Ben Knapper.

[morty]

Much maligned and used as a whipping boy for people's frustrations, but have you changed your opinion on him?

Have we actually built a decent squad, for this level?

Or would you still like him gone?

 

[Fenway Frank]

Every time something goes wrong it's knappers fault but no one seems to want to give him any credit when things are going well. He certainly isn't perfect but I think it would be hard to find someone better than him that would come here. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[AyrshireBob]

First off he was new to the this type of job. To be fair he has had some successful signings including I assume PC, and also had some poor signings.
But to be honest I don't think he has done that bad of a job. When you start a new job / role you are going to make mistakes but and it's a big but, you must learn from them, has Ben learnt buy his mistakes ?
Maybe just maybe and time will tell, looking at some of his signings over the last 12 months probably.

 

[AmericanCanary]

He has steadily gotten better imo. As Bob said above, a job of this type is not easy at first but overall I think we have built a pretty competitive squad for this level at a decent financial pace also if you will. Like anything else mind, some fans sure still don't like the dude but that's how fans have been since the dawn of time.

 

[Bill and ben]

He was a terrible appointment. Far too little relevant experience at a point when thats exactly what we needed. But I've no reason to think he is inherently bad and incapable of learning and growing. Lets judge him from here on

 

[Nuff Said]

First of all, Knapper doesn’t scout, analyse, recommend and negotiate the signings all on his own. There are teams of people doing this, he is leading them but not individually responsible for every single decision. Some of them will have been in place before he arrived and probably will remain when he goes. As sporting director (or whatever he’s called), he ultimately carries the can for recruitment but it’s a team game.

Secondly, qualified by what I said above, signing Makama, Kvistgaarden and Toure within 12 months is a pretty impressive result.

 

[Nuff Said]

Maybe one for the too dull for conversation thread, but how many ways can autocorrect spell Makama and still get it wrong?

 

[morty]

First of all, Knapper doesn’t scout, analyse, recommend and negotiate the signings all on his own. There are teams of people doing this, he is leading them but not individually responsible for every single decision. Some of them will have been in place before he arrived and probably will remain when he goes. As sporting director (or whatever he’s called), he ultimately carries the can for recruitment but it’s a team game.

Secondly, qualified by what I said above, signing Makama, Kvistgaarden and Toure within 12 months is a pretty impressive result.

I think thats a pretty fair assesment. I used to cringe a bit when I heard fans chant "We want knapper out". I have always thought, even last season that we had bought some decent players.

 

[Kevin the Cat]

I don't think he's a great leadership figure, something we lack in the club. The whole thing only works if we have a very strong manager. Any weakness there and we are f****d, as with Thorup and Manning. Brilliant to get Clement on board, an exceptional leader and authority figure but they are few and far between. I'd prefer an experienced football man in the SD post, not a stats man. Having said that, if we get promoted, keep him!

 

[king harr]

I think thats a pretty fair assesment. I used to cringe a bit when I heard fans chant "We want knapper out". I have always thought, even last season that we had bought some decent players.

Yeah deffo ,there's plenty of talented players signed under knapper

 

[morty]

Yeah deffo ,there's plenty of talented players signed under knapper

Just fans lashing out I guess. They don't have Delia to blame any more.

 

[king harr]

Of course there has been a couple of dud signings as there is in any club,but everyone loves a scapegoat !

 

[Fen Canary]

Much maligned and used as a whipping boy for people's frustrations, but have you changed your opinion on him?

Have we actually built a decent squad, for this level?

Or would you still like him gone?

I still don’t think he’s built a particularly strong squad with the money he’s had to play with, not one that’s going to trouble the playoffs anyway. We’ve got some good strikers but are lacking in most other areas. We’ve got a good manager in Clement so he deserves credit if Knapper chose him, but he’s also picked also had two that didn’t do much beforehand.
For me his report card still has more marks against it than for it in my opinion.

 

[king harr]

One of the big criticisms he had was the appointment of Liam manning but his managerial career was good,I was all for it but it didn't work out for a number of reasons ,bens a young guy with very little experience in that kind of role but he cares and is learning all the time !