There is a campaign on RAWk right now which involves emailing all the papers with the questions that Purslow needs to be asked by the media, I am going to attached the thread. If people could take there trime and read this, copy and paste the questions and email to all the journalist, which email addresses i will provide. Here is the thread.
Most people on here have taken part in this before, but don't worry....
we are taking a different tack. No need for letters and stamps in this one.
All we are asking for is, a few minutes of your time, from the comfort of your own home without a need to even leave your computer... We intend to bombard the media, on top of all the relevant people and institutions that we have already approached.
Over recent weeks we have constantly tried to question our "Managing Director," Christian Purslow.
Right here on RAWK and spread across many fan sites and forums on the net, and also through things like the SAVE LIVERPOOL Facebook and Twitter campaigns, we have attempted to pressure Mr. Purslow into answering questions that we feel most of us fans want answering.
Knowing what sort of a man he is, we didn't try to question him personally. We turned to other people and institutions politely asking, then demanding, them to quiz him on our/your behalf.
We got answers from all the people and institutions that we approached... RBS, Standard Chartered, Secretary of Industry, Vince Cable, and The Premier League.
These are the people who have a duty, in one capacity or another, to ask these questions on our behalf. And, as I said, we have recieved answers from them all, but they also all ducked their responsibility to ask these perfectly legitimate questions. So, we think it's high time we forced/embarrased them into what they should have been doing all along as a simple matter of course.
In fact, we started a campaign to get some answers when Rafa was first forced out, and for at least a month we have been trying to get answers from Purslow personally. So, it's time to force people's hands.
And during this time, our union, SOS, have also tried to question Purslow on at least two seperate occasions... once in public, which he disgracefully ducked out of. And we eagerly await the results of SOS's latest attempt to get Purslow to answer our legitimate concerns.
However, even though I am a union member, I want to note that this is in no way, shape or form an SOS initiative. And although, we have worked with our union on this, and fully support their efforts, we are doing this in an attempt to bring Purslow to account to us - the fans and supporters - and force him to finally answer our/your questions...
Questions we think we are fully entitled to ask... questions we think Purslow is duty bound to answer... and questions we feel all fans would want answering.
So, please don't go bothering the union or board members with emails or so on. There is no need, and they have more than enough to do as it is without being bothered with all this.
Let's just stick to the intended targets and keep focused on the goal. But, knowing our Managing Director, no doubt, he will try to duck, dive and dodge as he has since this started. No problem...
As the old saying goes, he can run but he can't hide.
And as in the other parts of this campaign, if we band together, all do this and get as many other Reds as we can to join us, we can pile massive pressure on top of all the pressure we have already heaped on him.... Remember, there's millions of us. We get a tiny percentage on board, and we can have a massive effect.
And even if he squirms away, as is his habit, we will, at the very least, highly embarass him and erode any credability he has left.
So, here's all the questions we have been asking our Managing Director to answer for a month or so. But, to include a couple of events that have taken place recently, we have added a couple of new questions to the ones we originally posted.
Finally... we have found when taking part in a campaign like this, it is best to add a personal cover note to the set questions. It only has to be brief - a quick explanation of why you are doing this in your own words. In fact, you can add whatever you like, but please...
No abuse. No threats. Nothing derogatory. There's no need.... Just a quick personal note imploring every one you contact to ask the questions on your behalf because Purslow has ignored all past attempts.
So, here's the questions and I will be adding a list of email addresses in a second.
Finally some of the email contacts will be to the editors at the sports desks of the national papers. So please send them to them contacts in the form of an open letter with a view to having it printed in the letters pages of the sports sections.
Thanks, and good luck...
OPEN LETTER TO CHRISTIAN PURSLOW
Your appointment as Managing Director of Liverpool Football Club in July 2009, was officially reported at the time as a temporary role until a long-term replacement for Rick Parry as Chief Executive is found. One year on, could you confirm the following:
1. Are Odgers Berndtson still retained by the club in relation to filling the Chief Executive vacancy?
2. If so, how many candidates have been shortlisted and/or interviewed in the last 12 months? And have you been personally involved in that selection process?
3. If not, has another executive search company been appointed or is the vacancy considered 'dormant' or 'on hold' at present?
4. Is it true that if/when this appointment is made, despite remaining at the the club as a board director, you will cease to have any direct operational responsibility?
5. Can you explain why numerous media outlets (Sky, Trinity Mirror etc.,) not to mention the club's new manager, Roy Hodgson in his first press conference, have begun to refer to you as the "Chief Executive"? Have you been promoted internally without public confirmation from the club? Or are you simply misrepresenting yourself in this regard?
6. Do you expect to remain at the club in any capacity once the sale of the club eventually goes through? Do you believe your continued presence will be countenanced by the fans or new owners?
In relation to the club's financial state and operational matters:
7. What happened to the significant investment you were tasked with obtaining for the club, and confirmed earlier this year as being "very likely (by) Easter"?
8. How do you account for that failure given Liverpool FC's high profile globally? Does it reflect on yourself, the owners, or the club itself?
9. Are you able to explain why you feel empowered to make football-related decisions when you have previously had zero experience in the industry, and were appointed solely on the basis of your financial background? Outside of normal MD supervisory responsibilities, would you agree your primary remit was investment not asset-stripping?
10. Do you feel it is acceptable behaviour for any senior executive at a football club to privately brief hand-picked journalists to disseminate false information via the media, in order to further their own agenda to remove key employees and spin-doctor the financial realities of the club?
11. Did you earlier this year, personally contact either Jorge Valdano, Miguel Pardeza or any other Real Madrid executive to discuss the potential availability for transfer of Rafael Van Der Vaart, without prior discussion or indeed even the knowledge of the then-manager Rafa Benitez? If so, with what purpose given it is the manager's chief responsibility to identify who to buy or sell, subject to board financial approval.
12. Why did you decide to terminate the employment of Rafa Benitez by paying out £6m in lieu of the remainder of the length of his contract, when he was already having discussions with Internazionale who according to their owner Massimo Moratti, were prepared to pay an equivalent sum in compensation to Liverpool FC for Benitez's services? Moratti had, after all, just similarly received €8m from Real Madrid as compensation for the loss of Jose Mourinho.
13. Why, having effectively placed a combined £12m in contractual fees as a debit on the club's balance sheet, did you and the board then decide it prudent to appoint Roy Hodgson as the new manager, thus requiring the club to further pay in excess of £2m in compensation to Fulham FC? Nonwithstanding Hodgson was clearly not the choice of a key member of the selection committee, and there were other far more suitable candidates available for the role who were either internal or out of contract and thus required no such payment to be made.
14. Announcing the sale of Yossi Benayoun on 2 July to our Chairman's beloved Chelsea, the official Liverpool FC release included the statement "Yossi's departure was agreed between the player and Rafael Benitez a number of weeks ago.". Given you terminated Benitez's contract almost 6 weeks ago, a month before Benayoun's sale, isn't it true that this misleading statement was clearly and cynically designed to lay the entire blame for the player's sale at the hands of the club's ex-manager? Or does this set a precedent in that you plan on implementing all of our ex-manager's long-term plans on squad retention in his very noticeable absence?
15. Are you also willing to confirm either the magnitude or the actual fee received for Benayoun, as there is no real need in this context to hide the figure behind the "undisclosed" nature as reported in the media.
16. You recently stated in relation to player transfers that "no-one leaves until a new manager is appointed". So given Roy Hodgson's recent appointment, who can we look forward to the club selling now? Does Hodgson have a say in transfer matters or have you usurped full responsibility in that area?
17. Given your Machiavellian-like behaviour during your tenure as temporary MD, and your increasingly autocratic actions, are you prepared to accept that for the vast majority of fans, your claims of being a "lifelong Red" and former season ticket holder (not technically true as you well know) mean you are viewed as the worst kind of traitor? As opposed to the lone 'fan within' the boardroom you have attempted to paint yourself as. Do you therefore have any regrets?
« Last Edit: Jul 16, 2010 11:59:35 am by Reslivo »
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