English Chess Forum

"Really, if there are any more questions to be put to Malcolm Pein on BCN maybe they ought to be about the behaviour of people who are in his employment."

In fairness, I had occasion to contact Malcolm some years ago about behavious of some of his staff and he sorted it out immediately. They certainly weren't acting the way he would want.

I have no idea if Mr Clissold is acting as described, if he is, he is following an old BCF tradition. I would think if he's chairing the meeting, that Chris Fegan will have difficulty getting his points across...

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:14 am

It's because you're a bully, Chris.

Here is someone who takes a similar attitude:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttGQZyCmVpk

Jubly (or should it be luvly?)

I'm all for erudition and classical references, but the Augean stables is not the right one.

The right one is 'Fegan contra mundum'.

J T Melsom wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:01 pm

It is correct I think to say that you have not won a contested election - the election to your current Directorship being uncontested.

He stood for one of the NED posts in 2015 but withdrew shortly before the AGM, asking voters to support Julie Denning. The elections that year showed strong support for "not this candidate"

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... ddress.pdf

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:05 pm

It occurs to me that if Julian really wanted to nobble Chris he would propose a rule where there was exception so Chris could contribute to this forum.

Well, yes. It's really hard to see that Chris does himself any favours by posting here in the manner that he does.

It's interesting that these allegations against Julian Clissold are only surfacing now, particularly as he is one of the few survivors of the Ehr board. He was even a low level member of the arbiter nexus being one of (I think) four members of the board at that time who held an arbiter qualification.

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:49 pm

It's interesting that these allegations against Julian Clissold are only surfacing now, particularly as he is one of the few survivors of the Ehr board. He was even a low level member of the arbiter nexus being one of (I think) four members of the board at that time who held an arbiter qualification.

Am I correct in thinking that this place has had sight of the famous email from JC to RW?

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:49 pm

It's interesting that these allegations against Julian Clissold are only surfacing now, particularly as he is one of the few survivors of the Ehr board.

I was rereading Chris Fegan's pitch for NED from 2015 (link earlier)

I strongly believe in better communication with ECF Members on a regular basis
throughout the year. Some people do not agree with this and state quite openly that they
are only accountable to the ECF Council once a year in the election process. These people either refuse point blank to engage with the membership or, in the most extreme cases, try to abolish the official mechanisms for such communication.

The problem comes as to how this is squared with Board confidentiality. The unofficial mechanisms of communication (this forum for example) only find out about inter board conflicts from leaks and provocative postings on other websites. Up to a point conflicts can be inferred by an absence of timely reports on board meetings and the board reports, even when they do appear, having gaps.

When I was briefly a NED some years ago, Julian Clissold was the other NED (and Chris Fegan was Strategic Advisor) and his approach seemed to me to be laissez-faire and supportive of the executive directors.

This thread has gone off-topic and I wonder if today's posts don't belong elsewhere.

Chris doesn't really believe what he posted in 2015 does he? In practice he communicates what he wants, when he wants to do so, and disappears when the questions become difficult. Leaving aside board confidentiality, Chris' idea of communication is as political as the process he seeks to replace. A long way from more communication being better or more useful communication. Its certainly not serious engagement.

From Malcolm's campaign page. Kingston chess club asked whether the survival of local chess clubs is fundamental to the future of chess.

Malcolm's response was as follows (I'll quote in full so no context is lost).

Completely, and there may be an interesting revelation on Mike Truran's view coming later in the campaign

I think this one can be filed under "Good God it gets worse". Why do we need a revelation later in the campaign? If there is something about Mike Truran's views we need to know (which I doubt) why can't he just say it? I would prefer not to believe at this stage that this isn't a half truth that is being timed to disrupt the campaign at a critical moment.

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:49 pm

It's interesting that these allegations against Julian Clissold are only surfacing now, particularly as he is one of the few survivors of the Ehr board. He was even a low level member of the arbiter nexus being one of (I think) four members of the board at that time who held an arbiter qualification.

Yes, but he's part of the Manchester nexus , like John Reyes who is being attacked for being independent and not agreeing with Tim Wall; it's fairly easy to see what's going on here

We like arguing with each other in Manchester, but much prefer arguing with non-Manchester people given the chance

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:32 pm

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:49 pm

It's interesting that these allegations against Julian Clissold are only surfacing now, particularly as he is one of the few survivors of the Ehr board. He was even a low level member of the arbiter nexus being one of (I think) four members of the board at that time who held an arbiter qualification.

Yes, but he's part of the Manchester nexus , like John Reyes who is being attacked for being independent and not agreeing with Tim Wall; it's fairly easy to see what's going on here

We like arguing with each other in Manchester, but much prefer arguing with non-Manchester people given the chance

Mick

I am from Manchester, Julian Clissold certainly is not and I thought you were from Bolton

Chris

Chris Fegan wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:37 pm

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:32 pm

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:49 pm

It's interesting that these allegations against Julian Clissold are only surfacing now, particularly as he is one of the few survivors of the Ehr board. He was even a low level member of the arbiter nexus being one of (I think) four members of the board at that time who held an arbiter qualification.

Yes, but he's part of the Manchester nexus , like John Reyes who is being attacked for being independent and not agreeing with Tim Wall; it's fairly easy to see what's going on here

We like arguing with each other in Manchester, but much prefer arguing with non-Manchester people given the chance

Mick

I am from Manchester, Julian Clissold certainly is not and I thought you were from Bolton

Chris

Julian is involved with the Manchester Chess Federation.

I'm not sure of the extent of the Venn diagram set intersection between the MCF and the Manchester Nexus.

I'm sort of from Eccles, at least that is where you would find the bones of my ancestors. But noone tells me anything, so I guess that doesn't count