Raiders Owner Mark Davis recently gave his “version of the events preceding his curious decision to not renew the contract of the team's media relations director, Zak Gilbert” last week, according to Monte Poole of the OAKLAND TRIBUNE. Davis “addressed this and a number of other subjects during a wide-ranging” interview. Davis was asked if Gilbert’s dismissal was a “pointed message to the man who hired him, general manager Reggie McKenzie, entering the second year of a five-year contract.” He responded, “Not at all. Reggie understands why I made the decision I made. Look, I understand what Reggie is trying to do. Reggie's fine. He's the one guy that I've hired. I've got to give him room to do his job.” He said of stadium negotiations with city and county officials, “We're talking, and there are some encouraging signs. We've done plenty of talking in the past, and we still don't have a long-term solution. Oakland still is in the driver's seat. We want to stay. … But if we can't get something done, I've got to do what's best for the team.” Davis on creating a Raiders HOF: “I absolutely will do that -- as soon as we know where we'll be playing long-term.” He said of the recent resignation of former Chief Exec Amy Trask, “She was very, very valuable to the organization and very, very valuable to my father. She put in a lot of blood and sweat. I felt she deserved to write her own ending. There was no real organizational chart on the business side. We plan to change that.” Poole noted while "most of Trask's duties have been handed to Marc Badain, another longtime employee, Davis says he's seeking an official replacement and hopes to find one this summer.” Davis: “What I really want to do is simple: find good people, give them goals and let them go to work" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 6/9).
