36 Comments

Tony Carr redundancy – the fans react

Tony+Carr+Tony+Carr+Testimonial+Match+3B9M3AH2T1ClThe news that Tony Carr has been offered just £14,00o redundancy payment after 43 years with the whole process handled by faceless HR people has been met with huge disappointment and shame by West Ham fans.

Even the chairman’s son Jack Sullivan took to twitter to say “I would like to say Not everything the club does, I agree with and I have no role or say at the West Ham. I only tweet news and my view! Personally, I’m not sure I agree with it! He should have a role here for life. I will speak to ds in the morning”

A West Ham called Paul on twitter wrote “Absolutely disgraceful ! Mr Gold, Mr Sullivan, act NOW….and do the RIGHT THING !”  Another fan wrote “Absolute disgrace, especially with all the money flying around and what he’s made the club in player talent/sales “

Tony Carr Testimonial MatchStephen Madden posted “If the Daily Mail article is true about Tony Carr & £14k, hang your head in shame”

Sam Wood tweeted David Gold and the Sullivan boys saying “Sort out Tony Carr’s redundancy pay – less than 20% of Carrols weekly wage! Shameful”

Ian Hawkins said “That’s a propper shocker West Ham , after all those years of amazing service – omg , can’t believe you’d do it”

Steven James added “This is absolutely outrageous. How can a club legend that helped make millions be treated like this.”

One supporter has created a crowd funding page to match Tony’s £14,000 payment from the club with £415 raised already from fans. https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/tonycarr

Nicky from West Ham TV was so outraged he took to record his thoughts on camera below

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

36 comments on “Tony Carr redundancy – the fans react

  1. Not often I comment but if this is true it’s scandalous and a real low for the Board and the Club. All the money we’ve spent on fixtures and fittings trying to hang onto our heritage and a real live example of our legacy and the embodiment of our history is shown respect like this. This is an embarrassment at best and needs rectifying immediately. I don’t want to hear another word from the management or the board about “loyalty” of players….for me they have no right to speak on something they have no understanding of. I am ashamed today.

    • I agree completely , i feel ashamed that our club would treat him like that after 43 years of service…..absolutely disgusting ….its a shame that it will only be after the fans rxpress their outrage he will get treated with the respect he deserves ….a shameful day for our club

  2. Absolutely ****ing fuming , if this is true like it seems to be , David’s sort this mess out, way to much wh stuff hits the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
    I have supported this club for over 45 years , And to pay off this great man, in such a disgusting manner is shameful

  3. It seems a strange situation to me.I wouldn’t mind a bit more meat on the bones of this story before going ape sh?t.However if the big cheeses did know all about this they are bang out of order 😉

    • Hey P45 it’s a pity you are banned from WHTID,if you were not you could have invested in their new pub.The Wet Pants Arms lol

    • The £14,370 is simple to understand. It is legally the maximum amount an employer has to pay regardless of wages and length of service. It is the upper cap set by the government
      https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/redundancy-pay

      The amount is tax free so in real terms a higher rate tax payer like Tony will save a further £5,750 in tax. The sad reality is many employers even large ones only pay the statutory redundancy pay although each company has the option to increase it themselves and the first £30,000 will be tax free to the employee.

      Sadly again the process in large companies is often handled by the HR department rather than senior management. Tony wasn’t the only person to be made redundant, the head of security Simon Sutton went and Stadium manager Ron Pearce also went. Stewards, Security and Office staff were also cleared out before the move to the Olympic Stadium.

      Where West Ham have made a massive PR own goal is treating Tony Carr like everyone and underestimating fan and public reaction. It is never nice to make people redundant but necessary in businesses sometimes. One of the senior directors should have been asked to break the news to Tony, they should have also considered a long service add on and some perks such as free corporate director box access for life and some honorary title like life vice president.

      I am not excusing them but West Ham are still in debt despite the millions of TV money and ticket revenue mentioned in the papers so the management run the company outside the playing staff like a company in debt. The business still requires injections of cash from the owners and still has bank debt.

      Carr is claimed to have picked up around £500,000 from the testimonial the club granted him a few years ago.

      This does excuse their actions on this occasion but it might explain why they decided to take this approach to all staff eually and fairly that were laid off. This has all the hallmarks of a senior certain person I shall not name.

      Good Luck for the future Tony, you have been a great servant. Happy Retirement

      • Nice one cheers Sean,i understand it a bit more now.Well assuming I can trust your word as accurate,the truth,the whole truth & nothing but the truth haha 😀

        Antman strangely enough I do know a fair bit about boozers,my mums side of the family have historically ran them so I have a reasonable knowledge of the running of them.Mate I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.Its a dead game.Ok there are exceptions but in the main you end up throwing good money after bad 😉

        • The wetlands venture has been put on hold while they crucify the club again.Their favourite hobby lmao.They are a bunch of clowns.They make supporting our club seem like a penance not a pleasure.I have not a Scooby why half of them even go to matches.To moan I expect lol

          • lol Stan… Wetlands seem to me a club of sour spinsters, meeting to camplain about their ex-husbands… 😀

          • Lol I have just been reading that site.Now I am a man who is all for freedom of speech,a right to express your views but in the case of many on there I wish just for once they would shut the f@ck up.I total get why you find them so comical on there.Everything is a drama or the end of the world.They really do need some perspective in life.But as the saying goes ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ lol

          • Well Mr Antman, another solution, of course, is that you could ‘flock off’ too, yeah? It reminds me of Derek and Clive “This bloke the other day called me a **nt.” etc etc

          • Well Mr.ComethTheMoment I m sure I read your daily whines on there.But of course in a different guise to here.I mean you wouldn’t come here using the same name would you.Though the Derek & Clive reference seems very familiar to someone on WHTID!!

          • Haha spot on antman.Great observation.Now I know you are from one of the WHTID lads after the Derek & Clive comment seeing as they regularly get a mention on there.Come on dont be shy CTM,be a man,show your true identity haha 😀

          • Sorry Mr Antman, you are confusing me to another w@nker on WHTID. I’m not on there; I’m only on C+H….I’d like to think I’m the only w@anker on here, but, you know, I’m not sure; what do you think?
            You’ve got me thinking now (not a common practice of mine, of course); Antman, yeah? That’s GOT to be a character from the greatest show on the planet: The ORIGINAL Batman. If he wasn’t, he bl00dy well should be….There are the obvious villains, but remember King Tut?…Ah the joys!..I see you now in a whole new light….Kapow…Bosh…BOOM

          • Haha,no you ain’t the only w@nker on here.Not while I’m about as well.The #WestHamFamily are a very inclusive bunch.So I have seen it said.In practice it’s bolloxs though 😀

          • It is scary to think that there is someone out there as full of sh1t as me….and such similar sh1t too…(When you are from the gutter like me, you become an expert on sh1t, of course)… And there was me naively thinking I was unique…I’ve got a good mind to sue the bounder for copyright…
            I wonder what my dear mamaa will have to say about such an imposter (apart from her usual “Get out of it, you git-@rse”)….How about that eh? Not meaning to boast, but yes, that’s HER unique expression; brilliant, eh?…Where do you think I get it from?

  4. There’s always 2 sides to a story and then there’s the truth….He has done a great job for the club over the years without a doubt but am I right in saying that members of his family are also football agents who had a number of our starlets on their books ???

    • I don’t know about the agents but you are correct about there being two sides to every story.Maybe some fans should think that through before proclaiming this to be a PR disaster,blah,blah,blah.I would like to see what the club have to say before jumping to conclusions!

      • Why wait to hear the full story,that will get in the way of a good moan up.No point in waiting for the facts, just believe the daily mail & unload the machine gun on the club,board.Fecking same **** all the time 😀

  5. I’m sure he got paid by the Daily Fail for airing this dirty laundry in public.It works both ways.

    • That’s a lovely thing to say about a loyal, decent servant of the club and general man of integrity, Tone. It actaully says more about you than him.
      Got any more charm tips you could pass on?

      • Well I’m pretty sure myself that this man of great integrity didnt need to say anything to a two bit rag like the Mail!
        Fan forums really are the preserve of the moaning element of our fan base.Spooky thing is that a good chinwag in a pub with fellow supporters is all about our hopes & expectations for the coming season.
        Forums…not a cat in hells chance They are mainly full of fans who want to find anything to beat the club with a shtty stick.Which explains why so few fans use them.Most cannot tolerate the constant friggin whining.

        • Welcome, sir, welcome!

          • Did he or did he not speak to the Daily Mail.Yes.All this could have been kept in house & sorted out one way or another.Please don’t give me this man of integrity bullcrap.
            I’m sure he is a great guy but he didnt need to speak to any paper.It really is that simple.
            Because I don’t share the same view as you doesnt mean my character needs to come into question.That says more about your character it would appear gobby.

          • Well, Tone, I’ll take your “Gobby” on the chin….

  6. What is amazing is that the SAME DAY they publicise the plaque for Bobby Moore, they do this to another club legend….How CAN we take proclamations from the directors of respecting the club’s heritage seriously?
    As a massive fan of DS + DG, this is a real sad one for me….
    The best they can do is hold their hands up, and repair…

  7. How is it when WHU are so brilliant at PR, they can screw up on this?

  8. Enough with the club bashing ffs. None of you know the facts. None of you know what has gone on behind closed doors. Let the club respond to the story then you will be in a position to judge. Why do so many of our so called fans leap on every opportunity to beat our own club up?

  9. For me this is not such a cut & dried PR Disaster as it is being proclaimed this morning.
    There are questions I assume we will never know the answer to as they they are indeed private.
    1) How much did he earn from his testimonial
    2) Was he given a pay off/sum of money when he vacated his Development role
    3)Is this redundancy pay off for his role as an ambassador on a part time basis
    Sorry but I can’t jump on any anti board bandwagon when there are so many unknown variables in this situation.
    There has been far too much thoughtless knee jerk reaction today thus far from fans imho.

    • Ray to the best of my knowledge

      1)I was previously told the testimonial was worth around £500,000 but he would have had to pay tax on that. The attendance was 13,000 I remember paying £15 but their were corporate boxes, sponsors and TV from memory. Maybe it was as low £250,000 but certainly a six figure sum was involved.

      2) No, he has been on the same wage as his Academy Director role for last two years so he took no drop down in wages. Although it is not a six figure salary it is a high five figure salary.

      3) Actually the exit negotiations are still ongoing at the moment I understand so nothing has been finalised and no redundancy payment has been sent out at present. I would assume that the Daily Mail has some what jumped the gun in printing the story before anything has been concluded. I understand he was offered a part time role one day a week to be an ambassador but in reality there only so many schools and events you can attend. I understand he has spent a lot of his time over the past two years at the training ground where he has no role anymore.

      I am not defending the club how this was handled West Ham have can’t really talk about a redundancy process that is ongoing but Carr obviously deserves more respect and maybe someone like David Gold would have be better place to have the meeting with Tony instead of HR.

      The damage is done now and whatever West Ham do it will just look like they are reacting to the fans and public opinion.

      • Thanks for taking the time to explain Sean.I have noticed some of the scatter gun remarks about the club being a disgrace have been some what calmed now these fans are remembering & putting the testimonial into the equation.
        I think the main issue Tony had was indeed that it was handled only by HR people.The money really wasn’t the issue.But as usual some go loco from the off without assessment of the whole situation.Oh well thanks again bud.

        • Apologises Sean I ment to add that I believe his testimonial money would have been tax free.It certainly is for footballers,though I believe a new legislation is coming in in 2017 which makes testimonial monies taxable with as much as half being swiped by the powers that be.

  10. So the Daily Fail publish their weekly dose of West Ham bashing and there are those that come out of the shadows to have their daily moan FFS. Next thing we’ll have Mystic Bradders on here posting his daily round up of bull****.

    • Unless you haven’t read it anywhere GW it’s a PR disaster I will have you know.So sayeth the wise men amongst we fans.Irreversable damage,a cataclysmic PR c0ck up.Zzzzz lol

      • Oh for the day’s when it was about cake ,Matte’s figa hunting exploits and getting the fat lump of lard Hippo out of the club.

        • Indeed a Matte figa hunt would be more preferable than this today.Can he arrange one for us lol.I just hope it doesn’t turn in to a PR disaster which needs to be addressed by the big shots amongst our support 😉

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