Post by Macmoish on Mar 28, 2011 7:32:13 GMT
COVENTRY TELEGRAPH
We've got it wrong, admits Coventry City board member
* Exclusive by Andy Turner
* Mar 28 2011
COVENTRY City’s local voice on the board John Clarke admits the club got it wrong by keeping fans in the dark – but says legal reasons stopped them talking about the resignation of chairman Ray Ranson.
The newly appointed vice-chairman has explained the situation, which was due to be clarified today and revealed that a new advisory board – made up of local businessmen who are associate directors – is being set up to improve links between the supporters and the board.
In an exclusive interview with the Coventry Telegraph, Clarke insists that club owners Sisu remain financially committed to the club and that he believes City will get back to a “break-even position” next season.
Asked what he would say to fans who have been in uproar about being kept in the dark, and if he accepts that it has been handled badly,” he said: “We accept as a club and board that communication has not been as good as it could be, but in recent weeks with legal agreements being put together by the lawyers etc, we have had our hands tied.
“We have had to go through that process but I can assure the fans that it is a committed board policy, as they will see from this week, that we are going to be far, far more open with our communications policy once we get the legal agreements signed up.
"That is absolute policy.
“We identify that as where we have had a problem.
"We would have liked to have clarified the situation and it has been frustrating but I think the fans will see that there will be a more open communication in the future to their queries about the club.”
Asked if he thinks the club owe the supporters an apology, he added: “I think the best thing we can do for the fans is put the club back on the right track both on and off the field to regain their confidence.
"The best way we can apologise is to say to the fans that we haven’t got it right on the communications and we are committed to improving that in the future.
“There is a new era from Wednesday when the new future will be announced, and communications is one of the top priorities.”
Asked to clarify situation with Ranson, to confirm that he has tendered his resignation and that it has been accepted and that the club are and have been going through a legal process to make that formal, he said: “The statement today will confirm that and all the contractual agreements will be in that statement.
"That is in the hands of the lawyers and I really don’t know how far that process has gone.
"It is going through a process, lawyers take their time and I am told there will be a statement today.”
Asked if he can confirm Ken Dulieu is taking over as chairman, he said: “Ken will be at the press conference on Wednesday where an announcement as to the new chairman will be unveiled.”
As for Ranson’s continuing role as a consultant on footballing matters until the end of the season, Clarke insists the out-going chairman remains committed to playing a “key role” in ensuring City stay up and revealed that he hopes Ranson will be at Wednesday’s conference.
There has been a lot of concern from fans that the club are about to go into administration.
Asked if he can you give them assurances that is not going to happen, he said: “Sisu have committed themselves to further funding and I think that speaks for itself.
"If I had not had complete faith in Sisu’s continued commitment, integrity and future intentions for the club I would not have considered re-joining the board.
“And I would also say that the board is actively pursuing new investors to take the club forward and that is very active involving our new directors, and we are hopeful there will be a positive result in the future.”
So much so that Clarke believes the club will get back to a break even position next season, particularly with the appointment of a new full-time chief executive officer, more details of which are expected at Wednesday’s press conference at the Ricoh Arena.
Interestingly, the club already have an extremely experienced commercial director in Brian Phillpotts who used to work for the Premier League.
“We are looking for a full-time CEO and the man we have identified has an excellent track record,” he revealed.
“I think it will be a real step forward, commercially, for the club because this is a tough economic situation and you need full-time focus.”
Clarke declined to respond to questions about why the club hasn’t filed their accounts which were due at the end of February and the reason for the current transfer embargo, insisting that those questions will be better placed in front of the board on Wednesday.
But asked if the embargo was in place during the January transfer window – which would explain why then manager Aidy Boothroyd didn’t recruit any new players on loan or otherwise – Clarke insisted he didn’t know but stressed the club had been very open about it and when asked the question whether there is an embargo in place they said ‘yes’.
Clarke insists he has acted swiftly to the need for a local director to put the record straight following last week’s fiasco and has called on the fans to get behind the club and focus on the main priority of getting three points on Saturday and getting nearer to retaining the club’s Championship status.
“Let’s demonstrate to our players and the opposition that we are right behind Andy Thorn, Steve Harrison and the team and shout them to a much-needed win,” said Clarke who, like fellow Cov Kids and life-long City fans Joe Elliott and Gary Hoffman have never taken a penny from the club.
“I have never been paid by Coventry City for anything and I am very proud of that. That’s my decision.
"I don’t want expenses and have never asked for them.
"I am a fan with Sky Blue blood in my veins and no more important than the fan in the stands.
"The fans are the real owners of the club, we are simply the custodians.
“Any fan can aspire from the stands to the board room and I am privileged to be on the board, but as a director I am also aware of my responsibility to act in the best interests of the football club.”
Meanwhile, David Shortland is the proposed chairman of the new Associate Directors’ Advisory Group.
“We have been together as a group for several years after the previous regime approached us about supporting the club in a number of different areas,” said the estate agent who, like his fellow associate directors, invested £100,000 in the club under a scheme designed to reward their outlay in the event that City got promoted to the Premier League.
“The present owners are looking for us to formalise the arrangement with the establishment of advisory board so that we can give further help on a range of projects.
“All the members of the group are locally based business-owners and we will act as a sounding board and listening post so that we can feed up local issues and feelings from supporters and the local business community.
“The Associate Directors are all long term supporters of the club and believe our help can be of real assistance to the Sky Blues.”
www.coventrytelegraph.net/coventry-city-fc/coventry-city-fc-news/2011/03/28/we-ve-got-it-wrong-admits-coventry-city-board-member-92746-28415140/3/#ixzz1HsRQG1XC
We've got it wrong, admits Coventry City board member
* Exclusive by Andy Turner
* Mar 28 2011
COVENTRY City’s local voice on the board John Clarke admits the club got it wrong by keeping fans in the dark – but says legal reasons stopped them talking about the resignation of chairman Ray Ranson.
The newly appointed vice-chairman has explained the situation, which was due to be clarified today and revealed that a new advisory board – made up of local businessmen who are associate directors – is being set up to improve links between the supporters and the board.
In an exclusive interview with the Coventry Telegraph, Clarke insists that club owners Sisu remain financially committed to the club and that he believes City will get back to a “break-even position” next season.
Asked what he would say to fans who have been in uproar about being kept in the dark, and if he accepts that it has been handled badly,” he said: “We accept as a club and board that communication has not been as good as it could be, but in recent weeks with legal agreements being put together by the lawyers etc, we have had our hands tied.
“We have had to go through that process but I can assure the fans that it is a committed board policy, as they will see from this week, that we are going to be far, far more open with our communications policy once we get the legal agreements signed up.
"That is absolute policy.
“We identify that as where we have had a problem.
"We would have liked to have clarified the situation and it has been frustrating but I think the fans will see that there will be a more open communication in the future to their queries about the club.”
Asked if he thinks the club owe the supporters an apology, he added: “I think the best thing we can do for the fans is put the club back on the right track both on and off the field to regain their confidence.
"The best way we can apologise is to say to the fans that we haven’t got it right on the communications and we are committed to improving that in the future.
“There is a new era from Wednesday when the new future will be announced, and communications is one of the top priorities.”
Asked to clarify situation with Ranson, to confirm that he has tendered his resignation and that it has been accepted and that the club are and have been going through a legal process to make that formal, he said: “The statement today will confirm that and all the contractual agreements will be in that statement.
"That is in the hands of the lawyers and I really don’t know how far that process has gone.
"It is going through a process, lawyers take their time and I am told there will be a statement today.”
Asked if he can confirm Ken Dulieu is taking over as chairman, he said: “Ken will be at the press conference on Wednesday where an announcement as to the new chairman will be unveiled.”
As for Ranson’s continuing role as a consultant on footballing matters until the end of the season, Clarke insists the out-going chairman remains committed to playing a “key role” in ensuring City stay up and revealed that he hopes Ranson will be at Wednesday’s conference.
There has been a lot of concern from fans that the club are about to go into administration.
Asked if he can you give them assurances that is not going to happen, he said: “Sisu have committed themselves to further funding and I think that speaks for itself.
"If I had not had complete faith in Sisu’s continued commitment, integrity and future intentions for the club I would not have considered re-joining the board.
“And I would also say that the board is actively pursuing new investors to take the club forward and that is very active involving our new directors, and we are hopeful there will be a positive result in the future.”
So much so that Clarke believes the club will get back to a break even position next season, particularly with the appointment of a new full-time chief executive officer, more details of which are expected at Wednesday’s press conference at the Ricoh Arena.
Interestingly, the club already have an extremely experienced commercial director in Brian Phillpotts who used to work for the Premier League.
“We are looking for a full-time CEO and the man we have identified has an excellent track record,” he revealed.
“I think it will be a real step forward, commercially, for the club because this is a tough economic situation and you need full-time focus.”
Clarke declined to respond to questions about why the club hasn’t filed their accounts which were due at the end of February and the reason for the current transfer embargo, insisting that those questions will be better placed in front of the board on Wednesday.
But asked if the embargo was in place during the January transfer window – which would explain why then manager Aidy Boothroyd didn’t recruit any new players on loan or otherwise – Clarke insisted he didn’t know but stressed the club had been very open about it and when asked the question whether there is an embargo in place they said ‘yes’.
Clarke insists he has acted swiftly to the need for a local director to put the record straight following last week’s fiasco and has called on the fans to get behind the club and focus on the main priority of getting three points on Saturday and getting nearer to retaining the club’s Championship status.
“Let’s demonstrate to our players and the opposition that we are right behind Andy Thorn, Steve Harrison and the team and shout them to a much-needed win,” said Clarke who, like fellow Cov Kids and life-long City fans Joe Elliott and Gary Hoffman have never taken a penny from the club.
“I have never been paid by Coventry City for anything and I am very proud of that. That’s my decision.
"I don’t want expenses and have never asked for them.
"I am a fan with Sky Blue blood in my veins and no more important than the fan in the stands.
"The fans are the real owners of the club, we are simply the custodians.
“Any fan can aspire from the stands to the board room and I am privileged to be on the board, but as a director I am also aware of my responsibility to act in the best interests of the football club.”
Meanwhile, David Shortland is the proposed chairman of the new Associate Directors’ Advisory Group.
“We have been together as a group for several years after the previous regime approached us about supporting the club in a number of different areas,” said the estate agent who, like his fellow associate directors, invested £100,000 in the club under a scheme designed to reward their outlay in the event that City got promoted to the Premier League.
“The present owners are looking for us to formalise the arrangement with the establishment of advisory board so that we can give further help on a range of projects.
“All the members of the group are locally based business-owners and we will act as a sounding board and listening post so that we can feed up local issues and feelings from supporters and the local business community.
“The Associate Directors are all long term supporters of the club and believe our help can be of real assistance to the Sky Blues.”
www.coventrytelegraph.net/coventry-city-fc/coventry-city-fc-news/2011/03/28/we-ve-got-it-wrong-admits-coventry-city-board-member-92746-28415140/3/#ixzz1HsRQG1XC