PRACTICAL
CONSIDERATIONS |
Henrik
Lloyd looks at potential repercussions of recent boardroom changes |
With three directors having resigned, one seemingly “exiled” and one about to come on board, there are a number of very practical issues that need to be addressed by the new look Rovers Board in the immediate/short-term. The first is of course the playing side. The fixtures for the 2006/07 season will be released a week today and the players return for pre-season training just over a week later. Clearly there are a host of issues which will need to be tackled by Lennie Lawrence and Paul Trollope ahead of the August 5 th kick-off, not least trying to wheel and deal in the transfer market while at the same time trying to sort out the contract situations of the likes of Ali Gibb and Craig Hinton. Directoral capacity to carry out this work has just been cut in half, but of more concern to Gasheads is likely to be the fact that up until now the Director of Football and Head Coach have been dealing solely with Mike Turl and Kevin Spencer. Then of course there is the day-to-day running of the club. A new Chief Executive is promised, but he (or she) is going to have to pick up a very considerable workload from scratch without the benefit of a handover from the recently departed MD. That would be a difficult job and take a great deal of time even if there was a business plan already in place to oversee. However, just prior to his departure Mike Turl had developed an extensive new plan to cover the next two years which would have superseded the outdated seven point plan which had been presented in the spring of 2005. You can only presume that any new Chief Exec will not have access to the full workings of that plan and will therefore probably have to draw up a brand new plan at the same time as learning the ropes. As if that was not difficult enough, the new Chief Executive will also have to address that gaping financial hole which the outgoing MD identified and was acknowledged in the Dunford/Craig/Bradshaw statement of earlier this week. There is a clear gap of £300,000 between what the Board say they have got in from a new member(s) and the £500,000 which the man who has been running the finances since the end of 2004 says will be needed over the next two years. However, that could well be the minimum figure that is needed when you factor in the potential fall in some key revenue streams that could arise following recent events. Share scheme membership, season ticket sales and of course attendances could all fall sharply as a result. You also have to add in the fact that budgets have been overspent on in the past by the regime now in charge. And then of course there is the stadium regeneration project that is so crucial to the club’s future but which seems to have been overlooked recently. Two of the key driving forces of the project, Colin Williams and Mike Turl, have departed the Board, taking with them a great deal of knowledge that could be key to the successful delivery of the project. Many of the team working on the project have also been brought in by these two, which must create concerns over their motivational levels with the project so close to the crucial application stage. And finally, let us not forget who now owns many of the houses around the ground that are critical to the completion of the project. |