Well don’t we have an intriguing little story, saga, conundrum going on here eh? Add into the mix a number of ‘new’ members and posters adding a little bit of spice to the mix to put doubt into fans minds while on the pretext of being ‘concerned’ fans who again, have suddenly appeared out of no-where.
Are we getting to a point of entrenchment with fans starting to take sides because of the ‘alleged’ back story to Mr. Austin’s sudden appearance on the scene? I say sudden because I’ll wager that the vast majority of fans had never heard of him till Fridays statement about the appointment with I’m sure many a fan saying WTF & who is this bloke? Then along comes WMS1879 to cast a shadow of doubt with a murky past expose, Quelle Surprise.
Now I am beginning to believe that I have indeed hacked your account
First off, on the number of 'new' posters/members bit and concerned fans out of nowhere comment. Hardly, there are several long term, regular posters who have rightly raised concerns and totally agree with WMS that questions should be asked regarding this appointment. There is still the rather glaring omission that the appointment doesn't appear to have been communicated via STFCs interim Press Officer (that's Steele-Davis btw). This wouldn't be so odd, except pretty much every major appointment/signing/action has certainly been communicated that way - so if nothing else, it seems a little odd.
Then the statement itself is just rather odd and not very professional at all. It was loaded with axes to grind and nods to former incumbents. You don't bring that to a professional and public statement. A simple;
"STFC is delighted to announce ZA as the VC of STFC. ZA has been a great help in bringing CM to STFC and will take responsibility of CMs duties when he is unavailable.
Please give a warm welcome to ZA who will be present with CM in the Director's Box at today's match versus Carlisle.
,
SFTC & CM"
Yet instead, it gave us all the revealings of a shady undertone that was totally avoidable but only adds further questions to the appointment. If can of worms is one thing, this was akin to snakes in a tin
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With regards to 'sudden appearance' and 'never heard of him 'til Friday', that's simply not true. His name has been mentioned several times by Clem previously. It would rather be an insult to people's intelligence that they had never heard ZA mentioned before. Yes the manner of the statement certainly highlighted his "profile"....of course it did but then he's just been named a VC; a position of authority and control effectively at the top of the club.
It's right to ask questions when the foundations for 'open and transparent' have been driven home and laid continuously during this takeover. That transparency is what has given a lot of people trust in this new owner, convinced them to jump back on board the STFC train and much more. It's is then what makes that statement appear more odd and out of character.
Regards to your comment on what else goes on in higher echelons of sport is neither here nor there. That's like saying "the bloke down the road is a dodgy cowboy builder and never finishes jobs. Therefore, I am going to be a dodgy builder and follow in his footsteps because I have exactly the same ethics and moral outlook as he." That's not being naive to what's going on elsewhere, that's just not standing for having it going on at STFC and it doesn't have to be either. Especially with the links the Trust have to a recently appointed CEO of the club.
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Hopefully all it will transpire is that it was purely just that, an odd statement in which the Chairman got carried away (before putting it past ASD) and couldn't help but take a very large swipe at a former owner and his "friends" (allegedly). I still don't like it as it isn't professional, we're supposed to be shrugging off the "dodgy monkey". This kind of thing doesn't really help.
I still have my own doubts that it was purely an odd statement and like several others (old and new), I will raise concerns until satisfied that those concerns have been put to bed. My initial thought is that this may linger on...so right now is correct to scrutinise. We know there's still plenty to come out.
A good season may gloss over it for some, meeting Clem at Webbs Wood and being his bestie might gloss over it too. This just feels like the first layer of a decoupage repair job - many more layers are needed for it to be fixed, if not it could easily tear apart again. I'm glad we've got football back but I'm not quite ready to fully believe that we've "got our club back" just yet.
Agree or disagree but man, I wish Reg was here to give his tuppenny worth!