Chief Executives. Some should know when to just shut up. Others air their dirty laundry and have slanging matches through the media. Some don’t know how to balance the club’s books properly. The likes of Garry Cook, David Sullivan, Peter Storrie and Tom Hicks/George Gillett have hit the headlines recently for either mouthing off to the press or for being completely inadequate.

I will go through each of the aforementioned executives and whether their outbursts have had a positive or a negative impact on their team.

Garry Cook:

A classic example that a chief executive doesn’t know what he is talking about. The Manchester City CEO has become a laughing stock over a series of personal embarrassments because of a fondness for speaking his mind. Cook told a group of supporters in a New York bar before the Carling Cup semi-final with rivals United that City would get to Wembley, "not if, but when, we beat United again". This fired United up and City were dumped out of the competition. Other classic Cook moments include him having talks with Roberto Mancini behind then-manager Mark Hughes’ back, saying it was a meeting of “general football talks”. When he took over at City, Cook didn’t even bother doing any research on then owner Thaksin Shinawatra, saying:

"Is he a nice guy? Yes. Is he a great guy to play golf with? Yes. Has he got the finances to run a club? Yes. Whether he's guilty of something over there, I can't worry too much about. Morally, I feel ¬comfortable in this environment.”

The sooner City get rid of this walking catastrophe the better.

David Sullivan:

The only person here whose outburst had a positive effect, Sullivan stated last week that West Ham players would have to take a pay cut in the summer to ease the club’s debt, angering manager Gianfranco Zola in the process. After saying that relegation would mean “armageddon” for the club, the players went out and beat Birmingham 2-0, which was the club’s first win of 2010. I agree managers shouldn’t go to the press and criticise their managers (he called Zola “too nice” to succeed in management), but this time Sullivan was right and it worked.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett:

Whether it is going behind manager Rafael Benitez’s back and trying to replace him with Jurgen Klinsmann, spitting their dummies out at each other, or getting the club into huge debts, Liverpool couldn’t have found any worse owners/CEO’s in the American pair. From Hicks Jnr. reportedly telling fans via email to, “Blow me f*** face, I’m sick of you”, to the constant squabbling in the media, Hicks and Gillett need to concentrate on running the club and getting rid of that huge debt that they have burdened on Liverpool.

Peter Storrie:

Portsmouth’s financial situation has been well-documented, they have had four different owners this season and are now trying to sell players outside the transfer window to stave off the threat of the club being wound up. While owners come and go at Fratton Park, Peter Storrie has been there for all of that time and has overseen the financial implosion of the club. Constantly saying to the media that the club’s financial difficulties are not his fault, Storrie needs to shoulder some of the blame for what has happened and stop whinging, and definitely shouldn’t have agreed to pay £80,000 a week for John Utaka’s wages.

David Gill:

Basically in bed with the Glazers, Gill’s unwavering support for the American’s has angered fans who want to see the owners out of Old Trafford. Gill has slammed the green and gold campaign by fans, calling it “ridiculous”, and saying it will make no difference to the owners. Described as a hypocrite by fans, Gill has said the club is “well run”, despite reported debts in excess of £700 million. Gill even got into an altercation with a student at Birmingham University last week after a Q+A session turned ugly.

Do chief executives need to keep their mouth shut? Are there any others that have annoyed you recently?

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