Saying all the right things

[PhilGull]

With his comments on the OS about player wages and arranging pre-season games I must say how impressed I am with AK and the way he is doing his job at the club. Time will tell with the new signings but so far, so good.

[monkeyboy]

Really pleasing to read those articles, Alan Knill has certainly gone up a notch in my estimation.

[tauntongull]

What a well grounded, sensible and realistic attitude by AK.

In my opinion players always believe they are better than they actual are - especially at this level. However, clearly you cannot blame players with families wanting to get the highest salary and longest contract possible, this would be no different for any employee of any organisation.

AK's experience is a real bonus in this situation as I am sure other managers would be tempted to 'panic buy' or over commit themselves. Part of the reason I love our club is that our financial strategy is sound and much better than most clubs in our division and we are going the right way with our youth investment.

AK clearly feels he has a future with our club and his actions are a testament to this. He is spending our club's money as if it were his own, which in my opinion is exactly what we want.

Some of this will be psychological banter for players looking around on websites etc. and of course it is a gamble as we may not end up with the players we want come the start of the season. However, hidden gems can be uncovered in this situation when other clubs have spent their money. Only time will tell.

Keep it up AK

[Richinns]

I refer to an excellent post made by CP on another thread (see below):

AK: "Clubs aren’t committing because they also feel they can get a better deal" ... err not strictly true Alan, quite a large number of clubs in our League have already signed four* or five players (minimum) at this stage and quite a few are probably only maybe two or three players short of completing their squads .... we on the other hand ! Let's face it, not many in our League have lost half of their squad from last season! Admittedly, there are a handful of clubs that haven't added to their squads yet, but I would suggest that in most of those cases there has been either a genuine lack of funds or off field turmoil that has been the root cause of their lack of activity.

* To add weight to my "argument" ... by my reckoning ELEVEN (AFC Wimbledon, Chesterfield, Fleetwood, Mansfield, Morecambe, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Rochdale, scunthorpe and York) clubs in our League have already added 4 or more new signings to their squads .... some of them, of course, considerably more!

I have to say - I lean more towards this way of thinking than the positive view described on this thread thus far.
Squad fitness begins on Friday and with very few friendly games arranged I worry - firstly that we are missing our targets and secondly, when recruitments do arrive the squad with be worryingly under-cooked by the time the start of the season comes around.

[Dave]

Understand were your coming from Rich, however AK does make a good point from July 1st there will a lot of players with no one paying their wages, it will not take long for these players to make up their minds where they want to go, do not think it will be the case of us signings poor quailty players if we miss out on first choice targets, I would expect AK to lean more towards the loan market, judging on what he has done before.

As for AK we can only judge him on what he does here, to balance this out a bit, there are more than few Bury fans who will tell us he managed their club well with in it's means to start with, and then over a period of time did more and more expensive deals, many lay the blame for Burys current finacial positon at AK's door.

[Yellow4life]

As for AK we can only judge him on what he does here, to balance this out a bit, there are more than few Bury fans who will tell us he managed their club well with in it's means to start with, and then over a period of time did more and more expensive deals, many lay the blame for Burys current finacial positon at AK's door.

It can't really be AK's fault- the chairman holds the money, so surely he is to blame for allowing Alan to use the money.

[oldpedant]

It can't really be AK's fault- the chairman holds the money, so surely he is to blame for allowing Alan to use the money.

Where have you been? It's the chairwoman now, Thea Bristow. So are you saying that she is to blame?

Might not go down well on here.

[Dave]

Think you have missunderstood oldpendant, we are refering to AK's time at Bury not here.

Don't dissargee Y4L, however it depends on how convincing an agrument the manager puts up, and how much close attention the person at the club with their hands on purse strings actually pays to where the clubs money really is going, and how much loan deals are in fact costing the club etc,etc.

[Yellow4life]

Where have you been? It's the chairwoman now, Thea Bristow. So are you saying that she is to blame?

Might not go down well on here.

I've been to mars...

Think you have missunderstood oldpendant, we are refering to AK's time at Bury not here.

Exactly forever!
Fair point but I still think its up to the chairperson to be less lenient, as they hold exactly all of the money for the club.

[Fonda]

Regarding the signings (or lack of them), AK says exactly what you’d expect him to say. It’s about signing the right players, rather than rushing things. And our budget does have to be managed sensibly. But it doesn’t disguise the fact that other clubs ARE signing players – some are open to the right offer, now. Completely understand that players are on the whole, weighing up their options at this time, and let’s be honest if we’re in a bidding war with other interested parties, more often than not we’ll lose. But at some point we’re going to need to start being a bit more flexible with those we identify. It’s a fine-line, but we have to make the players we want feel valued. AK mentions players arguing over £50 – that would suggest we too are arguing over £50, which probably doesn’t come across well in negotiations.

As for the the pre-season friendlies. I guess the question comes down to priorities – is the aim to maximise revenue from people through the turnstiles, or is to actually properly prepare the team for the season ahead? Whilst it’s better financially to play League 1 or Championship level teams, what does the manager learn about the players against opposition that don’t want to play? Seems much better to play warm-up games against teams that want to be there, and want to win.

[Dave]

Do agree Y4L, I also think it's down to pressure/weight of expectation, it's often said Torquay has a midtable League 2 budget so finish midtable League 2 goal achieved, so in terms of managing the pressure, the managers job at Torquay is one of the easier in English football and AK may be less inclined to blow the budget here, where as at Bury and Sc unthorpe greater things may have been expected maybe over and above what those clubs could really afford.

Shane (Fonda), I do in this case agree with AK, for our club to simply agree to an extra £50 week say for 5 new signings AK would have just added £12,000 to the clubs wage bill, maybe leaving no room to cover injuries towards the middle or later part of the season, think it's right to do that on a case by case basis, and young player with potential maybe, like Bobby.O there could be a huge pay back, but the club can't do it for every player, it's right at the moment it is a game of cat and mouse, if some of these players don't get the right offer elsewhere, they will soon be back., if they fair play and our club will have look elsewhere.

[brucie]

Basically its impossible to judge what is right and what is wrong. The FACT is though that we only have half a squad and that will remain so until someone puts pen to paper. If Knill gets the players he is after that will be fine - if he doesn't then err it maybe panic time. Really we havn't got a clue what is happening.
All we do know is that several players have gone and none have been signed - other than this there isn't any point in pontificating what Knill is or isn't doing because noone really knows.

[Dave]

Basically its impossible to judge what is right and what is wrong. The FACT is though that we only have half a squad and that will remain so until someone puts pen to paper. If Knill gets the players he is after that will be fine - if he doesn't then err it maybe panic time. Really we havn't got a clue what is happening.
All we do know is that several players have gone and none have been signed - other than this there isn't any point in pontificating what Knill is or isn't doing because noone really knows.

Yes Brucie, however isn't that the whole point of fans forums. And I am sure Wivel will be along soon to agree with you.. <3 ..

[ROADRUNNER]

dont panic, the jigsaw will all come together. calm down dears!

[Richinns]

dont panic, the jigsaw will all come together. calm down dears!

Any names for us today RR? What insight can you give us to boost hopes?!!