BCFC: Departures Confirmed

New Year’s Day finally brought confirmation from Birmingham City of four senior members of staff. A short statement on the official site confirmed that Financial Director Roger Lloyd, Club Secretary Julia Shelton, Financial Controller Gary Moore and Chief Co-ordinating Officer Jo Allsopp have decided to leave the club.

Finances and BCFC

Of course, this is not new news.

Back in August there were tweets from journalists stating that the four members of the club’s senior management team had departed, and I wrote this piece at the same time.

However, this is the first official confirmation from the club of the move.

When I wrote my original piece I made note that if the club were able to bring in suitable replacements, while the experience of the departing staff would be missed, it could however bring an end to some of the internal strife the club had been suffering.

The fact that all seems quiet behind the scenes at St. Andrew’s would testify to the fact that the civil war has now ended – which in my opinion has been to be the benefit of the club.

I can’t confirm all of the identities of the replacements for the departed staff as I do not know them.

As of yet, I only know for sure that Julia Shelton’s deputy Ciara Gallagher has filled one of the vacated roles at the club.

In addition to the roles being filled, Companies House will have to be notified in due course of who will replace Roger Lloyd in his role as Company Secretary of both the club and the UK parent Birmingham City PLC.

Under the Carson Yeung ownership the BIH (as it then was) Company Secretary filled the role.

The current Birmingham Sports Holdings Company Secretary is Anita Chan Yuk Yee.

Whether Ms Chan takes the BCFC / BC PLC role remains to be seen.

It’s also possible Jo Allsopp will also have to be replaced as a director of Birmingham City Women.

I have heard some rumour – and I must stress at this point that it is only rumour – that there will be staff brought over from China to help fill management roles.

I will admit to having no idea as to who these staff could be or what roles they would fulfil – only that it is possible as the owners are looking for the club to closer align with the holding company.

Of course, any staff that come over would have to acclimatise quickly to the subtle differences between British and Chinese business culture to ensure a seamless fit.

Until anything concrete is confirmed though, it remains an interesting hypothetical situation.

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