NCISA express fears over new board appointments

[ca 1]

Well done NCISA for keeping up the pressure and saying your piece.

[quote] Fans group NCISA (the Norwich City Independent Supporters Association) expressed fears last night that the new board room appointments had failed to address the issues most worrying Canary followers.

NCISA chairman John Tilson said his committee are questioning the reasons behind the appointments - and are left with concerns over how newspaper group Archant''s involvement on the board will effect the rights of dissident voices to be heard.

In a statement they said: "Whilst recognising the new season is just five weeks away and unity amongst supporters is important, the committee of the Norwich City Independent Supporters Association (NCISA) has concerns about the appointment of the club''s new directors. NCISA''s committee is questioning the reasons behind the appointments."

Tilson added: "Our previous chief executive was a board director and it did not work. Why hasn''t the club learned from this?

"The present majority shareholders absolutely assured fans they were looking for new investment. Which of these directors has brought that to the table? And in appointing the managing director of Archant to the club''s board, will there now be no medium for fans to voice their opinions and no support for fans from local newspapers should things continue to go wrong at Carrow Road?

"Undoubtedly NCISA will receive criticism from some quarters for taking this stance, but we feel we must pose these questions on behalf of the large number of fans who passionately displayed their feelings at the public meeting in St Andrew''s Hall."

"Of course, we must all get behind the team on August 8, but time will be the judge as to whether these appointments are good or bad[/quote]

[LQ 0]

Oh good God.I don''t even know where to start!Seriously, has anyone on the NCISA committee ever run a decent sized business?

[.... 0]

[quote user="LQ"]Oh good God.I don''t even know where to start!Seriously, has anyone on the NCISA committee ever run a decent sized business?

[/quote]LQ running to defence of board? Shocking!

[Pete Raven 276]

[quote user="cityangel"]

Well done NCISA for keeping up the pressure and saying your piece.

[quote]
And in appointing the managing director of Archant to the club''s board, will there now be no medium for fans to voice their opinions and no support for fans from local newspapers should things continue to go wrong at Carrow Road?

"[/quote]

[/quote]

Stephan Phillips has insisted his role at Carrow Road would not influence what appeared in print or on the company''s websites.

"The company has a very clear policy on editorial," he said. "That is that the editors decide what goes in our newspapers and websites and they''re the people who choose the content and decide how it''s going to be portrayed and in that sense they have total editorial freedom.

[Yobocop 1,095]

Tilson added: "Our previous chief executive was a board director and it did not work. Why hasn''t the club learned from this?

This is the line that does it for me. Our Previous Cheif Executive was not David McNally who brings a wealth of experience from both Celtic and Fulham, two reasonably successful clubs, I think in the current situation McNally is a perfect candidate!

I imagine this Tilson character to be a typical ''Norfolk Boy'' who sits in the corner of his local boozer most nights, if an ''outsider'' walks in he stares on in amazement, I imagine him to be a troublemaker and one of these Norwich fan''s who cannot wait to moan about something...hence why he is part of such a bigoted group as the NCISA.

Get real Tilson....

[Mr_Chimp 0]

So?  What do they want - a full breakdown of any new investment laid out for us all (or more likely, them) to see, just as the transfer window opens?Lord knows I''ve been just as fuming with developments at CR last season/this summer, but this smacks of the NCISA trying to remind everybody that they''re still relevant after their failure earlier in the close season. ''time will be the judge as to whether these appointments are good or bad''Apparently not.

[Mr_Chimp 0]

''Our Previous Cheif Executive was not David McNally who brings a wealth

of experience from both Celtic and Fulham, two reasonably successful

clubs, I think in the current situation McNally is a perfect candidate''

Indeed.  The problem with Doncaster was surely not that he was a board member and chief exec, and more that he was simply, y''know, a bad chief executive?

[GMF 736]

To suggest that the Board is in some way being defended completely misses the point.

How many corporates do NOT have the CEO on the Board? Very few I would sugggest.

John suggests that this was previously a mistake and the same has happened again. Is he seriously suggesting that the NCFC should be made up completely of non exectuive directors?

[. 0]

[quote user="Sports Desk - Pete"][quote user="cityangel"]

Well done NCISA for keeping up the pressure and saying your piece.

[quote]
And in appointing the managing director of Archant to the club''s board, will there now be no medium for fans to voice their opinions and no support for fans from local newspapers should things continue to go wrong at Carrow Road?

"[/quote]

[/quote]

Stephan Phillips has insisted his role at Carrow Road would not influence what appeared in print or on the company''s websites.

"The company has a very clear policy on editorial," he said. "That is that the editors decide what goes in our newspapers and websites and they''re the people who choose the content and decide how it''s going to be portrayed and in that sense they have total editorial freedom.

[/quote]

I understand your position here Pete and in theory you are absolutely right in what you say... but...life experience in many fields tells me that interference and bias will occur if it is of benefit/defence regarding the position of those in power.

It is also a fact that leaning on staff in order to influence opinion is rife. If potential promotion or threat of status is perceived then the employee will have little option.

Even without that... the readership will now always question what is printed in anticipation of collusion. The seed of doubt is sown.

[LQ 0]

Get real indeed.In the last month the Club have added a PL quality Chief Exec, a Chairman who has just stepped down from one of the biggest companies in the UK and another Board member who is in charge of a large part of one of the biggest media corporations in the country.We are a League One team in a recession.What more could have been done?Some people won''t be happy until there''s blood (or their own name in the Boardroom - god forbid that should ever happen!)

[Pete Raven 276]

[quote user="Cluck is God"]

Even without that... the readership will now always question what is printed in anticipation of collusion. The seed of doubt is sown.

[/quote]

Sadly that is inevitable. Any positive story coming out of Archant Towers will be met with claims we''ve been leaned on. This will never be the case but, like you say, there will always be that doubt amongst the readers.

[Mr_Chimp 0]

I would certainly love to know what, if any, monies would be put into the club by /any/ supporter-led face on the board aside from money needed to buy a seat in the first place.  Always confused me, that one.

[.... 0]

[quote user="LQ"]Get real indeed.In the last month the Club have added a PL quality Chief Exec, a Chairman who has just stepped down from one of the biggest companies in the UK and another Board member who is in charge of a large part of one of the biggest media corporations in the country.We are a League One team in a recession.What more could have been done?Some people won''t be happy until there''s blood (or their own name in the Boardroom - god forbid that should ever happen!)

[/quote]She could have started looking for appointments like this BEFORE we were relegated. For all their ''experience'' they are not going to invest the millions we need!For good ness sake LQ they are decent enough but to pose the question ''what more could have been done'' is just stupid.Money talks in football. This trio and the stowmarket two just dont have it.

[GMF 736]

That should read, "Is he seriosuly suggesting that the NCFC Board should be made up completely of non executive directors?"

[Evil Monkey 52]

[quote user="Cluck is God"]I understand your position here Pete and in theory you are absolutely right in what you say... but...life experience in many fields tells me that interference and bias will occur if it is of benefit/defence regarding the position of those in power.

It is also a fact that leaning on staff in order to influence opinion is rife. If potential promotion or threat of status is perceived then the employee will have little option.

Even without that... the readership will now always question what is printed in anticipation of collusion. The seed of doubt is sown.[/quote]

To be fair, Cluck, I can''t see it making too much of a difference... Archant have been pretty soft on the club for the past 5 years or so, who''s going to notice any change??

[LQ 0]

And when someone comes along who does have it, ...., that''ll be fabulous.Till then I''ll hope this lot can make good with what we do have as opposed to what we have in fairytale land.

[.... 0]

[quote user="LQ"]And when someone comes along who does have it, ...., that''ll be fabulous.Till then I''ll hope this lot can make good with what we do have as opposed to what we have in fairytale land.

[/quote]She wouldnt even speak to you know who...

[chicken 0]

The thing to remember here is  that for them to be board members I am guessing they have to have shares.In some ways it makes sense to me to give shares to the chief executive as he is one of the people who is directly responsible for the financial buisiness performance of the club. If he does well then the shares increase in price - surely a good enough incentive for any good buisiness person.The interesting thing with the Archant chappy is not the small time stories people are talking about. I doubt he will be bothered to dip his fingers into player signing news or fresh investment when it isnt.However what is slightly worrying is that should the board want to know how to approach the media with difficult news he is ready on hand to help them - at least with the local media and I am sure he has contacts within the industry.What the club needs at the moment is honesty.

[Joanna Grey 0]

[quote user="...."][quote user="LQ"]And when someone comes along who does have it, ...., that''ll be fabulous.

Till then I''ll hope this lot can make good with what we do have as opposed to what we have in fairytale land.


[/quote]

She wouldnt even speak to you know who...
[/quote]

PPOR - that''s "Post Proof or Retract".

[LQ 0]

...., you carry on believing that.

[Jumpers for Goalposts 0]

NCISA should be congratulated for keeping the pressure on the Board. It is difficult to see how these appointments address any of the Board deficiencies.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

One of the criticisms of the board was that it was singing from the same page all the time. Only contained people who agreed with the majority shareholders. It has been said recently that Foulger was secretly a dissenter, but I take that with a fair dollop of salt. Anyway, the argument went, there was always a built-in majority, made up of S&J plus Doncaster or Munby or both.Now we have six directors, three of whom are new and two of whom at least are heavyweight appointments (while the other doesn''t seem a complete idiot) and look unlikely to be anyone''s puppets.That built-in majority - if it existed - may well have disappeared.Of course these people are S&J appointees, and of course ultimately it is S&J''s trainset. But in a few weeks we have gone from a five-person board of supposed doormats to a six-person board with what look like three independent minds.

[LQ 0]

[quote user="Jumpers for Goalposts"]NCISA should be congratulated for keeping the pressure on the Board. It is difficult to see how these appointments address any of the Board deficiencies.[/quote]What?For years the Board has been slated for not embracing business nous and footballing experience. Alright, McNally may not offer the football experience we''d like to see but he comes close with the contacts and dealings he''s had in the past and the other two are at the top of their game in their respective fields. Short of getting Dion (or similar) on there for the footie side I seriously don''t know what more could have been done.That NCISA statement reads like they believe that''s it. Job done. Time to wake up and smell the coffee though isn''t it? As I said previously the new appointees are probably better than any reasonable person could have expected (we don''t all live in cloud cuckoo land) and surely anyone can see that bringing in investment is going to be far easier with this calibre of Board in place?Or maybe it''s just too hard to stop moaning once you''ve started?

[ncfcstar 287]

Well done NCISA, you''ve now lost a lot of credibility, it is clear that these new board members will bring what we need in business sense.  Maybe they do not have money, but I''ve got to agree with LQ over this.  A very silly statement.

[shortfatb 0]

Whilst I don''t think D and MWJ have become pushovers overnight, I do think that at their age and with the many mistakes made in the last 5 years under their watch, they are looking to devolve some of the decision making, and have elected to take people on who will do the job the way they see it needs to be done, rather than yes men promoted above their experience/ability. Also I too think there has been some shift in control with Foulger publicly putting money up for the first time and Bowkett obviously having cash but currently saying he has not invested any money in the club, yet.  Interesting times I think, and I don''t think Gunn will get much past October if the early signs aren''t good for the team.

[taintedtom2000 0]

What really gets on my t*ts about NCISA is the fact that their stance is always weakened by their desperation not to be controversial. I always get left with the feeling that their opinions should have started:-

 

"OOOOOhhhhh Delia, please don''t hate us but were not really sure we agree with you....."

and should end

"Please don''t hate us!"

 

I''m not disagreeing with what their saying most of the time, I just wish that they would have a bit more bloody conviction about it, then maybe someone might sit up and take notice!

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

[quote user="Sports Desk - Pete"][quote user="cityangel"]

Well done NCISA for keeping up the pressure and saying your piece.

[quote]
And in appointing the managing director of Archant to the club''s board, will there now be no medium for fans to voice their opinions and no support for fans from local newspapers should things continue to go wrong at Carrow Road?

"[/quote]

[/quote]

Stephan Phillips has insisted his role at Carrow Road would not influence what appeared in print or on the company''s websites.

"The company has a very clear policy on editorial," he said. "That is that the editors decide what goes in our newspapers and websites and they''re the people who choose the content and decide how it''s going to be portrayed and in that sense they have total editorial freedom.

[/quote]

He would say that though,wouldn''t he? How can any reader with an interest in City be absolutely sure that this is so? We have no way or means to check up on the editorial process. Let''s face it, the EDP and EEN have been accused enough times already of being too easy on the club with their questions; before these people joined the board of NCFC.

[LQ 0]

[quote user="GMF"]To suggest that the Board is in some way being defended completely misses the point.

How many corporates do NOT have the CEO on the Board? Very few I would sugggest.

John suggests that this was previously a mistake and the same has happened again. Is he seriously suggesting that the NCFC should be made up completely of non exectuive directors?[/quote]That''s what you get from people who ''think'' they know how business works though.

[The Fish Seller 0]

[quote user="Mustachio Furioso"]

[quote user="...."][quote user="LQ"]And when someone comes along who does have it, ...., that''ll be fabulous.Till then I''ll hope this lot can make good with what we do have as opposed to what we have in fairytale land.

[/quote]She wouldnt even speak to you know who...[/quote]

PPOR - that''s "Post Proof or Retract".

[/quote]AAI - That''s "argumentum ad ignorantiam".

[gary 0]

this backs up my opinion of the NCISA and its hierarchy , they are desperate to be accepted and keen to keep themselves in the media spotlight , this statement reads to me as if they felt they needed to remind people that they are still sround and that Mr Tilson is the main man .

These people are so full of their own self importance it is ludicrous - if they had 10,000 members then they carry weight , as it stands they are insignificant