Christian Purslow - Resigned

[Dante Lavelli]

Monchi = Football side
Heck = Commercial side

Seems likes there’s a gap in the structure for:

1. an individual accountable for the fan experience/community/communications/customer service
2. Big vision/long term plans - who decides we need a new stand or a music venue in the car park or a second academy

 

[Toronto Villa]

I thought Heck was providing access to US players also?

[rob_bridge]

At the very least, he gave us back some credibility in the echelons of football administration. There's no doubt he's respected in the business.

I’d concur with that. As I said earlier we had people in similar role for too long too remember being utterly out their depth to the job in hand.

He played a not insignificant part in making us relevant

[eamonn]

He was better than Tom Fox.

He was last seen playing bass in the Midwest (may have been Iowa) for skiffle-combo The False Narratives.

[kippaxvilla2]

With shirt sales the support group.

[lovejoy]

With the whole super league thing, he was the guy on the news standing up for the other 14 with coherence and poise. He represented the club very well.

[olaftab]

He was better than Tom Fox.

High praise, indeed😂

[olaftab]

There was a brand new Rolls Royce silver shadow in the farmhouse pub car park on saturday reg V1lla. was that purslow?

People on salaries don’t drive cars like RR SS.

[trinityoap]

Thanks DW.

[tomd2103]

He was better than Tom Fox.

High praise, indeed😂

Yeah, that's a pretty low bar of achievement to set.

[boozey182]

I might be mis-remembering something, or just completely making it up, but wasn't there a rumour a little while ago that Purslow wanted to retire in the next 1 or 2 years? Could it be that, rather than being forced out or marginalised, this has been the plan all along? He came in and steadied a ship that was on the brink of sinking, but he was never going to be here for the long-term. The shares in the club were put there to be like a retirement gift.

FWIW, I think Purslow was a bit of a coup for a Championship club. From the absolute shambles that we had been for a long time, he bought us a lot of respect, pretty much overnight. If you were a prospective manager or signing, who would you be more impressed by - Purslow or Xia (or that big fella who ran us for a while - Keith someone?). Purslow carries a air of professionalism that we had lacked for an awfully long time.

However, I don't think he really understood the game of football or anything about football fans. It's difficult to know for sure what he was responsible for, but the Drinkwater-Barkley-Gerrard acquisitions all seemed to have his fingerprints on them, and they were all disasters to varying degrees. I think he had a very simplistic view of how the game works, and he seemed to be so keen on expanding our 'brand' that it took priority over everything else. It's the only reason that I can imagine he thought Gerrard was a good fit for us, and I think he genuinely thought that as fans we would be impressed that he managed to convince a 'Big Name' to join us.

So for all the good he did, and there was plenty, I never felt that he ever 'got' us. And maybe you don't need to in order to be a successful CEO, but I think that a lot of the mistakes that he made could have been avoiding if he understood the fanbase a bit more.

If he would have been as bad at his job as some of his predecessors, we could have been in an awful lot of trouble. But I don't think he was ever going to be the man to take us on the jump from being a 'sleeping giant' to a 'very much awake behemoth' - and that's what we need right now.

[Risso]

Keith Wyness, boozey. An absolutely useless twat.

[LeeB]

Keith Wyness, boozey. An absolutely useless twat.

That Lewis Grabban/ Alexa thing, fuck me. Six months down the line didn't need Alexa to tell him Grabban was playing for someone else because we hadn't got a pot to piss in.

[boozey182]

Keith Wyness, boozey. An absolutely useless twat.

Yes! That's him - he was dreadful. And didn't he have a very public fallout with Xia when it all blew up? I mean, surely he had some idea of what he was getting involved with - or, at the very least, should have done some due diligence before taking the job. Another chancer.

[Duncan Shaw]

With the whole super league thing, he was the guy on the news standing up for the other 14 with coherence and poise. He represented the club very well.

Yes, he was very good in that, and i think had some respect in that company, which we will need to ensure we maintain.