An open letter to Mr Chansiri

[Wise_Owl]

Dear Mr Chansiri,

 

Firstly, I would like to put on record that I am aghast at the unprofessional way you have been dealing with criticism. It is frankly embarrassing, and makes both you and the club look like an absolute laughing stock.

 

Criticism by stakeholders (ie the fans who have been lifetime supporters of the club, many for longer than you have even been aware of its existence) is both valid, and to be expected when things are not going well, and the club is making headlines for the wrong reasons. If you had done any research whatsoever into UK football and fan culture before buying, you would have expected this, but it seems to have come as a colossal surprise to you, and you appear to be having huge difficulties coming to terms with the criticism that inevitably comes with the role.

 

Whatever you do, there will be people who disagree with you, and just because a particular individual hasn't invested part of their family's fortune in the club doesn't make their judgement of you as an owner any less valid. You don't have to agree with the criticism, but you have to agree with people's right to an opinion. While it might be at odds with what you are used to in your other businesses, it's very much part of our culture, and that isn't going to change.

 

It's irrelevant whether they have family wealth behind them or own shares in the club. In every football club up and down the land, Premier League or Conference, fans will all have their opinions on the owners, and will voice these especially vociferously when they are concerned about the future. In UK culture, this is both acceptable and very much par for the course. If you couldn't handle it, you should have never even considered buying a football club. It seems like this is just one more aspect of the role that you have blindly waded into, found yourself hopelessly out of your depth, and are now drowning in, unable to keep your head above water. 

 

If you are unable to cope with this, I would suggest that it is yet another reason for you to up your efforts to search out a buyer and, if you "love the club" as much as you claim, sell at whatever price necessary to pass on the reins to someone more competent, and switch to just supporting the club you apparently "love" from the stands like the rest of us. 

 

You are trying to compare your performance against the fans, asking them to finance the club, and find a buyer. 

 

This is the most simple-minded drivel I have ever heard. The relevant benchmark by which to measure your performance is that of other football club owners who actually own and run football clubs, not taxi drivers, business owners, builders, lawyers, insurance brokers or whatever else the members of our diverse fanbase do (and most probably do more competently than you would manage) for a living, whom you seem to expect to either take on financing the club as a "side hustle" or alternatively stay silent and have no opinion while you blunder from crisis to crisis, dragging the name of our beloved football club from one back page "car crash" article to the next.

 

The truth is that, standing back and looking at the facts, under your tenure there have been far more "bad headlines" for this club than almost every other football club in the EFL. Whether it's unpaid player wages, financial irregularities, fallings out with key personnel, spats with the fans, or failure to fulfil our tax obligations, by this very relevant metric, your tenure has been an absolute farce in comparison to the vast majority of EFL clubs. The club has lurched from crisis to crisis under your "leadership".

 

I suspect you will, as is your stock response, ask me how much money I have put into the club or suggest that I find a buyer myself, but I'd suggest you consider the above first. How do YOU think you have done, based on objective criteria such as this? Have you exceeded expectations? How does your performance compare to the owners of the other EFL clubs? Reading the shocking headlines which seem to come out almost every other week, I think your performance speaks for itself... This isn't about me. This isn't about any other fan who you have rounded on for criticising you. This is about YOU and YOUR PERFORMANCE. 

 

You are right that it is easy to criticise, but criticism has never been easier when you have supplied such a wealth of valid material to choose from. 

 

You always say in your press releases that you have "made mistakes" (never describing what these mistakes are) but this admission seems to just be a PR box-ticking exercise, and is almost invariably a prelude to attacking anyone and everyone who dares to criticise you, instructing them to either be positive or shut up. When the club is being docked points for financial irregularities, or fails to pay its staff, there simply isn't anything to be positive about. It's an unmitigated disaster, with no upside. Surely you can understand this? How would you suggest fans find a positive take on this gross level of incompetence? What sort of "positive" or "constructive" form would you expect this criticism to take, Mr Chansiri? I'm genuinely intrigued...

 

Dismissing fans with genuine concerns and valid criticisms by telling them to find money to bail you out when you don't have the resources to run the club properly yourself is ridiculous. If you had neither the resources, nor the skills to run it competently, you should never have bought the club. The newspaper headlines and frequent crises tell us all we need to know.

 

You say it is up to the fans to find a buyer. It isn't. You are drowning, and if you stubbornly refuse to set off a distress flare so that someone capable can come and rescue you, you'll drag the club down to the bottom of the ocean with you.

 

Regards,

 

 

[Rogers]

He really doesn't care. 

[31Dec1966]

"Simple-minded drivel".   Brilliant description.  Devastatingly accurate but probably too polite.

[stevie snerklebox]

Post of the decade. Eloquently delivered to Daftjohn. 

[sw1867]

Well written and sadly will probably go in one ear and out the other even on the off chance he reads it at all.

 

That isn’t the point though, it’s just one more piece to add to the mounting pressure.

 

Well done.

[TheSlicer]

Here’s mine. 
 

dear me chumpsiri. 
 

Thanks for the giant cake ball.  Now, please eff off, and take your elephants with you. 
 

Kind regards 

 

[A47Owl]

@Wise_Owl

Absolutely brilliantly,eloquently and respectfully put.

I hope you have sent a hard copy by recorded delivery to Mr Chansiri marked "To be opened by addressee only"

He doesn't take criticism, but surely even he can see the merit of your letter.

Oh perhaps not. It is Chansiri we're talking about. 

We can only hope. 

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

TL;DR.

 

Sell your house. 

 

[Daveyboy66]

4 minutes ago, A47Owl said:

He doesn't take criticism, but surely even he can see the merit of your letter.

Oh perhaps not. It is Chansiri we're talking about. 

He doesn't want to hear ANY criticism from the peasants they are not allowed to criticise a person of his standing

[Ibbo48]

Not usually a fan of the ‘open letter ‘ but this is well written and well argued 

So it’s a ‘yes’ from me 

[zorbatheowl]

Standard reply incoming. Disrespectful customer . Buy me out or find me a buyer

[Pablo Bonvin]

Well put @Wise_Owl. You've put a lot of effort into that but don't expect Chansiri to offer you the same courtesy.

 

Sadly the only reply I would expect is one accusing you of disrespect, sell your house etc. His replies are so robotically predictable. We could call him Dejbot.

 

He's got nothing but insults to throw back at people. 

 

About time he showed the thousands of fans some respect but I suppose in his mind that only goes one way.

 

[briggowl]

8 hours ago, Wise_Owl said:

Dear Mr Chansiri,

 

Firstly, I would like to put on record that I am aghast at the unprofessional way you have been dealing with criticism. It is frankly embarrassing, and makes both you and the club look like an absolute laughing stock.

 

Criticism by stakeholders (ie the fans who have been lifetime supporters of the club, many for longer than you have even been aware of its existence) is both valid, and to be expected when things are not going well, and the club is making headlines for the wrong reasons. If you had done any research whatsoever into UK football and fan culture before buying, you would have expected this, but it seems to have come as a colossal surprise to you, and you appear to be having huge difficulties coming to terms with the criticism that inevitably comes with the role.

 

Whatever you do, there will be people who disagree with you, and just because a particular individual hasn't invested part of their family's fortune in the club doesn't make their judgement of you as an owner any less valid. You don't have to agree with the criticism, but you have to agree with people's right to an opinion. While it might be at odds with what you are used to in your other businesses, it's very much part of our culture, and that isn't going to change.

 

It's irrelevant whether they have family wealth behind them or own shares in the club. In every football club up and down the land, Premier League or Conference, fans will all have their opinions on the owners, and will voice these especially vociferously when they are concerned about the future. In UK culture, this is both acceptable and very much par for the course. If you couldn't handle it, you should have never even considered buying a football club. It seems like this is just one more aspect of the role that you have blindly waded into, found yourself hopelessly out of your depth, and are now drowning in, unable to keep your head above water. 

 

If you are unable to cope with this, I would suggest that it is yet another reason for you to up your efforts to search out a buyer and, if you "love the club" as much as you claim, sell at whatever price necessary to pass on the reins to someone more competent, and switch to just supporting the club you apparently "love" from the stands like the rest of us. 

 

You are trying to compare your performance against the fans, asking them to finance the club, and find a buyer. 

 

This is the most simple-minded drivel I have ever heard. The relevant benchmark by which to measure your performance is that of other football club owners who actually own and run football clubs, not taxi drivers, business owners, builders, lawyers, insurance brokers or whatever else the members of our diverse fanbase do (and most probably do more competently than you would manage) for a living, whom you seem to expect to either take on financing the club as a "side hustle" or alternatively stay silent and have no opinion while you blunder from crisis to crisis, dragging the name of our beloved football club from one back page "car crash" article to the next.

 

The truth is that, standing back and looking at the facts, under your tenure there have been far more "bad headlines" for this club than almost every other football club in the EFL. Whether it's unpaid player wages, financial irregularities, fallings out with key personnel, spats with the fans, or failure to fulfil our tax obligations, by this very relevant metric, your tenure has been an absolute farce in comparison to the vast majority of EFL clubs. The club has lurched from crisis to crisis under your "leadership".

 

I suspect you will, as is your stock response, ask me how much money I have put into the club or suggest that I find a buyer myself, but I'd suggest you consider the above first. How do YOU think you have done, based on objective criteria such as this? Have you exceeded expectations? How does your performance compare to the owners of the other EFL clubs? Reading the shocking headlines which seem to come out almost every other week, I think your performance speaks for itself... This isn't about me. This isn't about any other fan who you have rounded on for criticising you. This is about YOU and YOUR PERFORMANCE. 

 

You are right that it is easy to criticise, but criticism has never been easier when you have supplied such a wealth of valid material to choose from. 

 

You always say in your press releases that you have "made mistakes" (never describing what these mistakes are) but this admission seems to just be a PR box-ticking exercise, and is almost invariably a prelude to attacking anyone and everyone who dares to criticise you, instructing them to either be positive or shut up. When the club is being docked points for financial irregularities, or fails to pay its staff, there simply isn't anything to be positive about. It's an unmitigated disaster, with no upside. Surely you can understand this? How would you suggest fans find a positive take on this gross level of incompetence? What sort of "positive" or "constructive" form would you expect this criticism to take, Mr Chansiri? I'm genuinely intrigued...

 

Dismissing fans with genuine concerns and valid criticisms by telling them to find money to bail you out when you don't have the resources to run the club properly yourself is ridiculous. If you had neither the resources, nor the skills to run it competently, you should never have bought the club. The newspaper headlines and frequent crises tell us all we need to know.

 

You say it is up to the fans to find a buyer. It isn't. You are drowning, and if you stubbornly refuse to set off a distress flare so that someone capable can come and rescue you, you'll drag the club down to the bottom of the ocean with you.

 

Regards,

 

 

It is brilliant, however for DC 'you are embarrassment, shame to you!!!'

[The Dog]

Brilliant. Nice work.

[torryowl]

 think it will fall on deaf ears to whom its intended .....which is a shame coz it's well written account .