By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
November 6, 2015
Now that the euphoria from the dismissals of Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew is starting to fade, it is time to look at the current predicament Lions owner Martha Ford finds herself in moving forward.
Here is the major problem with the Lions current situation: they need to hire a top-flight GM to fix the problems of the last 58 years. But why would a promising or proven executive come to THIS situation?
Not only is the team owned by a 90-year-old woman — I am not being an ageist, check out the actuarial tables — but, according to our sources, there is serious familial strife between Bill Ford, Jr. and his at least one of his sisters.
Based on a report in the Free Press on Thursday, Sheila Hamp is now the one calling the shots in Allen Park, and Junior has been locked out.
Why did Bill’s sisters basically ace him out of the franchise, as we first reported last month? Well, it might have something to do with this …..
Or THIS …..
There appears to be major tension between Junior and the Hamps going back almost ten years when Bill hired Alan Mulally to run Ford Motor Company. As you can see from the above image, Mulally dumped Steve Hamp. The Steve Hamp who just happens to be the husband of the Lions new de facto co-owner.
What is being played out is a decade-long grudge match between William Clay Ford’s middle children. Everyone in Detroit thought Junior would replace Senior when the old man died, Instead, this drama has completely blindsided the entire city.
The Hamps are obviously the predominant voice in Martha’s ear currently, which worked out well for long-suffering Lions fans on Thursday when Junior’s boyhood friend, Lewand, Jr., was shown the door at 222 Republic Drive in Allen Park.
There is little to no chance that Tom Lewand would have been axed with Bill Ford running the joint, so we can be thankful for the current power arrangement in that respect. But only momentarily.
I mean, why would an Eliot Wolf or a Nick Caserio come to Detroit in the midst of this family mess?
And here is the worst part: the three daughters have already done a bad job of keeping it a secret that they want to sell the team when Martha passes away.
Now, I am sure we are now going to hear that Hamp, Martha Morse and Elizabeth Hudson Ford are in it for the long haul, but will any promising GM candidate believe them?
So, who is going to come to Detroit and cross their fingers that Martha lives until she is 105? Because you know any new owner will probably want to bring in their own management team.
The reality is the Lions will not be able to get anyone with a pedigree and will be forced to take someone desperate to get a President/GM gig no matter the lousy circumstances.
The best scenario would be for Martha Ford to put the team up for sale right now, but there is zero indication that is going to occur as she is instead hiring a research search research search search research firm to locate the best possible executive to take over for Mayhew and “Breath Mints.”
Or the Ford Family could take Freep blogger and generic Ambien equivalent Jamie Samuelsen’s suggestion from the last time the Lions were looking for a GM and hire Ken Holland …
