Larry Smith fired?

[url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/beat+Bombers+lose+Calvillo/3419792/story.html]http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/b ... story.html[/url]

It's sandwiched between the results of the game in the middle of the story. Very weird if this is true.

[i]Rumours began surfacing before the game that president Larry Smith had been fired by the team. Smith participated in a pre-game ceremony, during which bursaries were distributed to student athletes, and watched the game from his customary seat on the south side. When asked by The Gazette whether he had been fired, Smith said: "Not that I know of."

However, one team source said such talk was widespread in the dressing room before the game. The source said, according to his knowledge, Smith has been asked to resign. However, another source denied the rumour. Nonetheless, Smith's son, Wes, an Als' vice-president (sales, corporate sponsorships) recently left the organization and is believed to have been fired.[/i]

They showed Larry comment on this on RDS after the game, he says this is all a load of cr...p, in other words of course being the gentleman that he is.

Never liked the guy, can't stand him, weak...

If he was... why?

http://alsinsideout.com/the-snap/alouettes-notebook-6/

I think it's Wes Smith, Larry's son that got fired.

Apparently Mr. Wettenhal not happy with sponsors revenue and luxury box sales. Wes Smith was let go because the Molson contract brought in reduced revenue of 30%. Where there is smoke there is fire, but Larry Smith supposedly has a golden parachute in his contract and it would cost Mr. Wettenhall a pretty penny to fire him.
Personally, I`m not happy with the other member of the family who had a terrible kicking game yesterday.

Smith has been exposed…

The NRJ radio contract… Games not being broadcast, the ones that are using RDS TV feed, RDS is going to have a field day when they negotiate their next deal with the Als…

The Als practice field given to Saputo ! Not to mention 100 percent of the funding for his stadium expansion while Wettenhaul paid 6 million for his…

Luxury boxes are sitting empty in part because of poor pricing strategy but mostly because Smith has next to no relationships with the Montreal business community.

Press fedup with Smith using them whenever it is convenient for him.

Screwing up Jim Popp and the football operations by forcing assistants on Jim and cutting his troat after the first tough season of a two year plan.

Buy him out Bob ! Put the Habs President Mr. Boivin in charge and watch your business grow again…

I wouldn't shed a single tear if Larry Smith were fired tomorrow. Carpet-bagger through and through.

And if Larry goes, maybe Duval will finally be pushed by another kicker in training camp...

Very interesting points HfxTC! - particularly the Jim Popp part.

Smith did some good things for the team but its time to move on. He was brought back to help with the stadium expansion negotiations with the government and he's been paid for that so time for someone fresh who can bring some new "partners" to the table and clean out the growing list of "hanger ons"...

I would LOVE to see Boivin take over the Als. He turned an ailing Habs franchise right around and he knows how to market sports to the Montreal market.

Could it be that it was hard to get Jim to re-up because of Smith’s presence ? I think it could very well be.

TSN's sweep of Molson Stadium from east to west showed a wonderful shot of that sight and of the new stands. With the mountain and the high rise buildings in the background this is the ideal, cosy stadium where every fan is close to the action. I was trying to figure out where the luxury boxes are placed. There are some box like structures on the east side of the stadium but they do not appear to be luxury at all. There is space between the new and old structures on the south side- is this where the luxury boxes are?

The TSN main camera is placed on the upper part of the Northern stand, facing South. That is why you see the East-West view of the stadium and you see the Southern part of downtown (towards the River). The luxury boxes are situated on the left and on the right of that camera, i.e. on the upper part of Northern stand, on the hill. That is why you do not see the boxes on TV.

Si Boivin devient président des Alouettes, on va avoir un club dans la cave de la ligue avant 2 ans. Ça prend pas un génie pour faire la mise en maché du Canadien: pour faire oublier qu'on rit des partisans 24heurs sur 24, on leur sert quelques fantômes, on revient avec l'histoire de plus en plus ancienne du club, on honore ceux qui avaient le goût de gagner et qui l'ont fait et se contente de faire la première série des éliminatoires. C'est plus compliqué pour faire lever les Alouettes.

En tout cas, si Boivin de vient président, je demanderai son renvoi tous les jours jusqu'à ce qu'il parte: ce gars-là n'a jamais eu un dixième de nanogramme de considération pour les partisans et il va nous remplir de nouilles tant et aussi longtemps qu'il y aura des profits et assez de crétins pour remplir le stade à encourager ses équipes perdantes.

Boivin, c'est la deuxième mort des Alouettes.

Sorry, LeStaf, but that's nonsense. Boivin took over a struggling Canadiens franchise and increased its net value by a considerable amount over the past decade. It wasn't his job to build a winner on the ice, it was his job to make the team profitable. If you want to blame anyone for the Canadiens' descent into mediocrity, blame Bob Gainey.

Tu connais pas bien Jim Popp LOL !

I blame Reginald and Mario. or as I like to call them the shemale and the fake tough guy :slight_smile:

LeStaf, my apologies. I shouldn’t have referred to your opinion as ‘nonsense’. That’s not right. We’re all free to express our opinions here. :slight_smile:

I think your both right... Boivin has done a great job from a business perspective but he'd probably install a laser beam broadcasting Bell or Telus adverts in the Sky of Montreal and the hot dogs would likely have corporate logos burned in to the buns :slight_smile: