Ben Kensell

[matty_f]

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The “soul” is the connection of the fans with the club.
It’s all but gone - Easter Rd is a library with a drummer busking outside the door.
It’s been empty by the 80th minute more often than not this season.
Without that connection, we drop like a stone.
Plenty of folk not renewed for next season by all accounts. Nobody is my group of 8 has - nor have a good number of folk who sit around us. More will follow if this trend continues.
My group have said we’ll reassess before the start of next season and if Montgomery & Kensell, in particular, are still there we won’t renew and will just pick & choose games.
Ron Gordon was the owner.
We are now owned by his estate - obviously no fault of theirs’, and not something anybody saw coming, but also not a sustainable position for the club.
Black Knight money could help but, so far, the only player that’s improved us is Maolida and he’s the one we can’t afford. Even with BK money.
The entire model needs ripped up and started again. That doesn’t happen, for me, with The Gordons/Kensell at the helm.

Kensell said we'd had record renewals when he was speaking on Monday to the folk seeing the FF plans.

[matty_f]

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There’s been a clear shift in signing policy since Jack Ross left and focus on things like hospitality suites and results have gone south since.


Is that the decision of Rocky or Triantis?

Why do you think they put a focus on those things? There was also a £5m debt built up to try and deliver sporting success, so it's inaccurate to say they focused on one over the other.

[jeffers]

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I’m also willing to accept that I’m possibly wrong too. Some sign of improvement on the pitch and also for the experience of going to the football would go a long way in that, but it’s been a while since there’s been a glimpse of that.

I’m with you on that. I’m bored rigid with what I’m seeing on the pitch (in the main.) I just want the season over, have a reset in the summer and go again in the hope that it will improve with the latest man in the hot seat.

[Northernhibee]

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Why do you think they put a focus on those things? There was also a £5m debt built up to try and deliver sporting success, so it's inaccurate to say they focused on one over the other.

My fear is that if we continue being poor on the pitch, those suites will be more difficult to fill.

And maybe then it’s a matter of how the money is spent as it’s not worked, and that’s a lot of money to spend for continuing poor football.

[Northernhibee]

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I’m with you on that. I’m bored rigid with what I’m seeing on the pitch (in the main.) I just want the season over, have a reset in the summer and go again in the hope that it will improve with the latest man in the hot seat.

I’ll also be clear - if we see an improvement on the pitch resulting from the money being spent and the club strategy I’ll be the first to congratulate Ben Kensell. In my view the buck stops at the top and that goes both ways in terms of success and failure on the pitch. That comes with the territory of such a salary.

[Forza Fred]

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Should never have survived the Maloney shambles.
Get him, The Gordons, Montgomery and McDermott out of this club and we might have half a chance of retaining some sort of soul.
Right now, we are nothing more than a “Sports Franchise”.

What a constructive post.

[chrisski33]

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What a constructive post.

He has a point though

[Greensunshine]

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Get the owners out the club?

The owners biggest mistake has been their inability to pick the right manager but that's hardly unique to them is it?

We’ll probably never pick the right manager simply because every time we go through a bad patch, the ITK supporters who claim to support the club show how intolerant they are.
Jack Ross being the example I’d use.

[jeffers]

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I’ll also be clear - if we see an improvement on the pitch resulting from the money being spent and the club strategy I’ll be the first to congratulate Ben Kensell. In my view the buck stops at the top and that goes both ways in terms of success and failure on the pitch. That comes with the territory of such a salary.

I absolutely get that argument. If a football team is failing then the CEO can’t just point to increase in revenue and ignore the main reason we are in existence. So he ultimately has to accept some responsibility.

[SickBoy32]

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Im old enough to remember when football teams played badly it was because the players weren’t good enough.

Will changing CEO turn Rocky into a competent centre back? Will David Marshall suddenly remember his job is to stop the ball going in the net? Will Joe Newell finally turn up in a game that matters?

The players are ***** aye.

The senior leadership within our club is also *****, no really sure how anyone can still be arguing against that?!

We signed Bushiri by mistake.
We played an illegible player leading to us forfeiting a competitive fixture.

Just 2 mistakes that would be laughed at in the EoS league for **** sake.

Tone at the top counts for a lot, and ours stinks - and has done for years.

We’ll achieve nothing with this snide salesman running our club unfortunately

[SickBoy32]

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Why do you think they put a focus on those things? There was also a £5m debt built up to try and deliver sporting success, so it's inaccurate to say they focused on one over the other.

Are we now using the fact that £5m+ of debt was accrued in 3 or 4 years, as a yardstick as to their competence of running our club?

A calamity and it shows no signs of improving, as we edge closer to sacking the latest manager.

Remarkable that this guys no being chased out of town IMO.

[Stairway 2 7]

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Are we now using the fact that £5m+ of debt was accrued in 3 or 4 years, as a yardstick as to their competence of running our club?

A calamity and it shows no signs of improving, as we edge closer to sacking the latest manager.

Remarkable that this guys no being chased out of town IMO.

Hardly remarkable he's increased turnover by almost 50% and by all accounts been instrumental in getting us new investment and a link up. He shouldn't be near any footballing decisions as they seem awful. I'm sure with Foley coming in he won't be. Hopefully we give over control to them and we can get a half dozen like Maolida and Moriah-Welsh as we need it. Hopefully their scouting network can get us a gaffer to as the money will be their we just need someone competent to spend it

[Green Reaper]

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Hardly remarkable he's increased turnover by almost 50% and by all accounts been instrumental in getting us new investment and a link up. He shouldn't be near any footballing decisions as they seem awful. I'm sure with Foley coming in he won't be. Hopefully we give over control to them and we can get a half dozen like Maolida and Moriah-Welsh as we need it. Hopefully their scouting network can get us a gaffer to as the money will be their we just need someone competent to spend it

Good post Stairway and agree with you. It is important to have the right manager but you also need the finances to back them. We have increased finances and have the investors to support us, we now need to find the right man to manage us and, hopefully, the BK resources will help with that.

[blackpoolhibs]

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Do you ever see any of the top brass visiting the East or FF pre match
I would reckon there’s at least 6 directors I wouldn’t know what they looked like

I say the same most week about defenders.

[matty_f]

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Are we now using the fact that £5m+ of debt was accrued in 3 or 4 years, as a yardstick as to their competence of running our club?

A calamity and it shows no signs of improving, as we edge closer to sacking the latest manager.

Remarkable that this guys no being chased out of town IMO.

We aren't doing anything, and I certainly wasn't saying running up £5m debt was competent.

[ScottB]

I think we can say that under the Gordon’s, commercial income has significantly improved over the previous regime, but given how poor things had become on that front (how many years did we go without a proper shirt sponsor?), improving it doesn’t have to mean it was some unique set of skills only Ron and Ben could provide, indeed, they’ve taken us up towards what Hearts and Aberdeen were already doing.

We have also consistently had much smaller budgets than our direct rivals, while more money doesn’t guarantee success, as Aberdeen have shown and, I would say, Hearts probably haven’t delivered value for money on what their fans and benefactor has injected, trying to achieve success with less is a lot harder. We hear that Ben was important in landing the BK millions, but even if that turns out to be an annual payment (don’t think they’ve said it is?), it’s only closing the gap on what Hearts have been spending, and is the sort of budget uplift Ron himself promised on arrival.

So I think we can say Ben has done alright off the park, but potentially that was some fairly low hanging fruit, going from no sponsors to having some doesn’t sound like a difficult task, does it. On the park, under him and the Gordon’s, we’ve drifted, with no clear plan, going from experienced Scottish manager, to promising rookie, to experienced journeyman failure, to successful winner on the rise, suggests not only do they pick the wrong man, they chuck out their entire rationale next time round.

In the post BK world, how does the club work? Is Ben needed? Certainly not in football matters. Same with Ian Gordon and our DoF, if transfer policy will heavily revolve around the BK group, what are they doing? Speaking of our supposed DoF, what signings have been his? January looked like Foley picks alongside Monty’s man Triantis. What value has he brought, what value will he bring in future?

Personally I’d be happy with shipping out pretty much everyone involved in first team football at the club. Look to the knowledge in Foley’s group to identify a skilled administrator, Director of Football, coaches, scouts etc. Tear it all up and start again.

[matty_f]

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I think we can say that under the Gordon’s, commercial income has significantly improved over the previous regime, but given how poor things had become on that front (how many years did we go without a proper shirt sponsor?), improving it doesn’t have to mean it was some unique set of skills only Ron and Ben could provide, indeed, they’ve taken us up towards what Hearts and Aberdeen were already doing.

We have also consistently had much smaller budgets than our direct rivals, while more money doesn’t guarantee success, as Aberdeen have shown and, I would say, Hearts probably haven’t delivered value for money on what their fans and benefactor has injected, trying to achieve success with less is a lot harder. We hear that Ben was important in landing the BK millions, but even if that turns out to be an annual payment (don’t think they’ve said it is?), it’s only closing the gap on what Hearts have been spending, and is the sort of budget uplift Ron himself promised on arrival.

So I think we can say Ben has done alright off the park, but potentially that was some fairly low hanging fruit, going from no sponsors to having some doesn’t sound like a difficult task, does it. On the park, under him and the Gordon’s, we’ve drifted, with no clear plan, going from experienced Scottish manager, to promising rookie, to experienced journeyman failure, to successful winner on the rise, suggests not only do they pick the wrong man, they chuck out their entire rationale next time round.

In the post BK world, how does the club work? Is Ben needed? Certainly not in football matters. Same with Ian Gordon and our DoF, if transfer policy will heavily revolve around the BK group, what are they doing? Speaking of our supposed DoF, what signings have been his? January looked like Foley picks alongside Monty’s man Triantis. What value has he brought, what value will he bring in future?

Personally I’d be happy with shipping out pretty much everyone involved in first team football at the club. Look to the knowledge in Foley’s group to identify a skilled administrator, Director of Football, coaches, scouts etc. Tear it all up and start again.

Good post.

I think there definitely needs to be a proper review of the football operation at the club. When you're repeatedly sacking managers then you have a wider issue that needs addressed and everyone in every department should be critically reviewed.

[ScottB]

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Good post.

I think there definitely needs to be a proper review of the football operation at the club. When you're repeatedly sacking managers then you have a wider issue that needs addressed and everyone in every department should be critically reviewed.

Ta!

I think the lack of a plan is what worries me most, in that, at our level, every player we sign or manager we appoint isn’t going to be a success, but we’ve previously been told we want to have an identity or a consistent approach, so that it’s easier when we do have to rotate new people in, whether because it hasn’t worked and they’ve been punted, or it has worked and they’ve moved on, I don’t see how, even looking at the last couple transfer windows, never mind manager appointments, that there’s any sense linking them all together.

Ross, Maloney, Johnson and Monty all have wildly different tactics, backgrounds and personalities. There’s clearly nothing consistent going on, and I suspect, it’s almost an overreaction each time. Hiring a promising rookie coach is a perfectly acceptable idea, it gave us Mowbray, Collins and Stubbs in my lifetime! But when Maloney didn’t work, the same folk who decided that’s what we needed, presumably in panic, over corrected into Johnson, very experienced, but a journeyman, sacked from every job he’s had, then we get the overcorrection of wanting a winner, someone who hasn’t just failed, which, again, sounds great in theory, but here we are in, presumably, the final days of Monty. If Gordon and Kensell are left to pick the next guy again, can anyone confidently predict what thinking will underpin that hunt?

[JimBHibees]

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He has a point though

Yeah great point

[Onion]

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Ta!

I think the lack of a plan is what worries me most, in that, at our level, every player we sign or manager we appoint isn’t going to be a success, but we’ve previously been told we want to have an identity or a consistent approach, so that it’s easier when we do have to rotate new people in, whether because it hasn’t worked and they’ve been punted, or it has worked and they’ve moved on, I don’t see how, even looking at the last couple transfer windows, never mind manager appointments, that there’s any sense linking them all together.

Ross, Maloney, Johnson and Monty all have wildly different tactics, backgrounds and personalities. There’s clearly nothing consistent going on, and I suspect, it’s almost an overreaction each time. Hiring a promising rookie coach is a perfectly acceptable idea, it gave us Mowbray, Collins and Stubbs in my lifetime! But when Maloney didn’t work, the same folk who decided that’s what we needed, presumably in panic, over corrected into Johnson, very experienced, but a journeyman, sacked from every job he’s had, then we get the overcorrection of wanting a winner, someone who hasn’t just failed, which, again, sounds great in theory, but here we are in, presumably, the final days of Monty. If Gordon and Kensell are left to pick the next guy again, can anyone confidently predict what thinking will underpin that hunt?

Got to just hope he gets lucky. Law of averages suggests if you have enough goes at picking a manager, you'll eventually get one that does an ok job. It's the pain of living through all the duds that sucks the life out of you, tho.

[LustForLeith]

What gets me about Kensell was a in the time he’s been here there’s been some horrendous decisions made when it comes to players and managers coming in. While he won’t have the final say in us buying players surely he must be thinking about ones we get in that don’t make the grade and end up punted. Also the managers coming in have been baffling.

What’s wrong with the players in particular? Is it the wrong players being bought in? Or are they the right players but they’re not being coached right? Or they are but they’re not being managed correctly.

I can’t help but think we’ve spent a lot in his stint on here on players and managers that we’ve wasted, money, time and effort. And I can’t help but feel no matter how much Bill Foley is investing its wasted on the current strife that we’ve got. And there comes a point that Kensell needs to shoulder some sort of the blame for this.

[hibeerealist]

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It's not just Kensell, he's only part of the puzzle, the owners haven't got a clue. Ian Gordon is still kicking around without a scooby what he's doing, bloody hell he's actually our owner now. Don't care how much effort people say he puts in, he doesn't have any experience or success in football.

Our only hope now is that this Black Night group brings with them some real knowhow and experience to run things better, otherwise who knows what we do next. The owners won't replace themselves so I've not a clue....



Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

they are doing a good job at Bournmouth

[hibeerealist]

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We’ll probably never pick the right manager simply because every time we go through a bad patch, the ITK supporters who claim to support the club show how intolerant they are.
Jack Ross being the example I’d use.

Our support is NOT intolerant.

Jack Ross went on to greater things as a Head Coach/Manager did he?

Naw JR has a nice safe position, a bit like the fitba he wanted played that bored us all sh it less!

[Northernhibee]

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Our support is NOT intolerant.

Jack Ross went on to greater things as a Head Coach/Manager did he?

Naw JR has a nice safe position, a bit like the fitba he wanted played that bored us all sh it less!

Heckingbottom did.

[Since90+2]

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Our support is NOT intolerant.

Jack Ross went on to greater things as a Head Coach/Manager did he?

Naw JR has a nice safe position, a bit like the fitba he wanted played that bored us all sh it less!

Jack Ross is one of the most successful Hibs managers f the last 20 years. A 3rd place finish and numerous semi finals and finals.

That says more about the failings of the club than him, but it's a fact nonetheless.

[LustForLeith]

Another thing about Kensell I’m not on is the amount of stuff you hear that he says when he’s in contact with Hibs fans. If it’s true (will be interesting about a certain player leaving in the summer) he’s always telling fans things he shouldn’t. You wonder if it was someone else doing it at the club would he be happy and turn a blind eye or would he take action?

[Billy Whizz]

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Another thing about Kensell I’m not on is the amount of stuff you hear that he says when he’s in contact with Hibs fans. If it’s true (will be interesting about a certain player leaving in the summer) he’s always telling fans things he shouldn’t. You wonder if it was someone else doing it at the club would he be happy and turn a blind eye or would he take action?

Who’s leaving in the summer

[Silky]

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Got to just hope he gets lucky. Law of averages suggests if you have enough goes at picking a manager, you'll eventually get one that does an ok job. It's the pain of living through all the duds that sucks the life out of you, tho.

That's the thing, though, is an OK job really what we want? The groundswell seems to be we want better than OK.

[04Sauzee]

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Another thing about Kensell I’m not on is the amount of stuff you hear that he says when he’s in contact with Hibs fans. If it’s true (will be interesting about a certain player leaving in the summer) he’s always telling fans things he shouldn’t. You wonder if it was someone else doing it at the club would he be happy and turn a blind eye or would he take action?

Who's supposedly leaving?

[Green Reaper]

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Who's supposedly leaving?

Someone posted Youan wants to leave