The Guardian on Mr. Scally | Page 2 | Vital Football

The Guardian on Mr. Scally

EagerExile said:
He has updated us - it was in the letter. However, I think doing the sums to work out what (if anything) is affordable and sensible in a still-changing situation requires quite a bit of time.
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Ah yes, the 14 page letter of crap. How did it really take him half a year to come up with that? He must be so very very busy, yet he's got time to answer news articles that massage his ego.

Most other clubs have managed to squeeze the time into their busy schedules and also kept their clubs afloat. Why is Scally any different to the significant majority of the 92 league (and many more non-league) clubs around? Why is he so unable to deal with the issue, yet everyone else is and has done so, and their clubs havn't folded?

We've performed well this year. There's an argument to be had that our decent league position this year is falsely based on Scally immorally spending money that other clubs don't actually have available because they compensated fans for STs already, whereas Scally has not so he's got extra money there. If we'd have actually offered some refunds, our budget would have undoubtedly been lower and I am sure we wouldn't have competed as well as we did this year, but at least it would have been fair. Is it fair that some clubs have offered refunds, and other have not?

Maybe the offer of any money from the EPL should have been conditional on the basis that clubs are required to offer fans a full refund if they wanted?

I actually suspect the number of people actually asking for their money back would have been very very small. That money from the EPL should have gone first to paying off the debts of the few fans who really couldn't afford to lose it.

The issue he now has is that many fans whose good will could have been relied upon has waned, and many will now want their money back when actually they wouldn't have previously wanted it had he just been open etc. The longer he gives it, the more it's going to cost IMO. I'd imagine this approach will cost Scally far more than an open and honest quick communication in the first place.

Sorry, but IMO to see him responding to articles massaging his ego in the papers is a piss take when he's not dealt with fundamental issues with the fans, claiming he's 'too busy'.
 
alphabet_king said:
Ah yes, the 14 page letter of crap. How did it really take him half a year to come up with that? He must be so very very busy, yet he's got time to answer news articles that massage his ego.

Most other clubs have managed to squeeze the time into their busy schedules and also kept their clubs afloat. Why is Scally any different to the significant majority of the 92 league (and many more non-league) clubs around? Why is he so unable to deal with the issue, yet everyone else is and has done so, and their clubs havn't folded?

We've performed well this year. There's an argument to be had that our decent league position this year is falsely based on Scally immorally spending money that other clubs don't actually have available because they compensated fans for STs already, whereas Scally has not so he's got extra money there. If we'd have actually offered some refunds, our budget would have undoubtedly been lower and I am sure we wouldn't have competed as well as we did this year, but at least it would have been fair. Is it fair that some clubs have offered refunds, and other have not?

Maybe the offer of any money from the EPL should have been conditional on the basis that clubs are required to offer fans a full refund if they wanted?

I actually suspect the number of people actually asking for their money back would have been very very small. That money from the EPL should have gone first to paying off the debts of the few fans who really couldn't afford to lose it.

The issue he now has is that many fans whose good will could have been relied upon has waned, and many will now want their money back when actually they wouldn't have previously wanted it had he just been open etc. The longer he gives it, the more it's going to cost IMO. I'd imagine this approach will cost Scally far more than an open and honest quick communication in the first place.

Sorry, but IMO to see him responding to articles massaging his ego in the papers is a piss take when he's not dealt with fundamental issues with the fans, claiming he's 'too busy'.
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I get your arguments AK and I think you are right about slowly disillusioning fans but Scally has chosen a good and relevant issue to take on. I suspect that deep down he has run your arguments through his head and is uncomfortably aware that his failure to address ST and other issues is now counterproductive. He has always said the same things about agents so he's not dreamt this up to divert but I'm sure he thinks it will do no harm in the information wars. He's probably right but he still should have spoken directly to ST much earlier and been straight with them.

This article has surfaced just as Scally needs to address next season's ST offer and I assume it is an attempt to purify the air before releasing details in the hope it heads off any serious opposition.
 
To be honest Jo i hadn't even thought the article or timing of it it was an attempt to divert. However I am not sure I understand your logic here. You say in your post:

jogills said:
...so he's not dreamt this up to divert
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Yet you then say in the next paragraph:

jogills said:
I assume it is an attempt to purify the air before releasing details in the hope it heads off any serious opposition.
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How are these two statements consistent? If the latter is true, then the former cannot be.

I suppose it's fairly irrelevant, as i don't believe it's timing is to divert or to purify air at all anyway. I just found the inconsistencies in your post rather odd.

I believe he just simply took an interview/provided responses to a journalist. Normally not an issue. But my key issue though is that he's spent the season telling us he's so extremely busy, pedal to the metal, and got no time to focus on key fan issues (STs) - fairly basic rights of fans to at least be communicated about what will happen with their money. Yet he now has time to take these interviews...
 
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alphabet_king said:
How are these two statements consistent? If the latter is true, then the former cannot be.
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They seem perfectly consistent to me. The key part of the first part of Jo's post that you quote is "he's not dreamt this up", not the "to divert" part.

In other words, although it may ultimately serve to divert attention away from the ST issue, Scally's opinion of agents has been known for quite some time, i.e. it's not something that he has suddenly come up with now as some kind of smokescreen.
 
madrid_gill said:
They seem perfectly consistent to me. The key part of the first part of Jo's post that you quote is "he's not dreamt this up", not the "to divert" part.

In other words, although it may ultimately serve to divert attention away from the ST issue, Scally's opinion of agents has been known for quite some time, i.e. it's not something that he has suddenly come up with now as some kind of smokescreen.
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No i agree, he certainly believes it, and had done for some time - you can see this by the fact we've been consistently low in the figures paid to agents for some years now. But I read the post to mean that he could be just expressing the opinion now as a smokescreen (regardless of whether he's held the opinion for a while or made it up recently). Maybe an error on my part... anyway, this is totally aside from my point and I dont even think he's trying to use it as a smokescreen at all, so i'll shut up on this matter.

More importantly - and very simply my whole issue is that I just find it distasteful that Scally tells us he's far too busy to communicate with fans appropriately, then seemingly has ample time to respond to silly articles in the press.
 
For what it's worth and speaking as an ex journalist - Scally's input into the Guardian article will have been 10-15 minutes. The Guardian will have rung him because we're the only club to pay nothing to agents. The reporter will have asked a few questions to get the quote he needed - job done. Scally won't have been proactive in any way.
 
EagerExile said:
For what it's worth and speaking as an ex journalist - Scally's input into the Guardian article will have been 10-15 minutes. The Guardian will have rung him because we're the only club to pay nothing to agents. The reporter will have asked a few questions to get the quote he needed - job done. Scally won't have been proactive in any way.
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Definitely.

It would also take significantly longer than 15 minutes to work out what is going on with season ticket money etc...

Simple fact is AK, we don't know what our income is going to be, so all the club can do is keep treading water until such time as we get more information in this regard, which is what he referred to in the letter if I recall correctly.

All he would be able to say right now is the same as he's said before, we're trying to keep the club afloat and will let you know when we do.

15 minutes isn't going to sort that out.
 
MedwayModernist said:
Definitely.

It would also take significantly longer than 15 minutes to work out what is going on with season ticket money etc...

Simple fact is AK, we don't know what our income is going to be, so all the club can do is keep treading water until such time as we get more information in this regard, which is what he referred to in the letter if I recall correctly.

All he would be able to say right now is the same as he's said before, we're trying to keep the club afloat and will let you know when we do.

15 minutes isn't going to sort that out.
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Have other clubs really addressed the issue of season tickets? I thought that most had simply either:

> kicked the van down the road; or
> offered a meagre gesture of goodwill like adding ticket holders’ names to a wall at the training ground; or
> simply said they’ll reimburse next seasons’ ticket sales pro-rata for games that supporters cannot attend.

Simple truth is that I doubt any clubs will reimburse to season ticket sales. Everybody knows it but none of the owners are willing to publicly say it. And, of all the clubs in the EFL, I’d imagine that GFC is one of the clubs least likely to be able to afford to reimburse fans.
 
MedwayModernist said:
Definitely.

It would also take significantly longer than 15 minutes to work out what is going on with season ticket money etc...

Simple fact is AK, we don't know what our income is going to be, so all the club can do is keep treading water until such time as we get more information in this regard, which is what he referred to in the letter if I recall correctly.

All he would be able to say right now is the same as he's said before, we're trying to keep the club afloat and will let you know when we do.

15 minutes isn't going to sort that out.
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Plenty of other clubs have managed to deal with the matter with the same information available. In fact we're in a significant minority of clubs that have not dealt with the situation.
 
alphabet_king said:
Plenty of other clubs have managed to deal with the matter with the same information available. In fact we're in a significant minority of clubs that have not dealt with the situation.
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Do you have any examples from clubs of a similar size to us? I'm not keen to go hunting for links myself tbh.
 
Trashbat said:
Have other clubs really addressed the issue of season tickets? I thought that most had simply either:

> kicked the van down the road; or
> offered a meagre gesture of goodwill like adding ticket holders’ names to a wall at the training ground; or
> simply said they’ll reimburse next seasons’ ticket sales pro-rata for games that supporters cannot attend.

Simple truth is that I doubt any clubs will reimburse to season ticket sales. Everybody knows it but none of the owners are willing to publicly say it. And, of all the clubs in the EFL, I’d imagine that GFC is one of the clubs least likely to be able to afford to reimburse fans.
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That's just it Trashbat. Yes. Other clubs have dealt with the situation.

Not just the 'rich' clubs either. Lots of poor clubs, and clubs that look much poorer than ourselves too.
 
MedwayModernist said:
Do you have any examples from clubs of a similar size to us? I'm not keen to go hunting for links myself tbh.
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Not particularly keen to go hunting for links either - especially given most clubs dealt with this more than 6 months ago! I have over the past year seen a significant number of clubs deal with it but obviously now finding the links will be more time consuming.

I have though googled one similar size club - AFC wimbledon: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52728013

In May 2020, They invited their fans to donate (which i fully expect 99% of fans did), but then absolutely did make it very clear they would honour refunds to fans who wanted them.

"Naturally, we entirely understand that some of you have suffered considerable financial hardship and, of course, we will fully respect your right to a refund should you fall into that category. "

What's mad is that I had to go back to May 2020 to find this article. Most clubs dealt with it then and there - based on the information they had at the time. Scally's still too busy.

This is not just rich clubs, this is clubs that are in a similar position to ourselves.
 
alphabet_king said:
To be honest Jo i hadn't even thought the article or timing of it it was an attempt to divert. However I am not sure I understand your logic here. You say in your post:



Yet you then say in the next paragraph:



How are these two statements consistent? If the latter is true, then the former cannot be.

I suppose it's fairly irrelevant, as i don't believe it's timing is to divert or to purify air at all anyway. I just found the inconsistencies in your post rather odd.

I believe he just simply took an interview/provided responses to a journalist. Normally not an issue. But my key issue though is that he's spent the season telling us he's so extremely busy, pedal to the metal, and got no time to focus on key fan issues (STs) - fairly basic rights of fans to at least be communicated about what will happen with their money. Yet he now has time to take these interviews...
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Hmm not inconsistent in my view and not contentious either. Firstly I don't think Scally has pursued this issue primarily to divert attention, it's an issue he has addressed previously. Secondly it is an issue that is likely to strike a chord with fans and around which he is likely to have almost universal support. Consequently it plays well just before he has to go to press with the ST offer and I think he knows that.

I don't think a lack of time has prevented him from addressing fans over STs either, he's just failed to do so. Initially it bought him time and meant he didn't have to pay anything out but it's played less well since and is now a problem in its own right and might mean there is less take up of STs going forward.
 
Good article and Scally comes across well imo. I love the line near the end when he says long time supporters have been in contact with him saying...

" We're never going to be a top, top club, we're never going to be glamourous but we're still going and we love what we've got because it's real "

Marvellous. Up the fucking Gills.
 
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