Steve Waggott

[SBlue]

19 minutes ago, BigUts said:

You have a sensational memory @glen9mullan. I go to meetings at work and can literally forget what was spoken about within 10 mins after it has finished! 

Get a notepad.

[Madon]

Cheers Glen, looking forward to chapter 2. Throwback to the VenkysOut.com blogs! 😎

[BigUts]

6 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Get a notepad.

Got a lovely one coupled with a nice clicky Parker pen. Stands me in good stead with my siive like memory.

[glen9mullan]

Moving on

3. We are currently marketing "one of our own" however in the last few weeks "two of our own" have been allowed to walk away for free, in addition to Joe Rothwell. How do we get ourselves in a position where we lose players off our bottom line? There is a belief in some quarters that you played poker by low balling with offers, which has ultimately seen three players just disappear and create a hole in the squad which could/should of been avoided and thus has created a need to spend which could put significant pressure on our FFP Position?

Steve said discussions with Lenihan and Nyambe went on for 12 months, with the agents driving the best deals possible for the players. Both players are nice lads and both had quite different situations. In lenihan's case the club acknowledged its the most important contract he will ever sign because of his age, and understood the need for him to secure his long term financial position. The club was very clear to Lenihan how important he was to us, was the captain of our club and needed a wage to reflect his loyalty and importance. The wage budget is different to special transfers, its agreed based on income forecast and can not be exceeded under any circumstances due to our wage budget being the main driver towards sanctions. Steve personally spoke with Lenihan on a number times pointing out other things in particular the support network within the club which he enjoys, and if we had it to give we seriously would give it. In the end Steve Acknowledged that he was powerless to stop a player earning in excess of a couple of million pounds more elsewhere. Our ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship and other activities we make Ewood available for just do not generate enough funds to make these things happen.

I asked was the offer on the table enough to make him one of the clubs best paid?

Steve said he cannot talk about the specifics in peoples contracts but can confirm it would of put him as one of the clubs biggest earners. He then went on to discuss Ryan, he stated throughout discussions the club made it clear that Ryans situation is not similar to Lenihans and this is not his defining contract, the club offered a really good rise which was comparable to others in similar position at the club. The agents were convinced Premier league clubs would pay more, and those enquiries never came although if they did, rovers would not be able to compete with those riches in any case.

I stated its been mentioned widely that Ryan was on less than £4k a week and the offer on the table was around £6k and not reflective when we have players on £20k?

Steve said again I cannot discuss individual contracts, but can assure you that Ryan was on far more than the £6k I was suggesting and the money the club put on the table was a big lift on his current salary, and he cannot believe he has achieved that elsewhere, given we had only received one derisory offer for him over the last 12 months. 

I stated that I have been told from the Wigan end that his one year deal exceeds that of what we were offering per year with various clauses in place based around contract extensions dependent on Wigan's ability to retain their championship status

Steve Stated he would find that very hard to believe given the limited funds that Wigan have available and who must work under the same guidelines for FFP, He was really disappointed Ryan left and reiterated that he is such a nice lad, and rovers have put a very generous offer on the table which they were confident would get him signed back up for four more years, sadly it has not happened and we move on.

I asked, how do you get to position where three players end up out of contract who are clearly assets, when its not happened before at our club under other boards? why were these deals not negotiated 2 years earlier, or the players sold when in contract? or why did the club not do what we did with Phil Jones and give the deal in January with the intention of selling in the summer, as things stand that's money coming off our book value and potential transfer budget, and indirectly if we have to buy players puts a further strain on the FFP?

Steve stated we cannot pressure players with the threat of selling them to agree new deals 2 years in advance, we had the covid situation which further hindered our hand in terms of having the finances or ability to negotiate earlier as it was just unknown what affect the covid would have short, medium and long term in the P & L. 

TBC after a brew

Edited July 21, 2022 by glen9mullan

[glen9mullan]

16 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Get a notepad.

I did not write notes or take any questions in with me, Photographic memory

[Cherry Blue]

Well done and thanks glen9mullen.

[unleaded]

Thanks Glen … great read …. Bravo 👏 

[Bethnal]

14 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

I did not write notes or take any questions in with me, Photographic memory

Deeply impressive stuff. Both content and to nail the questions and recounting it after.

[J*B]

One hell of a brew break is this. 

[RoverDom]

12 minutes ago, J*B said:

One hell of a brew break is this. 

If it takes much longer I'm going to have to start making conversation with my wife....

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, RoverDom said:

If it takes much longer I'm going to have to start making conversation with my wife....

God help her

[Mike E]

48 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

I did not write notes or take any questions in with me, Photographic memory

I can vouch for this. Worse than Mrs. E in an argument 😂

[Polky]

Cheers Glen 👏🏻 

[glen9mullan]

I then started to discuss what the set up of the club was before the latest appointments, I stated that we'd spent years ridding the club of the parasites who were sucking the life out of the club. This journey had seen me attend the FA to meet Newton, The premier league to meet Scudamore, The football league to meet their board, and to Parliament flanked by our our local MP's to speak under Parliamentary privilege to call for an inquiry into football governance. Steve was speechless, he did not know this had occured and asked what sort of things did we present?

The main points I pointed out, was despite the club denying there was third party interference with Kentaro, there was a legally binding agreement between Rovers and Kentaro, for them to run the club and for them to make decisions in the best interest of the club including retainment and recruitment of staff.

I stated the FA had told the club to get their ship in order as the embarrassment this brought to the top governance of the english game with Kentaro being one of the national teams largest corporate partners would have a detrimental affect on the integrity of the national game. The FA Issued a number of gagging orders to prevent the truth, hence I went to Parliament to speak and instigate an independent review and questions from the sports minister to both the premier league and F.A Regarding independence governance. This was also the first step for the bill of the independent review which is now known as "Fan lead" which has been presented to club by the Rovers trust recently,

So based on the above I then asked

4. Could you explain the current structure of how the club is run? what autonomy you have? who is running the ship? Who is making the operational decisions? and what part does the current administration play given those previously had as much power as a broken light bulb, and used there time more to profit personally from the clubs demise?

Steve stated that there is a board of Directors which he is head off as the CEO, Which includes the likes of Cheston etc, and also Suhail who is the owners representative on the ground here in Blackburn

I then stated - Suhail was part of the negotiating team with Kentaro when the club was bought, his links have been a constant, i'm concerned he is still here given the likes of Honeyman are still getting clients into the club, did you know Honeyman was the former MD Of SEM Kentaro?

Steve Stated having Suhail around really works well, he is very supportive of the board and his relationship with the the staff and board is very healthy. He is also good at helping the board in terms of how best to communicate certain things to owners in a respectful way, given the culture differences

I then re-directed the question and brought Lindsay into the conversation. I stated to Lindsay that she had been at the club a long time and had worked under the Jack Walker regime too, abeit in a different capacity. Given she has also worked under ever board since the Raos bought the club, I asked in your opinion do we now have a similar reporting line as the one we had when Jack owned the club?

Lindsay was not hesitent and immediately stated yes, she said Suhail is like Brown was for Jack, his man on the ground whilst he was in Jersey (just like the Rao's in india). She stated the board now operates like the pre walkers trust days where the board run the club, do their annual reporting, make decisions on recruitment, marketing, strategies and just like the board under jack, if more money is needed or a significant purchase is needed, its relayed to the owners and they sign it off

This is all we got through in this meeting with another meeting scheduled for September

Main points to note and these are vital:

1. The board structure is exactly what we have all championed for 10 years plus, a board that makes the decisions, is accountable for those decisions.

2.The owners continue to say yes, and always make the money available be that for players or to service debt.

3. A point I have not fitted in the questions, is that its very clear Steve Waggott talks directly to the owners on a regular basis, and more importantly those discussions are heavily with Madam and Mr Venky, It had long been thought that this was Bala's toy and the wider families interest and wavered. However this is not true, the head of the family is very much the driving force in supporting the board both financially but also in all they do by giving them the trust and autonomy to act in the clubs best interest.

4. Steve Waggott in person is not the same Steve Waggott we've heard in interviews, his passion, knowledge and general persona is probably the best I've seen from anyone within the club in my time, and that includes the Williams Regime. Although I'm only 5% through my questions for him, which I will pick up again in September, I can tell from my first meeting that my position/opinion on him prior to meeting him, has changed somewhat. I have been involved in lots of these type of meetings, and I don't go easy on people. I actually told him, this Steve Waggott is actually quite marketable. I can understand why many after meeting him are jumping to his defence, because I actually think with the right approach, he could become one of the most influential people the club ever has.

5. There is evidently lots of work to do to rebuild, and a lot more questions I need to ask, but early signs I think are good for all of us,

 

Finally I apologise for any spellings, missed words etc, It was a lot to write to get it out to you all. I appreciate the nice comments and efforts people have gone to, to read these post

Edited July 21, 2022 by glen9mullan

[Norn Iron Rover]

Amazing recall @glen9mullan and a fascinating insight 👏 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Norn Iron Rover

[unleaded]

Wow ! Thanks for all your efforts …

[J*B]

Very interesting read Glen, although I’m going to have to hide your final post… Swag being one of the good guys is not good for BRFCS business! 

[Neal]

Probably the most insightful stuff I've read about the inner workings of Rovers for well over 10 years. 

 

Much appreciated. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Neal

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

Good stuff Glen.Much appreciated

On this funding under special circumstances one wonders why this wasn't sought last January when we were sat second in the table a bit of money spent  on 1 or 2 bits of quality and promotion could have been achievable 

Probably because nobody actually asked, we always get told they never turn down a reasonable request for cash after all.

[glen9mullan]

Finally, i reiterated i have zero interest in being on the board, being an employee. My only interest is our club to continue to be the pillar of our community long after we've gone so others can enjoy the club and hopefully some good times

I stated

1. I was offered a seat on the board to abandon the supporters in our hours of need, our club needed saving and people exposing.

2. I was offered life changing money twice to walk away abandon the supporters who elected me as their action group chairman, enough money to probably retire on

On both counts it made me even more determined to see it through to the end and get the club in a position i believed it could be rebuild. I stood down when i achieved that objective. The club sadly has not been rebuilt, but with the right help can certainly return to the better days.

Edited July 21, 2022 by glen9mullan

[glen9mullan]

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

Good stuff Glen.Much appreciated

On this funding under special circumstances one wonders why this wasn't sought last January when we were sat second in the table a bit of money spent  on 1 or 2 bits of quality and promotion could have been achievable 

I only got through 5% in nearly two hours, a lot more questioning to come and i did make it clear i would circulate the contents of the discussions

[glen9mullan]

1 hour ago, Torgeir said:

@glen9mullanthank you for sharing, much appreciated! Did you ask any further question regarding BBD and his contract situation? A £7m investment worth double now going down the drain makes little business sense, as was the case with Lenihan, Nyambe and Rothwell too. 

Contract discussions have occurred, Ben aint pushing to jump out the door, and the club aint actively trying to sell him. They are realist though and cant stand in the player's way if the valuation is met

[glen9mullan]

13 minutes ago, J*B said:

Very interesting read Glen, although I’m going to have to hide your final post… Swag being one of the good guys is not good for BRFCS business! 

Got to call it how i see it so far, and if anything i feel very sorry for those who have had it double barrelled including from me for how they saw it. We may actually have a tree with a load of branches on it, but have conditioned ourselves to think the worse

[glen9mullan]

10 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Probably because nobody actually asked, we always get told they never turn down a reasonable request for cash after all.

Not got that far with him yet, never mentioned JDT, season tickets or anything like that as i felt it was vital to stay on point and dig right into the root on each question until I was satisfied it had been answered fully

[islander200]

12 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

I only got through 5% in nearly two hours, a lot more questioning to come and i did make it clear i would circulate the contents of the discussions

Top man.Efforts appreciated