A Terrier's Tale.....

Last nights Patrons meeting was extremely interesting by all accounts - particularly as the guest was Dean Hoyle. Here are a few points answered by our chairman in waiting (thanks to Marcus Middleton for the information):

• Stan knows that the academy won’t help him be successful in the short term, it’s the First XI that always keeps managers in jobs and the results they get. The academy can bring a trickle of talent through, but the club needed new blood and new attitudes.
• The First XI and the Academy have crossed swords, Stan & Gerry have crossed swords. There have been differences of opinion, but Stan met with Gerry at The Barn on Monday and they have sat and chatted and discussed things in order to move on. The club are fully aware of their differences and they are being monitored as they don’t want any skirmishes to put off future talent joining our academy.
• As a fan Dean is “pissed off” with our current league position but he has every confidence in Stan, his staff, and the players to turn it around and once we get that first win we will be flying as the pressure will be lifted. Stan is notoriously slow to get out of the blocks, but he has always got results with a bit of patience etc.
• The wage budget has increased from £1.7m last season to £3.25m this season. We are currently at that level. New players could come in to take us over that budget in the short term but they want to be prudent and stay within budget in the long term. There is still money available signings/transfer budget though. So really in the future, ideally, a player will have to leave to free up wages to bring in another signing etc. Dean has personally provided the funds for the transfer budget (which suggests that he and Ken are jointly responsible for the wage budget) and as such it is his decision on how much money could be made available if/when he needs to support Stan in the transfer market.
• We had a £850k bid for Stead turned down at the start of the season as Sheff Utd were unsure what was happening with their other strikers at the time. We bid again after the League Cup game but Sheff Utd advised us to leave him alone….a few days later he signs on loan for Ipswich. At that price Stead would have been “good business”.
• We’ve had a slow start but all teams have blips at one time or another, we just happen to have had one at the start of the season. He backs Stan 100%, but he realises he has to back him as he is his manager and he has upmost faith in him. He didn’t think initially that Stan was the right man (Ken & Watson chose him….. Watson previously worked with him at Burnley) but he has now changed his mind after having worked with him; he is the right man to be in charge and he will get the team back on track in the league.

One point that caught my eye is the interest in Jon Stead. Now if we had signed him pre-season, there wouldn't have been too many complaints, however after his ineffectual display against us in the first half of the cup I (and I cannot be the only) who would be a little dismayed had we managed to get him. And for that amount of dough as well.

Dean Hoyle is a top, top bloke, and his answers have been extremely informative. Will be an interesting evening when it is Stans turn to guest!!