New sporting Director is David Downes

cside said:
He is head of recruitment at Sheffield Wednesday, but you’re holding him responsible for their league position? Give it a rest.
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I think if you ask Massive fans who's responsible for where they are, most would name the chairman, Dejphon Chansiri, one of the most erratic owners around.

Under him they've dropped a division and by July 2021 accumulated debt of £124m, the result of failing to reach the Premier League despite throwing huge amounts of money at it (an "ambitious" owner willing to spend way more than the club can afford - Welsh Phil would love him 😉)
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/sheffield-wednesday-named-europes-worst-24335104

Downes is probably glad to escape the Hillsborough madhouse.
 
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As someone has said elsewhere - bringing in someone who’s spent the last 3 years working on bringing in players to a League 1 club who are capable of stepping up a division or being sold on for profit is a sensible move. Whilst Wednesday clearly have had a budget bigger than ours I can’t imagine the difference in terms of what we can / will offer would be that dramatic given Wednesdays debt levels and no doubt need to move to more sensible levels of wage expenditure.
 
Seaseaseasider said:
I don't know a lot about Sheffield Wednesday, but my worry would be that they have failed so far to get out of L1 with a much higher budget and wage bill than we would ever be able to afford. So, with that in mind has this guy really done well there?

Perhaps has found some really good players for a bargain and there are other reasons why they haven't gone up? Would be happy to be told that is the case.
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Or perhaps he is cheap
 
AmericanTangerine said:
Most of their fans on twitter are quite upset at this, seems to be highly thought of.

Many stating he did very decent for what he had to work with and IMO Wednesday have been very unlucky not to have been promoted the last two seasons.

Decent hire IMO.
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Has it been confirmed yet or just another rumour?
 
A couple of points to add:
Firstly, he was Head of Recruitment at Sheff Weds, but Sporting Director here so will likely have a wider remit that may be more suited to his abilities.
Secondly, according to some comments I've read, he's had to work under some kind of transfer embargo/restrictions for almost his entire time at Sheff Weds. I'm not sure how true that is, but he won't have that here.
 
I think SS has analised this situation extremely well, he now realises he requires someone who can focus on recruitement & nothing more, has good past experience & the new man will concentrate on bringing the right players into the squad. Also SS has organised the other guys to take care of finance etc by all accounts. He could'nt have done this any better, this all makes sense. The toolheads on here will no doubt scrutinise every move, ,any opportunity to criticise Mr Downes will appear soon, sad to say . Incidently we made offers/enquiries for one or two Sheff Wed players this past 12 months !
 
FLATBACKFOR said:
I think SS has analised this situation extremely well, he now realises he requires someone who can focus on recruitement & nothing more, has good past experience & the new man will concentrate on bringing the right players into the squad. Also SS has organised the other guys to take care of finance etc by all accounts. He could'nt have done this any better, this all makes sense. The toolheads on here will no doubt scrutinise every move, ,any opportunity to criticise Mr Downes will appear soon, sad to say . Incidently we made offers/enquiries for one or two Sheff Wed players this past 12 months !
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We made an offer for the guy who sounds like a Western African country.
 
FLATBACKFOR said:
I think SS has analised this situation extremely well, he now realises he requires someone who can focus on recruitement & nothing more, has good past experience & the new man will concentrate on bringing the right players into the squad. Also SS has organised the other guys to take care of finance etc by all accounts. He could'nt have done this any better, this all makes sense. The toolheads on here will no doubt scrutinise every move, ,any opportunity to criticise Mr Downes will appear soon, sad to say . Incidently we made offers/enquiries for one or two Sheff Wed players this past 12 months !
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The calibre of recent appointments is looking good.

The Coventry guys were highly thought of and it only really went wrong due to unforseen circumstances.

A potential issue with recruitment was identified and they were the solution. The intent was unquestionably there.

Although it seems Badlan picked Mick.

The Sheffield Wednesday guy sounds decent.

I think the club is learning and improving, having a sporting director seems the model we want and we've still yet to see the benefits of it, given the unfortunate ending of Badlan. SS seems to be getting his house in order.

Seems like Mansford was doing a lot in the past.

We've got some good people within the club already, adding some more.

A few key decisions like this and the manager and it can all turn around again.

We must be doing something right to be getting these people from big or even massive...clubs.
 
Sunpool said:

Sources: Sheffield Wednesday's David Downes agree Blackpool sporting director role​

Sheffield Wednesday’s head of recruitment David Downes has agreed a deal to become sporting director at Blackpool, sources have told Football Insider.

He is set to leave his position at the League One club to join up with the Championship strugglers at Bloomfield Road.
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Darren Moore says it is pure speculation.
 
cside said:
He is head of recruitment at Sheffield Wednesday, but you’re holding him responsible for their league position? Give it a rest.
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Isn't recruitment a large driver of success? God forbid anyone using some critical thinking or trying to analyse things. Yeah, let's just all give it a rest, that's what forums are for after all. Fool.
 
Seaseaseasider said:
Isn't recruitment a large driver of success? God forbid anyone using some critical thinking or trying to analyse things. Yeah, let's just all give it a rest, that's what forums are for after all. Fool.
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Look at the posts on this forum, based on that success is solely the responsibility of the manager, the owner, and the CEO. Head of recruitment is miles behind. You made a nonsense point and I called it out.
 
cside said:
Look at the posts on this forum, based on that success is solely the responsibility of the manager, the owner, and the CEO. Head of recruitment is miles behind. You made a nonsense point and I called it out.
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Nonsense point? Critical thinking is clearly lost on you.
 
6 days ago we got this ... presume it must be down to Sheff Wed why he's not yet here however I wonder if he is having any input in to the new manager?

“A new Sporting Director has been appointed who we will unveil when we are able to do so, whilst the process of recruiting a new Head Coach continues at pace.”
 
BFCPaul said:
6 days ago we got this ... presume it must be down to Sheff Wed why he's not yet here however I wonder if he is having any input in to the new manager?

“A new Sporting Director has been appointed who we will unveil when we are able to do so, whilst the process of recruiting a new Head Coach continues at pace.”
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I assume that whoever it is they are already in a job and therefore will have to serve a notice/hardening leave period with their current employer. This is why SS says we will announce him when we can but you would assume whoever the new Sporting Director is he will be aware of how the recruitment process is going and the likely candidates even if he cannot have any direct input yet.
 
Wonder if because of Wednesday's involvement in the Play Offs they don't want any distractions and won't release him or this move publicly until their involvement in the Play offs is over which doesn't help us one bit!
 
Well, after last night's first leg 4-0 drubbing by Peterborough, it looks like he will be free after the 18th May. I assume he is the son of ex-Blackpool player / coach Bobby Downes, who was also Head of recruitment at Wednesday at one stage?
 
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This is what's wrong with football and our club in general.
I used to tip up on a Saturday afternoon after a few beers to watch the seasiders.
I had no idea who the directors, coaching staff or anyone else at the club were.
I just went to Bloomfield Rd and cheered on the team for 90 minutes.

I think, because of the boycott years, we have become TOO engaged as fans wanting to know the tiniest details of the club. TBH it doesn't matter who becomes the sporting director, u18's development squad manager or tea lady, there is NOTHING as fans we can do about it other than moan or praise on any given day.

I get that, as fans, we want the best for our club but sometimes it may be better to sit back and let the people in charge make the decisions , right or wrong!!!
 
Wizzerboy said:
This is what's wrong with football and our club in general.
I used to tip up on a Saturday afternoon after a few beers to watch the seasiders.
I had no idea who the directors, coaching staff or anyone else at the club were.
I just went to Bloomfield Rd and cheered on the team for 90 minutes.

I think, because of the boycott years, we have become TOO engaged as fans wanting to know the tiniest details of the club. TBH it doesn't matter who becomes the sporting director, u18's development squad manager or tea lady, there is NOTHING as fans we can do about it other than moan or praise on any given day.

I get that, as fans, we want the best for our club but sometimes it may be better to sit back and let the people in charge make the decisions , right or wrong!!!
Click to expand...
All clubs fans want to know who runs what these days.
 
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Wizzerboy said:
This is what's wrong with football and our club in general.
I used to tip up on a Saturday afternoon after a few beers to watch the seasiders.
I had no idea who the directors, coaching staff or anyone else at the club were.
I just went to Bloomfield Rd and cheered on the team for 90 minutes.

I think, because of the boycott years, we have become TOO engaged as fans wanting to know the tiniest details of the club. TBH it doesn't matter who becomes the sporting director, u18's development squad manager or tea lady, there is NOTHING as fans we can do about it other than moan or praise on any given day.

I get that, as fans, we want the best for our club but sometimes it may be better to sit back and let the people in charge make the decisions , right or wrong!!!
Click to expand...
Agree with that, I’m only really interested in the squad, the manage/coach and whether the owner has our best interests at heart. Of course football has changed, there didn’t used to be all these specialist positions and there was no social media, and through that median, we all understand more and want to know more.
 
Wizzerboy said:
This is what's wrong with football and our club in general.
I used to tip up on a Saturday afternoon after a few beers to watch the seasiders.
I had no idea who the directors, coaching staff or anyone else at the club were.
I just went to Bloomfield Rd and cheered on the team for 90 minutes.

I think, because of the boycott years, we have become TOO engaged as fans wanting to know the tiniest details of the club. TBH it doesn't matter who becomes the sporting director, u18's development squad manager or tea lady, there is NOTHING as fans we can do about it other than moan or praise on any given day.

I get that, as fans, we want the best for our club but sometimes it may be better to sit back and let the people in charge make the decisions , right or wrong!!!
Click to expand...
Absolutely right. Well said.
 
incredible_edibles said:
Wonder if because of Wednesday's involvement in the Play Offs they don't want any distractions and won't release him or this move publicly until their involvement in the Play offs is over which doesn't help us one bit!
Click to expand...
Well, the retained list has to be done very soon.

We can't wait to do that so the new Sporting Director can't be involved.

So who's deciding? Dobbie? Others involved?
 
Wizzerboy said:
This is what's wrong with football and our club in general.
I used to tip up on a Saturday afternoon after a few beers to watch the seasiders.
I had no idea who the directors, coaching staff or anyone else at the club were.
I just went to Bloomfield Rd and cheered on the team for 90 minutes.

I think, because of the boycott years, we have become TOO engaged as fans wanting to know the tiniest details of the club. TBH it doesn't matter who becomes the sporting director, u18's development squad manager or tea lady, there is NOTHING as fans we can do about it other than moan or praise on any given day.

I get that, as fans, we want the best for our club but sometimes it may be better to sit back and let the people in charge make the decisions , right or wrong!!!
Click to expand...
Bang on Wizz me old pal
 
Wizzerboy said:
This is what's wrong with football and our club in general.
I used to tip up on a Saturday afternoon after a few beers to watch the seasiders.
I had no idea who the directors, coaching staff or anyone else at the club were.
I just went to Bloomfield Rd and cheered on the team for 90 minutes.

I think, because of the boycott years, we have become TOO engaged as fans wanting to know the tiniest details of the club. TBH it doesn't matter who becomes the sporting director, u18's development squad manager or tea lady, there is NOTHING as fans we can do about it other than moan or praise on any given day.

I get that, as fans, we want the best for our club but sometimes it may be better to sit back and let the people in charge make the decisions , right or wrong!!!
Click to expand...
100% pal.
 
Dougz said:
Dunno but if Sheff Weds go thru his arrival will be delayed thus delaying our managerial appointment too.
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Why? Assuming it is him perhaps he’s serving his notice and I’m sure we wouldn’t get in the way of him savouring his moment with the MASSIVE. But who knows 🤷‍♂️
 
A champagne covered David Downes makes his way to Bloomfield Road for a cold black coffee and League One football .. and you thought you were having a bad day!!
 
If he's coming then the deal would be already set in stone, or contract, so yesterday won't impact.

Not bothered either way.
 
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