Trevor Birch - New Boss

Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
https://www.swanseacity.com/news/sw...Yw7zW~CuHIo5dMNjVbHLQSjd9KEJb90d9yAJmSI1kxtpP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Birch

Trevor Birch has been named the new club chairmain. Trevor has previously held the role of chief executive at Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Sheffield United and Derby County.

Here is his wiki profile:
In 2002, he left Ernst & Young to become Chief Executive of Chelsea, where he led the £180 million sale to Roman Abramovich in 2003.[4] After the sale, Birch chose not to stay at the club and in October that year was appointed Chief Executive of Leeds United, overseeing the takeover by a local consortium. He then moved to Everton in June 2004 to become Chief Executive. Birch was given the task of overhauling the Merseyside club's finances, but resigned after a disagreement over strategy with the board and major shareholders.[5]

Since then Birch has been a partner at Deloitte and Chief Operating Officer of Sportfive, the largest football rights agency in Europe,[citation needed] as well as holding other Chief Executive roles at Derby County and Sheffield United.[6]

He returned to the accountancy profession in 2011 and undertook the role of Administrator at financially troubled Portsmouth. Under his stewardship the club was sold to the Pompey Supporters' Trust, with Birch performing a similar feat as Administrator at Heart of Midlothian in 2013.[citation needed] He subsequently undertook an advisory role to the Board at Bolton Wanderers in late 2015 which finished in March 2016 on the sale of the club.[citation needed]

He joined the global valuation and corporate finance advisors Duff & Phelps as a Managing Director in January 2017, having previously led the professional sports group at global advisory firm BDO International.[6]

In March 2017 Portsmouth confirmed that they had retained the services of Mr. Birch during a period of negotiations with Mike Eisner and his investment vehicle Tornante regarding a takeover of the club.[7]
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Seems to have a lot of experience with distressed situations and asset transfers (business not player). What does this say about us?

Thoughts?
 
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ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
I guess the litmus test of his intentions will come at the end of the season and we see how much of an effort is made to retain our young 'stars'. Personally, I will only be happy when our charlatan owners pack their bags and fuck off because they have done nothing but take from the club from the moment they arrived. I hope that Birch has not been appointed to help them further strip us.

For the record, and for the benefit of our valued American supporters and readers, the fans enmity is not directed at the owners merely because they are American. That would be a nonsense. They just happen to have incurred the wrath of the fans because of the way they have handled our club and put nothing in despite firm promises to do so. They could just as easily been of any other nationality (including British/Welsh/European/Asian etc) but just happen, in this instance, to be American. Our anger is not directed at America or Americans, it is specifically aimed at Messrs Kaplan and Levien who have done nothing but lie to us, break promises, sell our assets and put precious little, or nothing at all, into the club by way of personal investment to help further the ambitions and progress of our football club.

Generally, I like Americans a lot and have made some good friends from there in addition to having family who have lived for generations in LA. Bringing history into the equation, I am an avid student of both World Wars and very mindful that our American cousins stood shoulder to shoulder with us in those two conflicts, the outcome of which could have been very different for the UK had they not done that.

I would have no problem whatsoever with and would welcome HONEST Americans in charge of our club, people who would appreciate what it means to the city and the fans and who would share our dreams and aspirations rather than hive off our assets and suck the life out of us. It was just our luck that our shareholders in my opinion, because of their greed, failed to do due diligence and sold us out to the wrong people.
 
Behindthegoal

Behindthegoal

Key Player
This guy is a football club doctor, he cures sick clubs. What is his diagnosis here?
Make us profitable - nearly there.
Find extra capital - won't get much change from the current board.
Broker a sale to some who can. So he'd better keep our young stars
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Behindthegoal said:
This guy is a football club doctor, he cures sick clubs. What is his diagnosis here?
Make us profitable - nearly there.
Find extra capital - won't get much change from the current board.
Broker a sale to some who can. So he'd better keep our young stars
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You mean like a MASH unit on two legs?
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
If it's true that we have a £30m hole in finances then we are doomed. There will be a fire sale in the summer transfer window, and what I fear most is that they'll sell James. Without James we are a totally different side.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
The financials for FY 2017/18 should be available soon. I have not been alerted yet. We are going to be a year behind on the current years financials. It is this comparison that will tell the full story of the damage of relegation and fiscal incompetence.
 
KVetch

KVetch

Key Player
I've never heard of the guy although I probably should have. Sounds like Derby and Everton didn't like his proposals while he helped Leeds avoid administration and helped Chelsea sell the club. He tried to limit transfers sales at Leeds way back in 2004 and convinced players to take a reduction in wages. But his main role has been to fix up clubs good enough to sell. Interesting.
 
Jackflash

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Is this a part time job for Birch, being he's M.D. of Duff & Phelps, also Portsmouth are using his services, doesn't seem we'll be at the top of his priority list.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Perhaps one of his first jobs should be to contact Pep to check out the possibility of any loan players for next season. Pep must surely have been impressed with the brand of football that our youngsters served up against his team of All Stars and would recognise that his own promising lads would receive a sound footballing education under Potts. Come to that, the other Premier League big hitters must feel the same way if they saw the game.

Not every youngster is comfortable with moving abroad as many have done and some might well welcome the opportunity to progress their careers in this country with a manager who plays the game the right way. Makes sense to me, so I hope it does to Birch. No brainer really.
 
Jackflash

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Makes sense to me also Ivor, don't know if you remember,but we came very close to having Sterling for a season a few years back.
 
LittlePuma

LittlePuma

Key Player
Well if we really are still 30 million in debt then his first job is to get us out of that debt. He didn’t create it but he’s here to fix it. I’m not going to hold that against him for doing what needs to be done.
 
Jackflash

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
In my mind the yanks will want him to take the easy way out, and sell the family silver, that's been their policy since taking the club over. He (Birch) has walked from clubs previously due to disagreements with boards.I really cant see them putting any operating capitol in, he'll be told the same as his predecessors, if you want money sell players, Birch is a human being,not Jesus the miracle worker. I really cant see him making any progress whilst we're under this American ownership.
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
Allegedly Trevor Birch's renumeration package contains an equity element. If true, it would potentially dilute the Supporter Trust shareholding and further prejudice the Trust's position as a minority shareholder.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Received the following from the Trust.



New Chairman Appointment
Trevor Birch Alerts

Dear.........

The Swans Trust welcomes the appointment of Trevor Birch as the new Chairman of our football club.
The Trust was informed that Mr Birch was the majority owners’ preferred candidate in advance of his appointment and we were given the opportunity to speak with him at that time, which we did. We have also been able to meet him this week and we are grateful to Trevor for his time and willingness to facilitate a meeting so quickly after his appointment. He brings wide experience and expertise to the role.
However, the Trust does have concerns regarding some aspects of his remuneration package, which we have been informed contains an equity element. The details and conditions of this are unclear but, if true, would potentially dilute the Trust’s shareholding and further prejudice our position as a minority shareholder in the football club. Therefore, the Trust is unable to support this element of the proposal. The Trust raised our objections to the majority owners prior to the appointment but, not for the first time, we have not received a response.
The Trust shares the concerns raised by our members about the remit and targets he has been set by the majority owners. However, we have been told that his focus is on stabilising the club rather than preparing the club for a sale.
The Trust is also aware of the press reports regarding members of staff being notified of a consultation period regarding potential redundancies at our club. The Trust is acutely aware of the financial challenges which life in the Championship brings, but it is disappointing that jobs are at risk primarily due to the poor management of the football club in the past. The Trust, through our supporter director, will be strongly representing the views of our members to the new chairman and the club board that any decisions made are taken with the best long-term interests of the football club at heart.
Swansea City Supporters Trust
 
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