shefcanary

No, but once again a total failure of corporate governance. Whilst on gardening leave it is usual for such employees to remain silent on all matters relating to their soon to be ex-employee. Of course I can't reference whether or not he has actually signed an agreement to do so, or that he has been instructed properly on what he can or cannot say during this period of gardening leave, but (and here is the major failure of the club's corporate governance), one has to believe he informed his wife (the current Executive Director of the club) of the interview (fine marriage if he didn't) which should have alerted her to ensuring the interview was properly managed (i.e. with the club's press officer present). This failure on her part I'm afraid, given what has happened in the press etc. should actually threaten her own position. So, the statement cannot come from her as she is directly linked to the interview, it thus becomes the responsibility of her line manager which in this case is the Board. Given the lack of a nominated Chair (another key failure of corporate governance natch), then currently that role has to fall to the most senior people on the Board which is the current majority owners Delia and Michael. If only they had applied proper corporate governance principles in the first place, hey? Another unnecessary maligning of the club, because the majority shareholders mistakenly see the club as their plaything and not a very public organisation that requires appropriate control, checks and balances. I do wish people had listened to me properly when I revealed my fears that the club would suffer big time as a result of corporate governance failure (note I never was concerned primarily with team matters, just overall corporate health of an organisation that I had shares in). This incident is yet another in a long list of issues that if the appropriate control, checks and balances (i.e. appropriate corporate governance) were in place would not have occurred. I truly despair ...

He's on the payroll until 31 March 2024 - that is for 6 more days. FFS!

Oh, you are responding to something I wrote 3 weeks ago. On reflection my view is clearer as to the delay now. I understand the bit about a private WBA, but the real simplification is a straightforward share purchase by an individual? One person and their personal wealth to investigate and one transaction / contract to review (a day's work at best). Contrast to Norwich where you have at least two direct investments from Attanasio (you could break this down into 5 or 6 separate transactions if the EFL investigates each and every share purchase), a direct investment from Norfolk Holdings which is owned by 3 companies registered in the US, each with multiple shareholders domiciled overseas, and a number of indoviduals and corporates that has a 16.8% holiding on one of those US companies. And so there are at least (I make it) 5 contracts and related governance documents involved (definitely more though), one of which is a concordat with existing shareholders. Then as you say, there is the Takeover provisions to be reviewed as well. Which is a lot of work. But, if everything had been in place on 3 October 2022, then it surely would have been sorted by now. The other complication is that much of what the EFL has to review happened in a drip feed fashion spanning many months, some of it not totally in place until 10 months later. Getting a straightforward timeline is in itself quite a lot of work. Then you have to take account of the overall workload of the EFL's team. For instance our friends down the road have just added to that! End of season for a decision then, maybe before if we are involved in the play offs.

Yes, I wasn't going to mention what a lack of governance led to financially, but as you raised it, yes MA has rode to the rescue in a way to reduce ongoing losses in terms of expensive interest payments but also setting in motion the move away from the club being truly "public".

As a charity advocate I hope there is a good audit trail of how the money is spent and the benefits it produces.

Bright Path haven't paid anything into the club yet. They have paid ORG for a share in the club. They are a private equity vehicle, who once splashing out expect regular large regular repayments of their investment rather than investing more, with ultimately a complete cash out with a capital surplus within 3 to 5 years, or more usually writing off the investment and cashing out for what they can get and accept a loss.

As I hinted at in an earlier post, pressure applied by the club, using access to officials, lead to the tweet being withdrawn.

There certainly was no reason why it could not have been done in one go. I just think though it is hindsight to say where we are was always going to happen. Smith & Jones wanted to check Attanasio out before giving up any control so in a way they have been making things up as they are going along. The lack of trust, if you like, has produced the convoluted process we have now. It couldn't be any more convoluted really.

1 and 10/12 now.

Actually the EFL should have started the process when Attanasio was appointed a director - back on 3 October 2022. That's 18 months ago.

So a first view of this would be the following. Webber tries to big himself up by saying he rescued a few lads from London gang crime! Two, Lewis and Aarons, always struck me as the nicest of home counties suburban lads. I'm glad their parents have reacted as they have, it really was a criticism of them too! Then we have Rowe, who every other Insta post seems to quote biblical parables and thanks God for his life today (total anathema to me personally), he really doesn't strike me as ever being in trouble of breaking the law. I don't have enough evidence to comment on the other players. Yet, Webber responsible for the care and transition to manhood of 3 of these ostensibly responsible and seemingly intelligent young men, feels he can make himself seem a saviour by totally disregarding their backgrounds. This underpins my historical view of him trying to make himself look better than he really is by using the efforts of others to build a narrative that he is "super, super," good! Which he isn't, he just got lucky (especially as I've said before about Colney!). And don't forget The Summit Foundation is a creation of his partner's realisation that preparing for a climb up Everest whilst being paid handsomely to deliver success at a very public role looks a tad indulgent! On the other hand: I trust that Webber was aware that everything he said in his chat with Paddy could end up in print, otherwise it could lead to accusations of a stitch up and relations between the club and the Pink 'Un could hit a new low. One could also ask where was the challenge from Paddy on that statement. Fair cop if Webber meant what he was saying, he gets all he deserves, but if he was encouraged to say things in a more informal setting then a reaction from the club could lead to an unfortunate break down in club and journo relations. Just what we need in this promotion push. Thankfully it is an international break.

Hands n heels!

What flag does it have on the neck? 🙂

He's just been interviewed by Pink'Un and there are discrepancies aplenty in that interview on what he has been quoted as saying in the past - the biggest being he was going to try another sport entirely, yet he talks extensively about "conversations" he has been having with English football clubs, even positing the potential he might end up at a National League club. The guy don't arf spout a yarn!

Not guilty on that m'lud. No this rings very much that the Pension Fund were looking for some cash back and this was the quickest way for ORG to crystallise it. I'm sure they've made a bit themselves though.

So ORG have divested 40% to Bright Path. The Canadian Pension Fund backing ORG want their cash back obviously. JUst to reiterate that is no new money for the club, so don't panic yet. Ooh, and seemingly trying the old joint majority malarky that we have. nearly if ORG sell another 10% to someone else. Gosh it must be fun in the corporate office of Portaloo. Not sure how it secures their long term future. It might just end up in a bun fight. But will it be over £200m, or will it be over a few remaining pennies?

If we are going to criticise the kit, based on the flag, why is there any blue in it at all? The flag is red and white, for the badge the roses are red and the lions on all other heraldic devices are gold, so the kit should be a combination of red, white and gold! No-one (other than me) ever got worked up about that in the past did they? All this nonsense with prats like Barton leading the charge and even Starmer playing the patriot. What a load of **** and storm in a tea cup.

It won't bankrupt us, but we won't have the full amount of future parachute payments to "splurge" on new players. As for what the players are remunerated by, I have read several times that performance bonuses for positive results / goals scored etc. have disappeared now (except for promotion) for a basic salary with the only bonuses for 10, 20, 30 etc. appearances. I think as you slip further down the league the old performance bonuses may still figure, but at the top level football is such a selfish game nowadays who in their right mind would sign a contract where you were reliant on other people for much of your salary.

Our ambition to be an EPL club and to have a squad of players that match up to the physical attributes of the Citeh's, LiVARpool's, Arses and ManUre's seals the deal. Look at Lungi - he has bulked up for the fight ahead, he knows what is required as a minimum.

Apologies for butting in here but if the letter of the EFL rules was taken, Norwich actually could have started the season with only a 21 man named squad. For some reason they also included 4 U21's in their named squad (Barden, Lima, Borja Sainz & Idah - yes I know Idah was 22 at start of season, but he was u21 by the EFL qualification date of 1 January 2023). I've never figured out why they did that - what if some over 21 player who was not registered with an EFL club had become available? Always struck me as a strange decision. Another off kilter thought. PP has started every game for Swansea since he signed for them. He's not that bad a player, just didn't fit Wagner's requirements. In the same way Mumba didn't? Like for much of the season Nunez and Borja Sainz didn't - but then they did. Strange game football.

I've just repeated your Google Maps zoom test, and you are right, with two listed buildings on the Carrow Works site it is impossible to fit the footprint of the current stadium within that site without demolishing one or both of them. So, Attanasio et al, just crack on with replacing the City Stand pronto!

If you put one up for sale next August after we have navigated promotion via the play-offs, will it help us stay in the EPL next season? 😉

Is that some kind of butter fetish? Or you just like legs like twigs? 🙂

Interesting re. Carrow Works, if the land is available at a good price maybe it could be a goer. Yes, there are two (I think from Google) listed buildings on site but as with Everton's Bramley Moor site and the listed pump house that was retained, there is no reason why they could not be incorporated into a masterplan and provide some of the facilities required of a sporting venue. The American model that Attanasio is used to would potentially be happy with your comments on Anglia Square (local authority owned land etc.) - I just think it is too land locked for any sizeable stadium development to be achieved within what will be very tight cost constraints.

I'm sure there was a conversation between Celtic's recruitment guys and Norwich's recruitment guys which started looking at a specific deal (Johnston to Norwich) but after money issues entered the discussion it got around to an "anything else we could be interested in?" type conversation. And lo, something else happened.