Scott Duxbury Interview - Ftre

Thought I'd share this interview on From the rookery end. A really good listen and they asked him some good probing questions.

Interesting point he made about Capoue. Him leaving seemed to be a big positive for the team.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0U...i=-Lyt7ETYQWa4EoasQLVI9Q&utm_source=copy-link

 

I was just going to post something similar. Very good interview. Although he didn't name Capoue, I think it's clear he was referring to him about being a negative influence around the place. I think Mike alluded to it being Danny Welbeck, but I think it was Capoue.

I do get what Duxbury is saying, and I'm sure it will be an easy sell to some, getting our DNA back, back to basics etc, however, to me it shows a clear intent to go small. I think we're setting ourselves up to be relegated and if/when we do, we'll be in a good position to bounce back. A bit like the Norwich model, or Sheffield United. Sure they have players who want to fight for the club and when they go down they are in a strong position to challenge for promotion, but ultimately they turn out to be cannon fodder for the Premier League.

You do need Premier League players if you are to stay up. You're unlikely to sustain Premier League status just with good, hard working players who want to fight for the shirt. All that means, in reality, will be signing players who's only chance to play in the Premier League would be by signing for us and they will be grateful for the opportunity, but they ultimately turn out to be not really that good. Judging on the players we're being linked to, that all fits.

We do need a balance. We need a smattering of quality to replace the likes of Deulofeu, Capoue, Doucoure, Pererya, Welbeck etc. Even though they may have been part of the reason we went down, they were also a big factor in us staying up for 5 years.

We did go stale, and we lost direction, that's all true, but it doesn't mean we should sacrifice quality over character. We need both in order to survive. I'm a little concerned by what he's saying really. Gone is the ambitious rhetoric of being the best of the rest or chasing Europe. I now get the impression we'll turn into a club who won't suffer if we go down again. It's a big shift of mindset. A strict and rigid wage structure, means there will no room for top incoming players. He seemed to dismiss the question around the stadium, giving the impression that we're ok as we are.

I think the relegation really cut deep, and this season will see a very cautious approach. Signing just young kids with potential plus maybe one or two Udinese misfits. I really don't expect this approach to bare much success, although, I do see it as sensible if our intention is to go back down again without too much debt.

 

I will give a more detailed reply upon listening.

But he's not really going to reel off how much we have to spend!

Plus I'm sure we have some cash to spend especially if we get to shift some deadwood and we have plenty.

I still believe we could survive with two or three very shrewd signings that don't break the bank.

 

Sounds wonderful. Still, most of the day-outers will be happy. Those who want to see a competitive team, not so much.

 

The problem with Duxbury is he's a liar.

 

Clearest sign yet we're still royally farked on the financial front.

 

Didn’t he say Relegation won’t define us... but it clearly will.

 

Maybe the day-outers are more realistic

 

It appears to have defined us....as a small club who can only cheat the natural forces of gravity for so long. It was all the guff about aiming to be the 'best of the rest' that led to us getting relegated anyway.

 

More than happy with the "sustainable" outlook.

Pretty clear that Welbeck was a mistake we won't repeat.

Interesting that Sarr had Covid in the Palace game. Not sure I've heard that before.

 

Sarr and Deeney both reported to be suffering from Covid in the Palace game. Given the way it was spreading then I'd be amazed if plenty of others in and around the squad also had it.

 

Got to the end of the interview. Hard to disagree with anything Scott said there.

 

I'd say Dawson too.

 

100% correct. No surprise our uplift in form coincided with him leaving. Clearly a talented player but a massively negative influence around the place and we are better off without him.

 

Also:

Just shows that a lot of what we 'think' on here is often pretty on the money. Specifically that we made a mistake keeping certain players after the cup final and should not have refused to sell. Seems to me that Duxbury thinks a lot of what went wrong started right there....

 

I don’t think we’ll do much that is that far from what we did first time around. We didn’t spend an awful lot then and Capoue was our biggest outlay.

We stayed up comfortably back then, but unfortunately there are three key differences this time around:

1) We had a genuine PL striker at least for part of the season, whose goals essentially kept us up. We need a miracle to stumble across the same scenario again when we’ve not been anywhere near to finding the same thing since.

2) QSF was absolutely spot on as far as what we needed with the players to hand. Munoz is a lovely bloke, but he’s tactically naive and as an example, won’t get players playing out of position for him for the greater good like QSF managed.

3) A number of sleeping giants have since got their act together and have taken up spots in the league that were essentially vacant last time around. Wolves, Villa, Leeds, Newcastle, also WHU are no longer a relegation candidate. The mid table teams have not had the issue of relegation to deal with so are significantly stronger 6 years on.

 

Very glad to see Dux is making an effort here to communicate.

Some is PR talk but was genuinely good to get his thoughts on where we're at.

Does this mean I'm in danger of becoming a COD?

 

Also completely shoots down this myth of 'free hit' free transfer signings. Welbeck an expensive disaster that contributed heavily towards relegation.

Who'd have thunk it? I laugh when I remember those stories from the club about how they'd spent a year convincing him about the club and he really wanted to be here.

I laugh even harder at those morons who believed it and were so so pleased at the signing.

 

Lets calm down and see what team the club assembles over the summer.

Personally I’m pleased the arrogance around the club of being the best of the rest has gone, and which was never in the clubs DNA.

 

The thing is, for all the talk of being best of the rest, I'm pretty sure our wage bill was never outside the bottom 5. They clearly budgeted to keep everything relatively affordable; I think in some respects, the Sarr signing will burn them a bit. He's clearly a brilliant player, and we'll make a profit on him, but not very much in the big scheme of things, certainly compared to Richarlison.

As others have commented, I think that's kind of what they're going back to - Baah and Pollock are clearly signings where they've paid very little so the risk is low and pay off relatively high. Fletcher is a bit weird. The two Scottish lads I reckon they think that if we can pay £4-£5mn for them, have them a couple of years we'll be able to sell them on for £15-£20mn.

 

A good interview with Scott, although I wished they'd have asked him a bit more about our finances today (is he concerned about the size of our debt? Why have the 19/20 accounts still not been published?), rather than how they were in the immediate aftermath of relegation. They also asked him about future plans for stadium expansion or moving, and he never really got around to answering the question, which was frustrating.

Even if we wanted to sign proven PL quality, it's clear we are in no financial position to do so. The strategy is dictated by our financial position. Inevitably this is going to harm our survivial chances, but we don't really have a choice.

I agree with a lot of your post, but it's worth bearing in mind just how screwed so many clubs in Europe are at the moment. It's going to be a buyers' market, and it wouldn't surprise me if we end up doing a lot of our most significant business right at the end of the window to take advantage of clubs' desperation for cash as they realise that transfer values have probably halved from their peak. So I disagree to say that cheap will mean 'not really that good'. It will though mean a gamble on young players or those with a point to prove, some of whom will have very significant potential, which is really not that dissimilar to what we did in our first couple of seasons in the PL.

 

With the TV deal simply rolling over for three years, if you park Covid to one side temporarily, then in theory Transfer fees and wages should plateau for the first time in a long time anyway. Once you factor Covid in then they should be dropping across the board, so it will be interesting to see what happens in that respect.

 

If they don't learn from it they're fools. If they act like it didn't happen they are fools. If they try and operate like a big 6 club they are fools.

 

what's wrong with behaving in exactly the same way as we did last time we went up? Get rid of all the shyt players and the manager and get a load of foreign mercenaries and udinese rejects in. It's not like we broke the bank back then.

The owners have forgotten what it was that gave us a chance of competing. Since when have the pozzos been about buying young british players? It's laughable to think we will stay up playing that game. We were unconventional and hated but it kept us up for years.

What happened to the ruthlessness? Showing loyalty to players (and a manager) who arent good enough may appease the braindead element of our fanbase, but it wont keep us up. I don't recognise these whoppers in charge anymore.

 

It will last for about 5 minutes next season, both as far as the owners and fans are concerned.

 

I've just listened to it, and the comments about Capoue are quite scathing. No holding back even without directly naming him.

 

Was it definitely Capoue he was talking about?

 

I agree with most of this but potentially Palace Wolves Newcastle Burnley and Brighton are all just a few bad decisions away from relegation. If 1 or 2 of them wobble it'll make our task easier.

 

Not listened to this yet, but ties in with what someone who used to work at the club told me. His words were something along these lines 'People think Deeney is a bad egg and runs the dressing room, the reality is that Capoue does. When he's in a good mood everything is dandy, when he's in a bad mood the whole place stinks'

 

The interview definitely shows a change of tone which is very much what was needed. No mention of our imaginary fans in Asia, changing the badge marketing gimmicks or being the best of the rest. He does seem to have realised that owning his mistakes rather than covering them up is a much better approach.

I'm also really glad that he's confirmed publicly about the issues with some players attitudes in the dressing room and hearing him referring to wanting 'young and hungry' players is great too. However the proof Pozzbury have learnt from the last 2 years will be the ability of the squad they put together to compete next season.

I still feel that while they did a fantastic job moving on so many high earners and created an amazing squad last season, the reason we got promoted was one lucky injury which covered up their mistakes. I dont think the new team spirit was created by Pozzbury, it seems to have been a very fortunate coincidence following Troy's injury and the emergence of many great characters and leaders within the squad who filled the sizeable vacuum left by Troy. Troy will most likely be back next season so god knows what will happen then.

Although Scot's words seem better the proof will be whether he can deliver a competitive team next season. Right now its all just words.

 

and you believed him?? LOL

 

Bit like some of his performances on the pitch. Unplayable some days, booting it into his own net and sulking the next.

 

A very good listen that. Unlike at the fans forum , he expanded much more about what they thought had gone wrong and was very honest about things. Looks like they are going for a slight change of approach or at least rhetoric.

Happy to just stay up for a few years and not necessarily push for Europe. Focus on getting players with the right attitude and the core values of the club.

I can’t argue with any of this. Personally I think
You have to accept that certain players are not going to necessarily bleed red and yellow the whole time if you want success . That’s just the way it is , but then I also like the core values of our club and what it has stood for over the years. Obviously Covid and it’s aftermath has clearly had an impact on this change

The interview confirms what I already know . That we are in very safe hands as a club and the hierarchy actually are willing to change direction if they think it is right for the club .

 

The problem with us attempting to 'do a Norwich' is we would not have Sarr next time in the Championship so it would seem a fool's errand.