I'm of the same mind as well. We are very disappointed with the way this has turned out, and the Northern Echo piece quoted above also shows how much MG has been running rings around everyone. It is certainly unhelpful to start a witch hunt over any suggestion that others at the club should or could have reined him in. And I agree that it would be a great outcome if MG'S departure might tempt former board members back now that they might feel that they could have a real input at the club rather than just have to agree with what MG decided (as increasingly appears to be the case).al_quaker wrote:After my initial outburst of disbelief last night, I too hope that nobody blames the board for this (although they will as still, even now, some think Gray is the messiah). They were obviously put in an impossible position. Gray used his success to basically make himself the club. Somebody above made a good point. Darlington 1883 FC basically became Martin Gray FC. We now have our proper name back, and so it's time to have a proper relationship between board members and management team.
I wonder if any of the previous board members, whether that be football club or SG, would be willing to come back into the fold now that Gray is gone and hopefully we have a manager (or managers!) who knows their place?
One point that has been mentioned is that the board were between a rock and a hard place when dealing with MG'S contract and requests for more money as there would have been outrage had he walked in the summer if there had not been some sort of effort to meet his budget targets. This is understandable in the context of where we were at the end of last season, after several seasons of massive success, and missing out on the playoffs due to an oversight of the league rules. MG remained in a powerful position in most fans eyes and that effectively tied the hands of the board.
In hindsight it is easier to see that MG may well have been playing the fans and the board off against one another with both parties being afraid of him walking lest he be offended. It seems obvious now that such a situation must not be allowed to happen again, but also suggests that the fans and the board need to have a much closer communication and consultation over what is in the best interests of the club.