Who is to blame for this horrendous PR gaff ?

[Miami Seagull]

I posted this on another thread...
TBH, I haven't been impressed by the clubs PR for some time, starting with the incident (that pre-dated Paul Barber) of the Albion fan being banned after the incident in the 1901 area in the first palace home game at the Amex. The way they handled the stewaring issues in the North Stand in particular last year also had the same feel. And then the 5 week wait for a decisioon on Gus (we still don't know anything about CO), with so little in the way of communication from the club. They could have put out short statements throughout just letting people know what the likely schedule was and where they were, but nothing. And now this - absolutely shocking in my view. Maybe TB is not a great PR guy, why should he be? But he needs to look at who is responsible for this at the club and make the necessary changes

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

I posted this on another thread...
TBH, I haven't been impressed by the clubs PR for some time, starting with the incident (that pre-dated Paul Barber) of the Albion fan being banned after the incident in the 1901 area in the first palace home game at the Amex. The way they handled the stewaring issues in the North Stand in particular last year also had the same feel. And then the 5 week wait for a decisioon on Gus (we still don't know anything about CO), with so little in the way of communication from the club. They could have put out short statements throughout just letting people know what the likely schedule was and where they were, but nothing. And now this - absolutely shocking in my view. Maybe TB is not a great PR guy, why should he be? But he needs to look at who is responsible for this at the club and make the necessary changes

In most cases of legal matters, short statements "letting people know" won't be forth coming. All you'll ever get is the investigation is still running etc

5 weeks in terms of legal proceedings is a very very short time given how long such cases can take.

 

[British Bulldog]

Wonder when the last time was the club made an announcement on a sunday

Russell Slade was sacked on a Sunday and it was announced on the same day.

 

[pastafarian]

Whatever way you dress it up tonight has been a PR DISASTER for the club. To release a club statement just before Gus Poyet has an audience of a million or so on BBC is to be fair a " schoolboy " error. Now Gus maybe lying but why would he do this as it would be so easy to prove he lied ? It would be professional SUICIDE and no club would want to touch him if he lied , live on TV.

Surely he is not that deluded ? Whatever way he has the BBC on his side. The commentator made a swipe against BHAFC live on air , so we are being made complete mugs. The half time interview was an open goal for Poyet and he took it, smashed the ball in the back of the net and the studio appears to be 100% behind him. Who is responsible for releasing a club statement now ?

Surely tomorrow morning made more sense knowing Poyet was on live TV ? Wtf is going on ? The club has had more or less the whole country behind us and until recently, apart from CPFC the whole football community has been behind us. It is a fcking pr shambles and fans can be rightly very annoyed imo.

you are making a presumption that certain parties are talking porkies.....wait until the facts are in

 

[dougdeep]

you are making a presumption that certain parties are talking porkies.....wait until the facts are in

Might as well close down the site then if we all have to wait for facts.

 

[Downlander]

“Live by the sword – die by the sword”!

Does Gus’s employment by the BBC on the eve of the new season, 250 miles from Brighton, typify the contract contradictions and job commitment contained in the 500 page dossier?

If not – then the club my well look clumsy! On the other hand – if Gus’s appearance is typical, then the whole world would see Gus ‘caught in the act’ and substantiate the clubs complaint. To me that would look quite smart.

We shall see!

 

[pigbite]

This story will soon disappear off the radar; we will appoint a new manager and life will go on. I think the degree to which the club has been ’embarrassed’ has been greatly exaggerated by some posters, but I don’t think Gus has done himself any favors CV wise

100% agree. The yawnfest this sorry saga has become may drag on if an appeal/tribunal occurs but in the world of football news it will fall down the interest stakes very quickly. All I hope is that things can be sorted at the club so we get the new manager as quickly as possible and the team can be settled.

 

[Acker79]

The club (staff, players, etc) return to working Monday morning. What's worse? Announce the news over the weekend or allow Gus to turn up on Monday morning and humiliate him at the gate or the car parkby not letting him in (possibly in front of photographers).

I would assume that the decision was made fri or sat and until sun eve there have been frantic emails calls as Gus effective starts his legal challenge. The club have to release a statement so sun eve is the only window left.

Gus appears on TV at HT saying he hasn't been told (that will have a lot to do with the beeb insisting his phone is switched off in the studio and so he is technically right to say he didn't know until some production bob tells him.

His lawyers obviously did know but if he's locked in a soundproof box with no phone how does anyone tell him.


In all honesty, I think the club have left him with more dignity by telling him tonight than refusing entry on Monday morning, especially if Oscar (or whoever) is shaking the hands I the returning players in front of him!

Why would gus show up? If he doesn't know the result of the investigation he is still suspended so wouldn't be allowed in. If he did know the result, he'd know he was sacked. If he turned up anyway, that wouldn't be the club taking his dignity, it would be gus embarrassing himself. Gus would not have shown up today regardless of whether the statement was released or not.

 

[drew]

Surely the fact that there was a disciplinary hearing last Thursday would suggest he had probably more than an inkling this was the direction the club were planning to go down. He has made reference to the fact that there has been communications and it now transpires that he had an email at 9 in the morning. We don't know what was said between the two parties but it would have been obvious that the club couldn't allow the news to be broken by Poyet on air so hence the reason for the press release.

 

[MattBackHome]

It's not a PR disaster at all.

 

[MattBackHome]

Lots of wet beds last night it seems. Relax.

 

[backson]

It's not a PR disaster at all.

Apart from all the "Poyet sacked live on TV" headlines from pretty much all news organisations, no, not at all.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I actually dreamed about Gus last night.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Lots of wet beds last night it seems. Relax.

what an interesting phrase ..perhaps its something u still do

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Why should we do it when HE wants ? He has caused us lots of problems so the last thing the club will do is do what HE wants !!

But we just HAVE havent we.... told him at exactly the time when he can do his worst.

 

[LamieRobertson]

But we just HAVE havent we.... told him at exactly the time when he can do his worst.

problem is those who are just plain anti poyet wont see it that way

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Good PR would have been to
first - inform Gus and lawyers (at least six hours earlier than he went on TV)
second - once they are informed, release media statement to all outlets (at least five hours before TV)
third - sit down with BBC and iron out how this is going to be played....seeing as its obvious BBC (media) will use it as a PR coup. By doing this legal boundaries could have been set. If nothing agreed then club could have released a statement saying they had informed BBC before the programme to cover their backs.

It seems a lot I know but with issues of a sensitive nature thats what PR people get paid for!

 

[Bozza]

If anyone thinks the club's media team chose to just lob out that hand grenade last night giving Poyet a 'free hit' whilst live on TV then it is they who are stupid.

 

[Greavsey]

If anyone thinks the club's media team chose to just lob out that hand grenade last night giving Poyet a 'free hit' whilst live on TV then it is they who are stupid.

Exactly this - I'm sure they were forced into a situation where he was going to reveal it anyway. No club would release a press statement like that on a Sunday, let alone at 7pm on a Sunday unless they absolutely had to try and remain some semblance of control over the message.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

It's entirely possible that the club informed Poyet's legal team earlier today without realising he was going to be on TV tonight. Once they realised he was they thought they'd better get a statement out quickly before Poyet revealed his sacking on live TV to every Brighton fan that was watching, cause he would have been quizzed about the situation by the presenter as he was last time he was on. When releasing the statement the club didn't actually know Poyet's legal team hadn't yet informed him as they'd not been able to get hold of him due to driving to a TV studio in Manchester.

A complete cluster **** of events could have led to a situation where the club wouldn't have looked good no matter the out come. The binfest currently happening is nothing compared to the one that would have happened had Gus been able to announce his own sacking.

This entirely plausible BUT as soemone who worked in PR this is what PR people are paid to anticipate. It explains but does not condone.