General Radox 5 minute Forum

[MarkG]

Have to agree with the concerns. He may well do more than we see and if so, fair play but, the image we get to see and hear, is not working.
He may well have been a good "headmaster" but that role became more political in nature many years ago and I fear, that is how he sees his role with OUFC. The sound bites and non commited answers in a fans forum, especially one of only 5 minutes duration, are counter productive. KR talks from his heart (not connected to brain on many a time) Tiger enthuses over his "toy" and Zaki talks as a financial whizz kid and sells the product. We want to hear stuff that makes us feel good not the circumnavigating and repetitive political/management speak that we get from N McW. He's in the wrong job.

Are people expecting him to be more of a PR guy, giving out lovely soundbites like our friends in the North? I suspect N McW sees his role as managing the club on a day-to-day basis, making sure the safety team are in place, matches are organised, away travel sorted, the ticket office is running. Obviously not doing all that stuff himself, but keeping track that these are being done.

 

[Manorlounger]

Are people expecting him to be more of a PR guy, giving out lovely soundbites like our friends in the North? I suspect N McW sees his role as managing the club on a day-to-day basis, making sure the safety team are in place, matches are organised, away travel sorted, the ticket office is running. Obviously not doing all that stuff himself, but keeping track that these are being done.

I don't mind how he sees his role, what I mind is that he isn't good at being the voice of the club. Reportedly, he is good at doing those things that you mention, I have no way of proving or disproving. I just don't want to listen to him not answering questions.

 

[Upthecowboys]

I understand the criticism N McW gets as he does seem to not be able to give straight answers.

But I think it is in the fans interests for him to be involved behind the scenes with the club.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he is frustrated with the answers he gives, he might want to be more open.

 

[WokinghamYellow]

Compare Naill's communication to Zaki's and its worryingly chalk and cheese. If Niall was my boss, I wouldnt trust a word he says! Evasive, vague, cryptic and defensive. All things you shouldnt be when tasked with openness. I think these PR exercises are great in some ways but when you have Niall answering questions like its a police interview, it undoes the good work the other board members have done recently.

Haha he should have just done a "No Comment" Interview like they all do on 24 hours in Poloce custody

 

[ZeroTheHero]

I guess the vast majority of us don't know what he does day to day or how well he does it. Hopefully he is bloody brilliant. Or cheap. Or both.

But putting him up as club spokesman is simply a bad idea as he sounds as evasive and uninformative as KR and Zaki sound open and enthusiastic.

 

[Left Wing Cross]

Are people expecting him to be more of a PR guy, giving out lovely soundbites like our friends in the North? I suspect N McW sees his role as managing the club on a day-to-day basis, making sure the safety team are in place, matches are organised, away travel sorted, the ticket office is running. Obviously not doing all that stuff himself, but keeping track that these are being done.

If it is not his strength, perhaps he should delegate participating in forums to someone else?

 

[Junior_1]

I guess the vast majority of us don't know what he does day to day or how well he does it. Hopefully he is bloody brilliant. Or cheap. Or both.

But putting him up as club spokesman is simply a bad idea as he sounds as evasive and uninformative as KR and Zaki sound open and enthusiastic.

Well then the club should provide us with a little bit on insight into the role that he plays. We may all be doing him and the club a massive disservice. But personally, and from what I’ve heard, we are not..

 

[DannyW]

Although I don't think he's very comfortable doing the media or public thing, I think if you ask any board member about the debt to D Eales the answer will be exactly the same as the MD gave

 

[MarkG]

Also just speculation, but does anyone think the Eales repayments may have been restructured? The takeover was Feb 2018, the loan note repayments were due April and September 2018 and presumably a balance at some time in 2019 (as the notes are called 2019 notes). The OUFC accounts at June 2018 show £1.1M due as after one year (so after June 2019), and £2.4M within one year. Trade debtors were £2.2M (transfer fee instalments?). So the transfer fee instalments were only enough to pay the within one year part. The charge is still showing as owing at Companies House. Trade creditors had jumped significantly to £1.9M from some 400K two years before. Part is presumably the service charge, perhaps some is pay-ons due from player sales? But this was a time when we were getting winding up petitions.

My thinking is that it does Eales no favours to call in the debt if there is no money to pay it, but allowing the club more time to pay means at least he gets something rather than nothing.

So this might tie in with N McW being unable to talk about the debt in any detail.

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

Are people expecting him to be more of a PR guy, giving out lovely soundbites like our friends in the North? I suspect N McW sees his role as managing the club on a day-to-day basis, making sure the safety team are in place, matches are organised, away travel sorted, the ticket office is running. Obviously not doing all that stuff himself, but keeping track that these are being done.

Fair point. You might be right. In which case he could just say that himself and talk about all those important things instead of spouting management bollox. The evasiveness, failure to deal with specifics, always 'principles', the jargon and patronising tone does my head in. There's lots of encouraging stuff happening at the club but most of it seems to be happening despite not because of him.

 

[Shropshire U]

As to what Mr McWilliams said, or didn't, I cannot be arsed to waste any more time over his avoidance of any clear answers. As @Fourthstand so succinctly put it: a master class from Neil McWilliams in political skullduggery.

Funny how you never see NMcW and ScotchEgg in the same room at the same time...

 

[Ox4Eva]

The MD should be from a business/commercial background and not from the education sector!

 

[DavidB]

Funny how you never see NMcW and ScotchEgg in the same room at the same time...

Could be an allergy thing!

 

[Scotchegg]

arrived a short while ago ....

Dear Sarge As I am sure you will have seen, it's been a busy 24 hours! It was the busiest weekend since I came to the club and so many people worked incredibly hard to make things happen. I watched the game at Blackpool on iFollow at home in Thailand and had friends round to watch it: their comments were nearly all about the style of football and how easy to watch this team is. That is my message to fans really. Those who have been coming to games have been excellent but there are lots of people out there who love this football club and for one reason or another haven’t been coming to games. We want to change that. We want fans to come and see for themselves what we are building. Today we signed two very exciting players in George Thorne and Matt Taylor and I saw that Matt Taylor signing was trending on Twitter in the UK! That’s exciting and is just another sign that we are starting to make things happen here. Our next challenge is to turn that interest in to bigger crowds at matches. We are investing into the team and also the infrastructure at the club and we would love fans to be part of it throughout the season. If you used to hold a season ticket, we would love to see you back as a season ticket holder. We now have tickets from £299 for adults and of course our family offers. If you buy tickets regularly then why not upgrade that into a season ticket? You save money that way too.I am also extending our offer on season tickets, so that those of you who have purchased either Peterborough or Burton already, we will refund one of those tickets off of the cost of a season ticket*. And if you saw the signings on social media and wondered what was happening then come to a game and see for yourself. We play Burton at home tomorrow and then MIllwall in the Carabao Cup next Tuesday and Coventry in the league the following Saturday. This is a very positive place to be right now, so please do back Karl and his team and come along and support your beloved club. I look forward to seeing you at a match soon. Best Wishes,

Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth Chairman​

Are people expecting him to be more of a PR guy, giving out lovely soundbites like our friends in the North? I suspect N McW sees his role as managing the club on a day-to-day basis, making sure the safety team are in place, matches are organised, away travel sorted, the ticket office is running. Obviously not doing all that stuff himself, but keeping track that these are being done.

Also just speculation, but does anyone think the Eales repayments may have been restructured? The takeover was Feb 2018, the loan note repayments were due April and September 2018 and presumably a balance at some time in 2019 (as the notes are called 2019 notes). The OUFC accounts at June 2018 show £1.1M due as after one year (so after June 2019), and £2.4M within one year. Trade debtors were £2.2M (transfer fee instalments?). So the transfer fee instalments were only enough to pay the within one year part. The charge is still showing as owing at Companies House. Trade creditors had jumped significantly to £1.9M from some 400K two years before. Part is presumably the service charge, perhaps some is pay-ons due from player sales? But this was a time when we were getting winding up petitions.

My thinking is that it does Eales no favours to call in the debt if there is no money to pay it, but allowing the club more time to pay means at least he gets something rather than nothing.

So this might tie in with N McW being unable to talk about the debt in any detail.

Two very good points. NMcW is not good at the PR side of things, and that's not really his role. Zaki appears to have taken on the role of spokesman for the board, and it's something he is significantly better at. NMcW needs to focus on the day to day stuff, and leave the questions to others.

(That said, the questions sent in, or certainly those selected, are pointless. Asking the MD about players is as stupid as it would be asking KR about stewards)

The point about the restructuring of the repayments is, I think, spot on. I would guess that following the costs of arbitration and additional costs, we've looked to spread the money owed to Eales over a longer period. There may be some agreement where the details are not for disclosure which is maybe why no one is able to give a clear answer. Ideally we want to be debt free as quickly as possible, but maybe this has enabled Tiger and co. to focus on other payments out.

 

[Scotchegg]

Funny how you never see NMcW and ScotchEgg in the same room at the same time...

Or do you?

 

[Shropshire U]

Or do you?

Well...yes, technically I guess you do.
It's all done with mirrors...

 

[Gary Baldi]

If the costs are restructured, I'd be interested to know if the interest rate charged is still the same?

 

[Cx]

When is Tim Davies going to be on again? Refreshingly open and informative 5 minutes last time he was on, I'd love to hear from him again.

 

[Gary Baldi]

That's why he won't be on any time soon then?

 

[Osleroad]

Thought Tiger spoke quite coherently tonight..his spoken English is improving and did I hear right that a poss. New player was flying in from the States or was it the early evening Leffe talking