March 2005
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Lewington is shown the Ray out at Watford FC
28 March 2005
In yesterday's Observer newspaper Watford fanzine writer Matt
Rowson wrote about the season's stupidest sacking. Watford have been my team
since the 1970s. Watford are not a glamourous club. They had brief fame in
the 1980s spending Elton John's money and managed by a bright young manager,
Graham Taylor. Second in the then first division to Liverpool, European
football, an FA Cup final when the cup actually meant something. They were heady
days.
Now the club has been fighting for three years simply for survival. Club officials and players took a 15% pay cut last year to keep the club out of administration. Keeping the club afloat has been down to Lewington; a successful youth side has been down to Lewington. By all accounts Watford have sacked a decent bloke for the crime of not keeping an average team in mid-championship table.
Lewington was managing a thin squad of young untested players and veterans picked up as cheaply as possible playing very average football in a very competitive division.
Anyway this is what Matt Rowson wrote in the Observer:
Sunday March 27, 2005
The Observer
In June 2004, the Football League introduced a 'fit and proper person' test to
regulate the suitability of club directors - a decent attempt to promote honest
club governance. But, although the test may help safeguard against financial
mismanagement, it has been powerless to stop yet another stupid decision being
imposed on Watford - the second in four years.
In the summer of 2001, Gianluca Vialli replaced Graham Taylor. Following the revered Taylor (revered in Hertfordshire, at least) was always going to be a thankless task, but Vialli was an extraordinary choice. His career had not given him any knowledge of League football and he proved a slow learner, recruiting elderly mercenaries from Premiership out-trays, with a star-struck board continuing to sign cheques. The assumption of the nonplussed support was that there was a fall-back plan in place should Vialli fail to win instant promotion. There wasn't.
After a hugely underwhelming season, Vialli left in June 2002, his pay-out settled out of court. He has not worked in management since. Ray Lewington was promoted from reserve-team manager to replace him. Lewington faced a huge task - a lopsided squad with many on divisive and unsustainable contracts. The majority of the board of directors made for the exit, Graham Simpson alone staying on as chairman to sink a large amount of his own money into the club's financial hole. ITV Digital's implosion did not help.
Since then, Watford have struggled with the incurred costs. Vicarage Road was sold off in a hasty sell-to-rent deal, then repurchased in August 2004 via a series of loans to beat clauses that would have made a later buy-back impossible. Vialli's signings were mostly paid off, with the remaining squad culled at the end of each season. Lewington had limited control over who departed and when, scraping around to sign replacements on free transfers. Dreams of a return to the Premiership were a distant memory, survival became the sole objective.
Implausibly, Watford have, so far, stayed up - relegation was never a concern in 2003, was successfully hurdled in 2004 and has only recently become a worry in 2005. In that time, Lewington's team reached an FA Cup semi-final, held Chelsea to a draw to earn a lucrative third-round replay, and this season demolished Southampton and Portsmouth on the way to a an honourable defeat by Liverpool in the Carling Cup semi-finals. The money earned has been vital in keeping the club alive.
On Tuesday Lewington, to quote the club's official website, was 'relieved of his duties after a unanimous board decision'. This two months since losing to Liverpool and less than a week since fans sang his name during a home game with Leicester. With a squad of youngsters fast-tracked through the youth system and veterans with creaking knees, injuries and suspensions were always going to hit at some point and, yes, recent form has been poor. But isn't a man who has succeeded against the odds deserving of a show of faith? Who will replace him? Is there anyone out there stupid enough to apply for the job, let alone competent enough to do it? With two new directors self-confessed Chelsea fans, Dennis Wise's name has already been mentioned. That Wise was Vialli's captain during his time at Stamford Bridge has not gone unnoted, to grimaces all over Hertfordshire. After Tuesday's stupidity, however, it will take a cock-up of epic proportions to surprise anybody.
Matt Rowson is co-editor of Watford fanzine Blind, Stupid & Desperate (www.bsad.org)
Message to Tsang - clean up the triads
28 March 2005
The triad attack on Hong Kong resident Ben Ford was a shocking reminder of how grotesquely violent Hong Kong can be; of how little value some Chinese attribute to human decency and how ineffective the government has been at dealing with triad activity.
Imagine if you will what it feels like to be dragged from your taxi by four chinese men wielding excrement covered machetes who then hack at you as you try hopelessly to protect yourself.
Imagine 15 hours of surgery to reattach fingers and stitch up other wounds? And subsequently a further 4 hours of surgery.
The attackers sliced off the little finger and second finger of his right hand; the cut ran through his palm almost to his wrist. They also cut his left calf and right thigh through to the muscle, sliced off the cheek of his left buttock, cut his upper right arm and his left elbow.
Ben Ford works for a subsidiary of my previous employer. He is a gentle and rather unassuming man. A week ago on Sunday 20th March he was hacked in the hands, arms and legs as he climbed into a taxi outside an up-market recreation club where he had been working as a bar volunteer at a charity event for the last night of the Hong Kong 7s.
After the bar had closed Ford left with two others from the bar area. One of the three took the first available cab and left, Ben took the next cab and the third started to return to the bar area. As the second cab pulled away, another car appeared and forced it to stop. Four men jumped out of the cab wearing balaclavas and launched their unprovoked attack first in the Cab and then on the pavement after dragging him out.
Ford appears to have been the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mistaken identity. In another part of the club that evening security staff were forced to ask an Australian who had become drunk and abusive to leave. This individual is known to some of the organisers of the event. By all accounts he was both violent and abusive. It was ultimately left to the person’s brother to subdue him and lead him from the ground.
The westerner's girlfriend is a Chinese girl who it seems has Triad connections. She was with him and appears to have taken exception to the removal of her boyfriend despite the fact that he was uncontrollably drunk. It appears that she proceeded to call her contacts to arrange for an attack on the security staff involved. This call was witnessed by a number of people at the event.
So this sorry affair starts with a drunk gwailo who, with his dubious Chinese girlfriend, gets ejected by gwailo security guys from a party after the Rugby Sevens. Humiliation for him and his girl. She calls her Triad friends and gives them the vaguest description of the target. To confuse identification further staff and volunteers were all wearing the same style and colour of t-shirt. It is night time; the attackers see a shadowy figure of a westerner getting into a taxi and make their assault.
The currently nameless drunken westerner who is the start point for this dreadful business has turned himself in. His girlfriend is in custody. As soon as they have the four attackers I would lock all six of them into a cell together and throw away the key.
If Mr. Tsang wants to make any impact as Chief Executive of Hong Kong he could start by condemning this shocking attack, and by committing the police force to a bringing Ford's attackers to justice and clamping down on triad activity.
The wishful thinking hub
22 March 2005
Perhaps the most mis-used English word in Thailand is "hub." A quick scroll through newspaper articles on the last week and there are reports that Thailand wants to be the hub of all hubs !! The mother or all hubs! Where else in the world would a country seek to be a hub for all of the following?
The regional trade and transport hub; The drought hub; The low cost hub; The rice hub; The rubber trading hub; The literary hub; A regional biotechnology and biodiversity hub; The regional hub; The regional production hub (automobile) industry; The aviation hub; A higher education regional hub; The asian tourist hub; The regional logistics hub; A jewelry hub; The production hub for multi-purpose vehicles and one-ton pickup trucks; A rubber trading hub; A traditional culture hub; The regional hub for the delivery of UN disaster relief and humanitarian operations. The list goes on.....
Saying it and doing it are very different. A little focus; a few real achievements and we might start to believe that Thailand can truly be more than the wishful thinking hub of Asia!
China's mega air merger rumour
16 March 2005
In the mysterious world of China's air regulations it is hardly surprising to see two such different interpretations put on the same rumour that emerged today from Hong Kong.
The rumour is of a mega merger between Air China, Dragonair and Cathay Pacific Airlines; the question is who is taking the lead; or as the Australian press puts it - who is eyeing who ?
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Air China eyeing Cathay Pacific: report Sydney Morning Herald (subscription), Australia - Air China Ltd, the mainland's biggest airline, is negotiating a takeover of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways, a newspaper says. ... |
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Cathay Pacific eyes Air China: report Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia - HONG Kong carrier Cathay Pacific is in talks on a merger with Air China in a deal that would give the combined airlines unrivalled coverage of China, one of ... |
The South China Morning Post reports that a deal will be announced in the next two weeks. This deal would make British controlled Swire Group the major shareholder in Air China.
If there is truth to the rumour it is huge. The merged airline would dominate China's fast growing air market and have a near monopoly on the hugely profitable Hong Kong to Shanghai and Beijing routes.
A combination of Air China/Cathay Pacific/Dragonair would represent one of the largest airlines in the world by any measure.
It is not clear what structure such a merger or joint venture would take. Would the airlines keep their own identities? The people issues would be huge. Creating a common and practical business structure would be challenging.
But the rewards could be remarkable as the Chinese inbound, outbound and domestic markets grow.
How would China Southern and China Eastern respond. Do not be surprised to see one of them (China Eastern would be my choice) forming an alliance with Singapore Airlines.
It's not Jacko that is wacko; it's the system
15 March 2005
THE so-called "trial of the century" in California - Case No 1133603, the People v Michael Joe Jackson - was always going to be a circus. It is worse than circus, it is farce.
Jackson does not live in the same world as the rest of us. He has been working since he was 5, famous since he was 11, sequestered behind gates since shortly after that. He has spent his life surrounded by flunkies who follow his orders, shape his environment to his tastes and say yes a lot.
He cannot be judged by twelve of his peers. Such people do not exist.
It is a grubby, sordid, American story where everyone wants their moment of fame; everyone wants to feed at the same trough.
The singers' teenage accuser has now said that he twice told a school official that the pop star never molested him. All the defense needs to do is establish reasonable doubt. The judge should throw the case out now and send the money grabbing family, the parasitic lawyers and the media pariahs home. Better still, Larry King will have to find something interesting to bore us all with.
The prosecution has described Jackson as a sexual predator who molested the cancer stricken boy or a poof family from when he was 13. Jackson's defense lawyer calls him the victim of a celebrity-obsessed family seeking money. When the gravy train dried up the family contacted two lawyers, one of whom had arranged a $20 million settlement for another boy who made sexual claims against Jackson in 1993.
It is voyeurism and celebrity worship gone mad. We are getting
a peek at a world that none of us should want to be a part of. This money
grabbing show trial should never have got to court and appears likely to end in
a not guilty verdict that will only show what a farce the system is.
"Jetsgo"ne
14 March 2005
Michael LeBlanc has managed to crash his fourth Canadian Airline. The man has something of a genius for running airlines badly; over - expanding and then closing down leaving planes, crews and passengers stranded across North America and internationally.
Limited liability and Directors' and Officers' insurance should be sufficient to ensure that he is not financially hurt. But if I was a financier I would not back any, almost inevitable, future start-up from Monsieur LeBlanc.
Leblanc's previous airlines include Intair and Royal. The sale of Royal to Canada 3000 led in large part to the collapse of Canada 3000. Leblanc is alleged to have hidden the extent of Royal's losses; a court case being brought by Canada 3000 died along with the airline.
In a statement of claim, Canada 3000 sought $45-million in damages for "fraud, negligence, breach of contract, conspiracy" and fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation of Royal's financial statements and records.
"Leblanc [and other defendants] engaged in the aforesaid conspiracy in order to induce Canada 3000 to make its offer and complete its acquisition of Royal and to ensure that Canada 3000 offered the highest price possible for the common shares of Royal," the claim alleged.
Jetsgo, which began operations in mid-2002 with just three planes, grew into Canada's third-largest airline with 29 jets. Only Air Canada and Westjet are larger. Leblanc used the proceeds from the sale of Royal to start the new carrier. He used older planes on routes for which they were not well suited.
Jetsgo ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy protection last Friday, 10th March.
The court-appointed monitor is RSM Richter Inc. and Jetsgo is being represented by Louis Gouin and Sylvain Rigaud of Montreal law firm Ogilvy Renault LLP.
As part of the legal proceedings, $4-million has been set aside from Jetsgo's assets to ensure that the monitor and various lawyers representing the monitor and Jetsgo get paid. So the lawyers will get well looked after. Pity the poor consumer and the employees.
Expect price increases for Canadian air travelers. This is probably not unreasonable and certainly not unexpected.
The Basic Flaw
11 March 2005
The Basic Flaw lies not with Mr. Tung; he was simply the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The weakness of Tung's position as the curiously named Chief Executive and the inability of the Beijing mandarins to act decisively was all to obvious when Tung eventually resigned ten days after news of his resignation was leaked to the press.
Chinese leaders chose Mr Tung to run Hong Kong after the handover by Britain in 1997 largely because he would do Beijing's bidding. Beijing then ensured Mr Tung was reappointed, unopposed, in 2002.
Why was Tung so unpopular in Hong Kong, in part because he was inept, but in large part because Beijing wanted him to push through a draconian security law and because Beijing continues to block any move towards greater democracy in Hong Kong.
Tung's departure is really no victory for Hong Kong's democrats. He has not gone as a result of a democratic vote in Hong Kong. In truth he has been dumped by Beijing because the party needs someone more effective; there is no intent to please Hong Kong's people.
President Hu Jintao will now seek to ensure that the pro-Beijing electoral committee of 800 people chooses his candidate who will then face exactly the same problems as Mr. Tung. The Basic Law is fundamentally flawed. It can be interpreted at Beijing's whim and fails to give the proposed high degree of autonomy to Hong Kong's people.
To add to the muddled messages, Beijing has made clear that it wants the new chief executive to complete the two years left of Mr Tung's term. Meanwhile the Basic Law states that any Chief Executive's term is five years. Will Beijing again over rule the Basic Law?
The Basic Law constitutionally guaranteed Hong Kong "a high degree of autonomy" within China. The Basic Law also says that the ultimate aim is to elect the Chief Xxecutive by universal suffrage. I do not believe that Beijing will ever allow this to happen without a significant move towards greater democratisation in China.
Boeing, boeing, gone
8 March 2005
Harry Stonecipher, 68, ex CEO of Boeing Corp was dismissed yesterday. His affair with an unidentified Boeing executive began only two months ago and just 10 days after a snitch reported the relationship to the board, chairman Lewis Platt demanded Stonecipher's resignation.
Boeing made Stonecipher's dismissal very public. There appears to have been a deliberate humiliation which must be the product of the Board's disappointment.
The affair itself did not violate Boeing's internal code of conduct Platt reported. But circumstances of the relationship, which Boeing isn't talking about, apparently did. We are left to guess the exact nature of the alleged impropriety; it is safe to assume that it related to a lack of discretion. We need to know! Were they testing the latest in first class beds; bonking on a Boeing?
Boeing acted swiftly because it already is a "reputational" basket case, a condition that Stonecipher was lured out of a brief Boeing retirement to repair. That made him an outspoken advocate of Boeing's ethical code of conduct. And if you live by the sword (or another appendage) then you can fall by the sword as well!.
Some will see this as another sign of political correctness calling the shots in a Boeing boardroom overly sensitized to scandals that include alleged overbilling of the Pentagon, stealing trade secrets from rival Lockheed Martin Corp. and a huge class-action lawsuit by employees claiming sexual discrimination. But a consensual relationship with a colleague is very different from defrauding the Pentagon or corporate theft. Yet in modern America the penalty is the same.
Boeing had to put its house in order. Stonecipher was hired to do that. He was also enjoying a little extra curricular activity as well.
Stonecipher had helped Boeing to a 52 per cent jump in Boeing's share price during his brief tenure. Insiders say that Stonecipher was unpopular; which may account for the tip-off to the Board.
Boeing has strong internal succession candidates. On an interim basis, chief financial officer James Bell, a 32-year veteran of the company, takes over as CEO. Internal candidates as Stonecipher's permanent replacement include Alan Mulally, who is spearheading the new fuel-efficient "Dreamliner" passenger jet that raised morale in Seattle; and Jim Albaugh, who runs Boeing's $30 billion (U.S.) defence business.
Boeing has set the bar a little higher for CEO conduct. It is zero tolerance time in North American companies.
Airbus executives must be chuckling. In France they would fire the CEO for NOT having a mistress!
Counterfeit China
3 March 2005
As I left the conference cocktail reception this evening I was given a leaving gift. In the bag was a black Alfred Dunhill document bag courtesy of one of the sponsors.
I was impressed. The bag has a nice Dunhill label. The bag has Dunhill tags and lining.
It is the Certificate Card that gives it away ! The card reads as follows:
"Italian ALFREFDDUNHILL" Leather collection ate designed by Italian man, famous for its meticulous made and strict checktion. Free repaired with the native chapman if dam aged in product expect by man and welcome for question of customer.
Nice bag; shame about the English !
China's changing demographics
2 March 2005
Last month I commented on Donald Tsang's old fashioned plea to the people of Hong Kong to have more children. But Hong Kong's numbers pale when compared to the changing demographics of China.
China's one child policy has been very effective. Maybe too effective. Some figures to consider; taken from this week's Economist: China's total population is now 1.3 billion. This is expected to stay flat over the next 15 years and to then fall rapidly. The number of people aged under 40 has already peaked at 800 million. In the next twenty years this number will fall by one third. By 2024 the 40 plus age group will make up nearly 60% of the Chinese population. Estimates suggest that by then some three quarters of Chinese households may be childless.
The implications are significant. There will be a huge market of 40-60 year olds, whose one little emperor or empress has left home and who are the first generation to benefit from China's new wealth. They will own their own homes, they will travel, they will eat out, they will invest, they will buy life and health insurance. Contrast this with the current generation of 60 year olds who grew up in the hardships of the Cultural Revolution and who have never enjoyed the money or time to enjoy the new consumer revolution in China.
For corporate planners, investors and marketeers China's changing demographics needs careful consideration. For Sinologists the China of today will look very different in twenty years time.
Tung-to-go; city rejoices
2 March 2005
There should be bunting on the streets of Hong Kong today as China reminded senior officials that even a non-elected leader is eventually accountable for his performance.
It has taken too long for Beijing to admit that Tung Che-hwa is a liability not an asset but media reports this morning say that Tung is resigning. Ill health is cited as the reason for his resignation.
On Monday, Mr Tung's appointment as vice-chairman of China's top political advisory body - the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - was announced. This is an honorary post on a consultative not legislating body.
Media reports say that his deputy, the dapper, bow-tied Donald Tsang, will now take over as Acting Chief Executive. This is the same Donald Tsang who announced last week that all Hong Kong families should have three children!
The government in Hong Kong has so far refused to comment on the reports. Which means that as usual they haven't worked out what to say to the media yet. The first person Tsang needs to appoint is a competent media manager.