Good Morning.
It’s the question on everyone’s lips.
It’s got them chatting in the pubs of Glasgow, tribal gatherings in the Amazon rainforest, Inuit house parties, the International Space Station, and even – occasionally – on Twitter.
A question so popular that a recording of The Clumpany asking it is set to go top of the pop charts tonight.
Philosophers, archaeologists, cartographers, explorers, and the good folk of the Scottish Football Monitor have all wrestled with it.
And still they are left scratching their heads at the elusiveness of a definitive answer to that most gripping of questions:
Where is the ‘Wielder of the War Chest’, Dave King?
The Clumpany has previously pondered the quantity and quality of leadership being provided to Sevco by King, and the questions haven’t gone away.
If anything, they have intensified.
Following his absence from the recent EGM – where he could have presided over the first formal engagement with shareholders since being deemed ‘Fit and Proper’ by the SFA – King also managed to miss the unveiling of Mark Warburton.
Indeed we are now told by the Sunday Mail that Warburton is yet to speak to King, who had no direct involvement in his appointment.
However, Warburton is at least quoted as saying
“I haven’t met the chairman yet. I heard him in an interview and the passion was evident. He spoke well of the aims and ambitions for the club”.
Wow! That must have been a clincher Mark!
“I’m sure he’s a busy man and he is chairman. So when the schedule allows I look forward to meeting him soon enough.”
Yes Mark. Hopefully that business will include doing a lot of visible chairman-like things….
So far, there hasn’t even been a quote about Warburton from King on the Sevco website.
Even Sevco directors have felt the need to comment on King’s absence from the managerial recruitment and subsequent unveiling processes.
The Sunday Mail quotes John Gilligan as saying:
“I want to clarify this decision because I wouldn’t like that information to come out the wrong way”.
“Each director on the board is charged with tasks. In this instance Paul and I were charged with the task of recruiting the manager and then reporting back to the board and explaining why we thought the choice was right”.
“The board then gave their opinion and Dave, contrary to what a lot of people might think, was comfortable with that. He delegated that job and that’s the way a board should operate”.
“You put people you trust in positions then take their recommendations”.
Ah! So King is being very ‘hands off’ about the single biggest appointment the ‘club’ has to make. Right you are…
Other matters on which the Chairman has been strangely quiet include an update on the meeting he said he was having to discuss the relisting of shares during the week of the recent EGM.
You might have thought that this merited some further comment. Especially given then-interim Chairman, Baron Bouffant’s comments on 2 April:
“One of the platforms keen to take us is ISDX. This is an exchange that Rangers used to trade on and it is also a trading platform for Arsenal.
“We will have a full platform set up by the end of May”.
The “end of May”, eh?
The Clumpany believes that there is a clear difference between delegation and evacuation. And is sure that Dave King is just a highly effective delegator.
However, the latest revelations from Phil Mac Giolla Bhain give cause for reflection.
Phil suggests (once again) that on the day of the recent EGM, King met His Big Mikeness, enquired as to whether he would be interested in buying out his shares, and making a series of pleas regarding the Sports Direct loan security, and the provision of further funds and Newcastle loanees.
The Clumpany has no way of knowing whether these extraordinary revelations are true, although Phil (who has a long history of calling the overall narrative correctly) sounds confident.
Time will tell. Perhaps the MSM will pursue this potentially explosive news? Perhaps Sevco will set the record straight?
But the overall position seems to remain that for all the bluster about doing ‘whatever it takes’ to win the Championship this season, and being ready to challenge for the Premiership the year after, Sevco seem short of cash and ideas.
A largely-unknown manager, a player with a track record as a serial loanee and injury concerns, and an ageing journeyman as the potential captain DO NOT A REVOLUTION MAKE.
The clock is ticking. The first round of the Perpetual Failure Cup is looming. The squad is tiny, there are no pre-season-friendlies in the diary, and the new manager is away on a course.
Now might be a good time for money, plans and industrial quantities of leadership.
How does that sound, Mr King?
#KeepOnClumping
The Clumpany 