Congratulations to Brent and the superfans....

When was Brent's last public utterance on the matter in hand. Guess he did 'confront' the sycophants at the fanfest and I guess his emissarry on planet earth, Mr "I'm just an ordinary fan"President , takes on all comers one by one on Brents behalf and I guess we will probably hear the mantra 'actions speak louder than words' over the next few weeks and I guess the board of directors can happily post under psuedonyms on Pasoti. But even after a result that leaves us rock bottom there is nothing in the press from our erstwhile leader.

I agree with Tring, the advice to Mr Brent from certain people has been bad and the failure to change Manager ( Clueless ) , may prove to be fatal for our stay in the Football League.

As for Sheridan, I will wait until after the Wombles away match this week, it is a vital game for us to win. Wimbledon are on a good run, their win at Daggers on Saturday was an indication of their fight. They also took 873 supporters to this game , I know it was not too far away but it's not just the green armeeeee that are getting behind their team.

A change of Manager has kick started some of our rivals, Bristol Rovers, Barnet, Aldershot now, Whilst we have fallen to the very bottom of the pile !!

Good post by cheshire green on pasoti-

Seen a fair bit of negativity on these boards and its hardly surprising given the real threat to our League status.

Personally, I have to say I am disappointed with the Brent Board. A lot of early rhetoric and promise, but very little has yet translated into something meaningful and substantive. The Board was appointed in January 2012, so even accepting the unwholly mess that was inherited from the painful and torturous administration process, I would have hoped to see a few signs of strategy and some initial progress.

Three key areas for me:

1) Leadership/CEO
2) Communications
3) The playing side

In an attempt to hold the Board to account, I decided to re-visit the Q&A from this site. These answers are almost a year old themselves, (April 2012) so, I have highlighted some elements here that cover the 3 elements above.
Link 1 and Link 2.


James Brent's opening comments

Quote :

Dear Ian and colleagues,

Thank you for the questions submitted on PASOTI . It is clear that a lot of time has been put into raising and collating these questions, which must be a good sign as we develop the new governance regime for the club.

The Board is absolutely committed to ensuring that we have a governance structure which sets new standards for the football ‘industry’ and, save where it would damage the interests of our club, to have a transparent approach to communicating with the club’s fans.

Not yet achieved.

Quote :

Could you describe John Deehan’s role at the club?
Steve

A:The purpose of the role of Director of Football is to provide mentoring and one-to-one coaching and technical support to the first-team manager and his assistants on a daily basis, whilst enhancing programmes that support the development of players within the club, to ultimately improve first team performance and results to attain a higher League position.

This role is responsible for liaising with the Board of Directors on matters relating to the football side of the business within the budget limitations of the club, for example: identifying potential player acquisitions for the club; handling players’ contract negotiations; facilitating selected players’ movement out of the club in a professional and appropriate manner, all with the support of the Club Secretary.

The Director of Football role. Preferred option of the Board in the closing months of 2011/12, then dropped in summer 2012 then re-considered and nearly filled before Carl Fletcher was dismissed when it was then presumably shelved as a strategy.

Quote :

Will there be any investment into the team for next season?
Naughty Forty; Steve Gray

A: We will continue to strengthen the team next year but the budget has not yet been set by the Board.

The club is in a precarious position in so many ways and it’s hard to look beyond this season at the moment, but whatever league we find ourselves in can we be assured that the on the field football side of the business will be given a high priority?
Mark Pedlar; Matthew

A: You have our assurance.

This, in reality, turned out to be the emergence for the start of the current season of a overpopulated, undertalented squad. There was a high degree of loyalty shown to a inexperienced manager, holes in the squad have had to be filled by a glut of loan players. Darren Purse was allowed to leave to free up wages, this and the resulting change of manager has seen yet further player turnover. Whether we maintain our League status or not at the end of the season, this element can hardly be decribed as a success.

Quote :

I would be interested in the thinking around the setting up of the GASB at the same time as offering the Trust a 20% stake. How do you see the roles of these two bodies differing in future?
Knecht

A: As you know, there are a number of fans’ groups with overlapping membership and a number of fans who are not represented by any of these groups. The GASB is being set up to represent all the fans in providing constructive challenge to the Board of Directors and liaison between the Board and the fanbase. The appointment of the GASB will be independent from the club and the majority of its members will be directly and democratically elected. I believe the Trust’s mandate is clear. One of the issues raised by the Trust has been the acquisition of a stake in Plymouth Argyle Football Club: the club will give them the option to acquire this.

Another failure.

Quote :

I have a friend who is a Palace supporter (foolish man!). Apparently on their fans’ web-site there is a section in which the present owners regularly answer questions. Is this something that is possible here?
Knecht

A: I hope that our engagement with fans will be second to none. Our primary interaction between the club and our fans will continue to be via the official website. Regular meetings between the GASB and the statutory Board will provide a formal framework for raising concerns and ideas, while ad hoc sessions like this, meetings with the Senior Greens and at the Guildhall will provide further access and challenge. I hope that your Palace friend will look at what we are doing in six months time and advise the owners of CP to take note!

Failed.

Quote :

What is the timetable for appointing a new Chief Executive (or Football Administrator) to permanently replace Peter Ridsdale?
Gaspargomez

A: Jason Turner is doing an excellent job as our General Manager and Club Secretary; we need no further help here. Martin has been Acting CEO and the Board will review this with him at the end of the season: without prejudging this review, he has also made a great contribution to our club so far.

QUESTIONS TO PETER JONES

Quote :

Unless I am very much mistaken, yourself and Jason Turner are the only two board members who have experience of working at a football club prior to Plymouth Argyle. Does this lack of football men on the board room (and presumably making the majority of the football decisions) concern you at all, and is it something that you are looking to address?
Sam Down.

A: Sam, I’m not concerned about that. Beyond Jason, there are plenty of other people working at the club who are well versed in the football industry. Indeed, I’m pleased that there is now high-level experience from other sectors at the club’s disposal. Football does tend to operate in something of a bubble, and can definitely benefit from learning from the ways other successful organisations go about their business.

Although this is not entirely consistent with an earlier presumably personal view by a Board member as we have yet to see a return for Mr Dunford.

CEO

Quote :

Peter_Jones
Post subject: Re: The Rescue Plan / Plan B is off the groundPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:44 pm

With his experience as Vice Chairman, Peter Jones' input is invaluable, and I for one would love to see him on the board again. But would he willing to take on the role of a CEO? My assumption was that he wouldn't given his other commitments elsewhere. Maybe I'm wrong, but if my assumption is correct, that's why I suggest Dunford be approached to compliment Peter's undoubted experience and skills.

I'm certainly not a football club CEO.

It's hugely reassuring to know that Michael Dunford could be available.

He is highly respected throughout football.

And finally....I happened to spot this in the Q&A which surprised me given the date the Q&A took place.

Quote :

May I ask you how close the club were to liquidation before you decided to put your money where your mouth is?
Deep Throat

A: We don’t know for sure: the Administrators were clearly in control of this. The Administration was, however, unfunded and I suspect the club was very close to liquidation

I think the Brent Board has been as disappointing off the field as the team has on it. Just hoping lessons are being learnt fast.

Our club seems to have been in a never-ending downward spiral for a long time and the optimism that surrounded James Brent has evaporated very quickly. League survival, if it happens, should not be regarded as a success, just greeted with relief.

I hope to see a lot more purpose and progress from the Board before the start of next season.

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Well we all know that Brent talks the talk.