that there is a secret esoteric hidden Dan Brown-like code in his every utterence, if only I could find the key to it.

Hint: Start with Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh.

[thebish]

For me, it's been mainly about his disconcerting use of English right from the off, when he was seeking sanctuary up north with his kids. I've never wavered in my opinion that there is a secret esoteric hidden Dan Brown-like code in his every utterence, if only I could find the key to it.

it may make me a bad person - but in my mind, people who reference Dan Brown in support of anything at all rapidly lose whatever credibility they had in the first place!

[BWFC_Insane]

Everyone wants to win every game and I’m no different. But we have to be realistic in where we are going and have a plan as to where we are going.

Not sure I understand the logic there? We should be at least trying to win every game, even though we won't, that needs no explanation. But what plan can you have that isn't based on trying? Intent isn't a plan, it's an aim, a hope even. Much of what the man says sounds a bit "gobbledygookish" to me.

In the context of the interview as I watched it, what he was talking about was the plan he was trying to put in place and how some of it was about looking to the long term.

Essentially it is saying that whilst we were struggling this season he still had to keep his eye on the long term plan rather than spunking lots of money for a hopeful instant fix.

But that's what I mean by being confused. This long-term "plan" has as much substance as a soap bubble unless it's outlined. Or is it a "secret" plan not to be divulged so that no one will know whether it actually worked or didn't? I mean, if we were to finish up getting relegated, will we just have to accept the plan didn't work and think of another? Maybe my thinking is old-fashioned, but what's so different than what twenty odd other teams and managers will be doing? As I said, he confuses me...

Sorry, I didn't explain well. He was talking about this against a context of a plan to make us financially more stable, by reducing spending and the debt over time.

If you like, it is that the long term financial future of the club is being prioritised now over the shorter term results. Obviously what you want is both, but it might not always be possible.