Team Sky's problem is Dave Brailsford....

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MikeG

Guru
Location
Suffolk
None of them.

Team Sky have won slightly over 1/3 of all the Grand Tours over the last five years though.

Well, if 6 out of 14 is slightly over a third in your world then that was a fair enough nit pick. Otherwise, you could have said slightly under a half...........but you've probably got some point to make which precluded you doing that. My point, emphasised with hyperbole, is that Sky don't have a problem, no matter the claim in the OP.
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
My point, emphasised with hyperbole, is that Sky don't have a problem, no matter the claim in the OP.

And it was a fair point too, which I forgot to add in my haste to be a smartarse pedant.

(6 out of 15, if you’re going back five full calendar years to include the 2013 Vuelta, which was the basis for my maths)
 
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rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
When I said it was bollox, my normal critical shaft of insight was less than was less than razor sharp. I blame the sun and the beer - a lethal combo.
He trots out the usual stuff about Leinders, Yates, even Henao FFS, which Sky flagged up voluntarily. All old hat and circumstantial depending on your view - but, hey ho, it doesn't matter, he dismisses all that as irrelevant anyway.
Then...
It’s not about doping at all.
Cycling fans don’t care about doping.

That is bollox judging by the people I know IRL, and on here

The rest expands what could have been said much more concisely, in that throughout cycling history some teams and riders have been liked while others haven't. The reason for people hating Froome and Thomas (really?????) is because they don't like SDB?
I suspect there's a huge part of the foreign/non-British tifosi who have barely heard of SDB, rarely heard him speak and couldn't care less if he accuses Lapartient of having the outlook of a provincial French mayor. He deserved it for his idiotic statements. Whether it was statesman-like is neither here nor there. Has anybody listened to the drivel that Marc Madiot comes out with?
IMHO, the reason that Sky are disliked by some, is the GT successes, the perceived lack of panache in races, and the clinic-like mentality that if they keep winning they must be on something.
 
All the article really needed to say was the final paragraph:

He is the public personification of Team Sky and he has cultivated an image of arrogance for a team who says one thing and does another. Years of Davesplaining, hand gestures and management speak bollocksology has turned cycling fans against him.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
Without SDB would there be a Sky team, most of the Brits I know dislike successful people.
 
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Tin Pot

Guru
Popularity is a waste of time, popularity with the British even more so.

Yes, you can praise someone for their success in what they do without weighing it against the rest of their lives.
 
I'm not sure people are understanding this; it's fark all to do with "success" or money. It's everything to do with SirDave being a complete walloper, full of shite and a twat.

That some riders seem to get on well with him is not evidence that he's a good bloke, it just means they get on well with him. I like Geraint Thomas as a rider, and think he could/should have won more than he has, and he states he gets on great with SirDave; that's fine, it does not mean I think Thomas is a twat, but it does not mean I'll change my view of SirDave.
 
OP
OP
C

Crackle

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I don't think Brailsford is so much different than people like Lefevere or Madiot or Vaughters and he's certainly no vinokourov.
 

Adam4868

Guru
Im not so sure the average pissed up shouting fan at the Tour is really thinking about Dave.I think its over exagerated by the media.Ive been to a few tour de france in recent years and seen very little.Even watching it in Brittany this year it was just banter.....or was it ? good job im not fluent in french ! To me its mostly about Froome and his dominance.I like Thomas as a rider myself and was chuffed he won this year,but I dont see him any different from Froome or any other rider in the squad.Great PR for sky though.Do you really see Sky any different without Brailsford there,would they suddenly become more likeable ? Im glad Brailsford opens his mouth now and again,if he stayed quite and said nothing it would be "skys closed door" better he makes a twaat of himself and speaks his mind.
 
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[QUOTE 5337996, member: 43827"]A point of view, and that's fine, but totally irrelevant to the success of Sky.

"Chacun à son goût" as the crowds at the TdF say.[/QUOTE]

Where in the article does it say that Sky are not a success?

As I already said, it's got fark all to do with success or money.
 

Adam4868

Guru
But does anyone really think that once Brailsford is gone sky will be a different team or more likeable ?
 
[QUOTE 5338139, member: 43827"]Did I say it had? :wacko:.

So It's just an article saying what a nobber Brailsford is.

I look forward to a series of equally pathetic stories about other nobbers in sport.[/QUOTE]
The word success has been used a number of times now, despite the article having nothing to do with that.
Yes, the article is just an article saying what a nobber SirDave is.
There are probably quite a few other stories about others already in existence.
 
[QUOTE 5338156, member: 43827"]Of course it has something to do with success because it would never have been written about an unsuccessful or obscure team manager.[/QUOTE]
Fair point.

But he is a nobber. And will continue to be a nobber long after he leaves Sky.
 
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