good points, well madefrogiron wrote:I applaud you lads on these groups. Really. I believe you are honest, straight, and have the best interests of the club at heart. I thank you for dedicating your time to this cause. I don't believe for a second that you have any sympathy for the board, or the board's position, or that you have any ulterior motive. Any suggestion otherwise is nonsense. Plain and simple.
And I do think a march is a good idea. It demonstrates that there is disquiet sufficient enough to require the attention of the board.
But for fucks sake, sort yourselves out before any impetus you have disappears.
Did nobody think that going to Sullivan's house for a meeting and not telling anyone was a good move? That it would not raise eyebrows?
Did nobody consider that Brady would refer to that meeting in subsequent communication, and think “Now, how will this play to the people we represent?"
Did nobody consider that getting a letter from Brady, then sitting on it, was not the best idea?
Did nobody think that telling the fans they would discuss the contents of this letter amongst themselves, and only afterwards would they share it "in good time", was an insult? That "This is an Open Letter to Fans, and not ours to embargo"?
Did nobody realise that the power at ANY meeting is taking and producing the FUCKING MINUTES. You NEVER simply allow the other side to do it. When you write the minutes, you do NOT write a faithful representation of the meeting. You write YOUR VERSION of the meeting.
Did nobody think that having a list of objectives so unrepresentative of the things that are really pissing fans off was a mistake? That what matters is the fucking money and the investment and the control of the actual football?
To be blunt, this is simple, basic, beginners stuff.
You may think that politics is pointless. That being belligerent will deliver results. That swearing and threats are the way to get the board of a global business to act. You may think that management meetings are a piece of piss and anyone can do it.
Well you are operating at Board Level with a global business. And you are playing into their hands. They have had to do bugger all thus far, and they are making us look very, very silly.
I will say this for the fucking umpteenth time, your best bet is to work with Brady.
Don’t try to outsmart her. Or underestimate her. She’s smarter than all of us put together. But she is a commercial animal. As such, her actions will be pragmatic, predictable and professional. She is not some mercurial market trader or the inexperienced son of the guvnor. She is a hugely experienced and accomplished businesswoman and negotiator.
What will deliver change right now is negotiation and working out what benefits you can sell to your opponent. If it descends into harking back to when the paint on UP was still wet and you could get jellied eels for sixpence, well that’s fine. It may make you feel better. But it will not change the regime one iota.
Carry on as we are, and we are just a bunch of sweary blokes on a noisy stroll through East London with some banners we knocked up in the garage using the wife’s best bedsheets.
If those leading these fans groups are better at mobilising fans than they are at the political machinations of the board room and the negotiating table, that is absolutely fine. Each to their own.
But if you do not want to be lambs to the slaughter, I think you have two choices:
If you want to be all corporate and professional and sit down with the board, then you need to get some decent help. Fast. People who understand how that environment works, how to manipulate it, how to work in it, and how to behave. How to control the less politically astute voices around the table. And negotiate a better deal for followers of the club.
If you can’t or don't want to do that, then stick to pure protest tactics. Ridicule, taunt, disrespect, chant, march, wave banners, boycott – the things that you do not need negotiating skills or a political bent to achieve. It is just as likely to have an impact.
But you do need to choose one or the other. Because as it stands, the board are laughing up their sleeves at how easy this is, and the mistakes you are making in the boardroom are undermining all the achievements in mobilising people for the march and other protests.
