Squad Watch 2022/23

[NathStPaul]

Can’t believe our fans are falling for it (again).

Kia Joorabchian got Bowen to the club in 2019. He was probably behind bringing him back here in 2022.

He’s a close personal friend to Dai Yongge and helped broker the deal for him to takeover.

If Kia wanted Bowen or any other staff member gone tomorrow, it would happen.

Make sure you put the plastic sheets on the bed tonight. You are 100% going to wet yourself.

I seem to make you wet Nath, you seem to pipe up whenever I post anything. Asl?

I want you to just relax, go with the flow, be open minded and love a little. Give the new era a chance, embrace change.

[royalp-we]

Make sure you put the plastic sheets on the bed tonight. You are 100% going to wet yourself.

I seem to make you wet Nath, you seem to pipe up whenever I post anything. Asl?

I want you to just relax, go with the flow, be open minded and love a little. Give the new era a chance, embrace change.

Oh you’re being serious. A new era, what gives you that impression?

[NathStPaul]

I seem to make you wet Nath, you seem to pipe up whenever I post anything. Asl?

I want you to just relax, go with the flow, be open minded and love a little. Give the new era a chance, embrace change.

Oh you’re being serious. A new era, what gives you that impression?

New set up, new permanent manager, some new players coming in at some point. It might be great, you never know.

[Hound]

Haven’t had the chance to listen to the whole interview but good that he is coming out to chat about the club

Some positive stuff in there. Always quite liked Bowen, hope he won’t let us down

[AthleticoSpizz]

He has a paid job to do

No reason why he would (let us down)

[Snowflake Royal]

He won’t let us down. Others on the other hand...

[Stranded]

Sounds like a bit more in the Bowen interview

No Kia making decisions apparently, solely Bowen and co. Will give it a listen

Yep, essentially Kia got some players here who we had no right to get but it is down to Bowen/Carey now. Kia may still be used if it will help a deal that they want.

Can’t believe our fans are falling for it (again).

Kia Joorabchian got Bowen to the club in 2019. He was probably behind bringing him back here in 2022.

He’s a close personal friend to Dai Yongge and helped broker the deal for him to takeover.

If Kia wanted Bowen or any other staff member gone tomorrow, it would happen.

You may be absolutely right but a club bringing in a whole raft of new coaches, heads of recruitment, head of player development, new Head of Football (even if you accept a Kia/Bowen link) is a ridiculous way to hide that Kia is pulling the strings and relies on keeping a lot more people quiet about it and not pissing them off. For example, Carey has no loyalty to the club and you could easily see him calling it out if Kia where the only route transfers can go through.

Last season, due to the lack of any backroom staff - Kia was the default axis of transfer power because there was no-one else.

He will still be involved, I have no doubt and given the recent record of getting some surprisingly good loans in (at least on paper) then I would hope we will utilise him where we can but thinking fans are falling for it and Kia is still the man is pretty much as deluded as anyone who thinks we have seen the back of Kia.

And you know what, if people want to think Kia is gone and it brings a much needed morale boost to a decent percentage of the fan base as a result, then that is fine with me.

[Hound]

Anyway the interview is well worth a listen. Certainly more than aware of the issues we face and nice to hear Bowen talking directly and openly to the press

Basically
Joao unlikely to be sold
Moore is injured as we know, not some made up stuff. Clearly not all roses behind the scenes with him though
Central midfield the priority
Laurent and Rino moved for the money (fair enough)
Carey/Bowen seem very much in charge of recruitment genuinely

And lots of other stuff

[YorkshireRoyal99]

The comments on Lucas Joao make me believe it's going to be very difficult for us to spend money this season, even if we do sell players for fees.

The one big change is that Bowen has managed to direct the fans on some issues around the club at the moment, something we didn't have last season under Pauno and co because nobody was in that position.

[blythspartan]

I am a fan of Mark Bowen. Also, when he was manager I’d go to games thinking that we’d win, he definitely made us more solid. I like the structure that’s in place now and it’s exactly what Ince indicated would be happening in his interview with BBCRB at the back end of last season.

Whether you’re a fan of Ince or not I believe his directness with the owners has helped bring about the changes we’re seeing but if Kia can help us with a quality signing I have no problem with that. People like to blame his influence but I think the whole club was broken last season and he was just one of many problems.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yeah agree about Ince, he came in and identified the issues and it seems as if we've gone out there to change that, both on and off the field. Getting the structure sorted above and around him, with Bowen coming back in as DoF, Eddie as Head of Player Development, Warner coming in as GK coach etc.

On the field as well, prioritised our goalkeeping department and brought in a strong GK on loan who says his strength is literally his strength and physical play, which is what we needed in goal as well as an experienced number 2 as well which should prove useful, allowing Southwood to move on to pastures new and others to go and get hopefully 40+ games on loan in the EFL as well.

If rumours are to be believed and we can bring loan signings in of the calibre of Jamie Shackleton and if our signings this season are going to be the likes of Lumley and Ince, then I won't be inspired by any means but I'll feel comfortable knowing we've got a competitive squad for the Championship and hopefully with individual quality like Joao and Meite up top, we should do enough to survive this season.

[Hound]

The comments Bowen made about ‘doing their homework’ on players was interesting I thought

Hoepfully does mean less punts on talented but maybe ineffective players and more on tough, hardened and mentally strong players which is where we’ve lacked over recent times

[gazzer, loyal royal]

The Moore injury isn’t a new one, he’s been playing with it for a while and it’s part of the reasoning why he lost the captaincy.

Anyway as much as Bowen says the door may still be open, Mr Dai won’t be letting him play for the club again.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

The comments Bowen made about ‘doing their homework’ on players was interesting I thought

Hoepfully does mean less punts on talented but maybe ineffective players and more on tough, hardened and mentally strong players which is where we’ve lacked over recent times

Even the whole strategy behind bringing in players that staff/players know well or have worked with before is a positive for me. Understanding someone's character, how well they train, personalities etc will go a long way to determining who will fit in with the players we currently have and who we will bring in.

Knowing that we will have to bring in a lot of new faces alongside some existing squad members, having the knowledge of the personality of players before we sign them because of past experiences will be good I think as we look to build a squad with more togetherness and unity, which will be a key factor for us because of where we are likely to be battling this season.

[blythspartan]

The comments Bowen made about ‘doing their homework’ on players was interesting I thought

Hoepfully does mean less punts on talented but maybe ineffective players and more on tough, hardened and mentally strong players which is where we’ve lacked over recent times

Even the whole strategy behind bringing in players that staff/players know well or have worked with before is a positive for me. Understanding someone's character, how well they train, personalities etc will go a long way to determining who will fit in with the players we currently have and who we will bring in.

Knowing that we will have to bring in a lot of new faces alongside some existing squad members, having the knowledge of the personality of players before we sign them because of past experiences will be good I think as we look to build a squad with more togetherness and unity, which will be a key factor for us because of where we are likely to be battling this season.

Maybe we’ll start going more down the Brentford route with player profiling and identifying players who are performing well for clubs playing in the lower leagues, overseas, and in the UK. I also think they have quite a scientific approach but it all seems to work very well.

[Hound]

Ashcroft leaves as expected, off to Spurs (not so expected)

Should get a few quid for him in compensation

[Snowflake Royal]

Anyway the interview is well worth a listen. Certainly more than aware of the issues we face and nice to hear Bowen talking directly and openly to the press

Basically
Joao unlikely to be sold
Moore is injured as we know, not some made up stuff. Clearly not all roses behind the scenes with him though
Central midfield the priority
Laurent and Rino moved for the money (fair enough)
Carey/Bowen seem very much in charge of recruitment genuinely

And lots of other stuff

Thanks Hound, good to know, and saves me the effort of listening.

[Snowflake Royal]

Ashcroft leaves as expected, off to Spurs (not so expected)

Should get a few quid for him in compensation

Decent player in there. Just broke into the first team a good 2 years early.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Anyway the interview is well worth a listen. Certainly more than aware of the issues we face and nice to hear Bowen talking directly and openly to the press

Basically
Joao unlikely to be sold
Moore is injured as we know, not some made up stuff. Clearly not all roses behind the scenes with him though
Central midfield the priority
Laurent and Rino moved for the money (fair enough)
Carey/Bowen seem very much in charge of recruitment genuinely

And lots of other stuff

Thanks Hound, good to know, and saves me the effort of listening.

Reasons to be more positive about the future; just need to navigate a really difficult season first. And maybe keep our composure and trust the new approach next summer if survival this year is a step too far.

[Hound]

Anyway the interview is well worth a listen. Certainly more than aware of the issues we face and nice to hear Bowen talking directly and openly to the press

Basically
Joao unlikely to be sold
Moore is injured as we know, not some made up stuff. Clearly not all roses behind the scenes with him though
Central midfield the priority
Laurent and Rino moved for the money (fair enough)
Carey/Bowen seem very much in charge of recruitment genuinely

And lots of other stuff

Thanks Hound, good to know, and saves me the effort of listening.

Genuinely worth half an hour of your time I’d say