CFU Operational Board Appointments etc

You would like to think it wouldn't need a thread of Devachat to initiate this. You would expect that the CFU board (as part of their elected duty) would have a clear action plan with timescales and success criteria attached to it. In fact, that would be perfect for the members to be able to monitor long term progress over time and track the overall strategy as well as who was responsible for delivery on each.

Even forgetting what football we did see, the match day experience today was really very poor. There was absolutely no pre match buzz at all. Other then the guys selling draw tickets nothing. The bar was half empty and subdued. Nothing of interest at half time. For the few casual Chester fans in attendance this was grim fare indeed. Other than the Wrexham and Tranny games, little is likely to entice other than the diehards back again. So, what is the Boards strategy to help attract/ retain fans in these difficult times, and which board members are responsible? I recall Grenville saying that a reason why the CEO post was created, was to enable the chairman to act as the Figure Head and voice of the Club . I look forward to hearing from Chairman Hughes in this leadership role , and effectively communicate the efforts which are being made to galvanise the club at this difficult time. As a start why not address the fans at half time?

Can only agree with what has been said so far in this thread. Yesterday was dire from start to finish. The Bar was empty, no buzz at all. Food idea seems to have gone by the wayside too. Less said about the game the better. Everyone around me seems resigned to the fact we are shit and are going to lose with a real lack of passion coming from the players.

I will however say that I do consistently see Mark Maguire milling around and generally looking busy. Each time I have looked at him he has always been pleasant and said hello. Never properly spoke to him but he comes across as professional in interviews. I couldn't even pick out who the current chairman is, or indeed who any of the Board members are. Totally anonymous, the lot of them. It was suggested to me when he first took over from the previous chairman that the acting Chairman was 'acting' short term as it suited his daily business activities working from the Deva Stadium but he didn't want the gig on a long term basis. By all accounts he's a nice guy but not the LEADER we need to be running our football Club. I feel we do need a motivated business head as Chairman. The likes of Durkin were very successful millionaire business people who I felt were driving us forward despite making some (in the grand scheme of things minor) mistakes. When Burr first took over, we were playing great football and having cup runs with a strong enough league finish. Things started going sour when Durkin left and it appears there was a change in attitude from 'speculate to accumulate' to 'rainy day fund building'. No co-incidence that things on the field started going wrong from there. Do we even pay goal/win bonuses? Some might say we shouldn't have to but unfortunately, money makes the world go round.

The point is we needs Leaders right now, vocal board members who can motivate the CFC team of staff, players and owners/fans. They need to stand up and be counted.

I don’t get to as many CFU Meetings as I used to but it’s quite clear that some on have never been as they have no idea how the club is structured.

About three years ago we had a members meeting and voted in changes to the setup which meant the formation of the operations board. This was wanted by Tony Durkin and co. So they could run the club Ona day to Day basis instead of having to refer decisions to the elected CFU board. I had reservations about this as it meant that control was being taken from the people we’d elected, but there were some controls in place. Basically it meant from then on all football decisions were made by ops board.

Tony Durkin was not comfortable with the chairman role when he resigned as he and his family got abuse from fans. So we were told the CFU board now had a Chair person to manage meetings but not actually a club chairman . So all since then including Johnny Hughes have been Chair of CIty Fabs United not club chairman

When Mark Maguire was made CEO part of his role was to be the clubs spokesperson.

Simon Olorenshaw offered his help to the board not long back, only to be rather unceremoniously told where to go. It's no wonder he didn't want to stand for election.

The problem with saying we need someone with a "business background" is that businesspeople by definition don't have a lot of time on their hands. They put long hours into their own business and anything else (besides family) is sure to be a distant second in the priority stakes.

There are several members of the board with business links. A lack of business acumen isn't the problem, I don't think, it's more a lack of people who really have the free time they need to make a serious difference to the club.

So as I understand it , without a "traditional" chairman,   Mr Hughes and the Board members (And ops Board) channel all significant communication with the outside world through Mark Maguire - an unelected Club employee.    Consequently, other than an occasional appearance at sparsely attended CFU meetings, there is no need for any elected board member to ever communicate with the wider Chester fan base, (i.e. The Fans) and can quite simply hide behind Mr Maguire’s well delivered, positive spin.  I find it rather odd for those who say they support the ethos of the supporter owned model to accept the personal accountability and responsibility of those elected to run our Club being obscured in this way. It hardly inspires confidence, and to an extent explains the baffling silence from the board for months and why Jon McCarthy’s very damaging regime was allowed to continue for so long, given that those responsible for taking footballing and other decisions do not have to publically justify their actions or inaction.

The monthly CFU meetings are the perfect platform for co-owners to question, even hold to account board members. Unlike other co-owned clubs I don't see much evidence of this taking place. Given that (when it works) you have the ability to post questions in realtime during these meetings, there is really no excuse for co-owners who feel strongly about matters and then fail to express their concerns . It's your club, it's down to you - as co-owners you get the club you deserve.

I think this is what AVRO is saying... The questions highlighted above could be asked at the meeting.

The meetings I have attended have been fairly open and people are willing to give honest responses.

I have to agree with the above from NWAS, something just is not working right at the moment between the board and the CFU members/fans expectations.

For the sake of accuracy the extension to Jon’s Contract was decided after I had departed.

We are nearly two weeks on from the AGM, and still no sign of any portfolios from the board members.

Our club is in a real lull, the atmosphere at the ground is dire, and the gates are falling. We need leadership, not proxy voices.

The silent voices, the majority of who saddled us with "Macca" and his sad band of signings, remain silent...

As supporters, we really need to a grip on this and try get the club back to how it was when we started out on this journey. As AVFO quite politely pointed out, The buck does really stop at us! we can join CFU or not,( how many this season anyone? ),and if we join we can vote in board elections or not, and if we join we can challenge and question that board or not, problem is many supporters are not members, and many members are passive.

Why? Because of how we have 'become' as a club; supporters feeling alienated and like mushrooms, 'fed on shit and kept in the dark'; the loss of the sense of community, and the way the personalities leading the club have changed during the years as well, but also the way in which the expectations and demands of' us' the supporters have changed over those years as well.

The dream was; we would get our club back, we would compete at whatever level we were allowed, and could sustain, without outside backing, we would remain debt free, cut our cloth according to our means, and most of all we would have a whole different philosophy to other clubs, where we would be inclusive, central to the community and the City, a community and social club that played football, and if the people come ( as they did ) we will see how far it gets us.

But not everyone bought that, many just wanted a route back towards the football league, and as a supporter for over 40 years, I get that, but that's not what for many others it was about, and that's where I feel one of our underlying problems is, we don't all want the same thing!

Many good leaders and committed organisers who understood the model have gone to the wayside and being lost during the journey so far, all most everyone who was there when times were good and we had that amazing three years ( many of my best days as a fan )and that amazing felling have gone, why?
Many reasons given, but most of us already suspect, that there have been many power struggles behind the scenes, many people looking to further themselves and their own ambitions for the club, and paid employees looking to sustain their own careers.

We need some of the 'good guys' back, we need to risk taking a step back, lose most of our non playing staff expenses, play at the level we can win at and most importantly, build at.

I think that is the only way to save the club, retrace our steps and be better prepared to take our model into the bigger leagues, because struggling to survive in this league both on and off the pitch will kill us, in our present state as a club.
Can we not tempt some of you out of retirement? Jeff, Mark, Steve , Chris, etc, sure many others would back you to seize this club back. Maybe we need to change the model and find investors? enough support for that argument too I believe, but we really do need to do something as this club will not only stagnate, but we will be always just one bad financial upset away from disaster, with the wage commitments etc at this level, dwindling gates even could be that upset.

I am afraid the fans owned model is failing and unless we play at Evostik level we are unable to sustain the club. Interest is at an all time low on and off the field and fans feel disengaged from the club. Does anyone see a way in which this can reversed ?
If we hadn't had the cup run under Burr and sold Sarcevic and Sam Hughes we would probably be in administration by now, those pots of money made the accounts look okay. We have lost money most seasons and are trying to milk the same cash sources time after time.
It's sad to say but the people of Chester just don't get behind the club like towns or cities of a comparable size, to only pull in 2000 fans on a good day is poor !