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Jim Jones Helped Glasgow Win


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Hello all

Back in Glasgow now - we all arrived yesterday lunchtime. It was an amazing experience being in Colombo, but part of me was quite sad to have missed the euphoria of Glasgow in the hours and days after the announcement.

I've now had a chance to read through all of the posts that people made running up to - and after the announcement. Wow! If it was heated before, then this was positively volcanic!

Some more insights into our campaign below, but I just wanted to say one thing. And to make it absolutely crystal clear. Everyone on our team was aware of the rubbish that JJ was spouting in recent months - not just on here, but also on Scottish newspaper forums. He really angered us, he made us even more determined to win. When people on the team were tired, we would remember some of the disgraceful slurs he had made against us - and that drove us on.

We are all incredibly proud of our city and our country - and we dont like it when people who know nothing about us start having a go. So thanks JJ. From everyone at Glasgow 2014 - Commonwealth Games host city.

Anyway, some thoughts on the week - and the wider campaign in general.

First off - the people from Abuja 2014. They were absolutely brilliant. That is not meant to sound anything other than genuine. Banje, the General, Djamil - all of them are great people. People who love their country and worked tirelessly for their country and their Bid. They too would have been ashamed to read the disgusting comments of JJ. I hope that they bid again.

The reason that we won - and won so convincingly was not about what happened in Sri Lanka. It was about the immense amount of work that we did in visiting 67 countries and hosting 69. We didnt sit there and tell them about our Bid - we asked them what we should be doing. We made sure that our Bid was their Bid - that there would always be bits in their that they could recognise.

Oh - and JJ. Your much vaunted story about Derek Casey presenting in Lagos.... I was also in the room that day. And no matter what you might think, your version of events is completely wrong!

By the time we got to SL, we knew our strengths and we knew our friends. The prediction that we had internally for the final result (which was spot on) was not far away from the number we had in our last numbers count before we left Scotland. SL was all about holding on to what we had. Not winning new votes.

We stuck to our Guns and stuck to our message. Glasgow was best for the athletes. If we could make sure that people always remembered our key message, then we knew we would win.

Also, we knew our electorate. JJ spent months on here saying that they would be swayed by money and race. We knew differently. If Abuja 2014 listened to JJ on this, then they made a huge tactical error and it cost them dear. Every single one of the voters (and I have met them all) are all honourable people, who have a responsibility to their athletes. That is not my words - that is theirs.

For JJ to bang on about race and money did the voters a massive dis-service. If there was one thing wrong with the Abuja final presentation (in my opinion) it is that they talked about what they would be giving the voters (free flights etc). We talked about what we would do for the athletes and their families. We talked about how we would give something back to the whole Commonwealth Family. Read the text of our presentation if you want. It is on our website. You will see exactly what we were saying.

Again, that is what the voters had told us they wanted to hear. So that is what we gave them.

I know that i would say this, but i think that we ran a beautiful campaign. One that was based on information and fact. One that, in the end, played on sentiment - but was always grounded in the reality of the situation. The voters care deeply about their athletes.

I am proud to have been a part of this. And I really have enjoyed my time here on GamesBids. Even although I allowed JJ to get to me at times.

JJ - a lesson for the future. Dont make me angry!

Have a good day, dear friends.

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Expat

It is no wonder you are the genius that you are - so handsome Custy Bint - but not gorgeous!

Your efforts have been recognised at the highest level. But you are right - the passion people displayed on Friday was an outpouring of relief and pride - what a cocktail ! You and the team have exuded the spirit of Scotland and the desire for these Games for over 2 and a half years - and you were a tremendous architecht for that.

I sometimes wondered what you were up to but saw the vindication some days later - I'll stick to my day job!!

Well done again and a great summary about JJ - arse. Did you know I predicated 47 -24 on the morning of the bid on this blog!?

Good luck at the new job! See you soon!! Hey Crusty join us for a beer!!!

Hello all

Back in Glasgow now - we all arrived yesterday lunchtime. It was an amazing experience being in Colombo, but part of me was quite sad to have missed the euphoria of Glasgow in the hours and days after the announcement.

I've now had a chance to read through all of the posts that people made running up to - and after the announcement. Wow! If it was heated before, then this was positively volcanic!

Some more insights into our campaign below, but I just wanted to say one thing. And to make it absolutely crystal clear. Everyone on our team was aware of the rubbish that JJ was spouting in recent months - not just on here, but also on Scottish newspaper forums. He really angered us, he made us even more determined to win. When people on the team were tired, we would remember some of the disgraceful slurs he had made against us - and that drove us on.

We are all incredibly proud of our city and our country - and we dont like it when people who know nothing about us start having a go. So thanks JJ. From everyone at Glasgow 2014 - Commonwealth Games host city.

Anyway, some thoughts on the week - and the wider campaign in general.

First off - the people from Abuja 2014. They were absolutely brilliant. That is not meant to sound anything other than genuine. Banje, the General, Djamil - all of them are great people. People who love their country and worked tirelessly for their country and their Bid. They too would have been ashamed to read the disgusting comments of JJ. I hope that they bid again.

The reason that we won - and won so convincingly was not about what happened in Sri Lanka. It was about the immense amount of work that we did in visiting 67 countries and hosting 69. We didnt sit there and tell them about our Bid - we asked them what we should be doing. We made sure that our Bid was their Bid - that there would always be bits in their that they could recognise.

Oh - and JJ. Your much vaunted story about Derek Casey presenting in Lagos.... I was also in the room that day. And no matter what you might think, your version of events is completely wrong!

By the time we got to SL, we knew our strengths and we knew our friends. The prediction that we had internally for the final result (which was spot on) was not far away from the number we had in our last numbers count before we left Scotland. SL was all about holding on to what we had. Not winning new votes.

We stuck to our Guns and stuck to our message. Glasgow was best for the athletes. If we could make sure that people always remembered our key message, then we knew we would win.

Also, we knew our electorate. JJ spent months on here saying that they would be swayed by money and race. We knew differently. If Abuja 2014 listened to JJ on this, then they made a huge tactical error and it cost them dear. Every single one of the voters (and I have met them all) are all honourable people, who have a responsibility to their athletes. That is not my words - that is theirs.

For JJ to bang on about race and money did the voters a massive dis-service. If there was one thing wrong with the Abuja final presentation (in my opinion) it is that they talked about what they would be giving the voters (free flights etc). We talked about what we would do for the athletes and their families. We talked about how we would give something back to the whole Commonwealth Family. Read the text of our presentation if you want. It is on our website. You will see exactly what we were saying.

Again, that is what the voters had told us they wanted to hear. So that is what we gave them.

I know that i would say this, but i think that we ran a beautiful campaign. One that was based on information and fact. One that, in the end, played on sentiment - but was always grounded in the reality of the situation. The voters care deeply about their athletes.

I am proud to have been a part of this. And I really have enjoyed my time here on GamesBids. Even although I allowed JJ to get to me at times.

JJ - a lesson for the future. Dont make me angry!

Have a good day, dear friends.

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JJ was a goodwill ambassador for Abuja.

"goodwill"

:blink:

And Alex was outraged because I called them naive!

Honestly, though. If they were aware of what he was posting, was it part of their strategy? Did they see him as their attack dog, able to criticize the rival bid as they couldn't themselves officially? Their down and dirty operater, who they could distance themselves from.

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You know, I'm often fascinated about how our little community works and interacts, and about how online communities in general interact.

As has been stated elsewhere, there really were two campaigns going on for the 2014 CWGs _ the polite, official one, and the ferocious take-no-prisoners online one, conducted at sites like here, Skyscrapercity, media comment boards and various other blogs. I know JJ seemed to crop up nearly everywhere over the course of the campaign. I must confess I actually suspected Crusty Bint as being Glasgow's official answer back to JJ (sorry Crusty _ I was just really impressed with the quality of your information. You were far more polite and likeable than JJ) _ I didn't suspect Scottishexpat till he outed himself. But I did suspect that a lot of action on the internet at boards like ours was happening in the full knowledge and unofficial blessing of the contenders.

I'm wondering now, if this is a sign of the times? have we seen the first bid contest that really adopted viral marketing and social networking as a major tool of its campaigns? Are sites, especially ones like these, going to play a much bigger role in future bid campaigns as they all twig to the impact of viral marketing and social networking? We've often liked to think that groups like the IOC and bid committees at least keep our board under observation to keep a finger on the pulse of opinions. But are we seeing the next step now? London 2012, for example, is already wholeheartedly adopting the social networking model to get support up for its preparations. And as I've pondered elsewhere, could sites like ours be used by representatives of bids to play the game dirty and attack rivals, as JJ did, without getting their official hands dirty and breaching usual bidding protocols?

And if so, it asks the question: Are we going to have to be on the watch now that any new posters here might have ulterior motives? Do we need a code of ethics (I don't know how we'd enforce it, though) that anybody posting on behalf of a bid campaign should declare their interests?

It's quite exciting in many ways _ it could mean that we become much more relevant in the games we like to follow.

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Ceremonies are my turf. No one steps on those!!!

Don't worry, JJ never cared about ceremonies (I don't think he was even interested in sport!)

But if you follow his career here and elsewhere (as I did), he had a strategy mapped out. He'd convinced himself the twenty-teens were going to be the era of third world hostings _ he had it all mapped out: 2014 Abuja CWGs, 2016 Rio SOGs, 2018 Trinidad-Tobago CWGs, 2020 Capetown SOGs etc. he even boasted in the last days of Abuja's campaign that he'd worked out a plan with some shipping fellow to use roll-on/roll-off cargo ships to transport buses around the various points of the South Atlantic from the 2010 South Africa WC onwards to provide transport for all these events. About the only time he ever posted outside the Commonwealth threads was a few messagees of total confidence in the Rio threads that Brazil was deestined by default for 2016. I'm sure he was working on his junket to Rio and his next "Goodwill Ambassadorial" role.

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Don't worry, JJ never cared about ceremonies (I don't think he was even interested in sport!)

But if you follow his career here and elsewhere (as I did), he had a strategy mapped out. He'd convinced himself the twenty-teens were going to be the era of third world hostings _ he had it all mapped out: 2014 Abuja CWGs, 2016 Rio SOGs, 2018 Trinidad-Tobago CWGs, 2020 Capetown SOGs etc. he even boasted in the last days of Abuja's campaign that he'd worked out a plan with some shipping fellow to use roll-on/roll-off cargo ships to transport buses around the various points of the South Atlantic from the 2010 South Africa WC onwards to provide transport for all these events. About the only time he ever posted outside the Commonwealth threads was a few messagees of total confidence in the Rio threads that Brazil was deestined by default for 2016. I'm sure he was working on his junket to Rio and his next "Goodwill Ambassadorial" role.

You know, I have a followed all sorts of bidding contests for years, and I've even volunteered at a couple of IOC Sessions and witnessed the final stretch first hand. I do believe that if I was ever given a "junket" to some bid committee, that I would be able to do a good job and have the bidding committee proud of my efforts. Jim Jones is an idiot, anyone who hires him are committing suicide, as far as their bid is concerned. A sure fire way to shoot yourself in the foot.

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You know, I have a followed all sorts of bidding contests for years, and I've even volunteered at a couple of IOC Sessions and witnessed the final stretch first hand. I do believe that if I was ever given a "junket" to some bid committee, that I would be able to do a good job and have the bidding committee proud of my efforts. Jim Jones is an idiot, anyone who hires him are committing suicide, as far as their bid is concerned. A sure fire way to shoot yourself in the foot.

Mate, I've never been involved officially in a bid contest. I've followed them closely for years, read anything I could on them, but any knowledge I have is strictly amateur. Yet I'm sure I, or just about anyone else here, could have done a better, more subtle and far more successful job than JJ.

My only caveat is, that maybe that's exactly what Abuja wanted _ someone to play dirty on their behalf (it certainly gives the title "Goodwill Ambassador" Orwellian overtones). But if you ARE going to play dirty, you always run the risk it's going to backfire _ which may well have happened in this case.

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Mate, I've never been involved officially in a bid contest. I've followed them closely for years, read anything I could on them, but any knowledge I have is strictly amateur. Yet I'm sure I, or just about anyone else here, could have done a better, more subtle and far more successful job than JJ.

My only caveat is, that maybe that's exactly what Abuja wanted _ someone to play dirty on their behalf (it certainly gives the title "Goodwill Ambassador" Owellian overtones). But if you ARE going to play dirty, you always run the risk it's going to backfire _ which may well have happened in this case.

A very true point. I don't see dirty tricks as the way to go. It only incites contempt.

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I think such "bid-war" about the Commonwealth Games of 2018 is quite possible here since this is an english-speaking forum with lots of native english speakers - therefore it can be "abused" for such exaggerated bid-wars...

I doubt that this will happen for Olympic Games bids due there are bids of "non-native-english-speaking" cities...

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Ah Halifax will have its day!

Bowing out now of the Glasgow blog - new things to set my sites on for Scotland!!.

You heard it here first - Glasgow 47 Abuja 24

:angry:Halifax BLEW IT! they won't get another chance this side of 2030! :angry:

:huh: Meanwhile; to Thespecialone - :) Keep your nose in the door every now and then, I think you'll need to jump in and defend Glasgow now and then on the long road to 2014, don't be a stranger! :)

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Hello all

Back in Glasgow now - we all arrived yesterday lunchtime. It was an amazing experience being in Colombo, but part of me was quite sad to have missed the euphoria of Glasgow in the hours and days after the announcement.

I've now had a chance to read through all of the posts that people made running up to - and after the announcement. Wow! If it was heated before, then this was positively volcanic!

Some more insights into our campaign below, but I just wanted to say one thing. And to make it absolutely crystal clear. Everyone on our team was aware of the rubbish that JJ was spouting in recent months - not just on here, but also on Scottish newspaper forums. He really angered us, he made us even more determined to win. When people on the team were tired, we would remember some of the disgraceful slurs he had made against us - and that drove us on.

We are all incredibly proud of our city and our country - and we dont like it when people who know nothing about us start having a go. So thanks JJ. From everyone at Glasgow 2014 - Commonwealth Games host city.

Anyway, some thoughts on the week - and the wider campaign in general.

First off - the people from Abuja 2014. They were absolutely brilliant. That is not meant to sound anything other than genuine. Banje, the General, Djamil - all of them are great people. People who love their country and worked tirelessly for their country and their Bid. They too would have been ashamed to read the disgusting comments of JJ. I hope that they bid again.

The reason that we won - and won so convincingly was not about what happened in Sri Lanka. It was about the immense amount of work that we did in visiting 67 countries and hosting 69. We didnt sit there and tell them about our Bid - we asked them what we should be doing. We made sure that our Bid was their Bid - that there would always be bits in their that they could recognise.

Oh - and JJ. Your much vaunted story about Derek Casey presenting in Lagos.... I was also in the room that day. And no matter what you might think, your version of events is completely wrong!

By the time we got to SL, we knew our strengths and we knew our friends. The prediction that we had internally for the final result (which was spot on) was not far away from the number we had in our last numbers count before we left Scotland. SL was all about holding on to what we had. Not winning new votes.

We stuck to our Guns and stuck to our message. Glasgow was best for the athletes. If we could make sure that people always remembered our key message, then we knew we would win.

Also, we knew our electorate. JJ spent months on here saying that they would be swayed by money and race. We knew differently. If Abuja 2014 listened to JJ on this, then they made a huge tactical error and it cost them dear. Every single one of the voters (and I have met them all) are all honourable people, who have a responsibility to their athletes. That is not my words - that is theirs.

For JJ to bang on about race and money did the voters a massive dis-service. If there was one thing wrong with the Abuja final presentation (in my opinion) it is that they talked about what they would be giving the voters (free flights etc). We talked about what we would do for the athletes and their families. We talked about how we would give something back to the whole Commonwealth Family. Read the text of our presentation if you want. It is on our website. You will see exactly what we were saying.

Again, that is what the voters had told us they wanted to hear. So that is what we gave them.

I know that i would say this, but i think that we ran a beautiful campaign. One that was based on information and fact. One that, in the end, played on sentiment - but was always grounded in the reality of the situation. The voters care deeply about their athletes.

I am proud to have been a part of this. And I really have enjoyed my time here on GamesBids. Even although I allowed JJ to get to me at times.

JJ - a lesson for the future. Dont make me angry!

Have a good day, dear friends.

Rob, you have no idea how much I enjoyed reading that. That has made my week.

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Rob, you have no idea how much I enjoyed reading that. That has made my week.

It has clearly upset someone... look at the PM he just sent me:

Well just like everything you are a fake member of the Glasgow committee and a Sham LOL. Scotland is one of the most racist places on earth and everyone know that COCKSUCKER

I really like the way he capitalised that last word.

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It has clearly upset someone... look at the PM he just sent me:

Well just like everything you are a fake member of the Glasgow committee and a Sham LOL. Scotland is one of the most racist places on earth and everyone know that COCKSUCKER

I really like the way he capitalised that last word.

Ah yes, he's a true GOODWILL Ambassador.

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