Susan Whelan steps down as CEO

[Gamble92]

1 hour ago, Paninistickers said:

Is she? 

 

She has some unorthodox business methods on the charge sheet. Turning away sponsorships. Refusing to put match tickets on sale.  Outgoings exceeding incomings. 

 

 

I'd love to know why we made the decision to charge £10 to watch a friendly under her watch. The same CEO who apparently stood up on her own against the other 19 Premier League teams who wanted to charge £15 a match during COVID.

[davieG]

2 hours ago, Paninistickers said:

Is she? 

 

She has some unorthodox business methods on the charge sheet. Turning away sponsorships. Refusing to put match tickets on sale.  Outgoings exceeding incomings. 

 

 

 

34 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

I'd love to know why we made the decision to charge £10 to watch a friendly under her watch. The same CEO who apparently stood up on her own against the other 19 Premier League teams who wanted to charge £15 a match during COVID.

Makes you question who's making these decisions and maybe it's why she left as couldn't take anymore.

 

I lke some facts before blaming her

[TheLittleBigMan]

My understanding is she was very vocal in her concerns with the clubs business model, was anti the BC.game sponsorship and less than impressed with Rudkin, which top didn't like hearing. She is a big loss to the club imo. Just look at the players posts to her when she left.

[Steve Earle]

19 hours ago, davieG said:

 

Makes you question who's making these decisions and maybe it's why she left as couldn't take anymore.

 

I lke some facts before blaming her

Well put.

 

For years we were run by a troika. At times almost decently. Susan leaves, forced out & given minutes to clear her desk. Then the wheels came off big style. 
 

I’d be loathed to criticise her too much without much more information, especially as the capabilities of the two left behind have become clear for all to see.

[l444ry]

.

Edited 24 June by l444ry

[l444ry]

Just now, l444ry said:

Think people piling in on Whelan without a clue as to what she was actually 100% responsible for are just heckling. I had a hospitality ticket for years (now given up due to Russell Martin appointment) and can assure you that things went down fast behind the scenes when she left.

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

18 hours ago, TheLittleBigMan said:

My understanding is she was very vocal in her concerns with the clubs business model, was anti the BC.game sponsorship and less than impressed with Rudkin, which top didn't like hearing. She is a big loss to the club imo. Just look at the players posts to her when she left.

She wasn't anywhere near as culpable as the other idiots. She had her faults though, particularly the way she covered up the BC Game deals and the way she spoke to the fans RE the season card tax.

 

Hundreds of millions pissed away by Awaiyatt and Rudkin and they blamed her for not flogging enough key rings in the shop to cover it.

 

No wonder she put her foot down and said it's me or Rudkin going take your pick and obviously Nepo baby made the wrong decision as normal.

Edited 25 June by Sol thewall Bamba

[alex]

She was CEO when we cheated. 

[davieG]

On 23/06/2026 at 23:12, davieG said:

 

Makes you question who's making these decisions and maybe it's why she left as couldn't take anymore.

 

I lke some facts before blaming her

Just to add I'd like to how quick or even if Rudkin could get a high ranking job if he were ever sacked or resigned

[davieG]

2 minutes ago, alex said:

She was CEO when we cheated. 

Maybe but it still doesn't mean she was for it considering how much of an influence Top had. The question is would his dad have acted the same way.

 

It could mean that the close relationship she had with Vichai  could never be the same with Top.

 

Frankly there's so much we don't know about the possible shenanigans going on under both Vichai and Aiyawatt I think it's unfair to pin any blame on anyone either as an individual or in cohorts with others.

 

What we do know is that KPFC are as culpable for our humongous decline as they were for our meteoric rise making our success seem simply momentary.

[alex]

19 hours ago, davieG said:

Maybe but it still doesn't mean she was for it considering how much of an influence Top had. The question is would his dad have acted the same way.

 

It could mean that the close relationship she had with Vichai  could never be the same with Top.

 

Frankly there's so much we don't know about the possible shenanigans going on under both Vichai and Aiyawatt I think it's unfair to pin any blame on anyone either as an individual or in cohorts with others.

 

What we do know is that KPFC are as culpable for our humongous decline as they were for our meteoric rise making our success seem simply momentary.

Agreed, do you think she’s a part to blame?

[davieG]

39 minutes ago, alex said:

Agreed, do you think she’s a part to blame?

Who knows,  if she was directly involved why did she leave, if she wasn't then maybe is culpable for not leaving earlier. But they might not have done anything illegal and it's then down to incompetence. Perhaps her relationship and loyalty with Vichai gave her a sense of needing to look after his son and ease him into the takeover kept her there longer than it should have..

 

We'll probably never know

[Tommy G]

On 23/06/2026 at 22:36, Gamble92 said:

I'd love to know why we made the decision to charge £10 to watch a friendly under her watch. The same CEO who apparently stood up on her own against the other 19 Premier League teams who wanted to charge £15 a match during COVID.

I don't think Friendly match pricing was too much on her radar, I'd rather a CEO be doing some more value add stuff than that. 

[Gamble92]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

I don't think Friendly match pricing was too much on her radar, I'd rather a CEO be doing some more value add stuff than that. 

Not a lot was on her radar by the sounds of it. Anything that's ****ed up she just got over ruled apparently. Which is of course absolute bollocks and she's as incompetent as the rest. I'm not letting a few stories about how close she was with everyone change that. 

 

For context, the players speak well of the worst owner in football history. 

[Tommy G]

16 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

Not a lot was on her radar by the sounds of it. Anything that's ****ed up she just got over ruled apparently. Which is of course absolute bollocks and she's as incompetent as the rest. I'm not letting a few stories about how close she was with everyone change that. 

 

For context, the players speak well of the worst owner in football history. 

But the players speaking well of Vichai is different to a CEO being incompetent, let me explain for you.

 

You can easily believe she got overruled on big decisions by the owner, I'd imagine Top acts as Executive Chairman rather than a traditional Chairman (unfortunately) and gets involved in all kinds of decisions he shouldn't be anywhere near.

 

Secondly - ex footballers toe the line, there is no merit to them to talk out of line about Vichai - maybe if one or two at the start did the rest would follow, but nobody wants to be the black sheep and/or be banished from the club forever - so it's easier to soundbite positively.  

 

[Clever Fox]

4 hours ago, alex said:

Agreed, do you think she’s a part to blame?

 Think about it eveything was going quite well until the accident. She was CEO and everyone else largely stood aside and let her do her job.

Then everything changed after the accident. Legalities got in the way, Power shifted to Vichai's wife and family who was always going to back her Son.

Like others, she didn't think much of Rudkin's ability but stuck it out until Top stopped taking her advice particularly about the threat of overspending and PSR. 

No I wouldn't blame her.

[Gamble92]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

But the players speaking well of Vichai is different to a CEO being incompetent, let me explain for you.

 

You can easily believe she got overruled on big decisions by the owner, I'd imagine Top acts as Executive Chairman rather than a traditional Chairman (unfortunately) and gets involved in all kinds of decisions he shouldn't be anywhere near.

 

Secondly - ex footballers toe the line, there is no merit to them to talk out of line about Vichai - maybe if one or two at the start did the rest would follow, but nobody wants to be the black sheep and/or be banished from the club forever - so it's easier to soundbite positively.  

 

We were not making good financial decisions with her as CEO. It's far too easy to say anything bad that's happened was her being overruled. 

[Stadt]

Ticketing was crap, merch crap, catering crap, obscene matchday pricing, memberships were rubbish, tickets hardly ever out on general sale, the loyalty tax, poor fan engagement, lying about Wembley coaches, away ticket collections/ID, she was fine with 116 wages:turnover, JD sports shirt price fixing, FFP/PSR breaches, dodgy sponsorships, we never made any progress on the stadium development after planning was granted and so on.

 

I’ve no doubt Whelan is a million times more competent than Top and Rudkin but it doesn’t mean she was good.

 

She gets the credit for stepping in for Man United paying too much for Maguire, at a time they overpaid for everyone and being great throughout Covid. Admirable achievements but where was it the rest of the time? 
 

No doubt she achieved a lot but it’s overshadowed by the incompetence and myopia under her watch. Getting outmanoeuvred by Rudkin probably despite knowing Top since he was a little(r) boy - jesus.

[alex]

1 hour ago, Clever Fox said:

 Think about it eveything was going quite well until the accident. She was CEO and everyone else largely stood aside and let her do her job.

Then everything changed after the accident. Legalities got in the way, Power shifted to Vichai's wife and family who was always going to back her Son.

Like others, she didn't think much of Rudkin's ability but stuck it out until Top stopped taking her advice particularly about the threat of overspending and PSR. 

No I wouldn't blame her.

Makes a lot of sense this. Whilst I don't 'blame' her solely, I equally fear she wasn't strong/good/powerful (delete whichever) enough to lead us through what has turned out to be a period of utter disaster. Our fall from grace is extraordinary and she is a massive part of that. Just because players liked her means very little in reality - look where we are.

[Clever Fox]

1 hour ago, alex said:

Makes a lot of sense this. Whilst I don't 'blame' her solely, I equally fear she wasn't strong/good/powerful (delete whichever) enough to lead us through what has turned out to be a period of utter disaster. Our fall from grace is extraordinary and she is a massive part of that. Just because players liked her means very little in reality - look where we are.

You can be as strong as you like but when you're out voted 5 or 6 to one at some point an intellegent person would say I'm wasting my time here.

KP would have had nothing without her. It was her knowledge of the Duty free Market which built the Company.

She admitted when asked to take over as CEO by Vichai she new nothing about Football but got on really well with Pearson who she admired.

She was also promised Players would be sold to avoid PSR. A deal was done to sell I think it was Maddison but the buying Club backed out to of the deal late to avoid PSR.

[KingsX]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

I’ve no doubt Whelan is a million times more competent than Top and Rudkin but it doesn’t mean she was good.

FFS.  Somebody was far more than good for a yo-yo club to build up to win the Prem, in the era of the Rich Six raising the castle walls ever higher. This club was one of the 20 most valuable in the world for a couple years after the helicopter crash.

 

Vichai was brilliant for us, but he was running KP, navigating a high-stakes corrupt poker game with Thai politics and palace intrigues.

 

Pearson was brilliant for us, but he wasn't anywhere near running the business.

 

Who else was in charge?

 

 

[Stadt]

7 minutes ago, KingsX said:

FFS.  Somebody was far more than good for a yo-yo club to build up to win the Prem, in the era of the Rich Six raising the castle walls ever higher. This club was one of the 20 most valuable in the world for a couple years after the helicopter crash.

 

Vichai was brilliant for us, but he was running KP, navigating a high-stakes corrupt poker game with Thai politics and palace intrigues.

 

Pearson was brilliant for us, but he wasn't anywhere near running the business.

 

Who else was in charge?

 

 

We've been a Championship operation off the pitch for about 20 years. I think Whelan did a reasonable job but the shittier we are the more lionised Whelan will be. She oversaw a lot of the poor functions. Ticketing, especially away ticketing has been the same crap system for about 16 years? The catering has consistently been crap and so on.

 

She probably kept things ticking over, especially post Vichai and I neglected to mention Seagrave which was a big achievement - but then we've never had a control on our costs like still operating Belvoir Drive. We acted as if we'd always have the revenue of a club in the top 6 or 7. The hubris was pervasive:

 

"Having achieved finishing positions in the Premier League of fifth, fifth and eighth in the three preceding seasons, our targets and associated budgets for 2022/23 were entirely reasonable. However, for a club such as ours, whose sustained sporting achievements have justified the levels of investment required to compete with the most established clubs and pursue our ambition, a season of such significant under-performance on the pitch presents financial challenges, particularly from the perspective of the game's current profit and sustainability rules."

 

We were living far beyond our means and we never addressed that, we never cut our coth off the pitch.

 

[Clever Fox]

3 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Not a lot was on her radar by the sounds of it. Anything that's ****ed up she just got over ruled apparently. Which is of course absolute bollocks and she's as incompetent as the rest. I'm not letting a few stories about how close she was with everyone change that. 

 

For context, the players speak well of the worst owner in football history. 

She's anything but incompetent. She's an intellegent woman like many others, Who came up the hard way, Building a very successful business along the way woth Billions now.

She's also gone on to bigger and better things in working for the Irish Government, Hardly a job sh'ed have been offer if she was as you say incompetent.

 

You could also look ar in another way, In her short rain at the Club she's managed to be CEO while we won both the Premiership and the FA Cup.

 

Which doesn't say much for all the Men who went before her.

[Chrysalis]

Ultimately she was CEO over some poor finances, but there is something wrong structurally when a CEO cant get rid of another executive, and doesnt have operational freedom.

[Clever Fox]

13 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

Ultimately she was CEO over some poor finances, but there is something wrong structurally when a CEO cant get rid of another executive, and doesnt have operational freedom.

The CEO is answerable to the Chairman who is answerable to the Board. The CEO can be overruled by one or both.

 

KP as a family were unprepared for the Accident and are unfit to run such a large Company in my opinion. Are now having to bring in outsiders now to run the business.                                                     

 

When the smart thing to do would have been to hunker down in the trenches after both the Accident and Covid , Consolidate and keep doing largely what got you to where you are.