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The Inner Circle
- Thread starter Giraffe
- Start date
Lord Bracknell
On fire
Thank you.
Indeed.
My concern isn't at all related to the funding side of things - although I think someone should be asking what might happen if Tony Bloom's business empire ever goes tits up.
If I have a concern, it's about the man's management style (which I have no knowledge of) and his lack of experience in holding together fragile things like a football club. We know nothing of this.
And we know nothing of how he will relate to the fans. An early marker might be whether or not he holds a fans' forum - and how he deals with the bread and butter issues that get raised at those events.
Dick Knight needed to court popularity - and mostly succeeded. Tony Bloom doesn't. Things may be very different in future.
When the time is right, I'll certainly celebrate. Meanwhile ... there are things to think about.
There's nothing sore that I can see.
Buzzer
Languidly Clinical
- Oct 1, 2006
- 26,121
Really? Seeing as you posted this when someone said that Tony Bloom was gonna bail us out to £40m back in February:
and then you posted this:
Something doesn't quite ring true.
Oh, and your claims that your sources at the club are still impeccable - I'd dispute that too. You hedged your bets when I revealed, a full 2 weeks ago that Dick Knight had been ousted, and said that you had no inside information. Well, if you didn't have inside info then and your good chum, DK, is not running the club anymore then it would appear that you are right now even further from having "impeccable" contacts.
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
I can assure you she is not on my head, yuck..............
Brilliant its getting like one of those John Grisham stories - all politics and subterfuge - I like all this. Go Buzzer go.
cjd
Well-known member
Great post Buzzer.
I just hope LB is no longer on DKs payroll and he doesn't give yet another character assassination of our new Chairman..(albeit, he has been far far less than complimentary this last few weeks) the likes as he did on Dean Wilkins, at the behest of Dick Knight.
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
Have you gone mad, I don't always agree with LB (politically we have a Grand Canyon between us) however to suggest he was on the DK payroll is a bit rich
Buzzer
Languidly Clinical
- Oct 1, 2006
- 26,121
I'm not suggesting, merely inferring from LB's post about those close to DK that he was referring to people such as himself.
cjd
Well-known member
Maybe spin doctors are a voluntary role these days...?
Lord Bracknell
On fire
See the light please
I am a DK Fan and why not? He always has/had the best interest of the club at heart and the club is in a better state than when he took over. And he is a passionate fan. He now has handed over to a more financial capable chairman who is also an avid supporter. Looks ok to me so far.............oh but i forgot.......certain sections of fans cannot forgive him for ousting Dean Wilkins and re-apointing Mickey Adams............The cad of a Chairman lost his gloss in some fans opinion [not mine] only to be revealed in the press that only Martin Perry was against dropping Wilkins.....so will them same fans turn against the whole board now or will they give Knight the credit he deserves and realise there was no better person to run the club. As for calling for his head when the club was fighting relegation ......well
I am a DK Fan and why not? He always has/had the best interest of the club at heart and the club is in a better state than when he took over. And he is a passionate fan. He now has handed over to a more financial capable chairman who is also an avid supporter. Looks ok to me so far.............oh but i forgot.......certain sections of fans cannot forgive him for ousting Dean Wilkins and re-apointing Mickey Adams............The cad of a Chairman lost his gloss in some fans opinion [not mine] only to be revealed in the press that only Martin Perry was against dropping Wilkins.....so will them same fans turn against the whole board now or will they give Knight the credit he deserves and realise there was no better person to run the club. As for calling for his head when the club was fighting relegation ......well
sir albion
New member
Yes dick was passionate but without the financial clout we would have gone bust years ago.
In many ways knight was carried by bloom for many years and took all the credit
Yes dick was passionate but without the financial clout we would have gone bust years ago.
In many ways knight was carried by bloom for many years and took all the credit
Agreed and Bloom was always going to Fund the club......he has made slightly more of a commitment than most of us thought he could. DK was still the right man to run the club and now fans must see that he was not the power mad ego-tripper some thought he was.
ROSM
Well-known member
I'll bite.
When I started the Bring Home the Albion campaign I had not even met Dick Knight. I think he was wary of me and Nick Rowe was despatched to find out what my motives were.
A few weeks later I met Dick and Martin Perry and since that time I have often spoken to them at club functions or campaign events.
Having seen at close quarters the hard work, effort and attention to detail he puts into the football club you cannot fail to be absorbed by him. Have I always agreed with him? No, but I did and do trust him to have the right motives.
He always said that when the right investor who could guarantee the future of the club came along, he would stand aside. The fact he has, gives me hope that Tony Bloom can be trusted.
I wrote a month or or so ago that I felt he should step down as the amount of briefing against him this season had become ridiculous. I dont blame Tony or Ray Bloom for that, but some close to the Blooms had a tendency of play bertie big bollocks in pubs and clubs and will need to curb that now they have power.
Yes I am sad to see him go before the stadium opens - but to get one, it seems we need the other. So be it.
For those who think that now Knight's gone then Wilkins would be back need to bear in mind that the only people who were shareholders that I ever heard criticise Wilkins publicly were the Blooms. It seems only Martin Perry spoke out against ousting Wilkins. maybe Ernest is wrong and he's not a lapdog?
Bloom has been on board (if not on the board) for at least 3 years. I suspect he had agreed to underwrite the stadium project for much of that time. I also suspect that even though banks were interested, the actual terms available were not to his or the clubs liking so he has now formalised his position as stadium funder. He clearly now feels the time is right to take public control of not just the stadium but the football club too.
As Clapham says - today is the day we become another club.
But back to Knight. His (as with many people) strengths were his weaknesses. he was single minded, passionate and beligerent. That in the balance of things was what we needed to get here today and still have a club.
I can honestly say that I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with Dick Knight who in my opinion has been an Albion legend.
When I started the Bring Home the Albion campaign I had not even met Dick Knight. I think he was wary of me and Nick Rowe was despatched to find out what my motives were.
A few weeks later I met Dick and Martin Perry and since that time I have often spoken to them at club functions or campaign events.
Having seen at close quarters the hard work, effort and attention to detail he puts into the football club you cannot fail to be absorbed by him. Have I always agreed with him? No, but I did and do trust him to have the right motives.
He always said that when the right investor who could guarantee the future of the club came along, he would stand aside. The fact he has, gives me hope that Tony Bloom can be trusted.
I wrote a month or or so ago that I felt he should step down as the amount of briefing against him this season had become ridiculous. I dont blame Tony or Ray Bloom for that, but some close to the Blooms had a tendency of play bertie big bollocks in pubs and clubs and will need to curb that now they have power.
Yes I am sad to see him go before the stadium opens - but to get one, it seems we need the other. So be it.
For those who think that now Knight's gone then Wilkins would be back need to bear in mind that the only people who were shareholders that I ever heard criticise Wilkins publicly were the Blooms. It seems only Martin Perry spoke out against ousting Wilkins. maybe Ernest is wrong and he's not a lapdog?
Bloom has been on board (if not on the board) for at least 3 years. I suspect he had agreed to underwrite the stadium project for much of that time. I also suspect that even though banks were interested, the actual terms available were not to his or the clubs liking so he has now formalised his position as stadium funder. He clearly now feels the time is right to take public control of not just the stadium but the football club too.
As Clapham says - today is the day we become another club.
But back to Knight. His (as with many people) strengths were his weaknesses. he was single minded, passionate and beligerent. That in the balance of things was what we needed to get here today and still have a club.
I can honestly say that I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with Dick Knight who in my opinion has been an Albion legend.
I'm not mystic meg, but I predicted this years ago. It was always on the cards that the victory (to a certain extent) would be snatched from the hands of those who fought so long to get here.
Yesterday was the moment we become another run of the mill club.
.............................................................................
The point I`m trying miserably to make is that the victory has not been snatched from anyones grasp. We all have hold of it but now we have a much much firmer grasp.
and Brighton and hove Albion will never be a run of the mill club to me Clapham
clapham_gull
Legacy Fan
- Aug 20, 2003
- 25,738
Yes dick was passionate but without the financial clout we would have gone bust years ago.
In many ways knight was carried by bloom for many years and took all the credit
Well I guess some could view it as a partnership made in hell, but in retrospect I think it will be viewed as a partnership made in heaven.
It's probably very hard for people to see that anything can compare with the financial clout of Tony Bloom.
Well, I can see it very clearly.
Keeping the club in the public eye at a national level (yes a national level) and motivating the fans in the fight for the stadium can not be underestimated.
It was a remarkabe achievement, unprecendented.
As ROSM, we needed people like Dick Knight, Paul, Ed etc.. to see that through.
Southampton down the road, have had to cancel a celebrity game due to lack of interest. Meanwhile down at the Albion, I was somehow motivated to sneak out of work one afternoon and deliver flowers in a wheelbarrow to John Prescott and somehow motivated to seemingly piss off half of Wycombe by taken over their ground one evening.
Some of the things I didn't quite agree with and felt at certain times it got a bit nasty.
But it worked, we got planning permission and whatever people say planning on that scale is a political decision and the people organising all of that quite obviously got the politics right.
Without that, there wouldn't have been a stadium for Tony Bloom to pay for.
So thank you Tony Bloom, but thank you everyone else.
I really hope this spirit continues. I look forward to complaints about the forks at falmer.
Lord Bracknell
On fire
What doesn't ring true, Buzzer, is your suggestion that I have frequent contact with people at the club. I don't.
And when I do have conversations, I tend not to come rushing on to NSC claiming to know something. I will, however, sometimes use such information as I have to counter what I see as misinformation being put out by other people. I don't take all information as gospel, though. As ROSM has suggested, there are folk out there who will brief mischievously.
As I posted last week in regard to the release of players etc. This club has for a number of years been run like an old boys club or like your typical committee run football/cricket club. Basically not very professional. This so called inner circle or arse lickers call them what you like but they have been an integral part of the scene. Knight did not stop them as they offered him support when he needed it and also took flak away from him when shit & bullets were flying.
They helped in pushing awareness over the stadium and doing the ground donkey work. As far as I'm aware no other football club has seen this type of help from its supporters. I do feel though in the last few years the general perception of these people in regard to the normal supporters has been one of waning interest and apathy to the super supporter. I always have a vision in my head of these types as "village fate organisers", extremely pleased with themselves and wanting their pictures with the Mayor taken by the local press, so they put them in their little scrap book. The club with its genial little set up, pampered somewhat to this.
Brighton has always been a friendly run club, apart from the dark years, and most people felt able to freely talk to the likes of late and great Ron Pavey however times are a changing. Clubs now need a profession business approach and this is what is beginning to happen. Slade has made it clear that many things need to change on the playing side, more on the infrastructure side than on the pitch.
With Bloom he appears to me to be a relatively quiet man who will not seek attention, allow the day to day business to be run by the Chief Executive and his/her staff. Some have mentioned that the Chairman's role is high profile,why? Going back a few years you never heard the likes of Liverpool's, Arsenal's, Man Utd's chairmen on telly. Its only since the high profile takeovers by egotistical billionaires that the boardrooms have become paper talk. You never heard Bamber and alike on a daily basis so why should you hear Bloom. Knight was different, high profile and he needed a message put out.
In the future I believe the club will become more secretive, business like, professional and the inner circle will be disbanded. The club will retain its friend exterior, a community club approach but will not need to have this circle surrounding it. Well I hope anyway!
They helped in pushing awareness over the stadium and doing the ground donkey work. As far as I'm aware no other football club has seen this type of help from its supporters. I do feel though in the last few years the general perception of these people in regard to the normal supporters has been one of waning interest and apathy to the super supporter. I always have a vision in my head of these types as "village fate organisers", extremely pleased with themselves and wanting their pictures with the Mayor taken by the local press, so they put them in their little scrap book. The club with its genial little set up, pampered somewhat to this.
Brighton has always been a friendly run club, apart from the dark years, and most people felt able to freely talk to the likes of late and great Ron Pavey however times are a changing. Clubs now need a profession business approach and this is what is beginning to happen. Slade has made it clear that many things need to change on the playing side, more on the infrastructure side than on the pitch.
With Bloom he appears to me to be a relatively quiet man who will not seek attention, allow the day to day business to be run by the Chief Executive and his/her staff. Some have mentioned that the Chairman's role is high profile,why? Going back a few years you never heard the likes of Liverpool's, Arsenal's, Man Utd's chairmen on telly. Its only since the high profile takeovers by egotistical billionaires that the boardrooms have become paper talk. You never heard Bamber and alike on a daily basis so why should you hear Bloom. Knight was different, high profile and he needed a message put out.
In the future I believe the club will become more secretive, business like, professional and the inner circle will be disbanded. The club will retain its friend exterior, a community club approach but will not need to have this circle surrounding it. Well I hope anyway!