Even if we got the land for free we would still need to find around £6 million to build even a basic ground with no extra income from conferencing, market and M6 advertising.
So we could use that £6 million to buy the bescot freehold from Bonser and still have the off field income to invest in the football side.
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I don’t think we would get the freehold for 6 million 
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In respect of your first point, I think that’s fair. All too often we can all be overly judgemental of new players or managers based on past performances and get it wrong. Like you said, I’m only interested in how they perform at Walsall FC.
At the same time, it’s a little unfair IF you’re using the appointment of Darrell Clarke to criticise Pomlett for a bad footballing decision. Knowing the ‘ins and outs’ of the interview process might help justify whether we believe it was a good or bad decision but anyone who’s been involved in recruiting knows there are no guarantees. As I said on another thread, it wouldn’t be the first time someone has interviewed like Tom Cruise and proven themselves to be more like David Brent.
For what it’s worth, based on what I knew of him, I thought it was a good appointment at the time. It’s proved not to be.
What I would perhaps criticise Pomlett for, is not relieving Clarke of his duties much sooner. But then it’s so much easier for me to criticise, not being in Pomlett’s shoes and being fully aware of all the spinning plates he’s currently managing.
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Fair, my point was more, what was the discussion in that meeting that I’m interested in. It’s one thing saying well it didn’t work out, my question is why? Was there a plan put forward, if so what was it? Or was it all the same BS Clarke trotted out here and has now trotted out at Fail? If it is the former, well any appointment may not work out. If it is the latter, well, I’m afraid he’s been taken in naively.
My issue is not the appointment itself and why the “benefit of hindsight” is frankly irrelevant here. It’s about what the process was in the first place.
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Great post.
That’s exactly what I am saying, it was a sound footballing decision ref Clarke. Unfortunately some people are not capable of admitting that they were also wrong (in hindsight) or pretend that they thought something different at the time. I certainly was wrong-like yourself.
As for not “getting rid”, we gave Clarke a 3 year deal and on the basis we were so close to the play offs (points wise anyway) together with the costs involved in sacking and re-appointing, it didn’t make any business sense whatsoever. Particularly during the pandemic.
Fail to see how any blame can be attributed to Leigh - at this juncture. But as I said in my initial post, people ALWAYS want someone to blame.
Usually Mole and Gamble🤣
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Nah you’re right to be fair. Never said a word against the bloke. Backed him from the start as a sure fire success. My view on Darrell Clarke has never caused any sort of controversy on this site at all 
August 19:
Something else which is stuck in 1999. Same as the stock.
Infact it’s not even funny that hasnt been sorted yet.
Club wants revenue yet makes a half arsed effort at it.
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Oh look, another UTS poster that spends 65% of his time insulting, 15% of his time baiting and 20% actually talking about the football club 
This is going to be a lot of fun.
A lot of the gripes that fans currently have about the football club are service and infrastructure-based. There are countless examples above? So who do we blame for those feelings towards the club? The people in charge of running operations, maybe? Whose fault it is that there was no food / beverages in kiosks? Who fault is it that there were ridiculous queues for said kiosks for a manageable number of customers. Whose fault is it that the ticket prices and structure are 10 years out of date? Whose fault is it that the walk up match-day procedure puts people off from ever returning? Whose fault is it that fans feel they are rushed out after a game to make way for a wedding? Whose fault is it that the same operational issues that existed under Bonser exist under Pomlett?
The club has gone backwards on and off the field, those two wouldn’t even be being discussed right now if someone had come in from outside the existing board of directors, purely based on their performance over 15 years. Fact.
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Seems fair to want to question the process after the shiny new ‘project’ so abjectly crashed and burned.
The truth is, we’ll probably never know. If I had to guess, I would expect Pomlett to have been effective in his due diligence throughout the interview process, although I bet he’s also questioning what he might have done better, in view of future appointments.
I would also guess that Clarke would have interviewed extremely well, presenting a credible plan of action, pointing to past achievements at a similar level and his coaching credentials to support it. If we can accept for a moment that that was the case and I really struggle to think it would be any different, then it would be unjust to suggest it was a poor decision.
I thought Clarke in his initial press conferences presented very well and gives me no reason to contradict my above thoughts. Having said that, listening to his recent insistence that he only gets out of bed to win reminds me so much of An Apprentice contestant rather than a serious football manager. I think he’s now trying to convince himself.
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Hi Troll
And what did I say?! Knew you couldn’t leave me alone, the mere mention of Mole and Gamble, gets you clamouring at my door.
And you say it’s not personal with said individuals?
You’ve now made it VERY obvious, it’s VERY personal.
And if that was the case absolutely fair enough, and like you say, we will probably never know.
In fairness, I wasn’t as enamoured. I remember being slightly worried about the whole “I turned down the Leeds job” thing not impressed by it because I thought it made him sound like he loved being a big fish in a small pond, not necessarily a bad thing but a rather questionable footballing decision all around. I got a whiff of the billy big ■■■■■■■■ about him from day one and it turned out to be completely accurate.
This relates to Pomlett because I hope he isn’t as easily taken in next time around and there is more substance to whatever that plan may be.
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Another post that ignores every single point made.
For someone that doesn’t ‘have any respect or care’ about my opinions, you seem to spend an awful lot of time writing in-depth paragraph after paragraph about my characteristics, shortcomings and personality - and other times baiting me 
You have missed Valentine’s Day. Should I have made your card out to Steff, or Dan? 
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I didn’t pay that much attention to it at the time. As we’ve already touched upon and agreed, I was probably more eager to see what he would do for our club. Having seen his recent press releases at the fail, it’s very apparent now. What’s that saying, you can fool some of the people…
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Good points.
We obviously aren’t privy to the interview and selection process nor do we know who was making recommendations and who was making the decisions in all post Smith appointments. What we do know is that all post Smith appointments have been various shades of not very good.
So either the process or the people involved in the process have fallen short.
From a million miles away from the Bescot inner sanctum the aspect missing from any interview panel would be technical expertise. Who is the football expert on the board? It is one thing checking out credentials, the badges, the pots and pans but it is another being able to supplement those things with intelligent technical questions about the game, especially as it relates to the bottom echelons of English professional football.
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A Director of Football is needed but who recruits him? 
Joking apart I agree with your point.However we don’t know the process by which Clarke was appointed and who was involved. It is rare these days for an interview to be the one and only selection method. LP held a number of leading roles before taking over as Chairman so he should have been aware of how to recruit staff.
To be fair I thought DC would be an excellent appointment and like many on here became totally disillusioned with his management style as the months went by.
On a more positive note I was pleased to see BD admires Dean Smith. He could do worse than go and spend some time with Dean who I am sure would be pleased to give him advice.
Clarke was a no brainer of an appointment, it made sense… it just didn’t work out!
It happens.
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Was it not yourself who referred to my good self in your opening few words? I seem to be constantly in your thoughts, you just can’t help yourself can you?
Least you’ve been “outed” anyway. Wonder what the personal issue is? Perhaps it’s a work “thing” and they didn’t want your business at some point? Hard to believe someone who’s own self assessment “qualifies” him could be rejected.
We’ll probably never know. But the ENTIRE Forum knows it personal👍
Exactly. Now some are after a freedom of information act request, so they can look at the interview questions 
You can guarantee he interviewed well, I Listened to a few of his podcasts and he talks really well about the game.
He was more than what we could have hoped for at that moment in time.
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What I’m rather sick of hearing is ‘we’re looking into that’ and ‘we take on board your concerns’. Nothing gets changed, apart from a half-arsed attempt that is set up to fail (like home fans in the away end to improve atmosphere, and a number of other suggestions from around the same time).
Also, I can remember an occasion within the last 5 years or so when one of the two remaining Stooges basically insinuated that the issues we were presenting to them in terms of the facilities/rent/investment etc were only ‘coming up’ because a bad run of results had made us annoyed. This sort of toxic answer is unacceptable and betrays a kind of smug laziness that I think permeates too much of this club. It’s why very little has been done proactively in so long.
Too much shelter of certain people in an organisation that has been fundamentally failing for years. In any private sector business they’d have been P45’d off before you could say Bonser Suite.
I honestly don’t see change coming without a complete refresh of executive positions (Pomlett excluded)
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