Why is this?

Could someone please explain to me why it’s acceptable to resurface around this but not when a tree is concerned?

John Green

by email

Wear shirt with pride

Dom Howson’s, Star, January 3, articles “Meire looking to make most of second chance” and “Playing for your future” made for very interesting reading.

He is to be complimented for a full and frank account of Katrien Meare’s tenure of office as CEO and director of Charlton Athletic football club and their supporters’ criticism of her and the club owner Roland Duchatelet.

As a Hull expatriate living in Sheffield, and supporting neither football team, I would appreciate you allowing me to share some personal thoughts with your readers about these articles.

It is reported that she left the club following heavy criticism from the supporters, over her and the owner Roland Duchelet’s role in the downward spiral of the club. Not reported, but on public record, is that at a Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust question and answer meeting with the club senior management on April 30, 2017, she was asked why her salary was not declared under directors’ emoluments in the clubs 2015/2016 accounts in line with conventional practice.

She replied that “her salary was included under general staff costs.”

The club accounts included the note that “during the year no director received any emoluments in respect of their services as a director”.

I suggest that the club supporters and shareholders would appreciate being informed of the duties and responsibility required of her as Sheffield Wednesday chief executive officer – was she appointed by the owner and/or the board? If so, what did they see in her suitability for her new similar role that her Charlton employer and fans did not? As she is an employee of the company, I trust that her salary will be accurately recorded in the company accounts in a proper manner.

While wishing the lady and club every future success, I have a great deal of sympathy for football managers in general and club owners.

It is par for the course that if the team is consistently performing badly the manager carries the can – the latest example being the dismissal of Carlos Carvahal.

Regardless of how good a club’s CEO and owner are, at the end of the day the success or failure of the club lies with the performance of the players on the field. All players can have an off day but consistently under-performing should not be tolerated by the management and shareholders.

With the abolition of the Football League maximum weekly wage of £20 in 1961 and the current Premier League £250,000+ for top flight players – and commensurately less for the Championship sides, financial sanity has gone out of the window. These players are paid (not earn) more in one week than Stanley Matthews and his ilk received during their entire careers!

Is a reason for such inconsistent performances that they have become complacent in the knowledge that they are contracted to their employer, and will be paid irrespective of a poor performance?

In any other business employees consistently under- performing would be given short shrift by their employer .

Footballers should wear their shirt with pride for club and country and earn and thank their faithful fans for being a bulk provider of their exorbitant wages.

Cyril Olsen

Busk Meadow, Sheffield, S5

False economy

Unemployment is not falling nor has it done for decades. The Government since 2009, now propped up by the Tory DUP, finds different ways to massage the figures as Blair, Brown, Major, Thatcher, Callaghan and so on, did and will always do.

Corbyn if elected will do the same. False economy.

S Ellis

Cottenham Road, S65

Memories of Crookes

I enjoyed reading Community Focus on Crookes. 75 years ago.

I was born at Crookes, so was my dad and mother before me, brought up in Crookes, got married at St Thomas Church.

My dad was Joe Broomhead, he was born and lived at the Cocked Hat cottages on the Bole Hills.

He married my mum Frances Bradshaw, other names were Unwins, Hools’ coal merchants, Harry Crookes and many more.

It all started off like a small village, lots of fields, everyone knew each other and most were large families.

When we got married Crookes was still for me, but then we moved to Crosspool and now live at Lodge Moor.

It brings back happy memories to me as having a very happy childhood there, living at home until I was 21, then meeting my loving husband, but not going far away from everything I loved dearly.

Brenda Wilkinson

Lodge Moor

Looking for swimmers

Diabetes UK is looking for people from Sheffield to take on the swimming challenge of the year, Swim22, between February 22 and May 22.

As a Swim22 challenger you’ll swim an incredible 22 miles, the equivalent of crossing the English Channel, in your local pool, while making a difference with each and every splash. You can take on the swim challenge alone or, better still, get your family, friends and colleagues involved. You can even split the distance between a team.

Every length you complete and every pound you raise will get us closer to our vision of a world where diabetes can do no harm.

To sign up, visit www.diabetes.org.uk/swim22. There is no registration fee and no minimum sponsorship.

Stephen Ryan

Head of the North, Diabetes UK