[Archived] John Williams Leaves

[rebelmswar]

Whilst i appreciate that in the story of 'the boy who cried wolf' in the end end there was a wolf!

I have ear ache from all the shouting!

Get some wolf skin earmuffs.

We are in dire need of a sandwich board and a bell.

[philip369]

Get some wolf skin earmuffs.

We are in dire need of a sandwich board and a bell.

Agreed!

After such a disaster of a transfer window I have assumed the crash position since 1st Feb!!!!!

[CrazyIvan]

Vinjays view

Good god, does he go on and on and on and on.... I got bored of reading a rant that seemed to wander all over the placeand go nowhere. He seriously has a problem.

[trueblue]

Keep the thread on topic please and take the bickering to PM

[philip369]

Keep the thread on topic please and take the bickering to PM

I'll endevour to correspond without humour or sarcasm in future!

[JAL]

from my view, some of the statements from our owners appear to be downright lies!!

Would love to disagree with you here Kelbo, but i'm certainly leaning this way especially after commments made to me over the weekend from members of staff about Venky's and Andersons visit last wednesday.

This could well be a real nightmare for the club's future.

[rebelmswar]

I'll endevour to correspond without humour or sarcasm in future!

Quite right too, none of those things are acceptable here, ask John Williams.

I miss John Williams. John Williams was nice. We are worse off without John Williams.

Philip should be respected about his comments regarding John Williams. His opinions on John Williams are valid.

All of the above is about John Williams.

[philip369]

Quite right too, none of those things are acceptable here, ask John Williams.

I miss John Williams. John Williams was nice. We are worse off without John Williams.

Philip should be respected about his comments regarding John Williams. His opinions on John Williams are valid.

All of the above is about John Williams.

I would have the days of Mr Walker and Mr Williams back in a heart beat.

But it's over.

I know it's hard to take, but those days are gone.

Now if you honestly feel you can change things for the better... go for it. You have my support.

But constant carping by some, not you i may add, doesn't help the cause.

[thenodrog]

I'm not sure why many people struggle to accept anything Mrs. Desai says at face value.

Crikey Simon!!! Mrs Desai herself frequently doesn't take what she's said the day before at face value.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

It is so hard to swallow that Venky's could literally do ANYTHING to Rovers now, they have the right to of course, but I hope they respect our heritage and our ways. It is hard to believe that they do just now, but I am willing to give them a chance.

What other option is there?

Its been a 'so so' start for Venky's but that comment hits home hard AND frightens the life out of me personally for some reason.

[philip369]

Firstly I would like to place on record my appreciation of the work undertaken by Mr Williams, for which he was richly rewarded.

But more importantly I would like to place on record my utter amazement at the bare faced hipocrasy of some of the posters on here.

One minute we cannot wait for new owners, due to the absolute disgracefull stewardship of the Walkers Trust.

Run at their behest, by Mr William.

Next minute we lionise him and idolise him as the saviour of BRFC.

Please let us all steer a course conservatism with a little c!

A little less conversation a little more action please.

[Ozz]

Vinjays view

My god the man can talk. Actually surely Vinjays a woman-must be with that prediliction to talking that much crap.

[Guest linganzi]

Quite a rant from vj but a couple of decent points about small time mentality , sentimentality and moving with the times.

A lot of people on here are stagnant

[67splitscreen]

Quite a rant from vj but a couple of decent points about small time mentality , sentimentality and moving with the times.

A lot of people on here are stagnant

Wrong! IMO, many people on here and other MB's are cautious and that the moves upto now by our owners are doing nothing to install confidence in what they are trying to achieve,

I would imagine at the moment working within the club is a complete nightmare, not knowing what the next day will bring.

[colin]

Firstly I would like to place on record my appreciation of the work undertaken by Mr Williams, for which he was richly rewarded.

But more importantly I would like to place on record my utter amazement at the bare faced hipocrasy of some of the posters on here.

One minute we cannot wait for new owners, due to the absolute disgracefull stewardship of the Walkers Trust.

Run at their behest, by Mr William.

Next minute we lionise him and idolise him as the saviour of BRFC.

Please let us all steer a course conservatism with a little c!

A little less conversation a little more action please.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here Philip369.

The ownership of Blackburn Rovers during John William's tenure as Chairman moved from Jack Walker, then to The Jack Walker Trust, then to Venky's. Jack's death, relegation & then subsequent promotion. John Williams simply ran the club during these changes. He had no influence these events.

John Williams has acted in a truely professional manner throughout all these changes. He has had nothing to do with the ownership of the club. I don't think anyone has idolised him as the saviour of BRFC. Other posters have suggested that our recent form is somehow down to JW which is patently silly.

A little less conversation a little more action please.

Agreed, are you going to lead by example? I'll look forward to it.

[Kelbo]

Wrong! IMO, many people on here and other MB's are cautious and that the moves upto now by our owners are doing nothing to install confidence in what they are trying to achieve,

I would imagine at the moment working within the club is a complete nightmare, not knowing what the next day will bring.

Exactly Splitscreen, that is the problem, I would be very cautious working for these people!

[winstonsmith]

There is something about the official version of events which just does not add up.

When the transfer of ownership of Rovers shares was announced, it was stated that Venky's had given the Walkers assurances that they would 'continue to support the existing management team'. Mrs Desai also stated that the Chairman and the management team 'will of course remain in place with our full support'. However within 11 weeks both the existing manager and chairman were no longer in place.

On 5 February 2011, it was reported in the LT that Mrs Desai had said that her family did not want John Williams to leave. We must presume from this that John resigned. But why?

I don't know but there may be a clue in the fact that it is reported that 'a compensation package was agreed'. Mrs Desai is reported as saying that they had 'agreed a settlement' with John. Compensation for what? The settlement of what?

This must refer to the settling of any potential claims John might have had arising out of the termination of his employment, including for Unfair and/or Wrongful Dismissal.

An employee who resigns can claim Unfair Dismissal if the circumstances amount to a constructive dismissal. This occurs when an employee resigns because of a fundamental breach of the employment contract by the employer. There is implied into every employment contract an implied term of trust and confidence. This means that the employer must not conduct him/herself in a manner likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence with the employee.

If the Chairman, who was previously fully involved, was marginalised and left out of the decision making process and not consulted about or even informed of the major decisions being made then this could be seen as damaging the relationship of trust and confidence. One instance sticks out for me. When it was revealed that Rovers were interested in signing Ronaldinho, the manager said they had been pursuing this for sometime and then admitted that, at the meeting held with John just a couple of days before to discuss transfers, amazingly Ronaldinho had not even been mentioned.

As Mercerman and Kelbo have already identified, the circumstances of John's resignation could be construed as a constructive dismissal. Venky's must have been advised of this. Otherwise why would there be a need to negotiate a 'settlement'? If it was John's wish to leave, why pay him compensation? If Venky's wanted him to stay, why pay him to go?

[John]

Complete silence from JW, as if he ever would have wanted to leave the club like this.

[Iceman]

Absolute rubbish, we all know this. Williams would have retired at some point, but not at this stage. He was pushed, and pushed until he was hanging onto the edge, hoping that somebody would pull him back up.

Instead, he was nudged and he left with a golden handshake. I don't mind the new owners making changes, but don't do things at a crucial time of the season. The players and everybody connected with the club, had the utmost respect for John Williams. He was no saint as Vinjay might have sarcsatically mentioned, he made mistakes, but he is human after all.

This was a man, who gave everything for the club, who loved the club, who worked his ###### socks off to get it to where it is today.

In my eyes, the man is top notch, who did not deserve to be treated in the way that he was. I've never met him, but the dialogue we had via email was absolutely brilliant. You couldn't find a nicer guy, who would be honest and who would tell it the way it is.

Some people are blinded by these new owners, and are happy to accept that change is needed. I have no problem with change, but the manner in which it has been done, has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

14 years of giving it his all, has been over shadowed by a few months of madness.

[Guest linganzi]

I also agree with most of the jw stuff and naturally have cautions re change , but also optimism. Obviously regarding the unknown, but there is no point looking back. We don't know exactly how jw was pushed or how he jumped, but in the long term its better for all concerned to move if he didn't fit in . No one man is,bigger than the club.

[philipl]

Absolutely, no one man is bigger than the club and that was very much John Wlliams' view and approach.

In my opinion he was incredibly selfless to continue as long as he did after Sam was fired. He was a leader who enjoyed the confidence and loyalty of the staff at Ewood and by continuing as he did when lesser people would have walked away from the routine humiliations that were heaped on him as Chairman, he at least gave the club and the Raos the opportunity to bridge from the past to the still very uncertain-looking future.

However, it seems that even that bridge had to be wrecked as well.

Incidentally, very good debut post by winstonsmith and I agree with the points made by john and iceman.

[Guest linganzi]

Q

Absolutely, no one man is bigger than the club and that was very much John Wlliams' view and approach.

In my opinion he was incredibly selfless to continue as long as he did after Sam was fired. He was a leader who enjoyed the confidence and loyalty of the staff at Ewood and by continuing as he did when lesser people would have walked away from the routine humiliations that were heaped on him as Chairman, he at least gave the club and the Raos the opportunity to bridge from the past to the still very uncertain-looking future.

However, it seems that even that bridge had to be wrecked as well.

Incidentally, very good debut post by winstonsmith and I agree with the points made by john and iceman.

There is a lot of reason to what you say too, it bothers me a bit that I can subscribe to such polemic views, that suggests so much if the unknown. Is that generally ? Or just to brfc? It does my head in to be honest, one moment it looks ok, players come in, some decent football, debts cleared. Next thing there are questions raised on the finances, mimms, jw and so on.

Anyway I'm going to have to dwell on the positives else ill go mad

[mhead]

Stagnant thinking.Fear of the Unknown.This thread is disappearing somewhere anal.

Can Philip L. just remind me of JW's average salary over these 13 years...talk about 'Fame AND Fortune'

To use a cricket analogy he had a good innings and its time for him to move into retirement and Rovers to move on.

The big question is 'will he buy an OAP Season Ticket?'

[philipl]

Stagnant thinking.Fear of the Unknown.This thread is disappearing somewhere anal.

Can Philip L. just remind me of JW's average salary over these 13 years...talk about 'Fame AND Fortune'

To use a cricket analogy he had a good innings and its time for him to move into retirement and Rovers to move on.

The big question is 'will he buy an OAP Season Ticket?'

That is just downright offensive to my way of reading it.

JW was comfortably remunerated but he was not only the best Chairman/CEO in the PL, he was also paid the least.

[broadsword]

Why should the man retire just 'cos Venky's have no use for him.

He looks alive and well and in no way knacked at all.