Just when we thought things were settling down…
It says an awful lot about the tenure of Jez Moxey when we consider his time at Carrow Road to be less than that of Sergi Canós.
To quote the great Ollie Murs: “It was short. It was sweet. We tried”.
Well, it was short anyway, and I’m fairly sure, for all the failings of his short spell, both sides did try to make it work. But it didn’t. And I’ll concede it wasn’t sweet.
Quite how, why or what for remains for now a mystery (despite my best efforts) but it’s clear all wasn’t harmonious behind the scenes as the board hunkered down and pulled the coaches in close in support of Alex Neil.
What also became apparent quite quickly was that Moxey didn’t ‘get’ Norwich City – the most obvious and glaring example being the £25 tickets for the Southampton FA Cup game.
And, for all the bravado, he’ll not have enjoyed being on the receiving end as the faithful made known their views on the struggles and direction of their football club.
The Canary CEO was however understood to have led the negotiations that brought Wigan flier Yanic Wildschut to Norfolk ahead of Tuesday’s transfer deadline, but within 48 hours he was gone.
In an official club statement, released just before 9pm this evening the club confirmed that ‘Jez Moxey has resigned and left the Club by mutual consent.’
Chairman Ed Balls thanked Moxey for his efforts but conceded it hasn’t worked out as planned for either party: ‘However the role has not worked out satisfactorily for either Jez and his family or for the Football Club, and all parties have professionally and amicably agreed to move on. We wish Jez all the best in his future career and now our focus is on the next steps for Norwich City.’
Balls then went on to explain that Finance Director, Steve Stone – who has already acted as Interim CEO when the search to find a replacement for David McNally was ongoing – will again fill the breach ‘as the Board takes time to deliberate on a fresh approach to how we go about our business and secure the best future structure for the Club.’
All of which suggests a clean sheet of paper approach as the existing board look to make the club’s stewardship fit for purpose in the 21st century – something that has been at the forefront of the fans’ thoughts and voices of late, especially following the now infamous Henry Winter interview.
Few City fans will be sad to see Moxey depart, but it does throw another up another talking point in a season that’s been brimming full of them.
What happens next could be crucial.
Take a deep breath. I have a hunch the change isn’t over yet!
Let’s have a whip round to get a leaving gift. Odd appointment in the first place. Wonder if McNally is still looking for a job, never go back?
How much does this amicable parting of the ways cost city he would have possibly wanted his contract paid up.
There is one person probably not wanted back by a number of the supporters that would do a good job so if he is available get Mcnally he knows the club, Manager and supervised 4 promotions.
And yet somehow, Sebastien Bassong is still at the club.
Strange times.
Interesting times Gary it looked as though the team and manager have made the first tentative steps to some sort of recovery, most fans had begun to accept that. This latest development with the CEO is baffling to say the least. Perhaps Jez wasn’t allowed to carry out his role in the manner he wanted, it’s hard to steer the horse if you aren’t given the reins.
However what we do know is that this club needs stability and direction from clear headed business people and there doesn’t seem to be much of that on the board.
What’s really clear is as a club without a single large investor the role of CEO becomes crucial. We need someone like McNally, professional, hard headed prepared to take decisions when needed. That also means being the bad guy because Delia’s ‘weakness’ is that she’s too nice and having someone say ‘this is needed, even if it does or noses out of joint’ is something the club can’t do without. Interesting times ahead! OTBC
One way to improve the running of the club would be to appoint a person to the board to act as a go between with the fan base. Also as the fans pay the money they have a right to know why these three top people resigned in such s short space of time. A lack of communication breeds the kind of ill feeling we are experiencing in the club.
So can we assume he was just within his “probation period” so we could terminate without severance pay? I’m guessing even the top earners have to accept such clauses in their contracts?
Either way, best bit of business this season…
I’m not convinced Ollie Murs has quite earned the status of “great” yet.
Tom B (9) – 😉
It’s a big world or there, full of decent candidates, going back to McNally would be a mistake for me as, to be fair to Moxey, Mcnally created the situation we’re in. His call on recruitment team, large contacts for dead wood, etc. However, Moxey never felt right, despite actually doing ok. Time for someone new.
Probably wanted rid of Neil and the smiths couldn’t cope with such subordination.
The burning issue now, of course, is whether we end up with a McNally…..or a Doomcaster next?!
Have lessons been learned off the pitch?
Well, that didn’t last long!
There’s usually two sides to every situation, but, whatever the underlying reasons here, this outcome has been greeted with near to universal delight from fans.
Jez arrived with baggage, following his 16 year tenure at Wolves – whether that was truly deserved was hard to gauge, given his tenure here as CEO was relatively brief.
He held his hand up to the FA Cup ticket pricing fiasco, admitting he over ruled internal advice. Criticism for that was thoroughly deserved – nevertheless his admitting his error merits some acknowledgement.
His departure will, however, deflect attention away from what has, undoubtedly, been a difficult period for the Club. Not all the decisions made during that time have been just down to him and this shouldn’t be ignored.
When things are going well on the pitch, no-one notices the internal management structure of the Club. Only when the football is not going well does it come under the spotlight. It may be that some of the things done during Moxey’s tenure will be regarded well. How about getting Olsson to sign a contract extension to ensure we got a transfer fee for him? and getting a fee for Brady which was towards the upper end of expectations.
With a half decent transfer window behind them, City could push on to the play offs. Let us hope Alex Neil can get the team going, starting on Saturday at Cardiff.
“What’s really clear is as a club without a single large investor the role of CEO becomes crucial. (Paul, 6)”
Exactly so. Actually even if you have billionaire owners you still need a good executive to run the thing.
I like the ownership of the club being in the hands of long-standing fans, but only if they make sure they get someone who knows what they are doing to run the club week to week.
Moxey seems to stand accused of not “engaging” with fans, and the Saints match ticket price was a fiasco – a mistake by the way that Doncaster (and Cullen) would not have made.
But really whatever he did he was always going to be accused of that from about November onwards unless he came out and said “Neil’s sacked”.
Not all CEOs make an instant impact the way McNally did – but then McNally had to, or else we’d have been out of business.
Obviously a good CEO is vital, but I suspect a lot more needs doing below the top level.
For example I also think we are long overdue for finding a replacement for Andrew Cullen, and weeding out the likes of Joe “what on earth does he do?” Ferrari. Head of Communications apparently. Cosy job, been doing it for years. He doesn’t even have the clubs own message board to patrol these days.
That’s now two CEOs and a Chairman gone in a comparatively short space of time. They’re all gone, but a constant remains. And I don’t mean Alex Neil.
Oh to have been a fly on the wall at that little meeting.
Once again, I guess we’ll never know.
Gary Field – once again, I’ll be alone voice here. This is not good. This smacks of Delia not liking someone who disagreed with her. Classic dictatorship behaviour, shutting down opposing opinions to get what you want. This is terrible for our club as it means Delia really does believe she is the only thing that matters at NCFC and only serves to protect Neil more. Again, no one will believe me but people will start to realise, even though he was hardly a marvellous CEO, the noises this issue is giving off is a dreadful sign for our club.
Just finished reading all the above comments the over all feeling is that Moxley leaving is good for the club as a whole.
As he was paid as the professional to run the club on a very good wage part and parcel of that would be to advise the board of the possible out come of decisions they make or want to take, the biggest decision must have been to keep or sack the manager.
The question is which way did he want to go and if it was to sack him would the board want his man in ie Kenny Jackett another decision I feel that this wouldn’t have gone down well with the supports especially as it looked like he was positioning himself after leaving Rotherham after 2 weeks and the rumours that Neil wasabout to be sacked.
Lets either get Mcnally back despite his faults at least he worked hard for the club was open about what was happening and made the hard decisions.
What a total and utter farce. The lunatics are truly in charge of the asylum. Even yes men are saying no behind closed doors.
A replacement for the unlamented moxey will prove hard to find. A poison chalice and the opportunity to work under these clowns will rule out most sensible candidates.
Smith, Jones and nephew. What a golden future.
14 – Gary. Exactly – we know Delia is AN’s greatest fan, and doesn’t want him fired. Moxey did not appoint AN, and would have had the least loyalty to him of anyone of the directors.
I can’t understand why there is such delight at Moxey’s departure, because we’re still stuck with this clueless unambitious Board.
Did the Smiths take a long hard look at the club and make tough choices, or did they screw up again. Time will tell.
I did comment on these pages some weeks back that Moxey may not have realised what he had let himself in for and could resign. He has.
I don’t understand the delight in Moxey’s resignation, the bigger picture needs to be looked at. The club has lost two CEO’s and a Chairman in just over a year and that shows that something is fundamentally wrong at NCFC. The common denominator – Smith & Jones.
For my money, Moxey couldn’t do his job as he saw fit as the majority shareholders made his position untenable, so it is a constructive dismissal. He probably got sick of the infamous ‘Delia Veto’
While he would not of been my choice of CEO, he should of been allowed to get on with it. He wasn’t.
The club is still a shambles.
“For my money…” (Darren, #23). Do I detect a euphemism for “I’m going to make up this explanation that suits my views…”?
This time, I’ll echo Dave B (22). I don’t know what happened, why Jez has gone or whether it’s a right decision. But time will tell.
Darren (23), please, it’s not “would not of” and “should of”.
It would appear that working alongside or under Delia smith and husband is nigh on impossible given the number of people rushing to bail out since bowkett left.
Perhaps it’s just that her view of modern football is completely unworkable and unsustainable and seasoned football professionals realise this and leave? This La La land nonsense really needs to be nipped in the bud and some sanity restored to the running of the club.it has now progressed beyond a joke.
“While he would not of been my choice of CEO, he should of been allowed to get on with it. He wasn’t.”
Fact or opinion?
It’s “Should have” by the way. You might want to sue your English teacher Darren.
I do wonder at some of the fantasy world City fans inhabit and not just Jeff. But I’ll start with him. There is no evidence whatsoever that Delia is a dictator who sacks people who disagree with her. She has appointed strong people that she knew would argue against her. McNallyand Bowkett for example. All the versions of Gunn’s sacking tell of McNally going to the board with a dossier of Gunn’s failings that summer and demanding that he goes. Delia was not for sacking Gunn. There are other examples.
Next we are asked what are the common factors in the three departures?Of course Michael and Delia are constants. But so is Sebastian Bassong. It’s nonsense to extrapolate that errant behaviour by D and M led them to leave. If you look at the two CEOs then another factor is that when they left both were receiving torrents of venomous abuse on social media. Perhaps the vile section of City fans is the constant factor?
The simple truth is that we don’t know. We still don’t know why McNally left when he did or why his resignation was pushed through at the Sunday board meeting. All that happens is that everyone puts their own slant on it. The Delia haters blame Delia whilst those fans who were in the inner circle but no longer have their cosy place at the table blame the alienation of the fans.
Everyone seems to know what really happened and why but all the comment is self directed speculation.
Amidst all this righteous indignation about CEO and Chairman departures, perhaps we should bear in mind the unusually long period that Bowkett and McNally were together in post. Under Delia & Michael, of course.
I’m sure Gary, that you will admit you are much closer & informed on what goes on in the corridors of power of NCFC. If you are not sure what is behind the sudden departure of yet another administrator , then I’m sure the likes of myself along with Jeff and many others don’t either. My theory & it’s only a theory is this. Delia came into NCFC 20 years ago when professional football was a completely different animal to what it is now. Although naive, she had the best interests of the club at heart & helped steer the club through a difficult post Chase era. As the PL became more of a buisiness with TV money & the likes of Chelsea , Liverpool & Man U swimming with obscene amounts of foreign money , clubs like Norwich struggled . Whether by chance or design along came a CEO able to cope with the new order , David Mc Nally. Along with Bowkett (& Lambert ) they were able to steer the club through the muddy waters of League 1 into the promised land of the PL. . The club became solvent again , Delia & others got their money back & Lambert did a good job keeping us in with the golden goose. Delia being Delia did not have the understanding of the high end of PL football politics & Lambert left for a more ambitious & richer club & owner . Relegation , changes of management followed & although City hit it lucky with Alex Neil & promotion , the opportunity was missed , the money wasted & another relegation followed. The mainstays of the board left & the real culprit of that season’s failure hung on to his job along with many of the players. Moxley came in with a reputation of having been around the block when it comes to football finance. This did not go down well with most supporters & perhaps did not sit well with Delia , a supporter first & formost when it comes to descision making. Hence neither party ( Delia or Moxley ) were happy or compatible. Some one had to give & it wasn’t going to be the owners