| Few thoughts from me 21:39 - Mar 6 with 16556 views | ColDale |
Plenty has been said on here over the past week or so with regards to David Bottomley and his position as CEO at Dale. Having worked with him through my role at the Trust, just thought I’d pen together a few thoughts from the evidence that I’ve seen over the past three months.
For me the role of the CEO is to oversee the running of the club. It’s to take ultimate responsibility for every facet of the club, ensuring that off the field, the club is sufficiently well run to allow the manager the biggest budget possible without threatening the future of the club, ensuring that the club remains at the heart of its community, and embracing the views of all those with a love for the club. I see those being addressed.
There seems to be a questioning towards the appointment DB that his predecessors have been exempt from, even those it has since transpired arrived at Spotland complete with baggage. There were no threads regarding the appointments of James Mason, William Goodwin, Russ Green, Colin Garlick and those before questioning whether they went through the interview process. David was appointed by the Board of Directors, as was presumably the case with those before, he has passed the Fit and Proper Person’s test and having been on the Board himself for the past four years, he takes the position fully versed in the “Rochdale way”.
With regard to his predecessors, I was very enthusiastic about James when he first took over given the comments from the Bradford supporters, but he was working on a part time basis whilst launching a new business elsewhere. You cannot do the job on a part time basis given the ultimate responsibility. William didn’t reply to a single email or meet with the Trust during his time at the top for the two to three month period he was in charge despite us being requested to send everything directly to him. I liked Russ a lot, and supplied a letter backing him for his appeal (which btw was reduced by three months). However, Russ always struck me as someone who had 50 things to do at any one time, but could only get through 40 on any given day. That might be unfair to Russ but he always came across as swamped with the work he had on. Colin was great and incredibly efficient about what he did but was never one to stray from the Colin Garlick way of doing things. When David Gartside was running the Trust, it was almost a running joke about “I’m waiting to hear back from (insert name of CEO of the time here)”. We’ve not had that on any occasion since David Bottomley was appointed.
So with respect to David, we have seen a different way of thinking to what we’ve seen before. There has been a genuine desire to have a running dialogue with supporters throughout and not just some token meeting every now and then. There is consideration to the views of supporters on a level we’ve not seen before. It’s been a big criticism in recent years that the Club pay lip service to the Trust, but we’re not seeing that. Will that continue? Well why not? Like I said, the dialogue between Club and Trust is ongoing even to the extent of contacting us on Monday morning following the dismissal of Keith Hill.
So what has changed in the (almost) three months since David took charge?
- Communication with supporters. Everything’s been asked, and everything has been answered and published.
- Genuine views from supporters are sought, considered and acted on. There’s no arrogance or bullishness that his way is the only way of doing things.
- End of Season Do has been reverted to the Traditional one that we wanted. Not only that, we were offered choices to the format, and they went with our wishes. The pricing etc all met our requests.
- The much maligned fixture board. It’s still not updated quite to the extent that I’d like, but there is no comparison with the three months since the appointment to the three months before the appointment.
- Communication from the club. We told him that communication wasn’t good enough and steps have been taken to address that. Yes the Diary is part of that but it’s an informal way of letting supporters know about stuff behind the scenes. The last one (vote of confidence one aside) informed fans about the way the players ran out (maybe not groundbreaking news but it was something fans had asked about), a report on the work that Tony Ellis has been doing with the Academy and details of an arranged meeting with the Jenkins’ family. Of course some will have had no interest in that but its fresh stuff out there that there didn’t exist a platform previously to do so.
- Injury news. We all know Hilly treated injury news like it was absolutely top secret but we communicated this to the club through David as did other fans at the Forum, and if truth be told, we saw a difference in this from January onwards. All of a sudden, injured players were being spoken about (probably through much gritted teeth).
During the last three months, I've spoken to three different people who work for the club and have asked their thoughts on DB, all of whom have spoken very highly of him. They speak of a man who is ambitious for the club and looking to see improvements in all facets. When asking, it’s been through conversation rather than anything more formal, and replies from the staff have been incredibly genuine in their praise rather than giving me an answer that they are well aware will get back upstairs.
So why’s he not suitable for the role? He’s a fan of the club, seen the working of the club close up over the past four years, been involved in the running of the club for the past four years, and has an employment history in business management. I don’t get some of the criticisms. If the big smoking gun is an interpretation of a 2001 court case at a Toy Company, then does that really have relevance to the running of our club 18 years later? Might well be worth remarking that Russ Green received far less criticism on these pages when found guilty by the FA for an offence two years earlier for the role he went on to do at Dale(and I still maintain Russ was harshly treated).
In terms of supporting the Trust, I think I’m right in saying that he was the only member of the Board last season to join the Trust and has been instrumental in ensuring that most of the current Board have done so this season. He has supported our events on numerous occasions, long before he was appointed CEO.
Of course, some will dismiss this in its entirety. Put it down to lip service, blowing smoke up each other’s back side or whatever. I guess if you’ve made your mind up, it’s made up.
But it isn’t some chummy, chummy relationship. As we mentioned at our own AGM, relations between the club and the Trust were strained to say the least at the back end of last season but a lot of work has been put in to repairing that on both sides. But there’s now a great working relationship which allows openness, honesty and disagreements when necessary.
If concerns are genuine and not just innuendo, then might I suggest one of the following:
- Go and see him. He’s not a monster. Speak to him about your worries and give him that opportunity to offer his response. Drop him an email and arrange a time where you can go down and speak to him. I know many supporters have took the opportunity to do so already.
- Write to the Chairman and tell him your concerns. At the end of the day, he’s the club’s biggest shareholder, he’s the man at the top and he’ll have headed up the board that appointed David. It’ll have more impact that posting a reply on here.
- Raise things at the AGM in a couple of months’ time. Many Dale supporters are shareholders and there will be that opportunity as there always is for an open forum and to raise these concerns and have them answered directly.
At the end of the day, if the concerns are of that level, do something about it rather than posting it on here. As things stands, it is as I said before mainly innuendo and assumptions and there comes a time where the legal implications for me and this website need to be considered.
We had it when the Manchester Evening News published the story about the reduction in the ground capacity. “We’ve received a leaked letter” the journalist said to me on the phone when he tried bigging up the story suggesting mischief on someone’s part, after all the true story was last Summer when the capacity was cut to just over 7,000 not now when it’s been raised back up to 400 or so short of what it was before the cuts.
We’ve raised people’s concerns off here and we’ve asked them directly. It’s clear that as a Trust, our response are not considered good enough by everyone. But what I’ll say is that I think we’ve took pretty much every single concern off here and asked them all face to face, and published every single answer without censure. I doubt there is another club / Trust in the country that would go through each and every rumour like we have and publish the responses that we have. I do not believe there is another club in the country with the level of transparency we have now.
Time will tell everything, and I know when it looks like we’re heading for the drop, it’s very difficult to try and claim that everything is hunky dory. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with criticism, but some of the stuff that has been posted on here has crossed a line and become personal and gossippy. There’s plenty more work to be done at the club, things need improving but that work will get done and things will keep improving, and if we as a Trust have to keep asking questions, then we will. If we have to remind the club to do stuff then we will. There’s plenty we still want to see improvements on, and feel free to raise any concerns by emailing info@daletrust.co.uk
I’m sure there’s plenty of whatabouttery that can be stuck in reply to this, but from reading these pages, you’d think that we’ve got the next Owen Oyston at the helm and the truth is a million miles from that. We’ve got someone who many have backed up as being a genuine Dale fan who throughout his short tenure has shown real genuine desire to deal with fans concerns, whether that be meeting supporters after the Bradford troubles, listening to me list off rumour after rumour, meet fans concerned with the first team or many others. It’s been said repeatedly, his door remains open to supporters as many have took advantage of so you don’t have to rely on my take on it.
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| Few thoughts from me on 09:59 - Mar 7 with 3620 views | alderleydale |
Col
I have no axe to grind on the above matters
But it would be interesting to know if you got the approval of DB to post your OP
Thanks in advance |  | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:14 - Mar 7 with 3535 views | kiwidale |
| Few thoughts from me on 09:59 - Mar 7 by alderleydale |
Col
I have no axe to grind on the above matters
But it would be interesting to know if you got the approval of DB to post your OP
Thanks in advance |
I don't know if you realise or mean to question Col's integrity but that's what you have done and you are bang out of order. | |
| This is not the time for bickering.
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| Few thoughts from me on 10:19 - Mar 7 with 3518 views | alderleydale |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:14 - Mar 7 by kiwidale |
I don't know if you realise or mean to question Col's integrity but that's what you have done and you are bang out of order. |
Not my intention at all
I apologize if any offence has been taken | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:21 - Mar 7 with 3505 views | ColDale |
| Few thoughts from me on 09:59 - Mar 7 by alderleydale |
Col
I have no axe to grind on the above matters
But it would be interesting to know if you got the approval of DB to post your OP
Thanks in advance |
No approval needed. | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:22 - Mar 7 with 3500 views | alderleydale |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:21 - Mar 7 by ColDale |
No approval needed. |
Thank you. | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:29 - Mar 7 with 3474 views | ParkinsGimp |
| Few thoughts from me on 00:06 - Mar 7 by James1980 |
In my opinion some fans have decided DB has no place as CEO in this great club and no matter what is said and DB does that is positive, their minds' are made up and highly unlikely to change. |
Yep same as will happen with a new manager , when the whining Kim Jung Hill bum chum brigade will not accept that the GME has been sacked....the actually temerity to sack Mr Bull is outrageous and some even mentioned that the new manager should be hitting the ground running...well we sure werent running along so far so why such high expectations on the new man.
As for Bottomley , we will see , but if he had anything to do with Hexit then well done him because Dumbo didnt grow a pair and left us with a manager out of control and almost untouchable( or so he thought) . | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:33 - Mar 7 with 3455 views | kel |
| Few thoughts from me on 08:59 - Mar 7 by rochdale_ranger |
No reply what a surprise. |
Apparently he has me on ignore for daring to disagree with him, the judgemental prick. He’ll have seen it though as ignore only works when logged in. |  | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:37 - Mar 7 with 3441 views | kiwidale |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:29 - Mar 7 by ParkinsGimp |
Yep same as will happen with a new manager , when the whining Kim Jung Hill bum chum brigade will not accept that the GME has been sacked....the actually temerity to sack Mr Bull is outrageous and some even mentioned that the new manager should be hitting the ground running...well we sure werent running along so far so why such high expectations on the new man.
As for Bottomley , we will see , but if he had anything to do with Hexit then well done him because Dumbo didnt grow a pair and left us with a manager out of control and almost untouchable( or so he thought) . |
You are hardly supportive of new players or old players or current ones for that matter likewise with managers but I hear what you're saying. | |
| This is not the time for bickering.
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| Few thoughts from me on 11:48 - Mar 7 with 3266 views | sweetcorn |
| Few thoughts from me on 10:14 - Mar 7 by kiwidale |
I don't know if you realise or mean to question Col's integrity but that's what you have done and you are bang out of order. |
The messageboard police with the fake outrage has spoken. |  |
| Leader of the little gang of immature cretins. |
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| Few thoughts from me on 15:27 - Mar 7 with 3047 views | Reedy |
I am one of the supporters that David has met with. I emailed him after the Plymouth game, asking many questions about the running of the club (it was more off the pitch than on the pitch) He responded first thing Monday morning (he apologised for not getting back to me sooner) and invited me in to have a discussion surrounding my concerns.
I spent roughly an hour with him, and during that hour, I asked him some tough, horrible questions that I've no doubt he didn't want to hear or answer, however, he looked me in the eye and answered every single one - not all of them were answers I wanted to hear, but he didn't bullshit me with some political answer, he answered each and every one of them honestly.
I asked him many things (which will stay between me and him, because he was good enough to trust me with his answers) and at times it wasn't pretty, but at no point did I feel pressured not to question him or the club on anything, he almost encouraged me to get whatever was bothering me off my chest.
He acknowledged a lot of what I said, and whilst we didn't agree on everything, we clearly had a common ground of wanting the very best for the club. He also acknowledged that the club can do better in certain areas, and we threw about some ideas on how to improve certain aspects of the club. He also acknowledged a few things I had a problem with personally, and assured me of his intentions (which I firmly believed)
I arrived early and left late, his final words were an invitation to come in and discuss things on a more regular basis (this is something I intend to do as and when I can) Whilst he may not be everyone's cup of tea, I found him welcoming, searingly honest and wanting the best for the club. | |
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| Few thoughts from me on 15:34 - Mar 7 with 3026 views | Wizard |
That's all you can ask for. Sound's a decent guy! If the club keeps supporters on things that are happening, i.e. injuries, transfer fees etc, etc the majority would be best pleased! |  |
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| Few thoughts from me on 15:59 - Mar 7 with 2954 views | DaleiLama |
Couple of things I would add to this discussion. Regardless of any affiliations of any kind, it was very good of Col to post all that, in his own time, and largely without his Trust hat on. Thanks for that Col.
What, if anything, comes out of the wash with regards to DB's past and if/how it affects the club remains to be seen. The jury, if indeed one is needed, is still out on that.
Going forward, I think every fan will be watching two things.
1/ Actions speak louder than words. The endorsement of KH and subsequent about-face within days has been the worst start. Anyone can say anything, it's what gets done, and how it is done, that counts. The only way is up from there.
2/ Regardless of the length of KH's contract, the previous custodians of the club in recent years have acted almost entirely prudently, properly and with great aplomb to ensure success both on and off the field in bringing the club to it's highest watermark. In the shadow of this legacy, I'm sure the performance of all the board, but DB in particular, will be under heightened scrutiny after what has transpired. As he stated himself, it's a results business. Achieving those results is incumbent on everyone, and his part in it will be crucial.
We need deeds now, not words. |  |
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| Few thoughts from me on 16:27 - Mar 7 with 2899 views | Boss_Hog |
You can only treat people as you find them.
I raised concerns over the direction of a highly important revenue stream via e-mail to our current CEO. Not only did he fail to reply, but he stood in-front of a packed room of fans and told me he never received it, which I know to be untrue. The very same e-mail was also sent to a club employee, who also failed to respond but whom I also know received my correspondence.
If telling lies and ignorance is a way of avoiding difficult situations, then I would question the credentials of somebody to act in such a senior position. | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 17:18 - Mar 7 with 2787 views | sweetcorn |
| Few thoughts from me on 16:27 - Mar 7 by Boss_Hog |
You can only treat people as you find them.
I raised concerns over the direction of a highly important revenue stream via e-mail to our current CEO. Not only did he fail to reply, but he stood in-front of a packed room of fans and told me he never received it, which I know to be untrue. The very same e-mail was also sent to a club employee, who also failed to respond but whom I also know received my correspondence.
If telling lies and ignorance is a way of avoiding difficult situations, then I would question the credentials of somebody to act in such a senior position. |
Out of interest how do you know he recieved the email?
Please don’t say read receipt 😂 | |
| Leader of the little gang of immature cretins. |
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| Few thoughts from me on 17:39 - Mar 7 with 2749 views | 1907 |
| Few thoughts from me on 16:27 - Mar 7 by Boss_Hog |
You can only treat people as you find them.
I raised concerns over the direction of a highly important revenue stream via e-mail to our current CEO. Not only did he fail to reply, but he stood in-front of a packed room of fans and told me he never received it, which I know to be untrue. The very same e-mail was also sent to a club employee, who also failed to respond but whom I also know received my correspondence.
If telling lies and ignorance is a way of avoiding difficult situations, then I would question the credentials of somebody to act in such a senior position. |
So you sent an email to two people who failed to receive it and they’re liars?
You do realise what you sent may have inadvertably ended up in a spam box | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 17:55 - Mar 7 with 2708 views | Ancoats_Blue |
I think far too much is being made of the boards public “backing” and subsequent sacking of hill. Every single club does this. There’s a phrase for it “dreaded vote of confidence”. How many times have other clubs released statements backing a manger only to sack them within the week or month? I’m not saying it should be done, but it is and it’s done by several clubs a season. Dale’s board are not unique. Me and my mates even joked that Hill was about to be sacked after the club’s post Plymouth statements.
Personally I’ve no issue with the current make up of the board but maybe I’m not ITK enough. I actually welcome more communication and commend the club on their efforts. |  | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 18:00 - Mar 7 with 2685 views | albert_park |
| Few thoughts from me on 23:11 - Mar 6 by Brierls |
What has a stag do got to do with the role of CEO at the football club? That is a personal matter surely?
There’s something weird about wanting to know everything about the club, all of the time. You are taking it to another level by delving into others personal life just because they work for the club.
As Col said, if you’ve got such a problem or concern go and speak to the man. Or try and speak to the chairman. You’re coming across as a keyboard warrior with an axe to grind. |
Excellent article Col and good to hear from someone with knowledge about the situation. | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 18:07 - Mar 7 with 2664 views | albert_park |
| Few thoughts from me on 07:07 - Mar 7 by ColDale |
Like I said, at times its got personal and gossippy. This is not Jeremy Kyle or the Sun. I've tried to deal with facts relating to how I have found David when I have come into direct contact with him through his role as CEO. Tbh I'm slightly offended (and I don't get that way often) that you've discounted everything that I've put and reduced it all down to me being "fooled" or "speaking up for a mate". I can assure you 100% that I would not abuse my position with the Trust to do so. |
Well said Col. Some people haven't a clue and consistently look for some way of criticising posts from respected fans | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 20:08 - Mar 7 with 2469 views | kiwidale |
| Few thoughts from me on 11:48 - Mar 7 by sweetcorn |
The messageboard police with the fake outrage has spoken. |
Coming from the self styled Leader of the little gang of immature cretins I can safely ignore you. Never did a postscript ring so true. [Post edited 7 Mar 2019 20:09]
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| Few thoughts from me on 20:10 - Mar 7 with 2448 views | sweetcorn |
| Few thoughts from me on 20:08 - Mar 7 by kiwidale |
Coming from the self styled Leader of the little gang of immature cretins I can safely ignore you. Never did a postscript ring so true. [Post edited 7 Mar 2019 20:09]
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Only you didn’t ignore me.. | |
| Leader of the little gang of immature cretins. |
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| Few thoughts from me on 20:23 - Mar 7 with 2411 views | BlueDales |
I'm not going to pretend to know much about Bottomley. I've never met him, or spoke to him.
But from what I can gather, he's a Dale man through and through, like ourselves. Okay, that doesn't qualify you to run a football club, but it means than his heart will always be in the right place.
His weekly diaries provide the openness and a link between the "behind-the-scenes" and the supprters, which many were critical of not being there previously.
From what I can see, a lot of the criticism of Bottomley seems unfounded and rather harsh. | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 21:42 - Mar 7 with 2274 views | Shun |
| Few thoughts from me on 08:59 - Mar 7 by rochdale_ranger |
No reply what a surprise. |
To be fair, it was first thing in the morning and you only gave him 2 hours! |  | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 21:50 - Mar 7 with 2248 views | kel |
| Few thoughts from me on 21:42 - Mar 7 by Shun |
To be fair, it was first thing in the morning and you only gave him 2 hours! |
Suddenlad is on here most of the day, trust me. It’s no coincidence that when the club tweets major news or puts such on the official site that he’s the very first to post it within seconds.
He’s just very selective about when he logs in so he can probably claim he’s not seen posts directed at him. | | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 23:44 - Mar 7 with 2053 views | rochdale_ranger |
| Few thoughts from me on 21:42 - Mar 7 by Shun |
To be fair, it was first thing in the morning and you only gave him 2 hours! |
He’s had plenty of time to reply in the meantime has he not? Why are you his spokesman anyway? |  | | |
| Few thoughts from me on 23:54 - Mar 7 with 2034 views | RooleyMoorBlue |
Thank you for posting a frank, honest appraisal of the current situation and goings on higher up Col.
It is good to know that so many fans with only the best intentions, are in positions at the club whereby they can actually change things that are wrong or not up to scratch. I include Col in that, as I know what he does takes up probably all his spare time and is done purely because of his love for the club. I only wish I could do something similar, but unfortunately my health probably wouldn`t allow it.
I would like to know if Russ Green will be returning to his post at any time in the future if and when his suspension elapses? If he was the man the club wanted, surely in spite of his misdemeanor that opinion shouldn`t have been blighted, considering you suggest the punishment was harsh. |  | | |
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