Suspend B*****

Here's a link to Derelict London which is one of the website's referenced in discussion.  Not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm of an age to be fascinated by old, decrepit things. 

From what I've read, the acrimony actually pre-dates the Dockers' strike.  The teams were originally formed in opposing dockyards, on either side of the Thames, the dockyards were in competition with each other for the same business, and there was regularly violence on and off the field when they played each other in the amateur league.  The Dockers' strike scenario intensified the bad blood between them, and is the story most often referenced to explain the rivalry.

You start from a position of not thinking that his past is so disgraceful that you have any issue with him being here, then you assume that others will change their mind and start to agree with you if Rovers win a couple of football matches. Some may, but I won't be at a Rovers' game until he's gone.

As for replacing him, you can't shift the burden of responsibility on to us supporters for that and then add a caveat that we need to come up with a name right now. B***** shouldn't be here at all, Widdrington should have gone and Tisdale should have stayed, there's your answer.

But even with Tisdale gone you can now put Widdrington in charge, he was shouting his mouth off that the squad were 'good enough' so should have been given an opportunity to demonstrate that. That would have given all the way through to the end of the season to go through the process of finding a new permanent manager.

Personally I would never have employed Tisdale. 13 seasons at Exeter were pretty fruitless and his forrays in to Division One was pretty disastrous. Not really the type you need to get you promotions. He would be better playing Noel Coward on the stage somewhere. I think he got it because of 2 reasons (a) Starnes knows him and (b)he was available and probably cheap.
I find it hard to comprehend that people are very judgemental when the full facts are not known. Truth is some 10 years ago I had an accusation made against me, and despite the fact I had never been in the same room as this person, and I could prove it (Electronic Key input). Despite the fact that I had never even spoken to this person, and they admitted that. There were lots of "he must have done it" flying around. And even when you know 100% that you are innocent it is in your head about the consequences if nobody believes you. Thankfully with the evidence I had it was concluded that the incident did not happen, and the other person left a few months later. The whole process took 9 months, and at one point involved the police, but they said there was no evidence that anything happened, but still people thought "there had to be something in it" (ie the accusation). So for me it's a case of wait and see.

Good, then B***** will have no issue getting his name cleared for stubbing a cigar out in the eye of someone, for his conviction that got him sent to prison, for attacking half of the Man City team, you get the idea.

If the bloke didn't give the very real impression that he actually enjoys the notoriety that surrounds him it may be easier to join those who say that he should be judged on his future actions rather than what he's done in the past.

Horrible person. If and when he grows up and changes there may be a discussion to be had, but I see no evidence of that being the case right now.

Petrarch, I believe

Geography was never my strong point! Thanks for clarifying - not sure I'd go in a pub if I saw a 20 stone Millwall fan in there!

You accept many people wouldn’t agree?      

Well there you have it, when asked people vote 2 to 1 in favour of getting him away from the club.

We aren't divided Wael, we don't want him here.

Of course his apologists and sycophants will look at home attendances and will try to claim that every person who holds their nose and turns up to support their club is in favour of having him around, when obviously that won't be the case.

Three things:
1. Yes, he is innocent at the current time and I agree with you that he is innocent until proved guilty. But the practice in many, if not most, work situations would be to suspend until the case comes to court. There is no presumption of any guilt or innocence, it merely avoids the situation that the person may find it difficult to carry out their duties whilst this allegation is there. It also gives them time to clear their name and concentrate on their personal issues. And this would be for the current case only of course because, as you say we employed him in full knowledge of the previous case.

2. You may be correct about it being “forgotten” if we are top of the league. But I would have hoped the owner would be able to discriminate between the football side of it and the legal/criminal side of the case. I’m sure no one would be advocating letting someone remain in charge who was found guilty of a serious crime just because we were “top of the league.” That argument is totally unacceptable, it would take any reputation that we currently have away and make it impossible to work with some of our partners I would have thought. That’s why we need to suspend until the case is decided. If he’s innocent we continue but if he’s guilty he goes. Whilst you may be correct about it being forgotten were we top, that would just compound the mistakes made imo.

3. Who would I replace him with? Well, it’s not my job to do that. It’s the job of the owners and as we have the variety of threads whenever we have a vacancy for manager.  They probably don’t take much notice of us and it will never be us who decide. But I do hope that when they appointed him in February knowing the circumstances he was then in they would have had a plan of what to do had that June case continued to its conclusion and if JB had been proved guilty. It would be a plan they need to keep in mind obviously.

And finally, just for clarity, I’m not “calling for his head” but I am looking for some direction and leadership from our owner and board. And that would include not using “if we’re top of the league” or “we don’t know who to replace him with” to excuse their future actions.

UTG!