Ben Manga

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by reids, Nov 7, 2022.

  1. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yes I only meant that to apply to the first part ie he didn't know the league before joining.
    Perhaps if I had written "..., and that the sort..." rather than just "...and the sort..." I might have made it clearer.
     
  2. Knight GT

    Knight GT Predictor extraordinaire 2013/14

    Yep, this bit stands out quite worryingly
     
  3. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team

    And Ferreira.

    I'd be very surprised if he had much to do with Britt or Porteous. Kone was also seemingly agreed before he came in and more of a Pozzo deal.
    The only more ambiguous signing is Hoedt.
     
  4. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Who is his agent I wonder? ;)
     
  5. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    “His aura will benefit our project.” Trying not to vomit….
     
  6. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    Dunno about you but I'm onboard.
     
  7. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    One in the eye for those ITK types who were convinced we were paying him just to have an eight month long handover and not do any actual work...
     
  8. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team

    The fact he suggests we'll already be prepared to spend more than 2mil for players is surely a positive for those saying we won't have any money to spend in the summer.
     
  9. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Didn’t Julian ****s suggest he and Costa were a bit clueless in comments he made to someone on here ?

    We’ll see I guess .
     
  10. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    That or it's a worrying sign we are going to be spending beyond our means again. I know we have a bit of cash sloshing around due to the Pedro sale for example but I hope we can spend it within our limits and really make sure the deals we get over the line are the deals that are going to take the club forward.
     
    PowerJugs likes this.
  11. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Not being a COG, but are these admissions that concerning? Is it that unusual for a member of staff not intimately familiar with a league to take time to get to grips with it? Yes, the end of last season was poor, but there can't be any better way to get to know the league than getting involved in it, so hopefully lessons have been learned (to use a popular phrase!)
     
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  12. Loyalhornet

    Loyalhornet Reservist

    Yeh don’t think that is particularly concerning. He’s new to the championship , which is quite different to the leagues he’s worked in before , so it’s taken him some time to familiarise himself with what is needed . That’s to be expected . So we should see him
    Going out for more suitable players in the current window.
     
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  13. Carpster

    Carpster Squad Player

    Maybe he didn't but everyone else at the club did. At least he's shown us some honesty which we've lacked for many a year.
     
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  14. Knight GT

    Knight GT Predictor extraordinaire 2013/14

    Hope you’re right but be in the scouting business you would think he know a bit more than he’s suggesting
     
  15. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    If I were Pozzo I might not unreasonably argue: “we were in the playoffs. I gave you £15m to augment the squad. We finished 11rh. Grade: F. Up your game”
     
    Knight GT likes this.
  16. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    And he/the club might well expect another promotion push next season .

    I doubt they will settle for a season of consolidation or work in progress .
     
  17. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    I mean, the realistic prospect of that is another question, but unless there's something happening that nobody else has any idea about behind the scenes, it is absolutely imperative that we have another promotion push next season. If we don't go up this coming year, our financial situation will be devastating, by all available accounts, and the Pozzo scales will unavoidably tip from 'net neutral - a decade squandered and back to where we started' to 'possibly quite severe damage done to the club'.
     
    Robert Peel, UEA_Hornet and wfc4ever like this.
  18. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    That interview makes the VI appointment make a lot more sense, basically he didn’t have a clue about the championship, recruited incredibly poorly, and now his assessment of the Championship after 6 months is that it’s basically long ball, physical football akin to what Barnsley played. If he’s right then great, but no guarantee that he is and no guarantee he’s fully grasped exactly the type of player that’s needed.

    Football moves on quickly, Brighton are doing well because of the analytics from Bloom’s company, there is no guarantee that Mangas approach that worked in a different league will now transpose to the championship when it’s now been proven what he was doing before doesn’t work. We’ve already seen that play out with Gino and what works at Udinese.
     
  19. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    After reading the interview, it seems clear that Manga is going against his instincts with hoof-ball, or "Val-ball" as it's termed now. He's having to adapt to it, and while I admire his honesty, I am concerned he was so na*ve to the rigours of the Championship in the first place. But, we all live and learn as we go along, so as long as he does learn, applying his intelligence to what is required, we should do ok. We're banking on his judgement being what we need.

    It looks like he's itching to get back to his comfort zone though, of what he knows best, judging good technical players for the top leagues. So, we'll see if another season of underachievement will see him go....be it with Gino's boot up his backside, or him resigning so he can go somewhere that matches his ambition and skillset.
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2023
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  20. Robert Peel

    Robert Peel Squad Player

    It's certainly more positive, but Manga also has to deal with spoilt man-baby Gino and his refusal to spend time building a team and demanding instant success.

    Pozzo refused to build something when we had time to and due to his mismanagement, we no longer have that time as we are up to our eyes in debt.
     
    dynamo380 likes this.
  21. reids

    reids First Team

    Not knowing the league in your previous job is understandable I guess, but if I were in his position I would've most definitely watched a ******** of Championship games before signing players. I get there must've been a pretty quick turnaround considering he joined us on the 22nd Dec and then just over a week till the window opened but I imagine discussions were happening at least a month before that.

    At least there was some accountability though for some sort of silver lining. Physicality is indeed a big part of the league, but it's possible to combine that with nice football as Burnley, Boro and Swansea showed this season.
     
  22. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team

    Yes, that seemed pretty unprofessional and complacent of him tbh.
     
  23. Markoa$

    Markoa$ Squad Player

    He better have already signed 15 new players before 1st July.
     
  24. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    Big few weeks coming up for our technical director. To my mind, binning people off is the easy part of refreshing a squad, particularly if you've got a sister club where you can park some of your expensive flops.

    Bringing the right players in is where he'll earn his corn. Can't find the exact quote from him but I'm sure he said something like he was expecting to sign young players around the €2m mark - will be interesting to see if that happens in next few weeks and if he's given some budget to do that or if he's been instructed to rummage around the free/loan transfer bargain bin this summer.

    Would love to be a fly on the wall and see if this is exactly what Manga expected and it's all going according to plan or whether he's starting to get a bit twitchy about expectations not matching reality.

    Either way, he was unequivocal that he holds ultimate responsibility for all transfers and no player will be here without his agreement. So when the window "slams shut" he can be judged on the state of the squad. He's already admitted he messed up the January window, think the next few weeks are going to be crucial for his future at the club.

    P.S. I know there's already a thread for him but for some bizarre reason it uses his full birth name, even though he doesn't go by that and no-one else calls him it either. Seems at best a bit weird and at worst quite disrespectful to ignore what he actually calls himself.
     
  25. wfcwarehouse

    wfcwarehouse First Team Captain

    As per usual, our dullard fans have been reeled in. Scott, Gino and The Stability don’t even have to try any more. A few warm and cuddly sound bites about things changing, renewed focus, a different direction and people lap it up.

    It’s the exact same with Manga - Giarretta, whatever his role actually is these days can’t even let a head coach take a training session without running to daddy telling tales, so why does anyone think Manga and Costa will be given any autonomy over player movements? It’s a pipe dream.

    Manga has been recruited to be the face of the fire sale and will ultimately be the fall guy when he gets dismissed (or, most likely, walks) when he reaches his limit with how much of a basket case, dumpster fire of a club we are.
     
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  26. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    I doubt he has much in who went tbh ..

    And probably wasn’t exactly the one who had the final say on Ince and Livermore particularly coming in .

    Or he has looked at targets but none have wanted to come as any younger player would probably rather go to a club with stability and some sort of long term planning.
     
  27. ProfessorAbdi

    ProfessorAbdi First Year Pro

    I'm sure I've seen us linked to Healey, Ince and Livermore long before Manga arrived. None of the arrivals so far have convinced me that Manga is running the recruitment but at least the players we have signed have experience at this level.
     
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  28. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    I've never been that keen.

    Very overrated fruit in my opinion.

    I prefer pineapple, raspberries and pomegranate.

    Put them in charge.
     
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  29. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    I still can't work out what on earth possessed him to come here. I know he's answered questions about it from French and spoken to German media etc but so far it looks like he's set himself up as the fall guy. I can forgive January's dealings but I thought we'd hit summer on the run with a handful of deals already lined up to bring in a few weird and wonderful players even if the fees weren't super high. Instead it looks like we're shopping for cast offs in the wheelie bin out the back of a hospital somewhere.

    There's a lot riding on the next 4 weeks. Presumably he's an ambitious bloke who wanted to broaden his horizons after Frankfurt and keep building his reputation. I can't see how overseeing a managed decline would fit with that, let alone the hand he's been dealt, which appears to all intents to be overseeing a fire sale and being given a budget of near zero to spend on replacements. Either promises have been made and not kept, in which case he'll surely be off or the transfer market this summer is completely illiquid and everything is jammed while the Saudis and likes of Man City get their dealings done at the top table first.
     
  30. TomWatfordFC

    TomWatfordFC Reservist

    Someone on a Twitter space said we doubled his Frankfurt wage. One would imagine that would be a big reason why he moved (if true).
     
  31. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Double bubble and fair chance of payoff if he crosses the dreadful stooge Giaretta. It’s not a bad spot.
     
  32. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    I think that only works for him if he engineers a quick exit though. Stick around too long and he'll struggle to convince his next potential club(s) that he wasn't part of the problem here too.

    I still think we can't rule out he'll be gone before the January transfer window opens. No doubt framed as a mutual agreement, him having overseen some behind the scenes restructuring of the scouting setup which the club thanks him for and him declaring he's ready for his next challenge after fulfilling his brief here.
     
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  33. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    Definitely not entirely implausible, but I still think that, coupled with the money, his willingness to come here probably tells us a fair bit about exactly how we are broadly viewed at this point by the hierarchies of other clubs - there's just so little jeopardy for a new hire at this point.
     
  34. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    As I said on the Ferreira thread, he's not perfect, but he actually has a track record in the game which is more than can be said for Gino and Duxbury. We at least seem to have a clear idea of who we want to bring in (albeit hamstrung by finances), and yes, he made mistakes in January, Araújo was an unqualified failure, but Ferreira did show us something in brief periods, I think it's fair to say he could at least have been a decent squad member
     
    dynamo380 likes this.
  35. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I doubt the Manga experiment will last very long. An expensive addition who has had little impact so far, seems to be ignored, and can't be happy, despite his doubled salary.
     
    simpleMASH likes this.

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