Steve Waggott

[47er]

2 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

Lol, not with my grammar.

Was going to get someone to write this lot, gonna take all night 😞

Proof reader needed!

[jim mk2]

21 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

 

Thanks for your efforts and your memory skills. An old fashioned tape recorder would make it easier!

Question for the next meeting, which someone touched on earlier, and to which I may have missed the answer, would be the vexed issue of why we did not buy anyone in the January transfer window when we were 2nd in the league.

It still irks 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by jim mk2

[Aqualung]

Kudos Glen.... Thankyou for taking the time, effort and interest in meeting with Mr. Waggot. 

 

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours 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 know many do not accept this, but I am of the firm belief that one off funding was made available and was already in place in January and not used!

It does seem from what has emerged today we bid £1.5m for Styles in January.. According to the Peterbrough Chairman we also bid for the player who went to Bournemouth (Dembele was it?) so that's £3m right there and we also spent 800 k and brought in a couple of loanees. Nowhere near what I believe was available but indicative of some funding being available nonetheless.

[glen9mullan]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

Thanks for your efforts and your memory skills. An old fashioned tape recorded would make it easier!

Question for the next meeting, which someone touched on earlier, and to which I may have missed the answer, would be the vexed issue of why we did not buy anyone in the January transfer window when we were 2nd in the league.

It still wrankles 

 

 

 

100% a question i will ask,

I dunno why i've never been one for writing questions down or taking notes. Its probably because i like to keep eye contact and read body language whilst listening if i need to redirect, or reword a question to prevent the answer being lost in riddles

[glen9mullan]

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I know many do not accept this, but I am of the firm belief that one off funding was made available and was already in place in January and not used!

It does seem from what has emerged today we bid £1.5m for Styles in January.. According to the Peterbrough Chairman we also bid for the player who went to Bournemouth (Dembele was it?) so that's £3m right there and we also spent 800 k and brought in a couple of loanees. Nowhere near what I believe was available but indicative of some funding being available nonetheless.

I tend to agree, i was told january cash was there, was gobsmacked it wasn't spent.

Im also under no doubt if the right player is there at 3, 4 or even £5 million with massive potential, then that will be spent, 

[tomphil]

From the sounds of it they'll pay millions for certain players that fit the bill but they never fit into the wage budget. The conundrum is how do you find your way around that seeing as they can't just stick in and extra couple of mill to cover it.

This is where the sale of players comes in because it's income on FFP that could go towards wages. That's why again i'll say they still sound blaze' about it especially with it sounding like BBD will eventually leave for nothing.

It'll never move forwards unless fees are gathered and money is re-invested because under the current model it just can't.

[roversfan99]

There was a big chance that Rothwell was to be sold. I never judge on how much we supposedly bid for, but on the money that was spent.

[des]

Thanks glen for u input

[47er]

Well done Glen. When you next meet don't forget to ask about the state of the stadium.

The main worry I have, is that if everything is as hunky dory as Waggot said, why do we never even make the play-offs?

Is it because insufficient numbers of one of the poorest areas in the country don't bankrupt themselves to pay Waggots ticket prices?

The interest is still there---witness the 21000 who turned out to watch us play Sheffield United. Waggot needs some realism in that respect.

Edited July 21, 2022 by 47er

[Armchair supporter supremo]

Well i was going to watch another episode of Strangers Things 4 in bed but this nabbed my attention instead. 

 

Definitely feel a little more reasured about things in general after reading that, thanks for taking tge time out to type it all up... 

Still always going to be big question marks hanging above the owners and their representatives (suhail) heads whilst they show no interest having any kind of direct or even indirect communication with the fans (simply attending the odd game would be something) 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Armchair supporter supremo

[Dan]

Thanks Glen. 

[RoverInverness]

1 hour ago, glen9mullan said:

I tend to agree, i was told january cash was there, was gobsmacked it wasn't spent.

Im also under no doubt if the right player is there at 3, 4 or even £5 million with massive potential, then that will be spent, 

And that player’s name is Jan Paul van Hecke.

Edited July 22, 2022 by RoverInverness
Missing ‘

[Butty]

Great and insightful stuff Glen. And thanks for sharing unlike @chaddyrovers😉… Was there anything you asked Swag in your time with him that Glen didn’t Chadster? The more info the better 😃

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I know many do not accept this, but I am of the firm belief that one off funding was made available and was already in place in January and not used!

It does seem from what has emerged today we bid £1.5m for Styles in January.. According to the Peterbrough Chairman we also bid for the player who went to Bournemouth (Dembele was it?) so that's £3m right there and we also spent 800 k and brought in a couple of loanees. Nowhere near what I believe was available but indicative of some funding being available nonetheless.

Seems to me that this was simply the Rothwell money. Reports ranged from it being about 3 million to 4.5 million (I think I even saw someone the other day claim it was 6 but that seems far fetched). Mowbray publicly stated we had two players lined up to replace him but the Rothwell sale wasn't approved so we couldn't do it. The numbers tally very well for it being these two.

[bluebruce]

3 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

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

 

2 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

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

Great work having the meeting and giving us so much detail about it Glen. I don't want to sound ungrateful for that or like I'm criticising you, as I'm not, but I noticed some of these questions in particular didn't get answered.

In the first quote you asked a terrific series of questions about the contract renewals, and really he has only answered one. You then put TBC after a brew, and I was hoping the rest of the questions were answered in the next part but you moved on to the next question. Was this an oversight due to writing so much and splitting it up, or did he really only answer that one out of the lot?

In the second quote, I noted that he didn't answer whether he knew Honeyman, who still has clients at the club, was former MD of SEM Kentaro. I'd be interested in whether he did actually answer that, as it does seem relevant to me that someone involved with the prior stink of corruption still has their claws in Rovers players.

[glen9mullan]

12 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

 

Great work having the meeting and giving us so much detail about it Glen. I don't want to sound ungrateful for that or like I'm criticising you, as I'm not, but I noticed some of these questions in particular didn't get answered.

In the first quote you asked a terrific series of questions about the contract renewals, and really he has only answered one. You then put TBC after a brew, and I was hoping the rest of the questions were answered in the next part but you moved on to the next question. Was this an oversight due to writing so much and splitting it up, or did he really only answer that one out of the lot?

In the second quote, I noted that he didn't answer whether he knew Honeyman, who still has clients at the club, was former MD of SEM Kentaro. I'd be interested in whether he did actually answer that, as it does seem relevant to me that someone involved with the prior stink of corruption still has their claws in Rovers players.

Sorry, on point one -

He agreed the Phil Jones scenaro is definitely something they need to consider going forwards as part of their lessons learnt, he also stated that around £10 million was made available for transfers last season but it just wasnt spent so will go someway at plugging the FFP deficit, so although disappointing, he felt we was still in a good place.

Point 2 - He seemed oblivious to the Kentaro damage, and when I said Honeyman he answered,  Craig? These points were not completely closed out, but we literally ran out of time. This will need a good hour discussion in its own right.

We have to appreciate, we've lived and breathed the dismantling of the club, he arrived after the damage was done and the bad guys long gone. Not many can tell the full story, and i'm under no doubt he has heard somethings, but without the dots joined up it makes little sense.

On the whole it was a promising first chat, but with so much more to discuss, its going to take a little time

[damo100]

5 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

Sorry, on point one -

He agreed the Phil Jones scenaro is definitely something they need to consider going forwards as part of their lessons learnt, he also stated that around £10 million was made available for transfers last season but it just wasnt spent so will go someway at plugging the FFP deficit, so although disappointing, he felt we was still in a good place.

Point 2 - He seemed oblivious to the Kentaro damage, and when I said Honeyman he answered,  Craig? These points were not completely closed out, but we literally ran out of time. This will need a good hour discussion in its own right.

We have to appreciate, we've lived and breathed the dismantling of the club, he arrived after the damage was done and the bad guys long gone. Not many can tell the full story, and i'm under no doubt he has heard somethings, but without the dots joined up it makes little sense.

On the whole it was a promising first chat, but with so much more to discuss, its going to take a little time

Thank you Glen for all you've done today, it's been incredibly insightful and also for arranging another meeting in September. 

You put together some fantastic questions and I'm sure in September 95% more will follow. 

You've put to bed many myths tonight surrounding the current financial state of the club as well as an informed opinion of Steve Waggot, his role and importance to our club.

Certainly opened my eyes and I'm sure other supporters, thank you. 

 

 

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Seems to me that this was simply the Rothwell money. Reports ranged from it being about 3 million to 4.5 million (I think I even saw someone the other day claim it was 6 but that seems far fetched). Mowbray publicly stated we had two players lined up to replace him but the Rothwell sale wasn't approved so we couldn't do it. The numbers tally very well for it being these two.

Mowbray speaks with forked tongue. IMO.

[RevidgeBlue]

That's some softening of stance Glen, are you certain you didn't partake of the hallucogenic bourbon creams? We'll have to put them to the ultimate test next, try them out on Gav and if they work on him maybe we can send a crateload over to Putin and stop the war!

In all seriousness through I also have to compliment you in asking a series of pertinent and searching questions and thank you for recounting what was said with such terrific recall. Fascinating reading.

I'm not privy to the fine detail of discussions with some of the other fan groups but I am aware that like yourself most seem to come out with nothing but good words about Steve Waggott on a personal level in terms of how attentive and accommodating he is and also seemingly considerably more confident about the future of the Club than before they went in.

Would you say from what you have heard so far you've had enough encouragement to maybe work in tandem with other fans groups to try and help steer the Club in the right direction?

[AllRoverAsia]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Mowbray speaks with forked tongue. IMO.

£10 million, I'm assuming that comes from the sale of AA, available last season but not used in full.

Why is the question, especially given the state of the game in January.

Nevermind though, FFP and all that.

[Mattyblue]

Fascinating stuff, kudos to you Glen.

I’ve never really had it in for him much on the football side, it’s a bloody tough league to operate in with a budget like ours, a budget set elsewhere. This new structure looks promising and I’ll see where it goes.

However, more generally, you’ve changed your stance because he’s a passionate guy? Speaks well? He’s engaging?

Didn’t we know this already? Just watching him do the rounds in the Premier Suite and a procession of folk leaving his meetings eating out of his hands told me that.

But commercially/bums on seats, an actual track record of delivery is what matters as a football CEO, surely? And on that side he has failed, badly and repeatedly.

Perhaps he will be pressed more firmly on that score in your next session as I’m far from convinced that he has any clue on how to turn that element of the club around however much he holds court in John Williams’ office…

Edited July 22, 2022 by Mattyblue

[Ossydave]

Have you ever met or reached out to Suhail for a similar meeting Glen? 

[arbitro]

I doff my cap to you Glen for your line and method  of questioning. In all honesty your words have allayed one or two of my fears but I still harbour a mistrust of the owners and executives.

Great stuff mate.

[Neal]

For what it's worth I've heard conflicting reports on Steve. One from a person who worked higher in the ticket sales team who said he was apparently difficult to work for who then subsequently decided to leave and get paid more at a smaller club. 

 

In contrast, I've also heard from people who frequent the executive boxes that he's personable guy who tells it straight. I recall being told how scathing he was when describing one of Adam Armstrong's performances after a game, along with a few others, apparently he talks like any other football fan and didn't hold back with the expletives. 

 

I suppose as a supporter, when you're seeing your best players leave for no income and witness little being spent on the team, it's natural to point the finger at those at board room level. I guess we shouldn't make assumptions about those we don't know and what we don't know. What I've read here is extremely encouraging, hopefully the rest of the transfer window backs that up. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Neal