The Importance of the Players vs CSA Pay Dispute

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, shermanator said:

Would you say the provincial associations are having....Nunavut....?

Hearing that all 13 associations wrote the letter actually got me thinking… what’s soccer up in Nunavut like?

If Iceland was able to do their thing for a few years, we should be expecting a couple CANMNT players from the territories in a couple years.

[maplebanana]

9 minutes ago, Wasp said:

For what it's worth, a friend of mine did his MBA at McMaster and took a class that Bontis taught. He said that Bontis was the most pompous, arrogant, and generally slimy professor he'd ever had.

Good riddance.

For what it's worth, and I've said this before and I'll say it again: Nick Bontis was my professor in undergrad, and I thought he was excellent. One of a very small number of business profs that treated us engineering students with any respect at all. 

I believe he needed to resign, and generally I don't think he did a good job as CSA president. But leave the personal insults out of it, please.

[SpursFlu]

I think the PM should step in a have McKinsey guide the ship for a bit just like everything else in this country. Step 1 Women in every position of authority because well duh? Step 2 free opiods or all minor soccer registrants in the country. And you soccer moms, life is stressful. We haven't forgot about you

 

This is exactly the type of leadership we need

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by SpursFlu

[king1010]

15 minutes ago, Wasp said:

For what it's worth, a friend of mine did his MBA at McMaster and took a class that Bontis taught. He said that Bontis was the most pompous, arrogant, and generally slimy professor he'd ever had.

Good riddance.

I had him as a prof in both undergrad and mba and this was not my experience. 

[InglewoodJack]

42 minutes ago, Markoaleks said:

He seems a style over substance business person

Has preferred parking at McMaster -his own stall with his name on the sign shows some vanity, then the IG posts whilst in Qatar showed lack of filter 

Nice cars too that he parked ( no judge so good on him and his his success prior to CSA) he  was able to be successful in academics and business manage over the years  with minimal level of adversity and then the media spotlight on the pay dispute and his way to managing it showed some cracks in his armour IMO

Seems like he is gone and can’t save his situation with bluster and hubris 

 

He's an academic business shmoozer. Everyone who has done even an undergrad at a business school has been taught by, or met someone like Bontis. These guys live on the money they make from speeches and the institutional protections of academia, and that shit goes right to their head, and no one ever checks them on it, because academia, wrt commerce is truly "those who cannot do, teach". He's also probably on about a half dozen "boards" he probably does very little, if anything for.

Like, the first line of his Wikipedia page is so revealing:

Nick Bontis (born May 27, 1969) is a Canadian academic, management consultant, speaker, sports management executive and author. His research focuses on intellectual capital, knowledge management and organizational learning.

In other words: he's a guy that specializes in telling people what they should do, talking at people, sporting volunteer (got fired from this job), and turned all of that into a book. His research focuses on thoughts, managing said thoughts, and teaching an organization how to adopt those thoughts. It's fluff. It means nothing, and provides no value.

He rubbed me the wrong way ever since his Northern Futbol appearance when he took their call from the car, was clearly barely listening to the questions and shooting generic responses back, you could tell how invested Galindo and Nef were and how little Bontis cared. This was insane to me because it was like, these are probably the only two guys (at that point) in this country who care enough to speak to you, they're throwing all these beach balls your way, giving you so many opportunities to make yourself look good, and yet you couldn't be assed.

Edited February 27, 2023 by InglewoodJack

[Markoaleks]

Well said @InglewoodJackacademic business schmoozer- you should TM that line!

My oldest had him as a prof during his Mac Undergrad and well b4 the success of CNMT and even my lad would come home and tell me about this “one prof” and none of the others he took courses with 

[SoCalTransport]

On 6/4/2022 at 5:00 PM, Shway said:

 

 

I don't think his position was wrong, but the way he handled this dispute was unprofessional, so he had no choice but to resign.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, PastPros said:

I still find it remarkable that he didn't resign before. Sticking around did nothing for him.

Nothing? What are you talking about?!?

He stuck around just long enough to get a CONCACAF VP position (Edit: He was already a CONCACAF board member for 2 years but now he will be a VP for the next 2 years).

https://www.concacaf.com/news/concacaf-member-associations-unanimously-re-elect-victor-montagliani-as-concacaf-president/

Gets re-elected on Saturday, resigns on Monday.

He was always cunning enough to wait until he was given a lifeboat before abandoning the ship!

Bontis was always gonna Bontis! 🤣🤣

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[InglewoodJack]

5 minutes ago, Markoaleks said:

Well said @InglewoodJackacademic business schmoozer- you should TM that line!

My oldest had him as a prof during his Mac Undergrad and well b4 the success of CNMT and even my lad would come home and tell me about this “one prof” and none of the others he took courses with 

It's funny, because I'm one of those former business school students, and I'm at the age where I'm starting to see some of my old classmates turn into these guys. Type of person who's always talking about the "events" they're at, has a job they are completely unable to explain to you, still fully in the academic world because the real world would give them a serious reality check. Guarantee you he's going to be the dean at some B school within the next 5 years.

[Califax]

I look forward to seeing how this changes absolutely nothing at all. 

[king1010]

1 minute ago, Califax said:

I look forward to seeing how this changes absolutely nothing at all. 

The problem is much bigger than one person. I feel like the ask from the canmnt, canwnt and cpl owners isn’t possible. 

[Ansem]

We might even get a decent V cup next year!!

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

5 minutes ago, king1010 said:

The problem is much bigger than one person. I feel like the ask from the canmnt, canwnt and cpl owners isn’t possible. 

That is true. The pie is too small and the expectations are too big from all sides.

[ag futbol]

20 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

He's an academic business shmoozer. Everyone who has done even an undergrad at a business school has been taught by, or met someone like Bontis. These guys live on the money they make from speeches and the institutional protections of academia, and that shit goes right to their head, and no one ever checks them on it, because academia, wrt commerce is truly "those who cannot do, teach". He's also probably on about a half dozen "boards" he probably does very little, if anything for.

Like, the first line of his Wikipedia page is so revealing:

Nick Bontis (born May 27, 1969) is a Canadian academic, management consultant, speaker, sports management executive and author. His research focuses on intellectual capital, knowledge management and organizational learning.

In other words: he's a guy that specializes in telling people what they should do, talking at people, sporting volunteer (got fired from this job), and turned all of that into a book. His research focuses on thoughts, managing said thoughts, and teaching an organization how to adopt those thoughts. It's fluff. It means nothing, and provides no value.

He rubbed me the wrong way ever since his Northern Futbol appearance when he took their call from the car, was clearly barely listening to the questions and shooting generic responses back, you could tell how invested Galindo and Nef were and how little Bontis cared. This was insane to me because it was like, these are probably the only two guys (at that point) in this country who care enough to speak to you, they're throwing all these beach balls your way, giving you so many opportunities to make yourself look good, and yet you couldn't be assed.

Can someone tell me what Bontis’s accomplishments in business actually are? 

As you’ve sort of pointed out in the post,  he has a lot of platitudes within his self-styled online profile. But I have yet to see much in the way of real outside evidence or reference points.

 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

I think, as a parent, that many here are underestimating something: his son is a promising youth player.

Removing yourself like this also smooths things for someone you care about.

It's always more complex than it might seem at first.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[shermanator]

We have to face the reality that what the game needs in this country is more investment, period. 18 months of the MNT having success and a few new sponsorship agreements doesn't make much of a dent in the grand scheme of things.

There should be a way to capitalize on the increased interest in the MNT and professional game and have that money benefit all parties in Canadian soccer, whether it be the MNT, WNT, youth teams or the domestic league.

[Treppy2]

36 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Hearing that all 13 associations wrote the letter actually got me thinking… what’s soccer up in Nunavut like?

If Iceland was able to do their thing for a few years, we should be expecting a couple CANMNT players from the territories in a couple years.

Looks like it's all futsal, not surprisingly. Here's a short film of the football scene in Nunavut.

 

 

 

[gator]

21 minutes ago, Califax said:

I look forward to seeing how this changes absolutely nothing at all. 

Or makes things worse depending on who takes over, be careful what you wish for!

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, gator said:

Or makes things worse depending on who takes over, be careful what you wish for!

This is why I almost shivered when I saw the news. Bontis leaving was only 1 part of the equation. The other, more important part of the conversation is who comes in to replace him. This is where I have absolutely no faith that we see an improvement on Bontis.

The chances the next hire is actually worse are seem much greater to me, considering the current situation. 

[Obinna]

25 minutes ago, king1010 said:

The problem is much bigger than one person. I feel like the ask from the canmnt, canwnt and cpl owners isn’t possible. 

This cannot be overstated. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

@CanadianSoccerFan , @CanMNT Memes

 

[Markoaleks]

@ag futbol@InglewoodJackthread turning into a LinkedIn thread LOL
I am a soon to retire “highish” level role within various financial services firms in Canada- Equipment finance and leasing space and as I see my career in the rear view mirror, people that meant so much to me ( both in the moment and now in hindsight) are the “doers” - people that close deals, put the road miles and steps needed to engage with clients. My reflections on our strategy and business planning types over the years are the opposite - they never closed deals yet would opine on how to do business and set agendas with little to no real world interaction. Final point till I continue to bemoan why Steven V did not take the PK instead of AD19, is you both have stated very well the academic class of business people with little to no business experience. The types that have no filter accepting nor making a commercial for bespoke suits during a time when money/fairness/compensation where in the forefront. 

[InglewoodJack]

16 minutes ago, Treppy2 said:

Looks like it's all futsal, not surprisingly. Here's a short film of the football scene in Nunavut.

 

 

 

This is super cool, thank you for sharing

[Obinna]

9 minutes ago, shermanator said:

We have to face the reality that what the game needs in this country is more investment, period. 18 months of the MNT having success and a few new sponsorship agreements doesn't make much of a dent in the grand scheme of things.

There should be a way to capitalize on the increased interest in the MNT and professional game and have that money benefit all parties in Canadian soccer, whether it be the MNT, WNT, youth teams or the domestic league.

2 problems I see:

• The Canadian pro game is in its infancy. Organic interest in the populace needs more time to grow into a money-maker. It's not something that can be rushed. 
• The global economic outlook is trending negative, and a low tide lowers all ships, so to speak. This will make Canada Soccer's challenging situation harder, not easier. 

[Kadenge]

12 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

@CanadianSoccerFan , @CanMNT Memes

 

Let this be a lesson to the future Prez.... "Live by the Bespoke, Die by the Bespoke"