Tekel Towers » Tony Asghar Q+A

japanarab · 14/3/2019 12:27 am

Tek wrote:
Q4) In our recent history we seem to have a track record of signing players with long term medical issues that either never achieve the heights expected or are out injured for long periods of their contract costing the club money. Are there plans to improve the medical testing pre-signing players and the treatment of players so they are able to return on schedule. - Lancashire Arab

It is no secret that the Club was running previously with financial challenges and the medical department which we have at the Club is of a very high standard and experienced in dealing with top level athletes.

The issues you speak about; I have not had in my time here and I am working with the Head of Medical and Sport Science to provide more equipment and resources to prevent this type of issue before it happens.

An example of the unpredictable: We have had a serious injury to young Sam Wardrop during a reserve game and he has had an operation- that is something we cannot stop as training and playing injuries are part of the game.

This January we carried out adequate medicals on the players we signed but like every thing we do at United we will always strive to improve on our procedures.

Freddy and Rashid both got injured against Falkirk and the medical team were excellent in their work from leaving the field to the docs assessing injuries and then Marcin and his team treating them. I have been in and about clubs with physio rooms full of players and we certainly don’t have that here - Touch wood!!

“The issues you speak about; I have not had in my time here and I am working with the Head of Medical and Sport Science to provide more equipment and resources to prevent this type of issue before it happens.”
Errrm what about Sow? That’s exactly what has happened. Also, saying we bottle big games because of the fans’ attitude?
Well done organizing this and good full answers(mostly) but those two answers are pish imo.

Finn Seemann · 14/3/2019 9:46 am

Don't think he said very much at all - however what he has said is fair enough.

At least he is communicating with us fans, which is better than previous regimes and you can tell work is being done. It is an experiment, but presumably one that has worked in other sports that our owner has been involved in.

I think there are issues behind the scenes, but that's probably no surprise with such new thinking being forced upon the incumbents. Let's see where it goes. Assuming we don't go up this year it's got another season to prove itself.

redford_must_score · 14/3/2019 10:28 pm

Great Q&A well done to all involved.

Some interesting answers too.
Noticed he swerved the Boca Juniors one!

Arabnophobia · 15/3/2019 11:21 pm

redford_must_score wrote:
Great Q&A well done to all involved.

Some interesting answers too.
Noticed he swerved the Boca Juniors one!

He wasn't directly quoted in his defence bud, but I find it hard to believe they would send players to us. Been scratching my heed on that ain.

Watched Boca for the last 13/14 years and the style is so different to Scottish fitba, almost the polar opposite. The only reason it would work is to benefit by the polar opposite experience and prepare them for moving on or being wise to defensive aggressive tactics maybe.

Dyce_arab · 16/3/2019 12:22 am

Tek wrote:
Q23) Can you and Mal please try a Nichols peh then come to deal to bring them back and get the current facilities away to fuck, once you've tried the Nichols peh you'll know what the fuss is aboot

Cheers - Dyce arab

Mal will try the pie. I have eaten too many as you can see

Dyce_arab · 16/3/2019 12:25 am

Tek wrote:
A Message from Tony -

I thank you for all the questions and hope my answers explain the aims and vision we are building towards.

Although it isn’t normal practice for a Sporting Director to answer questions from a fans forum and not something the Club will necessarily do moving forward, it was important to me to do it this time to help get the message across that all the board and staff at DUFC all have the one vision to be a success and we need the support behind us - especially the players.

They and everyone else employed by Dundee United wants the best for the Club and your continued support plays a part in that.

well done Tek, Pat and well done TA, this actually goes a long way in building relationships between club and support

Last edited by Dyce_arab (16/3/2019 12:26 am)

Tek · 16/3/2019 12:46 am

Dyce_arab wrote:
Tek wrote:
A Message from Tony -

I thank you for all the questions and hope my answers explain the aims and vision we are building towards.

Although it isn’t normal practice for a Sporting Director to answer questions from a fans forum and not something the Club will necessarily do moving forward, it was important to me to do it this time to help get the message across that all the board and staff at DUFC all have the one vision to be a success and we need the support behind us - especially the players.

They and everyone else employed by Dundee United wants the best for the Club and your continued support plays a part in that.
well done Tek, Pat and well done TA, this actually goes a long way in building relationships between club and support

Thank you Dyce. I appreciate that mate.👍

I am a moany bastard who is very hard to please (i fully admit it).

And whilst i think a bit of caution and asking questions as a support is always healthy, i also think we as a support really need to give the Ogren's and all their subsequent appointments, good grace, a friendly welcome and a good chance to show us that they can take us to the (very) ambitious place Mr Asghar said he wanted the club to be in 2024.

All that said, we really need a win later today to inject a bit of 'good feeling' back for what will be a huge run-in in the next 2 months.

Tek · 16/3/2019 1:22 am

bowers wrote:
Any plans to try and get similar arranged with Mal Brannigan?

I'll ask Pat to check his 'little black book' and see if we can get Mal on at some point.

The questions about safe standing and general improvements to Tannadice would be good to hear about.

Would like to build a trust between the new regime and this Forum whereby they feel they can communicate with us on here without fear of cheap shots or liberties being taken.

After the fag-end of the Thompson era, I think transparency between the BoD (in their plans and medium to long term goals) and fans will be a key element in us all moving forward together.

Macho Man · 16/3/2019 8:09 am

I also want to say thanks for arranging this to TEK and to Pat. This was a great idea and I enjoyed reading the answers to some good questions.

As for Tony, I know that you will have a fine balancing act between keeping fans up to date and not giving away too much. The fact you were prepared to answer these questions and show that you/the club are learning from previous boards mistakes will only benefit the relationship between the club and the fans. Thank you for taking the time to try and repair the bridges that had been burnt between the previous boards and the fans. Unfortunately the easy bit would be letting the fans know the plans, the hard bit is putting them into practise.... Thank you

SlatefordArab · 16/3/2019 9:22 am

Aye cheers Tek and Pat for organising this, great stuff. And thanks to Tony for taking time to answer. Hopefully we get much better communication from the club going forward now.

Zarab82 · 17/3/2019 9:31 pm

Tek wrote:
Q8) Any plans to adopt a Porto policy at United ie sign good players from The UK and abroad cheap and sell on at profit ? - Zarab82

Zarab, we will invest in players that fit our criteria of our recruitment model and academy graduates, however not to the detriment of long-term stability.

Fair enough 👍🏻

Zarab82 · 17/3/2019 9:38 pm

Just caught up and read tonys responses he seems to at least have a plan and is honest which is refreshing to see after the previous era

LS Arab · 17/3/2019 11:09 pm

Great work from TEK to get this sorted and good that TA would take the time to answer all the questions fully.

Obviously no one will agree with all that was said but what it does show is that there are big ambitions for the club which if they can come to fruition will be fantastic

All the measures taken will cost so let’s hope we go up this season - it seems absolutely imperative to me from reading this. We need to be prem side to meet targets, attract youth etc

Pressure is really on Robbie here and as TA says we need to get behind the players and be positive to end of season.

COME ON UNITED!!!

arabchanter · 22/3/2019 11:42 am

A big thank you to Pat and Tek for making this happen, also a thank you to Mr Ashgar for taking the time to engage with and answer the questions posed to him, it was an enjoyable and interesting read

This just emphasises to me why this is by far the best United message board I've come across.

Well done lads.

Finn Seemann · 28/3/2019 5:12 pm

This thread looked out of kilter on the index page as every other one was updated to today...

Dyce_arab · 15/7/2019 6:45 pm

Tek wrote:
Q23) Can you and Mal please try a Nichols peh then come to deal to bring them back and get the current facilities away to fuck, once you've tried the Nichols peh you'll know what the fuss is aboot

Cheers - Dyce arab

Mal will try the pie. I have eaten too many as you can see

i will single handly take full credit for bringing back the Nichols peh

Thanks Tony and Mal

Tek · 16/7/2019 2:56 am

Dyce_arab wrote:
Tek wrote:
Q23) Can you and Mal please try a Nichols peh then come to deal to bring them back and get the current facilities away to fuck, once you've tried the Nichols peh you'll know what the fuss is aboot

Cheers - Dyce arab

Mal will try the pie. I have eaten too many as you can see
i will single handly take full credit for bringing back the Nichols peh

Thanks Tony and Mal

The minute i read about this, i actually thought about this post. 😂😂

Tek · 24/7/2019 2:52 am

Tek wrote:
Will there be an effort to sign some players with pace? Because I feel this is a quality in our play we really lack (and have done for some time). - Tek

It would be foolish not to have two scenarios for next season and this is within my remit. We are already working on recruitment and players and in every football club there is change each close season.

We have a number of players out of contract, loan players and players on loan that we need to look at for next season.

To give any update just now would be nonsensical but rest assured we are already working on next season already.

Guess not.

japanarab · 25/7/2019 2:58 am

This was from March and it’s near August and Sow is still not fully fit. Near 5 months now and still crocked. Think it’s fair to say he’s kaput. Signed in January and crocked and even after 8 months still crocked. What a signing.

Finn Seemann · 25/7/2019 11:44 am

He'll be fit for the play-offs...

LarsErikKjell · 03/6/2021 3:12 pm

Tek wrote:
Q20) When the club signed Ian Harkes it seemed likely that he wasn't a player on Robbies radar previously. If you know of a player that you think would be a good fit for the club how much input does Robbie get into that process? - Redford Must Score

Our recruitment model is clear that the head coach will have final say on all players coming into and out the Club - no exceptions.

Coming into the Club during a transfer window is time critical and with Ian he was identified by our global network and presented to Robbie and the coaching staff.

Video evidence, statistical analysis, financial costs are some of the criteria we work to. Some players Robbie has worked with before and our recruitment meetings clearly identified these players as the types we needed to enhance our squad.

We will continue to create a player DNA for each position and our recruitment team will identify players who fit our criteria and we weekly (sometimes twice a week) go through the targets and then send our talent ID team to watch them.

This week we have had scouts cover games in England, Slovakia, Czech and Malta (watching our youth players playing for Scotland).

With everything going on just now I ended up having a look through this. Always good to look back. I have bolded a sentence that is interesting considering a lot of the chat at the moment.

LarsErikKjell · 03/6/2021 3:13 pm

Tek wrote:
Q24) Can you explain the current process with regards to signing a player at the club these days, the chain of command etc?

And does it differ from the way things were done before? - MockChop

Hi, I don’t know how it was done before but our talent ID department identifies the players which fit the criteria and we discuss the results with recruitment meetings.

Robbie then lists the ones he wants, sometimes 2/3 per position and we present them to the board and then I will go and negotiate with the club or agent.

The added advantage is we have experienced MD in Mal Brannigan and Head of Football Ops Priti Trividi so we have great people to take a deal from start to finish as contracts are very complex.

And again

LarsErikKjell · 03/6/2021 3:15 pm

Tek wrote:
Q28) Where do you see Dundee United in 5 years time?

And is Tony Asghar still part of the furniture at Tannadice in 2024, all being well? - Tek

Our vision includes:

- DUFC a top four club competing for European football on a regular basis and getting to cup semis and finals.

-Having players in the Scottish international squads at all ages and International players from other countries.

-An Academy who has produced and continues to produce local talent.

-International Academies in USA, China, Australia and India.

-Financially stable Club with Tannadice being a fortress with supporters who believe in the team and the Club leaders.

-A women’s team playing at elite level.

I would love to be a part of that but if that does not happen for me personally then anyone who comes in will have a Club running as an elite sporting organisation.

hmmmmm

Tek · 04/6/2021 11:10 pm

LarsErikKjell wrote:
Tek wrote:
Q24) Can you explain the current process with regards to signing a player at the club these days, the chain of command etc?

And does it differ from the way things were done before? - MockChop

Hi, I don’t know how it was done before but our talent ID department identifies the players which fit the criteria and we discuss the results with recruitment meetings.

Robbie then lists the ones he wants, sometimes 2/3 per position and we present them to the board and then I will go and negotiate with the club or agent.

The added advantage is we have experienced MD in Mal Brannigan and Head of Football Ops Priti Trividi so we have great people to take a deal from start to finish as contracts are very complex.
And again

Two things from that, that stand out to me.

It's easy to say the 'Head Coach' makes the final decisions on players. Or at least it would be if we signed any.

Our last signing was 9 months ago and since his post the club (seemingly) are demanding that young players are promoted into the first team enmasse immediately.

Now surely it is (or should be) down to the first team Manager of Dundee United Football Club how many 'kids' he plays?

If he wants to play none at all, that should be up to him and him only. And he should be able to do so without fear of losing his job as Mellon has (assuming he is achieving certain levels of performance and results, of course)?

He also pin-pointed Mal Brannigan and Priti Trividi as vital cogs of the machine in terms of negotiating transfer deals. Both were punted from the club within a year of his post.

Trividi sacked to make way for the Sports Lawyer. She threatened to sue the club for 'unfair dismissal' and the club ended up giving her a 'Five figure sum' as a pay-off.

Now given the lady had worked for Utd for many years i do not expect this amount to be unsubstantial (and neither it should have been btw). The question should have been asked, however. Why was she replaced?

There is a lot of 'jobs for the boys (and girls)' going on.

Tek · 24/2/2023 6:55 pm

Canadian Arab wrote:
Bump! 👀

Tek wrote:
Q28) Where do you see Dundee United in 5 years time?

And is Tony Asghar still part of the furniture at Tannadice in 2024, all being well? - Tek

Our vision includes:

- DUFC a top four club competing for European football on a regular basis and getting to cup semis and finals.

-Having players in the Scottish international squads at all ages and International players from other countries.

-An Academy who has produced and continues to produce local talent.

-International Academies in USA, China, Australia and India.

-Financially stable Club with Tannadice being a fortress with supporters who believe in the team and the Club leaders.

-A women’s team playing at elite level.

I would love to be a part of that but if that does not happen for me personally then anyone who comes in will have a Club running as an elite sporting organisation.

Well, he was right about the Women's Team.

Great stuff.