I totally agree with your last sentient. Truth and transparency have been rare commodity for a long time, and the resulting breakdown in trust, is the source of the bulk of the recent conflict and issues.
The problem is there is much that is not in the public domain. There are a few people, not just here, who are being scurrilous in the representation of the truth. Others are repeating mistruths they have been told. Because there is a lack of transparency, some individual are incorrectly or deliberately apportioning credit or blame to serve their agendas. SH are left having to decide who they are going to believe.
Facts are facts when it come to the financials, and the resulting effort of the business as a whole over an extended period, have been poor. As a group, bad decisions have been made.
Like it or not, AS was the casualty of an agenda and actions initiated by a handful of SH some time ago. The resulting conflict set the scene for a situation where a large number of other SH felt the AGM elections were a choice between either AS or GC. Unfortunately it resulted in an own goal. Given the lack of transparency the result was not surprising. Despite the claim and counterclaim, we may never know what AS really did or didn't do whist on the board. I personally have heard conflicting accounts.
It's clear that some still want GC gone, I understand that, but I think that it is largely spite. He's not been the CEO for some time now, although reading some of the commentary you would think he still is.
It's time to move forward, enough blood letting has been done, and we've lost a lot of good people. We need to move forward in an environment of stability and trust, and that starts with transparency and the truth.
(20min delay)