Accusations
After some deliberation, the Trust would like to respond to recent statements made last week by both Xuandong Ren, who gave an interview to the national press, and Garry Monk, who spoke directly to the fans.
We would like to begin by saying that it is important to note that there are always two sides to every story.
There are clearly certain confidentiality agreements in place, which prohibit Garry Monk from expanding upon the circumstance around his dismissal. This much is evident from his own farewell statement. However, this means that we have only had the opportunity to hear one version of events.
We would therefore like to stand up for his right of reply.
We should begin with the known facts: those of Garry Monk’s tenure at the club, which Blues supporters will be very familiar with. He set out to forge a meaningful relationship with the fans, communicated openly and regularly with them and invested time in the local community. In doing so he helped to repair the lagging relationship between Blues fans and their club and in return, earned a great well of respect and admiration. The tone and content of his farewell letter to the supporters was consistent with his words and deeds since joining the Club.
We would like to place on record our sincere thanks for his clearly deeply felt message.
Of course, appearances can be deceiving. However, given the context of what we know and have seen with our own eyes, it is difficult to square the accusations made by Xuandong Ren in his interviews that Garry Monk is a man solely motivated by money.
Mr Ren also made note of Garry Monk’s preference of using a particular agent and how he came to find this unacceptable. English Football Association records do indeed confirm hat this particular agent had involvement in two of Garry Monk’s transfers. However, they also indicate that he played some role in five of Gianfranco Zola’s, and at least two of Gary Rowett’s.
The Trust would therefore be interested to know why this specific agent’s involvement was suddenly considered such a serious offence.
The lightning fast pace of the modern news cycle means that it can be incredibly difficult for the consumer to properly evaluate all of the information they are being presented. If one side of an argument is given the opportunity to make their agenda stick, then that becomes the prevailing narrative regardless of fact or fiction, unassailable if not properly challenged.
We therefore set a challenge to Xuandong Ren.
If his version of events is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, then in the interests of total transparency we call upon him to formally remove whatever embargo is in place preventing Garry Monk from sharing his side of the story.
Only when the supporters are in possession of all of the facts can a judgement be made accordingly. We look forward to his prompt reply.
Keep Right On
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What’s the value in prolonging this unsavory issue. Best to move on, to focus on supporting the team, the manager and those wearing the BCFC shirt in 2019/20.
Prolonging this is needles and unconstructive
Because if we let them get away with it they will continue to ruin this club. They think they can do what they want, lie about it all safe in the knowledge that unlike any other business the customers will still keep coming back no matter how badly they are treated.
Problem is Steve they have got away with it and will continue to get away with it regardless of what Blues trust or anybody else says. Although I agree with you that we should be able to hear GMs side of the story, in the long run it’s not gonna make the slightest bit of difference. Now if you want to lobby Ren to reinstall GM as manager I think you’d have 100% support from bluenoses. Kro
No smoke without fire i’d be more inclined to look at the behaviours of Middlesbrough there is definitely something there in regards to Monks conduct. Yes decent enough manager but something stinks and i’d assume in footballing circles he has a rep
And if this agent had made unsavoury gains, demands etc. during Rowett reign, do the owners have any right to say we prefer not to use that agent because of past experiences, or does Gary Monk have the right to say he is my sole agent and anything I do goes through him?
Needless? Don’t be so fickle. We do support the club which is why we want answers in on the way it’s run.
We need answers, we can’t just let them do this to a manager 99% of us loved.
What next, Dong picking the team and signing players he thinks we should?
We can still support the team but Mr Ren may be a serial Liar we need security for our new manager whoever that may be.
Nonesense – these are reasonable questions – join the Trust fans…
Because Ren’s reasoning was laughable. Because it shows that the Blues Trust and the fans see through the lies, and by refusing to let Garry tell his side of the story, highlights it to this affect. And finally, because I don’t know about you mate, but I’m tired of continually ‘moving on’ and would like some stability at this shoddy run club! KRO
I do get the two sides to every story bit, however sometimes there are things even then that can’t be discussed. Imagine it’s true about youth player not being picked for Reading game due to refusal to sign for agent, with other youth players also being pressured. Surely that would constitute bullying and would be dismissable offence within any job. It may well be a good thing for Monk he has a gagging order… KRO
Did you Gary monk applied for Swansea and Southampton jobs ….
You sound like a dumped teenager.
Suck it up and move on.
What are you trying to achieve?
Completely agree with this, brushing it aside and moving on isn’t the way forward, ren is the guy that brought in Darren dein and spunked millions on half arsed players, 90% of which are no longer with us but we carry the burden of their costs, the guys a clown, pep hasn’t made one statement since taking over, ren is a control freak, he obviously didn’t like monk making the calls on incoming transfers and now has a nodding donkey in pep who he can completely control and blame when another wave of shite over paid players arrive and underperform, whilst ren is at Bcfc we’re going absolutely no where and are being turned into a laughing stock by his clueless ridiculous decisions
Unrealistic to lift part of the NDA snd would likely get into a he said she said argument that doesn’t help. Personally I’ll keep watching. Why hadn’t Pep said anything? Will he go and leave us rudderless in lead up to season. Why now not at the end of the season so we have some time. Only blues could do this to ourselves
Unbelievable naivety and bias here. Monk is not whiter than white the board had very good reasons to get rid. As they did Rowett. Monk is completely free to say and have his right of reply and he hasn’t. There was a lot of things going on behind the scenes and Ren has come out and revealed some of them. There’s your clarity right there. Surprised he stopped short of saying Monk went to Southampton for talks and put injured players on the bench in the last two games instead of 23s and non Featherstone clients
Whilst I somewhat agree with your sentiments, I also feel, what’s the point. It can only really go one way. GM is isn’t going to capitulate and say, “yep, Ren was correct”. He’s going to fight for his name. This in turn will further infuriate the fans as they will see it as unjust. At least at this juncture, there is a stated rational, which goes someway towards demonstrating that they aren’t totally blind to their critics.
Let’s move on get behind pep clotet and players only thing I would ask the owners is to sell the club to people who understand football and who take what the supporters feelings mean when we put our money up front supporters are for life managers players and ceo, s come and go good luck pep and players for new season
The only thing good to come of this is it looks like Kieta is hopefully going to play as Winger / Wingback with Colon on the Other Side and Peds Dean Roberts at the Back ! if we drop in a creative midfielder next too Kief and GG and rotate the strikers with an addition we could be onto something. And ill be the first to say i hate this formation i am a firm believer in 442 At this level infact all levels, Balanced side 2 decent wingers, Attacking and Defending CM. Its proven to be the most successful formation across Europe in number of Trophies won. However we may just have the players to pull it off, all depends on the Recruitment
Its almost like saying hear we go again, its typical Birmingham City.
There are some valid points made, but the bottom line is we have to move on.
Peter Bates makes a positive point lets get behind Pep Clotet and the team and make sure we get of to a sound start to the season. I would like to hear from Pep what funds he has to strengthen the team,without selling Che Adams.
KRO
If all of the facts are revealed, which they won’t be, what exactly are you going to do about it? I would think that people with this amount of money are far from stupid and are making their decisions based on business finance and ethics, which believe it or not they do not have to share with you, so its a case of mind your own business unless you have a huge financial interest/investment in the club. They have far more to lose than any supporter, player or manager so based on this can’t we just sit back and trust the ones in control. Its their toy and they can play with it however they want.
So gazal in your opinion the owners can do what they want with our club because they have more money to lose and supporters can’t do or say anything owners will come and go the same with the players and manager a true supporter is forever what happens if the club disappears the players will get other clubs a manager gets another job and owners ride off into the sunset with their cash what happens to supporters then
Are you deluded? Thinking managers actually care about a club is about as accurate as thinking Land Rover workers care what happens to the company. Its about power and money and lets face it, managers come and go and sign up for the package knowing its unlikely they will see the contract out. If it isn’t the owners its the supporters driving them out so I suggest a reality check for anyone who thinks otherwise.
It’s so sad that after the Rowett debacle some people are quick to believe the story from REN??
This man practically bankrupt a football club in his homeland and his decisions over the last two years have cost us 9 points and could be further punishments again next season!
This man’s only defence during the FFP was to blame managers even though everyone knows no manager has the final say on signings this comes from above.
But hey lets not worry about that because some people are easily bought and gullible enough to suddenly think Monk is a bully.
Fact is Ren already admits trying to get Monk to change tactics and is based at the training ground. If you can’t see this is an idiot sticking his oar in then throwing his toys out the pram when told to back off then you really don’t understand the importance manager put on ‘THEIR DOMAIN’
The fact he chats rubbish about philosophies and a big plan but then appoints a TEMPORARY/PERMANENT head coach says all you need to know at what the plan is!
I’m not falling for the comments from Mr Ren. However, I like many other Blues Supporters have seen some terrible issues from BCFC owners over the years since I’ve been following Blues since th 1960’s. My season ticket along with my Two Sons is renewed and we will be there as always next season. We must also respect those supporters who are saying they won’t attend games again until these owners have gone. Full Respect to Gary Monk for what he achieved and a big Thank You. We may never get to know the true story here? In my opinion the owners see it their way only and you cannot deny that they have invested money in where they can, of course restricted by FFP – Rules. Some of which, again IMO Mr Ren has to accept some of the blame for. “I’m dismayed that he cannot talk to our local press and took to a national newspaper to explain his side of things.
If you can I urge All Blues Supporters to continue to support our team on the pitch, we do not need bitterness or toxic atmospheres before we begin the season.
I accept it’s hard to see where these owners and the board are taking us but, remember this “We as Blues Supporters will be their as owners come and go it’s our club whether they like it or not” interestingly, I remember when this ownership came in and the word was they would make us profitable and sell us on, does anyone else remember this? And the question is are the owners of the same kind. Alternatively, they are determined to make the club a success and see the benefits of our club if we are to push forward?
KRO
King, ren and Cheng out, absolute arseoles the lot of them
My biggest fear is that the upheaval has not finished. Once GM gets another job I can see him taking Pep and the rest of his coaching staff with him (again) so we will have to start again. On the other hand if they DONT follow him it will say a lot about their relationships.
I don’t know why people seem to think GMs backroom staff will be off when he gets a new job, GM can’t just come and take Pep etc, they are contracted to Blues NOT Monk.
History shows us that most managers come as a team and will always be so.
They can resign.
Anyway why would be keep a temporary job with an idiot when he can get a permanent role with a man he has worked EVERYWHERE with!
I agree Mark. Contracts are there to be broken. How much did we have to pay Middlesbrough when we employed them? In truth I have lost faith in any loyalty expressed by players and managers. I really trusted both GR and GM when they were here. I won’t make that mistake again.
Whatever the situation regarding Monk’s dismissal, the owners have shown time and again that they have no idea about English football culture or even FL rules. I am sure they have the club’s best interests at heart, after all they didn’t get us into a financial mess by putting too little money into the club, quite the opposite, but they simply come from a different culture and are trying to impose their, alien culture on an English institution. The best thing they could do is to realise that the current CEO is out of his depth and appoint a Briton or at least someone with a background in British football to run the club, otherwise I can see the litany of crass decisions continuing ad inf. Sadly I am not expecting anything sensible like this to happen.
Don’t agree with this at all, I feel this is pampering up to GM, we don’t know what really happened and I doubt there’s no smoke without fire.
They are the owners and until we’re in the premier and the price is high we won’t be sold so let’s just get on with it.
i think the Trust is asking very important questions and I am surprised how some Blues fans do not approve and want to “move on”. The fans should be holding owners accountable and we have good reason to be skeptical given the fact the owners lost us 9 points, hired some rubbish managers (except Rowett and Monk). To think that Ren could tell a proven manager how the team should be playing is a joke. We will all move on and continue to support the Blues but in the meantime let’s ask these question of Ren and co. Well done Blues Trust and if fans are smart Bluenoses should join the Trust (especially as these owners may sell St. Andrews).
The directors sacked Garry Monk because they thought he was running the playing side of the club wrong, which included signing players via a certain agent. Going by those standards, they will obviously HAVE to resign and sell the club, should they not achieve success, in the amount of time they gave Monk
The owners of Birmingham City must have complete faith in ren or he would have gone after the rowett debacle so Gary monk has gone he’s not going to be reemployed so it his the owners who need to be targeted and made to know how supporters feel about the people running the club but didn’t we hear all the same things about Peter pannu and Carson yeung their were very few protests it wasn’t shown in the ground by supporters or outside the ground I think we have become used to our club being treated like shit in the hope that it will all work out in the end let’s get all fans of Birmingham City to write email fax text Facebook WhatsApp trillion trophy Asia and let them know how supporters really feel and that we don’t want them involved with our club it probably will fall on deaf ears but who knows
we have had 2 managers that have been capable of getting us into the prem …and just when things are looking good for a chance of promotion they have been sacked why is that are we a family or just a front for something ….kro
I do not agree that the sacking of GM should just be forgotten and we move on. Claims have been made by the Board which simply do not stack up and I believe that they have made misleading statements. It would be great if GM was able to speak freely. His parting message was not one of a bitter man, rather than that of some deeply disappointed in the outcome. Dong Ren is clearly a control freak acting on behalf of Chinese owners. They make no attributable statements and have zero clarity or transparency. You cannot run any business like that. On top of it all they have absolutely no idea of running a football club in England. I agree that it is the team we support but these owners have to be made accountable for their actions and as much pressure brought to bear to make that happen. Thanks BluesTrust for putting out the statement you did.
A well written and detailed statement which fully reflected my own thoughts.
Ren Dong has created a divide between fans all to support his own agenda, he was jealous of Monks popularity. If true that Monk was a ‘money man’ then he would not fear Monks own counter statement
We have to get over it and move on, although a bitter taste remains over the whole shambles
Whilst understanding all comments so far made and the anger still raging,it is worth a moment to reflect on my little input. Blues Trust I admire very much and although I write articles/blogs elsewhere I do find the Trust fair and moderate in thought. They always have been. However as a commenter on this occasion I would urge Blues fans to move on from this mess at St.Andrews as there are literally two stories here about the Monk sacking. Last Thursday week on the bombshell news I was seething beyond words and feared the end of BCFC as we know it. Nearly two weeks on I have very much changed my thoughts and feel the only way forward is to get new signings in crisply and get a little ‘feel good’ factor in. We need Clotet to be backed as he is a decent man without any ties to the wretched agents that tend to bleed us.
The fact that Garry Monk was using the same agent for signings isn’t the problem. It’s common practice for managers to use a particular agency and a particular representative of that agency for signings it’s a trust thing.
Even if the gagging order is lifted how can Garry Monk come out and talk about the internal operations of the club and his relationship with agents.
If he did that he would be throwing all that Trust out the window and he would never get another job again.
We just need these owners to go we need them to get rid off REN at the minimum. They should then bringing someone in who knows something about English football and about how football works and how people work and let the manager do his job.
Has everyone completely forgotten that it turns out they were absolutely right to sack snakey overrated Gary Rowett? I don’t now and never have had a problem with that sacking, I for one was sick of him by the end, and all this talk of play offs, we were just as close to about 14th at the time!
Yes I like Monk, did well under the circumstances, however he was far from flawless, and as history would suggest he IS difficult to work with, and apparently applied for the Swansea and Southampton jobs….the guy has gone, let’s move on, like someone else has said, the owners are naive but are trying, they listened to fans and made Redknapp permanent and backed him heavily, Redknapp was an absolute disaster of which every pundit and fan had warned us about…..they then fire him after 7 defeats in a row and get criticised, listen to the fans again and appoint Cotterill, another disaster, listened to the fans and fired him, hired Monk……clearly ego’s at play and Monk has gone….board hammered by the fans.
There ARE two sides to every story yes, but there’s also no smoke without fire! No matter what this board does in the eyes of many it will never be right!
Back the manager and criticised when breach FFP yet nobody cared when we were spending, hire Redknapp and everyone was loving it until it went pear shaped, and as much as everyone said Monk was class, we were miles off the playoffs even without a 9 point deduction….get a grip and move on
well said Jay.
fully agree, the board can’t win
Eddie I just think we are what we are, we will never be Man City, we will never have spending power until FFP is relaxed, and like most none prem teams will rely largely on fluke to stand any real chance of going up, so let’s just accept who and where we are, no owner will change our financial position, we are a working class average Joe club with a loyal (but somewhat miserable) fan base, we saw our team win a trophy and play in Europe, great plays came and went, from Dugarry to Forsell, Pennant to Dimmy…..football is not what it was in the 90’s, the fun and enjoyment has been replaced by money and disloyalty, yet one thing remains, next season we start again, just enjoy it for what it is, a feeder club for the financial giants….embrace that and maybe we can collectively start enjoying it again, let go of unrealistic expectation
Do not forget we are the most successful team in the West Midlands this century as we are the only club to win a major trophy.
These guys own our club and have pumped in millions. They have the right to make decisions even if they are not liked by supporters. At times, as others have suggested, they have followed supporters requests/suggestions most of which have not worked out.
I am concerned the owners want us to play a “attacking” game but we have sold our most creative player. I currently like all of our squad, I believe they give their all but, with due respect, they are not all like Trevor Francis and therefore the team cannot play this attacking football that the owners desire. Having said that I did feel that the team played some of the best football at St Andrews for a long time in Sept – Nov 2018.
Lets just see what happens but I would urge all of us to get behind the team more vocally at home this season. Our away support is unbelievable but we are all very quiet at home. Come on lets go for it
K.R.O.
the clowns running my club will never see another single penny of my money the only way to stop these fools is to hit them in the pocket ! its the only thing they understand stop the cash flow . im of to support Newcastle , o god no another club run by an egotistical maniac who as no connection to the man on the street or the terraces until ren and his cronies go we are going nowhere fast apart from down !
The fact that Ren is still employed in his current role after dragging the club through yet another shit pile is unbelievable … Or at least it would be at most other clubs but somehow I’m sorry to say not at Blues . I never thought I would see the day when so many Blues are just sucking up more rubbish with the only course of action being in fighting among each other …. Action speaks louder than words and Blue fans need to unite and do things the old fashioned way and draw attention to the club which I’m sure our shiney suited friends from the east would not be happy about….. They may own it in name but it is our club and we will still be here after they have gone let’s hope it is before they leave us in smoking ruins
well said jay,this is another rowett scenario where there was uproar at his sacking and rowett played the wounded party until it was revealed that he had wanted to talk to Fulham and qpr about the managing them and when he was denied and offered a contract extension he also refused to sign that,lets see what monk has to say about the accusations aimed at him from the board as there usually is no smoke without fire.As said before this board are not everyones cup of tea but as far as I can see they have done nothing wrong taking into account what they have had to deal with,rowetts non-commitment to the club,zolas and cotterills inability to turn the the results around and redknapps boom or bust transfer spree that as other clubs he has managed have found out usually ends in bust and now the accusations aimed at monk which if are true especially the one regarding the younger players then as I see it the board had no choice but to sack him.
There has at last been an official statement now released by GM through the League Managers Association concerning the allegations from BCFC and Middlesbrough FC re his involvement with his agent etc. It is very clear from his statement that he completely refutes the allegations and that his lawyers are preparing a legal case against those accusing him of wrong-doing, going as far as defamation of character. You have to be fairly certain that you are right before launching such a claim. Cleary he is convinced he did nothing wrong and as he indicated there are one or two people behind this seeming vendetta.