This is what I posted in January but thought better of it and deleted it. Feck it, it doesn't really matter now and we need something to discuss:
Who wants some club gossip? Seems like as good a place as any to put it. From multiple sources:
January.
Relevant club staff have been told to work until 1am on transfer deadline day. Suggests that at the very least we will be working to bring someone in.
The club.
Agreement seems to be that the club structure went to pot after we qualified for Europe. Apparently following this we brought in a load of extra staff in departments. The people I spoke to think we are overstaffed in certain areas to do with the club, with loads of staff doing jobs that are different from their job description. The board itself is apparently decent but the department heads are pretty rubbish and are largely the reason that things have gone backwards. Almost all decisions have to be run past the board for approval which means we have had a high turnover of backroom staff as many want to stay but small things like little pay rises or contract changes can take ages to be approved and staff get fed up and find alternative employment.
We had a solid system for recruiting players and under krueger and Wilson things changed. Ross and krueger were largely responsible for the transfer debacle of the last couple of years. The club are aware that Les carried the can for a load of the decisions but apparently he was blamed for a load of stuff that wasn't his fault. Wilson was largely to blame. The carillo transfer in particular, loads of scouts said he wasn't worth the cash but Ross was adament that he would do well.
Leicester.
After the 9-0 and before the Everton game there was a big crisis meeting with about 600 staff addressed by Martin selmayr. Apparently he is miles better than krueger and Ross and has taken more of a responsibility in football matters. He was very honest and said that apparently we were incredibly close to signing about 5 of the Leicester team - Maddison in particular changed his mind at the last minute- and he emphasised the fine line between success and failure. Ralph was ready to walk after Leicester and offered his resignation but the club decided that they didn't want him to leave. Martin said that a manager should only leave if they had lost the players and they didn't believe that this was the case so they were determined to back him. He said that whilst he was in charge, never again would players be signed on the say so of one person (meaning carillo.)
The academy bloke who left for England and due to start in February has been all over the club recently and apparently is an incredibly positive appointment as he knows the club and will return things to higher standards and remove some of the department heads if not performing. Jaidi apparently is still working for the club and there may be an expectation that he has gone to learn in America and will return in the future.
Ralph.
Decided to come to the club and use us largely as a stepping stone. Came in and promised to stay and get us up the table but then wants to leave and move on. Unlikely to stay for too long if we have some success.
Lost rohl once he knew bayern wanted him. Big loss because he was the link between Ralph and the players. Even now Ralph is slightly isolated. Ralph really doesn't trust many of the hangers on like coles and kelvin. If you notice he rarely interacts with them and doesn't do much conferring on match days other than with the bald guy (can't remember his name.)
The players
Many of the players have had and in some cases continue to have incredibly poor attitudes. There's been a marked decrease in commitment from a few seasons ago. Players were told to come to a sponsors event in November and were told that any players who did not attend would be fined £7k. Out of twenty odd players, only 7 showed up including jwp and ings. Certain departments have been told not to do anything too in depth with Bertrand which suggests he is off. He apparently has a poor attitude and was why he wasn't being played much at the start of the season.
Charlie Austin is a gigantic b*llend. Made sexually suggestive and lewd comments to female staff members and was generally a ball bag. Most in the club very pleased to see the back of him
Danso was really signed for potential and was worth a punt. Apparently has a 3.5 million fee if we decide to keep him. View of the club is that he has a lot of potential and may be worth it for such a small outlay.
The kit.
Anniversary next year. Almost certainly. Isn't going to be stripes, we may see a return of the sash. Someone got sacked for leaking the kit last year so understandably people don't want to reveal anything much this year.
Gao
Nothing we don't already know but has no intention of putting money in or taking any out. Only ever wanted the club to raise his profile abroad and as an asset to assist him in his other businesses. Some people are nervous about the sponsor this year and fear it could be something dodgy like money laundering.