Statement From Mike Smith .

Statement from Mike Smith

The Ban!

First of all may I thank everyone for their overwhelming support regarding my ban from
Cougar Park. Whilst it has been personally embarrassing to myself, my colleague and my
family, serious false allegations were made against us by Gary Fawcett that I now can make
public. I have deliberately waited to respond to Gary’s allegations until the team could no
longer gain promotion so I wasn’t seen to be disruptive at such a critical part of the season.
As everyone is aware I am proud and totally committed to helping get Cougars back where
they belong. That’s why we decided to volunteer to assist the club this season. We devised
new sponsorship packages and sold them and improved the match day music experience.
Perhaps our largest project was to initiate a series of discussions with a major local college
that would mirror other club’s arrangements like Leeds and Warrington.
During discussions with the college it was made clear to us that any potential sponsorship or
facility monies paid by the college could not be paid directly to the club for fear of breaching
their strict governance rules. We decided the best option for this project was to use the
Cougars Community Foundation which is ideally placed for this type of activity and could be
subject to strong governance to ensure any monies would be properly accounted for.
Prior to talking to the Foundation I spoke to Gary and asked what responsibility if any the
club had on the Foundation he replied none. I then approached Neil Spencer a friend of
mine who was the chairman of the Foundation and after discussing the college opportunity
and our vision for how we could grow the Foundation using our experiences in the
Cougarmania days. At that time the Cougars were central to the community and through a
series of innovative projects inspired young and old alike these activities was a major factor
in raising attendances at games to over 6,000.
We saw an opportunity for the Foundation to employ a high profile coach and iconic player
to work as part of the Foundations delivery team, taking away the burden of their salaries
from the club, on the lines of Phil Larder and Joe Grima back in the day. Getting into the
community can only be done successfully through high profile sports people. This approach
was so important to the rise of Cougarmania.
Neil explained he needed two new trustees to ensure the Foundation ran in accordance
with the articles of association rules. A board meeting of the foundation was convened that
was fully documented where we signed the required forms which were then sent to
Companies House making us trustees.
We then informed the Foundation co-ordinator Saima Hussain that we had become trustees
and for her to arrange a meeting with us to start planning for the future. Within hours of
sending this email Paul March was on the phone using every expletive telling us F### Off we
weren’t welcome. Shortly afterwards we received an email saying we had fraudulently
become trustees and the police had been informed and pending a police investigation we
were banned from entering Cougar Park!
Although Neil was the only person with authority to co-opt new trustees it came to light
later that two other trustees had been co-opted to the Foundation...Without Neil’s
knowledge!
Because of the seriousness of the allegations we had no alternative to but to get legal
advice. The solicitor wrote to Gary providing him with all the evidence that we had acted
legally with the best interests of the Cougars and provided all the statutory paperwork
signed by Neil.
Gary was given 14 days to prove his allegations...That day passed without any substantive
response from Gary as he could give no evidence of wrong doing on our part whatsoever
and all the allegations made by him were completely made up in an effort to stop me
continuing to push for the removal of Paul March. Because of the ferocious attack we can
only assume that the club did not want us to have access to the detailed accounting records
of the Foundation. Gary’s action served to beg the question that if he could do this to us
who are trying to help the club, is he a fit and proper person to be Chairman of Cougars?
The Club Moving Forward
The failure of the club this season has been blamed on Paul March which is very largely true.
In Gary’s statement he talked about being totally disappointed at the results of the best
team we’ve had in years. As chairman, Gary should have dismissed Paul March should early
in the season as performances were way below par. At the very least he should have been
dismissed immediately after one of the worst defeats in our history at Toulouse. So, it’s not
entirely the fault of Paul March but Gary Fawcett’s failure to act. As the leader of the club he
let everyone down. He has the responsiblity to act in the best interests of the club and
should have made a real effort to find a suitable replacement to avoid this current sorry
situation.
It is commonly believed Paul was not dismissed because the club could not afford to pay
him off. This is just not true but a convenient smoke screen to hide behind. I spoke on many
occasions to the directors regarding the need to replace Paul as failure to achieve
promotion would be catastrophic on finances...Sadly I’ve been proved correct.
It was obvious to most people Paul had major failings as a coach at this level and was
unlikely to deliver promotion. The directors had plenty of time to find a suitable
replacement to give us a fighting chance to achieve a top three finish alleviating some of the
current financial problems. Just taking into account the effect a new coach would have had
on the remaining home gates and playing in a potential home play-off game to give us a
chance of promotion would have more than compensated for any pay off to Paul.
Currently, under Gary, the Club has no leadership, no permanent commercial infrastructure
and it’s only open for business on a match day. Simple things like patching the stand roof to
avoid the embarrassment of rain water pouring onto the spectators and creating more
damage to the stands infrastructure. I find this difficult to understand as one of the directors
has a building company! The combination of all these factors show just how poorly the club
is currently managed and how Gary’s regime is allowing the club to slide slowly into the
abyss.
You would think basic common sense would tell the board that having someone working full
time in a commercial capacity would help improve the current financial situation. We must
be one of the only semi-professional sporting clubs in the country not to have a commercial
department. That’s why the club is not currently sustainable...20 years ago my small
commercial team at the club raised in excess of £I million pounds per season... You cannot
build a successful club without commercial activity.
We never had to sell next year’s season tickets to pay this season’s player cost...that is just
completely crazy!
Now following Gary’s recent statement we can all see the Cougars are broke! The fan base
has dwindled to under 300 and the fans have lost confidence in the board. So, for the club
now to announce it urgently needs to sell a minimum of 100 cheap season tickets to pay for
the players’ commitments this month, just will not wash. The shortage of cash is entirely
made from the directors’ own short sightedness and lack of business acumen.
Gary, you’ve let the fans down and lost their support...so why do you think fans will back
you by purchasing season tickets now and put the club’s future in jeopardy? It will only
make next season totally unsustainable financially. Plus, what is stopping the club getting
fans hard earned cash now and the club folding before next season?
Gary your time is almost up! You are having your last pint in the last chance saloon BUT you
have one final chance to save yourself and our beloved Cougars. You have the opportunity
to appoint a top coach, a leader with a proven track record similar to JD. We need someone
who can bring a new culture to the club and who can develop young talent. A Super League
level individual who can inspire the players, the fans, sponsors and community alike, also
appoint a commercial manager.
This is your only chance for the fan-base and sponsors to get behind the club for 2017 and
give you another season to redeem yourself. Alternatively the appointment of a typical
league one coach will NOT be acceptable to anyone and will be your final mistake.
All is not lost. We have a wonderful supportive sponsor in Simon Harrison of A1 Stairlifts
and a fantastic group of hardworking volunteers who have started to transform the stadium.
The football volunteers work tirelessly to keep the RFL documentation, changing room and
kit management spot on. Not forgetting our fantastic fans who deserve much more respect
than they are currently getting.
Now is the time Gary, to make some important decisions on the club and your own future.
Hopefully I look forward to seeing you all next season.
Mike