Malky

[KingBeastie]

Just wear a hat - thats what i do! :004:

[Johnboy]

How to win friends and influence people....!!

Ok... so presumably there were "I"s to be dotted and "T"s to be crossed...

But is this a sensible way to run a business..?

:024:

[SMEE]

Can the word sensible be applied in any area where ICT are involved?

[CaleyD]

The manner in which they went about appointing Brewster played a large part in a lot of the negative comments that were directed towards him, IMO, and detracted from the positives aspects of his appointment.....you think lessons would be learned from that, but oh no, they go and do the exact same all over again, and to top it all off they issue an excuse of a press release which you would only believe if you were the kind of person who had a zip running up your back.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Now that the boys have all returned safely home with their and the Club's compensation money from the Grocer should there not be a party?

[absent friend]

Damned if they do and damned if they don't!!

If the club had put out a statement prior to the issue being cut and dried, as it would appear journalists and Malky did, and things went wrong so that Malky was not then employed, by them, wouldn't the posters have had a field day!!

HOWEVER

If they do it correctly - they are still criticised!!

You can please some people some of the time......................!!

[CaleyD]

It's the pantomime that gets thrown up with even the most simple of things that causes all the problems.  All they needed to say to the Press at the weekend was that they weren't in a position to give any details....end of story.

I'd rather be told nothing at all than be fed half truths and fairytales.  Perhaps if they credited the fans with a little more intelligence then we wouldn't get these issues arising time and again.

Just like Brewsters appointment...it was so obvious who was going to be appointed...but the club still felt the need to try and make everyone believe that it was going to be something that it wasn't....do they really think anyone fell for their attempt at smoke and mirrors.

It's one thing to have the fans of other clubs laughing at making jokes....but when you become the laughing stock of your own fans then it's time for a reality check.

[The Long Man]

Yer getting yer knickers in a twist over nothing. whatever the club do will be the subject of conspiracy and criticism here, most fans have better things to do than get in such a fankle over press releases and such like.

[Charles Bannerman]

Absent Friend appears to have quite a clear understanding of the way these things work. Negotiations on contracts are quite often more complicated than is superficially apparent and the waters are often unhelpfully muddied by wild speculation in the media (q.v. the Neil Warnock affair).

As AF says, a club cannot possibly make a categorical statement until the whole issue is beyond any doubt. That takes time even though it's perfectly obvious what is going to happen. There is also the additional complication that, from a PR point of view, it is far better for a club to make an announcement at a press conference at which the new incumbent is present for interview. In Malky's case, that is the regular ICT conference at 1245 tomorrow (Thur).

One way or the other, there is often a lag between the point where someone is going to be appointed, barring the unforeseeable, and when he can be wheeled into a press conference as the new signed up man. During this period it is perfectly normal for the media to report the story as "fact" once they are reasonably sure that is what will happen although nothing can be confirmed by the club. It looks to me as if this, along with the statement on the Chester site over which ICT has no control, is what has forced Graeme's hand today, 24 hours in advance of plan.

In fact it is by no means unknown for somebody to take a swing at a story even earlier than that and hope for the best, taking the risk of egg on the face and I have seen some very eggy faces! Chairmen and Football Directors often derive a whole lot of mirth out of reports from time to time that certain individuals have been appointed by them. For instance I recollect an authoritative statement in an Aberdeen based daily newspaper some years ago that Bobby Wilson had been appointed manager of Peterhead!

The fundamental problem is that in football it seems almost impossible to keep what is known in business as "commercial confidentiality".

[Scotty]

Charles - I hear you, and the others that talk of dotting the "I"s and crossing the "T"s ... and I tend to agree with the damned if you do, damned if you dont scenario.

The unfortunate thing from a PR perspective seems to be that Malky had already given a quote to the papers confirming his appointment on the same day that quotes from Grassa appeared in the Courier saying nothing had been decided.

Having written Pool reports on a weekly basis for years, and at times amateur football blurbs for the Courier, I know that the deadline for Tuesday's courier is (or was) late Sunday night so its quite possible that Graeme's quotes were spot on at the time they were made to the reporter and because Malky spoke to a daily, with a shorter deadline, the conflicting comments appeared on the same day.

At the end of the day, its no big deal in my eyes - we knew he was coming, but ICT couldnt confirm anything until the paperwork was done. Perhaps they could have told Malky to issue a "no comment" statement rather than confirming it though if they wanted to hold a press conference on Thursday.

[absent friend]

Could it not also be a case of Malky being an excellent trainer/asst manager BUT maybe a wee bit short on the PR side of things.

We all get excited over some changes, for the better, in our working lives and maybe Malky displayed that by going to press early!

[Alex MacLeod]

I think it likely that the press went to Malky and he's an honest guy.

[Scotty]

Could it not also be a case of Malky being an excellent trainer/asst manager BUT maybe a wee bit short on the PR side of things.

It could, and you cant really fault him for that as he is a coach not a PR guy.

However, it is high time that the club did employ a professional PR/media person at the stadium to handle this kind of thing.

Right now, PR seems to be done on an ad-hoc basis, with anyone saying what they want, when they want, and the "professional" only stepping in to do any mopping up of problems. It seems that no-one has the benefit of a professionally trained person on site to tell them how a particular statement or comment they wish to issue might look when viewed at the other end - by media and/or fans. Its ridiculous.

Not that i think the Malky story is a huge deal, but a properly trained person might also have noticed comments on the BBC and/or Chester's website and been pro-active about organising a response or rebuttal.

If the club can get its PR right, even on little things that niggle some people, it can repair so much of the damage that is currently being done by the veil of secrecy that shrouds them and the varying stories containing both information and misinformation that seem to have been circulating over the last year or two.

I know Bill McAllister issues some statements on behalf of the club (usually firefighting other PR blunders) and although his are usually structured well and less likely to cause a problem with their content they pose a different problem ... I mean no disrespect to Bill, but unless you are from the Highland News, Courier or one of the national newspapers you dont seem to get the press releases even if you are supposed to.

I accept that some people at the club might not want to send information to us right now as they think we are over-critical of absolutely everything, but even when we were the official site and the chief executive was asking him to send stuff to us we didnt get it. I have archived copies of dozens of emails asking why I didnt get this or that press release so it could be released on the club's official site at the same time as it hit the rest of the media.

A professionally trained PR person would likely make sure that old media and new media alike as well as related websites (official or otherwise) would get all the releases, on time and with details of any publishing embargoes etc. They may not like what we say all the time in our own editorials or what fans say on the message boards but lets face it, as critical as we might be at times, we are far more likely to be supportive of the club than some of the nationals when they get a whiff of a scandal .......

ICT .... As fans, we want to love you unconditionally, we want to support you,  we want to believe everything you say, we want to say you are getting it right all the time on and off the park ....... but the reality is that we just cant do that right now as you are making it very difficult ...... the good news is, you can solve that ....... if you really want to.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Thank feck Shearer turned it down.