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PAFC CEO Matthew Richardson

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Arsene Wenger said:
fair call REH. Hasty the wrong word. I feel they had him positioned for the role and ran a process just for show. Just my view.
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www.portadelaidefc.com.au

Koch announces Richardson as Port Adelaide’s new CEO

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has revealed Matthew Richardson as the club's new CEO.
www.portadelaidefc.com.au www.portadelaidefc.com.au

“This is arguably the most important appointment of any club. It’s one never to be taken likely. It is a huge responsibility,” the Chairman said.

“I must admit I initially wanted someone from outside the club to fill the role. Richo knows this.

“But no candidate we spoke to ever seemed to have the all-round package that Richo brings. I was always sub-consciously benchmarking them against him.

“I didn’t ever want to be accused of making the easy decision so we got Andrew Demetriou’s sports executive recruitment firm to scour the market and put Richo through the wringer.

“The end result was Andrew concluded we had the best person right here already.”
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Arsene Wenger said:
fair call REH. Hasty the wrong word. I feel they had him positioned for the role and ran a process just for show. Just my view.
Click to expand...
Any organisation of size, that is well run, has an internal 2IC who if they have been in that role for a few years, usually ends up getting the CEO's gig.

Despite all the doom and gloom, Port was a well run club under KT. It wasn't a perfect run club, none are, so don't use that as your baseline.

Big companies and organisations usually go get an outsider when they have a crisis, or know they are on the verge of massive growth and need someone from a bigger organisation who has the necessary experience that can run a bigger organisation.

When Bucky left we got an outsider, John James from a bigger organisation, got the gig. Bucky had no natural 2IC. He grew his role from 1992 to 2004 as the club transitioned from a suburban league to the national league and he had his finger in every pie, so to speak. John James as CEO started to delegate responsibilities as he restructured the CEO's role. He talked about it, as did other club employees. Like Bucky, he didn't have a natural 2IC being trained up to take over during his 4 years as our CEO and left after he had enough bashing his against the wall with the SANFL.

When James left and his replacement Haysman was forced on us by the SANFL, who came from a bigger organisation than Port, but became a true Port man, he never had a true 2IC, partly because we didn't have the revenue at the time, and partly because he was pushed out in 2.5 years by the SANFL so he didn't get the time to develop someone in that role.

KT was also somewhat forced on us by the SANFL, had been a senior executive in a bigger organisation, and had to grow Port's business side quickly to get out of the shit. KT and the board have developed a "never again" attitude about 2011-2012 (and earlier) death spiral years. Part of that was to put in place people who could take over and had been through the painful years, which meant when he left you didn't have a replacement who had corporate amnesia.

He put Stephen Dawes in as his 2IC. But after awhile, Dawes and Koch constantly clashed and KT saw this was untenable. He removed Dawes as his 2IC and put Richo into that chair. Richo was in it for almost 4 years and was heavily involved in nearly all the big decisions in that time.

Was Richo the best candidate for the CEO's job?? Unless you personally were involved in the interview process for the top handful of candidates, how would you really know. One thing I'm certain of, unless we recruited a commercial superstar , Richo would have walked if he didn't get the CEO's gig. It happen's all the time when the CEO leaves and his/her 2IC doesn't get the gig.

So in the middle of a pandemic, when there was great uncertainty, some senior executives being paid half their wage, some even less than that, you aren't going to attract the absolute best candidate's from a bigger organisation, where you can't offer any better job security than they already have. And if you find someone who was about as good as Richo or only marginally better you would have lost him, as he would have been disappointed and would have walked out. Then you would have had massive corporate amnesia, as the 2 most senior executives, with the most experience of the previous decade when we worked our way out of a death spiral, have left basically at the same time.

If KT continued on until now and announced today that he was leaving in October this year, would Richo still get the gig? Maybe, maybe not. The only 2 things I know for sure, is that Richo as 2IC would still start off as the front runner, and that more candidates would apply because there is a lot less uncertainty than 2 years ago.
 
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I was originally in favour of Richardson's appointment but not anymore, he is an even more vanilla version of what KT eventually became than I would have thought was possible.

The club is in desperate need of a `Big Bob' McLean type to shake the place up, but anyone of that ilk wouldn't get past the first interview while we have the limpest wristed chairman in the history of the game calling the shots.
 
lol white-anting KT and then coming in and green-lighting a Hinkley extension.

Youtube What GIF by Lilly Singh
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
Was Richo the best candidate for the CEO's job?? Unless you personally were involved in the interview process for the top handful of candidates, how would you really know. One thing I'm certain of, unless we recruited a commercial superstar , Richo would have walked if he didn't get the CEO's gig. It happen's all the time when the CEO leaves and his/her 2IC doesn't get the gig.
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He was likely the only candidate for the job, REH.

Richo was also likely to be the AFL's preference for the role as they had already been dealing with him for a few years.
His appointment was all part of the underlying "Chasing Stability" strategy of the board, and by extension, the AFL.

As a club, it's very clear that we're not going to rock the boat on any issue for a long time to come, so in that respect he was the perfect candidate for the role.
 
1954 said:
I was originally in favour of Richardson's appointment but not anymore, he is an even more vanilla version of what KT eventually became than I would have thought was possible.

The club is in desperate need of a `Big Bob' McLean type to shake the place up, but anyone of that ilk wouldn't get past the first interview while we have the limpest wristed chairman in the history of the game calling the shots.
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We actually need a Big Bob McLean type as president/chairman to set the agenda and strategy for the CEO. If the Prez is hopeless but has plenty of power then CEO wont be able to do a Big Bob.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
We actually need a Big Bob McLean type as president/chairman to set the agenda and strategy for the CEO. If the Prez is hopeless but has plenty of power then CEO wont be able to do a Big Bob.
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... and there is fat chance of that happening while the AFL controls our board.
 
bomberclifford said:
He was likely the only candidate for the job, REH.

Richo was also likely to be the AFL's preference for the role as they had already been dealing with him for a few years.
His appointment was all part of the underlying "Chasing Stability" strategy of the board, and by extension, the AFL.

As a club, it's very clear that we're not going to rock the boat on any issue for a long time to come, so in that respect he was the perfect candidate for the role.
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People applied. How realistic a chance they were, is another thing.

We wont be a rock the boat club, for awhile, unfortunately.
 
Greetings all, long time lurker, first time poster. Richo was appointed via BKD Executive Leaders, a firm specializing in 'boutique consultancy' in the sports sector, among others. The scary part are the names involved Ben Buckley, Rob Kerr and Andrew Demetriou.
 
bomberclifford said:
... and there is fat chance of that happening while the AFL controls our board.
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And whilst the AFL controls our board there is fat chance of any of the changes being made, that'd make us successful and able to get control of our board. Yah for Catch-22 spirals of mediocrity and disappointment.
 
Loony Juice said:
Greetings all, long time lurker, first time poster. Richo was appointed via BKD Executive Leaders, a firm specializing in 'boutique consultancy' in the sports sector, among others. The scary part are the names involved Ben Buckley, Rob Kerr and Andrew Demetriou.
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My understanding was that Port used a local HR firm to start off the process and Demetriou's firm then come in at the end.

And welcome aboard to the Port board on Big Footy.
 

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RussellEbertHandball said:
My understanding was that Port used a local HR firm to start off the process and Demetriou's firm then come in at the end.

And welcome aboard to the Port board on Big Footy.
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Cheers REH, I've been lurking for a while, so if anyones windows were getting fogged up, I'm not sorry!
I think you may be right about the local HR firm, but BKD were given credit for the 'successful appointment'
 
The sooner you all accept that we are a minor franchise and the only role of our CEO and Board is to keep the lights on, the better for your blood pressure.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
Any organisation of size, that is well run, has an internal 2IC who if they have been in that role for a few years, usually ends up getting the CEO's gig.

Despite all the doom and gloom, Port was a well run club under KT. It wasn't a perfect run club, none are, so don't use that as your baseline.

Big companies and organisations usually go get an outsider when they have a crisis, or know they are on the verge of massive growth and need someone from a bigger organisation who has the necessary experience that can run a bigger organisation.

When Bucky left we got an outsider, John James from a bigger organisation, got the gig. Bucky had no natural 2IC. He grew his role from 1992 to 2004 as the club transitioned from a suburban league to the national league and he had his finger in every pie, so to speak. John James as CEO started to delegate responsibilities as he restructured the CEO's role. He talked about it, as did other club employees. Like Bucky, he didn't have a natural 2IC being trained up to take over during his 4 years as our CEO and left after he had enough bashing his against the wall with the SANFL.

When James left and his replacement Haysman was forced on us by the SANFL, who came from a bigger organisation than Port, but became a true Port man, he never had a true 2IC, partly because we didn't have the revenue at the time, and partly because he was pushed out in 2.5 years by the SANFL so he didn't get the time to develop someone in that role.

KT was also somewhat forced on us by the SANFL, had been a senior executive in a bigger organisation, and had to grow Port's business side quickly to get out of the shit. KT and the board have developed a "never again" attitude about 2011-2012 (and earlier) death spiral years. Part of that was to put in place people who could take over and had been through the painful years, which meant when he left you didn't have a replacement who had corporate amnesia.

He put Stephen Dawes in as his 2IC. But after awhile, Dawes and Koch constantly clashed and KT saw this was untenable. He removed Dawes as his 2IC and put Richo into that chair. Richo was in it for almost 4 years and was heavily involved in nearly all the big decisions in that time.

Was Richo the best candidate for the CEO's job?? Unless you personally were involved in the interview process for the top handful of candidates, how would you really know. One thing I'm certain of, unless we recruited a commercial superstar , Richo would have walked if he didn't get the CEO's gig. It happen's all the time when the CEO leaves and his/her 2IC doesn't get the gig.

So in the middle of a pandemic, when there was great uncertainty, some senior executives being paid half their wage, some even less than that, you aren't going to attract the absolute best candidate's from a bigger organisation, where you can't offer any better job security than they already have. And if you find someone who was about as good as Richo or only marginally better you would have lost him, as he would have been disappointed and would have walked out. Then you would have had massive corporate amnesia, as the 2 most senior executives, with the most experience of the previous decade when we worked our way out of a death spiral, have left basically at the same time.

If KT continued on until now and announced today that he was leaving in October this year, would Richo still get the gig? Maybe, maybe not. The only 2 things I know for sure, is that Richo as 2IC would still start off as the front runner, and that more candidates would apply because there is a lot less uncertainty than 2 years ago.
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Richo and Dawes clashed more than most.
Richo, tells the board what they want to hear.....
Dawes did not
 
Imagine being $12 million in debt and wasting probably a couple of hundred thousand using a 'boutique sports consultancy' firm to hire your 2IC as CEO. Classic example of the boys club sustaining itself (ie Port Adelaide Football Club pay Andrew Demetriou's company to employ Port Adelaide Football Club employee). We are all mugs for even supporting this nonsense.
 

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If Ken is definitely staying on as coach for next year, I might as well cancel my 2023 membership right now. What's the point in the club sending out an attitude survey, and barely a fortnight later, they illustrate categorically that they don't care about our views?
 
philreich said:
If Ken is definitely staying on as coach for next year, I might as well cancel my 2023 membership right now. What's the point in the club sending out an attitude survey, and barely a fortnight later, they illustrate categorically that they don't care about our views?
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I mean, they have done this for years now.
 
El Zorro said:
The sooner you all accept that we are a minor franchise and the only role of our CEO and Board is to keep the lights on, the better for your blood pressure.
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... and my bank balance.
 
If Ken is still there in 2023 and you are still giving this club money... I don't know what to say.

There's no longer any way to hold the club accountable than to vote with your wallet.
 

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PAFC CEO Matthew Richardson

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