News Geoff Lord standing for President

[Adelaide Hawk]

good question, I assume those at the time accepted he was the best option, but my point wasn't relating to him becoming President, it was relating to the board that watched over the Coote era when the cash reserves of the club where completly spent, Lord was a member of that board, is he not partly accountable?

My memory is sketchy as it was a long time ago, but I seem to recall a budget figure being set at $700,000 and a quote received at that amount. When the final bill came in at $1.6M, some investigations were made, and it was found Mr Coote had financial interests in that company. Not every board member (if any) would have known that, and I believe it led to his ultimate demise as President.

I didn't know a lot about Geoff Lord, but I seem to recall he did some good work in increasing memberships and also stabilising finances. History shows we were still coming up short, but once again, I seem to recall that when Geoff Lord handed over to Brian Coleman, certain accolades came his way for the work he did. Certainly ended his tenure in far greater honour than his predecessor.

 

[Rioli magic]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mighty-fighting-hawks-20111019-1m83y.html

Lord:

''The board have done an outstanding job off the field. Financially, the club is strong and in good shape, but one premiership in 20 years is not what I would call acceptable,'' he said.


''It's an impatience I suppose. Money in footy clubs is meant to be used to deliver success."


''That's probably the motivation of the people that are looking for somebody to generate some success in the place."


''They [the board] have done a great job when you go to the balance sheet, but it's about winning premierships."


''We have had boards through Ian Dicker's time and Kennett's time that have done terrific jobs off the field, but aren't all that focused on football success.''


....


''I can understand if we were 15th and losing money and the place was a shambles, but that couldn't be further from the truth,'' Newbold said.


''Stability is the key ingredient of success in any club or organisation and we have had that at Hawthorn, so I am disappointed the club now has to undergo an election, but it will be completed by Christmas and we will be on to the next season."


....



Kennett said there would be ''vigorous'' opposition to Lord's bid.


''Andrew represents the next generation. I think he is about 14 or 15 years younger than me, which is a good sign,'' he said on 3AW.


''He has been on the board now for some years and is well-equipped to take the club to the next level of activity."


''While we appreciate Geoff offering, to be honest we have got to keep building rather than looking back to the past.''

​

 

[TAITA]

**** him - he bailed when times where tough, now he wants to be the prodigal son?

Nah - **** him.

 

[Pessimistic]

Keeping an open mind, the first words from Lord on the matter dont give an appealing reason to change.

Only one flag since 199x ? Yes but that was only 3 yrs ago under the cyrrent administration.

18 wins in 2011 the highest since 1989 and a similar percentage

Arguably the squad is the strongest in that time

Longest run of positive profits in the afl perhaps with the exception of eagles and crows (goes back to 97)

Club is an attractive destination for top players - something which was pointedly not the case in the period 1993-1999.

Dicker's board spent most of its efforts saving a club which was runn into the ground - in the period 1993-1996

In fact his premierships brfore money seems to be a call to spend more and save lest.

In this little onions opinion the first priority of a hawthorn board is the survival of the club - in its current 'Identity". premierships are just part of that.

Everything may be hunky dory with the AFL now but there are dark forces who nearly clobbered our club *. We cannot assume they have given up on that We are not one of the AFLs favourites - reinforced witht he recent attempted eviction from tassie
We need our nestegg and we must remain vigilant

*was thinking today the dawks merger would have meant 15 clubs in the AFL.
an odd number of clubs is so unwanted they have taken the risk of launching 2 clubs - GWS and GCS in 2 years. The powers thet be knew that and still had blood in their vision when the pursued a merger of hawthorn.

 

[TAITA]

Hey Pess - where is Gary Shadforth when you need him?

I remember having a very good dialogue with him regarding the largesse of that period.

I could possibly forgive Coote (conflict of interest, ripping off the footy club blind) as a one off, but these blokes dined out on the club as if there was no tomorrow (perhaps they knew something).

Flying first class to Perth, staying in 5 star hotels, and swanning around in limousines like rockstars is just but one example.

Lord was part of it.

 

[Jables]

His dismissal of Ian Dicker's efforts as just focusing on off-field profits is not encouraging.

I fail to understand how him becoming the president would help our on-field ambitions anyway, who's he going to fire? What's he going to change? We've been increasing football spending for several years now have we not? Improving our facilities and what not.

I'm only 19 so I don't remember his time as president, but excuse me his comments reek of bullshit. Maybe I just like a president that lets the football staff handle the football.

 

[cyrilhawk33]

Newbold has been a lawyer for 20 years and bought and sold some renewable energy assets ( I have been in finance for 10 years and bought and sold some shares). This guy, if made president, is going to have to deal with a coach, players, supporters that all are expecting success. I could write about a whole lot of challenges, but in summary, is this guy going to have the balls to deal with some tough issues if there are hiccups in 2012?

All I can say is, if there is a vote, take it seriously. I also have a query, out of the current board members, is Newbold the first choice of the board, or have other board members who may have been favoured, declined to run for president?

Not really, if hes president, his main role is to run board meeting and set a strategic direction on which the board votes. The CEO is the one who deals with day to day operations, he will be the one talking to coach, players and other staff, then the CEO takes there concerns to the board, then the president will set agendas in board meetings and so on.

I feel Newbold would be the best choice, it seems we have a good board at the moment and too many changes would be detrimental. We are in a good position, what we need now is stability to build on it

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

His dismissal of Ian Dicker's efforts as just focusing on off-field profits is not encouraging.

Yes, that comment would have me voting against him. It exhibits a lack of understanding of what Hawthorn needed to do at the time. Dicker explained this to all members so we had a full grasp of the plan.

He had to completely rebuild the club's financial structure, and in order to do this, needed to focus on it 100% .. at the expense of on field performances. Once the foundation was laid for financial stability, then they could turn their focus on building a premiership team.

It is the Dicker legacy that sees Hawthorn thriving with 56,000 members and one of the powerhouse clubs in the AFL.

All that was understood, and the members were patient, so why Lord doesn't seem to grasp it is a worry.

 

[dermott]

Most of us long time Hawks supporters remember how close to the brink the club went before Dicker and Scott came out and provided the leadership that saved us from extinction (it was not a merger of equals).
Today we are again a force in the AFL. I was able to attend the 2008 Grand Final with my son (a Hawks supporter living in Sydney) and I have a 2 year old grandson I want to go to a Hawks grand final win.
I never want to see again how incompetent administration can almost destroy my football club.
I will be supporting Newbold if he has Dicker's support.

 

[Brown Blood]

Lord seems incredibly out of touch given he is essentially running on an on-field success ticket.

The Hawks under lord finished 7th and then 15th!

He has no record of on-field success as president - whereas the current team is clearly improving and has every chance of going the next step in 2012.

I actually don't think he will end up running as he realises he has zero support - especially as a number of club legends etc come out in support of newbold.

 

[BaliHawk]

My memory is sketchy as it was a long time ago, but I seem to recall a budget figure being set at $700,000 and a quote received at that amount. When the final bill came in at $1.6M, some investigations were made, and it was found Mr Coote had financial interests in that company. Not every board member (if any) would have known that, and I believe it led to his ultimate demise as President.

I didn't know a lot about Geoff Lord, but I seem to recall he did some good work in increasing memberships and also stabilising finances. History shows we were still coming up short, but once again, I seem to recall that when Geoff Lord handed over to Brian Coleman, certain accolades came his way for the work he did. Certainly ended his tenure in far greater honour than his predecessor.

Look, these folk would have had the clubs best interests at heart, they like us wanted Premierships and as pointed out by BB Geoff Lord was a director when we won 4 flags.....86-91 period. He is now 65 years of age, not sure what he brings to our club and reading todays Age he himself is not sure he will stand if there isnt the support. So I assume he will gauge this, but in the circles I move he has no support at all, mainly because of the position the club is in and whether he would be the right person for the next era, Geoff is a very public person and like the other Jeff has a propensity to express a view on anything and everything.

 

[Messenger]

He's on SEN right now. I don't think Andrew Newbold need lose any sleep.

Close to nonsensical.

 

[ghalls]

Agree! Just heard him on SEN. Made no sense at all!

 

[LiveToSki]

He did forget to mention that he was incharge for some of those exact years he was talking about (1 flag in 20 years). And his big selling point was to buy a pub in Hawthorn and paint it brown and gold....

 

[Pessimistic]

Ignoring the fact that the majority of support is in the waverley area.

Youd think it will fizzle but he claims others have nominated him.

the smoke without fire thing

He did let slip he thought the board had too many accountant type people. It doensnt worry me so long as JD is there (can he have an examption form Jeffs ridiculous tenure rule ?)

Perhaps there are significant numbers of people thinking the club is becoming distant from the supporters ? - not the players and coach - they couldnt be better
The sorts of things we complained about once but have now given up on ?

 

[SHAKESPEARE]

Agree! Just heard him on SEN. Made no sense at all!

He is a drunk. Probably sinking too much French champagne with brekky

 

[The BIG X]

My memory is sketchy as it was a long time ago, but I seem to recall a budget figure being set at $700,000 and a quote received at that amount. When the final bill came in at $1.6M, some investigations were made, and it was found Mr Coote had financial interests in that company. Not every board member (if any) would have known that, and I believe it led to his ultimate demise as President.

I didn't know a lot about Geoff Lord, but I seem to recall he did some good work in increasing memberships and also stabilising finances. History shows we were still coming up short, but once again, I seem to recall that when Geoff Lord handed over to Brian Coleman, certain accolades came his way for the work he did. Certainly ended his tenure in far greater honour than his predecessor.

Handed over - you put that very nicely - thought it more like walked andBrian Coleman had no option but to take over.

Very happy to see an election take place and learn what either party intentions are

But would not be surprised to learn that Lord may pull out

 

[hawksalltheway]

that SEN interview was embarrassing....he would take us backwards

lets keep this club as professionally run as it has been over the last 5 or so years...

 

[The BIG X]

Ignoring the fact that the majority of support is in the waverley area.

Youd think it will fizzle but he claims others have nominated him.

the smoke without fire thing

He did let slip he thought the board had too many accountant type people. It doensnt worry me so long as JD is there (can he have an examption form Jeffs ridiculous tenure rule ?)

Perhaps there are significant numbers of people thinking the club is becoming distant from the supporters ? - not the players and coach - they couldnt be better
The sorts of things we complained about once but have now given up on ?

He does need a proposer and seconder

 

[J0NNY B]

Not really, if hes president, his main role is to run board meeting and set a strategic direction on which the board votes. The CEO is the one who deals with day to day operations, he will be the one talking to coach, players and other staff, then the CEO takes there concerns to the board, then the president will set agendas in board meetings and so on.

I feel Newbold would be the best choice, it seems we have a good board at the moment and too many changes would be detrimental. We are in a good position, what we need now is stability to build on it

The CEO is all good, if he takes only half of what Brian Cook has implemented at Geelong will be a massive boost to the Hawks.

The fact the board does not have day to day dealings with Management and staff etc is exactly the reason a knowledgable/experienced/strong decision maker is needed as president.

Lets not look at who (Lord) has been nominated, rather why a group has felt an alternative is required? Do the current board know what is required to achieve on field success, and then hold management/coaches accountable to this? Who is JD accountable too? I really feel one or two more board members are required that have a sporting background as well as business/executive experience.

 

[Goady138]

that SEN interview was embarrassing....he would take us backwards

lets keep this club as professionally run as it has been over the last 5 or so years...

As soon as they could ditch him to recover from the night before, Tim Watson summed it all up with one word.
WOW.

 

[apiro]

Just heard Geoff on SEN. All I took away from this was that he is not happy we have only won 1 flag in 20 years and that this is not satisfactory.

Well, we all want to improve this record Geoff. You need to tell us how as President you can do this.

 

[gohawkz1]

that SEN interview was embarrassing....he would take us backwards

lets keep this club as professionally run as it has been over the last 5 or so years...

Don't care how much money this banana has...he sounded like a spud on SEN this morning...a big NO THANKS!!

 

[Pessimistic]

I can see why he and Elliot were great mates

 

[Rushed_Behind]

He runs for president and whatever businesses or entities he is involved in i will boycott and go out of my way to encourage not only hawthorn supporters but anyone else to do the same. I know a lot of victory supporters who werent happy with him either.