Wednesday, March 17, 2010

New CEO resigns one day into the job



Photos (Top to Bottom): Patrick Barlow; Steve Payne [PlessPix]


Mr Patrick Barlow, the new CEO of Football Federation Tasmania, has resigned.


He attended Monday evening's meeting of club presidents and was due to start in the job on Tuesday.


But, he has now decided to relinquish the position.


An FFT spokesperson confirmed Mr Barlow’s decision not to continue in the position and said that he had cited ‘personal reasons’ for the decision.


Mr Sean Collins, the president of FFT, confirmed the situation and that Mr Barlow had resigned because of 'personal reasons'.


Mr Collins said that FFT would now look at other applicants who had come close to being appointed.


In the event that no-one was available, new applications would be invited.


Meanwhile, Mr Steve Payne, the FFT technical director, is on sick leave.


He started sick leave recently and is not expected back at work for some weeks.


He is due to return to Canada on holiday in April.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

thought Payne was taking the U13s to Nationals at Easter.

Anonymous said...

This is a joke right Walter??? Is FFT in such bad shape sinking rapidly that nobody wants to go near it? One has to have a quiet chuckle about this!! Seriously very sad indeed.

Anonymous said...

didn't anyone tell him at the interview that he had to work on Saturdays helping put up the nets?

Anonymous said...

8ball should be new CEO

Anonymous said...

time for a breakaway comp .lets have people out there that want to see this sport prosper in tas this has gone on for to long now .stop these greedy pigs being paid for mediocrity.get some people that care with some ideas ,maybe hockey tasmania

Anonymous said...

would FFA sanction a break away association?

Anonymous said...

Surely it's about time that FFA stepped in and took control of the ongoing debacle that has been SoccerTas/FFT?

I didn't think that things could get worse than they have been for the last ten years or so but today's announcement takes the game in Tasmania to new depths.

Tasblue

Anonymous said...

On a brighter note it was great to finally see Walt and Brian Glanville feature together on the ABC news the other night. The fact that Walt's contribution was the 'weather photo' should not diminish the importance of this moment in sports journalism!! Regards George C

Anonymous said...

Football tasmania shame on you. As a young footballer i cannot believe how messed up this association is compared to other codes in tasmania, nearly makes me want to go play footy. There must be some serious problem(s) if the last two CEO's were in for less than one season and also less than ONE day
R.I.P Football Tasmania

Anonymous said...

LOL!

That's all that needs to be said.

Although whilst I'm at it, is there any chance this incompetent mob could annouce teams/rosters for Div 1-4, or is that too much to ask one week out from the start of their seasons?

Yoda said...

Hmmm thing is FFT cannot do much about this evidently they should be under contract and FFT should look at taking legal action perhaps.

Peoples at FFT must be shaking their heads.

Anonymous said...

time fft looked and some younger people to take over!!

Anonymous said...

a new low

aaron said...

the funny thing is anonymous eightball would do a better job than what we have at the moment wich is nothing, the game is dead bring back the state leauge its the only option, on a lighter side has anyone seen the group on facebook about a mug for ceo this could come true the way we are going, time for people to come out and take control and stop just talking about it, walter why dont you apply for ceo you have been around the game for so long

Anonymous said...

fft cant even get hot water at kgv how are they going to find a decent ceo who wants to b there?????

R U Serious Ref said...

Walter, I heard that Steve Paine is off on stress leave. In part had something to do with the FA surprise visit to last week. Something to do with what Steve wants to set in place, FFT would prefer the opposite. Had to do with Rep team players only playing for the Rep teams & not Futsal or in other comps. FTT said they could play for whoever they liked. Steve did not agree.
Can you confirm this Walter or find out if this is correct. I may have heard the wrong thing or mis-understood what I was told.

Anonymous said...

Absolute disgrace someone should write a letter to FFA about it

Anonymous said...

How on earth is Tasmania Football meant to be taken seriously?

No captain to steer the ship, in fighting and bitching, lack of leadership, lack of vision and direction. What a joke.

Who would want the job? Honestly its a toxic nightmare Shame, sad, unhappy days.

FFT - it needs to be put out of its and our misery and start a fresh.

Rest in Peace

Observer said...

If FFA are serious about the sport in Tasmania then I believe they would step in.Somehow I believe we are the laughing stock of the sport in this country.Shame on you FFT. You have let this situation deteriorate to its present stage.Maybe we the clubs should sue you as an incompetent body, that has ruined the sport in this state.Words just cant explain how pathetic and incompetent you as an organisation has been and stll is.Time for a total cleanout I believe. Get some people in there with no hidden agendas and get the sport back on track , if that is possible.

Unknown said...

Hire me,At least I would stay until pay day

Anonymous said...

Did the presidents scare him off?
Was it the ridiculous situation with Div1 that could see a team that didn't win the comp be promoted?
The boards reliance on him fixing everything?
The pathetic and amateurish opening of the season?
FFA administration may be the only way to save the situation. They must be horrified up in Sydney.

Maybe they are just laughing at us.

tasjazz said...

FFT is a disgrace if it takes them just one day to scare of their new CEO. Am sending letter to the editor (The Mercury)hope it gets published. Urge all you concerned bloggers to do the same email your opinions to mercuryedletter@dbl.newsltd.com.au

Anonymous said...

At least Itchins does something and is resilient enuff to stick to the job - does a heap of work for futsal etc

Anonymous said...

centralise to FFV!!!
Quickly

Observer said...

It is a combination of all the people involved and combination of their egos.From coaches who think their sh...t doesnt stick ,and it does just as everyone else's ,to management and board who have personal interests in either clubs ,refereeing etc. You also cannot be in a position of power at FFT ,be a referee and the person responsible for refereeing appointments to games,and have no bias towards and/or against players/clubs. It does not make sense.As an example, AFL Tasmania does not have current umpires who are still active in the game , in positions that FFT have referees in.
A clean out is required and a fresh start is required.The sport is at the bottom of the barrel now and the only way is up ,although some of the sh...t has been at the bottom of the barrel for so long that the barrel has probably rotted through and is leaking .

Unknown said...

I reckon Walter could do the job, given his wealth of knowledge of Tassie football and the game genrally. That's if he is up for it.

Anonymous said...

the tas govt are currently investigating whether to take grass roots sport away from governing bodies who can not distribute funding evenly and soccer could be one of them by the look of things, what will fft do if/when tasmania utd get an a-league team and take control as they would then get the majority of funding from the government, i believe that you will find in the future the likes of vikings futsal, morton soccer schools and club academies will start to gain more funding and help, i notice on the front page of today's paper will hodgmans kids playing vikings futsal, will this spell the end for fft?

Anonymous said...

ffa is as much a shambles as fft, it filters down, and in saying that why would a rebel league need sanctioning by ffa? has anyone seen the church leagues run on the mainland or the leagues all over brazil that are unsanctioned but still very professional leagues? how about the indian premier league in cricket or the world series when they first started? the split from the old nrl in rugby? it can happen and be successful.......... be careful what you wish for as I believe there are several organisations who could run a very good and viable state league with juniors and seniors!

Anonymous said...

has anyone got warrick capper and mad jackos number, they to looking for a job, would not hurt fft position at the moment for them 2 as a fillin.

Bruno said...

Should have a tv show on it like The Apprentice.

Unknown said...

One problem with the current structure is the board has direct authority over the CEO. The constitution is outdated for Tasmania football needs.

Secondly clubs generally always vote according to their clubs requirements not necessarily according to the wider football community needs.

Thirdly I cannot remember FFT provided transparency for up and coming meetings, AGM's to the wider community. Would it hurt, I hardly think so. Perhaps it would help increase the confidence in FFT if they provide agenda, minutes, meeting dates etc on their website.

Its worth noting:
It is unrealistic to assume volunteer run football clubs have the resources and or infrastructure to pass all information to players in a timely fashion to provide feedback in time for meetings; especially so close to season kick off.

I also agree with a previous blogger; Walter would make an excellent CEO. He is widely respected, knows the game, media knowledge and an excellent communicator.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Punnet said...

Walter,

You have been quiet on the subject of you putting your hand up for CEO.

You have more insite into the game than nearly all the people that blog on here.

The problem i see is that everyone is looking after their own and stuff the rest. Everyone needs to have a good hard look at themselves and ask... Where do they want the game to go... down the shit or to move ahead? From the outside looking in.. most people want it to go to the toilet. We need people like you Walter ... people that know the game and have a passion for it ... not just looking out for themselves.

Vote 1 - WALTER PLESS for CEO

ynwa said...

I wouldn't wish the job on my worst enemy let alone Walter. That said, I don't believe there is anything wrong with the structure - every NGO operates with a CEO responsible to a volunteer board who are elected by the members (in our case the clubs). Yes clubs vote out of self interest but you couldn't really expect otherwise - but I do think that more transparent and timely consultation would lessen that to an extent. The last time I asked the CEO role paid around $70K plus car - maybe that doesn't help given the demands of the job.

Marty Nidorfer said...

Walter and readers,

Off the subject, a matter that involves my social Div 2 team.

I was shocked today to see the rosters for the coming season. Div 2 has ONLY 6 teams in it whilst Div 3 consists of 16 teams split in 2 leagues.

I know that there are competitive teams in Div 3 that are worthy of competing against the 6 Div 2 sides.

Surely FFT could of halved the 22 teams to make them more vibrant.

I would love some feedback from players in these divisions, but my initial thought today was to force FFT's hand on who plays where by getting a consensus of Div 2 teams to opt out of Div 2, and enter Div 3. They would then have to "grade" teams on ability.

Cheers Marty.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Marty Nidorfer said...

Mike,
You are correct we dropped a team back to Div 3. They didnt win a game in Div 2 last year. For that reason we have. Can you see any teams from last years Div 3 that were at the top end that can make a jump up?

Anonymous said...

FFT needs youth, something bright, a new start perhaps?

Unknown said...

when an organisation like FFT is not run like a real business, this is the result. our opposing codes would be chuckling. why don't we take a leaf from Hockey Tasmania. now that is the way to run a business. why do we continue putting people on boards who have no business nouse? commercially naive! we only have ourselves to blame.

Anonymous said...

I havent played for twenty years and football has not progressed one bit KGV GROUND has not had a cent spent on it or any others compaired to hockey ,AFL . To many on the payroll at FFT think that they run the show AND ALL PULL IN DIFFERENT Directions depending on what sort of kickback they can get.....
Get a big broom sweep out all the
s--- and start fresh

Brian Roberts said...

Reference KG V Ground . It is the property of the Glenorchy Council as are other grounds the property of their respective councils .

In the closing period of D Smith's term as CEO the council completely relaid the surface and revised the drainage of the KG V Complex.

The Building containing the bar and offices are the property of FFT but on a leasehold basis only .

As to the lights I can not comment . Normal practice is for the council to resume any improvements when the tennant vaccates the property. The lights at Wellesley paid for and installed by SHSC are a case in point.

Perhaps this clears the air about the apparent shorcomings of the complex.

Anonymous said...

Just got words that all the Southern Presidents held a private meeting tonight (WEDNESDAY) to denounce the BOARD!!! Hmm... surely the board would need to be accountable for all this mess and negative publicity for football in Tasmania. What do each of them actually BRING TO THE TABLE???

Anonymous said...

Surely that is the same group of club presidents that voted them in not long ago. If they want to denounce them they had better have some alternative board members available or have a couple of club presidents step up for the responsibility otherwise it doesn't mean much.