Enjoy! http://www.watfordfc.com/documents/2012-report-and-financial-statements286-509997.pdf Apparently, page 26 makes interested reading...looking forward to that bit!
Top of page 26: During the year there were no major non-cash transactions. (2011 - £13,000,000 of intercompany debt owing to Watford Leisure Limited (formerly Watford Leisure PLC) was waived.) Bottom of page 28: An amount of £568,267 which is the total of cash amounts advanced to Mr L. Bassini by the company for the renovation of the Red Lion public house for which no invoices were received. Two additional amounts of £606,302 relating to repayment of an advance on receipts due in relation to the Danny Graham transfer and £900,000 related to repayment of an advance of receipts due in relation to Football League Award. The amounts were borrowed in the name of the Club, but the funds were never directly received by the Club - the amounts are provided for as potentially being due to the original lender by the Club, but are also considered to therefore be owed to the Club by the previous owners ultimate holding company, Watford F C Ltd. A provision has been entered for the possibility of non payment of this debt. (see note 4). On the purchase of the Club by the new owners it was also agreed to transfer the legal ownership of the Red Lion pub to Mr L. Bassini for no cost. The actual transfer has not occurred and is under review but the accounts include a provision for loss on disposal of the Red Lion public house of £464,358 which represents the net book value as at 29 June 2012.
Cash advance to do up the Red Lion: £568,267 Book value: £464,358 That is not clever in its self but no receipts for the work? You can see why the ownership was never transferred to Baz.
22nd June 2012 comment to the WO from Baz. Bassini again reiterated “he hasn’t had a penny out of the club” and also claimed to have paid a few members of staff from “his own pocket”. “You can ask (board members) Stuart Timperley and David Fransen; I never took a penny,” Bassini said. £22,000 per month for consultancy fees for 11 months sounds like his company took some money even if he didn't.
Good... I wonder if it would have been so tidy and conformant if we hadn't had the summer change? Might one assume transfer of red lion title is pending the receipt of monies due from WFC Ltd in addition to the receipts (missing?) for just over half a million for rennovation? Was this the catalyst for the whole affair? Depending on where the loan players are being paid from next years numbers could be pretty good.I'm guessing if we start making profits there might be a pretty "balancing" charge coming in from Luxembourg or more likely a transfer of player registrations and costs, this makes so much financial sense its frightening, good on you Pozzos....
They tend to take their time over these things. A Tuesday afternoon publication works quite well for them: they can drip feed the main headlines online, and give some insight in Friday's paper. I am comforted to note that the directors are responsible for "taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities." Should the need arise, I am confident that they would take this responsibility seriously.
You hand it to LB he was good at twisting words. He didn't, as he said, take money out of the club (so he wasn't lying), he merely diverted money between a lender and the club so the club never recieved it and he extracted cash for the renovation of the Red Lion; which,obviously was not spent. I suppose it all fits nicely with contorting himself through the fit and proper person test employed by the FA/FL. I only wish I could use the same phrasiology with HMRC, but it doesn't seem to work with them.
To think that after he left he actually tried to wiggle his way into buying Pompey. Very pleased that so many people from here went and warned them that he was not a fit and proper person to take them anywhere. I find it surprising that he appeared credible enough to get his hands on us in the first place.
The story is in the WO now, with more to follow. http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...but_club_accept__possibility__of_non_payment/ As you might expect, the comments are pretty vitriolic. I always thought that Bas was a fantasist, but he looks to be more sinister than that . His method of working could not be sustained for long, so it was inevitable that he would come to grief, but not before he had ruined the club. Are we now out of the woods financially?
Money H in one word! It seems that the £1.5m from transfers has gone as he has no reason to keep that company trading and it would probably cost more to try and get it back. The £500,000 for the pub seemingly was never fully paid to the builder( although it has been said elsewhere that the true costs were not much above £100,000) and it has also been suggested elsewhere that money borrowed to buy the club in the first place is still outstanding. The tales that you heard in the early days of his tenure proved accurate, though you were right to not pass on too much info about what you had been told in confidence.
What a crook, and well done H (among others) for constantly trying to warn us! I do try and see the good, so was willing to wait and see if he could come through on his promises, and took many of them at face value. Thankfully we were taken over at the right time (although before his tenure would have been better). God knows what state we would be in by the end of this season if they hadn't taken over! It would be really nice if the press picked up on this story, rather than all the pozzo-bashing. What a tough choice in deciding which owners are better for a football club....
Amazing how the club could be in the hands of someone like that in the first place. I was naive enough to think maybe he had the right intentions, but unless someone is a real football fan and a supporter of your club they only want to own a football club to make a quick buck. One of the stature of watford would only ever make you money is by either making the club highly successful, gaining promotions and having full attendances and high sales of merchandise (I think this may be what the Pozzos have in mind)...or...you defraud the company and run it in to the ground by taking out any profits and not channelling them back in to where it's needed, then buggering off at the next opportunity. I just hope the Pozzos can overcome any crap left behind by Mr Bassini and start running our club in a profitable and sustainable way.
You know, I think they just might. I was a Baz sceptic, but was prepared to give him a chance. Thankfully this dark period in the history of our beloved club is now water under the bridge. Although there could be some legals in the near future, it's probably just as well to move on as I doubt any significant amount could be recouped. Hopefully the Red Lion will remain out of the chancer's hands though.
Bas made a big point of not taking a salary --no need when you are creaming off "consultant's fees". It looks like he diverted money from the Danny Graham sale and the F.L away from the football business and to his own holding company. How was that money used? He also got the club to pay for the repairs to the Red Lion, which (it seems) he hoped to walk away with when he left. Now all this is dodgy in the extreme. Did no-one have oversight of this? What were the other directors doing, and even the Chairman? What about those "partners" we heard about early on--the knee surgeon and the hairdresser? What did the WO know--they keep a close eye on the club, and must have "sources". Were they constrained by fear of legal action or just lazy? Of course Bas may be just a dreadful businessman , with no idea of what is "his" money and what belongs to the football club. Or he may be very clever, and knew exactly what he was doing. I would like to WO to do some digging and tell us. Or some former employees/directors/GT to give us their interpretation. I doubt Bas himself will say much in justification/explanation of his conduct.
I remember thinking what a slimy weasel when I met him at end of season do, I really hope he gets payback for what he has done ,Thank god for fransen ousting him and thank god for the Pozzo`s This so easily could have gone the other way ,we would be in admin with the potential of doing a Luton ,as it is happy days and we are trying to go the other way playing some of the best footy we have played for years
Thanks to the Pozzos we don't have to deal with this chump, if I ever see him, I think I'll try to knock him out. We might well have gone if he stayed at the helm...sailing us into the abyss... All for supposed self gain...I am not shocked, just angered and saddened by it all.
