Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.

Is the ECF doing a good job?

Poll ended at Wed May 31, 2017 9:42 pm

Yes
23
53%
No
20
47%
 
Total votes: 43

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Michael Farthing
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Michael Farthing » Sun May 14, 2017 8:13 pm

Err .. actually you were imposed by P.E. and they were bullied into ratifying it after the event..

Chris Fegan
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Chris Fegan » Sun May 14, 2017 8:22 pm

Michael Farthing wrote:Err .. actually you were imposed by P.E. and they were bullied into ratifying it after the event..
I suggest you cease telling bare faced lies in public

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JustinHorton
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by JustinHorton » Sun May 14, 2017 9:13 pm

Well perhaps a less, ah, abrasive approach would be appropriate right now, but for the record, the minutes of the 84th Board meeting, held on 11 May 2014, record that

"PE moved to change the name of the Strategic Planning Officer post to Strategic Advisor and nominate Chris Fegan to fill it"

and that

"The Board appointed Chris Fegan as Strategic Advisor nem con".

I don't have anything about who or what, if anything, was the Strategic Planning Officer prior to that meeting, or whether such a person or role had been approved by anybody. I will not claim to have searched exhaustively. A search for Fegan on this site was not of any assistance.
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Chris Fegan
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Chris Fegan » Sun May 14, 2017 9:19 pm

JustinHorton wrote:Well perhaps a less, ah, abrasive approach would be appropriate right now, but for the record, the minutes of the 84th Board meeting, held on 11 May 2014, record that

"PE moved to change the name of the Strategic Planning Officer post to Strategic Advisor and nominate Chris Fegan to fill it"

and that

"The Board appointed Chris Fegan as Strategic Advisor nem con".

I don't have anything about who or what, if anything, was the Strategic Planning Officer prior to that meeting, or whether such a person or role had been approved by anybody. I will not claim to have searched exhaustively. A search for Fegan on this site was not of any assistance.
Justin

Thank you for taking the time to ascertain the facts on this matter and it is a quite simple thing to do and could easily have been done by Mr Farthing before he sent his "abrasive" and insulting message.
I am quite prepared to accept a public apology from him and put this matter to bed.

Chris

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun May 14, 2017 9:25 pm

JustinHorton wrote: I don't have anything about who or what, if anything, was the Strategic Planning Officer prior to that meeting, or whether such a person or role had been approved by anybody.
There had been Strategic Planning Officer as a post ever since the DCMS as the conduit of Government support for the ECF demanded lots of reading matter, the more boring the better. The post had only been filled intermittently after the DCMS Grant was lost in 2010 ,if at all.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by JustinHorton » Sun May 14, 2017 9:26 pm

I don't think my posting can be considered as quite closing the matter, nor as approval for the manner of the posting that preceded it.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Chris Fegan
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Chris Fegan » Sun May 14, 2017 9:32 pm

JustinHorton wrote:I don't think my posting can be considered as quite closing the matter, nor as approval for the manner of the posting that preceded it.
Justin

I was not trying to imply either of these things to your post and my posting to you was intended simply to thank you for taking he time to ascertain the facts on this matter that are freely available and to point out that Mr Farthing should do such easy research also which might then stop him throwing around blatant mistruths on public forums.

Chris

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun May 14, 2017 9:34 pm

JustinHorton wrote:Well perhaps a less, ah, abrasive approach would be appropriate right now, but for the record, the minutes of the 84th Board meeting, held on 11 May 2014, record
Fast forward to meeting 91 and there's a list of appointed and re-appointed managers with Strategic Planning Officer being absent.

The minutes also say
Other appointments will be dealt with at a future Board meeting, when the Directors responsible are present or after prospective Officers have been contacted by the Director concerned.
That was meeting 91. By meeting 92 the Strategic Planning Officer was on the list of invitees without it would appear ever being formally re-appointed. Meeting 92 also documents one or two new appointments.

Meeting 91
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... -final.pdf
Meeting 92
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... -FINAL.pdf

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JustinHorton
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by JustinHorton » Sun May 14, 2017 9:41 pm

Anyway, this all reminds me that the one tangible result I can presently recall of Chris Fegan's stint in the role was that the now-dead-and-unmourned ECF Forum was created shortly after he began, following a strategy meeting which (unless I am corrected) I assume he led.

I always wondered why I could never find the decision to create it in the board minutes, though the fact of its beeing up and running was subsequently mentioned in the minutes for July 15.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Roger de Coverly
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun May 14, 2017 9:47 pm

Chris Fegan wrote: I was appointed by the Board to give them Strategic Advice both at their meetings and in general day to day activity.
The "Pearce Report" went into this in some detail.
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... -FINAL.pdf
3.6
Strategic Adviser
The role of strategic adviser superseded that of strategic planning officer when the
current incumbent was appointed by the Board in its meeting of 11 May 2014. The
ECF website shows the strategic adviser as one of a number of individuals “reporting to the Board, President or Chief Executive”. However Regulation No.2 contains no description of the strategic adviser's role or of the responsibilities, powers and reporting requirements associated with it. The minutes of the Board meeting of 11 May 2014 contain no such description. In contrast to the silence in recent minutes about the term of appointment of other Officers, the minutes of the meeting expressly note that the present incumbent's appointment would be only until October 2014. We can find nothing in any subsequent Board or Council meeting extending his appointment. Consequently, according to the official record he has had no authority to represent the ECF or its Board since October 2014.
We recommend that the Board clarifies the position of the strategic adviser by:
either (a) ratifying his re-appointment since October 2014, defining the term of
office, responsibilities, powers and reporting requirements of the role and
making the necessary consequential changes to Regulation No.2;
or (b) reducing the role to that of informal adviser to the Chief Executive, with
consequential limitations on the powers and responsibilities of the strategic
adviser.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by JustinHorton » Sun May 14, 2017 10:05 pm

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that. Wasn't that odd?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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Michael Farthing
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Michael Farthing » Sun May 14, 2017 10:50 pm

I hadn't.

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Roger Lancaster » Sun May 14, 2017 10:57 pm

Can't for the life of me see how Chris was appointed and his performance in post have any bearing on whether the ECF, however defined, is currently doing a good job. Seems more like two sides, each keen to write its version of history.

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Michael Farthing
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Michael Farthing » Sun May 14, 2017 11:19 pm

Set us back on track, Roger! You've commented above on what the voting mechanism might change but tell us what, in your view, the ECF is doing well at the moment, or maybe doing badly, or maybe .. some of each. [Oh dear, oh dear, we can't have fence sitting like that can we - scratch that last idea].

From my prospective:

Good:
It is making stalwart efforts at finding hard-to-come-by sponsors.
It is being moderate in what it expects members to pay in subscriptions.
It is working more harmoniously than for some time.
It has recognised that good, properly paid for administrative services, though costly, are necessary, and is putting them in place.

Bad:
It is still less open than I would like and at times I feel its presentation is not quite straightforward (I'll get told off for saying that).
It has an unhealthy concern to use money only for 'top' players rather than in-depth development.

Andrew Zigmond
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Re: Poll: Is the ECF doing a good job?

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Mon May 15, 2017 1:24 am

With an obvious conflict of interest I have voted yes. I personally think we are seeing the ECF make huge progress under the leadership of Mike Truran although the addition of Malcolm Pein to the board is also playing a big part. It has certainly been hard to keep up with the activities of the board this year. By way of context I would have also voted yes had a similar poll been posted two years ago.
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