Rhodes speaks

I've never understood the rationale of a standard ST price wherever you sit

 

I used to work for a company who had a site near Bedlington. Newbiggin, North Blyth, Cambois, desperate places.

 

Yes these wonderful places you mention are all 15 mins drive from my house.

The beach at Cambois is lovely and Sandy bay caravan park is just up the road, yet the local population are absolute headbangers. Not the sort of place to leave your car too long

 

Yes there were issues behind the scenes but frankly a lot of football clubs are pretty dysfunctional organisations. Judged at a high level from the owner's perspective things were going to plan - play-off final in May, 2017 and challenging near the top of the table until around January, 2018.

 

In footballing terms, perhaps. The lack of oversight on financial governance, is more damning. For an owner, with significant personal wealth tied up in being the majority shareholder, to not have a grasp of how we were spending cash like a chunky kid in a sweet shop is negligent.

 

I'd say you'd have to go some to find a club as crazy as Bradford were after that playoff final defeat. The results papered over not just cracks but widening chasms as Rahic went into full retard mode behind the scenes. I don't think Rahic knew how many people were leaking story after story of a guy literally on a suicide mission. Thankfully he's gone, hopefully with a good dose of karma, but his legacy unfortunately remains for the foreseeable future.

 

As regards SMcC having a bad relationship with his CEO I recall it wasn't too rosy with ML either. I agree the governance was poor but on the face of it, Rahic's protestations would have been credible in that the team was actually doing quite well if league position was anything to go by. Conmen are pretty good at crafting a narrative.

As regards BC being his biggest investment or economic commitment I doubt that that was/is the case. The fact that SR was not familiar with football allowed ER all the more flexibility to tell his lies, because as we all know 'he knew football'. Part of ER's version of events was that the English way was inferior and that SMcC was being obstructive to ER's vision etc. It doesn't take much imagination to work out what would have been said to SR. Another point to bear in mind is that German businessmen think long-term and having made his commitment, SR was unlikely to change course at short notice and hence stood by ER.

 

Druridge Bay was nice IIRC. I came third in a sea angling competition off the rocks at Newbiggin I think it was. Good times, before I got married and bought a a house, I had a few quid on the hip and would be staying at the Marriott at Gateshead with work paying.

 

A bit further south, I lived in Whitley Bay for a while in the mid nineties. Bonkers. Queuing up for the pubs to open on a bank holiday at 10am. Steve Stone used to join us on the razz when he was up visiting his parents from Nottingham. Different breed up in that part of the world.

 

I don't disagree about the governance but it's understandable how it happened: (i) not his biggest exposure / investment; (ii) didn't know the industry; (iii) out of the country; (iv) things appeared to be going well; (v) other concerns / distractions; and (vi) ER feeding his spin. As I have said, SR had seen ER feted as the Messiah in Germany and he didn't take seriously the comments on social media about ER. If anything the latter detracted from efforts to persuade SR that ER was the problem and whilst I appreciate that you don't want to hear it, he told me that he only took notice of what was being published on WOAP. The efforts to put a banner in the sky also came close to making him walk away altogether.

 

BMW 5 series? Top of the range Mercedes surely!

 

It may be a shit-hole but it's our shit-hole. It hasn't always been like this. It was once a wealthier city than L***s. Maybe one day it will rise like a Phoenix and then BIG money individuals will be falling over each other to buy the club.

 

Oh aye. Fat chance of either frankly.

 

See if Fordy will lend you his Merc.

 

Bye the way Alf sends his regards.

 

Who’s Alf?

 

Alf Hookam

 

Being spun a yarn by a conman, is a reasonable explanation as to why the behind the scenes carnage was masked. But to not have a view of the financial health of the club, the level of spending and forecast to budget, is negligence. It’s basic governance of any business. It requires little more than a monthly review of the clubs financial forecast. Whether its his biggest project or not, when he’s got a few million tied up in said project I can’t find any other word than negligence.

 

Indeed. It’s sad, looking at what the city has become. It needs something to pin its hopes and focus on, and the club COULD be it. The potential is there for an owner/CEO with vision and skill.