Mr. Shepherds reply to my Letter!

I felt the need, like "Sherrif", to write a letter to the Chairman of BFC expressing my concern at some of the reported occurences at the club. Unlike "Sherrif" I did not resort to abuse but put forward a list of concerns at recent events and asked for an explanation. I did perhaps use some emotive language as I felt very strongly about the questions I was raising. I also gave Mr Shepherd a bit of my background as a supporter mentioning that my first game was back in 1966 at the game when Jonny Evans and Barry Thomas made their debuts.

This was a personal letter and as such, unlike &quot;Sheriff&quot;, I will not publish its contents here. I received a reply within days that answered and gave a thorough explanation to all my concerns. Again I am not prepared to publish the full reply but will provide a transcript of the last couple of paragraphs.</p>

&quot;Incidentally I too was at the game in 1966 when Jonny Evans and Barry Thomas made their debuts, indeed both scored. I have also been coming to Oakwell since 1946 which is now sixty years soI do share the concerns of the fans when we are experiencing a bad time. However I do believe that perhaps this is the time to really get behind the club because that is when support is most needed.</p>

All I can ask is that you continue to support us, at least you did take the time and trouble to write to me personally to voice your concerns.&quot;</p>

The questions I raised were no less contoversial than &quot;Sheriffs&quot; just expressed in a morereasonable manner and therefore receivinga reasonable response! </p>

The reference to &quot;people like you&quot; was directed, I am sure, to people who write letters like &quot;Sheriffs&quot; rather than to Barnsley supporters in general!

</p>

 

I think it's really nice that sheps takes the time to reply to concerned fans. I am guessing he has probably received lots of letters, emails etc about the state of the club and how we are going to lift ourselves out of this mess, so the fact that he has read the emails and letters and then even bothered to answer I think has probably won over a few more fans. Credit to him, at least he is making an effort!
Well done Gordon!

 

As I said in a previous post. Anyone who writes to the Chairman, Manager or anyone else, deserves to get a response which is written in the same vein.

 

I find it quite amusing that no-one saw fit to claim my email was abusive at the time it was sent (and posted on here) but suddenly do now. I don't regret a single word of what was stated. The feedback at the time was mostly supportive and some people asked (both online and privately) to be kept updated of any reply.

If you go back to the original thread you'll see that I expressed concerns about publishing the contents of any reply prior to receiving one and that I stated I would respect any confidences requested. I thought long and hard about the merits of doing so. However, in the end, I was so embarrassed by the nature of the response that I felt it worth posting.

During my professional career I've had to respond to all sorts of emotional, and sometimes abusive, correspondence. I'd have been embarrassed if any of the organisations I've been associated with had sent out a letter like that to any paying customer, particularly when it makes inaccurate, broad-sweeping assumptions about the recipient without any knowledge of them whatsoever.

Volunteering to do a job for no pay is no excuse to act like an amateur, and that's exactly what that response represented. I hope GS is able to communicate more professionally when trying to negotiate on the Club's behalf, as we're reliant upon him to secure the transfer dealings we so badly require.

 

Re: Mr. Shepherds reply to my Letter! nt

 

I can't really get to grips with what you are trying to achieve here...

at the end of the day, you are an experienced letter writer as you state...

but seriously,

no matter how the response was written, surely then in your experience, you ought to have really used it to write a letter in the professionalism that you say you have...


Maybe it was written in the language he thought you would understand...

ie,

look at PC's (as in computers)....

Anyone writing a letter to express concerns about technical issues, should in reality get a leeter back in the language that they had chose to write it, otherwise the company then would be accused of replying in technical jargon that customer did not understand...

like I said before, 2 wrongs don't make a right, but, I thought it was justified

 

I agree with you 100% mate, Sheps reply was a disgrace...

.... and anybody who thinks it's not, knows **** all about customer relations.

The bulk of his reply is fine and factual, however the 3 or 4 derogatory and derisory comments he makes, implying that you are not fit to question him about his actions, are appalling for someone in his position, in my opinion

 

Would you like to explain which bits you felt were inaccurate and broadsweeping assumptions. I think he made an accurate assessment from the tone of your letter and responded accordingly. I have worked in a sector for over 30 years where everybody and their grandmother thinks that they can do my job better than I can and are quite happy to tell me that ( no I am not a referee!). I have had to respond to complaints or concerns on a weekly basis on my own behalf or as a representative of my staff, both by letter and face to face. My responses are dependent on the tone of the original communication. If someone makes a reasoned, rational point civily then I will respond likewise and enter into dialogue with the complianant to try and reach some position where both of us can be happy with the outcome, not always possible of course! However my response to " people like you" is very different!

 

Big words in there matey, Sheriff Won't understand some of them!! Totally agree, Why should GS respond with a civilised response to such a stupid, poorly written letter.

 

I'm sure that any of the organisations that you have been associated with would be equally embarassed if they thought that you were sending letters on their behalf couched in the terms and using the kind of language that you did in your letter to Mr. Shepherd.
As for making "inaccurate, broadsweeping assumptions" isn't that exactly what you did? Why would that be right for you but not for him?

 

Sorry Londontyke I didnt think! I'll try and explain the biggest word for him!
GRANDMOTHER - Thats your mam or dads mother!

 

"Sheriff Won't understand some of them!! "

I put it down to his poor education.

 

Well for a start the whole response reads as if I've attacked him personally, whereas the comments in my email were critical of the decisions that he, and the Board as a whole, have made in this respect.

I criticised the bad timing of the appointment and the fact that it came so quickly after a game where Davey's managerial abilities had been 'exposed' so badly. I also criticised the way the whole affair had been handled publicly - the difference between the messages of ambition that had put out prior to the appointment and the end result, as seen through the eyes of a supporter.

I questioned whether the Club was in a better position in personnel terms than before Ritchie's sacking, given that the only 'new blood' we had brought into the managerial team was an assistant to someone who was already at the club in a more junior role. This is a perfectly justifiable thing to ask in this situation.

I felt very strongly that supporters had been 'misled' throughout the whole process and, as they are ultimately the lifeblood of the Club, I felt that this was a case of poor management on the Board's behalf.

Everything above relates to the public role the Board are carrying out as directors of the Club. GS is the 'public face' of the Board so the email was naturally addressed to him.

The reply, in additon to the incorrect broad-sweeping assumptions made about myself personally (exactly what does 'people like you' refer to here?), doesn't actually address all of these points. There is no explanation as to why the timing of the announcement was delayed until after the Wednesday game and why such an 'insensitive' time was ultimately chosen. It doesn't actually explain why reducing the amount of experience within the management team as a whole is better than the previous position and the response to the way in which the issue was handled publicly is to simply accuse anyone 'outside the game' of knowing nothing.

Ultimately, the underlying message of the response is 'how dare you question me, I know best, I've supported them longer than you.' Exactly why does the fact that his wife and children are season ticket holders have any relevance over the management decisions being made and challenged here?

Finally, the whole 'explained to the point of boredom' bit completely ignores the fact that at the time the email was sent the only thing that had been announced was that Simon Davey had been appointed manager, so the whole tone of the letter was driven by a statement that was, quite simply, inaccurate.

 

You relayed in a letter

in far more circumspect terms pretty much the feeling of this entire bbs - a lot of whom have put spme pretty personal and insulting stuff up about GS etc.</p>

</p>

I wouldn't lose any sleep over any criticism from this lot.</p>

</p>

 

Typical ... Conflict spiral... keep digging guys you will get deeper.. nt

 

My letter wasn't written on behalf of any organisation. It was a personal one.

Do you write business (company to company, company to individual) letters in the same style as personal ones? I don't.

 

So if you wrote yours Personally to him, then why shouldn't he be able to write back to answer your questions and his points across in a personal manner too? Having good people skills is all about being able to talk to people on "their level" and thats exactly what he's done.

 

As soon as he responds 'as Chairman of BFC' he's representing the company, same as anyone dealing with a complaint letter. That's why I find the 'like with like' argument so flawed. If an irate customer sends a completely abusive letter (as no doubt happens every day, take the NTL example in the thread below from today) then, according to that argument, the 'appropriate' company response would be to send something equally offensive back. That is quite probably the worst thing that the company could do in that situation.

 

go back a couple of posts....

to this one...

http://www.barnsleyfc.org.uk/bbs/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=59397&mid=372257#M372257



You wrote a personal letter, and received a personal response....

of which shouldn't have been posted on here.


End of.

if you are so upset by the response, then write a letter of complaint to the club and in a respectful way, and you may just get a respectful one back.

which ever way, I think you ought not to post the contents on here.