| Julien Stephan - Word of warning 09:42 - Aug 17 with 25499 views | Markofthegrove |
I listened to his post match presser from the club and he mentioned fatigue towards the end of the game.
After the team he picked on Tuesday and how that went down, he really should be more careful with his words as this fanbase will eat him alive, they won't accept many more stunts like that. |  | | |  |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:27 - Aug 17 with 2842 views | BrizR |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 17:08 - Aug 17 by BrianMcCarthy |
I found it encouraging too, Bklyn. Broadly speaking, he explained his thinking very well and called the first half poor, and the second half good, and said that the final fade-out was due to fatigue and sub options. Hard to argue with any of that.
Also, I love "Carrie-Ann Maguire"!
I'm not overly concerned about the decision to play Mbengue at left-back. Maybe he played well there in training and just played poorly on the day.
It's also possible that Madsen trained well in central midfield, and he did do ok there last weekend. He also has very few central midfielders available to him, to be fair.
I think he's currently spancilled by fitness, and by a very limited squad. Too early to judge him. [Post edited 17 Aug 17:28]
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Fully agreed. Mbengue wasn't great at left-back, but it's not like the manager was left with many choices. You know Watford have an excellent and quite physical winger who normally plays down the right, and the squad you've been given has a single left-back in it who's currently fit and available, and he's 17 and has played one game of league foobtall in this country ever. The only other option would have been Vale, but he was indifferent there against a much worse side on Tuesday. Mbengue is at least a physical match for Baah and has plenty of experience; in another world we could equally be sitting here talking about the naivete of starting Esquerdinha out there to get ripped apart. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:35 - Aug 17 with 2795 views | Luther |
I think the issues with our start to the season are just all about fitness and conditioning and nothing much to do with JS and the coaching team. I reckon if the squad was in good physical shape, we may well have beaten Preston and pinched a draw yesterday.
Yes of course we would still be questioning some selection decisions and highlighting issues with overall quality in some areas, but by and large it's just the physical state of the squad that seems all wrong to me.
If this is all a cunning plan devised by some people with planet-size brains to have us in peak physical shape for the run-in next spring, then I must be a rock throwing neanderthal because it makes zero sense whatsoever to me. |  |
| "Opinionated weather forecasters telling me it's going to be a miserable day. Miserable to who? I quite like a bit of drizzle, so stick to the facts."
Nigel Blackwell |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:56 - Aug 17 with 2690 views | BrizR |
Yeah, and even putting aside whether it was a good idea to want Larkeche to be your starting left back for the season, the bloke doing his ACL the week before your first game is horribly unfortunate. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:56 - Aug 17 with 2689 views | KensalT |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:35 - Aug 17 by Luther |
I think the issues with our start to the season are just all about fitness and conditioning and nothing much to do with JS and the coaching team. I reckon if the squad was in good physical shape, we may well have beaten Preston and pinched a draw yesterday.
Yes of course we would still be questioning some selection decisions and highlighting issues with overall quality in some areas, but by and large it's just the physical state of the squad that seems all wrong to me.
If this is all a cunning plan devised by some people with planet-size brains to have us in peak physical shape for the run-in next spring, then I must be a rock throwing neanderthal because it makes zero sense whatsoever to me. |
Paolo Di Canio at Sunderland had some obsessive ideas about player fitness and ran them into the ground in preseason:
https://metro.co.uk/2013/07/26/paolo-di-canios-pre-season-fitness-frenzy-should-
The players looked exhausted when the season started and got off to a disastrous start.
PDC said not to worry, they'll feel the benefit later in the season and everything will be fine.
Sunderland's performances and results did pick up in the second half of that season, but it was too late for PDC who was gone before the end of September:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/24199482
I can't see the point of it myself unless you expect to be chasing trophies in the latter part of the season. And we really don't have the squad depth for that! [Post edited 17 Aug 22:04]
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 22:32 - Aug 17 with 2551 views | loneranger1 |
Totally agree about the lack of player availability/fitness levels being a bigger concern currently than the manager's ability.
Don't want to totally change the topic but out of interest, does anyone know when (if ever) JCS is supposed to be back to match fitness? Increasingly feels like a bit waste of wage budget.
I last saw him at a charity football tournament in Tolworth, watching some mates I assume (didn't talk to him as he didn't look in the mood for a chat) - but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw him play now. [Post edited 17 Aug 22:35]
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 01:04 - Aug 18 with 2368 views | EN_Ranger |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:35 - Aug 17 by Luther |
I think the issues with our start to the season are just all about fitness and conditioning and nothing much to do with JS and the coaching team. I reckon if the squad was in good physical shape, we may well have beaten Preston and pinched a draw yesterday.
Yes of course we would still be questioning some selection decisions and highlighting issues with overall quality in some areas, but by and large it's just the physical state of the squad that seems all wrong to me.
If this is all a cunning plan devised by some people with planet-size brains to have us in peak physical shape for the run-in next spring, then I must be a rock throwing neanderthal because it makes zero sense whatsoever to me. |
Totally agree, but it’s absolutely mental that a bunch of professional athletes can’t be in top shape for the start of the season. And if not top shape then at least as fit as our opponents | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 01:34 - Aug 18 with 2321 views | ozexile |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 21:35 - Aug 17 by Luther |
I think the issues with our start to the season are just all about fitness and conditioning and nothing much to do with JS and the coaching team. I reckon if the squad was in good physical shape, we may well have beaten Preston and pinched a draw yesterday.
Yes of course we would still be questioning some selection decisions and highlighting issues with overall quality in some areas, but by and large it's just the physical state of the squad that seems all wrong to me.
If this is all a cunning plan devised by some people with planet-size brains to have us in peak physical shape for the run-in next spring, then I must be a rock throwing neanderthal because it makes zero sense whatsoever to me. |
Blows My mind. What other team in a professional sport would do it?
So for the foreseeable future our season basically looks like this.
We don't co cups
Games 1-10 are written off due to keeping our players unfit.
Games 11-30 Try our best as long as it's not 3 games in a week.,
Games 31 -46 See how it goes if we look like we're safe then players on beach.
Trust the project. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 07:59 - Aug 18 with 2054 views | Lblock |
The consensus seems to be 10 games and then call the jury in…… is that right?
I’m sure after that there’ll be people talking about gelling, waiting for so and so to be match fit blah blah blah
I’m with Gazza here in that I’m concerned
JS currently looks no more than a Boardroom Baby puppet
Big few weeks coming up and losing on Saturday after that disgrace of a squad in the League Cup has put everyone under huge pressure
Hope things get on the right track asap |  |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 08:13 - Aug 18 with 2015 views | Loyalitat |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 01:34 - Aug 18 by ozexile |
Blows My mind. What other team in a professional sport would do it?
So for the foreseeable future our season basically looks like this.
We don't co cups
Games 1-10 are written off due to keeping our players unfit.
Games 11-30 Try our best as long as it's not 3 games in a week.,
Games 31 -46 See how it goes if we look like we're safe then players on beach.
Trust the project. |
Yep, that appears to be the sum total of the fabled project.
We don't do cups as its beneath a club of our standing. Yet at every turn, the same people that have decided to bin any chance of a cup run and the additional revenue that it could generate, are the ones who constantly go on about our financial plight.
Trust the project. [Post edited 18 Aug 8:14]
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 08:42 - Aug 18 with 1890 views | lassel |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 20:05 - Aug 17 by BazzaInTheLoft |
What did you get at B&Q?
Solidarity. |
North strikes me as one of those guys who would be buying the DIY Scandi wall cladding kit. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 08:46 - Aug 18 with 1874 views | QPunkR |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 08:42 - Aug 18 by lassel |
North strikes me as one of those guys who would be buying the DIY Scandi wall cladding kit. |
You take that back |  |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:04 - Aug 18 with 1792 views | Northernr |
Fox deterrent. They've decided to destroy my back yard. |  | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:21 - Aug 18 with 1713 views | A40Bosh |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 12:57 - Aug 17 by Northernr |
Yeh I've said that all summer but even I was surprised how quickly that away end turned yesterday. Maybe local game, big following, day on the beers etc but booing the team half an hour into the second league game... even I was surprised at that. Seems there's less patience left than even I thought.
Funny that after France I was told this absolutely was not the case and was pedalling a false narrative 
This post has been edited by an administrator |
The timing of Kieran Morgan's goal could not have been better. I was up towards the back of the away stand as the stewards were trying to get everyone to stay in the section and row printed on their ticket but many of the yuff were not having it and pushing the stewards out of the way. Maybe because I was in the middle of it but there seems to be a lot of booing for a period of 5 mins or maybe more just before the goal and some of the people around me really need to go and get some counselling or watch another sport before they have a heart attack.
Had Morgan not scored before the break, I would have feared the team being booed off at HT which could have led to an even more powder puff performance from the team as after the break as heads had clearly dropped after that 2nd goal went in.
Hard to argue with some of the assessment of the performance and fitness levels, but talk of Steve Bould being lined up as manager as a Plan B is just total nonsense - he is not even the first team defensive coach - his remit is the entire club from top to bottom.
You don't have to particularly warm to JS, his Gallic persona is going to not land well with some but for f''k's sake let's give the bloke a few games to prove he can at least be on a performance par with Marti and Warbs teams before writing him off. |  |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:42 - Aug 18 with 1620 views | KensalT |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:21 - Aug 18 by A40Bosh |
The timing of Kieran Morgan's goal could not have been better. I was up towards the back of the away stand as the stewards were trying to get everyone to stay in the section and row printed on their ticket but many of the yuff were not having it and pushing the stewards out of the way. Maybe because I was in the middle of it but there seems to be a lot of booing for a period of 5 mins or maybe more just before the goal and some of the people around me really need to go and get some counselling or watch another sport before they have a heart attack.
Had Morgan not scored before the break, I would have feared the team being booed off at HT which could have led to an even more powder puff performance from the team as after the break as heads had clearly dropped after that 2nd goal went in.
Hard to argue with some of the assessment of the performance and fitness levels, but talk of Steve Bould being lined up as manager as a Plan B is just total nonsense - he is not even the first team defensive coach - his remit is the entire club from top to bottom.
You don't have to particularly warm to JS, his Gallic persona is going to not land well with some but for f''k's sake let's give the bloke a few games to prove he can at least be on a performance par with Marti and Warbs teams before writing him off. |
Disagree with you about the possibility of Steve Bould as a Plan B.
- He has managerial experience
- He's already in-house
- As you say his current remit is the entire club top to bottom
He would be a perfect fit if JS was dumped - assuming Bould wanted to take the job!
Thomas Frank was already on the Brentford staff when he was made manager, and they kept it in-house with Keith Andrews when Frank left for Spurs.
Someone already in the club, knows the club top to bottom, knows the players, and knows the club's "methodology" - for want of a better word.
It's precisely the sort of long-term planning we were talking about when Warburton and Eustace were here!
I'm not saying Bould was offered the job on the basis of stepping up if JS were to be sacked. But he's an obvious choice as replacement and I would be surprised if the club hadn't considered that possibility when recruiting him. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:45 - Aug 18 with 1604 views | A40Bosh |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:42 - Aug 18 by KensalT |
Disagree with you about the possibility of Steve Bould as a Plan B.
- He has managerial experience
- He's already in-house
- As you say his current remit is the entire club top to bottom
He would be a perfect fit if JS was dumped - assuming Bould wanted to take the job!
Thomas Frank was already on the Brentford staff when he was made manager, and they kept it in-house with Keith Andrews when Frank left for Spurs.
Someone already in the club, knows the club top to bottom, knows the players, and knows the club's "methodology" - for want of a better word.
It's precisely the sort of long-term planning we were talking about when Warburton and Eustace were here!
I'm not saying Bould was offered the job on the basis of stepping up if JS were to be sacked. But he's an obvious choice as replacement and I would be surprised if the club hadn't considered that possibility when recruiting him. |
No. Whether he can be, will be, could be or should be is not the point.
JS has had 2 games (no he has not had 3 games) so the discussion after 2 games is simply ridiculous. | |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:49 - Aug 18 with 1576 views | dmm |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:04 - Aug 18 by Northernr |
Fox deterrent. They've decided to destroy my back yard. |
But, he's gone to Wigan. You must have annoyed him big time. |  | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:54 - Aug 18 with 1539 views | KensalT |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:45 - Aug 18 by A40Bosh |
No. Whether he can be, will be, could be or should be is not the point.
JS has had 2 games (no he has not had 3 games) so the discussion after 2 games is simply ridiculous. |
I agree with you there.
It's far too early to be talking about replacing the manager. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:55 - Aug 18 with 1538 views | qprninja |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 10:07 - Aug 17 by EalingHoop81 |
A couple of years back we had the exact approach of starting a little slower to avoid longer term injuries etc. That worked well or perhaps it is intentional. Or perhaps put pre season and fitness regime is getting it totally wrong. But I don’t expect our aim is to have a season where our team collapse after 65 mins.
It will get sorted one way or other |
Do Man City or Liverpool or any other top teams start the season with their players not fit enough to be performing at 100% for 90 mins? Do we really have a deliberate policy of beginning the season under prepared and willing to sacrifice performance and points? |  | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 10:20 - Aug 18 with 1426 views | wombat |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:55 - Aug 18 by qprninja |
Do Man City or Liverpool or any other top teams start the season with their players not fit enough to be performing at 100% for 90 mins? Do we really have a deliberate policy of beginning the season under prepared and willing to sacrifice performance and points? |
do wonder how nourry etc will handle the fans turning ? its intresting to see the usual easy sell out coventry sat still has tkts aval as well have fans already said nah dont fancy it ? |  |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 10:32 - Aug 18 with 1366 views | Hunterhoop |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 09:55 - Aug 18 by qprninja |
Do Man City or Liverpool or any other top teams start the season with their players not fit enough to be performing at 100% for 90 mins? Do we really have a deliberate policy of beginning the season under prepared and willing to sacrifice performance and points? |
Can we be clear: This is a Ben Williams strategy. Entirely Ben Williams.
His first season was the well known Ainsworth season. He was brought in over the summer when Ainsworth wanted to overhaul the physio/medical side of the club because he felt (when we survived by the skin of our teeth) there were too many injuries. There were. Think Balogun and others being unavailable for weeks on end with mystery muscle injuries. Who hired Ben Williams? Well, in the spring/summer of 2023, who were the club’s recruitment consultant for non-playing roles? Retexo. Who owned the QPR account for Retexo? Nourry.
Anyway, Ben Williams came out that close season when hired and said we would be implementing some sort of gradual loading philosophy that meant we may be 60% in week 1, but the gradual ramp up in fitness would mean we’d have few injuries later in the season and come on strong. To be fair, we did begin hilariously slowly, and we did come home strong. How much of that was to do with Marti Cifuentes being the manager in the last half of the season and Ainsworth the manager at the start, is a valid question.
Anyway, the club wheeled out Ben Williams to be lauded for this when we stayed up.
Last season we had the whole nonsense of the club telling us nothing, it leaking that Williams was living in Dubai, and then Brooklyn Nets announcing they had employed him. Nourry was pushed on this after the fans forum on the topic and was very clear he was still working for us but also the Nets. It wasn’t clarified whether Williams was still in his old perm employment with the club and paid accordingly or paid as a consultant and was only doing ad hoc work. If the latter was true, who was accountable for player fitness last season because if Williams wasn’t a perm employee and only a consultant that department was headless again. Mental that, if you ask me.
Anyway, last Spring the Nets sacked Williams after having, I believe, statistically their worst season for injuries in this history and the 2nd or 3rd worst in the NBA. They had a ridiculous number of hamstring injuries. As we all know, QPR’s first team also had a horrific injury record last season. If you need to add in all age groups and the women’s team to reach an availability figure of 85% something has gone wrong. Elite sport is not comparable with U13s football. It is an insult to anyone with a brain to spout stats like that. His absence from the training ground, and the number of injuries was a huge issue for Cifuentes and a major contribution to the fall out with Nourry.
In the summer, we announce Ben Williams is back in the country and it gradually becomes clear he is in a perm role of Head of Sporting Operations. That covers the fitness/medical side but also a lot more (not that this has been clarified). I’ve heard he’s walking around Heston telling people his job is “the same one Les used to do”. The irony of promoting someone who spoke to another organisation and actually took a job with them for a year, whilst sticking someone else on garden leave for his agent talking to another organisation but not taking the job is lost on few at the club.
Williams is a former cycling fitness guys. Can’t divulge how I’ve heard this but the players don’t rate him, have little respect for him, and at least one has hired their own fitness trainer to help them rehab an injury better.
This season we start with a farcical number of injuries for game one, and are clearly not fully fit after the 3rd game of the season.
Williams does not report to Stephan. He reports to the bloke that hired him. And they are very close.
I think Stephan needs way way longer before anyone starts judging him. I like the appointment, want him to succeed and think we need to get behind him. I hope he learns the lessons Cifuentes had to quickly this season, but it’s understandable why he has to go through the same cycle. That isn’t on him. He’s starting the season with key players out with muscle injuries. One of our big signings has been taken away from him. His captain has been unavailable. Knowingly or not, he’s already referenced “fatigue” after his 2nd league game. Sam Field said he expected the team would be blowing after 45 mins against Preston.
Why is this bloke employed by us? When are we replacing him?
Are we happy with a model/infrastructure where the fitness guy and the set pieces guy, don’t report to the Head Coach?I can see a logic to a Head of Methodolgy and a Head of Player Development sitting outside the head coach and operating through the age groups, but they should still be junior to the Head Coach, but reporting to the DOF. Defence Coach, Steve Bould, I’m really not sure. In all those videos he looks to be a first team coach not working with the U13s or EDS.
Stephan has only had 3 competitive games (and was clearly instructed to play a young side at Plymouth). But Ben Williams has overseen 3 pre-seasons and 2 full seasons plus this start. We have started very slowly in all those seasons. I think it’s perfectly timely to be asking questions about him. It’s not about Stephan. Give him a chance. [Post edited 18 Aug 10:35]
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 10:37 - Aug 18 with 1324 views | CroydonCaptJack |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 07:59 - Aug 18 by Lblock |
The consensus seems to be 10 games and then call the jury in…… is that right?
I’m sure after that there’ll be people talking about gelling, waiting for so and so to be match fit blah blah blah
I’m with Gazza here in that I’m concerned
JS currently looks no more than a Boardroom Baby puppet
Big few weeks coming up and losing on Saturday after that disgrace of a squad in the League Cup has put everyone under huge pressure
Hope things get on the right track asap |
To be frank, when are you ever not concerned? |  |
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 11:11 - Aug 18 with 1194 views | francisbowles |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 10:32 - Aug 18 by Hunterhoop |
Can we be clear: This is a Ben Williams strategy. Entirely Ben Williams.
His first season was the well known Ainsworth season. He was brought in over the summer when Ainsworth wanted to overhaul the physio/medical side of the club because he felt (when we survived by the skin of our teeth) there were too many injuries. There were. Think Balogun and others being unavailable for weeks on end with mystery muscle injuries. Who hired Ben Williams? Well, in the spring/summer of 2023, who were the club’s recruitment consultant for non-playing roles? Retexo. Who owned the QPR account for Retexo? Nourry.
Anyway, Ben Williams came out that close season when hired and said we would be implementing some sort of gradual loading philosophy that meant we may be 60% in week 1, but the gradual ramp up in fitness would mean we’d have few injuries later in the season and come on strong. To be fair, we did begin hilariously slowly, and we did come home strong. How much of that was to do with Marti Cifuentes being the manager in the last half of the season and Ainsworth the manager at the start, is a valid question.
Anyway, the club wheeled out Ben Williams to be lauded for this when we stayed up.
Last season we had the whole nonsense of the club telling us nothing, it leaking that Williams was living in Dubai, and then Brooklyn Nets announcing they had employed him. Nourry was pushed on this after the fans forum on the topic and was very clear he was still working for us but also the Nets. It wasn’t clarified whether Williams was still in his old perm employment with the club and paid accordingly or paid as a consultant and was only doing ad hoc work. If the latter was true, who was accountable for player fitness last season because if Williams wasn’t a perm employee and only a consultant that department was headless again. Mental that, if you ask me.
Anyway, last Spring the Nets sacked Williams after having, I believe, statistically their worst season for injuries in this history and the 2nd or 3rd worst in the NBA. They had a ridiculous number of hamstring injuries. As we all know, QPR’s first team also had a horrific injury record last season. If you need to add in all age groups and the women’s team to reach an availability figure of 85% something has gone wrong. Elite sport is not comparable with U13s football. It is an insult to anyone with a brain to spout stats like that. His absence from the training ground, and the number of injuries was a huge issue for Cifuentes and a major contribution to the fall out with Nourry.
In the summer, we announce Ben Williams is back in the country and it gradually becomes clear he is in a perm role of Head of Sporting Operations. That covers the fitness/medical side but also a lot more (not that this has been clarified). I’ve heard he’s walking around Heston telling people his job is “the same one Les used to do”. The irony of promoting someone who spoke to another organisation and actually took a job with them for a year, whilst sticking someone else on garden leave for his agent talking to another organisation but not taking the job is lost on few at the club.
Williams is a former cycling fitness guys. Can’t divulge how I’ve heard this but the players don’t rate him, have little respect for him, and at least one has hired their own fitness trainer to help them rehab an injury better.
This season we start with a farcical number of injuries for game one, and are clearly not fully fit after the 3rd game of the season.
Williams does not report to Stephan. He reports to the bloke that hired him. And they are very close.
I think Stephan needs way way longer before anyone starts judging him. I like the appointment, want him to succeed and think we need to get behind him. I hope he learns the lessons Cifuentes had to quickly this season, but it’s understandable why he has to go through the same cycle. That isn’t on him. He’s starting the season with key players out with muscle injuries. One of our big signings has been taken away from him. His captain has been unavailable. Knowingly or not, he’s already referenced “fatigue” after his 2nd league game. Sam Field said he expected the team would be blowing after 45 mins against Preston.
Why is this bloke employed by us? When are we replacing him?
Are we happy with a model/infrastructure where the fitness guy and the set pieces guy, don’t report to the Head Coach?I can see a logic to a Head of Methodolgy and a Head of Player Development sitting outside the head coach and operating through the age groups, but they should still be junior to the Head Coach, but reporting to the DOF. Defence Coach, Steve Bould, I’m really not sure. In all those videos he looks to be a first team coach not working with the U13s or EDS.
Stephan has only had 3 competitive games (and was clearly instructed to play a young side at Plymouth). But Ben Williams has overseen 3 pre-seasons and 2 full seasons plus this start. We have started very slowly in all those seasons. I think it’s perfectly timely to be asking questions about him. It’s not about Stephan. Give him a chance. [Post edited 18 Aug 10:35]
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Excellent post Hunter.
Can I ask some related but maybe naive questions?
If we want to build up their fitness gradually, why don't we shorten their close season break? They must have had eight or nine weeks off. Would it not be better to let them have six weeks and bring them in for fitness building, conditioning and ball skills?
You still don't have to get them to peak fitness but they would surely start better and pick up less muscle injuries before the first game; Hopefully achieving better results and an improvement in the all important confidence. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 11:18 - Aug 18 with 1156 views | Rsole |
None of my favourite players rate him, Hunter, but hardly any of them are available either. |  |
| Those possessed by devils, try and keep them under control a bit, can't you ?
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| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 11:26 - Aug 18 with 1133 views | ozexile |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 10:32 - Aug 18 by Hunterhoop |
Can we be clear: This is a Ben Williams strategy. Entirely Ben Williams.
His first season was the well known Ainsworth season. He was brought in over the summer when Ainsworth wanted to overhaul the physio/medical side of the club because he felt (when we survived by the skin of our teeth) there were too many injuries. There were. Think Balogun and others being unavailable for weeks on end with mystery muscle injuries. Who hired Ben Williams? Well, in the spring/summer of 2023, who were the club’s recruitment consultant for non-playing roles? Retexo. Who owned the QPR account for Retexo? Nourry.
Anyway, Ben Williams came out that close season when hired and said we would be implementing some sort of gradual loading philosophy that meant we may be 60% in week 1, but the gradual ramp up in fitness would mean we’d have few injuries later in the season and come on strong. To be fair, we did begin hilariously slowly, and we did come home strong. How much of that was to do with Marti Cifuentes being the manager in the last half of the season and Ainsworth the manager at the start, is a valid question.
Anyway, the club wheeled out Ben Williams to be lauded for this when we stayed up.
Last season we had the whole nonsense of the club telling us nothing, it leaking that Williams was living in Dubai, and then Brooklyn Nets announcing they had employed him. Nourry was pushed on this after the fans forum on the topic and was very clear he was still working for us but also the Nets. It wasn’t clarified whether Williams was still in his old perm employment with the club and paid accordingly or paid as a consultant and was only doing ad hoc work. If the latter was true, who was accountable for player fitness last season because if Williams wasn’t a perm employee and only a consultant that department was headless again. Mental that, if you ask me.
Anyway, last Spring the Nets sacked Williams after having, I believe, statistically their worst season for injuries in this history and the 2nd or 3rd worst in the NBA. They had a ridiculous number of hamstring injuries. As we all know, QPR’s first team also had a horrific injury record last season. If you need to add in all age groups and the women’s team to reach an availability figure of 85% something has gone wrong. Elite sport is not comparable with U13s football. It is an insult to anyone with a brain to spout stats like that. His absence from the training ground, and the number of injuries was a huge issue for Cifuentes and a major contribution to the fall out with Nourry.
In the summer, we announce Ben Williams is back in the country and it gradually becomes clear he is in a perm role of Head of Sporting Operations. That covers the fitness/medical side but also a lot more (not that this has been clarified). I’ve heard he’s walking around Heston telling people his job is “the same one Les used to do”. The irony of promoting someone who spoke to another organisation and actually took a job with them for a year, whilst sticking someone else on garden leave for his agent talking to another organisation but not taking the job is lost on few at the club.
Williams is a former cycling fitness guys. Can’t divulge how I’ve heard this but the players don’t rate him, have little respect for him, and at least one has hired their own fitness trainer to help them rehab an injury better.
This season we start with a farcical number of injuries for game one, and are clearly not fully fit after the 3rd game of the season.
Williams does not report to Stephan. He reports to the bloke that hired him. And they are very close.
I think Stephan needs way way longer before anyone starts judging him. I like the appointment, want him to succeed and think we need to get behind him. I hope he learns the lessons Cifuentes had to quickly this season, but it’s understandable why he has to go through the same cycle. That isn’t on him. He’s starting the season with key players out with muscle injuries. One of our big signings has been taken away from him. His captain has been unavailable. Knowingly or not, he’s already referenced “fatigue” after his 2nd league game. Sam Field said he expected the team would be blowing after 45 mins against Preston.
Why is this bloke employed by us? When are we replacing him?
Are we happy with a model/infrastructure where the fitness guy and the set pieces guy, don’t report to the Head Coach?I can see a logic to a Head of Methodolgy and a Head of Player Development sitting outside the head coach and operating through the age groups, but they should still be junior to the Head Coach, but reporting to the DOF. Defence Coach, Steve Bould, I’m really not sure. In all those videos he looks to be a first team coach not working with the U13s or EDS.
Stephan has only had 3 competitive games (and was clearly instructed to play a young side at Plymouth). But Ben Williams has overseen 3 pre-seasons and 2 full seasons plus this start. We have started very slowly in all those seasons. I think it’s perfectly timely to be asking questions about him. It’s not about Stephan. Give him a chance. [Post edited 18 Aug 10:35]
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How can you genuinely have a head of set pieces not refer to the head coach? I'm afraid that's even too far fetched for us. We could save a fortune by running a broom through our backroom team. | | | |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 11:43 - Aug 18 with 1069 views | wombat |
| Julien Stephan - Word of warning on 11:26 - Aug 18 by ozexile |
How can you genuinely have a head of set pieces not refer to the head coach? I'm afraid that's even too far fetched for us. We could save a fortune by running a broom through our backroom team. |
this is the way we are being run now , it all goes through somebody who has never had a job in football and has barely worked in any field before and hes calling the shots from top to bottom , that not disliking nourry thats. cold honest facts. | |
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