Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
ricardo

Ricardo's report The AGM 2017

Recommended Posts

I arrived just after seven and by 7.30 the room was fairly full. Ed Balls called for questions on the Resolutions and we were treated to some ludicrous and rather pointless argee bargee about the quality of the mission statement. I don''t think I was the only one shaking my head in disbelief. Then there was an interjection by someone wanting to know why Delia and Foulger were offering themselves for re-election after a catalogue of failure. It was immediately apparent that this wasn''t going to have legs thanks to enthusiastic applause when Ed Balls remarked on D & M ''s years of service to the club. Needless to say when it came to the vote both were re-elected on a show of hands. There may have been dissenters at the far end but it was a sea of support at my end. Rather than join in this pointless sycophancy or equally pointless rebellion Ricardo abstained in person.The Steve Stone gave us a run down on finances and although I am sure he tried to be transparent, I got more than a bit confused with some of the info on the slides. In essence, Income reduced from £100 million in our Prem year to £59 million this year and will be sub £30 million next year.Costs have come down from £85 million to £57 million thanks to players wages reductions and the transfer of higher earners but a big point was made of the severance pay to 14 people which amounted to £4.4 million in total and the fact that we are still dealing with the financial liability created due to the failed attempt to retain Premier status.Ed Balls then told us about the Boards decision to take a different direction with a new structure and admitted that in retrospect it should have been done this earlier. The Jez Moxey thing didn''t work out and was costly and led the Board to rethink the way forward and although early indications were mixed they believed that the far reaching changes were necessary. Ed admitted that if we want to buy in January we will have to raise the finances as there is no pot of gold but also there is no requirement to sell anyone to balance the books.To retain Category one status for the Academy, we will require £2 million over the next couple of years and shareholders and fans will soon hear more about this (obviously a plea for £''s). Ther was also a commitment to look at safe standing as an option but there will be cost considerations and legislation would have to be passed first.After this came a short video on CSF and once again I have to state that we can be proud to support a club that does so much in the local community. Not many clubs support this cause in the way that we do.On to the Q & A session. We returned to the mission statement question and Stuart Webber gave us a very wide ranging answer, starting with "if the mission statement was all we had to worry about things would be fine". He said that in his experience this club involved and listened to its supporters above and beyond the call of duty compared with what he had been used to. As to players wages, in the last couple of years we paid seven out of eight of the highest salaries in the clubs history and in 2015/16 had a higher net spend on players than Villa, Spurs and Arsenal.And then he said this, which surprised me and impressed me in its honesty.                                         "We won the lottery and pissed it all up the wall"Oh deary me, someone tells it like it is at long last. We didn''t update Colney''s facilities when the sun was shining and now we need to desperately and don''t have a pot to piss in. There followed a string of further questions from the floor on 1. players ambling out for the second half to which Farke gave a long rambling answer that left me none the wiser.2. Colney and will the Academy produce enough to make it worthwhile.3. What happened to OTBC before Kick off.4. A Health and Safety matter (Tom is responsible for H&S apparently)5.Strker needed (another rambling answer from Farke, I''m still none the wiser)6.Attendances dropping (re-pricing for the Brentford game)7. Forums in the county (Steve Stone not keen)8. Style of play and goal scoring (Farke, easier to sort defence than attack, sounded like he hoped it would come together eventually)9 Delia''s loan ...........................lots of clapping10 Why don''t we sack failing managers earlier. (no real answer other than you''ve got to give them time)

Thats about it folks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
If the owners and second largest shareholder think the fans should help find £2m for the academy just a year after they repaid themselves £2m in loans then I think they will find the lack of response from the fans surprising.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Jim Smith"]If the owners and second largest shareholder think the fans should help find £2m for the academy just a year after they repaid themselves £2m in loans then I think they will find the lack of response from the fans surprising.[/quote]

[Y] ^^This^^[Y]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Look at it from a different point of view Jim. They lent the club money for ten years and received no interest so not entirely self serving or without merit. However I would be interested to see what their contribution will be when the cap comes roundAs for me me, I never got that shilling back that I chucked in the sheet in 1956[:D]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="ricardo"]Look at it from a different point of view Jim. They lent the club money for ten years and received no interest so not entirely self serving or without merit. However I would be interested to see what their contribution will be when the cap comes roundAs for me me, I never got that shilling back that I chucked in the sheet in 1956[:D][/quote]Not forgetting the vastly increased value of their shares, though, eh Ricardo?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"][quote user="ricardo"]Look at it from a different point of view Jim. They lent the club money for ten years and received no interest so not entirely self serving or without merit. However I would be interested to see what their contribution will be when the cap comes roundAs for me me, I never got that shilling back that I chucked in the sheet in 1956[:D][/quote]Not forgetting the vastly increased value of their shares, though, eh Ricardo?[/quote]

Not to mention 20 years of free top end corporate entertainment! Champers and scampi no doubt!

Ricardo what was the average age of those who attended, I bet it was the pension brigade headed by Nutty and his clean!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Like I said Ricardo in a previous post the AGM was a non entity with no real questions or answers to our style of play or will there be a striker coming in January.

The questions put to Farke were lost in translation with no real answer to any question. Felt the board got off quite lightly and probably now on there 10th bottle of bubbly.

Championship football for a long time despite Ed Balls comment that we want to be the most successful club in the world which at least raised a smile from most in attendance

Nice to know Master Tom is in charge of security I can at least rest easy tonight in my bed

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I take the point Ricardo although I''m still a bit irritated at the way the matched funding for our "rebate money" suddenly turned into a loan after the event and slightly under the radar.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Thanks Ricardo.

Don’t suppose you managed to peep over Peter Wolsey’s shoulder and see what his other questions were?

I was most disappointed he wasn’t afforded more floor time. Very affable fellow.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Indy"][quote user="norfolkbroadslim"][quote user="ricardo"]Look at it from a different point of view Jim. They lent the club money for ten years and received no interest so not entirely self serving or without merit. However I would be interested to see what their contribution will be when the cap comes roundAs for me me, I never got that shilling back that I chucked in the sheet in 1956[:D][/quote]Not forgetting the vastly increased value of their shares, though, eh Ricardo?[/quote]

Not to mention 20 years of free top end corporate entertainment! Champers and scampi no doubt!

Ricardo what was the average age of those who attended, I bet it was the pension brigade headed by Nutty and his clean![/quote]

[:D]Not that many younger than me Indy.Lets put it kindly, 75% can remember the cup run (1959 I mean)[Y][:D]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
You missed out the bit when Big Vince stood up to denounce the Suffolk Socialists and demanded that Robert Chase be re-installed as life Chairman of the Board.

I mean, that did happen, right?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Duncan Edwards"]Thanks Ricardo.

Don’t suppose you managed to peep over Peter Wolsey’s shoulder and see what his other questions were?

I was most disappointed he wasn’t afforded more floor time. Very affable fellow.[/quote]I was three rows behind him but couldn''t see.Him and Farke could have a long rambling conversation together[Y]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Mr Angry"]You missed out the bit when Big Vince stood up to denounce the Suffolk Socialists and demanded that Robert Chase be re-installed as life Chairman of the Board.

I mean, that did happen, right?[/quote]

Probably like when I miss a goal.I must have nipped out for a wee.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Nice one Rickyyyyy. There were three old duffers across the aisle from me with a combined age that must have been at least 250. All had paper and pen so I wondered...

However one did drop off for a while and your report is pretty comprehensive.

Magic moments were few and far between but best for me was the artist known as Peter Wolsey who wanted to paint a picture and ask three questions. If a picture paints a thousand words....

As I said in a post yesterday. It''s refreshing to have young people driving the club forward. Steve Stone and Stuart Webber are different characters but hopefully a great team.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We''ve got the backroom team now all we need is the front room team which might prove a lot harder to achieve

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"][quote user="ricardo"]Look at it from a different point of view Jim. They lent the club money for ten years and received no interest so not entirely self serving or without merit. However I would be interested to see what their contribution will be when the cap comes roundAs for me me, I never got that shilling back that I chucked in the sheet in 1956[:D][/quote]Not forgetting the vastly increased value of their shares, though, eh Ricardo?[/quote]why might that be then ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Mr Angry"]You missed out the bit when Big Vince stood up to denounce the Suffolk Socialists and demanded that Robert Chase be re-installed as life Chairman of the Board.

I mean, that did happen, right?[/quote]

Probably like when I miss a goal.I must have nipped out for a wee.[/quote]This might help in that matter, old chapdon''t miss a thingand ta for the excellent report

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="ricardo"]

On to the Q & A session. We returned to the mission statement question and Stuart Webber gave us a very wide ranging answer, starting with "if the mission statement was all we had to worry about things would be fine". He said that in his experience this club involved and listened to its supporters above and beyond the call of duty compared with what he had been used to. As to players wages, in the last couple of years we paid seven out of eight of the highest salaries in the clubs history and in 2015/16 had a higher net spend on players than Villa, Spurs and Arsenal.And then he said this, which surprised me and impressed me in its honesty.                                         "We won the lottery and pissed it all up the wall"Oh deary me, someone tells it like it is at long last. We didn''t update Colney''s facilities when the sun was shining and now we need to desperately and don''t have a pot to piss in.

[/quote]Thanks for the report, ricardo. I am intrigued by this comment of Webber''s, because it is isn''t really true, unless he has a very different mindset and long-term plan to that advocated by the vast majority of posters here. It is a fallacy that for Norwich City getting to the Premier League is like winning the lottery.As explained on another thread, the figures show that the only times we have made the kind of profit (at least several million) that could have gone on Colney, for example, were when we got relegated and did not have to pay vast bonuses for staying up. Each season we have been in the PL or been trying to get straight back up there we have spent pretty much everything on the playing side. To the general approval of fans.Webber''s comment only makes sense if he thinks that we should have made a conscious decision when promoted to budget for getting relegated straight back down. That in the Lambert and Neil seasons in the PL we should have kept to Championship-level spending on players and wages, so in effect not improving the squad. Then there would have been money to earmark for Colney. Whether that would have gone down well with posters here I doubt.Whether this is an indication of how Webber would want us to operate  if we did get back to the PL is a question, and probably a pretty moot one for now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And so it goes on. Another AGM passes bye, and nobody learns anything new other than Mr Webber proclaiming that the riches NCFC did have were “pissed up the wall” and “there is no money”!

Sounds like a Labour Government! Sorry Mr Balls! Would appear Mr McNally didn’t do much of a job then! And let’s not mention Moxey, which was “the wrong call”! More dosh pissed up the wall!

So, no striker to come in January, unless a deal can be brokered by selling! The manager not being called to task over results, and nobody understood a word he mumbled.

Year on year, this club stumbles around in the merry go round of the footballing world, it has done since my earliest days of 1954.

It tries this, it tries that, and quite simply, regardless of who is at the helm, nothing changes, regardless. Maybe ITV could make a soap out if it all, Dallas style! it would be far more entertaining than the garbage football on offer now!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Webber is really trying to butter us up for a fire sale isn’t he.

We don’t want to sell, but January is better for selling than buying- your looking to sell then...

We don’t have to sell the likes of Maddison, Oliveria, or Pritchard - so we know who’ll be gone first then...

If we can be creative - meaning if we can pull the wool over your eyes and sell a Maddison for some 3rd rate player from the german league, we will. Aka Howson for Vrancic, lovely stuff.

Really dislike Webber. Goes far to far with the doom and gloom, and doesn’t offer any sort of hint for a positive future.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Agree with Lincoln it''s a depressing future we have under smith and jones.

Morally I feel outraged that we are having nepotism Tom forced on us when even a brexit voter could see that it''s a disaster waiting to happen

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
There was much clapping last night so we have a very happy shareholder base. Turnover next season was predicted at 30m, player wages this 29m, external debt at the end of this season 7m. So, yes, the ongoing firesale will continue until all we’re left with is some portakabins at Colney, and the likes of Naismith and Jarvis.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The pl money has been pissed against a wall I think we worked that out a long time ago. Ordinary players made millionaires agents fees bonuses for management and compensation for inadequate employees followed by lucrative compensation packages when they are sacked. The wheel has gone full circle since Gunn got the sack and we are heading back to the pre lambert era. All a great shame missed opportunities and bad management but you get what you deserve in this business. It will be interesting to see what happens with the season tickets as I sense we are at a tipping point when supporters are getting disillusioned even if we strike it lucky again and there is slim hope of that in the near future the inept leadership will balls things up again

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...