Why Does No One Trust The Club

[Timbo]

Keep the faith Adrian. Remember, it is only about 10, maybe 20 people maximum, some of them post on here, who have the opinions of misstrust you speak of. The rest of us are trusting of the board to do the very best they can to ensure the new stadium is delivered. Imagine how they must feel when they have no choice but to delay things, and imagine how dissapointed they must be when they read the comments of a minority* who constantly question everything they say.

* Actually, they probably don't take a lot of notice of the minority becasue it is so very small.

:falmerspi

Sorry but thats just shit. 10 or 20? Are you sure? While everybody elses crowds have risen over the past 10 years, ours has slipped from 10,000 hardcore fans to about 4,500. I know there are numerous reasons for that, mostly through no fault of the board, but out of that 5,500 missing fans, only 10 or 20 blame the board?

 

[Brovion]

Sorry, mate, I was not accusing you of anything and I agree with the vast majority of what you say. I do accuse others of having unreasonable expectations of the board and the information they do or don't make public.

My question to you, although not well put, is what do you think the board should do appease those who want them to divulge more of what goes on?

Is there a board that has ever ALWAYS made the right decisions? I see your point on ticketing and agree with most, if not all, of it. In the past I have had serious issues with ticket allocations policies for big away matches and when we get another, I wonder if those issues have been resolved?

I trust the board to do everything they can in the best interests of the club but in the knowledge that they will make the wrong decision now and again. (Is there a football club in the country that hasn't, at some time, made the wrong decision on appointing a manager?) My criticism of some is that they seem to think that there is something sinister behind those decisions and they are someohow trying to undermine the club.

Sorry, I wittered on about Gillingham and Wilkins and re-reading it I realise I didn't really answer you. I think the answer to the question of what can the board do to re-establish 'trust' the answer is: probably nothing. Unless they give us Chapter and Verse of the Wilkins dismissal there will be this vacuum that rumors will circulate in. (Scientifically inaccurate of course, if it contains rumors it can't be a vacuum but bear with me). Like you I don't believe they should, but if the current slump continues and we get towards December without a home win it may be the lesser of two evils. This is a crisis entirely of their own making.

I agree with you that not every board can get things right all the time, and because over the last eleven years ours got it right far more times than they got it wrong (especially with managerial appointments) the current abberations stand out much more than they would at a really badly-run club. Maybe this is because Knight doesn't have as much influence as he used to have? I dunno.

And yes, the bottom line is I do 'trust' this board to make decisions that it feels are in the best interests of the club, something that obviously wasn't true under Archer/Stanley/Bellotti. And no, I don't think for a moment something sinister is going on. My criticism is solely that I think that a lot of the decisons taken are wrong and the club is the worst-run it's been since Knight took over.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

Sorry, I wittered on about Gillingham and Wilkins and re-reading it I realise I didn't really answer you. I think the answer to the question of what can the board do to re-establish 'trust' the answer is: probably nothing. Unless they give us Chapter and Verse of the Wilkins dismissal there will be this vacuum that rumors will circulate in. (Scientifically inaccurate of course, if it contains rumors it can't be a vacuum but bear with me). Like you I don't believe they should, but if the current slump continues and we get towards December without a home win it may be the lesser of two evils. This is a crisis entirely of their own making.

I agree with you that not every board can get things right all the time, and because over the last eleven years ours got it right far more times than they got it wrong (especially with managerial appointments) the current abberations stand out much more than they would at a really badly-run club. Maybe this is because Knight doesn't have as much influence as he used to have? I dunno.

And yes, the bottom line is I do 'trust' this board to make decisions that it feels are in the best interests of the club, something that obviously wasn't true under Archer/Stanley/Bellotti. And no, I don't think for a moment something sinister is going on. My criticism is solely that I think that a lot of the decisons taken are wrong and the club is the worst-run it's been since Knight took over.

I'd go along with pretty much all of that

 

[ROSM]

Maybe this is because Knight doesn't have as much influence as he used to have? I dunno...........

.........My criticism is solely that I think that a lot of the decisons taken are wrong and the club is the worst-run it's been since Knight took over.

I think there is a lot of basis in this. Whilst the minority you referred to earlier have spent much of the last 10 years calling for people to step aside, asking for new investment, criticising Perry's work as Chief Executive. Most of these things have now happened as Perry is almost totally involved in day to day development issues, Ken Brown is now the OIC for admin and the board is probably more diluted than ever before in terms of members and share of control.

Having said which, Knight maintains the sacking of Wilkins was his recommendation to the board. Only he knows really what went on to lead to it. At the moment there are more plusses than minuses in his accounting book for me so I'm prepared to go with, maybe even vocally support, that decision. Granted the follow up decision doesn't look to have started off as successfully as he would (or indeed most of us) would have liked.

 

[Icy Gull]

I trust the board to try and do the right thing, I just think they are both economical with the truth in regards to what's going on and slow in keeping us updated. May be my imagination but most of the depressing news we get to hear does not seem to come from the club 1st but via the media, and the club then respond, which should not be the case imo. I accept that it may just be me not picking it up until I see it in the media or on here though.

 

[The Large One]

I trust the board to try and do the right thing, I just think they are both economical with the truth in regards to what's going on and slow in keeping us updated. May be my imagination but most of the depressing news we get to hear does not seem to come from the club 1st but via the media, and the club then respond, which should not be the case imo. I accept that it may just be me not picking it up until I see it in the media or on here though.

In comparison to most clubs, I think they are extremely open.

However, there is time for discretion and a time for candour, and I think the club gets it right far more than it gets it wrong. Complete openness can be destructive and unhelpful at times, and, while of course I believe in democracy and a certain level of openness, I'm not sure I necessarily want the club to be run by open consensus. It's a fine line.

Perhaps it's the fact we're party to some of the things that fans of other clubs wouldn't get to hear of from their club that leads some people to believe we at Brighton should be told EVERYTHING. Familiarity breeding contempt and all that...