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O'Neill: We've Learnt From This Season
Tuesday, 14th May 2019 10:56

Town’s general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill believes the club has learnt from their disastrous 2018/19 season which has seen the Blues drop into the third tier for the first time since 1956/57.

Asked whether Town would be holding a review of where things went wrong during the campaign in which they finished bottom of the Championship picking up only 31 points and five wins, he says that sort of assessment is always continuing.

“Constantly,” he said. “It’s not just now, we’ve been reviewing that process ongoing, when we go through things and have meetings with [Owner] Marcus [Evans], [manager] Paul [Lambert] and the first-team staff, we’ve got a lot to learn very quickly.

“We can’t afford to make some of the errors in not getting the results or the performances that we did this year because definitely the aspiration is to get back as quickly as possible, so we have to learn very quickly.”

Town spent almost two months searching for a new manager last summer only to ultimately name Paul Hurst, who lasted only 149 days in the job, recording just one win in his 15 matches in charge.

Quizzed on whether the failure of that process is worthy of review in itself, O’Neill pointed out that the recruitment of Hurst, who yesterday was named the new manager of Scunthorpe in League Two, was widely welcomed when it was made.

“I think you look at the appointment of Paul Hurst, I think when you look at what Marcus was trying to do when he went out there, everyone in the country was quite pleased with the idea,” he said.

“It didn’t work out and it does happen with managers unfortunately, it doesn’t work out. We had a lot of players that came in at the same time.

“Players again, look at the level of the league, so there are all those things to look at and analyse.

“We’ll be better for what happened this year, we’ve learnt from it and will be putting things in place to stop that from happening or reviewing it all constantly, that’s what we do all the time.

“To say it was the wrong appointment, no, at the time we all thought it was the right decision and Paul gave it his absolute utmost to try and make that work. It was unfortunate that it didn’t work out but these things happen in football.”

Meanwhile, he says another aspect of the club which is subject to ongoing review is the the club’s Portman Road stadium with fans having been critical of the state of areas of the ground, most frequently the roof of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

“As part of Marcus’s review and looking at the stadium and how that operates and what is going on here, he’s taking a hands-on view of that and he is aware of areas in which we need to make improvements,” O’Neill added.

“And I think that will be part of a process through the next 12-24 months we’ll look at all of those areas of the stadium and try to make improvements.

“We want make sure that when people come to the stadium it’s an enjoyable experience both on matchday and the performance side of things.

“How we operate in and around the buildings, from when they first come in before the game, what we do out on the [practice] pitch outside, where they get their food from, how they get their food, where they sit, what they see, all of those things we’re looking at in a lot more detail than we’ve ever looked before.”


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pennblue added 18:14 - May 17
Until you start taking a serious look at how you can get more investment into the football club, you are really only papering over the cracks. Football is a money game these days, and that fundamentally, is where things have gone wrong. You can't try and run a football club on a cost neutral basis, and expect to rise in the leagues, it just is not happening.

I mean, come on, just take a look at Man City and Chelsea. It's bloody obvious isn't it?

Only global brands like Man Utd can get away with being in a different way, the majority of clubs need money pumping in, and if Evan's does not want to raise his level of investment, we are going nowhere fast.

imo he should step aside , cut his losses, and allow someone else to come in, or look to build a consortium.

That is if he really has the best interests of the club at heart.
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