they didn’t correct what was wrong.
What was wrong was the decision. They didn’t correct the decision, nor address why they made the wrong decision.
They just made a new one at a later date while justifying the original decision.
Keith Thomas to finish as PAFC CEO in 2020
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they didn’t correct what was wrong.
What was wrong was the decision. They didn’t correct the decision, nor address why they made the wrong decision.
They just made a new one at a later date while justifying the original decision.
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
Fair enough that you are pissed off by those tactics, but lets not repeat what professional bullshiters do.
I expect the books for 2019 to look good. GFG came on board for 2019, so we have Oak and GFG which would have offset 3k members who didn't re-sign. GFC are the sole sponsor for 2020 and wouldn't be surprised if they have prepaid some of 2020 rather than upped substantially their 2020 fee over 2019, and somehow we show a big part of that as 2019 income. I reckon other revenue items has been brought forward, and we know expenses have been pushed into 2020 - player salaries are one.
So my guess is - make the books look good in 2019, then in 2020 the accounting trick gets found out, unless we find new revenue streams, we spend up big on the big anniversary, probably dont make finals as "we are playing the kids", KT has resigned, I put my money on Koch saying I've had enough about July next year, they are gone by October 2020 and then both don't have to justify a big loss in February 2021 when the financials are announced and the AGM held.
jack_black16
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Common sense like Keith comment recently about extending Hinkley contract next year without making the finals?
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CEO’s will always be judged by high expectations and on that score I think KT’s negatives outweigh his positives, and by a fair margin.
Being a genuinely nice guy and a passionate hard worker doesn’t count for much when get important strategic decisions wrong which ultimately hurt the club.
I felt he got too close to key people at the club especially Ken, and that clouded his judgment. But that’s just the kind of person KT is.
The next CEO needs to be more of a hard nosed businessman type who can be ruthless when needed.
Still, I want to wish KT all the best for the next stage of his life.
Being a genuinely nice guy and a passionate hard worker doesn’t count for much when get important strategic decisions wrong which ultimately hurt the club.
I felt he got too close to key people at the club especially Ken, and that clouded his judgment. But that’s just the kind of person KT is.
The next CEO needs to be more of a hard nosed businessman type who can be ruthless when needed.
Still, I want to wish KT all the best for the next stage of his life.
In the words of Harvey Dent,
You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain
KT did some good things early but he failed to recognise his use by date. Same as Hinkley. You need to know when to move on
You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain
KT did some good things early but he failed to recognise his use by date. Same as Hinkley. You need to know when to move on
What is this constant drivel about people bitching and moaning? Are you 12? It is an internet forum. Pretty much all the people who post here are knowledgable football people and club members. Are you happy with the current state of play? Coach, CEO, Board? All the angst is pretty much justified. If you don't like, don't read it.
Lockhart Road
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Concur.
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
KT spoke to Reece Homfray last night or at least yesterday and with the 6.15pm time stamp on the article, there obviously was an embargo given the email was sent at 5.43pm.
.....
Thomas, 58, reached the decision in discussion with chairman David Koch last month and wanted to give the club adequate time to prepare for his exit.He believes he will be leaving the club in a strong position on and off the field and insists he is as energised and enthusiastic as ever to finish the job he started during the club’s milestone season.
“David (Koch) and I have spoken about transitioning at the right time for years, it’s always part of our thinking, and for me 2020 being the 150th year seems like a natural end point,” Thomas told The Advertiser on Friday.
“I look at the footy program and see it rejuvenated and re-energised with youth, financially we’re stable, the executive team has just presented a five-year strategic plan. “For me it just felt like the right time, and I wanted to give David plenty of time to think about it and transition in a smooth and orderly way.“It has been an absolute privilege to serve the club for the past eight years but this is not a farewell tour, it’s the start of an exciting year and the next great chapter of our magnificent football club.”
There was speculation about Thomas’ future in the role after he sent an emotional email to members in July admitting he had dropped the ball on some issues. But he says he never considered walking away before his contract was up. “I’m quite amazed by that. There was a lot of heat on Ken (Hinkley) and the football program and I was trying to make a point that being part of a club is more than just footy at times,” he said.
“One of the things we hold really dear to our heart is our relationship with members, and maybe, over the course of the last couple of years we hadn’t been as finely focused as we needed to be on that relationship, and we were committed to getting that right.“When I came in at the end of 2011 we were a heavily divided club, we were under performing on field and off field we were divided because of the constraints of being in the SANFL and the AFL. “And I think one of the great achievements of the club over the last few years has been the ability to pull that back together, as highlighted by the Adelaide Oval game day experience and the ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ – that is a symbol of a united club.
“I felt at some points in 2019 we had lost that connection a little bit, and it was unfair that it should all be about our on-field performance. It was me saying ‘I think we can do better’ and I think we have.
.......
The club’s executive general manager Matthew Richardson and current West Coast football manager Craig Vozzo’s names have been linked to the role but Thomas said there was no succession plan in place and the club would go through a thorough process for his replacement.
Port Adelaide will announce its 2019 financial results in the next fortnight and Thomas said it would include an operating profit bigger than last year’s $322,000 and a “significant debt repayment”.
He said membership, which was down in 2019, had surpassed 43,000 heading into Christmas and was on track for an increase. The club is also in “advanced conversations” with a second joint major partner to sit alongside GFG after OAK Milk’s five-year deal expired this year, and Thomas expects to make an announcement in early 2020.
Thomas, 58, reached the decision in discussion with chairman David Koch last month and wanted to give the club adequate time to prepare for his exit.He believes he will be leaving the club in a strong position on and off the field and insists he is as energised and enthusiastic as ever to finish the job he started during the club’s milestone season.
“David (Koch) and I have spoken about transitioning at the right time for years, it’s always part of our thinking, and for me 2020 being the 150th year seems like a natural end point,” Thomas told The Advertiser on Friday.
“I look at the footy program and see it rejuvenated and re-energised with youth, financially we’re stable, the executive team has just presented a five-year strategic plan. “For me it just felt like the right time, and I wanted to give David plenty of time to think about it and transition in a smooth and orderly way.“It has been an absolute privilege to serve the club for the past eight years but this is not a farewell tour, it’s the start of an exciting year and the next great chapter of our magnificent football club.”
There was speculation about Thomas’ future in the role after he sent an emotional email to members in July admitting he had dropped the ball on some issues. But he says he never considered walking away before his contract was up. “I’m quite amazed by that. There was a lot of heat on Ken (Hinkley) and the football program and I was trying to make a point that being part of a club is more than just footy at times,” he said.
“One of the things we hold really dear to our heart is our relationship with members, and maybe, over the course of the last couple of years we hadn’t been as finely focused as we needed to be on that relationship, and we were committed to getting that right.“When I came in at the end of 2011 we were a heavily divided club, we were under performing on field and off field we were divided because of the constraints of being in the SANFL and the AFL. “And I think one of the great achievements of the club over the last few years has been the ability to pull that back together, as highlighted by the Adelaide Oval game day experience and the ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ – that is a symbol of a united club.
“I felt at some points in 2019 we had lost that connection a little bit, and it was unfair that it should all be about our on-field performance. It was me saying ‘I think we can do better’ and I think we have.
.......
The club’s executive general manager Matthew Richardson and current West Coast football manager Craig Vozzo’s names have been linked to the role but Thomas said there was no succession plan in place and the club would go through a thorough process for his replacement.
Port Adelaide will announce its 2019 financial results in the next fortnight and Thomas said it would include an operating profit bigger than last year’s $322,000 and a “significant debt repayment”.
He said membership, which was down in 2019, had surpassed 43,000 heading into Christmas and was on track for an increase. The club is also in “advanced conversations” with a second joint major partner to sit alongside GFG after OAK Milk’s five-year deal expired this year, and Thomas expects to make an announcement in early 2020.
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
Homfray's wrote another long article about KT time stamped this morning so probably will be in the Sunday Mail.
At the end of Keith Thomas’ first week on the job as Port Adelaide’s CEO in August 2011, the club lost its two major sponsors. The Power had just finished the season equal bottom with a 3-19 record, had just 29,000 members, average home crowds had dipped to 19,000 with the tarps rolled out at Football Park and the SANFL, which owned its licence, was attending all board meetings like a parent accompanying their teenager to a party. nThen My ATM and Soaring Securities both told Thomas they were done as joint major partners affective immediately.“We were financially crippled,” he said on Friday.
But what concerned Thomas most was what he believed to be an attack on the “very identity of the club”. “The identity of Port Adelaide was being challenged, there was a strong sense that Port Adelaide in its current form was not viable in the AFL,” he said. “And if you were to look at those metrics you could understand why people were thinking that way. “The prevailing external view as maybe we needed to change, but what we focused on was the opposite, we focused on being Port Adelaide and celebrating it, and reinstating the idea that being Port Adelaide is enough – but you have to be true to it.” But how could a Norwood person – who played 304 games and buried the Magpies in the 1984 grand final – be the man to lead the fightback? “As a kid I barracked for Port Adelaide, I idolised them,” Thomas said.
Then he has the following topics and discussion
SECRET FOOTY REVIEW
Thomas had his own ideas of what needed to happen but wanted confirmation so he secretly commissioned five highly regarded former AFL players and coaches to be part of an independent review.“Everyone was expecting wholesale changes but the last thing I wanted was to create more uncertainty by conducting a high profile review,” he said.
“I identified five eminent people in the footy community and asked them to look at one slice of what we were doing, and they didn’t know anyone else were involved. They were looking independently of each other “I was looking for other views that what I was thinking was right, and halfway through 2012 I understood what needed to happen and we made some changes.” By that stage, Matthew Primus had been sacked as coach and Thomas made a commitment to ensuring the football program was properly resourced.
JOHN MCCARTHY’S DEATH
............
KEN HINKLEY
.......
ADELAIDE OVAL AND ‘NTUA’
..........
CHINA
The club’s China engagement manager Andrew Hunter had been an international strategist for the SA Government when he joined Port Adelaide and spoke to Koch and Thomas about the Chinese market. The Power then played the AFL’s first ever game in Shanghai in 2017 and two years on, remains committed to the venture long-term.
Thomas estimates he’s done 40-50 trips to China in the past few years to make it viable but it’s not just jet lag that has kept him awake at night.
“You’re never comfortable and nor should you be,” he said. “It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to have this opportunity and you don’t sleep because I don’t want to sleep – I want to be thinking about what do we need to do here?”
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
.....
WHAT’S NEXT
At 58, Thomas doesn’t plan on retiring but he hasn’t put any thought into what he will do when he finishes at Alberton in October, 2020. “I think I’ve got something else to do, I don’t know what, but I haven’t thought a moment about it and I won’t,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot to do in 2020, there is a lot going on. “It has been a privilege to serve the club, that’s the way I’ve always seen it. I think we have gone from a tough spot to a better spot and we’re not done yet.”
At the end of Keith Thomas’ first week on the job as Port Adelaide’s CEO in August 2011, the club lost its two major sponsors. The Power had just finished the season equal bottom with a 3-19 record, had just 29,000 members, average home crowds had dipped to 19,000 with the tarps rolled out at Football Park and the SANFL, which owned its licence, was attending all board meetings like a parent accompanying their teenager to a party. nThen My ATM and Soaring Securities both told Thomas they were done as joint major partners affective immediately.“We were financially crippled,” he said on Friday.
But what concerned Thomas most was what he believed to be an attack on the “very identity of the club”. “The identity of Port Adelaide was being challenged, there was a strong sense that Port Adelaide in its current form was not viable in the AFL,” he said. “And if you were to look at those metrics you could understand why people were thinking that way. “The prevailing external view as maybe we needed to change, but what we focused on was the opposite, we focused on being Port Adelaide and celebrating it, and reinstating the idea that being Port Adelaide is enough – but you have to be true to it.” But how could a Norwood person – who played 304 games and buried the Magpies in the 1984 grand final – be the man to lead the fightback? “As a kid I barracked for Port Adelaide, I idolised them,” Thomas said.
Then he has the following topics and discussion
SECRET FOOTY REVIEW
Thomas had his own ideas of what needed to happen but wanted confirmation so he secretly commissioned five highly regarded former AFL players and coaches to be part of an independent review.“Everyone was expecting wholesale changes but the last thing I wanted was to create more uncertainty by conducting a high profile review,” he said.
“I identified five eminent people in the footy community and asked them to look at one slice of what we were doing, and they didn’t know anyone else were involved. They were looking independently of each other “I was looking for other views that what I was thinking was right, and halfway through 2012 I understood what needed to happen and we made some changes.” By that stage, Matthew Primus had been sacked as coach and Thomas made a commitment to ensuring the football program was properly resourced.
JOHN MCCARTHY’S DEATH
............
KEN HINKLEY
.......
ADELAIDE OVAL AND ‘NTUA’
..........
CHINA
The club’s China engagement manager Andrew Hunter had been an international strategist for the SA Government when he joined Port Adelaide and spoke to Koch and Thomas about the Chinese market. The Power then played the AFL’s first ever game in Shanghai in 2017 and two years on, remains committed to the venture long-term.
Thomas estimates he’s done 40-50 trips to China in the past few years to make it viable but it’s not just jet lag that has kept him awake at night.
“You’re never comfortable and nor should you be,” he said. “It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to have this opportunity and you don’t sleep because I don’t want to sleep – I want to be thinking about what do we need to do here?”
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
.....
WHAT’S NEXT
At 58, Thomas doesn’t plan on retiring but he hasn’t put any thought into what he will do when he finishes at Alberton in October, 2020. “I think I’ve got something else to do, I don’t know what, but I haven’t thought a moment about it and I won’t,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot to do in 2020, there is a lot going on. “It has been a privilege to serve the club, that’s the way I’ve always seen it. I think we have gone from a tough spot to a better spot and we’re not done yet.”
Last edited:
Ford Fairlane
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KT spoke to Reece Homfray last night or at least yesterday and with the 6.15pm time stamp on the article, there obviously was an embargo given the email was sent at 5.43pm.
.....
Thomas, 58, reached the decision in discussion with chairman David Koch last month and wanted to give the club adequate time to prepare for his exit.He believes he will be leaving the club in a strong position on and off the field and insists he is as energised and enthusiastic as ever to finish the job he started during the club’s milestone season.
“David (Koch) and I have spoken about transitioning at the right time for years, it’s always part of our thinking, and for me 2020 being the 150th year seems like a natural end point,” Thomas told The Advertiser on Friday.
“I look at the footy program and see it rejuvenated and re-energised with youth, financially we’re stable, the executive team has just presented a five-year strategic plan. “For me it just felt like the right time, and I wanted to give David plenty of time to think about it and transition in a smooth and orderly way.“It has been an absolute privilege to serve the club for the past eight years but this is not a farewell tour, it’s the start of an exciting year and the next great chapter of our magnificent football club.”
There was speculation about Thomas’ future in the role after he sent an emotional email to members in July admitting he had dropped the ball on some issues. But he says he never considered walking away before his contract was up. “I’m quite amazed by that. There was a lot of heat on Ken (Hinkley) and the football program and I was trying to make a point that being part of a club is more than just footy at times,” he said.
“One of the things we hold really dear to our heart is our relationship with members, and maybe, over the course of the last couple of years we hadn’t been as finely focused as we needed to be on that relationship, and we were committed to getting that right.“When I came in at the end of 2011 we were a heavily divided club, we were under performing on field and off field we were divided because of the constraints of being in the SANFL and the AFL. “And I think one of the great achievements of the club over the last few years has been the ability to pull that back together, as highlighted by the Adelaide Oval game day experience and the ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ – that is a symbol of a united club.
“I felt at some points in 2019 we had lost that connection a little bit, and it was unfair that it should all be about our on-field performance. It was me saying ‘I think we can do better’ and I think we have.
.......
The club’s executive general manager Matthew Richardson and current West Coast football manager Craig Vozzo’s names have been linked to the role but Thomas said there was no succession plan in place and the club would go through a thorough process for his replacement.
Port Adelaide will announce its 2019 financial results in the next fortnight and Thomas said it would include an operating profit bigger than last year’s $322,000 and a “significant debt repayment”.
He said membership, which was down in 2019, had surpassed 43,000 heading into Christmas and was on track for an increase. The club is also in “advanced conversations” with a second joint major partner to sit alongside GFG after OAK Milk’s five-year deal expired this year, and Thomas expects to make an announcement in early 2020.
He should get us a sponsorship with Uber Eats. If they can afford Kim Kardashian a few million to Port would be chump change. I'm sure Port supporters would be major users of Uber Eats and we need a new K as an ambassador
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He should get us a sponsorship with Uber Eats. If they can afford Kim Kardashian a few million to Port would be chump change. I'm sure Port supporters would be major users of Uber Eats and we need a new K as an ambassador
I'm surprised one of the many Chinese car/vehicle brands hasn't leveraged our China game by giving us a multi-million dollar sponsorship - Great Wall, Haval, Geely, Chery, SAIC/LDV - even Volvo, MG or London Taxi Company, which are now Chinese owned. Get on to it KT!
I agree.
It would have been interesting to know how differently we would have judged him if not for those two 'biggest failures'.
Just one more career ruined by Hinkley.
tribey
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Did Homfray mention the $3,000,000pa/3 year deal (“rescue package”) Thomas walked into at all?
Forzaport
Brownlow Medallist
KT should have left at the end of 2018 and taken Ken with him. My evidence? Co-captains.
Allowing co-captains through to the keeper was the sign that KT had run out of juice and that Ken was just making s**t up as he went along.
Allowing co-captains through to the keeper was the sign that KT had run out of juice and that Ken was just making s**t up as he went along.
Phew, that's a relief. Now I don't have to wait until February 2021 to see what happens at the club.
Good forward thinking by KT to ensure that his contract ran out at the end of 2020, knowing that there would be a huge loss announced in February 2021, which he could then cunningly avoid with dignity by moving on at the end of his contract.
Will be infuriating to see he and Koch sipping martinis in Majorca, Spain after the announcement of that loss...
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The only gallant way for KT to depart at this point is for him to take Hinkley with him. Run the press conference where Hinkley's sacking is announced. Own up to the failures of the last 5 years, and be specific about what went wrong. Acknowledge his own role in those failures.
He says that this isn't a farewell tour, which means he intends to achieve some things this year. We'll see.
He says that this isn't a farewell tour, which means he intends to achieve some things this year. We'll see.
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Lo
Tell me, which CEO have you ever heard own up to their failures on retiring? You need to get real here
l
Tell me, which CEO have you ever heard own up to their failures on retiring? You need to get real here
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I fully agree, but it's the only way he goes out with any sort of positive reputation among Port Adelaide people.
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I think that KT has served as the voice of the day to day workings of the club to Koch.
Koch came in as a mover and shaker who made things happen. In the last few seasons he has definitely changed his tone enormously. I think KT has had a lot to do with that.
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I doubt that.
People will just double down on the blame and hatred.
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People just want accountability, ultimately.
What has supercharged the angst over the last 5 years is the complete refusal of the club to even acknowledge that anything is wrong or needs to change, let alone someone putting their hand up and taking some responsibility for is.
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No different to any other club or organisation and even if he did apologise it still wouldn’t be enough. People would complain that it wasn’t sincere enough, soon enough, detailed enough or missed some points that particular posters want addressed.
I reckon the angst would just continue as it has with reverting to solo captain.
