The myth of Ann Budge as a shrewd operator

[G B Young]

Feel free to merge with the generic yams thread, but I'm continually left scratching my head about where the perception of Budge as a 'good businesswoman' came from. I can only guess it stems from whatever her non-football business career involves because apart from providing the loan to take the club out of administration I'm struggling to think of the positives she's brought to Hearts.

Off the top of my head she has so far:

Sanctioned the disastrous appointment of Cathro.
Spent months searching for his successor only to keep the job in-house and appoint the even more disastrous Levein.
'Sacked' Levein, only to keep him on the payroll
Abandoned the 'appoint from the in-house conveyor belt of coaching talent' strategy and appointed the, so far, even more disastrous Daniel Stendel.
Sanctioned the signings of scores of overpaid duds whose contribution has been to render Hearts the worst side in the top flight for more than a calendar year.
Ploughed tens of millions into an unfinished main stand which has doubled in price (forgetting to order the seats along the way).
Attempted to look decisive at a time of global crisis (and deflect from the fact that her reckless overspending had left the club unable to pay salaries) by announcing player wage cuts the day before the government introduced its furlough relief scheme.

How's that for starters?

[PISTOL1875]

Feel free to merge with the generic yams thread, but I'm continually left scratching my head about where the perception of Budge as a 'good businesswoman' came from. I can only guess it stems from whatever her non-football business career involves because apart from providing the loan to take the club out of administration I'm struggling to think of the positives she's brought to Hearts.

Off the top of my head she has so far:

Sanctioned the disastrous appointment of Cathro.
Spent months searching for his successor only to keep the job in-house and appoint the even more disastrous Levein.
'Sacked' Levein, only to keep him on the payroll
Abandoned the 'appoint from the in-house conveyor belt of coaching talent' strategy and appointed the, so far, even more disastrous Daniel Stendel.
Sanctioned the signings of scores of overpaid duds whose contribution has been to render Hearts the worst side in the top flight for more than a calendar year.
Ploughed tens of millions into an unfinished main stand which has doubled in price (forgetting to order the seats along the way).
Attempted to look decisive at a time of global crisis (and deflect from the fact that her reckless overspending had left the club unable to pay salaries) by announcing player wage cuts the day before the government introduced its furlough relief scheme.

How's that for starters?

In her business dealings in the past she has been very successful , there's no doubt about that but in the footballing world , she simply does not have a clue and has to rely on others for advice..

Craig Leven clearly knows how to convince her on certain matters and she obviously has trusted him far too much in the past.... Fot whatever reason he is still in the background , perhaps because he has invested financially from his personal wealth who knows... Either way , she stuck with and trusted him for far too long and that will be her downfall..... Hindsight will tell her she should've removed him from the managers post long before she did but she didn't and hertz are where they are now because of this......

[Bostonhibby]

Scoured the world for ages to find a manager with a track record of relegation and capable of keeping them rooted to the bottom of the league before their ultimate relegation.

Spent a million on a pitch, hyped it all over the media then ruined it holding a vanity project on said pitch.

Forgot to build a press box so the journalists sit in the rain.

Castle View lounge which is just a view of the roof of an adjacent school.

Her perceptive observation when she breezed into Scottish football that there are far too many teams in the leagues.





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[Jack]

She may have starred with her IT business and that's her yin. Her yam hasn't gone so well, its been a disaster both on and off her pitch from very early on.

[007]

One of her biggest mistakes, which has only recently come to light, was paying players a high basic to bonus ratio. Players therefore not busting a guy on the pitch to get a win for a little bit extra cash. I bet it has played a big part in their numerous injuries. Players possibly exaggerating how bad their injuries feel because they just don't fancy it and it isn't worth the abuse from the fans for a few extra quid.

[H18 SFR]

Ann Budge is self-isolating in the mind of too many Hibs fans on here.

[Waxy]

Scoured the world for ages to find a manager with a track record of relegation and capable of keeping them rooted to the bottom of the league before their ultimate relegation.

Spent a million on a pitch, hyped it all over the media then ruined it holding a vanity project on said pitch.

Forgot to build a press box so the journalists sit in the rain.

Castle View lounge which is just a view of the roof of an adjacent school.

Her perceptive observation when she breezed into Scottish football that there are far too many teams in the leagues.





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The SPFL must have sunk the castle. The council will raise it back up for them.

[Peevemor]

One of her biggest mistakes, which has only recently come to light, was paying players a high basic to bonus ratio. Players therefore not busting a guy on the pitch to get a win for a little bit extra cash. I bet it has played a big part in their numerous injuries. Players possibly exaggerating how bad their injuries feel because they just don't fancy it and it isn't worth the abuse from the fans for a few extra quid.

Yup, she was using that as justification for trying to cut their wages while happily ignoring that they proposed these deals to entice players to Tynie.

[Keith_M]

Oversaw the rebuilding of the Main Stand, with the following fun facts:



Forgot to allocate an area for the Dugouts (had to remove a number of seats, as the dugouts blocked the view)
Forgot about having a press area (they now sit down the front, in the rain)
Forgot that they required a TV Studio (had a temporary one that initially wandered round the stadium)
Didn't have a dedicated entrance and exit for the Directors, leading to them being abused by the Fans (they now sit up the back of the stand)
Built seats with little to no view of the pitch, because of the pillars holding up the roof.
Organised work in such a disjointed fashion that they had to pay contractors for sitting about for weeks on end with nothing to do.
Forgot to order seats.
Cost so far is now at least 70% higher than budgeted for.
Advertised a new Executive suite as the "Castle View Lounge"... from which you can't actually see the Castle.


....and finally, it's STILL not finished.

[Danderhall Hibs]

Oversaw the rebuilding of the Main Stand, with the following fun facts:



Forgot to allocate an area for the Dugouts (had to remove a number of seats, as the dugouts blocked the view)
Forgot about having a press area (they now sit down the front, in the rain)
Forgot that they required a TV Studio (had a temporary one that initially wandered round the stadium)
Didn't have a dedicated entrance and exit for the Directors, leading to them being abused by the Fans (they now sit up the back of the stand)
Built seats with little to no view of the pitch, because of the pillars holding up the roof.
Organised work in such a disjointed fashion that they had to pay contractors for sitting about for weeks on end with nothing to do.
Forgot to order seats.
Cost so far is now at least 70% higher than budgeted for.
Advertised a new Executive suite as the "Castle View Lounge"... from which you can't actually see the Castle.


....and finally, it's STILL not finished.

Did they ever move the police box?

[Peevemor]

I don't know the details of her career, but I've seen suggestions that she was a partner in an IT firm that did well and was eventually sold for a fortune, but without being a business superstar herself.

I know a bloke who, along with 6 fellow students, started writing film reviews in the fairly early days of the internet. Then they started collating facts about actors, directors, etc. and publishing them in a searchable, cross referenced format.

This was the IMDB and they sold out to Amazon in 1998 for $55m.

Colin got his share and continued to work for the company.

Well-off film buff - yes.
Gifted businessman - who knows?

[Yorkshire HFC]

I read an article by the boss of easyjet, where he said that it is very rare for someone to have more than one successful business.

I've generally found this to be true - there aren't many Bransons in the world.

[Keith_M]

I read an article by the boss of easyjet, where he said that it is very rare for someone to have more than one successful business.

I've generally found this to be true - there aren't many Bransons in the world.


Do you mean Bailout Branson?

[Yorkshire HFC]

Do you mean Bailout Branson?

Yes.

[Keith_M]

Yes.


Well, he is allegedly worth £3.5 billion, so you could be right

[Kato]

Feel free to merge with the generic yams thread, but I'm continually left scratching my head about where the perception of Budge as a 'good businesswoman' came from. I can only guess it stems from whatever her non-football business career involves because apart from providing the loan to take the club out of administration I'm struggling to think of the positives she's brought to Hearts.

Off the top of my head she has so far:

Sanctioned the disastrous appointment of Cathro.
Spent months searching for his successor only to keep the job in-house and appoint the even more disastrous Levein.
'Sacked' Levein, only to keep him on the payroll
Abandoned the 'appoint from the in-house conveyor belt of coaching talent' strategy and appointed the, so far, even more disastrous Daniel Stendel.
Sanctioned the signings of scores of overpaid duds whose contribution has been to render Hearts the worst side in the top flight for more than a calendar year.
Ploughed tens of millions into an unfinished main stand which has doubled in price (forgetting to order the seats along the way).
Attempted to look decisive at a time of global crisis (and deflect from the fact that her reckless overspending had left the club unable to pay salaries) by announcing player wage cuts the day before the government introduced its furlough relief scheme.

How's that for starters?The press and the BBC created a narrative of her being "shrewd", "breath of fresh air", etc etc. Once they've done that it's hard for them to go against their own story and go 180 degrees on it. Despite the ferago of events you've listed they just plough on with the narrative.

Its professional journos who will say one thing at their work but in private will most definitely see she's out of her depth.

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[Tomsk]

The press and the BBC created a narrative of her being "shrewd", "breath of fresh air", etc etc. Once they've done that it's hard for them to go against their own story and go 180 degrees on it. Despite the ferago of events you've listed they just plough on with the narrative.

Its professional journos who will say one thing at their work but in private will most definitely see she's out of her depth.

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Do you ever see the work shrewd except when it's used to describe businessmen and women?

[cocteautwin]

Net Inputs by Budge £2.5m, gross outputs by Budge £6.3m. Shrewd. As. Phu. Q.

[A Hi-Bee]

Do you ever see the work shrewd except when it's used to describe businessmen and women?

Who put the "D" in shrew......

[Kato]

Do you ever see the work shrewd except when it's used to describe businessmen and women?Snooker shots.

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[007]

Snooker shots.

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You not mixing up shrewd with screwed? 😜

[Jim44]

23253

Shrewd Operator :greengrin

23254

Smooth Operator :aok:

[jacomo]

Is the picture of Budge above taken inside their new stand?

£22m... lol.

[Kato]

You not mixing up shrewd with screwed? [emoji12]I was meaning dull players making safety shot after safety shot. I can see how you can spin it that way though.

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[ScottB]

It’s media spun, or certainly supported.

Look at Theresa May before the election campaign she fluffed, she had an image entirely composed of PR spin and pliant media, portrayed as the defiant, ‘new’ Iron Lady and all that crap.

Budge is the same, it’s all fluff and spin, which a lot of the Hearts support seems primed to lap up. Then you only need to throw in a few pundits that are friendly to the club and you’re done.

Also consider all Michael Stewart did was list some of the decisions Budge had made and it was enough for him to be declared as being on some sort of anti Hearts vendetta.

[Dashing Bob S]

Send Budge Packing...to the championship! #sendemdown

[HibbyDave]

It seems that you are attracting way too much meedja attention. Time to cool things down to maybe just three statements a month.
Next one MUST focus on perceived unfairness of the situation surrounding the impending ejection from SPL.






Be sure to mention The Raingurs in your comments as this will deflect meedja focus for a while.


Stay safe!

[jacomo]

I think Budge is great and she’s taking Hearts to places they never even dreamed of.

To be fair, your average Yam does lack imagination and foresight.