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Ann Budge’s review of the football department


afanderson33

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One question I have about the Ann Budge review of the football dept. is who is she taking advice from ?

 

Could it be Mr Craig Levein her Director of Football ?

 

If so we’re ######.

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12 hours ago, sandylejambo said:

She can't be reviewing the football department, if she was the whole coaching staff would be emptied by now

Will the review last as long as it takes Levein to get a result then ' hay presto ' out comes the review.

CL moves to a full-time DOF and Jon Daly with Austin McPhee take total charge of all first team matters.

with Fox and Kirk being joined by A.N.Other.

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Geoff Kilpatrick
3 minutes ago, Zlatanable said:

This review of football operations, will come first.

I cannot see any announcement, or change until after the next two games, as they are so soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it will review the number of coaches and loan managers and decide that rationalising them might create more money for a managerial wage?

 

Radical.

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Geoff Kilpatrick
2 minutes ago, Zlatanable said:

Higher cost manager doesn't need staff, and neither do the players? 

Do they need this volume?

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Geoff Kilpatrick
Just now, Zlatanable said:

what are you talking about @Geoff Kilpatrick , how many coaches do Hearts need, in your opinion. 

Ok, if Liam Fox resigned tomorrow would it be necessary to replace him?

 

Is a loans manager needed?

 

Just two for starters.

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Geoff Kilpatrick
3 minutes ago, Zlatanable said:

You seem to know everything @Geoff Kilpatrick , how many coaches do Hearts need?

Tell us. 

I've already said above. A second coach for the first team and a loans manager are surplus to requirements.

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Glamorgan Jambo

Suspect we'll hear something tomorrow (Tuesday)

 

Whatever change comes we won't see a change to the basic structure right now and won't see multiple dismissals.

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You can help thinking that's she's out of her depth on football matters and is relying solely on levein for advice.  Sadly, he's even further out of his depth.

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2 hours ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

Ok, if Liam Fox resigned tomorrow would it be necessary to replace him?

 

Is a loans manager needed?

 

Just two for starters.

I have heard Liam Fox makes Mr Levein a really great coffee in the morning. He is indispensable.  

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Can’t believe we are still awaiting this Part 2 review of the football side of the business. 

 

You just know Queen Anne has all typed up and is just waiting for us to scrape a win off someone before realising the usual “Craig doing a great job in difficult circumstances”

”Confident we will be challenging for top 4”

Etc etc.  

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Bazzas right boot
On 12/09/2019 at 02:17, sandylejambo said:

She can't be reviewing the football department, if she was the whole coaching staff would be emptied by now

 

 

Tbf, you review then take action or there is no point in the review. 

Edited by Smith's right boot
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siegementality
On 11/08/2019 at 12:26, afanderson33 said:

Ann posted a glowing review and assessment of the business side of the football club the night before the season began over a week ago and stated the whole thing was so comprehensive that she would post the footballing side in a part two. 
 

Here we are two games and two bad results later and absolute silence from Budge. Is she waiting for us to win a game? Or is it full of comments about the faith she has in Levein and the staff and that she won’t post it until we start winning because she doesn’t want to look silly?

 

deafening silence

 

B0C10C2A-852B-4B49-A8FD-DEE71EB75778.jpeg

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8 hours ago, TheOak88 said:

Can’t believe we are still awaiting this Part 2 review of the football side of the business. 

 

You just know Queen Anne has all typed up and is just waiting for us to scrape a win off someone before realising the usual “Craig doing a great job in difficult circumstances”

”Confident we will be challenging for top 4”

Etc etc.  

I think we're all tired of Ann's rhetoric and tbh Part 2 is unlikely to inspire us or resemble the Gettysburg Address. 

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GorgieFifeLife

Her inaction is killing us. I expected a sacking yesterday but surely today she must act.  Her silence is a real slap in the face to the fans. She is quick to communicate when she is blowing her trumpet about some community programme but goes missing when some leadership is required.  There will very soon be demonstrations aimed at removing her from the club if she does not act now.

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Italian Lambretta
13 minutes ago, GorgieFifeLife said:

Her inaction is killing us. I expected a sacking yesterday but surely today she must act.  Her silence is a real slap in the face to the fans. She is quick to communicate when she is blowing her trumpet about some community programme but goes missing when some leadership is required.  There will very soon be demonstrations aimed at removing her from the club if she does not act now.

 

Levein is doing the "mrs doubtfire" impersonation walking around with a blonde wig and a maroon tartan dress. 😀

Why else is do you think he hasnt been sacked yet. 

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10 hours ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

I've already said above. A second coach for the first team and a loans manager are surplus to requirements.

 Not long after Ann Budge announced that a review of the football department.It was announced that we were to have a new post of Loans Manager in the form of Gary Naysmith.I thought it was an unnecessary expense at  a club the size of Hearts.We have about 10 loanees some of whom are just seeing out their contract.Naysmith made it seem like rocket science placing these young guys.Its not and in the past Daly did the job .Clubs often approached Hearts and depending on the player Hearts would reach out to some clubs.Daly Fox Kirk and Rankin see these guys play and in  training and if they cannot assess what level should suit  then they should not be in their jobs.Monitoring can be done by one of the coaching staff or a scout.Gary Naysmith will be offski as soon as a decent managerial job comes along .

Having a Loans Manager looks good modern thinking etc but at a club the size of Hearts unnecessary.All costs add up.

Whatever my opinion I would have thought that the football review would have taken place before such an appointment.

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24 minutes ago, tolcross lad said:

 Not long after Ann Budge announced that a review of the football department.It was announced that we were to have a new post of Loans Manager in the form of Gary Naysmith.I thought it was an unnecessary expense at  a club the size of Hearts.We have about 10 loanees some of whom are just seeing out their contract.Naysmith made it seem like rocket science placing these young guys.Its not and in the past Daly did the job .Clubs often approached Hearts and depending on the player Hearts would reach out to some clubs.Daly Fox Kirk and Rankin see these guys play and in  training and if they cannot assess what level should suit  then they should not be in their jobs.Monitoring can be done by one of the coaching staff or a scout.Gary Naysmith will be offski as soon as a decent managerial job comes along .

Having a Loans Manager looks good modern thinking etc but at a club the size of Hearts unnecessary.All costs add up.

Whatever my opinion I would have thought that the football review would have taken place before such an appointment.

 

The club has announced a number of these sort of posts in the past.  Gary Kirk was apparently Head of Recruitment (of youth coaches).  Darren Murray coach of the coaches.  There was an ex Army guy announced in some sort of chief of staff role.  A professional coach of the women's team.  A lot of cost - and where are the returns?

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35 minutes ago, Coco said:

 

The club has announced a number of these sort of posts in the past.  Gary Kirk was apparently Head of Recruitment (of youth coaches).  Darren Murray coach of the coaches.  There was an ex Army guy announced in some sort of chief of staff role.  A professional coach of the women's team.  A lot of cost - and where are the returns?

 

Whether you agree about the value of the jobs or not I doubt thy are the sort of roles you will see returns from in the short term even if they are successful. 

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Should have said nothing.

 

As I said over the weekend there’s nothing to be gained by such a statement.

 

We could be 8 days from him leaving the club then this looks completely pointless.

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Selkirkhmfc1874
6 minutes ago, Gambo said:

A big f u to the supporters that was.

Exactly! I've always been big backer of Ann Budge but that statement is as you say 

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Yep, crashes for me too so I haven’t read it but I can pretty much guess what it says from the reactions on here and on twitter.

Edited by BigC
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Why such a long statement?

 

Could have just said 'We don't care how the supporters feel.....Levein will remain in charge for the forseeable.....Keep handing us your cash'.

 

This isn't going to end well.

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Leveins Battalion

Well this changes everything,the sack the boards shouts from last week will intensify 1000% now.Its no longer all about removing Levein.

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Yikes. For all the claims of not having her head in the sand she sure has misread the mood of most fans if she thinks this is going to be received well. 

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highlandjambo3

Was reading this like everyone else, completely uninspiring,  lots of mention about injuries past and present then I got to this bit:

 

quote 

             “We have planned in a specific way for this season, including catering for injuries, etc.,” 

 

so, here’s a question Anne, what specific plan did you or CL put in place for injuries and, how come it has not worked?

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5 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

What a load of pish

 

Exactlt.

 

This is an extract from her statement.

 

Like every other Hearts supporter at the moment, I am hugely frustrated with the results… or indeed lack of them… from the first 5 Premiership fixtures.

 

It's not just about the first 5 fixtures though is it as has been correctly reposted in the media since last October we are the worst performing team in the league with only 28 points.

 

How can she only talk about the first five games?

 

I think she is heading towards alienating lots more fans than she has done already.

Edited by wavydavy
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At the start of August 2019, I put out what I referred to as Part 1 of my Chairman’s Statement. This was kept deliberately high level, focusing as it did, on our objectives and achievements over the past 5 years and our key strategic objectives for the next 3 years.

I promised to follow this up with a more detailed paper, focusing on our plans for the current season/financial year.  Given what is currently going on across social media and the “demands for action”, from supporters and media alike, I will forego the Business Plan update for now, and address only the matters surrounding our disappointing start to the season.

I would effectively like to make a 2 part statement.  The first, I address to all genuine Hearts Supporters; in the second I will address recent media coverage.

To the Supporters I say this:-

Like every other Hearts supporter at the moment, I am hugely frustrated with the results… or indeed lack of them… from the first 5 Premiership fixtures.  There is no way any of us set out at the start of the season believing we would be languishing in the bottom half of the table at this point… let alone in bottom position.  Clearly, what we wanted to do, was to have the same kind of start as we had last season… without the catalogue of injuries that then befell us.  However, as we all know, that has not happened.  So what do we do about it? 

What we do not do is over-react, throw all of our plans out of the window and start again!  I am frequently asked in what way running a football club is different from running a “normal” business.  While there are many differences, I firmly believe that one thing is the same, no matter what business you are running.  In simple terms, it is essential for the Board to have a plan and to continuously measure performance against that plan, year on year, learning from past mistakes and adjusting our plans accordingly.  That is precisely what I, and the Board, have been doing. 

For example:-

·       In season 17/18, when we finished 6th what did we do?  We discussed the situation at length and we responded by investing heavily during the transfer window, to re-shape the team.  In season 18/19, we, like every other Hearts supporter were delighted that our actions seemed to be paying dividends when we were riding high in the early part of the season.  Then disaster struck and we suffered an unprecedented level of injuries.  This meant that for the second year in succession, it looked, as though, achieving our football target of finishing in the Top 4 was at risk.

·       What did we do?  We went back to the planning board.  In January, 2019, well before the end of the season, we took action and modified our plan to focus our investment entirely on strengthening our football operation.  We put a halt to all new infra-structure developments, ring-fencing our resources to secure those players we believed were key to our future success, while recognising that we would, once again, aim to further strengthen and expand our first team squad in the summer.  This we did. 

·       We all know that while some of these new signings have been settling in and while we are still carrying injuries to a number of our key players, our performances in the early part of the season have been hugely disappointing.  However, the Board firmly believes it is too early to be panicking and tearing up our plans. 

Our decisions have been taken against the following backdrop:-

·       We have a very strong squad… arguably the strongest we have put together over the last 6 seasons.

·       We have the mix of youth, experience and quality that we have been striving for and building towards since we returned to the Premiership in 2015.

·       We have still not seen our first choice starting XI playing this season, as we are still awaiting the return of a number of key players.

Of course, we hear the criticism… you have wasted money, you have got too many things wrong, you have made too many bad decisions, you have given Craig Levein too long, etc, etc.

Have we made mistakes at times?  Unquestionably, yes.  However, running a football club… like any business… is not an exact science.  None of us will get every decision right… and it is so easy to be wise after the event and say “I would never have done that!”

The simple fact is that we plan, make decisions and review on a continuous basis, focusing on how/what we can do better to get to where we want to be.

In short, we have invested heavily over recent years… never more so than this year… to build what we believe will be a winning squad and we remain confident that this investment will pay dividends.  We have planned in a specific way for this season, including catering for injuries, etc., as they come along.  My message is simple.  I would urge you to continue to support the team while we work through this difficult period.

Be assured that we are not ‘burying our heads in the sand’; we are in constant dialogue about performances and what is going wrong on the pitch; and we are waiting (im)patiently for the return from injury of some of our key players… and no-one is more impatient than those players themselves. 

With regards to recent media coverage surrounding the club, I would say this:-

Some coverage has been fair and has accurately reflected the facts of the situation, while other coverage has been woeful.  Certain reporters and pundits have made numerous ill-informed “statements” regarding how things operate at the Club, how decisions are made and who is involved in the decision-making process.  They present these opinions as though they are fact.  They are not.

They are aimed at whipping up yet another media frenzy around the set-up at Hearts, which they simply cannot understand.  To repeat just a few of these inaccurate claims: the Board is weak; Craig is running the club; I have lost control; decisions cannot be taken about the Manager because he sits on the Board…

I would simply point out that, unlike other Managers, who may get called in front of the Board if/when things are going wrong, Craig has to present to the full Board at every Board meeting, on how things are going against plan, across all areas of the football operation, including highlighting issues and discussing courses of action. 

Our Board has 4 non-executive directors, appointed because of their business acumen and experience, whom I, as Chairman, consult with on a very regular basis both individually and as a group. This includes discussing on-field, as well as off-field, matters and personnel. So, the suggestion that Craig’s attendance at formal Board meetings, inhibits open and frank discussion about his or the team’s performance and/or future, is palpable nonsense.

This brings me to recent media speculation. I can confirm that I have spoken to no other manager about the possibility of joining Hearts and names being publicly linked to the club are pure speculation. I have, however, fielded numerous, unsolicited phone calls from Agents… who are rarely shy of trying to further their cause by leaking “made up” stories to the media!

In short, our Board remains behind the Manager, his coaching staff and his team… not because he is “untouchable”, not because he is “all-powerful”, and not because we are “weak”, as has been suggested.  We remain behind him because we believe in the plan we have jointly put together.

We will continue to scrutinise our on-field performances and should we feel our plans are going astray and our approach needs to be adjusted, we will respond accordingly.

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Just now, Jamboross said:

Anyone able to sum it up? Website has crashed. 

We've got a plan

 

Injuries

 

We've not approached anyone

 

Injuries

 

We hear your criticisms

 

Injuries

 

**** the lot of you, Craig Levein's going nowhere 

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