Cliff Hughes Q&A

1              Area Regeneration

Question: Redevelopment of the area around the ground, its on the cards, but what if it was proposed that there would be a possible move of the football club to a new location, part funded by the sale of the ground and other places.

What would you say if the rest of the board saw you as Fan on the board, someone to bring the rest of the fanbase along with you?

Would you step down immediately knowing you couldn’t sign up to such an unpalatable action, or.....something else?'

Tamp - HoF

Answer: A very pertinent question - thank you - in fact, more than one question.

Firstly, yes, the Board may well choose to regard the FOTB as someone who would be expected to 'bring the fans with them'. It’s in the nature of entrepreneurs and senior managers who are able enough to delegate. 'Do your job, or get out'... 'Stand and deliver'.

In some ways, if the FOTB were asked to do this, its a sign of success, there is some trust, and would be a very big test of mettle.

What do I think about moving the ground?

Firstly, I think this is very unlikely. The Den is paid for and the ground is actually becoming better situated by the day. It is close to The City, The East London Line is due to come, and there will be massive investment for the Olympics not too far away. The issue is the state of neglect of the immediate area. Would you go there for a night out or business conference? - Apart from football, obviously.

There could well be a win-win in staying put, the doubt being how we ensure appropriate financial benefits for Millwall Football Club. Can you trust a property developer? Frankly I think that you would struggle to make a financial or business case for such a move. We have little debt at present - a £5m per year loss, where we are now, are a concern, but are fairly small beer in the bigger picture. The Glazer situation - take on and service a massive debt - well even Man U are going to struggle with that, and they have perhaps 30 times our turnover.

What if a move were actually proposed? For now, I think we need to keep a very open mind; it would depend on the rationale for the move, the benefits that would accrue, the security of the new destination (almost certainly with something 'temporary') and where it would be eventually located.

Millwall is a South London Club. Yes, I know about our time north of the river. Millwall Rec on the Isle of Dogs was actually my Sunday football team’s home ground, many moons ago. My position would be that we have to stay a South London Club.

The question about stepping down immediately? No, not under any circumstance would I do that immediately. This would be just when the role was most needed by the fans. Nick Hart has described resignation as the 'nuclear option'. As usual Nick has found the right words. You can only do it once. It's the coward’s way out. An admission of failure. After following Millwall for 50 years, I'm not giving up without a massive fight....

Good questions, though.

2              PLC status

Question: If you are signed up to MFC operating as a PLC, what benefits do you see in its continuance? If not, how would see the best way for the club to be organised?

Sanderstead Lion - Millwall Maniacs

Answer: I’m not signed up to Millwall as a PLC. That’s just the business structure we have at the moment. A business would normally make the transition to become a PLC either to allow its owners to realise some inherent value or to be able to raise further capital to fund growth. We have been through that cycle. Been a half decent cash cow, but not been a good deal for the investors though, has it? I think PdeS came into the role thinking that he, or rather ‘Con’, would find it a breeze to quickly raise a few million, either in The City or through his Eastern European or Icelandic connections. After all, he is used to raising big, big chunks of money – that’s how property development works. Oh dear, the guys that look to invest a million or two are a different breed to those that play in the £100m’s. And that nice man Theo has already drunk the small wells dry……

Cue the scene in PdeS’ office….

‘Have to think of something different, something more long term, something I am familiar with … I know, lets do a property development……’

‘We have run out of cash, Theo is getting fed up funding the overdraft, and how the hell do I get my hands on the benefits of my new scheme when I need the Club to get those bl**dy planning authorities on my side and the PLC have 42,000 shareholders’……. ‘I know, I can’t raise any short term cash, I’ll be blowed if I’m using my own hard-earned … what I need is another administration, get Theo off my back, get all those little shareholder people out of my profit, errm, lets think this through…..lets sack that bloke Lee, he’s dangerous, seems to know what he’s doing, and put that guy Tuttle in charge … he doesn’t know anyone in the game. So no players will want to come, I get to keep my petty cash in my pocket, I sit here saying ‘it’s the managers fault, I will back his judgement but he hasn’t attracted anyone we can afford’, and I get relegation and a good excuse for administration and share restructuring. Easy cheap buy and my hands on more of the profits. Pass me another cigar, Con old chap’

So I don’t think that PLC or not is the issue…… I believe that what really matters to the future of Millwall Football Club, and it’s real owners, us the fans, is that we stay in business and that we sustain Millwall values, because without the values we bring – mutual support, humour, family, friendship, shared memories - the Club we know and love ceases to exist. So we must focus on making sure that PdeS keeps his promise to fund the football club on the back of the development project, whatever form that takes and whatever business structure he chooses.

3              Communication

Question: How would you structure your means of communicating with the fan base and what barriers and opportunities do you perceive or see in making effective communications?

Answer: Bob Asprey’s decision to withdraw as a FOTB candidate to focus his time and energy on revamping MSC is a vital part of the strategy. Success for the FOTB concept, whoever wins, can only come if we elect the right candidate (happy to debate what that means elsewhere) and he then ensures that he really does communicate with the fan base, as much of it as possible, really does understand the majority’s issues, concerns and aspirations, both pre and post election. The other key factor of course is commitment to the success of the concept at Holdings Board level. Lets not digress.

So new MSC will become the main sounding board and a key but not the only part of the communication mechanism. The FOTB must be visible and active on websites, not daily but frequently enough. This far, he will be communicating with maybe 5% of the fanbase. Let us accept that we have 50,000 potential fans. The exact number doesn’t matter. I‘m sure we can agree that its much larger than 10,000. So he is in some contact with just several thousand people. What about the other 48,000 or 28,000 or whatever number you prefer?

He must use MFC means, such as the match day programmes, he must use the official website, he must use the local press, he must be prepared to meet interested small groups face to face, yes, in the Golden Lion, if that’s what the guys want. I will also draw together a small network of people selected for their special skills. A political advisor, a proper finance man, who can real read between the lines of a balance sheet. Needs, ideas and possible people are and will continue to emerge  – there are lots of very able, discrete fans out there.

I see several threats or barriers. That’s a hell of a lot of communicating for a very part time role. Good job I am semi-retired. And secondly, there’s no point in all that communication unless he is able to say something of value to the fans. FOTB will have to walk a tightrope of trust, those fans that voted for him at one end of the rope, the board at the other. The fans that don’t trust him, in the bear pit below. The real hard-edged stuff will be ‘subject to Board Confidentiality’. In my view, quite correctly. This is a Board Appointment. The role has no real value unless he is accepted and trusted by the Board. Conversely the role has no real value unless he both sustains the trust of those fans that voted for him and earns the trust of a wider range. He must do this by making early progress with those issues which are important to the fans and have basically been ignored for a long time – stewarding standards, bannings, ticket prices, ticketing practices and restrictions, catering standards etc. Making that progress depends crucially on his ability to influence the culture inside the Club, where of course there might be some indirect benefits from administration ie one way to influence culture is to change some of the people.

That tightrope is some barrier - can any of the candidates walk it?

4              Club management

Question: So much has happened this season on the staff and management front. I suspect that many potential players/managers would be sceptical about coming here. How would you see the club redress this issue?

Answer: The situation desperately needs stability and some experienced football knowledge. It needs a man who has real knowledge and credibility in the football world. I originally saw Colin Lee’s elevation to Director of Football as a good move in that way, though also believe that we would be better off now if he were still in charge of team affairs. Managers popular with their players are a misnomer. It needs the entire management deadwood to go and the internal bickering that we hear about on the grapevine to stop. My ideal solution would be a three man team, a part time experienced known figure head who does not have Millwall baggage, a young, energetic manager who can motivate and is tactically astute, and an older coach who has a track record working with young players. Can we afford this? Where do we find these guys? Are any of them in the club now?  I wish I knew. But if PdeS is half the businessman his record suggests, I wouldn’t rule out sweeping changes in the near future. If none occur, I think it tells us a lot about how far we can trust PdeS’ judgement and honesty as to his true intent on the football side.

5            Millwall Academy

Question: The questioning of our commitment towards the 'Academy' set up has been aired frequently in the past. It is undoubtedly expensive, how might we reduce our outgoings in this area of operation or should we not even consider making any changes?

Answer: I believe in the Academy, it’s the only way a small club like ours can compete with better-supported rivals. Unless PdeS is able to pump in short term silly money, a cost effective Academy is must. We should be scouting the lower leagues, but appear not to. We can only go so far buying in players. Rumour has it that our Academy has gone astray in the last few years. There is normally no smoke without fire, and there has been lots of smoke. This is a key strategic area for critical review, with the focus being how to get the best bang for our buck. No prior conclusions from me without careful study – its too important an issue to play blind.