Far reaching changes

[RIP]

From statements on the Hibs website recently the Chairman of the Board appears to be saying he needs to stay on to oversee a programme of major changes.

Is it just me or is anyone else wondering who was the architect who designed and proposed these changes to the Hibernian Board?

An independent consultancy firm?

Leeann Dempster as a condition of her recruitment?

All of the Board working as a team over the past year?

One of the directors putting a restructure plan to the board and the directors signing off on it?

Rod Petrie suddenly awakening from his slumbers and working out that major changes were required?

Why is this relevant you might ask? Well for me it would give me reason for hope that after 7 years of board-led failure there is at least one individual at Easter Road who sees the need for a fundamental restructure of the way the club is run.

At the moment I'm finding it hard to believe that the architect of all these changes is Rod Petrie. In which case - why does he need to remain in post to deliver them?

[greenpaper55]

As i mentioned in an other post could it be that LD was recruited by sir Tom, maybe he has been shuffled "upstairs" and out the road but still retains a position at the club allowing him to remain a part of the SFA ?.

[Waxy]

Maybe Rod petrie done nothing. Came in in the morning, sorted the accounts for an hour then spent the rest of the day eating whole chickens and watching jeremy kyle and this morning on stv+1? and one day STF caught him at it?

[BoltonHibee]

My memory may be playing tricks, but did she not say in one of her interviews something along the lines of, she insisted on meeting with STF? ( intimating she would not have taken the role otherwise). If that was the case I doubt he enlisted her help...

[RIP]

My memory may be playing tricks, but did she not say in one of her interviews something along the lines of, she insisted on meeting with STF? ( intimating she would not have taken the role otherwise). If that was the case I doubt he enlisted her help...

She has done that apparently. But she was approached a couple of months ago and some of these other changes would appear to have been approved by the board months before.

E g. 2 years ago Rod brought in Brian Houston (ex PA Consulting director) as an expert in corporate restructure. Last year he conducted a study of the Academy and also championed the Hibernian Way programme designed by LWT.

He was talking about Leeann Dempster and her methods over a year ago. And he was sitting beside her yesterday as chairman of the meeting when the Head of Football Operations and Spartans partnerships were discussed.

[Ronniekirk]

From statements on the Hibs website recently the Chairman of the Board appears to be saying he needs to stay on to oversee a programme of major changes.

Is it just me or is anyone else wondering who was the architect who designed and proposed these changes to the Hibernian Board?

An independent consultancy firm?

Leeann Dempster as a condition of her recruitment?

All of the Board working as a team over the past year?

One of the directors putting a restructure plan to the board and the directors signing off on it?

Rod Petrie suddenly awakening from his slumbers and working out that major changes were required?

Why is this relevant you might ask? Well for me it would give me reason for hope that after 7 years of board-led failure there is at least one individual at Easter Road who sees the need for a fundamental restructure of the way the club is run.

At the moment I'm finding it hard to believe that the architect of all these changes is Rod Petrie. In which case - why does he need to remain in post to deliver them?
There's a great song by the group Chairmen of the Board from early 70 s called Give Me Just a Little More Time . He has been here so long he can't accept his time is up ,he can't see the bigger picture that for the good of the club going forward he should commit to an exit strategy .

[ekhibee]

There's a great song by the group Chairmen of the Board from early 70 s called Give Me Just a Little More Time . He has been here so long he can't accept his time is up ,he can't see the bigger picture that for the good of the club going forward he should commit to an exit strategy .

I totally agree with you Ronniekirk, and sadly I'm old enough to remember that song as well, but you, me and everybody else know that at the end of the day it'll be Tom Farmer's decision, not Petries.

[Caversham Green]

There were major changes in the structure and ownership of the Hibs group in 2009-10. Now these weren't done just for a bit of fun, there was a reason and plan behind them and I think these far reaching changes will be the culmination of those plans. I think the plans were set back by the failure of the last board reshuffle (Lindsay and Hyland) and Rod Petrie has been trying to play a holding game since then until a suitable new reshuffle could be done.

That suggests to me that the architect of the changes is Sir Tom Farmer and the reason Rod is being kept on the board is that he is probably Sir Tom's closest business confidante and seen by Sir Tom as the best person to represent his interests.

That's all pure speculation and I might be wildly wrong, and I would dearly love the club to come out and tell us what these changes actually entail but it all seems to fit in my beancounty world.

[Jonnyboy]

There were major changes in the structure and ownership of the Hibs group in 2009-10. Now these weren't done just for a bit of fun, there was a reason and plan behind them and I think these far reaching changes will be the culmination of those plans. I think the plans were set back by the failure of the last board reshuffle (Lindsay and Hyland) and Rod Petrie has been trying to play a holding game since then until a suitable new reshuffle could be done.

That suggests to me that the architect of the changes is Sir Tom Farmer and the reason Rod is being kept on the board is that he is probably Sir Tom's closest business confidante and seen by Sir Tom as the best person to represent his interests.

That's all pure speculation and I might be wildly wrong, and I would dearly love the club to come out and tell us what these changes actually entail but it all seems to fit in my beancounty world.

So, around five years ago then :hmmm: :greengrin

[RIP]

There were major changes in the structure and ownership of the Hibs group in 2009-10. Now these weren't done just for a bit of fun, there was a reason and plan behind them and I think these far reaching changes will be the culmination of those plans. I think the plans were set back by the failure of the last board reshuffle (Lindsay and Hyland) and Rod Petrie has been trying to play a holding game since then until a suitable new reshuffle could be done.

That suggests to me that the architect of the changes is Sir Tom Farmer and the reason Rod is being kept on the board is that he is probably Sir Tom's closest business confidante and seen by Sir Tom as the best person to represent his interests.

That's all pure speculation and I might be wildly wrong, and I would dearly love the club to come out and tell us what these changes actually entail but it all seems to fit in my beancounty world.

Although I agree with your conjecture in respect of the Hyland and Lindsay debacle the changes to youth development would suggest they have come from somebody more connected to the academy. The choice of Dempster as CEO was being discussed outwith the boardroom last summer.

It's a bit of a stretch to believe that Farmer and Petrie dreamt those up.

[greenginger]

There were major changes in the structure and ownership of the Hibs group in 2009-10. Now these weren't done just for a bit of fun, there was a reason and plan behind them and I think these far reaching changes will be the culmination of those plans. I think the plans were set back by the failure of the last board reshuffle (Lindsay and Hyland) and Rod Petrie has been trying to play a holding game since then until a suitable new reshuffle could be done.

That suggests to me that the architect of the changes is Sir Tom Farmer and the reason Rod is being kept on the board is that he is probably Sir Tom's closest business confidante and seen by Sir Tom as the best person to represent his interests.

That's all pure speculation and I might be wildly wrong, and I would dearly love the club to come out and tell us what these changes actually entail but it all seems to fit in my beancounty world.


Petrie is a director of all Farmer's Companies ( except Farmer Autocare ). Our football club's ownership through HFC, the Maidencraig Companies etc leads to the Farmer Family Trust as the holder of the controlling stake and I would hazard a guess the Petrie is a trustee of the family trust.

That said , if Farmer says jump, he jumps.

[Caversham Green]

Although I agree with your conjecture in respect of the Hyland and Lindsay debacle the changes to youth development would suggest they have come from somebody more connected to the academy. The choice of Dempster as CEO was being discussed outwith the boardroom last summer.

It's a bit of a stretch to believe that Farmer and Petrie dreamt those up.

I think the changes to youth development might be a product of the 'far-reaching' changes that Rod was talking about rather than the substance - they strike me as fine tuning rather than fundamental. As such it's unlikely that LD designed them as she's just in the door and couldn't have done anything while she was working for Motherwell, but it seems likely that she's been identified as the right person to implement them.

TBH, I'll be a bit disappointed if the stuff outlined by LD at the meeting represented the total of the changes because, while necessary and very welcome, they're not really as far-reaching as Rod's statement implied (IMO) and I don't see any justification in Rod staying on the board to 'oversee' them.

[matty_f]

I think the changes to youth development might be a product of the 'far-reaching' changes that Rod was talking about rather than the substance - they strike me as fine tuning rather than fundamental. As such it's unlikely that LD designed them as she's just in the door and couldn't have done anything while she was working for Motherwell, but it seems likely that she's been identified as the right person to implement them.

TBH, I'll be a bit disappointed if the stuff outlined by LD at the meeting represented the total of the changes because, while necessary and very welcome, they're not really as far-reaching as Rod's statement implied (IMO) and I don't see any justification in Rod staying on the board to 'oversee' them.

I got the impression that they're just the tip of the iceberg, to be honest. Leeann's only been in the door two minutes and has been able to see several glaring things that need improved, and has an idea on how to improve them. I genuinely think she's going to go through the club and practically change everything. She's very impressive and the determination and motivation to turn the club around was evident.

I don't think we're going to see token changes here and there, my opinion is that we will see significant changes to the way the entire club operates. This is a good thing.:greengrin

[RIP]

I got the impression that they're just the tip of the iceberg, to be honest. Leeann's only been in the door two minutes and has been able to see several glaring things that need improved, and has an idea on how to improve them. I genuinely think she's going to go through the club and practically change everything. She's very impressive and the determination and motivation to turn the club around was evident.

I don't think we're going to see token changes here and there, my opinion is that we will see significant changes to the way the entire club operates. This is a good thing.:greengrin

:agree:

I think we will see far reaching changes announced at 3 levels


Funding and Ownership models - Rod Petrie
Organisational/Structural/Vision. Academy, Youth Development, Hibernian Way - Brian Houston or other directors behind these
Executive. Football operations, coaching, contracts, commercial - Leeann Dempster


I'm not convinced that RP has to stay on a Chairman of the Board to expedite the top layer of changes

As part-owner he could surely hand over to a new chair and carry on with that work, feeding in proposals as they complete

That would enable the club to move forward with new leaders at Chair and CEO level

[jacomo]

So, around five years ago then :hmmm: :greengrin

I can see the headline next week:

HIBS CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF FIVE YEAR PLAN