Robinson is a clown

I remember Darren Patterson used to work all God’s hours. Appeared to be a decent chap with his heart in the right place, but that isn’t always enough.

Surely it’s should be about how productive you are in the hours that you put in, not the amount of hours you work.

On a human level I do feel a bit concerned for Robinson, he does sound very stressed at times.

However, whichever way you look at it our striker recruitment this season has been shambolic. Who is responsible for it?

Depends on your agenda on here.

Some blame KR, some blame Tiger, some even blame DE for selling to Tiger. Take your pick depending on your view.

It's probably a combo of lots of factors. Strikers are the hardest target to get right and command the biggest fees and wages. Whilst we'll never know, I bet you that MApp missed out on a huge number of targets in that department and you could argue he never signed a truly brilliant out-and-out striker in his time here. Some excellent forwards in McAleny, Roofe and Maguire, but a dodgy run of strikers - Hemmings, Carlton Morris, John Campbell, Pat Hoban etc. I imagine KR is going through the same apart from on this occasion our deficiency up front is glaringly obvious and crippling the team at present.
 
Depends on your agenda on here.

Some blame KR, some blame Tiger, some even blame DE for selling to Tiger. Take your pick depending on your view.

It's probably a combo of lots of factors. Strikers are the hardest target to get right and command the biggest fees and wages. Whilst we'll never know, I bet you that MApp missed out on a huge number of targets in that department and you could argue he never signed a truly brilliant out-and-out striker in his time here. Some excellent forwards in McAleny, Roofe and Maguire, but a dodgy run of strikers - Hemmings, Carlton Morris, John Campbell, Pat Hoban etc. I imagine KR is going through the same apart from on this occasion our deficiency up front is glaringly obvious and crippling the team at present.

Yes you’re correct, getting the right strikers at the right price is difficult.

But we started the season with Obika (fragile confidence & injury issues) and Smith (inexperienced and unproven) plus Mackie who is not a striker. For a club of our standing that’s very, very poor recruitment.

As others have said the excellent scouting system that was in place appears to have been dismantled in the latter stages of DE’s ownership.

So whoever is now responsible for recruitment , have they learnt from their mistakes in the summer?

Is the problem the ability to spot suitable targets within budget, or is the actual process (currently in place) of completing a signing the main issue ?
 
All this continental travelling really can’t be good for a manager to be doing themselves while they’re meant to be getting the team ready between matches. In the past we had other people besides the manager go and run the rule over players overseas - be it Faz or the scouting team. The manager should be with the first team and dedicating himself to results and preparation, not darting across the channel back and forth to watch second division games in Belgium and France. And that’s not a criticism of KR at all, but more a reflection of where we are in terms of recruitment resources. For all his faults and mistakes, and there have been plenty of them, this does appear to indicate that he’s having to do far more than he should be. There’s plenty to suggest he’s actually sort of running half the bloody club in some shape or form, and that’s not healthy or particularly fair, in all honesty. Then again, he still has people like Faz and Derry at the club who he could presumably have go over if need be, so maybe he’s a bit of a control freak who only trusts his own judgement. Which happens, sure, but it can’t be helpful when the team needs him around and as fresh as can be. Even if he’s going after training on the day of a game, going straight from the airport or the Eurostar station to the ground, watching it and getting back in time for training the next morning, he’s going to be absolutely exhausted and not in a good place in terms of being able to organise and think. If this is what’s going on nearly a year after our beloved owner bought the club, that’s really poor.

Whether I or anybody else rate this manager or not is kind of meaningless within this context, he needs a basic structure around him to help with scouting and recruitment. If we are in a situation where he’s having a ring round, buzzing about Europe watching lower league games and then dashing back for training before doing it all over again, that’s worrying not just for us but for the situation he could well be in. And if he’s the one having to do negotiations himself after all that, which is meant to be done by a MD or Chief Exec type figure while the manager focuses on the football and selling his vision and philosophy to a player, then no wonder we’ve been struggling to sign much in the way of quality. We have a MD who was a teacher by trade until about a year ago and a bizarre owner who spends most of the time on the other side of the world - can anybody actually successfully negotiate a deal with a footballer unless it’s someone who KR knows, or who other clubs don’t fancy because they’re either injured or past it, or even both? Do we actually have anybody who can be the difference in terms of getting a player and/or agent in a room, turning on the charm, speaking with knowledge and authority in the negotiations, and therefore can close a deal in an industry that is full of double bluffs and poker faces? Mark Ashton was sensational at this, even old Slippery seemed to know his way around a business negotiation as a rather high level businessman should - who or what do we have at our disposal now to help with that?

On this front if nothing else, I think KR needs some help and isn’t completely to blame. He’s a coach, not a business negotiator and head scout.
 
Well on at least one occasion when he’s said to have been abroad, he hasn’t been and you’ll just have to trust me as to how I know that!

Now why he would say he was is another thing!
 
Well on at least one occasion when he’s said to have been abroad, he hasn’t been and you’ll just have to trust me as to how I know that!



Now why he would say he was is another thing!

Interesting that you should say that. All we got told about his Belgium trip was ‘It didn’t work out as expected’ I wondered at the time what that meant.

And to touch on Ryanio’s point, I agree that Robinson seems to have too much power and influence at the club in Tigers absence. Whether this his his choice or because of lack of investment who knows..? I recently watched the Sunderland series on Netflix and it was interesting to see how a big football club works behind the scenes. Although I can’t say I particularly took to the man, the work of CEO Martin Bain kind of highlighted a role that we seem to be lacking. A real day to day overall manager with the power to act on the owners behalf when he’s not there. He even had the power to hire and fire the manager!
 
Interesting that you should say that. All we got told about his Belgium trip was ‘It didn’t work out as expected’ I wondered at the time what that meant.

And to touch on Ryanio’s point, I agree that Robinson seems to have too much power and influence at the club in Tigers absence. Whether this his his choice or because of lack of investment who knows..? I recently watched the Sunderland series on Netflix and it was interesting to see how a big football club works behind the scenes. Although I can’t say I particularly took to the man, the work of CEO Martin Bain kind of highlighted a role that we seem to be lacking. A real day to day overall manager with the power to act on the owners behalf when he’s not there. He even had the power to hire and fire the manager!

Although the (purported) Belgium trip was a puzzler, I assume Junior means the mysterious trip announced to Europe with Eales last season, which was documented as being absolute humbug (didn't someone see one of them on the evening of when they were supposed to be away, or something?)
 
I’m a bit confused now. He’s saying in the OM story that he wants a scout report on the Oxford City guy - a player he gave his first pro contract and debut to at MK, who plays in the same city as we do, and who he is now saying he wanted to sign in the summer anyway. Why would he need a scout report on a player he knows that well, who plays less than five miles from our own training ground? And if a scout report is good news in terms of progressing plans if it comes back positive, which implies that he needs some sort of approval from someone else rather than just his word, why is he apparently going on continental trips to watch players? What’s the point in him supposedly doing this if he can’t sign them anyway? None of this makes sense and something is always contradicting something else.

Who signs the players at Oxford United?
 
@RyanioBirdio - We're on the same lines. I'm very confused over our approach nowadays and am with you on KR seemingly shouldering a lot of the scouting. I've made the point about questioning just what is our approach in the other thread.

Without knowing who signs players, I'm fully expecting Xisco to be our next signing with Dennis Wise grinning in the background somewhere!
 
The scouting/recruitment seems (from the outside) to be as ad hoc as a lot of other things at the club seem to be at the moment.

I say `seem` in both cases because without any real clarity on what`s going on from the owner, all we can go on on what we see and what little information leaks out.

If I had to make an uninformed guess, it looks to me as if ST likes to micro-manage everything but given his non-presence in the country for the majority of the time that make it almost impossible for staff to do their jobs properly or decisions to be made quickly.
 
I’m a bit confused now. He’s saying in the OM story that he wants a scout report on the Oxford City guy - a player he gave his first pro contract and debut to at MK, who plays in the same city as we do, and who he is now saying he wanted to sign in the summer anyway. Why would he need a scout report on a player he knows that well, who plays less than five miles from our own training ground? And if a scout report is good news in terms of progressing plans if it comes back positive, which implies that he needs some sort of approval from someone else rather than just his word, why is he apparently going on continental trips to watch players? What’s the point in him supposedly doing this if he can’t sign them anyway? None of this makes sense and something is always contradicting something else.

Who signs the players at Oxford United?


Exactly. It's a process that would take a couple of days. I'm sure as we are so far into the season, this lad has already been seen by the club. FFS, kr was the guy that gave him his break. He also comments on how good he is.

But as usual being Oxford United there will be some spin of an answer from "someone from within the club," as to why we don't get to sign him.

He seems a good acquisition, and would dearly love him to be the young striker, alongside the experienced pro.
 
The scouting/recruitment seems (from the outside) to be as ad hoc as a lot of other things at the club seem to be at the moment.

I say `seem` in both cases because without any real clarity on what`s going on from the owner, all we can go on on what we see and what little information leaks out.

If I had to make an uninformed guess, it looks to me as if ST likes to micro-manage everything but given his non-presence in the country for the majority of the time that make it almost impossible for staff to do their jobs properly or decisions to be made quickly.

I get the feeling he is not micro managing, I just think this venture is a buy and pedal it off to one of his contacts with the "Oxford Brand" ringing in their ears, make a bit keep a percentage. You just got to see how he decided to be introduced and the after effects. I still have no got a clue if there is a plan behind all of this.

A bit different to 2014 when Eales first came and was enthusiastic, you would expect this from ST or any new owner would you not..?

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/...oxford-united-takeover-darryl-eales-timeline/


The whole club is shrouded in secrecy with the new directors what is on paper worth well over a Billion and a half, and we cannot even pay HMRC for the second time in his tenure? Your not telling me in his time at Reading he did not have standing order or a money gram setup!?

The whole club is a shambles, if feels like the US government on partial shutdown until something gives..

I just get so frustrated to see my club after years of doom and gloom make some headway with MAPP etc, a little ray of light where we might get some forward motion and get up a head of steam to then break down and get towed backwards to the garage AGAIN!! FFS!

I'm pinning my hopes on Erick's involvement, as he has history of running football clubs, if he swans off I would imagine so will the rest of the board leaving ST. We will be up for sale and we start again or we just sink into oblivion....

Oh, and the constant throughout the last few decades is Kassam! what a wonderful man he turned out to be! :poop:
 
Wouldn’t it be great if the Oxford Mail today in their press conference per Fleetwood asked some of these questions of Robinson! We all know they won’t even dare rock their cushy little number or heaven forbid, do some investigation journalism!
 
The club is a shambles and has been for six months. The fan-base are treated like absolute cretins bar updates from Dan Harris and Matt Everritt and a superb ticket office team/Lee Barton.

What happened to the promise of more communication from the MD? Tiger and his updates are now a fortnightly, Friday Cringe-fest. We have a manager who I've switched off too. The only positive of a potential relegation is that someone on our 'Board' will sack him. If they don't, then League Two with Karl is going to be a tough gig.

And please......this recruitment stuff.......if anyone thinks the scouting department are not doing a decent job then I would suggest you're wrong. They don't make the signings, they're there to identify players that fit to a model or set criteria and present a list of candidates - Karl and the Board make the ultimate decisions thereafter.

To that end, does anyone really think the recruitment team went after Tony McMahon? Or this ex-Charlton 30 year old midfielder now playing in France we're linked too? Or a crocked Ricky Holmes who has had a career beset of injuries? Of course not.

Sack him before it's too late.
 
I’m a bit confused now. He’s saying in the OM story that he wants a scout report on the Oxford City guy - a player he gave his first pro contract and debut to at MK, who plays in the same city as we do, and who he is now saying he wanted to sign in the summer anyway. Why would he need a scout report on a player he knows that well, who plays less than five miles from our own training ground? And if a scout report is good news in terms of progressing plans if it comes back positive, which implies that he needs some sort of approval from someone else rather than just his word, why is he apparently going on continental trips to watch players? What’s the point in him supposedly doing this if he can’t sign them anyway? None of this makes sense and something is always contradicting something else.

Who signs the players at Oxford United?
Like I said the other day, it's farcical and a shambles!!
 
ET admitted that his reason for joining OUFC was the bragging rights gained by an association with the the world-renowned Oxford name, not the club.This he has achieved, so why on earth would he need to splash out any cash. Don't expect too much from him. In fact....ET Go Home
 
ET admitted that his reason for joining OUFC was the bragging rights gained by an association with the the world-renowned Oxford name, not the club.This he has achieved, so why on earth would he need to splash out any cash. Don't expect too much from him. In fact....ET Go Home
Yep, the line about him not being around because of his involvement in the Indonesian elections is taking the P**s. How long does it take to ping over a financial contribution towards the January window and keeping the club he has joined in L1?
 
Have to say what a fantastic job Robinson has done.
Talks absolute sense in every interview I’ve heard. Honest, driven and seems to know how to get a team organised and playing.

How things change.
My post from last April now sounds like I’m being massively ironic!
KR has become the absolute opposite of what I said back then.
 
It would have been interesting to hear the conversation that was going on in that little get together.

KR: Awww c’mon guys leave me alone. I’ve had bad injuries to deal with and not enough players. And the referees have been absolute s**t..
 
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