Ford interview

[mikefleet]

BBC Radio Kent interview 9 adn half minutes long.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/sport/gravesend_northfleet/index.shtml

 

then click on the link

[FleetFanatic]

BBC Sport also have an update.....

[jc]

Interesting stuff - so when Andy said in his original statement that he lacked the necessary 'backing', it does seem to mean board-room backing now.

 

The shock Brian expresses in today's Distorter at Andy's departure does seem to go against this somewhat though. It's getting more difficult to understand by the minute.

[Nols1974]

But he seemed most annoyed about being a part time club , something thats really out of the boards hands for now

[Matt (GNFC)]

A very interesting speech given by Andy on the radio. After listening to it, i sadly think that we've made the wrong decision. There's only so far this club can correctly go in its current state. I think any manager who comes in will do well to keep us up over the next two seasons. All the best Andy and thanks for your efforts. I think Andy may end up managing Dover but thats my personal hunch.

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

As Andy points out improvements year on year and he still felt that there was a lack of confidence in him from the Board.

 

What more could they have asked from his 7 or so years at the helm.

 

On the few occassions that I spoke with Andy he was very focused on moving the club forward and enabling the club to get to a stage where full time footballers at the Fleet were a possibility.

He has got us so close, and deserved the backing and chance to push us closer.

 

If the board were shocked at his decision, it doesn't sound as though they gave him a chance to sleep on it, or even reject it.

 

We have made some strange decisions off the field lately, and this one is the strangest.

 

 

Thanks for the memories Andy, you've enabled the fans of the Fleet to get some pride back in their team. Good luck for the future.

[JimGNFC]

Why was Andy not given the necessary support by the Board? They need to explain themselves.

 

The players and supporters had faith in him. Quite frankly the Board could have refused his resignation.

 

A once popular Board may find they are not quite as popular with the fanbase after letting Andy go without so much as a whimper - ESPECIALLY if their next appointment proves to be a disaster to the fortunes of the Club.

 

There are a number of area's of Andy's interview that concern me. To quote:

 

" Pushed into a little bit of a corner after the meeting (with the Directors) . . . if they wanted to . . . get someone else in, which I tended to feel thats what they wanted, I'd make their job a little bit easier" (2 mims 8 seconds)

 

"I needed the support of people and erm perhaps I didn't get it and thats why I resigned" (5 mins 41 seconds)

 

Clearly Andy was frustrated about the fact the team was not full-time and for this the Board cannot be blamed as if the finances aren't there its a fact of life.

 

However, the Gravesend fans as a rule are a fairly level-headed bunch and realise the financial restrictions Andy was working in so are likely to feel the Board should have done more to have kept him.

[jc]

Quote:

" Pushed into a little bit of a corner after the meeting (with the Directors) . . . if they wanted to . . . get someone else in, which I tended to feel thats what they wanted, I'd make their job a little bit easier" (2 mims 8 seconds)

This bit concerns me too. Clearly, if Andy was hell-bent on leaving, then the board wouldn't have been able to persuade him to stay anyway. Interestingly, Brian gave his side of the story in yesterday's Distorter and confirmed that the meeting after the Shots game was at Andy's instigation, suggesting he clearly had concerns about the job. But if he was indeed given the impression that he didn't have the board's confidence, as quotes like the one above suggest, Wobbly's quite right to say that the board have made a mistake by not trying harder to persuade Andy to stay. As Matt suggests, the club has probably reached the height of its potential with the resources it has at the moment.

The worst thing of it all would be if, after an ostensibly happy working relationship between Andy and Brian over the last seven-and-a-bit years, it all ended in acrimony, which now sadly seems possible.

[Hempstead Gaz]

I suspect the whole story will never come out, Fleet do tend to keep this sort of thing in-house. However, I reckon Andy resigned in order to keep pride , respect and self esteem intact rather than the ignomany of being sacked after the best 7 years in Fleet's history.

His contract was up at the end of the season, who is to say the board would have even renewed it?