[Official Site] CLUB STATEMENT | FRONT OF SHIRT SPONSOR

At the moment none of us know really what happened. I’m no fan of Our CEO but to say he should be fired either because it was his fault or if it wasn’t it should have been his fault so he should be fired anyway is uncalled for

 

personally I've lost confidence in the CEO. I'd probably agree this was the final straw. absolutely 100% behind the outcome on hex, and ultimately it's been a decisive response. however for me, serious questions now need to be asked about judgment. I keep coming back to this '99.9% autonomy'...and that was under Conway.

none of us know how the deal came about, or who's idea it was. but as CEO, he has key accountability for me. even if it was completely someone else's legwork to bring them in, which is entirely possible, he should have made sure it was a credible partnership and that the right due diligence was done. I also totally agree that had it not been for fan response, they would still be sponsors.

I guess there's a scenario where the board have somehow 'voted him down' on it and essentially taken the decision out of his hands. quite possible that may have happened. in which case, I would argue his remit as CEO is highly questionable.

with everything else that's gone on, I personally don't think this can or should just be swept under the carpet. it's been a huge failing at board level. it's not a witch hunt for me, it's an enquiry into accountability, to rebuild trust and confidence that they're fit for purpose.

 

Speculation has run rife the last few days. Different people to blame, just the CEO to blame, hints of it being brought to us by hedge fund investors, JAQ influence, James Cryne taking a leading role, purely just the Commercial Director, an agency, etc.

Proof that we leap to deciding (and in some cases insisting) what the outcome should be without even knowing the full story whatsoever. Patience is always key, as is being reflective about your own work experiences over the years.

It could possibly be that this was an honest oversight brought about by nothing more than the urgency we were working at to get a sponsor (another speculative scenario). The step of taking due diligence has obviously been missed somewhere along the way, but if that was just genuine and honest human error, do we need to be claiming ‘heads should roll’?

Words should be had, internally and behind closed doors, but I’m not sure anyone should advocate for job losses as a result, especially if this results in us never being in this position again and we clearly learn from it.

We’ve got what appears to be an excellent head coach. We’re got former players from different eras at every level of the coaching staff. We’ve won two of our first three and have Leeds away in the cup (a potential £300k windfall). We appear to have abandoned the filter on the spreadsheet that restricted age and appearances, and are looking on these shores, often for the better players in the lower divisions. We signed a 31 year old. We’re turning down bids that aren’t good enough for our players. Nearly 8,000 season ticket holders. Close to 10,000 home fans for the opening game. Nearly 1,500 going to Derby. A new board of directors that appear to want to make decisions based on results on the pitch ahead of financial or commercial priorities. Really strong links with the community and charities, as good as I’ve seen. Fan engagement ideas and initiatives beyond what we’re used to.

We’re getting things wrong, as all clubs do. And sadly for us it’s lots of minor positives up against some significant negatives. But it isn’t all bad. It isn’t all a disaster. And some of the progress we’ve made is exactly what certain supporters were asking for 3-6 months ago.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. But at least now our Rome is going to be at Oakwell and not Rotherham, Wigan or Bradford.

 

They’ll get bored eventually. Worst thing we could do would be to engage.