Thetownend.com

Just listened to his interview with Shawn Hodgetts on the bbc website.  I thought he was full of shit. Would love to know why he bought the club, who his partners are and why a portugese holding company is in place.

One thing is painfully clear - Sturrock has been completely marginalised.  Apparently in football terms the buck now starts and stops with Jose Veiga. Brevett also has a say. Arrietta and Almeida were not brought in by Sturrock at all  but by the new people.

In my opinion Sturrock won't want to work under the new arrangement (can't really blame him) and will walk sooner rather than later. I suspect that probably fits in with the new regime's plans.

 Thing is with Sturrock, if he walks he waves bye bye to his 4 year contract,  I think he'll hang about long enough to be pushed, or until he lines up a new job.

Sturrock will go somewhere down the line. That's my gut feeling. As Reg says i don't think he'll go just yet. He'll try and work with the new owners and see how it goes. But if a team come in for him he'll be off in a flash i reckon. Or he'll work if things get bad.

Dunno about that - at this stage of his career he might feel like he doesn't have to put up with any nonsense, particularly as his team selection responsibilities are now shared by someone with zero management experience and another who doesn't speak english.

Plus presumably he's not short of a bob or two.

I can see he might see some loyalty to those he has brought in though to see things through a little further.

  I'd estimate with 3 years left on a 4 year deal he'd be entitled to maybe 400K compensation......personally I think he's entitled to that, having been royaly screwed.

His team selection isn't affected though is it? Only the players that are bought in. Yes he won't want that. But he still picks the starting 11 and he does the tactics. So until January i reckon he'll just get on with it.

Also having said that Little doesn't seem like he wants to hang around. He wants results. If we continue like this there is a danger Mr Little could take things into his own hands and sack Sturrock. That is a possibility as well.

How very peculiar things have become.

Jim said that team selection would be done "in concert" by Sturrock, Veiga and Brevett but repeated the comment about buck starting and stopping with Veiga, i.e. he's in charge of all matters including ultimate team selection as I see it.

He also mentioned the Leicester/Sturrock stories in a less than impressed way that seemed to question their origin.

FWIW, I don't see it suiting either side for Sturrock to walk in the near future - as Reg has said, he won't want to go unless and until he's got something else lined up, and not just any old job, but something genuinely attractive. And the new guys won't want to be seen to be forcing out a popular manager in the first month or so. In the medium-long term, though, it'll depend on whether they think they can work with Sturrock and he thinks he can work with them.

Is that true, that players will be brought in regarless of Sturrocks views??

Then the  problem as I see it, and I could be totally wrong, is that players won't be brought in by the new owners simply to train with the club. It doesn't make sense to sign them and pay them a wage, but not play them.....

However I could be missing the obvious somewhere. Can someone point it out?

So basically we've got a bunch of clueless Cunts in charge?

And to think everybody thought the Garden of STFC was all Rosey again.

Yes that's the impression i'm getting anyway. Don't know for sure but it would seem to me that the owners have given Sturrock a bit of cash to just keep him happy so he can buy all the players he wants. Now if results don't go our way and Sturrock isn't playing "Brevett's finds" then they might well get pissed off. I can see it being a case of "goodnight Luggy" at some stage. Which would be a great shame. Although i hope i am wrong.

   Its the continental model of football, that the owners, either directly or indirectly, through a sporting director etc, buy the players....its then up, to the coach to coach them and make a team....its what's caused a rift at Chelsea, Arneson or Roman get players,  Jose has to get on with it.

   It's not the way English football works.

All this, of course, would be cleared up in a second if they decided to let us know who was involved and how they proposed to make a return on their investment.  I think it's disgusting that after all this time they (whoever they are) have still not gone public with this information.  We're left guessing.  Not good enough.

They're not stupid, perhaps they know that the real story behind their investment won't go down too well ... better to say nothing.

Perhaps the new man, whilst refered to as a General Manager, is to all intents and puposes a Director of Football, a la David Pleat when at Spurs.

It doesn't neccesarily mean that he will pick the team but possibly reserve the right to discuss selection with "the coach"?

 Danny Williams was for some years the general manager at STFC.....it was what is known as "moving upstairs" basically the job consisted of doing work that nobody else seemed to be  job described for.......doubtless he offered his thoughts to the manager and probably scouted a bit and suggested players, after all he had a decent record of talent spotting.....Peter Noble, Joey Butler, Roy Carter, Chris Kamara, Ray McHale etc etc.

   Its seems to work, when the GM is a senior figure with no real interest in sticking their oar in, having been there and done it.....it also maybe helps if the coach is young and inexperienced......Lenny Lawrence and Trolly seems to work at Wovers.

  An abilty to speak English may also help.

If you listen to the Jim Little interview it is clear that Veiga's role will be very much "hands-on" and that team selection will be a joint effort.

Did Danny Williams sign that great midfielder from Lincoln, played for Southampton, but wasn't given a fair crack here.  Cannot remember his name, but he scored a cracker in a preseason game against West Brom, good with both feet, one of the best midfielders around, but Trollope wouldn't play him.  I saw him personally demolish Spurs at White Hart Lane with two goals, when Southampton easily beat them during the "what's got more points Spurs or the Star of David" season.