2020/21 Marcel Brands

[vinvinvin]

Article on The Athletic doesn’t paint him in the best light today. If Utd want him I’ll gladly give him a lift.

What does it say?

 

[Groucho]

Article on The Athletic doesn’t paint him in the best light today. If Utd want him I’ll gladly give him a lift.

Not really bothered what the media say.

 

[zzr45]

What does it say?

Essentially that he’s a bit of a ditherer - so the examples of the gap between Silva going and Ancelotti coming in was something people had questioned at the club, the amount of time it’s taken to get certain things into place, such as the academy restructure and scouting. Transfers have obviously been hit and miss.

 

[AussieToffee11]

Worth reading the Athletic piece, and even subscribing, £1 a month for 12 months currently - best Everton content there is to be honest.

Personally, from reading that, I think Brands should get two more years now that the foundations are in place, no excuses from here.

The line that it took him 4 years to get AZ to champions gave me some faith.

His last five transfers have all been good (Branthwaite, Niels, Doucoure, James and Allan). He may not have got the last two without Carlo, but he did the deals and if James was free and Allan for £20m then its terrific business.

He continues to clear out the dead wood and I think stability for a club that has been rocked by instability over the last 10 years is important.

Willing to roll the dice for 2 more and then make a judgement.

 

[Zatara]

Worth reading the Athletic piece, and even subscribing, £1 a month for 12 months currently - best Everton content there is to be honest.

Personally, from reading that, I think Brands should get two more years now that the foundations are in place, no excuses from here.

The line that it took him 4 years to get AZ to champions gave me some faith.

His last five transfers have all been good (Branthwaite, Niels, Doucoure, James and Allan). He may not have got the last two without Carlo, but he did the deals and if James was free and Allan for £20m then its terrific business.

He continues to clear out the dead wood and I think stability for a club that has been rocked by instability over the last 10 years is important.

Willing to roll the dice for 2 more and then make a judgement.

Cant complain about any of those deals...

Nkounkou / Branthwaite = Huge potential
James / Allan = Top class
Doucoure = Good value

Dont forget also Number 6; Godfrey.

He looks to have alot of potential as well.

Id be rather happy if we signed another 6 like these in Jan and summer.

 

[catcherintherye]

Article on The Athletic doesn’t paint him in the best light today. If Utd want him I’ll gladly give him a lift.

There is definitely something happening with Brands. We can speculate as to the specifics of what but it is interesting he hasn't as yet had his contract extended. Either he is considering his future or the club are.

For what it's worth, I hope he stays, I am generally quite supportive but do understand some of the criticisms. I do think we probably need someone who is a bit more radical on the position. Christ if Liverpool have someone more radical in situ because they reognise they can't win with the money they hve by doing conventional things, what chance do we have?

I mean it's only me, but I'd rather see DBB and Kenwright go, and any from Leahy, Gilvary, David Dein, David Gill etc come in to fill those position(s) and then have a look at the DOF.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

There is definitely something happening with Brands. We can speculate as to the specifics of what but it is interesting he hasn't as yet had his contract extended. Either he is considering his future or the club are.

For what it's worth, I hope he stays, I am generally quite supportive but do understand some of the criticisms. I do think we probably need someone who is a bit more radical on the position. Christ if Liverpool have someone more radical in situ because they reognise they can't win with the money they hve by doing conventional things, what chance do we have?

I mean it's only me, but I'd rather see DBB and Kenwright go, and any from Leahy, Gilvary, David Dein, David Gill etc come in to fill those position(s) and then have a look at the DOF.

If Brands chooses to go you can only assume that either United or another 'big' European club do want him. I'd honestly be surprised if he actively wanted to leave at this point though.

 

[Lanolin]

Worth reading the Athletic piece, and even subscribing, £1 a month for 12 months currently - best Everton content there is to be honest.

Personally, from reading that, I think Brands should get two more years now that the foundations are in place, no excuses from here.

The line that it took him 4 years to get AZ to champions gave me some faith.

His last five transfers have all been good (Branthwaite, Niels, Doucoure, James and Allan). He may not have got the last two without Carlo, but he did the deals and if James was free and Allan for £20m then its terrific business.

He continues to clear out the dead wood and I think stability for a club that has been rocked by instability over the last 10 years is important.

Willing to roll the dice for 2 more and then make a judgement.

You've missed out Godfrey and Olsen there.

I think it's way too early to say Branthwaite and Nkounkou are good signings. There's nothing lost if they aren't, so it's not a criticism, but you could have said at some point that Garbutt, Galloway etc were good signings. They look promising, but until they've either made themselves fixtures in the side or been sold at a big profit, I don't think we can say they're anything more than potentially good signings. Doucoure I think has been pretty underwhelming, and seeing as he was also pretty underwhelming in the previous 4 years he's been over here, I'm a bit wary of saying he's a good signing at the moment too. I also don't think he's really clearing out the dead wood is he? I had this conversation in here last week, I think only Schneiderlin and Klaassen have actually been sold out of the players most of us think are dead wood. The rest have either left when their contract ended or been paid up to go. I don't think he deserves much credit for the likes of Niasse and Martina leaving because they just didn't have their contracts renewed. If he'd renewed them I'd want him certifying nevermind sacking. I don't think many people expected Bolasie, Sigurdsson, Tosun etc to still be here at this point, and obviously we've now got dead wood that he brought in himself as well, which is pretty galling.

I think he'll stay and hopefully he'll start to kick on now, but truth be told I don't think there's a lot of evidence of him doing a good job so far.

 

[AussieToffee11]

You've missed out Godfrey and Olsen there.

I think it's way too early to say Branthwaite and Nkounkou are good signings. There's nothing lost if they aren't, so it's not a criticism, but you could have said at some point that Garbutt, Galloway etc were good signings. They look promising, but until they've either made themselves fixtures in the side or been sold at a big profit, I don't think we can say they're anything more than potentially good signings. Doucoure I think has been pretty underwhelming, and seeing as he was also pretty underwhelming in the previous 4 years he's been over here, I'm a bit wary of saying he's a good signing at the moment too. I also don't think he's really clearing out the dead wood is he? I had this conversation in here last week, I think only Schneiderlin and Klaassen have actually been sold out of the players most of us think are dead wood. The rest have either left when their contract ended or been paid up to go. I don't think he deserves much credit for the likes of Niasse and Martina leaving because they just didn't have their contracts renewed. If he'd renewed them I'd want him certifying nevermind sacking. I don't think many people expected Bolasie, Sigurdsson, Tosun etc to still be here at this point, and obviously we've now got dead wood that he brought in himself as well, which is pretty galling.

I think he'll stay and hopefully he'll start to kick on now, but truth be told I don't think there's a lot of evidence of him doing a good job so far.

I think the criticisms are fair and I understand the frustration.

I think, that overall his impact isn't black and white either way you look at it, so in the interests of stability and the fact that he inherited an absolute basket case, has my (completely irrelevant and inconsequential) opinion leaning towards hoping he gets another two year deal.

 

[zzr45]

There is definitely something happening with Brands. We can speculate as to the specifics of what but it is interesting he hasn't as yet had his contract extended. Either he is considering his future or the club are.

For what it's worth, I hope he stays, I am generally quite supportive but do understand some of the criticisms. I do think we probably need someone who is a bit more radical on the position. Christ if Liverpool have someone more radical in situ because they reognise they can't win with the money they hve by doing conventional things, what chance do we have?

I mean it's only me, but I'd rather see DBB and Kenwright go, and any from Leahy, Gilvary, David Dein, David Gill etc come in to fill those position(s) and then have a look at the DOF.

Apparently the contract thing has been blown out of proportion a bit, it’s standard practice at the club for staff at that level to not get renewed early. Whether that works particularly well is a question.

I think the RS are developing based on a sports science methodology far beyond our own, in many ways understandable given the experience of the owners in other sports that have a bias there. It’s spending money in the right places which maybe we are guilty of not doing.

It’s interesting and in many ways he has a huge challenge in the ingrained culture of the club.

 

[LocalNative]

Worth reading the Athletic piece, and even subscribing, £1 a month for 12 months currently - best Everton content there is to be honest.

Personally, from reading that, I think Brands should get two more years now that the foundations are in place, no excuses from here.

The line that it took him 4 years to get AZ to champions gave me some faith.

His last five transfers have all been good (Branthwaite, Niels, Doucoure, James and Allan). He may not have got the last two without Carlo, but he did the deals and if James was free and Allan for £20m then its terrific business.

He continues to clear out the dead wood and I think stability for a club that has been rocked by instability over the last 10 years is important.

Willing to roll the dice for 2 more and then make a judgement.

You left Godfrey for £20m out, who whilst might turn out good, on paper looks an awful lot of money for a relegated centre back.

I also see a lot of his flaws in the window, he's been unable to shift deadwood even on loan. We've been left with no depth at fullback and upfront, with also no pace in the side.

I think stability is good for a club, but his performance has been a C at best over the three years.

 

[catcherintherye]

Apparently the contract thing has been blown out of proportion a bit, it’s standard practice at the club for staff at that level to not get renewed early. Whether that works particularly well is a question.

I think the RS are developing based on a sports science methodology far beyond our own, in many ways understandable given the experience of the owners in other sports that have a bias there. It’s spending money in the right places which maybe we are guilty of not doing.

It’s interesting and in many ways he has a huge challenge in the ingrained culture of the club.

I have seen that too, but my counter would be, is it an impediment for someone to develop a structure if he's not tied down to a long term deal? I don't know. I mean Brands does still seem to be viewing things in a long term way.

As for Liverpool, they just seem to ask the right questions to me. They put a lot of resource into recruitment and do so in quite an unusual way. They rarely want to go head to head for the signing of a player with a rival as they can't win on that basis. I'd be interested if Brands has given it such thought.

I agree with the culture of the club. I will keep banging the drum re chairman and CEO mind. Lets just say we were to get Leahy in as chairman and Gilvary in as CEO. I think the club changes very quickly. I also think, Brands would be asked to account for the signings last summer that were a bit hit and miss. I'm just not sure that really happens currently, and in truth even if it did, why would in all honesty take seriously what DBB and Kenwright had to say on the subject matter?

 

[Bullens Rd]

The signings of James and Allan are nothing to with Brands, and if you remove them from the club we're no better than a West Ham or a Palace. Would be delighted to see Brands move on from the club. He's left us desperately short in many areas of the squad and it looks like, again, it'll be a season of change and accepting very early on that we'll be doing nothing this year.

 

[kenada_blue]

Article on The Athletic doesn’t paint him in the best light today. If Utd want him I’ll gladly give him a lift.

Think it's a fair piece.

People underestimated the damage Walsh, Ronk and Sam did in the transfer windows. He's spent more time trying to sell players than buying - he's signed 20 players in 3 windows. He's had to deal with 20+ loan deals or transfers per season of outgoings on top of that.

I do agree he's bought a couple of duds but the overhaul is taking longer than expected.

 

[zzr45]

I have seen that too, but my counter would be, is it an impediment for someone to develop a structure if he's not tied down to a long term deal? I don't know. I mean Brands does still seem to be viewing things in a long term way.

As for Liverpool, they just seem to ask the right questions to me. They put a lot of resource into recruitment and do so in quite an unusual way. They rarely want to go head to head for the signing of a player with a rival as they can't win on that basis. I'd be interested if Brands has given it such thought.

I agree with the culture of the club. I will keep banging the drum re chairman and CEO mind. Lets just say we were to get Leahy in as chairman and Gilvary in as CEO. I think the club changes very quickly. I also think, Brands would be asked to account for the signings last summer that were a bit hit and miss. I'm just not sure that really happens currently, and in truth even if it did, why would in all honesty take seriously what DBB and Kenwright had to say on the subject matter?

Oh yeah I definitely agree that it’s an absolute impediment. Even that just being a distraction in someone’s mind rather than letting them fully focus on the job seems daft.

I think we’ve seen with signings that we haven’t perhaps been as smart - the price being pushed up on Mina is a prime example and there are some questions there. We seem to have a very definite plan with no backup plans when it comes to transfer targets.