I feel sorry for james Brent

[Pafcintheplace]

I agree with the OP, football savvyness is missing at Home Park. If he's guilty of anything it's naivety, trusting people who say they know what they're doing in a sphere he doesn't know himself.

Well, be they manager, directors or 'celebrity' fans the advice and input they are giving is not helping Plymouth Argyle FC improve. Losing by one goal rather than two to non league opposition might be a technical improvement but for 12 months of stabilisation work and one of the biggest L2 squads, it's a pathetic achievement.

I too feel sorry for James Brent. I feel he's a decent man and has a good business record. He has however trusted individuals too much and for too long. Loyalty is a noble quality but those who have bent his ear to date have not moved us on. Two experienced and connected appointments are glaringly obviously needed, a CEO and a football manager.

Without them we haven't improved and without them we won't improve. The club is not joined up.

:iagree:

 

[dunlop]

He needs a CEO . He's called Dunford he lives locally . He wpould be hands on .

I agree Mark, can't understand why he is not at the club, would surely be a benefit to the club and Brent, unless there is some unknown reason, there are still stories all is not well at the club.

 

[Lee Jameson]

Well OG I agree with a lot of that.

James is a great bloke but something needs to give.

Sorry to say but I don't know how Mr Fletcher can carry on, what scares me even more that if he goes is he to be replaced by Mr Purse? Don't have anything against him but he is no manager.

 

[Ave IT]

I have a huge amount of time for Mr Brent too

Not only did he save Argyle, he is (I believe) an honest man - a man of integrity

He is by all accounts a very good businessman too - and by making Argyle work as a business and live within its means he is doing absolutely the right thing. Goodness knows, we dont want to get back into financial difficulties again!

Mr Brent deserves our gratitude and respect

Does he really have to know a lot about football? Really?

By all accounts we do have a strong budget - certainly one that has been big enough to recruit 32 players

What Mr Brent does need is someone running the team who knows how to run a team

You're on form tonight. Another post of yours that I agree with pretty much word for word.

Ditto

 

[GreenSam]

I have a huge amount of time for Mr Brent too

Not only did he save Argyle, he is (I believe) an honest man - a man of integrity

He is by all accounts a very good businessman too - and by making Argyle work as a business and live within its means he is doing absolutely the right thing. Goodness knows, we dont want to get back into financial difficulties again!

Mr Brent deserves our gratitude and respect

Does he really have to know a lot about football? Really?

By all accounts we do have a strong budget - certainly one that has been big enough to recruit 32 players

What Mr Brent does need is someone running the team who knows how to run a team

You're on form tonight. Another post of yours that I agree with pretty much word for word.

Ditto

Me too.

 

[xmastree]

He needs a CEO . He's called Dunford he lives locally . He wpould be hands on .

Agree with the first part 100%. Then it goes wrong and I've nothing against Michael Dunford. We need to recruit the best available (that we can afford). We need to stop thinking who is available, who lives locally, who we know, and worst of all who is the cheapest. That's the attitude that sees us moving in ever decreasing circles, bereft of imagination. If within the wider criteria Dunford is the best candidate, then fine, but please desist from this attitude of recruiting only those who we know, or have done the job before.

 

[up the line]

I just wonder whether the same people who are saying how sorry they feel for Mr Brent will be saying the same thing in 2 years time IF we're still hovering around the relegation zone of England's lowest league division (or god forbid further down the league structure) and there's a big shiny hotel behind the Grandstand for you to look at just after Dawlish Town knock us out of the cup and Fletch is still 'improving' as a manager. Let's see what the general concensus is then if Brent has sat on his hands regards "the football side" whilst the builders move in to lay the foundations for Hilton Home Park, will you be feeling sorry for him then? Just playing Devil's advocate here

 

[xmastree]

Mr. Brent bought the club yet he admitted he knew nothing about football, he then formed a board with 4 others, Chief Executive/Finance Director Martin Baker, David Felwick CBE Director, Richard Holliday Director, Peter Jones Director, 4 fine gentleman it would appear, but only one has ever been involved with a football team before, one was involved in financial arrangements with Arsenal and Liverpool.
He inherited a management team of 3, none had ever been involved in managing a football team, 2 had extensive playing careers. He inherited a non - playing staff who had not been paid for a very long time, he inherited the bones of a football team basically made up of youth payers and a few seasoned players. So basically he was starting off with a very empty barrel.
It then appears he has had some local advisors, again no one with football experience.
With a lot of determination and hard work the team managed to survive the season, with the help of a outside consultant.

Come the new season, the outside experience has gone, a few new players and loanees have been brought in but no experienced on or off the field personnel. Carl Fletcher hung his boots up too early, he should have been made a player manage or an assistant to an experienced manager.

When Mr. Brent takes over a hotel does he start with a brand new inexperienced staff, No he does'nt, if he did it would not survive.
I'm sure when Mr. Brent has all his building ventures he does'nt start with out of school employees.

I believe Carl Fletcher could be a good manager in the future but he needs to learn the trade, same as Romain. I think Mr. Brent needs to hire a general manage to oversee the whole Home Park scene, someone who has worked at a football club, some one like Michael Dunford.

Mr. Brent please make these changes before it's too late.

I don't feel sorry for James Brent, nor do I think he is the sort of person who would want people feeling sorry for him.

Why not? Well firstly he came into this with his eyes open. He knew we were a club on our knees and days from going under. He took over by putting the minimum possible into the club. He opted not to pay the staff debts up front, a decision that concerned the football authorities and many fans. To a greater or lesser extent (depending on who you believe) the property deal was important to him, and he secured an advantageous deal on that. How does all of this deserve sympathy?

JB has experience of taking over businesses in distress. That is what he does, and often with great success. He knows that these business need a strong corporate structure, and an efficient management chain of command. Yet, a year on, the football side of PAFC is pretty much devoid of a management structure. Brent himself remains chairman, because, whilst admitting he is not the right man he says he has not found a suitable alternative. The Financial Director continues to doubles up as acting CEO.

Any business needs a hands-on CEO/Managing Director/Operations Director who has a full understanding of the company's business. This person should run the business on a day to day basis, managing the staff and where necessary helping them to improve. He/She should be the link between the Board and the staff. A year after the Brent takeover PAFC don't have such a figure. Martin Baker, a financial man well used to paring down costs in the businesses JB has bought, remains in the role without any background in football. Baker reports to James Brent, who again has no background in football.

I find it inconceivable that, if Brent bought a rundown group of hotels, a year later there would be no experienced Hotel executives running the business concerned. I am absolutely certain that hardened professionals in that industry would be working hard to maximise income and to plot a brighter future for Brent's purchase. Why then is there no experienced football person in this role? Is it because James Brent again has failed to find the appropriate person? I am sure that had he delegated this headhunting role and, after a year was told no suitable candidate had been, he would be seriously underwhelmed. Alternatively has he quietly decided that Martin Baker can do the job and a hefty salary can be saved? Perhaps the core business of PAFC (at least in the eyes of the fans), simply isn't a priority? Whatever the reason it amounts to neglect.

I am firmly of the opinion that Carl Fletcher should go. However if there is anyone I feel sympathy for it is Fletcher rather than Brent. A year ago Fletcher was completing 15 years as a professional footballer. The only "management" role he had experience of was of captaining a team of footballers for 90 minutes once or twice a week. If such a person is, from this background, to make a success of a proper management role they need support from those above him who understand what he is trying to do. Yet Fletcher reports to two men who know nothing about Football - how can he get assistance on footballing matters from experts on property, hotels and money? Fletcher's bosses haven't worked in the industry, haven't got contacts in the industry and, some would say, are not fully committed to success in Football. If, as is rumoured, Brent gets his footballing advice from a small number of high profile fans, this is wholly inadequate. In maintaining Fletcher's appointment, Brent needed to make Fletcher report to someone who understood what he was trying to do and who could, when necessary, overrule the team manager and thereby avoid a number of the mistakes that Fletcher has (understandably) made. Apart from the Deehan advisory period (better than nothing but well short of a footballing CEO figure) this hasn't happened. Fletcher is out of his depth, but the absence of swimming instructors and lifeguards are not his fault.

Until James Brent addresses the structure of the football side of the club we are not going to move forward. It is surely in his interest to do so because I am absolutely certain that an experienced manager. or even a novice backed by a good CEO, would have used the budget Brent did provide to assemble a smaller squad of greater quality. No sympathy from me towards JB then.

 

[Tugboat]

Last paragraph hits the nail firmly on the head with a hammer of sledges.

 

[up the line]

Xmastree that is a superb post

 

[Cerbera]

Indeed, there are some truly excellent posts on here. I cannot add to them as I agree with them totally.

However, to throw a spanner in the works, or maybe not.........

Peter Reid. Still not managing. Now has a squad he could work with, has all the contacts and experience. Is not a bad manager.........

 

[Tugboat]

Not for me. The contacts thing is important but I think we need a heavy investment into the structure of our management. Experienced management team with the right coaches and support.

In comparison we have apprentice's in charge of a club still learning the trade.

 

[taunton pilgrim]

I think Peter Reid would be welcome back here with open arms, im sure he would put some fire between some of these players backsides, we need a manager not a players best friend.

 

[xmastree]

Peter Reid. Still not managing. Now has a squad he could work with, has all the contacts and experience. Is not a bad manager.........

NO! He's not managing for a reason.

Why is the mentality of so many fans to revert to people who have been here before? It is incestuous and inward looking. Have we not learnt from bringing back, and soiling the reputations of, Sturrock and Mariner?

Whether it be CEO, Team Manager, or a player for a particular position we have to spread the net as far as possible and try to get the best available within the constraints. Dunford might be the best option for CEO but explore all options before appointing him. Reid certainly isn't the best option for Manager, so why settle for him merely because he is a perceived improvement on Fletcher?

While we are about it, it would be absolutely pointless to remove Fletcher and replace him with Purse, Wotton, Coughlan, or any other current or recent player without experience of managing at our level or above (Lee Hodges for example), unless a full overhaul of who the manager reports to is undertaken.

 

[X Isle]

Reid, no, not for me. He was lost in the lower leagues, well before administration. We need a brand new broom.

Good thread though, shows we can articulate opposing views without falling out and calling the police in. Long may it continue.