Jim Phipps interview - interesting stuff

[Selly]

Wonder if the Sty has a lower rateable value than the Lane?
I'd hazard a guess that they pay less for the rust bucket than we have to for our stadium since the council fucking hate us and love them lot from South Barnsley

Fixed that for you...

 

[Darren]

I think you are right with this, in particular I have no doubt that NC will want a VERY careful look at him in training before he makes any sort of decision. With regard to the undoubted shitstorm that this will cause if he starts to shine and get his fitness back in training the comments about the damage to the brand are interesting.

If, for footballing reasons, we decide we do want to resign him then it is vital that everything is done to manage this process. If it were down to me I would get the electoral reform society to ballot all the female season ticket holders, all the female employees and all the long term partners of the male employees to clearly establish what they think and to do this now. It is all very well shouting that petitions and actions from outsiders are irrelevant (although clearly politically they are not) the club has to have a rational and arguable case to defend its actions if the decision is taken to re-employ. If the result of a ballot outlined above came back against re-employing him that should be it, we don't re-sign him. If, on the other hand, it comes back in favour of re-signing him. It would represent a completely valid defence that should go a long way to justifying the decision and therefore minimising the damage to the club. It would be a clear statement by the key stakeholders in the club most likely to be put in a really difficult position about any possible re-signing.

I don't think that this ballot alone would be enough I think that the club and Ched would need to put out an agreed statement which I think would have to show contrition on his behalf. I think that it is vital that the opposition cannot pin on the club that it is a decision taken by a bunch of men (the board and the management team); that might well lead to a very prolonged and damaging campaign against the club. To put it in context, I would think that a poorly managed return would produce a media and activist campaign against the club on the scale of the one that MK Dons have had to face. It would be very damaging to our image, it may well cost us sponsorship and development opportunities and it would be prolonged.

Very good post.

I think some people are really under estimating the effect this could have - cf those who say "everyone hates us because of the Tevez affair, so what does this matter" are seriously not getting it.

 

[Latters]

...the club has to have a rational and arguable case to defend its actions if the decision is taken to re-employ...

...To put it in context, I would think that a poorly managed return would produce a media and activist campaign against the club on the scale of the one that MK Dons have had to face...

I've trimmed your post down rather than quote the lot.

First of all, my questions are "why?" and "to who?" Why do they have to have a case to defend their actions and who are they defending them against? Who decided that we are now answerable to the media and pressure groups? If the management and other staff are happy to work with him, then sign him. It's as simple as that. I don't think the club have to justify their decisions to anybody. Adidas have already stated in the media that they will not drop us, regardless of the decision on Ched. I doubt very much that signing him would have such a catastrophic impact on our sponsorship revenue and prospects that it would have too much of an effect on the club.

Out of interest, what media and activist campaign have MK Dons had to face?

 

[bornablade]

All the emphasis over the past weeks has been placed on SUFC. What is it they should do?

Ched Evans and his team have professed his innocence. His website is devoted to convincing the general public he is innocent. This has probably been necessary to keep Ched's spirits up whilst in prison.

Now he is about to be released Ched needs to start acting a little more responsibly toward gaining employment and being accepted by society.

I suggest he makes it clear he will appeal in 2017 ( that's his right) but that should be then left to his legal team and carried out in private and not conducted on the public stage namely the internet.

He may not believe he raped the girl in question but one female he has abused is his girlfriend Natasha Massey. I suggest he investigates what type of substantial support he could give to a charity or charities that help women in abusive relationships. This should not be carried out in a lip service manner but be with real sincerity.

I don't know Ched Evans but on the surface it seems as though the time has come for him to stop feeling sorry for himself and if he wants to be accepted back then do something about it. Don't leave all up to SUFC to sort it out!

Now for the irony. I hope his girlfriend is recognised for her loyalty by some women's groups. She is the innocent party and has shown greater forgiveness than some of the people who post on this site who have not been affected by the events whatsoever.

 

[Darren]

All the emphasis over the past weeks has been placed on SUFC. What is it they should do?

Ched Evans and his team have professed his innocence. His website is devoted to convincing the general public he is innocent. This has probably been necessary to keep Ched's spirits up whilst in prison.

Now he is about to be released Ched needs to start acting a little more responsibly toward gaining employment and being accepted by society.

I suggest he makes it clear he will appeal in 2017 ( that's his right) but that should be then left to his legal team and carried out in private and not conducted on the public stage namely the internet.

He may not believe he raped the girl in question but one female he has abused is his girlfriend Natasha Massey. I suggest he investigates what type of substantial support he could give to a charity or charities that help women in abusive relationships. This should not be carried out in a lip service manner but be with real sincerity.

I don't know Ched Evans but on the surface it seems as though the time has come for him to stop feeling sorry for himself and if he wants to be accepted back then do something about it. Don't leave all up to SUFC to sort it out!

Now for the irony. I hope his girlfriend is recognised for her loyalty by some women's groups. She is the innocent party and has shown greater forgiveness than some of the people who post on this site who have not been affected by the events whatsoever.

He doesn't have any right to appeal. He has submitted an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) who have the power to refer a case to the Court of Appeal if they consider new evidence has arisen that might make the conviction unsafe. The CCRC have said that, because he will be out of prison shortly, his application is not urgent, so will go to the back of the queue and it will not be considered until 2017.

Very few applications to the CCRC get referred to the Court of Appeal. I don't think this one will and that he will stay convicted.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

I came across this interview with Jim Phipps. Its in a magazine devoted to the Football Manager computer game I think but the interview is by a blades fan and gives an insight into how JP sees his role, his relationship with the sheik, the criteria he was set by the sheik for finding a suitable club to invest in and how he sees the pattern of investment developing. The interview is on page 7 of the third edition (April 2014). I found it interesting and thought some others might too - hence posting the link.

http://www.clearcutchance.com/3/download/

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I came across this interview with Jim Phipps. Its in a magazine devoted to the Football Manager computer game I think but the interview is by a blades fan and gives an insight into how JP sees his role, his relationship with the sheik, the criteria he was set by the sheik for finding a suitable club to invest in and how he sees the pattern of investment developing. The interview is on page 7 of the third edition (April 2014). I found it interesting and thought some others might too - hence posting the link.

http://www.clearcutchance.com/3/download/

Cheers for that - gives quite a good insight to Phipps's own background and the general principles of how he and The Prince view their roles.

 

[Paulus]

I've trimmed your post down rather than quote the lot.

First of all, my questions are "why?" and "to who?" Why do they have to have a case to defend their actions and who are they defending them against? Who decided that we are now answerable to the media and pressure groups? If the management and other staff are happy to work with him, then sign him. It's as simple as that. I don't think the club have to justify their decisions to anybody. Adidas have already stated in the media that they will not drop us, regardless of the decision on Ched. I doubt very much that signing him would have such a catastrophic impact on our sponsorship revenue and prospects that it would have too much of an effect on the club.

Out of interest, what media and activist campaign have MK Dons had to face?

OK, the "Why" question is basically because the question will be asked by all and sundry "Why did we sign him? You could have signed any number of strikers, why him? In other words, up to this point the club has done no wrong, as soon as we take that decision we will become the focus of the issue and not Ched. And when we answer "The management and players are happy to work with him" The press will ask a thousand other questions like, "And what do your female staff think about it?" and "What sort of message does it send out to the local community? You've branded yourselves as the Family Club how can you say that with a player on the sex offenders register?" Ched would be the elephant in the room when the players make the annual Xmas trip to the Children's Hospital because he won't be there etc. etc. Questions will be asked again and again and again and eventually the abusive terms that others chose to refer to us as will start to stick. News report which mention the club will routinely preface "Ched Evans" with "The convicted rapist" Ched Evans. Of course you can take the attitude that we don't bloody care what anyone else thinks, but surely you can see how this will develop if we don't prepare the ground incredibly carefully? If our best answer is "The management and players are happy to work with him" we'll get crucified, and rightly so.

As for Adidas I don't believe for a minute that they would not drop us. They will take a view and if there was the slightest chance that they could pick up collateral damage from the fallout of us re-signing Ched they would drop us like a stone. It is absolutely clear from the actions taken so far, the protest petition and the letters to local businesses that those who oppose us re-signing him would target those businesses that support us. There are standard clauses in all sponsorship agreements to cover such things. Witness what happened to Suarez's sponsors this summer.

MK Dons really? - ongoing Football Supporters Federation boycott - 7 years later they are still routinely referred to as Franchise - most disliked club in the league etc. etc. And all this when MK Dons had some very powerful supporters like the FA and the FL who of course both agreed to the shameful deal of moving from Wimbledon. We would have no such powerful supporters, we would be on our own.

Now, despite all of this I'm not saying we shouldn't re-sign him, I can see the arguments about him having served his time and all the rest and I personally believe that we have to give ex cons a chance to re-start their lives but I'm absolutely sure that if we botch this up it will be an unmitigated disaster for the club. Undoubtedly, the safe option is not to sign him, if you look at it in terms of evaluating risk and reward it's a no brainer.

 

[Pierre's PC]

I came across this interview with Jim Phipps. Its in a magazine devoted to the Football Manager computer game I think but the interview is by a blades fan and gives an insight into how JP sees his role, his relationship with the sheik, the criteria he was set by the sheik for finding a suitable club to invest in and how he sees the pattern of investment developing. The interview is on page 7 of the third edition (April 2014). I found it interesting and thought some others might too - hence posting the link.

http://www.clearcutchance.com/3/download/

It's actually good to read something like this that has snippets of interesting information instead of the usual circular bollocks about a certain person which seems to never end even after 684 pages of the same shit repeated....