Sormaz Interview

Thought the rumour was that Bolton moved the goalposts at the last minute, trying to force us to commit to buy. If true it left no time for someone else.

 

Ultimately, we didn't sign McAtee. That may well have been because we didn't have the money. Admittedly, I don't know if that's the reason, but from what Sormaz said, that appears to be the reason we didn't get a couple of the other forwards we were after. I don't know, I have no inside knowledge, and there's been a number of good responses to my post, but I think, even though we've made some good signings, the squad is imbalanced.

We can choose from Connell, Bland, Yoganathan, Kelly, Phillips and Russell to play in midfield. All great players. But at least three of them won't make the side on any given week. I'd argue that Vickers and DKD would be super confident at playing in the role currently given to Phillips too. And we've got Nwakali on the books that we've chosen to freeze out.

Meanwhile, to spearhead the attack, we've got either McGoldrick, who is nearly 38 years old, or DKD, who is much better playing in an attacking midfield role. And no one else.

That is not good planning. It just isn't.

 

Sormaz joined in February 2024, after the transfer window closed. He sacked Collins before the next transfer window opened.

He backed Clarke by signing DKD. He could have backed him further by signing a forward in January, but was a decent one available, and would the owners have also backed him by making funds available, given that Neerav then went on to say we'd need to make cuts? If he had signed players in January, would we have been able to turn the squad around as we have done, given the extra wage burden?

 

Interesting info on Collins, question is was that decision already on the cards or did Sormez have a say. DKD yes but some of the desperation signings shows there were funds available but he wasted wages on poor players. I think he's now got Conor guiding him in the right direction and is suddenly confident in doing interviews he previously avoided. Question is if he's following Conor do we really need him and his wage cost ?..

 

Sormaz is on record as saying the club decided Collins tactics would not be suitable to beat Bolton in the playoffs so they replaced him to give themselves the best chance.

 

When the facts change, opinions should too.

I stand by my criticism of the Great One last season and still believe he should never have been appointed. His chaotic first year played a major role in the owners having to spend another £10m staying in this league. On top of that, his poor communication and lack of humility were close to unforgivable.

That said, as I’ve mentioned in other threads, this transfer window – while not perfect – has been the best since winter 20/21. The squad looks more balanced and genuinely strengthened. Yes, we remain light in certain areas, but I wasn’t expecting a complete turnaround so quickly. We don’t know how much of this is down to him or to Conor, but credit where it’s due: he listened to the football people and brought in some real quality. On top of that, the planning looks more coherent, and with players on longer contracts, I don’t see the same churn going forward. That should give us a stronger platform to build from.

I’m still not fully convinced by him, but I do feel we’ve turned a corner and are moving in the right direction. One decent window out of three isn’t much to shout about, but if he builds on this progress, we might finally get some consistency. I doubt I’ll ever warm to him personally, but I respect him more now than I did a year ago, and I genuinely hope he keeps delivering—both on recruitment and communication.

Apologies for the slow reply; I haven’t been on the board much over the international break. But as one of the original anti-Sormaz voices, I felt I owed a response.

 

Think they said on radio Sheff this week Bolton wanted certain add ons that we weren't prepared to accept.