Firstly we don't know who decided the lay-offs, we should'nt make any assumptions..Some of the top institutes in this country are laying off people why do you think the Browns organization is immune to the failing economy?..There not. Maybe the Browns facility was looking shabby and a coat of paint was called for. Lets give Mangini an opportunity to shape the Browns his way..They have paid him to bring play off football back to Cleveland and I'm willing to let him do it his way.

Are you writing about sports, or are you writing about economics? People are being layed-off around the entire nation a thousand at a time and you and other Cleveland media seem to be having a fit because the Browns may layoff 40 or 50. Guess what? Companies look bad when people are let go. While your on the subject, why not write an article about the thousands of auto workers who have lost their job and how their executives fly on private jets and enjoy tremendous perks (kind of like the coaches and players). It seems the Cleveland media is hung-up on their buddy Steve King getting axed. Well, we have all had buddies axed by over indulgent companies. We have all had hard working friends treated like pieces of meat (thanks Mr. Winslow)! I believe president Obama has talked about these difficulties. It is nice you have a forum to stick-up for your friend, but somehow I think you have lost all objectivity. A phone call to pledge your support to Mr. King would seem more appropriate than an article about how to treat people. Many, many people are suffering terribly at this time, not just the people laid-off by the Browns.

If you do happen to step down from your pulpit, perhaps you could start hammering the Browns about their developing paranoid behavior towards the media and fans. About the impending communication shut down by Mangini and his cohorts. We can all see where this Browns front office is taking things. The CIA has nothing on Belichek's coaching tree.

The Browns should expect a lot of heat for these moves. Whether they are necessary business decisions or not, the Browns look bad.

They aren't doing themselves any favors by ignoring calls from the media. When the Browns ignore reporters, they in essence are ignoring their fans.

Good business practices require painful decisions, including making cuts in staff.

Good business practices never include ignoring your customers. Without the fans, you don't have a business. And these fans have stood up for this team through too much for too long to be treated as such.

McManamon,

Why don't you be a real pal and let King take over your articles? Or how about just Tuesdays and Thursdays? At least then we would get some actual news about FOOTBALL. I mean, that is the least you can do for your poor fellow journalist who has been bullied and beaten by the Big Bad Browns organization and victimized by Meany Mangini.

Go Browns, Go Mangini! We will remain fans despite all of your best efforts to make us hate OUR team!

I am surprised that the house cleaning by the Browns did not start earlier. Anytime there are management changes, employees will huddle and talk, which could often lead to un-loyal doings. As a new head coach for the Browns, Mangini is washing out all the former coaches and administration people and bringing in his own people who will have loyalty towards him. New people will not wisper "that's not how we did it before". New people will not secretly call their press buddies and give them a hot tip. New people will be more driven to help Mangini look good and not talk behind his back. This is simply a smart business decision that any good manager will take to be certain everyone is loyal and on the same page as to the goal of the new management of the organization. "If I'm going to win or lose, I want to win or lose with MY people, those I can depend on and not those who talk behind my back".

Pat,Pat Pat...your act is wearing pretty thin.
We get it,you dont like the Browns!
Some of your sources going to dry up hence the sour grapes?
Where are your hard hitting,scathing colums regarding all the Beacon Journal layoffs?
You do have a couple other options...you could seek work in a city where the NFL team is ran to your liking or you could ask your employer to move you over to the business section where your vast knowledge might be more useful.

Mr Pat!
Now we are talking the economy rather than writing specifically about real Browns news-no there may not be any new developments with the eventual hire of a GM but maybe you could give us more insight as to what the Browns intend to do concerning scouting and so on while we await this hire, but lately Pat your articles about the Browns are downright gloomy! Am I happy as a fan that we are going through yet another coaching/GM hire? No-I am sick up to my orange and brown brain but it is what it is-no your job I understand is to not always paint rosy pictures as it is also to point out the negatives. I do not even wish to comment on the firings of those said employees, although sad just like the thousands around the country experiencing just the same. I wish to specifically comment on your non stop mentions about the Rooney Rule-can you let it go at least until something news worthy occurs concerning this issue? To point out the Mel Tucker interview lasted less than an hour is in my view an underlying way of screaming racism! Who knows why the length was what it was-how many other interviews by other owners too may have lasted for the same or less-the point is, Lerner's choice was already done and he did what was required by abiding by this rule-now, would not have it been better of you to mention instead that Mel tucker is now the D. Coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars? Please Pat, join the rest of society into 2009 and away from 1958 Mobile Alabama! Finally, please also stand up for ALL minorities rather than one specific class. All deserve a fair chance!

I agree with Pat. I'd rather lay off one mediocre player, and I can think of many on the Browns, than a dozen people make $50,000 per year. You have to look at redundancy, like the Cleveland secondary.

In addition, in a few months Cleveland will be hiring a bunch of rookies and cutting some expensive dead wood. I see savings there too.

But Lerner's nickle and dime cuts are typical of organizations without vision. I'd say this is a time when the Brown's ought to be investing in the community. Not to say that Lerner is cheap. The organization just isn't very smart.

Win and all this stuff is forgotten.Lose and the mountain only gets bigger.Pioli is already putting a gag order in affect in Kansas City.It's the Belichick way of operation and that will never change.Bottom line it's all about wins and loses all this is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.If you think I'm being cold hearted I also am currently unemployed so I feel their pain.Employed or unemployed it doesn't change the sick feeling I get every time I see a Steeler shirts being sold in our local stores.WINNING is the bottom line period.The economy will go up and down but our love for this franchise will never change.GO BROWNS!!!

I watched the Raven's - Steelers game and for the first time seriously thought 'the Ravens are really the team i grew up with... i should be watching them'

The Browns are still my team of course ... but it is the ineptitude in the ownership - management ranks that forces me to refrain from spending another nickle on this team until the ship is righted.

I agree with McManamon. It is the message that the team is sending to the community. They are not hurting for cash. It may have been a lame reason for dumping some dead weight like 20% of all recent lay-offs, but they should not have used the economy as an excuse.

If it was for economic reasons then savage & crennel should have been kept on for anything they could find for them to do... fiscal responsability right? Work em double shifts cutting grass or cleaning the staff infected facilities.

Learner is no better than the AIG execs who used bailout money for a $400,000 spa trip.

My pledge - not another nickle on Brown's anything until they make the playoffs.

Meanwhile, this GM the Browns are supposed to be hiring continues to squeeze them for more cash, benefits, and power now that he is in the negotiating driver's seat. Maybe that is why Lerner had to lay-off an "assistant grounds keeper" -- are you kidding me! Big savings there.

This story does matter to me. The Browns cut the people that are just like their average fans. All companie have similar choices. Some share the sacrifice and band together to get through these times. They have much smaller budgets to cut from than the Cleveland Browns. But they don't protect the people at the top by stepping on the backs of the worker bees. I'm lucky to be a part of a company like that. The Browns better hope that there are more employers in town like mine rather than like them or who do they think is going to have the money to buy their tickets?
Thanks Pat for shining the light on this. You can't comment on Microsoft but I think it is your job to keep an eye on the Browns shady dealings on and off the field. Keep up the good work.

Something must be wrong with my computer.I keep clicking on the sports tab and the buisness section keeps loading.Enough with attacking the Browns on there decisions.Maybe if McMoron ever actually worked a day in his life he would have some kind of idea how the REAL buisness world operates instead of copying and pasting the same article over and over again.I could swear i read this same piece last week.People are losing jobs EVERYWHERE.How about trying to write something new & relevant about SPORTS instead of ripping your subscribers off with the same crappy column.We all know you hate the Browns already.I have had 4 people laid off from my crew at work since the first of the year and nobody is writing about them and I am confident they make much less than McMorons's obvious friends.Put Ed Meyer back on the Browns beat.He was tough on the Browns but he never got personal as is evidently the case with McMoron.

Sorry, but it's the same with all "elitist" organizations, folks! Such as some of our public universities:

In 2008 Kent State University, reversing a most wrong-headed and possibly illegal administrative policy of 2007, joined the University of Akron in paying it's non-bargaining unit Civil Service Employees an additional paid time off from work during 'Christmas break'. In K.S.U.'s case, the employees received an additional 4 paid days off from work; in the U. of A.'s case, the same class of employees received an additional 3 paid days off from work.
 
As far as I know, they are currently the only two public universities in Ohio offering such an increase in personal earnings through paid vacation to their employees this year; all while continuing to offer a “tuition waiver” benefit to their employees and employee dependents. Further, K.S.U. subsidized it's athletic department in 2008 to the tune of 3 to 4 million dollars! Anyone know about the U. of A.'s numbers?

All to provide a farm club for the likes of monopolies such as the NFL or the NBA...is this a great county or what?

I , for one agree with Pat, I am not drinking the Browns koolaid of WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR , like the rest of the sheeple on here.Winning starts at the top,and Randy Lerner is not setting that example by reshuffling the cards every few years until he gets it right .For the Browns to not come out an issue a statement about the death of their Hall of Fame player is disgraceful and shows how unorganized the Browns front office is.

I also agree with his statement that the Browns have stunk so bad for so long that they have lost several generations of fans .My own teenage sons asked me one day " dad, have the Browns ever been good ?" No wonder LeBron roots for Dallas .

Something tells me that when a man who is a die-hard fan and has been a beat writer for the Browns for almost a quarter of a century, shoot, the media might just have something to say about it. You know, Pat from the Beacon, Mary Kay from the Plain Dealer, etc., could all be reporting the same agonizing statistics from 2008. They could be writing about the 4 wins this season. Or how about the fact that Braylon Edwards rarely caught a pass? Or Winslow's Staph, Savage's uncalled for disloyalty to Romeo, Quinn's fight with Smith, or my favorite: not scoring a touchdown on offense in the last 6 games? Shoot, I'd love to hear about the Browns memorable 2008 season and all of the great and happy moments--wait, there were none. So to say that Pat is dragging out the topics of lay-offs in the Browns' system, are you serious? Would you rather let the stomach-turning team statistics rule the pages of your morning paper for months on end. Here's some news...and this one goes out to you, chrisshrider in Wilmington, NC...the Browns are in their offseason right now. Unless you want to hear about the big game the Pukesburgh Steelers are playing next week, I suggest you look beyong the entire NFL 2008 season. The layoffs? That's news. Welcome to the world of the offseason and yet another poorly made decision by Lerner and company.

I have been an avid Cleveland fan for over thirty years! I have rooted and cheered on the team even in the face of losing seasons and the jeering of friends. In the time we had no team, I hoped and prayed for football to come back to Cleveland. I have never been ashamed of my team... until now. I seriously hope that the organization will rethink what they have done to the hard working employees who represent the rest of us. The fan base isn't made up of multi-millionaires. It's people who labor at jobs and spend part of their hard earned money to buy tickets, and Browns items to display that they are fans. If the organization can treat their own with such disrespect, I for one have no interest in spending any more of my income to support them. I think they might want to take a good, long hard look at their priorities!

It speaks volumes that a Pro Bowl player walks by and the new coach doesn't have the courage to initiate contact. I've never been a complainer about the Browns, but that is disgusting. And did Mangini REALLY demand the building interior be painted? Also, disgusting. Maybe focus on finding out who to talk to to see what kind of players you have since you've fired or lost your o-coordinator, d-coordinator, GN, player personnel director, etc. Maybe start worrying about that draft coming up, again having gotten rid of the key folks who research this mildly important aspect of team building. BUT....there was painting to be done, secretaries to lay off. And those 15 people's combined salaries do not equal the salary of one low-on-the-totem-poll player. But we're supposed to believe the Browns were doing it to be fiscally responsible? Please....

I sooooo wanted to believe that Lerner was going to get this right.....but he's already screwed it up in hiring the coach first (ensured premier GM candidate wouldn't touch the Browns GM job), and hiring a coach who by all accounts wasn't too popular with his own people...and who burned bridges with previous mentors.

I hope I'm wrong, because even though it brings me more grief than it should, I'll always be a Browns fan.

How are we entirely sure this was a cost cutting move due to the economy?
Maybe it has something to do with leaks, gossip and the possibility of some of these employees undermining the new regime.
Wasnt it a staffer who was sending text messages to Winslow?
I would bet that many of these people will be replaced.
Do these people really expect job security out of any team in the NFL in the first place?
Lerner is not known for being a cheapskate,so why paint him as one.
I guarantee these people recieved a much nicer severance package than your average Joe who just lost his job.
I applaud Mr. Lerner for doing everything he can to blow the stink of losing out of this organization.

Some fans have never gotten it right, and the Browns haven't either, for a long, long time.
The Browns are a for-profit business.
The Browns are in the entertainment business.
The Browns wouldn't exist without tax-payer subsidies.
Which of the above will ever change???

Soooo, where is the GM?

I'll make a guess at why the Browns released no statement about Lavelli.
The staff that remains is either barely over 20 years old (Lerner doesn't have to pay them much) or his personal friends from New York. Noone left knows who Dante Lavelli is.
SAD!!!!!!!

I really enjoyed reading the comments of you readers. I especially like the part from Wile E. Coyote "dad, have the Browns ever been good?"

I am a lifelong Browns fan, who started watching the Browns when Jim Brown was carrying the pigskin. Now I live in NY and am dismayed with what the Browns are doing. I would have preferred they kept what they had rather than take Mangini and his Jets staff. Many wrote how Mangini gushed to him mother over being hired by the storied Cleveland Browns. Strange that he now had decided to paint over the mural and blot out the faces that made that storied history.

I'm glad you wrote this story. These layoffs don't make much sense, considering the millions of dollars the Browns throw around like Monopoly money. I had the honor to work with Steve King several years ago. He was a hard worker and a gentleman. He was reliable and passionate about his job. People like King are hard to find. Wouldn't you think a company would want to keep such people for as long as possible after finding them?
Apparently, not the Browns.

Failing to pay their repects to a Hall of Famer, quite literally painting over the organization's past. It's torn at my heart this past week to think of my father, Steve King, sitting at home--as a Browns fan in the truest sense of the word-- and wondering (although he'd never admit it) if the organization he's known and loved so long, the team he's given so much to, is dying out.

You see, like many of you, my dad has spent his whole life in northeast Ohio as a Browns fan. He spent his childhood faithfully listening to games, idolizing players like Jim Brown and Dante Lavelli, and dreaming of working for the team. After years of hard work and relentless dedication to the organization, this dream became a reality.

And now this. The mis-management makes my stomach churn. His story is probably not unique among those fan-employees who were cut, and my heart goes out to them and their families in these difficult days.

Don't get me wrong, the Browns will NEVER be dead to Steve King. The team is practically intertwined with his DNA after all these years; no losing season, poor management era, or even this unfortunate situation will take the Browns fan out of this man. He will remain faithful until the end. But I pray that the organization does not continue to turn its back on its past and foundations because I'm afraid this will hurt him most of all.

Thank you, Pat, for your reporting. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and my family's soul. These hard times, they will pass.

GO BROWNS!

Very nice,

When will be getting the Steve King story written by Patrick McManamon and Josh King. That should be a real tear jerker. I really enjoyed Steve King's writing, but when did his plight become so much bigger than any other American who is going through a lay-off. For God sake grow up and move forward. Whining always fixes problems, doesn't it?

Nice McManamon, did you call this kid and ask him to post. This just goes to show that you have no objectivity. Your mad about your buddy. We know the Browns have been bad, but instead of bringing the power of the press to apply preasure on the Browns to improve, your whining about lay-offs that don't even register on a national scale. How narrow minded are you and Josh King to think that Steve King loosing his job is anymore important than many good hard working Americans who lost their jobs and did not get a severance package. It wreaks of arrogance and bias journalism. Apparently an angry journalist is a whiny journalist.

With a name like PPants, you're hard to take seriously. Let's get that much straight. And in case you've forgotten, getting laid off by the Cleveland Browns is a tiny bit different than being let go at say a furniture store. Steve King's story has the right to some talk, and the community deserves to know the Browns have made a mistake--not only in the laying off of many employees, but also in the excuse that the economy is sending their multimillion franchise down the drain. The Browns are the laughing stock of the NFL, but don't think they're not bringing in the big bucks. Put it into perspective: a journalist is like your local politician in a sense. They put their spin on a story, sure, but they strive to inform the people with facts. What do we inevitably do as members of the general public? Ahh, we analyze their every move and blame them for every pothole in the road or increase in city taxes. Don't blame Pat for reporting the truth. You have the right to your opinion (as do I), but how dare you post your cynical, ignorant views of Mr. King's situation and his son's genuine response on this comment board. I'm sorry, Mr. Pee pants, but you're the one that "wreaks of arrogance." Would you like me to bring you a diaper?

"How dare I post" BrownPound? I didn't realize you owned the forum. I thought you just wrote I was entitled to my opinion, or am I just entitled to it if you agree with it? I guess you just proved my point about arrogance and not being objective. The personal attacks are a nice touch also.

So are you related to Steve King or Patrick McManamon? Oh, and it was nice of you to dismiss those people who have been let go by furniture stores, I am sure they would like to know that their pain is less important than a former Cleveland Brown's employee.

By the way, how do you know the Browns are the laughing stock of the NFL? How do you know the Browns made a mistake? Do you have their financials? I'm sorry, who is the arrogant one?

Now commence with your name calling! That is what usually happens next.

Don't mind mr. pppants, he's been negative and whiny ever since the bladder control problems began. Besides, if you read his posts, being on the opposite side of him in any debate is practically a 100% guarantee that you are right.

I think we can all stipulate to the fact that there are lay-offs everywhere. However, as a BROWNS writer these are the only ones Pat can question and on a BROWNS forum, these are the ones that we can weigh in on here. And if you are a member of one of the families cut last week or still on the staff hoping you're not one of the 20 yet to come as they reported earlier, then these are the biggest ones to you. I think we can all get that.

One positive thing I can say is that when you see that list of all those assistants cut by the Browns who are participating in this year's super bowl, it should give those staffers hope. First, the organization obviously isn't very good at seeing, appreciating and capitalizing on talent that it has at the moment. They're constantly starting over. And most important, there are better jobs out there!

Lerner once again shows why he's a cheapskate and the Browns are losers. GO STEELERS !!!

I cannot believe that this got another story in the ABJ. I guess there is no Browns news to report on so Pat has resorted to slinging mud at the Browns organization for laying off some employees. What a major blow to the community, a few people were let go by their employer. Keep it up Pat, I'm waiting for the article where you tell us about how all these people fair as they try to find another job. Oh wait, you don't really care about them, just about making the Browns look bad.

PS OMG, once again you open you post and show us that you're a moron. Why can't you just enjoy your Steelers success and STFU about the Browns. You don't know anything, and just say stupid things (like Lerner is a cheapskate). If Lerner were so cheap he wouldn't have fired Savage and Crennel which means he has to pay the remainder of their contracts.

IIRC the author got laid off by the ABJ, only to return because pluto fled to the PD. certainly that has nothing to do with this article?

The office of the NFL wants teams to lay off the average joes, it makes them look like any other company in a bad economy. However the Browns are not hurting, they still have the same revenue for ads and such. It's what's called bush league, now the NFL can say they are hurting like all other businesses. it's bs

Give me a break people - in today's economic environment - they could have gotten rid of one "I am only playing for the money" player and kept the worker bee's or had everybody take a pay cut to keep those folks employed - the company I work for, did just that - we all took a percentage pay cut and we are still working, our company is running as usual. The management at the Browns organization could have done the same thing but to those overpaid and underachieving players. BTW - I am a huge Browns fan that used to live in northeast Ohio. Send me some snow.

OMG is nothing but a frontrunner. I'm sure he is a huge Pirate fan

old man you're becoming repetetive. unfortunately you're not getting any smarter. GO BROWNS!!