There is no doubt about it, I'm definitely enjoying life more now that I am no longer Chairman - no more dreading the phone ringing, or fearing to look at my emails just because I know there will be something that needs looking at, resolving or a decision made upon.
I had a meeting with a pen manufacturer this week who had always taken an interest in my involvement with Chesham United, when I pointed out that I was no longer Chairman he totally understood, and summed it up really: "Been there, seen it, got the t-shirt?"
I must admit, I have had no problems filling my time; as well as still being on the Board at Chesham United I am totally loving the time spent with my youngest at Camelot Rugby Club, and my eldest is growing up into a bit of a rocker ("metal child") which is getting me back into some of my old music, and discovering some new. Indeed, we have now finally got over the disappointment of Sonisphere 2012 at Knebworth being cancelled after we had purchased tickets; instead we are going up to a Bloodstock heavy metal festival in the midlands where we spend 4 nights camping, watching loads of really noisy bands such as Sepultura, Behemoth, Testament and Hatebreed, culminating on Sunday night with seeing Alice Cooper for about the 20th time (I remember first seeing Alice Cooper when I was 16, I was desperate to get to see him before he retired, this will even be the second time my eldest son has seen him having taken him to his first Alice gig when he was 7!).
To be honest, my attendance at recent Chesham matches has been appaling, if it had been school I would have been called before the headmaster by now, but it is all coincidental and nothing to do with no longer being Chairman; it's purely the way things have fallen with a holiday over Easter and last Sunday I was down in Bournemouth for a rugby festival - by all accounts, somewhat more enjoyable than going to Barwell to watch Chesham lose 2-0...and throw another huge question mark over our play-off qualification. I will unashamedly go on to talk about the rugby weekend again later (no footy weekend away this season - must be rectified next season), but for now it is worth taking another look at life at the football club, whilst no longer Chairman.
As much as I love no longer walking around with a huge burden on my shoulders, at times it is very difficult no longer being Chairman, and I am going to have to get used to that. I hear things I don't like, and I hear things that annoy me - when they shouldn't.
This week we had our first Board meeting since all the changes, it went very much as I expected. We identified all the issues that I know exist, and the Board have always known exist, the challenge is - are we going to change them? Can we change them? I think we can. Perhaps more so after last night's board meeting because there are changes and fresh faces in the pipeline that will hopefully add some much needed time, manpower and, yes, cash.
Obviously I am not going to use this blog to make announcements, but there is at least one new face joining the Board (other than Roger). That's important. Very important, because I identified 12 months ago that we were going to struggle to make it work with the Board we had (that is no disrespect to anybody, just a fact of having so many people already over-burdened) and if the only change was going to be Roger's money and a different (but not new) face as Chair, then what changes? Surely you just end up as, well, as Wolverhampton Wanderers after getting rid of Mick McCarthy.
So what bugs me? Well, I won't lie, there have been times when I either cringe, bite my tongue or want to go absolutely ballistic throwing things around the room.
From day one of my spell as Chairman, we were a Board with collective responsibility, equal responsibility and supposedly equal power. Ok, this changed in the last couple of months when it became apparent that things were really not working, so we formed the previously talked about 'emergency team' who took control of everything financial, but we had eighteen months when everyone had full view of our superb management accounts and, most importantly, bought into our budgets and business plans. I learned very early that by taking the title of Chairman I would get more responsibility than I first anticipated, that made me a little uncomfortable, but, again I won't lie, hell, I even enjoyed that at times.
With that in mind, when I have to sit and listen to some negative and derogatory comments about some of the things in the past, I get defensive. Human nature. My nature. I'm not going to go into detail because that will be unfair, but it hurts, no, that is the wrong word, it grinds me, when things we collectively agreed upon suddenly get criticised because we now have someone prepared to support the club financially. Yeah, that grinds me.
Other things bug me too, and I don't want this to be a moan because whilst I feel complete relief, I'm also quite excited about the future. If I'm honest, emotionally, I'm confused. I'm not as excited as I should be on the eve of a game that could secure our play-off spot. Bloody hell, a play-off spot in the Southern League PREMIER Division - how did we suddenly get up there? This is fantastic...but I'm conscious that, not deliberately, my era can easily become a target...
...You may be aware that the Reserves have struggled to field a side for the last couple of games, despite having 88 players registered. Now as Chairman I had the close relationship with Andy Leese, and he is always honest, fair and we had (hopefully still have) a good open relationship. So when it comes to the football, and any issues from the past 20 months, I take it personal. At the board meeting the Reserves conversation moved on to the fact that we have put some players out on loan to Ryman sides in the Essex area and there was some serious condemnation of that and how "that is not what the Reserves is all about" and how "that is going to have to change in the future", "can't believe it has been allowed to happen"...Possibly (?) a valid argument, but I had a Director of Football and a Director of Football Cohesion (with full responsibility and autonomy) at the time who were now joining the disbelief and condemnation...and I was the one feeling uncomfortable about the conversation?
That is not intended as a cheap shot at those involved, far from it, I will never complain about the efforts of anyone that give up their free time, and takes on unnecessary stress, but it is another example of where the idyllic "organisation structure" fell down and how the job of Chairman, despite all the best efforts, can make you very lonely.
...I actually bit my tongue on the subject, but wish I had expressed my opinion. I may be wrong, but my understanding of the situation is that we have some players that may well be too good for step 6, where the Reserves are playing, but may not be good enough to jump straight up to the top of step 3, so perhaps a loan spell at step 4 might give them a good experience and help to bridge that gap and help to develop them as an asset for Chesham United FC? I don't know, what do I know?
Of course, under any circumstances there is a natural tendancy for a new brush to come in and start talking about changing things, doing things properly and expressing surprise at how things were done before. I accept that, and I go back to my point that these changes are needed and an absolute must. However there are some things I will remain defensive on and I am sure this week's board meeting will not be the last time that I will find myself wanting to remind some people that they were also a fundamental part of what went before.
One critcism that is fair is the one that we overspent on the football side of things (and which club hasn't?), an easy trap to fall into when you are being seduced by success, but it is also very difficult to pull the plug on...it is like the ultimate admission of defeat. We frontloaded the budget to give us a good squad to start the season, but after the infamous FA Cup defeat at Dunstable and the subsequent Trophy upset at Tiverton, I (we, the Board) should have been stronger and cut the budget fairly dramatically.
That is hell of a responsibility to take on. Very easy to say, but when it is actually you that has to do it?
Roaming the terraces, listening to the excitement of supporters discussing our promotion prospects and listening to the manager confidently predicting a strong league position...who wants to be the one that brings that to the end? Hold on a minute, that's not why I got involved, this is my leisure time, I have a day job that stresses me out...I wanted to have fun. To be honest, it needed a harder business man than me, I still wanted to find a way for us to generate the income from the various streams that was not being fully exploited (and they were not fully exploited) - and look for additional investment.
Again, although all the Board could see our expenditure, the individual player wages were not generally common knowledge, even amongst Directors and management. We had a relatively big management committee, things leak, and I don't necessarily think it right that we all know what individual players earn, I can't see how that helps things. And anyway, it can vary from week to week. Taking that into account I have to accept any criticism about certain aspects of the budget, but the overall facts and figures were there for all to see in the budget and management accounts.
I was also aware that the success on the field was a big attraction to potential investors, which put some time pressure on getting the new involvement we strived for. If we slumped down the league, what we had to offer was far less attractive, and, in reality, we were talking relatively small sums of money for a business. We had some very stringent changes lined up as January passed into February (working very closely with another individual who I really believed was going to become our new owner at the time). There was probably going to be some very upset people, but the future of the club would have been secured. We were not in the same situation as we were pre-Charles when bailiffs were literally being turned away and there was nothing but locked doors every which way we turned (pretty much - even then I was not devastated as there was always an ace up one sleeve that I knew would not see the club die). Fortunately, Roger Payne's offer came about at a time that enabled us to pull back from the route we were going and, for the time being at least, maintain a strong squad on the pitch, and keep other things ticking as they were off the pitch. But, it is important to realise, the club was never going to die. It was a horrible time, but there are some truly amazing people around.
I know I always go on about our management accounts, but they are so important, and so well presented and maintained - which is another reason why I have been known to blow my top disproportionately when I hear talk of "stuff coming out of the woodwork".
I've been there when real nasty surprises crop up from the finances of the club (I aged beyond belief six years ago when the HMRC bill for £30k cropped up at a Board meeting - what an education...if only we had the management accounts we have now), it is most unpleasant, and there is none of that awaiting Roger Payne. Yes, we let things get dangerously tight with the money, but only when, and because, we knew there were options out there. And there still will be. Roger has been incredible in the last couple of months, not only with his financial contributions, but also the new faces and fresh ideas being introduced, and we should all be hugely grateful that we have been able to stay in a promotion chasing position and continue the journey rather than take a backwards step.
I guess my beef will always be if too much criticism comes of the past, and people are led to believe that the club was heading to the brink, and thankfully we have been saved before Alan Calder and his Board of supporters cocked it all up. That is simply not true because there were alternatives and as horrible as it was (and I never ever want to go through such feelings again) there were other options that we looked at, and another subsequent option came to light soon after the current agreement was made. Because of our management accounts, we were always in control...even if we did not like what we were controlling.
I've now done over a decade as a Director of Chesham United, worked with several Chairman, and effectively overseen and (yeah, why not a bit of trumpet blowing) directed two takeovers - How I wish I was doing this blog at the time of the Town Hall crisis meeting and the challenge of getting all the shareholders around the table as we tried to orchestrate the takeover of Charles Manchester...including the night an impromptu board meeting was called at the Blackbirds in Boxmoor, when I think I must have drunk at least two bottles of wine before going along to have a heart to heart with fellow directors.
The last couple of weeks have been fab, I've been watching games without a worry, sleeping at night and enjoying a huge amount of time with my family. Next week the old 'emergency team' are meeting up for a curry - really looking forward to that, these people got me through a really tough time and I will always remember that. As I said before, I also feel as though I have a completely new life since my youngest got involved in rugby, I'll save the tales of the Bournemouth weekend for another post now, but safe to say that it involved several hours in the area the hotel like to call "the bar".
Chesham United FC has been in safe hands for the last couple of years, but now we have the added bonus of a safety net if those safe hands let one slip - We should enjoy that, be grateful for that, and use that reassurance to help us prosper.
Thanks for reading,,,
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