Karren Brady made one huge mistake when setting up the Official Supporters Board (OSB) to replace the much-cricicsed Supporters Advisory Board (SAB).
It should have been put together on the basis of free and democratic elections which is normal, correct and proper to gain credibility.
Right now she and the club has a war on their hands led by Hammers United who are accusing her of setting up a sycophantic group which is easily controllable as the members were chosen by a panel loyal to the club. It would never have happened had democracy been at the heart of things.
The vice-chairman has shown on numerous occasions she has little ability to carry fans with her on most issues and it has always seemed to me that her attempts to set up an effective supporters group has been cosmetic.
Her only course of action presumably as a believer in a democracy is to hold free elections as soon as possible.
At the end of January the club gave some hope of future OSB elections by saying “The OSB and the Club have been working together since October to achieve this and, in consultation with the Premier League, have agreed a new election process to be presented to the supporter representatives and groups for ratification at the next OSB meeting in February 2020.”
Brady now has the opportunity of properly delivering this at the next OSB meeting on February 25 – although Hammers United have already claimed in a website statement they will not be attending. If free elections are on the agenda I hope they would change their minds!
Should Brady decide deliver these elections – and we have to ask why it wasn’t done in the first place – then hopefully HU will involve themselves in getting voted onto a new committee. That will no doubt mean some noisy opposition and may not suit the vice-chairman but it’s crucial it happens.
I believe her often abrasive approach has caused more trouble in relationships with the fans than vice versa. There’s a high handed attitude which hasn’t so much soured relationships as stopped them developing at all in, what most would consider, a correct and proper manner.
There are various other problems within the club but we are discussing fan relationships here and this article is simply a call for democracy within the football club – nothing more.
For now, one battle at a time is the sensible way forward and this is one error which can be put right straight away – it needs to happen.
Brady needs to announce free elections and Hammers United should to get their voice heard by putting people up for election.
That’s the way things work in this country and if the vice-chairman fails to deliver such a move it will be a betrayal of everything she is supposed to believe in politically and for which this country is supposed to stand.
Feel too late for democratic elections. Brady is clearly not up to the job either on a business level or communication level. Time for her to move on and for the club to appoint a CEO with a business brain and experience in managing the non playing side of a football club. Unless Sullivan does this the club will never progress
Hammero….. better too late than not at all. If she finally does the right thing and opens up for elections, HU would be stupid not to nominate. Its just cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Look at JSB story posted on here. Brady does not care at all about the club or fans. Only self promotion. That is why she has to go. She is totally out of her depth running a business of this size, even more so with other roles she has
Best thing the club could do would be to ban all fan groups. They all want different things and you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Upton Park is gone, deceased. It is no more. Get over it.
Might as well ban General Elections too whilst we are implementing your suggestion
You don’t agree with democratic elections? Oh well
Not ones where Brady is anywhere near.
Remove her, get new CEO, and we as fans and the club can come together. With Brady there, there can be no trust in the process.
When someone can tell me what she has actually succeeded at in life, other than self promotion I may change my opinion
Who are we kidding here? Brady has been and always will be a hard nosed business woman, (but not in a footballing sense) and does not back off when it comes to walking all over people.She is very unlikely to set up elections where she does not have some control of the meetings and decisions. After all she must be right for the vice chairman’s job otherwise we wouldn’t be paying her over £1m per year, for her untold knowledge of how to run a football team.
i sincerely hope that hammers united meet with the board dont give them more ammunition
they can then add that they agreed to a meeting as requested but hammers united did not accept thus making them look like they are trying to solve the issues
you finally have a chance to state your case why on earth would you lose that opportunity
please meet and voice our opinions as fans
thats all we have got is relying on you to state our case
why throw it away