Stephen Pearce...didn't get out of our club

[Leeds Ram]

Personally, as someone who knows nothing about the mechanics of the business or his role personally then i don't hold any weight behind my opinion on this really. However, I find it disgraceful that he's still around and i think it's pretty shameless on his part that he feels like he should still continue in his role.

I can't envisage a scenario outside of either knew what Mel was doing and the situation (in which case he's implicated in almost destroying the club) or he didn't know in which case he's a complete incompetent. His media appearances around that time trying to reassure the fan base when we were clearly on the verge of collapse are in perspective absolutely mind boggling. 

But as I said I don't know what went on or anything else. Hopefully, one day they'll be an expose on the entire sorry mess. But Pearce by virtue of his position  played a massive part in almost destroying a 138 year old institution. 

On Quantuma does anyone really trust their judgement after the multiple preferred bidders, some of which look like they're facing criminal charges and others simply having no money at all. They were bailed out by Clowes as much as we were 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Leeds Ram

[PistoldPete]

16 minutes ago, BucksRam said:

I think from what we learned of MM's ways, if SP had stood up to him, or overly challenged him, he'd have been sacked.  It may well be that SP came up with the idea of changing our accountancy policy - it was, after all, legal, but just didn't fit with the EFL's view of things, and all other clubs to be fair.  We may well never know.  Q certainly rated him and publicly defended him.  If he was that bad, and they were cutting costs left right and centre, he'd have been gone surely? David Clowes is nobody's fool.  If there were any doubts he would have asked SP to leave I'm sure.  The fact he remains says to me he must be valued and has a place/say in the running of the club.  

He was a Director, and a professional accountant. It was his job to stand up to anything that’s wrong. 

[BucksRam]

7 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

He was a Director, and a professional accountant. It was his job to stand up to anything that’s wrong. 

Yeah I know, and I'm sure he did where necessary.  The fact he is a professional accountant is why I was alluding to the fact it may even have been his idea.  But with everything else that went on, with MM being the apparent dictator he seemed, then I suspect it was like hitting a brick wall.  He may have been complicit to a degree, (we'll likely never know unless he writes his memoirs) but the fact Q valued him, and more importantly DC now seems to trust him says a lot.  Anyway, it's kinda old ground now and I'm doing my best to move on and focus on our amazing resurgence. 

[jimtastic56]

2 hours ago, sage said:

Against all predictions, and feelings at the the time, Mr Pearce is still at Derby and is seemingly valued and trusted by David Clowes. 

Was he completely innocent in the financial meltdown or does he just know where the bodies are buried.

 

 

During the sorry mess, Pearce went on Radio Derby to assure us that DCFC was being jointly run by Mel and The Sheikh. He clearly was being kept in the dark. By the way Sheffield Utd are now under embargo for not keeping up payments for players . Do they still owe us anything for Bogle and Lowe ? We certainly haven’t been paid for Ebiowei.

[Betty Swollocks]

17 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

He was a Director, and a professional accountant. It was his job to stand up to anything that’s wrong. 

He was a non shareholding Director and ultimately simply a paid employee like everyone else at the club, with a family to support. He has the ear of Mel, but had zero power to make decisions.

His only course of action to remove himself would be to resign, but that would mean no income at a time when the world was suffering from the effects of the pandemic and not many companies were hiring. How many people could simply walk out on a well paid job?

Hopefully, he has learnt lessons? By all accounts he is very good at his job and well thought of in the footballing world so maybe he is trying hard to redeem himself by helping make DCFC a stable and successful club once more?

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

The "only obeying orders" aspect troubles me, yes, if he'd stood up to Mel he'd have been sacked but I was fairly sure if you're a chartered accountant your reputation for integrity is everything.

Clowes trust him enough to keep him, or, he knows enough to make getting someone else not worth it.

Ultimately, it's hard to not see him as part of Mel Morris and the financial disaster and EFL problems. Can he ever atone for that in the eyes of us fans? It'll be hard to do, as presumably the club becomes sound and well run financially we'll all just never even think about him. Functions like accounts never ever get credit for doing the job well, only blame for mistakes.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

11 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

During the sorry mess, Pearce went on Radio Derby to assure us that DCFC was being jointly run by Mel and The Sheikh. He clearly was being kept in the dark. By the way Sheffield Utd are now under embargo for not keeping up payments for players . Do they still owe us anything for Bogle and Lowe ? We certainly haven’t been paid for Ebiowei.

Did wonder that.  Bogle had a sell on and pretty sure some was based on appearances..  

[Comrade 86]

Pretty clear that behind the veneer, Morris was a raging egomaniac. I'm more inclined to believe that Pearce was the one left desperately trying to hold everything together, than the one of the principal causes. In truth, only Morris, Q and Mr Clowes would really know and both of the latter two have supported him to the hilt. Perhaps that should be good enough for us fans, though it's completely understandable that some find it hard to give him a clean slate.

Whatever the truth, I'd now much rather look forward, than back. The books, by all accounts, look good and the curve is upward. Time to let it go perhaps?

[FlyBritishMidland]

Quantuma, DC and even CK all said how helpful SP had/has been.  If DC didn’t want him around he’d have gone by now.  I think he was MM’s scapegoat.  MM was a business man.  It’s well known he interfered with the football side of the club which, arguably, is the bit he knew least about.  Imagine what he would be like when it came to running the financial side, something he had vast experience in throughout his career.  He must have been a nightmare to work with/for.

Edited January 20, 2023 by FlyBritishMidland

[Papahet]

He reported respected fans to the police, with absolutely nothing threatening being said on social media ETC.

That's where any credibility was lost, he shouldnt be here with the manor he went about the BS takeover with Bin Zayed alone either..

[PistoldPete]

1 hour ago, Betty Swollocks said:

He was a non shareholding Director and ultimately simply a paid employee like everyone else at the club, with a family to support. He has the ear of Mel, but had zero power to make decisions.

His only course of action to remove himself would be to resign, but that would mean no income at a time when the world was suffering from the effects of the pandemic and not many companies were hiring. How many people could simply walk out on a well paid job?

Hopefully, he has learnt lessons? By all accounts he is very good at his job and well thought of in the footballing world so maybe he is trying hard to redeem himself by helping make DCFC a stable and successful club once more?

 

Any Director has legal responsibilities. He is not just like an ordinary employee. 
 

having said that I don’t think Derby did break any rules and it was as much the EFL’s fault as anyone else apart from Mel. 

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

1 hour ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Did wonder that.  Bogle had a sell on and pretty sure some was based on appearances..  

Sorry to say, Quantuma sold the sell on clause for caviar and a box of Cubans for after one of their lunches. 

(Cuban cigars before anyone gets hopeful about a Wanchopesque Cuban centre forward)

[Betty Swollocks]

4 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

Any Director has legal responsibilities. He is not just like an ordinary employee. 
 

having said that I don’t think Derby did break any rules and it was as much the EFL’s fault as anyone else apart from Mel. 

All correct of course, but we/he didnt break any laws of the country or accounts laws so he didnt do anything illegal from that perspective.

All we were found guilty of (eventually and under pressure from Gibson and Couhig) was breaking a minor efl rule.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

23 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Sorry to say, Quantuma sold the sell on clause for caviar and a box of Cubans for after one of their lunches. 

(Cuban cigars before anyone gets hopeful about a Wanchopesque Cuban centre forward)

20 Bensons and a McTurk special for Lowes add ons I heard

[DavesaRam]

4 hours ago, PistoldPete said:

He’s a qualified accountant so I don’t think he can be absolved of blame given that our accounts were flawed. 
 

That said as I said many times, EFl made a mountain out of a molehill. I don’t believe that we broke any rules other than maybe making the disclosure of the method as clear as it could have been. 

Curiously the rule we “broke” all thise years ago wasn’t in the EFL rule book until February last year! ?

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

2 minutes ago, DavesaRam said:

Curiously the rule we “broke” all thise years ago wasn’t in the EFL rule book until February last year! ?

Absolute rubbish.

 

 

It was 5 months after that.  Even worse

[gfs1ram]

51 minutes ago, DavesaRam said:

Curiously the rule we “broke” all thise years ago wasn’t in the EFL rule book until February last year! ?

That's why I wish Mel had kept funding the Club. I really would have liked to see him take the EFL to court over the points deductions and Gibson to court over the extortion. 

[Ellafella]

4 hours ago, angieram said:

Or he might just feel that he wants to put right some of the wrongs of the past?

He almost single-handedly kept us running in administration. 

The Club has moved on, so should we.

This ^. I agree with; but:
Given the songs that echoed loudly around PP at the time you have to admire SP’s stamina to stay. Undoubtedly he’s a talented number cruncher; but is there still an elephant in the room? 
Does the Club just forget and move on or is there the need for public exoneration? Or is the fact he’s still here, the Ipso Facto exoneration? 

[Kernow]

Mr Clowes has made bold, head over heart decisions since the start, ironically since making a heart over head decision to buy us in the first place.

He’s made clear decisions he thinks will benefit us as a Club on and off the pitch, so replacing Pearce would’ve been a fairly favourable decision for him to make, all things considered.

He was an easy target along with the administrators as we rightfully looked for someone to vent our anger at when Morris vanished off the face of the Earth for a while. The fact he’s trusted enough to be a key part of our rebuild is good enough for me. For now, anyway.

[DavesaRam]

3 hours ago, Kernow said:

Mr Clowes has made bold, head over heart decisions since the start, ironically since making a heart over head decision to buy us in the first place.

He’s made clear decisions he thinks will benefit us as a Club on and off the pitch, so replacing Pearce would’ve been a fairly favourable decision for him to make, all things considered.

He was an easy target along with the administrators as we rightfully looked for someone to vent our anger at when Morris vanished off the face of the Earth for a while. The fact he’s trusted enough to be a key part of our rebuild is good enough for me. For now, anyway.

So should we now sing "Steven Pearce, please stay at our club"?