Season 20/21

[Stranded]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

I believe Eddie is the one with the contact and feeds Courtney the info.

Fair enough.

[Old Man Andrews]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

I believe Eddie is the one with the contact and feeds Courtney the info.

Fair enough.

It is a pretty decent contact, they seemingly don't understand secracy.

[Ascotexgunner]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

I think Bowen will still be manager. A foreign manager would be a stupid signing. It took the calibre of Bielsa 2 seasons in the championship to really get Leeds flowing, who the hell is out there we could bring in of that stature.

[Hound]

I believe Eddie is the one with the contact and feeds Courtney the info.

Fair enough.

It is a pretty decent contact, they seemingly don't understand secracy.

was thinking that reading through Eddie's twitter feed

[Old Man Andrews]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

I think Bowen will still be manager. A foreign manager would be a stupid signing. It took the calibre of Bielsa 2 seasons in the championship to really get Leeds flowing, who the hell is out there we could bring in of that stature.

There isn't and that is why we wouldn't be getting someone in of that stature.

[Hound]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

I think Bowen will still be manager. A foreign manager would be a stupid signing. It took the calibre of Bielsa 2 seasons in the championship to really get Leeds flowing, who the hell is out there we could bring in of that stature.

not sure I'd agree with that on Bielsa. And I'm sure OMA won't

[SouthDownsRoyal]

So, random theory time.

Howe, in his capacity as EFL board member knows that the EFL has decided to "freeze" FFP this season given COVID i.e. last season's and this seasons accounts will not have any baring on FFP calculations as they accept that clubs are working with contracts signed under very different financial circumstances and a large number of clubs will miss the target due to decreased income - i.e. less matchday income etc.

Knowing this, he advised the owners. They make the decision that, as they have the money, it is now or never to push for the PL - Howe, whilst not completely disagreeing, he doesn't feel like he can stay in the CEO role whilst the club takes this gamble, due to his EFL board seat (potential conflict of interest) so agrees to step down but remain at the club as Vice-Chairman, so that he (and the club) retain that spot on the board but focus, officially, on non-football club interests.

The owners employ one of their guys as a CEO but he is essentially just a man in a seat - the owners (with support from Howe, one of the reasons he stayed at the club) still run the football business side alongside Bowen - who is widely respected by the owners.

As the club hope to push for promotion, they feel they need a "name" manager to attract players who can make that possible - they have approached and are in discussions with a particular manager and an agreement is reached - Bowen is asked to move back upstairs as the club are impressed with the work he has done to reshape the philosophy of the club and want him to continue that work without the distraction of running the first team. His move will only be announced when the new manager can also be announced.


So yeah, probably all complete bollocks but if there really is a "strategic review" in place then given that Howe hasn't left this would fit. Either way, nowt we can do about it and more important things to worry about.

Interesting theory.

I agree Dayong Pang is just a man in a seat.

Howe still at the club and if Bowen goes back to his previous role, he then is still at the club and involved, both positive.

Bowen did a good job last year looking at what he inherited and previous seasons but I didn’t think he was ever viewed as a long term manager was he? I thought as someone else said was brought in the stabilise which he did.

If Bowen is replaced it is crazy so close to the new season and when up to very recently he seemed to be talking about h8m planning for the season as manager but, as much as I acknowledge the job Bowen did I wouldn’t be too sad to see him replaced, but and it’s a big but, depending on who his replacement is. And his replacement must be given time

Surely as s9meone else hinted at, a manager must be pretty much lined up for all this to be happening now, we’ll you’d like to think.

As has been said we need to wait and see, could be a cleverly planned overhaul or it could be a crazyness by clueless owners.

Helps pass the time on a wet and windy Tuesday.

If it’s some random foreign manager I shall be rolling my eyes, but let’s wait and see

[Simon's Church]

Got to admit, it would be funny if they spent the next 2 weeks getting turned down by every manager in portugal before giving the job to John O'Shea

[winchester_royal]

While it seems ridiculous to me that this is all going on now, 2 weeks ahead of the start of the new season, I'm not sure I share the outrage of others at the idea of moving Bowen into a different role.

He was hardly a roaring success last season, and if it's true that we are 'going for broke' this season in terms of investing in squad etc, it would certainly make sense to entrust a more proven manager with that responsibility.

What would you define as a success? Compared to where we were when he took over I can't see how he couldn't be considered successful. My issue with Bowen was the style of play and team selection. In terms of results and final leage placing I can't really argue with it. We are a midtable Championship side and that is where we finished.

I don't think turning a shit team into a slightly less shit team can be considered a 'roaring success'

I also didn't see much from Bowen's teams to suggest that there was any potential for us to step forwards significantly this season

Personally I'd have rather we gave him a chance to build his own team, but I certainly won't be crying any tears if he does go - nor do I believe he'd be a massive loss

[SouthDownsRoyal]

While it seems ridiculous to me that this is all going on now, 2 weeks ahead of the start of the new season, I'm not sure I share the outrage of others at the idea of moving Bowen into a different role.

He was hardly a roaring success last season, and if it's true that we are 'going for broke' this season in terms of investing in squad etc, it would certainly make sense to entrust a more proven manager with that responsibility.

What would you define as a success? Compared to where we were when he took over I can't see how he couldn't be considered successful. My issue with Bowen was the style of play and team selection. In terms of results and final leage placing I can't really argue with it. We are a midtable Championship side and that is where we finished.

I don't think turning a shit team into a slightly less shit team can be considered a 'roaring success'

I also didn't see much from Bowen's teams to suggest that there was any potential for us to step forwards significantly this season

Personally I'd have rather we gave him a chance to build his own team, but I certainly won't be crying any tears if he does go - nor do I believe he'd be a massive loss

Well said

[genome]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

If it's an immediate change, then there's a possibility the new man has been in talks for a while. So there's a chance he's already been here for a couple of weeks.

[Old Man Andrews]

While it seems ridiculous to me that this is all going on now, 2 weeks ahead of the start of the new season, I'm not sure I share the outrage of others at the idea of moving Bowen into a different role.

He was hardly a roaring success last season, and if it's true that we are 'going for broke' this season in terms of investing in squad etc, it would certainly make sense to entrust a more proven manager with that responsibility.

What would you define as a success? Compared to where we were when he took over I can't see how he couldn't be considered successful. My issue with Bowen was the style of play and team selection. In terms of results and final leage placing I can't really argue with it. We are a midtable Championship side and that is where we finished.

I don't think turning a shit team into a slightly less shit team can be considered a 'roaring success'

I also didn't see much from Bowen's teams to suggest that there was any potential for us to step forwards significantly this season

Personally I'd have rather we gave him a chance to build his own team, but I certainly won't be crying any tears if he does go - nor do I believe he'd be a massive loss

We didn't go down, I consider that a success.

I agree with your assessment that we wouldn't really progress up the league with Bowen though, we would have been steadily midtable which again could be considered a success if you take our finances into consideration.

[Old Man Andrews]

Courtney Friday, so does still seem to have a contact at the club, has just tweeted that IF a replacement comes in, he will be coming in from abroad so will have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. So assuming he arrives tomorrow, he wouldn't even be able to take training until the 9th or 10th September.

If it's an immediate change, then there's a possibility the new man has been in talks for a while. So there's a chance he's already been here for a couple of weeks.

Pochettino was in the country recently.

[Hound]

What would you define as a success? Compared to where we were when he took over I can't see how he couldn't be considered successful. My issue with Bowen was the style of play and team selection. In terms of results and final leage placing I can't really argue with it. We are a midtable Championship side and that is where we finished.

I don't think turning a shit team into a slightly less shit team can be considered a 'roaring success'

I also didn't see much from Bowen's teams to suggest that there was any potential for us to step forwards significantly this season

Personally I'd have rather we gave him a chance to build his own team, but I certainly won't be crying any tears if he does go - nor do I believe he'd be a massive loss

We didn't go down, I consider that a success.

I agree with your assessment that we wouldn't really progress up the league with Bowen though, we would have been steadily midtable which again could be considered a success if you take our finances into consideration.

yeah agreed with that really. Could see Bowen just making us one of those ugly mid table sides year after year. Which would be better than we were when he took over

[Notts Royal]

Before we get another Jose Gomes, we can spend the next hour or so dreaming of Hughton or Howe and storming the league

[Hendo]

Before we get another Jose Gomes, we can spend the next hour or so dreaming of Hughton or Howe and storming the league

Maybe they've been on holiday to Spain and will need to quarantine on coming back to the UK..... one can only hope.

[genome]

Penny for Josh Laurent's thoughts on all this, considering Mark Bowen was the one who convinced him to come here

[winchester_royal]

We didn't go down, I consider that a success.

I agree with your assessment that we wouldn't really progress up the league with Bowen though, we would have been steadily midtable which again could be considered a success if you take our finances into consideration.

I think with the squad we had last season we should have been aiming slightly higher than just 'not going down'. He did an 'okay' job for sure, but nothing that makes him untouchable

But it sounds like we're broadly agreeing anyway. Bowen is a steady (if rather dull) pair of hands, which is fine if the owner's main aim is stability - but it sounds like he wants to risk it all for something more this season. While I absolutely do not agree with that strategy, I do agree that if that's the route we're going down we probably need a manager with more 'upside'.

[paultheroyal]

It is so infuriating because if we are going to follow this strategy, you know, i know, other clubs supporters know that if we have buckets of cash to spend and Chris Houghton at the wheel we would be very much in the mix for promotion. His track record in getting clubs promoted is outstanding.

Make this happen.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Before we get another Jose Gomes, we can spend the next hour or so dreaming of Hughton or Howe and storming the league

What a nice thought/dream