Appreciation for Maurice Watkins CBE

The job of a chairman is not to oversee the day to day administrative running of the football club or to exercise any influence over the coaching of the team. It is to see that those two aspects of the club's affairs are being run in accordance with the overall aims of the organisation, within the prescribed budgets, and in accordance with the wishes of the shareholders or sole owner, as appropriate. Within those parameters, any chairman will hope to provide an environment in which the club can reach it's optimum level of achievement without compromising it's stability or long-term future. So far as we can tell from present information, Maurice Watkins must go down as one of the more successful chairmen of Barnsley Football Club. The club was on a downward trajectory when he was appointed, and relegation to League One could not be avoided despite the changes of management. But since that time the club's structures and personnel have improved immeasurably. The academy and development functions have been nurtured. The CEO/Head Coach structure appears to serve us very well, and the finances and playing fortunes of the club look to be in a very good place at present. Given Patrick Cryne's illness, to say nothing of his business and family concerns, I take the view that Maurice Watkins has done a sterling job for the club. It appears extremely likely that his departure signals the impending conclusion of the takeover, and that an exciting new chapter in the future of the club (though not without risks) is about to begin. It is totally understandable that the prospective new owners will wish to have their own appointee as chairman, and that is a natural progression. But I think we should extend our sincere thanks to Maurice Watkins for his stewardship, as well as wishing him continuing success in his impressive and extensive involvement in the wider sporting scene.

 

Very well written.

 

I agree 100% with your analysis and description of the job of Chairman. I would just add that Mr Watkins was a partner in Brabners LLP, a firm of sports lawyers and also a former director on the board of Manchester United. Both positions mean that he would have had lots of connections within the game. The extent to which this makes a difference is hard to quantify, but it means that when a proposal is made, he would have known where to go and who to talk to in order to get the information and the answers that the board and owner needed. It looks like Barnsley FC is about to move on. We do not know the future so we do not know where that will be for the better, or for the worse. But we do know about the past, and as you point out, we are a lot better now than we were when he joined the board, so I would like to add my voice to those thanking him for his efforts.

 

Article in today's Chronicle states that Maurice's resignation is in no way linked to the
takeover talks at Oakwell. Negotiations between Patrick Cryne and the consortium led
by Chinese billionaire Chien Lee are understood to still be ongoing.
As well as his role at Oakwell, Maurice is a senior partner at Manchester law firm Brabners
as well as being chairman of British Swimming and the Rugby League European Federation.

Due to these roles, the time Maurice could devote to the Reds has been limited but he helped oversee
the recruitment process that saw Gauthier Ganaye appointed as CEO.

His firm Brabners also stepped in to help with Barnsley's transfer business during the January 2017
window after previous chief executive Linton Brown left the job suddenly.

As we have already seen Maurice's parting message was " I have now decided the time is right to
move on and I wish the Club, the players, the fans and the board every success for the future."

 

Well thanks a f.cking million for that Mo.

 

Well yeah... thanks!
Who knows what went on! We might have lost more players, we might have sold even cheaper....
Nobody knows, only Patrick!

And I trust in Patrick , more than Maurice!

 

The standout thing for me was him stood on the touchline with Johnson after we'd been beaten by Altrincham. The rest is history so to speak as we didn't look back not long after that.

 

I

Wonder what their hourly rate was for letting Hourihane go?

 

I don't know, and I would imagine no one on here knows actually what he did and whether it was successful or not.

However, from the outside looking in he has been chairman during a period of instability off the pitch. Some of this was outside of the directors control but some (CEO appointments, delays in appointing Hecky as manager, letting players run down contacts etc) were certainly things that the board could have managed better.

I would say our success on the pitch has been despite of rather than because of the actions of the board.

 

Surprising he's leaving as we will need lawyers if the takeover goes through