New CEO appointed - Ben Mansford, formerly of Leeds, Barnsley, Blackpool and Maccabi Tel Aviv

Good luck Ben.  You have five items on your to-do list that are immediate and urgent.  Please deal with these as a matter of priority. 

• Football strategy Create and communicate a clear division of responsibilities between CEO, manager and sporting leadership. 
• Financial sustainability Provide transparent reporting on operating performance, wage commitments and the financial risks of relegation and promotion. 
• Recruitment Urgently impose a coherent recruitment process aligned with the manager's short- to mid-term needs and the club's long-term strategy.
• Commercial growth Deliver measurable improvement in sponsorship, hospitality, attendance-related income and other revenue streams. 
• Supporter trust Create regular communication, credible commitments and clear explanations of major decisions.  

Only when you've tackled these, should you get on with some of the other, pressing tasks: ticket pricing, promotions, beer, chips and, of course, pot-holes. 

soapboxsam said:

Dave Rudd said:

Henry Irving said:

This is the first.

Welcome Ben, don't know much about you but you have relevant experience and we've needed a proper CEO for a long while,  longer than 19 months. 

Apologies for starting a thread at 5.04pm.  I've asked the mods to delete mine (which was the first) as the later threads are receiving more attention.

Dave, it's a cruel world as you won by a minute
But it a results business and it's all about the numbers 🤷🏻‍♂️

Same thing happened to me when Sam Neill passed, but thought it might seem a bit petty to raise it in the circumstances.
RIP Sam.

For people not aware of the naming terminology, what role does a CEO have within a club that a chairman doesn’t? What’s the difference between Ben and Gavin’s roles?

I no longer see the league table with promotion, relegation and play off lines drawn.

My lines are drawn after the 6th, 12th and 18th placed clubs.  I hope our new CEO also understands it.  We are presently in the fourth quartile, but our ambition according to Rodwell is to get to the second quartile.  The first quartile is obviously out of reach to our club.

I mean, talk about naked ambition ... the thought of a second quartile finish is probably the stuff of dreams to most of us.

Welcome Ben,  no need to push the boat out, most here would be chuffed to finish in the third quartile. 

Danny Addick said:

For people not aware of the naming terminology, what role does a CEO have within a club that a chairman doesn’t? What’s the difference between Ben and Gavin’s roles?

The Chairman leads the board of directors and focuses on governance (are we doing things right?) the CEO takes care of day to day operations, much more hands on, and delivers the board's commercial strategy (are we doing the right things?). The Chairman's role is important but is not necessarily an arduous job in terms of workload (Gavin has his own company to run and that has been the main issue without a CEO) - the CEO does the heavy lifting.

Meet the new boss...

Danny Addick said:

bobmunro said:

Danny Addick said:

For people not aware of the naming terminology, what role does a CEO have within a club that a chairman doesn’t? What’s the difference between Ben and Gavin’s roles?

The Chairman leads the board of directors and focuses on governance (are we doing things right?) the CEO takes care of day to day operations, much more hands on, and delivers the board's commercial strategy (are we doing the right things?). The Chairman's role is important but is not necessarily an arduous job in terms of workload (Gavin has his own company to run and that has been the main issue without a CEO) - the CEO does the heavy lifting.

Thank you very much much for this. So he’s not even a full time chairman??

He never has been. He has his own business in North America

https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/update-structure-clubs-board

https://www.cafc.co.uk/staff

Sword65pf said:

Can I be the 1st to say I didn’t want THAT CEO!!! 

Ok, off you go then …😉

Welcome Jason 

Danny Addick said:

For people not aware of the naming terminology, what role does a CEO have within a club that a chairman doesn’t? What’s the difference between Ben and Gavin’s roles?

One works there, the other doesn't, as chairman is usually a non-executive role. 

eastterrace6168 said:

Sword65pf said:

Can I be the 1st to say I didn’t want THAT CEO!!! 

Ok, off you go then …😉

😂😂, I trust you know I was being flippant?, honestly I really couldn’t give a shit who it is, just sort out the football on the pitch, now I know people feel the need to know everything that goes on, but ultimately I want to see us winning games, sorry if that’s too basic an attitude but I’m a bit tired of the political whys and wherefores of our club. NJ and the team need to get their acts together, the owners  need to decide if they are serious about making a success of the investment and show it. Good luck to the new fella, just do a your job properly please.

Danny Addick said:

Airman Brown said:

Danny Addick said:

For people not aware of the naming terminology, what role does a CEO have within a club that a chairman doesn’t? What’s the difference between Ben and Gavin’s roles?

One works there, the other doesn't, as chairman is usually a non-executive role. 

Was Richar Murray non-exec?

Mostly. He certainly wasn't based at the club and never had an office there. Football clubs aren't models of good governance, to say the least, and lines get blurred around the football side in particular.

Martin Simons was chairman of the football club in any case. 

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

I no longer see the league table with promotion, relegation and play off lines drawn.

My lines are drawn after the 6th, 12th and 18th placed clubs.  I hope our new CEO also understands it.  We are presently in the fourth quartile, but our ambition according to Rodwell is to get to the second quartile.  The first quartile is obviously out of reach to our club.

I mean, talk about naked ambition ... the thought of a second quartile finish is probably the stuff of dreams to most of us.

Welcome Ben,  no need to push the boat out, most here would be chuffed to finish in the third quartile. 

For me the league table only had one line drawn, between 22nd and 21st place.

Hertsseasider said:

WARNING - The attached link contains the words "Michael Appleton"

https://avftt.co.uk/index.php?threads/congratulations-ben-mansford.73934/

He was apparently known by some at Blackpool as ‘bullshit Ben’.
Anyway, if the Curbs Stand turnstiles aren’t fully operational by the Bolton home game then he is clearly no good.