Really pleased for Coventry City and their fans with the announcement that they are returning to the Ricoh next month after a horrible two year exile in Northampton Great news, & well done to their fans who campaigned so hard to return. However.....I was surprised to see the news was announced by a Coventry City FC senior executive called Steve Waggott. Is this the same Waggott who helped reduce our Club to rubble, picking up a £500k a year salary whilst walking round the Valley on match days with his shirt hanging out, eating donuts ? Surely he hasn't wangled his way in to another football club....does anyone know if it is the same bloke ?
I think it is the same guy. Coventry are nowhere near being out of the woods just yet, but this is a great day for them.
Yup is definitely the same guy: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/look-steve-waggott-says-coventry-7650856 Glad that they're back in the Coventry area now though (Hopefully the next step will be for the fans to get their own Stadium IN Coventry)
Cheers. Incredible that Waggott is still nicking a living in football. One of my least favourite Charlton characters in the last 30 years, right up there with Alan Pardew, the dysentry bug in the Covered End bogs, and Reams. His appearance and demeanour seemed to sum up how we hit the buffers post Curbs. Anyone remember his programme notes ?
Don't believe everything rick told you, Nick. He had a personal agenda - and will say for the 1000th time he put noses out of joint when removing privileges like free alcohol on match day for certain members of staff, saving a ridiculous amount of money (the actual figure escapes me). He never got the credit he deserved, and was hung out to dry by Murray at the end. It's accurate to point out he's done a brilliant job at Coventry under very difficult circumstances. I'm not naive and know there were some things he would have changed himself, during his time with us but don't see the need for the personal attacks. In the same way the majority now stand against everitt and co, he was doing it from the inside, years ago. He could have had Everitts job after he went to CL to spout some crap, but the latter was so insignificant he didn't have to bother. A bitter man slandered a good mans name.
As I understand it Nick, Steve Waggott was the first man to stand up against the old guard (something that Reg should have done years before) and because of this he got a lot of stick and personal abuse from a Brown person on another forum RM stopped backing him and in the end somebody was brought into the club who would go even further with the re-organisation (Prothero). Starting the job of dragging the administrative side into the 21st Century did cost him his job (when RM turned against him) but it was a job continued under the chuckle brothers (by Prothero) and now by the Douche (Katrien). What Steve was trying to do was obviously correct but his own personal style could have done with a polish.
Agree with most of this. I still think he was hugely overpaid (£560,000 in one year alone) based on the Club's trajectory at the time, and that as the senior executive of CAFC his image was terrible.
Decent bloke, just was around at the wrong time. As SCP says a lot of the backlash was him trying to stop the old boys club routine. Noted he tended to be around in Barts after a defeat, while Murray used to swan in after a good victory to get his ring tonged.
The thing is Nick that if Charlton offered you the job as Chief Exec would you take it? Then if Murray said to you that the job had a salary of £500,000 would you turn round and say "No don't be silly the club can't afford that... pay me £100,000" ? The salary was probably based on what Reg was earning so Steve Waggott can't be blamed for that.
Given how badly the Club was faring at that time under Murray/Waggy/Parky - drawing a salary of that size which then became public knowledge due to AB, smacked of people sticking their noses in the trough and having a nosh - knowing a famine was just around the corner. He may have been a nice bloke- so was Peter Varney - but the way he went about the job left a lot to be desired. We were getting knocked out of the Cup by Northwich Victoria & there was Waggot, shirt hanging out as usual, down at Greenwich Town Hall collecting another community award. At that level the image is just as important as what you actually do - the guy was representing us in other club's boardrooms with donut cream smeared all over his fat chops.
I've never been under the impression it was 500k. I of corse never discussed money with Waggott, but I'd be very, very surprised if it was anywhere near that figure. Job wise - he did more than most will know. The creative ways he had to negotiate deals because there was literally zero for him to play with was something 85 of the teams in the FL wouldn't ever understand. His sole purpose was basically to cut costs - anyone given that task will always be deemed unpopular, but he did what Murray asked, though in the mean time he rubbed some of the bodies who felt they were more deserving because they had been at the club for years. It also didn't help he was employed ahead of a certain cretin..
