Over a long period of time they made no attempt at all to run the club properly. In fact the worse shape we were in the better it suited their long term agenda.
If that's not willful mismanagement I'm not sure what is
Did the offer to pay up front in exchange for removing the sell on clause happen around the same time that that grubby agent contacted Woodward asking for share of the sell on ? and then having to deal with Bristol Rovers trying to sue the club.
I suspect Woodward was under tremendous pressure at the time.
that's just wild conspiracy theories, Mr Plant. Lets leave that one now.
I have no doubt that Woodward was under severe pressure which explains but doesn't excuse severe error. No one should argue that the good things he did for the club should be ignored. but you have to weigh up any individual performance acknowledging good and bad. This inexplicable decision cost this small football club £1.5m. It is extraordinary to try to airbrush it away as a minor detail of his reign. It simply wasn't.
Hayes wasn't all bad. Woodward wasn't all good. they both were shades of grey.
Woodward was a key player in a massive part of the club's history, the move back into fan ownership that could so easily not have happened. Much respect to him for that.
But in most organisations if someone made an error that cost over a third of the annual income they wouldn't hang around long. Whether it was a mistake or not. It was a terrible decision.
@DevC said:
This inexplicable decision cost this small football club £1.5M
The problem with your arguments are that, as far as I'm aware, we don't actually know the full facts of what was going on within the club. We can speculate on what the pressures were but that's all really. It may have been an 'inexplicable' decision as you say but unless any of us were inside the decision making team at the time we can't be sure.
@DevC is right when he says labelling the Philips clause sell off merely as a "mistake" is outrageously underplaying it. It was an absolute disaster.
However, the incredible mismanagement of the club, reckless frittering away of money, ultimatums to take over the club, and attempt to merge us with Wasps in a white elephant stadium we wouldn't own, or seemingly make any income from have got to be way above the Philips lost money as the biggest disaster in our history.
Do we know that the 'Phillips' decision was made by Woodward alone? I don't think we do and I would find it hard to believe that there was not some consultation process.
On the face of it, the decision to sell out WWFC's claim to the sell-on clause proceeds (and taken out of the context of the situation and the sell-on proceeds earmarked to reduce debt to Hayes) is a spectacularly bad one. However the context of situation is key on this, and we may never know the full story.
With regards to whether it is Woodward's decision or not, he was the chairman of the club and he has to take responsibility for the decision. Whether taking this decision was beneficial for the club in other ways beyond the £250k that Oyston paid us has yet to be confirmed.
Comments
Over a long period of time they made no attempt at all to run the club properly. In fact the worse shape we were in the better it suited their long term agenda.
If that's not willful mismanagement I'm not sure what is
So, what retribution is proposed? It's in the past now and what good does raking it all over do now?
Did the offer to pay up front in exchange for removing the sell on clause happen around the same time that that grubby agent contacted Woodward asking for share of the sell on ? and then having to deal with Bristol Rovers trying to sue the club.
I suspect Woodward was under tremendous pressure at the time.
that's just wild conspiracy theories, Mr Plant. Lets leave that one now.
I have no doubt that Woodward was under severe pressure which explains but doesn't excuse severe error. No one should argue that the good things he did for the club should be ignored. but you have to weigh up any individual performance acknowledging good and bad. This inexplicable decision cost this small football club £1.5m. It is extraordinary to try to airbrush it away as a minor detail of his reign. It simply wasn't.
Hayes wasn't all bad. Woodward wasn't all good. they both were shades of grey.
Point made. I am going to leave you to it now.
Woodward was a key player in a massive part of the club's history, the move back into fan ownership that could so easily not have happened. Much respect to him for that.
But in most organisations if someone made an error that cost over a third of the annual income they wouldn't hang around long. Whether it was a mistake or not. It was a terrible decision.
People seem to forget that the Charles Dunne transfer and fee was heavily linked in with the Phillips deal.
It should also be borne in mind that the decision was not his alone.
The problem with your arguments are that, as far as I'm aware, we don't actually know the full facts of what was going on within the club. We can speculate on what the pressures were but that's all really. It may have been an 'inexplicable' decision as you say but unless any of us were inside the decision making team at the time we can't be sure.
@DevC is right when he says labelling the Philips clause sell off merely as a "mistake" is outrageously underplaying it. It was an absolute disaster.
However, the incredible mismanagement of the club, reckless frittering away of money, ultimatums to take over the club, and attempt to merge us with Wasps in a white elephant stadium we wouldn't own, or seemingly make any income from have got to be way above the Philips lost money as the biggest disaster in our history.
Do we know that the 'Phillips' decision was made by Woodward alone? I don't think we do and I would find it hard to believe that there was not some consultation process.
On the face of it, the decision to sell out WWFC's claim to the sell-on clause proceeds (and taken out of the context of the situation and the sell-on proceeds earmarked to reduce debt to Hayes) is a spectacularly bad one. However the context of situation is key on this, and we may never know the full story.
With regards to whether it is Woodward's decision or not, he was the chairman of the club and he has to take responsibility for the decision. Whether taking this decision was beneficial for the club in other ways beyond the £250k that Oyston paid us has yet to be confirmed.
In any negotiations between Woodward and Oyston there would only be one winner!
Two assists for Jordon already today.