Paul Stapleton, should he remain?

[Keepitgreen]

I was going to vote for a yes, but after being reminded of how he's treated the non playing staff in all this I plumped for I don't care. I think he's been very naive in all this and has been the blind being led by the blind. None of them had a clue. (unless future revealations prove different). He has to face those people (and a lot of them could be classed as friends of his) that he has treated so badly.

 

[narrowboat]

I voted stay,when he was chairman fans slated him for not spending money , he sought investment through the Kagami,Todd and Synan mould,it didnt work out.
Im worried as every other fan is,in my opinion Stapleton was sound until we put pressure on him to find money.So the guilty party could be us all in thinking we are bigger than we actually are,our gates reflect that.
(/quote]

Don't take this the wrong way but if you think that he would take any real notice of your insistence that he needed to spend more money then that is very misguided on your part. For goodness sake the man is a professional accountant who for some reason appears to have promised the earth to Paul Sturrock but would not appear to have done the same to Holloway. Mr Stapleton out of all the Argyle Board should have known the consequences of profligate spending. The buck stops with him. How could he have allowed the squad to rise to some 35 players with long term contracts. How could he not know that the overall salary bill was going to be some 4 times more than that reccommended for a football club to be run as a viable business. This is not just eye-of-the-ball stuff that can easily be overlooked. You tell me what your bosses would do to you if you made similar errors of judgement.

 

[999mattyg]

I think he wouldn't have wanted this outcome, wanted the best for Argyle, has learnt a great deal from it, and then offset that with his success prior to this mess is enough to say he should stay.\

I'm the ONLY knob then who actually meant to click the stay button

No, I did as well. I agree with you that he did not envisage this outcome. This is the man that assisted in getting us to the championship. I see no reason why he can't do it again. We do not know the full facts of what has gone on!

 

[bandwagon]

Don't forgot the farce that was "Phase 2". Had Stapes delivered on that then maybe we would have the extra income that almost every other CCC club had.

I think Stapes was a very lucky chairman who presided over a great period in our history. He has been totally out of his depth in the football world (hence the reliance on Luggy) and the business world (failed to develop the infrastructure of the club). His refusal to walk away has been his undoing.

That sums up the man nicely - just couldn't let go!! He, all the board members knew after that first season in the CCC that the profit made could not be maintained, we were paying 3 div wages on gates that were unsustainable and shocked most fans in there size - you didn't need to be an accountant to see, unless someone with money was brought in the club was just a house of cards!! If they had sought a real money buyer at that point, that actually enhanced what was happening - we could have changed the Janners' lagacy!!

 

[Mark Pedlar]

pre made mess.

What "pre made mess" might that be then?

As far as I can see the damage was done when Sturrock started his second spell, and was given an open cheque book to sign as many inadaquate players as he could get his hands on, at whatever wages they asked for.

That was before the board room changes.

The new lot have come in, tried to make money from the world cup, put money into the club whilst here, taken nothing out (so far as we know) and now that has failed they are predictably walking alone.

Had they not come on board I believe this situation would have come about sooner, as we've only got this far because of the WC.

I'm far from an insider or expert on this though, but thats my understanding.

Without wanting to carry on another "how did we get here" thread. I think we need to look at the period where we signed the players that got us to the top end of the Championship. Many on here, myself included, urged that we should be using the November loan transfer window to kick-on. We had a good quality team and with SEB, Connolly, Norris, Pre-injury Timar, Halmosi, Buzz and Hayles we looked like we could be finally on the way.

The board, at that time, may have realised that they couldn't fund the push to the next stage. Crowds were not improving, despite the league position, and either additional revenue or cost cutting was required.

Between then and 1st Feb decisions were taken that ripped the heart out of that team. Sturrock was given a budget and some of his signings from that winter transfer window have turned out to be duds and by the time the NWO arrived our team did not have the foundations to build on without starting again.

Since then World Cups, the Japanese involvement, world economic decline and the continuing mad financing of football has made matters worse.

Scapegoating is a national past-time but blaming one individual for our current plight is spectacularly unfair.

As far as we can, making sure it doesn't happen again should be our priority. Whoever goes into the board room now or in the future I hope the fans can use the ingenuity that they have developed over the last 6 weeks to be able to hold each new decision to account.

I remain unconvinced about the Trust and I'm not sure I could follow a reconstituted Argyle FC BUT some kind of forum is required between fans and board following this mess and maybe meetings between this forum (and others), the Trust and PAFC management would be a better way of communicating and understanding into the future.

What is demonstrated, more clearly to me every day in this sorry period, is that few know what is going on and the bits that are known are twisted by everyone. I long for the day when all we're arguing about is whether Reid should be playing 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1.

 

[knecht]

Such a relief to see more measured assessments on here. Stapleton's role may be made evident at some point and it may turn out that he actually is the incompetent, money-chasing prat that many have claimed. I suspect the true is somewhat less dramatic than that. Remember there was a time that his nickname on here was "Staplewallet" - now he is berated regularly for over-spending. Like refs, chairmen cannot win. He may be culpable but we cannot really know at present.

Up until now I have been uncomfortable with the blood-lust which had been generated - directed at anyone connected with the board (and sometimes even people not connected with the present set-up). We are certainly in deep do-do and something must be sorted. And Ridsdale seems to be the man who can do that - brought in via his contacts with Stapleton.

I would prefer, in an ideal world, a setup not as we are likely to get, ie faceless money from faceless international money-men. If we can keep some local representation on the board, that might be the best we can hope for. The risk of this would be that he is such a small, insignificant voice he may be un-listened to but at least there is a local there. If we can get fans' representation that would be equally good but insignificant. It may be the best we can hope for.

 

[Sporting Lipson]

Yes he should go, although I think he will leave considerably richer than when he first invested if the rumours about the Goals and cricket club purchace are true.

Two job costing errors, blind faith in Sturrock 2 the return, and New World.

We do somewhat look like a big City team with a small town mentallity though

 

[Stonehouse Mike]

The thing that really bugs me about this whole mess is that Stapleton is an Accountant ! If he had been a retired player or used car salesman or pretty much anything else you could almost understand why he didnt realise their was a problem with the finances, but an accontant ???

 

[DRJ]

As per Jim Trott (Vic of Dib) No No no no no no no no er y er no

 

[Iggy]

Im worried as every other fan is,in my opinion Stapleton was sound until we put pressure on him to find money.So the guilty party could be us all in thinking we are bigger than we actually are,our gates reflect that.

COME ON YOU GREENS

Agree.

Agree totally :appl:.

The only perrenial flaw in our collective character bigger than our inability to generate a decent home crowd is our collective willingness to turn on our own.

He's been villified for daring to try his best for Argyle and give his fellow fans what they were indignatly demanding from him at the time, they need to have a long look at themselves for that and not point fingers. All he did wrong was to try and keep the ball rolling and got taken in by the NWO...... just the same as we all did.

:iagree:
The only thing I could add to that is be careful what you wish for, who is going to replace Stapes? We won't get a poll on it you know, it could be a consortium made up of Redrow, Wimpey and B Sky B, the new New World will love the way this vote has gone :appl:

 

[Ray the Aviator]

:iagree:

 

[Benny Bullfrog]

:iagree: ... but unfortunately he backed the wrong manager IMHO, the cash should have flowed when when a certain Bristolian was in charge.

 

[Devonport Ender]

I have 2 thoughts,

1) Thats it, you've had your go, took your eye off the ball and ruined the club. Time to go.

b) He's been there and done it. Taken us up the leagues, found out what its like to be out of his depth. Made some huge mistakes with the people invited in and letting things get into the mess we're in.
But if he's learnt from it then it might be a good thing to have him still involved. Partly because it would be good to have someone who has experience of running Argyle and dealing with football people and situations and partly because its better the devil you know!

So undicided so far.

 

[Iggy]

:iagree: ... but unfortunately he backed the wrong manager IMHO, the cash should have flowed when when a certain Bristolian was in charge.

With hindsight we would all be top of the prem. though.

 

[newquaygreen]

Either way it us yet another error of judgement.
People in charge of businesses need to be more considered in their judgements and as has been previously said he is an acountant and should be able to see the problems before they got to where we are now and acted?