McNally - GOD?

[ncfcstar 289]

I have been perusing the site for the last few days, and whilst the news we have had in, what, the last 36 hours, has been devastating to hear the general consensus seems to be that McNally is untouchable and is making the right decisions.Why is he seen as such a god like figure, where butter wouldn''t melt?  Yes he has made hardnosed decisions in the past, and they paid off, Lambert is the obvious (if only) example.  Following the hiring of Lambert we managed to see 3 of the most successful years in the clubs history and we were as of the middle of May sitting pretty in the Prem and looking forward to next season.All of a sudden things seem to be unraveling in a very public manner.  Now I''m not saying that this is McNally''s fault, but it seems that something is not quite working at the club if both managers and players seem to want to go behind the CEO''s back and either stealthily announce things through the press, or via social networks.  Surely he should have a firmer grip on such things, and without that his power is clearly being undermined.Is McNally really doing a good job?  I''m not arguing that the finances dictate what we can and can''t do, but without knowing the ins and outs of both the Lambert and Holt situations everything is hearsay.  For all we know both have felt restricted or have various other issues with the board - and who''s to say that McNally''s stance isn''t the issue here?  Everyone seems to think that he is going to make the right decisions, and has done here, but is that really the case?  Perhaps this is the time we find out that he is in fact making grievous errors of judgement.Perhaps it is McNally, the man who seems whiter than white amongst mass opinion who has lost the plot.  We all agree that no man is bigger than the football club, and this applies to our CEO as well remember.It remains to be seen, but your manager and club captain don''t leave within 36 hours of each other unless there is something wrong somewhere.

[Mr Brownstone 0]

[quote user="ncfcstar"]I have been perusing the site for the last few days, and whilst the news we have had in, what, the last 36 hours, has been devastating to hear the general consensus seems to be that McNally is untouchable and is making the right decisions.

Why is he seen as such a god like figure, where butter wouldn''t melt?  Yes he has made hardnosed decisions in the past, and they paid off, Lambert is the obvious (if only) example.  Following the hiring of Lambert we managed to see 3 of the most successful years in the clubs history and we were as of the middle of May sitting pretty in the Prem and looking forward to next season.

All of a sudden things seem to be unraveling in a very public manner.  Now I''m not saying that this is McNally''s fault, but it seems that something is not quite working at the club if both managers and players seem to want to go behind the CEO''s back and either stealthily announce things through the press, or via social networks.  Surely he should have a firmer grip on such things, and without that his power is clearly being undermined.

Is McNally really doing a good job?  I''m not arguing that the finances dictate what we can and can''t do, but without knowing the ins and outs of both the Lambert and Holt situations everything is hearsay.  For all we know both have felt restricted or have various other issues with the board - and who''s to say that McNally''s stance isn''t the issue here?  Everyone seems to think that he is going to make the right decisions, and has done here, but is that really the case?  Perhaps this is the time we find out that he is in fact making grievous errors of judgement.

Perhaps it is McNally, the man who seems whiter than white amongst mass opinion who has lost the plot.  We all agree that no man is bigger than the football club, and this applies to our CEO as well remember.

It remains to be seen, but your manager and club captain don''t leave within 36 hours of each other unless there is something wrong somewhere.
[/quote]

 

I have complete trust in McNally, but we could do with some answers/reassurances.

 

[Zak Van Burger 0]

[quote user="ncfcstar"] if both managers and players seem to want to go behind the CEO''s back and either stealthily announce things through the press, or via social networks.  Surely he should have a firmer grip on such things, and without that his power is clearly being undermined.

[/quote]I can''t see what''s difficult to understand.Holt wants out, lambert wants out for now we''ll ignore the whys just adduce that both parties want out.McNally has said "No" to Lambert and "No" to Holt.That''s why the pair are reduced to blubbing on the social networks and using devious methods to try to engineer a move.I''m not seeing McNally crying on Fishbook, twatter or through the media etc.Now remind me who''s the stronger of the three?

[AndyCanary 0]

He''s not a God.. But he''d have to be if he was to convince Paul Lambert and Grant Holt to stay. They''re clearly motivated by two things: Money and Success and McNally won''t be putting the club in jeopardy in order to pay them the money they can get elsewhere nor can he promise them the success they could get elsewhere.If he was a God he could, but fortunately for us he''s got the greater good in mind.

[morty 0]

I think McNally is a hardball player, who won''t put up with crap from anyone.And exactly what the club needed, he has ruthlessly slashed budgets (Definitely to the detriment of customer services I may add) in his pursuit of managing our debt.I guess only time will tell if what he is doing is for the longer term and greater good of Norwich City.There was always going to be a knock on effect as soon as Lambert looked like he was going to go, I don''t think any amount of money offered to him would have been enough for Lambert, so McNally was right in his decision not to be held to ransom and ruin the good work that has been done financially.The only things wrong here were Lamberts single minded ambition, which lets face it, we were never going to be able to match forever, and a not particularly clever footballer being manipulated by his agent for a last big payday.Nothing to see here, move along.

[Yobocop 1,098]

Is McNally really doing a good job?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I have to question what drugs some people are taking on these message boards or whether the inbreeding within their families has decreased brain function.

Are we talking about the same David McNally who was appointed as a Chief Executive of a League One football club 3 years ago who has increased:

> League stature

> Revenue

> Attendances

> Advertising potential

and decreased our overall debts?

Its incredible the lengths people will go to on here to prove a point...

[Southwestcanary 0]

YES! Next question

[ncfcstar 289]

[quote user="Give Peas a Chance "]Is McNally really doing a good job????????????????????????????????????????????

I have to question what drugs some people are taking on these message boards or whether the inbreeding within their families has decreased brain function.

Are we talking about the same David McNally who was appointed as a Chief Executive of a League One football club 3 years ago who has increased:

> League stature

> Revenue

> Attendances

> Advertising potential

and decreased our overall debts?

Its incredible the lengths people will go to on here to prove a point...[/quote]Get over yourself Peas.I''m not trying to prove a point, I just think it needs to be evaluated.  Your reaction is exactly what I was getting at, he is held as someone who can do no wrong.  Well perhaps this time round he actually has.

[Yobocop 1,098]

So far I can''t see where he has gone wrong? Unless we have suffered relegation?

Long and the short of it ncfcstar we were never going to be able to afford to keep Lambert and it looks like Holt as well, that''s not McNally''s fault?

Whereabouts do you work ncfcstar? I don''t know what you do but imagine someone questioned your ability to do a job considering how well you''d done for 3 years on limited resources....I don''t think you''d be particularly pleased would you?

As someone who works for a football club, believe me when i say loyalty is as rare as rocking horse poo in the modern game, this over reaction re: Lambert and Holt whilst very predictable also shows us ''Norfolkians'' up as people who thrive on negativity.

[Michael Starr 519]

I''m a huge McNally fan, but how about we worship the club and not individuals?

[TIL 1010 4,738]

26,000 fans have taken part in a three year honeymoon provided by Paul Lambert and the players.During this time there have been a number of issues behind the scenes whereby the fans have just become customer numbers.No player forums,no open days,the kit launch heavy handidness,the threat of legal action over the beer bottle labels,season ticket direct debit fiasco etc etc.

The honeymoon provided cover for all this and now is the time for us to discover whether Mr.McNally is God or not.No denying that the finances are in far better shape thanks to DM but if it now does start to go pear shaped we ould be reaching a bite your bum moment.Remember the wheel always turns full circle especiaaly in football and the people you neglected or walked over on the way up will remember on the way down.Be careful Mr.McNally be very careful.

[Lamb Chopped? 0]

BINGO!

[Google Bot 3,274]

To be fair, this is the first time in 3 years that we''ve lost someone against our will.

With that in mind, he''s not far off being a god! ;)

[Yobocop 1,098]

I like you John so please don''t take offence by what I am about to write.

But would you say the club were too open before McNally''s arrival? Sure it was nice to create a ''nice'' ''family orientated'' ''open'' club for the community but in business terms it was getting us absolutely nowhere.

McNally has turned this clubs fortunes around by everything you say above but he has also changed the image of the club, sure I think it was probably nice to have that community feel from the guys at the top but times move on and surely you, along with the rest of the contributors to this message board can see how much the club has improved in recent years?

I see the news re: Holt and Lambert as more of a measure of their individual and our (as a club) success over the last 3 years, however the question has been posed in the past, McNally or Lambert? The majority (correct me if I''m wrong) said McNally well we''re about to see what happens aren''t we?

[AndyTGT 0]

He is not God he just thinks that he is.  Whatever you do dont infringe on any intellectual property rights or he will go straight to the Police that shows who is boss!  It is that kind of High Horse attitude which has embarrassed the club at times and perhaps he should focus on the football a bit more rather than attempting to be Alan Sugar.  It is not a smart move to let your manager and team captain go, just to maintain a reputation of being "tough".  Sometimes it pays to let the Wookie win!

[TIL 1010 4,738]

[quote user="Give Peas a Chance "]I like you John so please don''t take offence by what I am about to write. But would you say the club were too open before McNally''s arrival? Sure it was nice to create a ''nice'' ''family orientated'' ''open'' club for the community but in business terms it was getting us absolutely nowhere. McNally has turned this clubs fortunes around by everything you say above but he has also changed the image of the club, sure I think it was probably nice to have that community feel from the guys at the top but times move on and surely you, along with the rest of the contributors to this message board can see how much the club has improved in recent years? I see the news re: Holt and Lambert as more of a measure of their individual and our (as a club) success over the last 3 years, however the question has been posed in the past, McNally or Lambert? The majority (correct me if I''m wrong) said McNally well we''re about to see what happens aren''t we?[/quote]

Jez i am a big fan of many things that McNally has done but there surely is no doubt that the club have currently lost touch with sections of the fanbase.The only avenue to find out what goes on is the clinical diluted webchats whereby fans questions are vetted and edited before they go "live".Would it harm them to hold a few player and mangement forums where interaction with the fans is far more customer friendly? Do you think the lad who posted the new kit online deserved to have the Police knocking at his door and was it necessary to ring him in the middle of the night?

The state of this messageboard over the last two or three days shows how at sixes and sevens everybody is and surely the last thing we need is for the good work on the field and with finances of the last three years to blow up in our faces.The fans at this moment need NCFC to show some TLC.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Welcome to the Premier League everyone.

Even Arsenal cannot keep hold of their best players.

And overachieving Wigan, Norwich and Swansea are unable to keep their manager.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

One positive to come out of all this may be a more balanced attitude towards the abilities and powers of our executive management. Some things (the Gunn/Lambert switch, the finances) have been well-handled. Others (the Colchester compensation case, 17-year-old-Nerdgate) less well dealt with. And the idea that Bowkett-McNally would always get their way (as in McNally going to wipe the floor with Holt''s agent) has been shown to be false. No matter what their abilities, their powers are limited by the position of the club in football''s pecking order.

[. 0]

[quote user="TIL 1010"]

26,000 fans have taken part in a three year honeymoon provided by Paul Lambert and the players.During this time there have been a number of issues behind the scenes whereby the fans have just become customer numbers.No player forums,no open days,the kit launch heavy handidness,the threat of legal action over the beer bottle labels,season ticket direct debit fiasco etc etc.

The honeymoon provided cover for all this and now is the time for us to discover whether Mr.McNally is God or not.No denying that the finances are in far better shape thanks to DM but if it now does start to go pear shaped we ould be reaching a bite your bum moment.Remember the wheel always turns full circle especiaaly in football and the people you neglected or walked over on the way up will remember on the way down.Be careful Mr.McNally be very careful.

[/quote]Oooooooooooooooooooooooo...... Plod is at it again.Be afraid Mr. McNally. This poster is a former big noise in the NCISA and carries a lot of weight.(mostly around his arse)

[Yobocop 1,098]

@TIL2020

Thats the thing for me though John, the club haven''t lost touch with its fanbase, they are running it like a proper business now rather than a free-for-all.

I''m not going to make jibes about the NCISA etc as its not fair you have done a lot of work and I commend you for that, however, when Neil Doncaster was in charge he was the type of character who was available daily for discussion etc, now McNally is in he has changed that completely.

I can understand your point re: ringing the kid about the kit video, but the club acted in a swift manner, and I bet anyone else won''t mess with the club in this way in the future?

It might seem hard-nosed approach but the correlation between this and our rise to the Premier League is no fluke.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Give Peas a Chance "]@TIL2020 Thats the thing for me though John, the club haven''t lost touch with its fanbase, they are running it like a proper business now rather than a free-for-all. I''m not going to make jibes about the NCISA etc as its not fair you have done a lot of work and I commend you for that, however, when Neil Doncaster was in charge he was the type of character who was available daily for discussion etc, now McNally is in he has changed that completely. I can understand your point re: ringing the kid about the kit video, but the club acted in a swift manner, and I bet anyone else won''t mess with the club in this way in the future? It might seem hard-nosed approach but the correlation between this and our rise to the Premier League is no fluke.[/quote]

 

That''s not true, GPAC. McNally is on twitter all the time as CEO of the football club. Obviously I don''t know how may man hours he spends on that, compared to Doncaster and his emails and phone calls, but I suspect there is not much difference. And - given a choice - I would prefer real dialogue, which was possible with Doncaster, to the spurious and superficial kind you get with twitter.

[Aggy 755]

[quote user="ncfcstar"]1) All of a sudden things seem to be unraveling in a very public manner.  Now I''m not saying that this is McNally''s fault, but it seems that something is not quite working at the club if both managers and players seem to want to go behind the CEO''s back and either stealthily announce things through the press, or via social networks.  Surely he should have a firmer grip on such things, and without that his power is clearly being undermined.2)  For all we know both have felt restricted or have various other issues with the board - and who''s to say that McNally''s stance isn''t the issue here?  Everyone seems to think that he is going to make the right decisions, and has done here, but is that really the case?  Perhaps this is the time we find out that he is in fact making grievous errors of judgement.Perhaps it is McNally, the man who seems whiter than white amongst mass opinion who has lost the plot.  We all agree that no man is bigger than the football club, and this applies to our CEO as well remember.It remains to be seen, but your manager and club captain don''t leave within 36 hours of each other unless there is something wrong somewhere.[/quote]

Point 1 - is it in a public manner behind the club''s back? Holt handed in a transfer request to the club, that much was leaked to the press, but only after the transfer request had been handed in - and presumably already rejected - and then we haven''t heard anything more in the public domain until this morning when Holt sent out a twitter message that was essentially a non-message, and didn''t say anything more or less than what we knew already. It''s all, one would assume, being dealt with behind closed doors. 

Point 2 - If it turns out to be McNally''s stance that has driven these two out, in many ways I think that is another example of why we love him so much. His eye is on the club, not on two individuals. We can''t afford this and that. If Holt wants money that we can''t afford, McNally has put the club above the captain and said we can''t afford it. If Holt doesn''t like that, then tough luck. As for Lambert, assoon as he made his mind up that he wanted to leave, he was always going to go. OK the refusal by McNally to allow him to speak to Villa may have led to the resignation, but if we had just accepted it then Lambert would still be in talks with Villa, so what difference would it have made? Well the one difference it has made is that now Villa are going to have to fight tooth and nail to get him and it is clear that he''s going nowhere without very suitable compensation. Again, then, the club has come before the manager. We aren''t going to bow down to the pressure of demands from individuals, but at the same time we''re not going to let our prize assets leave the club when they want without suitable recompense. McNally''s stance may well be what has led them both to leave (although Lambert, I imagine, is more to do with Villa promising more money/bigger fanbase/seemingly better prospects in his opinion than it is anything to do with McNally), BUT at the same time, he has taken that stance because it is the one that is best for the club. If it drives individuals away, then it drives individuals away. We bring in new individuals within a framework that suits the club and we go again.

[K Lo 224]

Wasn''t McNally behind Fulham for their rise through the leagues and now Prem safety, only to be offered and then unoffered a job at Arsenal, so he found a place here.I maybe wrong but that''s how I understand it.

[Aggy 755]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"]

That''s not true, GPAC. McNally is on twitter all the time as CEO of the football club. Obviously I don''t know how may man hours he spends on that, compared to Doncaster and his emails and phone calls, but I suspect there is not much difference. And - given a choice - I would prefer real dialogue, which was possible with Doncaster, to the spurious and superficial kind you get with twitter.

[/quote]

I dare say the time difference is quite significant actually Purple. Doncaster seemed to send private emails and letters to a huge amount of individuals. I got two or three off him that were individually written and were clearly not just copy and paste jobs. McNally often tweets no more than once or twice a day - and these are 140 character, two sentence-at-most comments. When he does comment more than that, it''s often not related to the club (ie; personal as it is his personal account rather than a club account which he makes clear), or it is in busy/high tension periods such as with this and the Holt incidents. That sort of contact will take far less time than individually writing out hundreds if not thousands of paragraphs (even if they were copied and pasted some of the time) to however many people got in contact with him per day.

Real dialogue may have been possible with Doncaster, although even he kept certain cards close to his chest when he felt like it, but is it something you would expect a CEO of a company to be doing to the extent that Doncaster did? I''d prefer it if he got on with the job at hand and let the fans know only what they needed to know. I, as a customer first and foremost, don''t need to know the ins and outs of contract negotiations with Lambert or Holt, I don''t need to know why certain members of staff are leaving/have potentially fallen out with the board or whatever. It''s nice to get some sort of statement, which we usually do eventually, but it''s not my right to get that sort of information. I am, after all, only a customer when all is said and done.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="K Lo"]Wasn''t McNally behind Fulham for their rise through the leagues and now Prem safety, only to be offered and then unoffered a job at Arsenal, so he found a place here.

I maybe wrong but that''s how I understand it.
[/quote]

 

He joined in 2005, when Fulham were in the Premier League, and left in June 2008. The managers appointed during his time there were Lawrie Sanchez, who lasted six months, and Roy Hodgson. As to the Arsenal job, there was some speculation that was why McNally left Fulham, but nothing concrete, and it may have been 2 plus 2 being put together to equal 5. He joined us in June 2009.

[Mello Yello 2,289]

Now is the time that our current CE is going to have to justify his salary......

 

It''s going to be a very interesting close-season.....

 

 

 

 

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Aggy"][quote user="PurpleCanary"]

That''s not true, GPAC. McNally is on twitter all the time as CEO of the football club. Obviously I don''t know how may man hours he spends on that, compared to Doncaster and his emails and phone calls, but I suspect there is not much difference. And - given a choice - I would prefer real dialogue, which was possible with Doncaster, to the spurious and superficial kind you get with twitter.

[/quote]

I dare say the time difference is quite significant actually Purple. Doncaster seemed to send private emails and letters to a huge amount of individuals. I got two or three off him that were individually written and were clearly not just copy and paste jobs. McNally often tweets no more than once or twice a day - and these are 140 character, two sentence-at-most comments. When he does comment more than that, it''s often not related to the club (ie; personal as it is his personal account rather than a club account which he makes clear), or it is in busy/high tension periods such as with this and the Holt incidents. That sort of contact will take far less time than individually writing out hundreds if not thousands of paragraphs (even if they were copied and pasted some of the time) to however many people got in contact with him per day.

Real dialogue may have been possible with Doncaster, although even he kept certain cards close to his chest when he felt like it, but is it something you would expect a CEO of a company to be doing to the extent that Doncaster did? I''d prefer it if he got on with the job at hand and let the fans know only what they needed to know. I, as a customer first and foremost, don''t need to know the ins and outs of contract negotiations with Lambert or Holt, I don''t need to know why certain members of staff are leaving/have potentially fallen out with the board or whatever. It''s nice to get some sort of statement, which we usually do eventually, but it''s not my right to get that sort of information. I am, after all, only a customer when all is said and done.

[/quote]

 

Aggy, you are probably right that Doncaster did spend quite a bit more time on it, although a "huge" amount of individuals? I guess neither of us actually knows. My point, if a a bit overstated, is that McNally does spend some time on this, but his method is essentially non-dialogue. With Doncaster you could pursue an argument. You might not persuade, but it was a genuine form of consultation rather than a spurious one. And I don''t think anyone could accuse Doncaster of not devoting all his energies to the club. If he was spending time emailing it was in addition to everything else rather than instead of.

[Yobocop 1,098]

Aggy makes some excellent points, which is kind of my point...Neil Doncaster was TOO open and TOO transparent, something which certain fans thrived upon as it made them feel a part of it, however our league position and financial standing left a lot to be desired.

Now its a complete reversal of that, I know what way I prefer it to be!

Yes McNally uses twitter, but who doesn''t nowadays, and I''m sure if Twitter was as prominent 3 years ago Doncaster would''ve used it, maybe 10 times as more.

[Aggy 755]

In addition to, indeed. However, I''m not sure it''s the right way to run a business. For me, the non-dialogue statement like "consultation" we get from McNally is far more professional and what I''d expect from a business/football team. As I say, we, as fans, don''t have a right to know ins and outs. McNally keeps us in the loop (albeit he sometimes takes a bit longer to think about how to make his statement and probably gets some advice from the PR team whilst at it), but we do normally hear (and in an appropriate time scale) what is going on, but we only hear what we need to know, the bare essentials that actually affect us. Knowing why Lambert has gone doesn''t really affect us, we might like to know, but we don''t need to. The only thing we need to know is that he won''t be here next season (or whatever other example you want to use).

Doncaster''s belief in a personal touch for the fans was admirable in its intent, but as long as we''re still getting the essential news - which, from McNally we still are - then I''d more than happily sacrifice more detail and personal letters for someone who can actually do the job!

[Mr.Carrow 376]

Purple, reading these boards why on earth should any CE have a responsibility to have any dialogue with supporters? If he should, which supporters do you mean? All of them or just, say, you....? Regards your last sentence, i would suggest that the state Doncaster left the club in and the manner that the new board started turning the club round within a matter of weeks would suggest you are entirely wrong.