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It doesn’t seem credible to the paying public, the fans, but the more you think about it, the evidence of a managed relegation is there for everybody to see now.
1...The Chairman’s statement prior to the season kicking off which straight away killed the aspirations and hopes of all supporters, at a time when Hope always springs eternal.
2...Player recruitment and a squad of players which right at the start many supporters predicted would struggle, made up of non league signings and players with poor injury records etc...and no left back. Humphrys was a goood signing though, one we can make money on.
3...The football leading up to Christmas which amounted to playing in our own half of the pitch and treating the game like a training exercise, with no apparent urgency to pressurise our opponents and score goals...players constantly passing backwards, strolling for throw ins, kicking the ball away when chasing games and passing up shooting opportunities in the dying embers of games, goalkeepers sauntering around in injury time with the ball when we desperately need three points. Playing to protect a point and not lose. Do they come off dripping in sweat, devastated, do they throw kitchen sinks...well I haven’t seen it.
4....A manager who constantly suggests that black is white, doesn’t look at the table, doesn’t seemed concerned about his job, devoid of tactical nouse, a record breaker.
5....A January transfer window when we desperately need to recruit properly to avoid the drop but instead sign players and then announce that they are with a view to NEXT season, we don’t sign a left back.
6....A CEO who is given a free reign to do as he pleases and a Board of Directors who are all compliant, the extension to the managers contract and the lack of criticism and action from fellow Directors indicates that this wasn’t just the work of one man, he would have been held to account by now if that was the case. Andrew Kelly would have done that wouldn’t he..the interim Chairman wouldn’t have allowed that on his watch surely?
7.....The managers reward for failure and overseeing the worst home record in the history of the Club...a new secret 12 month contract. That stinks to high heaven and is a insult to the supporters of the Club.
So when you put all those points together it really does seem as though this has been a real team effort and they all had the chat, if you are going to plan for a managed relegation then a season when no fans are allowed inside the Stadium and a pandemic is the perfect storm to enact the plan. L2 means a further cut in the playing budget which go some way to covering the deficit in lost revenue, we will have a non league budget then. It also makes it easier to blood the youth academy players which is the real baby when it comes to Bottomley, BBM, Kelly, the only problem is they will find L2 tougher than L1. The real hope will be that the fans will still turn up and buy their season tickets because we all know the fans are taken for granted, we aren’t daft though and many won’t . Credit where it’s due though, at the recent forum the Director did inform us that there is a plan, unfortunately though just like the managers new contract , it’s a closely guarded secret. I’m sure all will be revealed soon though...there’s season tickets and new kits that need selling so lines of communication and spin will have to be opened.
There have been many times this season when I have been watching games and questioning if what I am watching is legitimate and then I have listened to BBM s post match comments and it’s made me even more suspicious. I think we’ve been paying to watch a season that was already decided before a ball was kicked. The ex Chairman commented in his reply to the Trust last week that he wouldn’t be associated with the direction that this lot wanted to take the Club in and he wouldn’t be a voice piece to it neither. Like every Dale fan he would have wanted progression and not regression i think. When you look at our Boardroom and our manager do you see people bursting with passion, drive, energy, passion and most importantly winners. Do you see people who want to emulate what Chris Dunphy and Keith Hill achieved only a few years ago, or do you see people who are happy to take the easy option and settle for going backwards.
David Clough was at that Charlton game thanks to Richard Wild and Francis Collins and due to his impaired vision they commentated on the game for him, i’m led to believe that he nearly jumped out of his wheelchair when Joe Thomson scored the goal that ensured we stayed in L1 and he then broke down emotionally. That’s the passion,desire and emotion that we are now missing at the club, instead it’s been replaced with apathy, disdain,arrogance and mistrust...we need our club back and a new Boardroom and it needs to happen quickly because this regression isn’t going to stop at L2 unfortunately.
[Post edited 7 Apr 2021 9:12]
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Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 14:01 - Apr 7 with 2017 views
Yet this term ‘managed relegation’ is the most erroneously quoted phrase in the history of this message board. When Hill originally mentioned it during our first spell in League One it was never a dastardly scheme where the board wanted us back in League Two. It was a safety net of sorts, a way of ensuring that if we were relegated then we would still be competitive and financially viable in League Two. It’s always only ever been that.
I’m not saying that the current board don’t want us back there, just simply pointing out the continued misunderstanding of the term ‘managed relegation’.
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Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 14:01 - Apr 7 with 2019 views
Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 13:59 - Apr 7 by TVOS1907
In public or in private?
In general, off the record chats mean little, anyone can say what they like. As we’ve seen recently, it’s what CD has said to Fitz and the Trust that have brought the discussion into the public domain.
Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 13:43 - Apr 7 by Dalenet
I would agree that in most businesses the CEO runs the show and the Board back them, or clip their wings. However key decisions need to be referred to the Board. Extended contracts for key staff members would be seen as a Board matter.
It is interesting that DB is our first appointed CEO. Both Russ Green and Colin Garlick were registered as the Company Secretary. We have now appointed somebody else (ex Chester) as Company Secretary. So the role of CEO is new for Dale and has provided more management structure and potentially a different decision making regime. With a smaller and less proactive board that may have been deliberate. Or having concentrated decision making into one man the Board doesn't know how to wrestle it back. Just a thought.
Your last point is key. If the Board really want to run the show, then the job needs to be downgraded. If not then the job needs to have real power ( & oversight). You can't have it both ways. If the CEO was never given clear objectives & power then no point blaming them for what has gone wrong in the last 4 years. However if they have been given responsibility & accountability ( usually documented in each year) then they should get the credit if things go well & the blame if they don't. It's a bit like the person who says when things go well its me but the things that don't are because of someone else
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Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 15:01 - Apr 7 with 1840 views
Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 14:06 - Apr 7 by 442Dale
Didn’t the club always have a secretary though?
Remember Bill Kenyon, Keith Clegg and Hilary Molyneux-Dearden having the role I think, albeit one which worked alongside a chief exec/chairman/board.
We did have a club secretary responsible for football administration, but no Chief Exec until Francis Collins, appointed by David Kilpatrick.
I think the club secretary role grew into the role of Chief Exec, and as Francis described it, the role was "mostly secretarial", although the great commercial strides made in them years is what he is remembered for.
The role of Company secretary is different and was a legal requirement for all limited companies until relatively recently.
Our ‘managed relegation’ and the direction of the club. on 14:01 - Apr 7 by Shun
I concur with most of the OP, but not all.
Yet this term ‘managed relegation’ is the most erroneously quoted phrase in the history of this message board. When Hill originally mentioned it during our first spell in League One it was never a dastardly scheme where the board wanted us back in League Two. It was a safety net of sorts, a way of ensuring that if we were relegated then we would still be competitive and financially viable in League Two. It’s always only ever been that.
I’m not saying that the current board don’t want us back there, just simply pointing out the continued misunderstanding of the term ‘managed relegation’.
I always associate the phrase "managed relegation" with the answer to the question at a fans forum of what would we do if we ever found ourselves in the Championship.
Essentially said Keith Hill, you go up, pocket the money and come safely back down without the foolishness of overspending. Wycombe are a good example of that this term and show that you can be competitive even when resources are stacked well against you.
Here's a reminder of what is possible at our club.
This is September 2010 and a team that included Andrew Tutte, Brian Barry-Murphy, Anthony Elding and Joe Widdowson. None of those 4 for me were ever League 1 players.
What we have currently is stale off the field and tepid on it.
George Bernard Shaw had it right:
"He who can does; he who cannot, teaches."
https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/