Mervyn King joins the Board

[Simon Page]

Good to see the Wit of a Banker is back. Older readers will remember his last appearance on the board, unveiled at the Leisure Centre during one of those glorious 1990s AGMs. He was only Deputy Guv'nor then and Eddie George banned him from taking up the post.

I notice his actual role isn't mentioned so I guess he's doubling our pool of non-execs. It'd be nice to think he'd be Chief Financial Officer but that appears to still be the man from MBNA. Anyway, Merv has always been risk averse. Whether that's good (we won't be Leeds) or bad (we will be the Stripeyfilth) is anyone's guess. He did share quite a few philosophies with Greenspan during his time at the BoE and we know how the Greenspan spin keeps coming undone. But equally he was reluctant to bail out the banks, instead believing they should face the consequences of their actions. He reckons his policy of low inflation rates and ditching false inflation caps helped avert a depression. Maybe, but his inability to effect bank excess, New Labour's fantasy accountancy and the inadequacy of light-touch regulation suggests he might be a voice of sense and caution but pragmatic enough to go with what the big boys say regardless. He reminds me a lot of Vince Cable - talks a good game, can appear sane, intelligent and for the people, but ultimately very quick to ditch the rhetoric and go along with everyone else.

He's basically a Liberal from non-priveledged stock, so the nerdy kid at school but at least he knows of life before helicopters on the rugger field. He's worked his way into the establishment rather than inherited that status and remains at heart an economics geek. That would make him a brilliant visiting professor but God knows how much use it is to a football club. That said, I'd like him on our side during any sale.

[pooligan]

For a moment i thought we had signed Marlon King when i saw the headline .Thankfully it is Mervyn

[Chico Hamilton III]

I Like the way he always plays the pantomime villain at the PDC darts. Really winds the crowd up

[Skerra]

I've just had a really horrible thought - Gary Neville is not exactly setting the world alight in Spain, particularly just having been spanked 7-0 by Barca.

Looking at his record and our board's way of thinking, I'd put him nailed on to be our next Manager. Hope I can wake from this continuous nightmare!!

[dave.woodhall]

It was mentioned 2 months ago that a new Chairman and board member were on the brink of being announced, so I doubt it.

A lot of things are mentioned. It doesn't mean they're true.

[passport1]

The only hope I have on this news is that with his contacts in the financial world he might be able to sound out someone who wishes to buy Lerner out. Oh and explain to them what this club means to the supporters in order that we avoid another f%$*"wit.

[Nelson Lodge]

I can only see this as a positive move considering the news that has been comming out of Villa Park recently.
I do not think King would get involved if he believed that the Club is destined for more failure and


he will not stand back and let that happen.
He is a smart man and a Villa fan.

ffs, King was an abject failure during his tenure in the Bank of England. He completely failed in his duties to maintain the stability of the financial system in the UK with the net result resulting in a taxpayer funded buyout of toxic corporate institutions to the detriment of living standards throughout the state.

I guess that is one way of looking at it, the fact that Gordon Brown (as Chancellor)had transferred the Monitoring of the Banks to the FSA and the Treasury and failed to Listen to King and others at the BofE is another.

Quite right. It was the Financial Services Authority who were supposed to regulate the Banks, after that task was removed from the B of E. The clue is in the name.
So King had no responsibility for that.
Arguably if the regulatory powers had remained with the BofE then the UK banking crisis in 2008, either may not have happened or it would have been much less serious.

It is the FSA and their top people who are the abject failures here.

[TopDeck113]

I've just had a really horrible thought - Gary Neville is not exactly setting the world alight in Spain, particularly just having been spanked 7-0 by Barca.

Looking at his record and our board's way of thinking, I'd put him nailed on to be our next Manager. Hope I can wake from this continuous nightmare!!

I had that premonition earlier today, too!

[bertlambshank]

Why do i get the feeling this is like the power companies cutting prices after the winter.

[RichardBatchelor]

You will never EVER read an article where the name Mervyn King is written without being followed by 'former Governor of the Bank of England', or formerly of course 'Governor of the Bank of England.'

If an article just mentions Mervyn King, nobody knows who he is.

[Nelson Lodge]

According to the BBC sports news he was appointed President of Worcestershire CC last year.

I would have preferred him to be a Bear, and not a Pear.

[spartacuss]

I recall sometime during 2011 leaving the Trinity at the end of a match via one of the central exits, suddenly discovering I was shoulder to shoulder with Merv. So I took the opportunity to tell him to: "Give the bankers hell, Mervyn!"  He turned to me, without breaking his stride, and said "But there has to be the political will..." (The Tory/Lapdog coalition were, of course, the political masters then.)

[Tony Erdington]

yeah but can he play left back?

[Simon Page]

Quite right. It was the Financial Services Authority who were supposed to regulate the Banks, after that task was removed from the B of E. The clue is in the name.
So King had no responsibility for that.
Arguably if the regulatory powers had remained with the BofE then the UK banking crisis in 2008, either may not have happened or it would have been much less serious.

It is the FSA and their top people who are the abject failures here.

True in terms of the structure, but no-one can claim their hands are clean. Brown set up the triumvirate of regulation by the FSA, an independent BoE with inflation and monetary responsibility, and No.11 having control of economic policy. But they all were meant to work together and lines of demarkation weren't carved in stone. In reality, Brown has ultimate power and responsibility but none of the three piped up ahead of the crash. All were prepared, publicly, to go with near-zero regulation and promote the City. King was by no means the worst culprit but he was neither clever enough politically to punch his weight as the country's top banker, nor strong enough to hold sufficient sway with any one of three Chancellors. It'd be as wrong to claim King was the main factor in the crash as it would be to suggest his time at the Bank was anything more than mediocre. When you have three prongs of economic control and the economy crashes so spectacularly, I don't think anyone comes out of it as anything but a failure. There are degrees of incompetence, and I'd argue Brown takes even more of a share than the FSA, but let's not pretend Merv and the BoE were effective during that free-for-all and subsequent freefall.

I'm not sure he would ever have been able to take on the might of the cocaine-addled twats in the City and the short-termism of governments, but do feel he was willing to give in a bit too easily and didn't really have what it took to put himself in a position of power, a la Greenspan. Safe, middle of the road, pragmatic, decent...

[ciggiesnbeer]

A very intelligent man. Hopefully he can smack some sense into he rest of the board.