No Confidence in Laurence Overend as Trust Chairman

[motorservices]

Very little respect shown on these boards recently for someone who has the club's best interests at heart.

im starting to get very worried aboust some of the posters on here, some people really do have there heads stuck in the sand, WE (as a club) are in the **** massively, Now i know its defo not my fault, TVRs, shabba and most other posters

The REASON is everyone on the club board, SACK THE ****ING LOT OF THEM, they are greedy ****tards that have destroyed the trust model, we could very well be in Admin before the season starts, Get a ****in grip

 

[hatch4england]

I have no sympathy whatsoever with the 'he's a nuce guy' or 'he's a volunteer' argument. You do any job to the best of your ability, paid for or not and if you are not competent, well, you go. It is, howvere, not just the Trust chairman who has failed to fulfill the proper supervisory function, it is the BOS as a whole.

 

[gbjpc]

Laurence is indeed a nice guy and a fan who has travelled the length and breadth of the country with his son following City and I hope he will continue to do so. Whether or not he is the best man for the job is debatable but if he stepped down as chairman what then? I suspect many on the Trust board support him and of course they were all elected by us. I can't see what a quick change would bring apart from maybe keeping him from being torn apart.

My personal preference would be a slimmed down board of commercially savvy people able to make quick decisions by canvassing opinion quickly and getting stuck in. Unfortunately I just don't see how this is achievable in the short term. We moan about the Trust board and it seems we have good reason at the moment but whenever elections come round we are not really offered an alternative. Even Bondy got elected. Until we have a number of people willing to really challenge the status quo then I'm at a loss to understand how things can change.

 

[John William]

Laurence is indeed a nice guy and a fan who has travelled the length and breadth of the country with his son following City and I hope he will continue to do so. Whether or not he is the best man for the job is debatable but if he stepped down as chairman what then? I suspect many on the Trust board support him and of course they were all elected by us. I can't see what a quick change would bring apart from maybe keeping him from being torn apart.

My personal preference would be a slimmed down board of commercially savvy people able to make quick decisions by canvassing opinion quickly and getting stuck in. Unfortunately I just don't see how this is achievable in the short term. We moan about the Trust board and it seems we have good reason at the moment but whenever elections come round we are not really offered an alternative. Even Bondy got elected. Until we have a number of people willing to really challenge the status quo then I'm at a loss to understand how things can change.

As has been discussed here a while ago, change can't happen except at glacial pace through a Trust Board election as only 3 or 4 places on the TB are ever up for election at a time, once a year, unless the whole Trust Board were to resign en masse and we had an election for the whole Board.

As most Exewebbers know I stood for election last year, on a platform of better governance and financial prudence, but wasn't elected. But even if I had been I'd have only had one vote out of 10, and I would then have been prohibited by the "collective responsibility" rules from criticising Board decisions on here, even when I fundamentally disagreed with them.

But in any case there's no point in criticising the Trust structure; this is perfectly OK, at last when things are going well and the two Boards are in broad agreement. The problem is the people running the Club. We have somehow got to the position where the Club Board tell the Trust what they want, not the other way around, and manoeuvre the TB into acceding to their wishes.

No, the only way forward is for the current Trust Board to use their powers as majority shareholder to call an EGM of the Club Board and replace any Board Members who won't make the necessary changes to the cost base, structure and governance at the Club.

 

[Edward]

No, the only way forward is for the current Trust Board to use their powers as majority shareholder to call an EGM of the Club Board and replace any Board Members who won't make the necessary changes to the cost base, structure and governance at the Club.

Agreed, and that process isn't too hampered by pesky employment contracts either. My only refinement might be to deny those most responsible for this mess any opportunity to prove they can act differently. Some won't deserve a second chance.

 

[Alistair20000]

Agreed, and that process isn't too hampered by pesky employment contracts either. My only refinement might be to deny those most responsible for this mess any opportunity to prove they can act differently. Some won't deserve a second chance.

Agreed. The incompetents on the Club Board and elsewhere within the organisation must be excised.

As for the Trust Board, there is a strong argument that they should stand down on masse. Those TB Members who feel they have a constructive and useful role to play in future can offer themselves for re-election. In the meanwhile, I would suggest an emergency small TB is established by co-opting two people with real experience of business, two of the existing TB to provide some continuation and a respected past BOS/TB member to act as Chairman.

 

[GrecianLez]

Agreed. The incompetents on the Club Board and elsewhere within the organisation must be excised.

As for the Trust Board, there is a strong argument that they should stand down on masse. Those TB Members who feel they have a constructive and useful role to play in future can offer themselves for re-election. In the meanwhile, I would suggest an emergency small TB is established by co-opting two people with real experience of business, two of the existing TB to provide some continuation and a respected past BOS/TB member to act as Chairman.

Why ?? I (like many) elected them on.. They must do their 3 years...

Why would you go on the TB anyway.. It's unforgiving role and all you hear is moan moan moan.!!

Btw I would like Neil Le Millere as chairman please as he can pull a good pint!!

But resign en mass.. This loan is not the end of the world, surely not!!

 

[Alistair20000]

Why ?? I (like many) elected them on.. They must do their 3 years...

Why would you go on the TB anyway.. It's unforgiving role and all you hear is moan moan moan.!!

Btw I would like Neil Le Millere as chairman please as he can pull a good pint!!

But resign en mass.. This loan is not the end of the world, surely not!!

As a body they have failed Lez. The fact that they were elected does not give them carte blanche to continue in office. If they offer themselves for re-election you can vote for them again.

We don't know where this loan will lead us. The point is that it should not, and need not, have happened.

 

[Antony Moxey]

Very little respect shown on these boards recently for someone who has the club's best interests at heart.

You have no idea what the word 'respect' means, do you?

 

[rightwing]

The Trust Board meeting this week is a reactive response to fan pressure (particularly from Exeweb). It just shows how badly governed the Trust has been. The Trust has been well aware of the declining financial position for some time. Certainly Overend, Conway and those on the Finance Board in direct contact with the Club Board were well aware, and even if this was not communicated directly to other Trustees, so much comment has been made by former Trustees and other financially competent persons on these forums that all current Trustees must now be fully aware. However, not to have taken proactive action to address the problem is 'criminal' in the extreme. Firefighting meetings should have been taking place (as soon as the seriousness of the problem was realised) on a weekly basis as they did in 2005 with the newly completely reconstituted BOS. To have Trust Board meetings once every two months is just what the Club Board wants!!!!

If, as is quite likely, that we are forced into administration, then you can kiss goodbye to League 2 at the end of the season. The 12 point penalty deduction alone will see to that, even ignoring the fact that we will not be able to sign any players.

When we hit the Conference in 2004 there was a feel good factor that the Club was in new hands, that the Trust was the majority shareholder, and we were all in it together. That engendered great support to keep us financially stable in those early Conference years. That feel good factor has now disappeared and this will certainly be reflected in support to come.