Henry Staelens, the CEO of Forest Green Rovers, has revealed that he was refused entry to Bradford City’s boardroom because he didn’t wear a tie.
He revealed he ended up watching his side from the away end with Joseph Mills scoring the only goal of the game in the 93rd minute to seal all three points for Rovers at Valley Parade.
The youngest chief executive in the EFL said on Twitter: “Refused entry to the @officialbantams Boardroom cause I wouldn’t put on a tie. Like it was the 1960s or something. Enjoyed watching from the away end and taking three points home.
Refused entry to the @officialbantams Boardroom cause I wouldn’t put on a tie. Like it was the 1960s or something. Enjoyed watching from the away end and taking three points home. #WeAreFGR pic.twitter.com/l7Tv0snBOk
— Henry C. Staelens (@HenryStaelens) August 24, 2019
According to Gloucestershire Live: “No official complaint has been made to Bradford City and four other Forest Green directors did enter the boardroom wearing ties. Staelens was offered a tie and could have watched the game from the directors’ box without a tie but opted to watch it with the Forest Green fans.”
This isn’t the first time Forest Green have ‘brushed with convention’ after owner Dale Vince was given ‘special dispensation’ to not wear a tie and jacket at Wembley for their National League player final win over Tranmere Rovers history two years ago.
After the league game with Bradford on Saturday, Rovers manager Mark Cooper said: “It was a frustrating afternoon for us. We won the game but we made some bad decisions today.
“In terms of our play, I think we’re a little bit lucky to get away with the win, but we’ll take it. We were under a lot of pressure and we defended really well, but we had some good chances as well.”
After checking out Forest Green CEO Henry Staelens’ tweet about not being allowed into the Bradford City boardroom for not wearing a tie, fans took to give their reaction with others choosing to mock him – see what they tweeted on the next page.
Stephen Clapham
27th August 2019 at 11:00 am
Seems like an attention seeker and beginning to think that’s what FG are all about there are loads of places that have a dress code and you were even offered a tie, so grow up and shut up.
Mark Neale
28th August 2019 at 4:32 pm
The boardroom etiquette is still an important part of football. I cant believe you expected to get in the Valley Parade boardroom without a tie.