I doubt many (if any) of us know precisely what's going on behind those boardroom doors at the club, but what do you make of Gethin's role? Is he the puppet master or just the puppet? A committed rugby man allegedley brought in by Guy and Hall to replace The Riddler, he appears to have taken the bull by the horns and got on with the job despite the lack of pure footballing nous. Given that, who is making the decisions and sorting out these new contracts with experienced player agents, and whose decision was it to get rid of Chops before Malky arrived? I realise MM is here now and will bring an extra depth of knowledge, but is our Gethin showing some real ability in the job, or has someone got his hand up his backside pulling the strings?
I think it is a bit of both Sparks. He has had a steep learning curve in the last year or so and had to deal with some situations he wouldn't have dreamed of in his worst nightmare. However, he has come out of it stronger, with a much deeper knowledge of the game and has been involved in sorting out the recent deals albeit with players from Malky's wishlist. At the same time he has had to be politically and culturally sensitive with masters from another continent who do not have the British way of looking at things - he has probably had to do some things under orders, with far eastern arms up to their elbows in a very sensitive place. But with the help of their financial backing and his financial and people management the club is in a much better position than 12 months ago with the whole place being run on a much more professional basis, e.g. financial control and suppression of rumours regarding potential signings being held back as much as possible to prevent other "hawk" clubs jumping in. I think he is doing a good job and in the future the club will be held in much higher regard, on and off the pitch, as some of the sins of the past merge into the sands of time.
I think that Gethin is quite able to hold his own, he had to deal with agents at the Dragon's bigger money with football but the same principle. I also think that Gethin is not frightened to ask others for advise but at the end of the day he's his own man. I think Chops was thought to be part of the old drinking crowd and others higher than Gethin wanted rid. One thing he's done is stopped most of the leaks and that has to be a good thing.
Comes across as a clever communicator Spark.I think he leans more to a Geppetto than a Pinocchio.Not sure he took complete control of the Chops situation though.My guess is he and others were influenced by a senior well respected players comments.I think the guy is an asset to the club though.
It's a difficult one to pin point. Sparky and Blue have raised interesting questions and made valid points. Football and Rugby are very different games and the scale of financial transactions are much higher in football than Rugby. Countering that, Gethin is a qualified sports administrator and will have a sound grasp of running a sports club. At the Dragons he experienced the tight financial situation we find ourselves in, he will also have experienced the logistical problems associated with travel, training, etc, etc. It is evident that he is very eloquent and diplomatic, something I think will be key in dealing with the varied characters and cultures of the board and the press. In some ways, working in a 'sector' that you don't have experience in can be a good thing as you have to focus on your core skills and not get involved. Personally, working in market sectors and with technologies that I have little experience in means I focus on project / programme managing what I'm delivering letting those with the key knowledge deal with that detail. The more I know about something the more I dabble. As long as Gethin gets the right support around him he can get on with doing what he's paid to do and take a cold and calculating view of what is going on. He made an early positive impression on me and he continues to do so. If he's left to conduct the orchestra, and those playing the instruments play the right notes, we won't go far wrong. The club needs footballing nous, with people who have lived and breathed the game all their lives, but the CEO doesn't necessarily need to have it all. It's a team game on the pitch and a team game behind the scenes off it.
I think we're in more safer hands than when we were in the hands of the Riddler, though credit does have to be given to Peter for getting the stadium and making sure we didn't go into administration. I think that Jenkins is a bit more trusted after all he didn't have any Rugby clubs go bust under him and it must be quite hard having to deal with the Malaysians as well as a new turn over of management.
I would say he has had a baptism of fire in his first year with us and this has put him in an excellent position now. Possibly he was a bit tied up when DJ was here and that has now been lifted, Hopefully we shall benifit from the experience he has gained.
Direct Qoute from Gethin Jenkins "I am a professional sports administrator, the shape of the ball doexn't change the rules, the numbers might be bigger in football than rugby, but they still have to add up end up at the end of the day" He's done OK for me so far
Needed this article for a while now. Would be good to hear what all our posters think on this one. Have to say I do have concerns about our hierarchy, which are mainly founded on what I don't know. The Alan Shearer debacle was the first time I personally had cause for concern and the subsequent rumours about unproffessional interviews with Houghton and Di Matteo. I did not see why we should have ever been in dialogue with with Shearer. The word is that the Malaysians wanted a name to promote CCFC in the far East, but this seems a tad stupid as who cares if really if the manager is a big name or not? He was nowhere near the best candidate on offer and I think a waste of important time to even meet with. This said, maybe we were never really serious about Shearer and he used our meet with him to promote his own availability? But there are strong rumours that he even signed a contract. This really worries me. It would be great if the club denied this if this is all just heresay. On the other hand, Jenkins claims that Mackay was always the club's number one choice. (Always Jenkins's number one??) This would add up it seems. If you go on CCFC Player, the interview with Don Cowie suggests MM had good reason to know he WAS on his way here before the announcement was made. So if there was a disagreement with Jenkins and the Malaysians, Jenkins, it may seem, got his way. And thank God he did. How machiavellian (there's a word!!) this was is anyone's guess. Perhaps he could have thrown Shearer off by insisting CB would be on his way back? What is encouraging is that Jenkins got to make the right decision. I never shied away from the fact that I was a Dave Jones fan. It took a very strong decision to show him the door, and I support that action as the right move at the right time. This move showed us a certain strength and conviction from somewhere amongst the board. The subsequent appointment to me shows vision, a long term goal and an understanding of the changing landscape of football culture. I think Gethin is a little nervous and edgy at times when he speaks publicly, but he'll only get better. As pointed out above, he's eloquent enough and clear in his message. What is a total breath of fresh air is the minimalism of public statements. It is not in the interest of the club for the public to know the ins and outs of transfer budgets, transfer targets, debt levels, relationships within the board, progress of the forensic accounting etc. Something the previous regimes would have benifitted from understanding. When it comes to public statements - Less is more. My time as a Cardiff fan only stretches back to the Sam Hammam days. For me it most certainly feels like were in the most responsible hands that I've known.
Double dragon, you say there are 'strong rumours' that Shearer signed a contract. What strong rumours? If they are so strong why haven't they been mentioned on here, and if there is no substance in them why would the board or Jenkins bother to publicly refute them. Even mentioning that fact that the rumours exist would imply that there was truth in them and there obviously isn't. If he had signed a contract he would be the manager or there would be a law suit going on. There isn't so I assume he didn't and we all know he definitely isn't. I think these rumours are often started by so called city fans who have a secondry agenda to destabilise the club again for their own ends.
shearer is just an arrogant tw*t who needs to stop talking sh*te on the MOTD sofa and get into the real world if he wants to be a football manager. god help us if jenkins had been stupid enough to appoint him as our manager. anyway, DD, i'd rather jenkins than ridsdale any day of the week - he seems to be running a tight ship here so far, unlike ridsdale who splashed out stupid amounts of money on players we couldnt afford. when he does speak to the press he gets his points accross fine, he may lack charisma but i agree with you - the current setup seems much more professional than it has been in the past few years
Xsnaggle. Change 'strong rumours' to just plain rumours if need be, I'm not claiming this statement to be fact. I take your point that I may be giving this possible heresay kudos by repeating it on here. I would just like to know that it isn't true as is your point of view. Back to Sparkey's original point of the thread Xsnaggle, whats your opinion on Gethin Jenkins?
The way I see the Shearer debacle is very different from the leader on AAMB, the way I see it is that Shearer was 1 of the 20 plus people who put their CV to Cardiff City. He was interviewed by Gethin and others and when he realised he was not going to get the job, broke rank and like the knob he is run to the media with his story, not very professional there. At first it was said that Houghton and Di Matteo did not give good interviews, with Houghton giving a presentation with the West Ham badge on, of course the "leader" had to change that into Gethin was not very good etc etc. All the AA & CC muppets jumped to slag off Gethin. AA & CC are trying to discredit him because of their mate Sam.
Rhondda, Succinct and to the point. Gethin's first interview, with Malky present, was very impressive. They seemed to already have a rapport. Gethin is very professional, says what needs to be said and no more. I think it's much better to have a hint of a player coming and then 24 hours find he's here than days or weeks of speculation as in the past. Who knows what the season will bring but I'm very impressed with Gethin and Malky.
Meant to add that I'm impressed with a lot of the comments above. Some great points and insight. Sparkey, you're quite the intellectual for an old perv!
I think people are selling Shearer short, he is either very clever, or more likely very well advised, Shearer makes his living in the media, and needs to keep a high profile, as has been pointed out he was one of 20+ applicants for the Cardiff job. He was turned down (thank God) now how many other applicants can you name? Shearer by spouting his bollox about not being happy with what was on offer etc. etc. Brought his failed application to peoples attention, thus ensuring his name hit the headlines, Unprofessional.....................VERY professional IMO.
