Leeds Ram

I mean the critical difference between your examples, and the Pearce situation is that no UK politician alive is responsible for slavery or nicking the Elgin marbles. They would be apologising on behalf of the institution, which becomes more complex. Pearce's actions have in the very recent past damaged the institution itself.  Again, I'm not expecting everyone to agree but a degree of contrition about what happened and how it happened i think is not just the right thing to do but would also be cathartic for a lot of the fan base who still feel very aggrieved about what happened. 

Or he could say sorry, just once, publically, and admit the mistakes that were made and why he wants to put them right. The fact he's not done that is mind-boggling to me. 

I couldn’t tell you about any NDA’s or anything like that (because I don’t know about any) but I can tell you that I spoke to Stephen for about ten minutes, about an hour before the event. I had a similar chat with Paul earlier in the day. It was more to make sure they understood the timings and format. So there certainly wasn’t any rehearsing between us. 
Personally my prep was about as limited as it gets, given that the format was primarily questions from the floor, plus the handful we had in advance. I started with a couple from me just to get things going - in my experience it can take an audience a while to warm up, and I wanted it to start with a bit of momentum.
Hope that helps. 

I think we’ll probably have to agree to disagree @Leeds Ram.
But perhaps I can say this. The club including Pearce and @Owen87ITK, will (I would guess) have spent hours and hours preparing for the forum and very deliberately aimed to make something of a statement of intent right at the beginning, knowing that SP’s continued involvement was an issue amongst some of the fan base. His comments, which he reverted to when they got the question they were expecting, were clearly rehearsed and (again I guess) were couched in the way they were mainly because of the NDAs in place and because they all want to move on - club, Clowes and SP himself.  So the chances of us getting any more are, I think, remote at best. There’s no appetite for it.
Fwiw I don’t think that SP is particularly confident in an open forum on camera. He comes across as over prepared and nervous, unlike Warne who’s the opposite. In my experience most accountants aren’t often good public speakers, able to talk human and quick enough to find the right words to satisfy an audience. It’s why they’re accountants. A sweeping generalisation I appreciate. As CEO you would ideally want him to be a better public communicator but that’s not, in my view, his skill set. Hopefully in smaller groups amongst the staff he’s leading he is better and more confident.

I'm not sure if he did. His interview with Ed Dawes was horrific and he just seemed to be evading taking any responsibility blaming everything on covid. 

It was clear the club was in financial difficulty before Morris decided to eventually pull the plug. Our brushing up dangerously close to FFP using dubious loopholes to get us through, delaying the publication of the accounts and relying ever more on the academy as the revenue was drying up. I also doubt that Pearce was unaware that there were potential problems lurking right around the corner. Does someone one day just randomly go 'by the way, i think we need to go into administration' because there's no more money. Whatever happened in regard to this, Pearce allowed the institution to be pushed to its financial limits so that when the plug was eventually pulled disaster erupted. 

Looking forward to this after a pretty crap week. Was in two minds about attending following a family bereavement, but hoping to be distracted in a good way for a couple of hours. UTRs. 

If I'm honest, I think it says more about a bloke that he felt comfortable staying in a job as the chief financial officer after he almost led to the liquidation of the institution he was in charge of. 

Or he could say sorry, just once, publically, and admit the mistakes that were made and why he wants to put them right. The fact he's not done that is mind-boggling to me. 

Or he could say sorry, just once, publically, and admit the mistakes that were made and why he wants to put them right. The fact he's not done that is mind-boggling to me. 

Genuinely wondering how it could have been worse than it was. We came within a gnat's hair of going extinct, poisoned our relations with clubs, and football bodies and the fans were, if not directly lied to by the club, were lied to by the sin of omission as we sat on the brink with a mountain of unserviceable debt. It's going round in circles but for Pearce at the very least not to come out and say 'I want to apologise to the staff, the fans, and the community for my part in the shambles but I want to stay and fix it' highlights either extremely poor media management or an arrogance and/or spinelessness bordering on the obscene. (apologies if he has said this but i can't remember him saying so). 
I've already made my feelings on his staying and his willingness to stay highlights a certain shamelessness that I don't think you see in many individuals personally. 

Genuinely wondering how it could have been worse than it was. We came within a gnat's hair of going extinct, poisoned our relations with clubs, and football bodies and the fans were, if not directly lied to by the club, were lied to by the sin of omission as we sat on the brink with a mountain of unserviceable debt. It's going round in circles but for Pearce at the very least not to come out and say 'I want to apologise to the staff, the fans, and the community for my part in the shambles but I want to stay and fix it' highlights either extremely poor media management or an arrogance and/or spinelessness bordering on the obscene. (apologies if he has said this but i can't remember him saying so). 
I've already made my feelings on his staying and his willingness to stay highlights a certain shamelessness that I don't think you see in many individuals personally. 

Genuinely wondering how it could have been worse than it was. We came within a gnat's hair of going extinct, poisoned our relations with clubs, and football bodies and the fans were, if not directly lied to by the club, were lied to by the sin of omission as we sat on the brink with a mountain of unserviceable debt. It's going round in circles but for Pearce at the very least not to come out and say 'I want to apologise to the staff, the fans, and the community for my part in the shambles but I want to stay and fix it' highlights either extremely poor media management or an arrogance and/or spinelessness bordering on the obscene. (apologies if he has said this but i can't remember him saying so). 
I've already made my feelings on his staying and his willingness to stay highlights a certain shamelessness that I don't think you see in many individuals personally. 

if his posts are boring to you then how are they simultaneously a source of amusement..... 

I would have walked out the club if I disagreed that badly with what Mel has done and let the local media know what was going on.  I wouldn't have misled the fans, gone along with the media strategy that everything was hunky dory until administration was abruptly announced or let it meltdown on my watch like Pearce did. I have in the past walked away from the potential for paid work because I have disagreed with the ethos of the employers so I have some experience in making the calculation between a pay cheque and my moral compass albeit on a much lower level. 

I would have walked out the club if I disagreed that badly with what Mel has done and let the local media know what was going on.  I wouldn't have misled the fans, gone along with the media strategy that everything was hunky dory until administration was abruptly announced or let it meltdown on my watch like Pearce did. I have in the past walked away from the potential for paid work because I have disagreed with the ethos of the employers so I have some experience in making the calculation between a pay cheque and my moral compass albeit on a much lower level. 

Whataboutism isn't really making the point you think it is here... When a company goes into administration, the reality is that the CEO doesn't ordinarily get the luxury of retaining their position. The captain usually has to go down with the ship. It's not about whether he stood up to Mel, it's why in this case, when the club is having a complete overhaul, the CEO and former CFO who presided over one of the most dodgy financial periods in the club's history, has kept his job when that defies the usual process?
I've wondered whether Clowes retaining him could simply be due to the fact he knows where the skeletons are, and that knowledge may still be needed to properly rectify the issues and stabilise the club short-term... Plus, all the talk of Pearce really trying to keep the club going during admin- he was probably trying to save his job and retain a wage, that was likely entirely borne out of self interest, rather than a genuine compassion for the club and its fans. 
I just find it strange that with little to no information or context we have on the matter, so many are backing him at this point, even though he was literally Mel's right-hand man...
 

Football is generally cyclical, which generally means we'll be back. However, I believe we are perhaps the club with the worst record in the country for messing things up. I remember years ago reading a piece in the Times which said we had a special prize for missing chances to succeed from Clough onwards. Some may call it the 'gypsy curse' from the Racecourse Ground but there is something about us which leads us to spurning glorious opportunities for success. 
However, a club our size will not be kept down and out forever. We will get another run at the top flight in the next two decades of that I am sure. Eventually, we will stumble upon the correct combination at the right time and get back to where we belong. 

They wouldn't send troops and their troops would be useless anyway. However, they might sell them missiles, anti-tank equipment and god knows what else. Considering North Korea is experiencing a famine and is desperate for food, cash, and a lot of resources it makes them very willing sellers. There are significant sanctions which in theory prevents the North from trading with others but they have found ways around sanctions before and may do so again.  

If I'm honest, I think it says more about a bloke that he felt comfortable staying in a job as the chief financial officer after he almost led to the liquidation of the institution he was in charge of. 

Football is generally cyclical, which generally means we'll be back. However, I believe we are perhaps the club with the worst record in the country for messing things up. I remember years ago reading a piece in the Times which said we had a special prize for missing chances to succeed from Clough onwards. Some may call it the 'gypsy curse' from the Racecourse Ground but there is something about us which leads us to spurning glorious opportunities for success. 
However, a club our size will not be kept down and out forever. We will get another run at the top flight in the next two decades of that I am sure. Eventually, we will stumble upon the correct combination at the right time and get back to where we belong. 

I disagree with this. Carefully-worded statements fine, but he is complicit with what happened with Mel, like it or not; fans being distrustful of him is more than understandable. To my knowledge he's never directly made comment on level of involvement, so for all we know him and Mel could have been hand-in-hand walking the club towards oblivion. Until this information is known, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him- he was the CEO of a business that went into administration, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement he's good at his job, and he's said nothing to sway opinion otherwise. 

Football is generally cyclical, which generally means we'll be back. However, I believe we are perhaps the club with the worst record in the country for messing things up. I remember years ago reading a piece in the Times which said we had a special prize for missing chances to succeed from Clough onwards. Some may call it the 'gypsy curse' from the Racecourse Ground but there is something about us which leads us to spurning glorious opportunities for success. 
However, a club our size will not be kept down and out forever. We will get another run at the top flight in the next two decades of that I am sure. Eventually, we will stumble upon the correct combination at the right time and get back to where we belong. 

Pretty sure Brentford were renowned for playing good football in league 1. 

I remember that Wycombe game well. We absolutely battered them, and the sense of togetherness in the stands and on the pitch was the utter opposite of what it is today.