Allison Franklin
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Mads Bee
Active member
Shirley Bee
Active member
Allison Franklin
A good day to bury bad news?
Nurse Betty was not the person I had in mind when I wanted heads to roll. Always impressive in meetings and in print, she got my vote and I'm sure she'll be missed.
BTW Was it her that overruled the gang of four and installed Fitz?
Nurse Betty was not the person I had in mind when I wanted heads to roll. Always impressive in meetings and in print, she got my vote and I'm sure she'll be missed.
BTW Was it her that overruled the gang of four and installed Fitz?
OP
OP
rebus
On my final warning
Allison Franklin
No, Allison wanted the news communicated as swiftly as possible.
Les Beeavinu
Administrator
OP
OP
rebus
On my final warning
Allison Franklin
Yes, 100% agree. I totally understand why she has stepped down and hope she will communicate why on here also.
stedders
Moderator
northantsbee
INVALID EMAIL
Thorne In The Side
Active member
Nick Hester
Formerly known as Greenholme Bee
Allison Franklin
WisBee
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Allison Franklin
...........for personal reasons it said..............I hope your post isn't an attempt at another conspiracy theory...........
Thanks for all your good work for Brentford, Allison............I don't suppose that anyone on the GPG thought that you'd be the first to go.......there are others much further ahead of you who should have gone already............it will be good to have you back 'on Board' just as soon as possible......
........they say that the good die young........
Inappropriate Smilies Bee
Well-known member
Nurse Betty
Active member
Allison Franklin
First of all, thanks for all the thanks.
I’d like to apologise to all those people who voted for me in 2005 in the hope I would make a difference on the BU Board in the way BU was run as an organisation and with its attitude towards and communication with Bees fans. I have to tell you it made very little difference whatsoever my sitting in 3-5 hour Board meetings. To my recollection, the only things I managed to change were a couple of small administrative procedures and the introduction of ‘awaydays’ at GP so that we had the time to really think about and talk through major issues. I don’t think there was a single time I was on the winning side of a vote although there are not many votes on the BU Board. Consensus is the name of the game but that often meant for me that I would be so tired by the end of the Board meeting or so dispirited that I let things go that I should have pursued. Therefore, silence became assent. I let you down by doing that and I am ashamed of it.
I felt impotent and frustrated by the remoteness of the BU Board from the Club and the lack of influence we had over how BFC is being run. I know this sounds ludicrous when we are the majority shareholder but we don’t have the majority vote on the Board and that’s what it boils down to.
Personally, I think Greg Dyke should be paid off and we should find ourselves a Chairman who is less focused on the ‘fun’ we’ve all been having this season and more focused on making the Club run properly. Whether the Chair of the Board is non-Exec or not, I expect them to be monitoring the internal workings of BFC very closely given our perilous financial situation. By monitoring, I do not mean unnecessarily interfering with or sabotaging agreed upon processes and decisions.
There have been improvements. Mark Chapman has got a handle on the communications very quickly and is doing a great job; Trevor Inns is a real asset in his tenacity and understanding of many areas of business; Natasha is reinvigorating the fundraising. Inevitably, though, there is a real difference between the level of knowledge (and perhaps understanding) held by volunteers such as Joe Bourke and Brian Burgess and the rest of the Board. Joe and Brian are willing and able to put in a lot of work on behalf of BU and BFC but the entrenched culture is one of cards being held close to chests rather than an openness with information and developments at BFC. This does not help the BU Board in its decision making process as information arrives late or incomplete.
As I write, a BU Board member is arguing that if the BFC budget figures do not come with the rationale that formed them in the first place, how are the BU Board to know whether the budget makes sense? Bear in mind that BU have been running the Club since 2003. This is not the first time round the block on this issue but lessons are not being learnt.
In my opinion, this model of ownership is preferable to a Club being owned by one individual but then I’m a socialist so what can you expect? However, whether it’s workable when you are saddled with so much debt from the get- go plus a sorely neglected Club infrastructure is another question. In my resignation email to Brian Burgess, I suggested that BU either have majority representation on the BFC Board in line with their shareholding or that BU sell their equity. This isn’t an original idea but it seems to me that BU are between two stools – all the responsibility of a majority shareholder but diminished power to make things happen in the way we would like. BU nominees turning up for BFC Board meetings with a metaphorical lead-lined cosh is no way to run a business but I think there needs to be less of BU speaking quietly and more of them carrying a big stick.
Please don’t doubt that everyone on the BU Board is a Bees fan. I carry my share of the blame for our pitiful performance this season both on and off the field by being on the Board.
The BFC Board may be a different matter in terms of all being Brentford fans but I don’t think anyone should doubt the probity or the amount of sheer hard work of David Heath, Ian Jones and Jon Gosling. They face a long, hard slog to get through the necessary changes at BFC before the water closes over our head and I don’t envy their task.
I’d like to apologise to all those people who voted for me in 2005 in the hope I would make a difference on the BU Board in the way BU was run as an organisation and with its attitude towards and communication with Bees fans. I have to tell you it made very little difference whatsoever my sitting in 3-5 hour Board meetings. To my recollection, the only things I managed to change were a couple of small administrative procedures and the introduction of ‘awaydays’ at GP so that we had the time to really think about and talk through major issues. I don’t think there was a single time I was on the winning side of a vote although there are not many votes on the BU Board. Consensus is the name of the game but that often meant for me that I would be so tired by the end of the Board meeting or so dispirited that I let things go that I should have pursued. Therefore, silence became assent. I let you down by doing that and I am ashamed of it.
I felt impotent and frustrated by the remoteness of the BU Board from the Club and the lack of influence we had over how BFC is being run. I know this sounds ludicrous when we are the majority shareholder but we don’t have the majority vote on the Board and that’s what it boils down to.
Personally, I think Greg Dyke should be paid off and we should find ourselves a Chairman who is less focused on the ‘fun’ we’ve all been having this season and more focused on making the Club run properly. Whether the Chair of the Board is non-Exec or not, I expect them to be monitoring the internal workings of BFC very closely given our perilous financial situation. By monitoring, I do not mean unnecessarily interfering with or sabotaging agreed upon processes and decisions.
There have been improvements. Mark Chapman has got a handle on the communications very quickly and is doing a great job; Trevor Inns is a real asset in his tenacity and understanding of many areas of business; Natasha is reinvigorating the fundraising. Inevitably, though, there is a real difference between the level of knowledge (and perhaps understanding) held by volunteers such as Joe Bourke and Brian Burgess and the rest of the Board. Joe and Brian are willing and able to put in a lot of work on behalf of BU and BFC but the entrenched culture is one of cards being held close to chests rather than an openness with information and developments at BFC. This does not help the BU Board in its decision making process as information arrives late or incomplete.
As I write, a BU Board member is arguing that if the BFC budget figures do not come with the rationale that formed them in the first place, how are the BU Board to know whether the budget makes sense? Bear in mind that BU have been running the Club since 2003. This is not the first time round the block on this issue but lessons are not being learnt.
In my opinion, this model of ownership is preferable to a Club being owned by one individual but then I’m a socialist so what can you expect? However, whether it’s workable when you are saddled with so much debt from the get- go plus a sorely neglected Club infrastructure is another question. In my resignation email to Brian Burgess, I suggested that BU either have majority representation on the BFC Board in line with their shareholding or that BU sell their equity. This isn’t an original idea but it seems to me that BU are between two stools – all the responsibility of a majority shareholder but diminished power to make things happen in the way we would like. BU nominees turning up for BFC Board meetings with a metaphorical lead-lined cosh is no way to run a business but I think there needs to be less of BU speaking quietly and more of them carrying a big stick.
Please don’t doubt that everyone on the BU Board is a Bees fan. I carry my share of the blame for our pitiful performance this season both on and off the field by being on the Board.
The BFC Board may be a different matter in terms of all being Brentford fans but I don’t think anyone should doubt the probity or the amount of sheer hard work of David Heath, Ian Jones and Jon Gosling. They face a long, hard slog to get through the necessary changes at BFC before the water closes over our head and I don’t envy their task.
beesbeesbarmyarmy
Isn't it? Hmm?
Allison Franklin
Allison,
Would it not have been better to hang in there? I would guess it's only a matter of time before you get a majority of like minded people on the BU board?
WarrenBee
Well-known member
Allison Franklin
Well said Nurse Betty, you have nothing to apologise for.These two bits caught my eye I must say.
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Nurse Betty
Active member
Allison Franklin
bba, that is exactly what I was doing from November 2005. I thought there would be a sea change when David Hawes, Chris Scott and Rod Gowers were all elected with me and Jon Gosling and John Anderson were already on the Board. But within a couple of months, Chris realised he couldn't attend meetings due to work commitments, Jon was elected supporter/director and Rod resigned. The number of 'like-minded people' was given a boost when the 2006 elections happened but it's still not enough. I'm afraid I can't take any more waiting around, it's too wearing.
Allison Franklin
Thanks for the statement Allison.
As you have not cited any "personal reasons" I conclude then that the BU statement was erm......not exactly complete and that your resignation was down to frustration.
WE have constantly been told that the club would "implode" if the BU board tried to get a firmer grip on what actually happens in the BFC boardroom. That seems to me to be a "dark threat" of the "Greg and the others won't brook any interference" variety.
All we know for now is that "mistakes have been made" and Brian Burgess is "very sorry" for that. Well as I've said before being sorry doesn't get the job done and continuing to "be sorry" is gonna see this club out of the league and out of business........UNLESS.......they know something that I don't and are relying upon Matthew Benham continually throwing monies at the club. If that is the case can they then please say so and advise us that we can scrub the "buy a brick" "walk from Brighton" "standing orders" "bucket collections" (continues with a further 1764 fundraising initiatives) and go back to watching the footy as the finance side is buttoned down for the forseeable future.
Shirley Bee
Active member
Allison Franklin
Allison, are you able to say how Brian Burgess and Joe Bourke feel about the "remoteness" of the BU Board? Are they similarly impotent and frustrated?
My recollection is that the structure of the BFC board was their idea. And as they sit on both boards, I assume they have considerably more influence than you had.
I note that you say everyone on the BU board is a Brentford supporter. Thank heavens for that. But the implicit and sometimes explicit accusation made on here is that the BU board is being kept at arm's length by these two gentlemen as part of the politics of the BFC board, which they helped to create.
This maneouvering may work as a means of balancing the need to give financial contributors a BFC board seat on the one hand with the need also for BU to retain some influence on the BFC board if it cannot have majority control.
But at what price? To what extent do you feel the deals and compromises Brian Burgess and Joe Bourke have to make on the main BFC board – and are possibly presented as a fait accompli to the BU board – contributed to your resignation?
Put another way, is the lack of a BU majority on the BFC board the fundamental problem, or is it just covering up a whole lot of others?
jlove
Well-known member
Allison Franklin
Allison, my personal thanks for your efforts and dedication. To me, it is a great pity that you have been ground down to the point of impotence and frustration that causes you to resign.
So I pose a question to you and any remaining BU Board members: is it now accepted the the present governance model is flawed, has room for significant improvement and are new models being evaluated?
Alternative ideas could be discussed but abee has made some suggestions on another thread (unusually rational and vitriol-free
) which boil down to clear scope and accountability for the required tasks of running a football club, on field and off, plus developing a new stadium. This has got to be the target.
I'm not suggesting a change from the BU majority shareholding of BFC (although I'm also not ruling it out) but a change in structure... or do we assume that all is well in the state of Denmark and you are the one out of step? I appreciate that you are not necessarily unbiased in your reply but it will be interesting to know the mood of the BU board.
So I pose a question to you and any remaining BU Board members: is it now accepted the the present governance model is flawed, has room for significant improvement and are new models being evaluated?
Alternative ideas could be discussed but abee has made some suggestions on another thread (unusually rational and vitriol-free
) which boil down to clear scope and accountability for the required tasks of running a football club, on field and off, plus developing a new stadium. This has got to be the target.I'm not suggesting a change from the BU majority shareholding of BFC (although I'm also not ruling it out) but a change in structure... or do we assume that all is well in the state of Denmark and you are the one out of step? I appreciate that you are not necessarily unbiased in your reply but it will be interesting to know the mood of the BU board.
Allison Franklin
Who are you expecting replies from to judge this?
Stephen Callen?
Brian Sawyer?
Matt Dolman?
Brian Burgess?
Allison Franklin
Alternative ideas could be discussed but abee has made some suggestions on another thread (unusually rational and vitriol-free
I've reverted to type having read this weeks Chronny interview with Keith Dickens so no need to worry about my state of mind.........
jlove
Well-known member
Allison Franklin
Maybe "expecting" is stretching it! I don't expect a direct reply to be posted here but I'd like some form of communication from BU before the end of the season to indicate whether changes are being evaluated, given that all responsibility for the season's performance cannot be laid at Leroy's and Fitz's door.
jlove
Well-known member
keefor
Not an Uber fan
Allison Franklin
Like I suspect a number of other people on this board, I voted for Allison and others to see if they could make a difference to how BU operates.
I had wondered why there hadn't seemed to be much posted about 'differences' being made in the organisation but given all of the noises about openess and transparency I assumed that progress was being made.
It now seems this was not correct. My understanding of the situation is that BU is regarded merely as a fund raising vehicle albeit one where the ordinary members are mugged off with the bullshit about running the club, making decisions, etc. Burgess seems to be an autocrat that has gone native with the self-serving idiots that make up the majority of the BFC board.
At least I've saved myself over £100 quid a year now I've reduced my s/o to £1.25 per month (a level which if I understand correctly means I will still be a member and be entitled to vote). My regret is that if the situation had been made clearer earlier than now, I would have changed my s/o earlier and saved myself more money.
My one request to Allison (and the others) is to pull no punches with a full and frank account of why BU does not act in a way to improve the glaring deficiencies in BFC.
My suspicion is that Burgess for all the time and effort he spends and what he has achieved, is the problem. Is this the case?
I had wondered why there hadn't seemed to be much posted about 'differences' being made in the organisation but given all of the noises about openess and transparency I assumed that progress was being made.
It now seems this was not correct. My understanding of the situation is that BU is regarded merely as a fund raising vehicle albeit one where the ordinary members are mugged off with the bullshit about running the club, making decisions, etc. Burgess seems to be an autocrat that has gone native with the self-serving idiots that make up the majority of the BFC board.
At least I've saved myself over £100 quid a year now I've reduced my s/o to £1.25 per month (a level which if I understand correctly means I will still be a member and be entitled to vote). My regret is that if the situation had been made clearer earlier than now, I would have changed my s/o earlier and saved myself more money.
My one request to Allison (and the others) is to pull no punches with a full and frank account of why BU does not act in a way to improve the glaring deficiencies in BFC.
My suspicion is that Burgess for all the time and effort he spends and what he has achieved, is the problem. Is this the case?
West Wilts Bee
Active member
Allison Franklin
So the BFC board is not really a democratic group. As I see it, Jon Gosling, david Heath and Ian Jones are not supported by Joe Bourke and Brian Burgess. Or have I got it wrong? If I am somewhere near to being right Then this is very unhealthy. This is certainly not the way I want our football club run. We need what's best for Brentford football club here, not whats best for Dyke Rogers and Herting.
West Wilts Bee
Active member
Allison Franklin
Allison I do not know you, I would personally like to thank you for your efforts. I can see why this club ****s up time and time again.
Nurse Betty
Active member
Allison Franklin
Sorry, Shirley, but I can't tell you whether or not Joe and Brian feel remote from the decision making process. It's not something that has ever been discussed with me. I would imagine they don't - they sit on the BFC Board where the decisions are being made but you'd really have to ask them.
I appreciate that Brian may have been between a rock and a hard place as the drop-dead date on buying the majority share approached and had to accept money from anyone who was interested and agree that BU would not have the majority presence on the Board. I can understand the concerns of individuals investor directors about this - they put in their dosh and then never stand a hope in hell of getting through their ideas or being able to protect their investment properly. But the upshot of it is that we have an Alice in Wonderland situation where we own more than anyone else but cannot exercise the appropriate level of control.
For me, the lack of a majority on the BFC Board is a fundamental problem. If nothing else, being the majority shareholder and raising funds on the back of a BU strapline that tells everyone we are a 'fans owned club' raises people's expectations that what the BU Board decides goes. It doesn't.
Nurse Betty
Active member
Allison Franklin
Actually, Keithor, I did post on the GPG about problems on the BU Board and many other posters reprimanded me for it and made it clear that they thought it was unprofessional and unsavoury to have those details put into the public domain. So I stopped.
My take on organisations like BU is that they only bloody well exist because of the membership and you and everyone else who is a BU member and Bees fan have every right to know what is going on. Not the stupid little spats that go on between Board members (though come to think of it....no, no, stick to the agenda) but the way in which decisions have been made and by whom. If a project is already pretty well advanced and the fundamental decisions have been made before the topic reaches the BU Board, then you'd like to know, wouldn't you? Have the BU Board been instrumental in the development of that issue or simply had an opportunity to give it the once over and comment?
The speed with which decisions sometimes have to be made is a reflection of BFC being a commercial enterprise. The BU Board are volunteers. There will always be gaps in the decision making process because of the very different timescales. But let's face facts and stop pretending that the BU Board drives anything very much outside of Joe Bourke and Brian Burgess' presence on the BU Board. Oh, and Greg Dyke. I always forget he's a BU nominee. I think he does his best to forget it as well.
Nurse Betty
Active member
Allison Franklin
Hi West Wilts.
I've never been privy to how the voting or debates go on the BFC Board so I can't tell you who is supporting who.
All I can tell you is that those guys are fighting for the changes that I would have loved BU to have taken up some time ago.
Beepositive
No 1 would have believed
Allison Franklin
Time for Dyke to go
Allison, like West Wilts Bee I don't know you personally but would like to thank you for you efforts over the past 18 months - rather you than me with the picture you paint.
I think most people tend to forget that Dyke was asked to sit on the BFC board by BU. I can remember on the day of his appointment in one of the many interviews he conducted saying something along the lines - I'm only Chairman in name, the supporters have asked me to represent them but don't think that I'll be putting money into the club, this is a voluntary role which I'm pleased to take on.
So where does that leave his loyalties? Not with BU it seems but with the old guard who still use their power to make the decisions that continue to take this club backwards.
All the more reason for Dyke to be removed from the board now - I may be wrong but I don't remember the BU membership being asked to vote him on as Chairman (I stand to be corrected). If he wasn't voted on surely we don't need a vote to get rid of him.
Allison, like West Wilts Bee I don't know you personally but would like to thank you for you efforts over the past 18 months - rather you than me with the picture you paint.
I think most people tend to forget that Dyke was asked to sit on the BFC board by BU. I can remember on the day of his appointment in one of the many interviews he conducted saying something along the lines - I'm only Chairman in name, the supporters have asked me to represent them but don't think that I'll be putting money into the club, this is a voluntary role which I'm pleased to take on.
So where does that leave his loyalties? Not with BU it seems but with the old guard who still use their power to make the decisions that continue to take this club backwards.
All the more reason for Dyke to be removed from the board now - I may be wrong but I don't remember the BU membership being asked to vote him on as Chairman (I stand to be corrected). If he wasn't voted on surely we don't need a vote to get rid of him.
Shirley Bee
Active member
Allison Franklin
Thanks for taking the time to reply Allison. Thank you also for your efforts on the board. We can only hope your successor will be given more of a chance.
Rod Gowers
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Allison Franklin
Allison, sorry to hear you have left, but it doesn't surprise me.
From almost the first board-meeting I attended it seemed patently clear to me that the elected BU board would never be allowed, or be able, to act, or have any say, in the running of Brentford Football Club, and nor, more critically, would they be able to assert any influence. This was why I quickly wanted no part.
In the days of BU takeover, it was said that the only way funds could be mustered to get RN out of BFC (even this, as we know, was not finally achieved until much later, and with the help of a benevolent supporter), was by borrowing, begging and cajoling money from whoever was willing to stump up any cash. Thus BU got into bed with various devils, and various existing board members were allowed to remain for better or worse at the club, and any potential BU influence over the club was immediately compromised, if not immediately lost. (The fact Ian Jones proved to be a "good guy" was a bit of luck- he may not have been).
We (the new board members at that time) were required to vote for a BU takeover with very little, in fact almost no information as to the consequences of voting one way or another. We were new, we had no experience, and were given no background or information to work with; we arrived at THE critical moment, when all previous board members had "gone", We didn't really have the raw materials to act.
In essence we were asked to swallow Burgesses line "BU is the only show in town and if you do not vote yes for takeover, you will be consigning BFC to the dustbin, and will have to live with that for the rest of your lives". We were also sold the 'let's feel sorry for Brian, who has put years and years of his life, sob! sob! into rescuing Brentford, and at the last minute it could all go pear-shaped unless you vote yes" scenario. Whichever, I suggest we were there only to rubber stamp the vote for takeover, even including (on Burgesses advice), accepting a mystery investor, who none of us knew who he was!!! (When I look back on this, I still feel as bewildered and dare I say it hoodwinked today, as I did then! We were the BU board and we were being taken for a ride!!)
BU then "took over", but any control of the club was already lost.
Throughout takevoer, and at every time since, the only person within BU, in my opinion, who has any handle on what is occuring, and also has any influence is Burgess. He, and he alone, holds the cards, and he keeps them very close to his chest. The BU takeover, in my opinion, was a fudged deal designed to keep Burgess in control of BFC. This is why so many small investors, mystery investors, and gullible souls, were asked to help. None, I suggest (ask Abee) have come out with any influence, control, or direct capabilities. They may have invested their monies, but the "control" has remained totally with Burgess.
We have always been sold the line BU is the only game in town. Perhaps now that is so. However, I firmly believe that there would have been potential benevolent club owners out there who would have looked at a club in the heart of West London with our debts as a GOOD investment (or would had we achieved championship status, or even retained a league one position). I suggest, if there really was no-one interested, we were either asking the wrong people, or not asking anyone at all. We were led to believe the only likely investors were "property investors". We swallowed this line hook, line and sinker, with no real substantiation.
The ideal of a supporters run club has been and shall remain the only goal of BU. That supporter, in my opinion, is Burgess, and no-one else and that is why we are in the state we are in.
From almost the first board-meeting I attended it seemed patently clear to me that the elected BU board would never be allowed, or be able, to act, or have any say, in the running of Brentford Football Club, and nor, more critically, would they be able to assert any influence. This was why I quickly wanted no part.
In the days of BU takeover, it was said that the only way funds could be mustered to get RN out of BFC (even this, as we know, was not finally achieved until much later, and with the help of a benevolent supporter), was by borrowing, begging and cajoling money from whoever was willing to stump up any cash. Thus BU got into bed with various devils, and various existing board members were allowed to remain for better or worse at the club, and any potential BU influence over the club was immediately compromised, if not immediately lost. (The fact Ian Jones proved to be a "good guy" was a bit of luck- he may not have been).
We (the new board members at that time) were required to vote for a BU takeover with very little, in fact almost no information as to the consequences of voting one way or another. We were new, we had no experience, and were given no background or information to work with; we arrived at THE critical moment, when all previous board members had "gone", We didn't really have the raw materials to act.
In essence we were asked to swallow Burgesses line "BU is the only show in town and if you do not vote yes for takeover, you will be consigning BFC to the dustbin, and will have to live with that for the rest of your lives". We were also sold the 'let's feel sorry for Brian, who has put years and years of his life, sob! sob! into rescuing Brentford, and at the last minute it could all go pear-shaped unless you vote yes" scenario. Whichever, I suggest we were there only to rubber stamp the vote for takeover, even including (on Burgesses advice), accepting a mystery investor, who none of us knew who he was!!! (When I look back on this, I still feel as bewildered and dare I say it hoodwinked today, as I did then! We were the BU board and we were being taken for a ride!!)
BU then "took over", but any control of the club was already lost.
Throughout takevoer, and at every time since, the only person within BU, in my opinion, who has any handle on what is occuring, and also has any influence is Burgess. He, and he alone, holds the cards, and he keeps them very close to his chest. The BU takeover, in my opinion, was a fudged deal designed to keep Burgess in control of BFC. This is why so many small investors, mystery investors, and gullible souls, were asked to help. None, I suggest (ask Abee) have come out with any influence, control, or direct capabilities. They may have invested their monies, but the "control" has remained totally with Burgess.
We have always been sold the line BU is the only game in town. Perhaps now that is so. However, I firmly believe that there would have been potential benevolent club owners out there who would have looked at a club in the heart of West London with our debts as a GOOD investment (or would had we achieved championship status, or even retained a league one position). I suggest, if there really was no-one interested, we were either asking the wrong people, or not asking anyone at all. We were led to believe the only likely investors were "property investors". We swallowed this line hook, line and sinker, with no real substantiation.
The ideal of a supporters run club has been and shall remain the only goal of BU. That supporter, in my opinion, is Burgess, and no-one else and that is why we are in the state we are in.
Old B
Active member
Allison Franklin
Without wishing to be a Jonah or cast any aspersions (and slightly off topic) lets not go to overboard on the praise just yet.
Allison Franklin
You can certainly file me under "gullible souls".
I wanted no part of the structure that was presented to me and I have said as much on many occasions. However I honoured a promise that I made on March 13 2005 but when I saw the way it was heading I held my loan to the minimum that I said that I would do and that was that. As Joe Bourke would tell you I had more set aside but I had seen enough to decide that no more of my dosh was going in under the structure that was being put together allied to the individuals who were gonna be on the BFC board more than one of whom I have absolutely no time for.
I have to repeat that it never occured to me for a second however that;-
1) The new BFC board chaired by Greg Dyke would not have asked exactly what the holding company wanted them to deliver
2) The holding company would not provide the newly constituted BFC board with a programme for how they wanted the business that they now owned to be run and the parameters. I have posted before that I have never seen anything like it before in my business career. But as they say "When you conclude that everyone around you has gone mad then it's not them it's probably you" ........on that basis I am stark staring.......
I agree with your conclusions Rod..........most of us were playing with a rigged and incomplete deck of cards.
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Nurse Betty
Active member
Allison Franklin
Thanks, Rod.
I agree with a lot of your analysis about BU's recent past. However, I do think the power shift has moved away from Brian and towards Matthew Benham and his BFC Board nominee, Rob Esteva. Benham has money. We don't. Guess where the influence lies right at the moment? I said in my resignation email to Brian that Matthew Benham had proved to be a good guy so far; let's hope he remains so.
The truth of it is that BU have been crippled by Noades-related debt since the takeover and the situation that you and I faced when we were first elected continues: unless you are Vlad the Impaler, potentially you can buy some of the action at Griffin Park because BU are in no position to turn anyone away. And even Vlad was in the Directors' Box on Saturday...
BU, of course, only have 9-10% of equity to play with and if that goes, then it's sayonara to the current model. Though frankly, what difference would it make?
Rod Gowers
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Allison Franklin
Glad to hear this. In my opinion this can only be a good thing.
Hope you're keeping fit, incidentally.
Nurse Betty
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GlasgowBee
Only posting for "likes" or so they say!
Allison Franklin
It seems time to scrap the model (whatever the model was)
the king is dead...long live the king
the king is dead...long live the king