Morning, Can anyone answer the followiung questions please. 1. What charges and how many have the FA have made against you or your previous owner, and how 'in depth' are they? 2. When will you hear the outcome? 3. What do you hope/expect will happen to you? 4. What do you fear will happen to you? 5. If it goes badly wrong for you, will the club appeal? I am genuinely interested and this is not designed to start a row.
A little here if you fancy reading up on it... http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...h_hearing_evidence_in_Watford_Bassini_charge/ http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...tball_League_misconduct_hearing_begins_today/ The truth is, we just don't know what is going to happen. I'd say the first thing they need to work out is who gained out of all this. If all the money borrowed from the loans went straight into our former owner's pocket, then we are just as big a victim in this than anyone else. The borrowing isn't really the issue though, it's that we didn't declare it. You have to wonder why our owner didn't declare it... Maybe because he was taking it out of the club, while telling the fans all his magical plans! I guess worse case scenario is points deduction and hefty fine, but personally do not think it will be that bad - but you just don't know with the FL. I would happily take a token fine, and maybe suspended points deduction. Our board sound as if they have been very open about this all, very helpful with the FL, and there is a large debt owed to the club from the previous owner, which would suggest the loans never made it to the club! The fact there is a charge against the ex-owner speaks volumes for me. Fortunately we have someone on the board who has worked on tribunals before, so hopefully this will help us with our 'defence'. It does seem a rather unique case though... If there are no points deductions... I suspect 'outrage' from fellow fans - especially those around us!
Apologies for being a bit slow here, but is the article saying that Danny Graham was ownws by a 3rd party? If this is the case, then on this point, you should get a fine at the worst. West ham did, and qpr did when they got promoted. I remeber there was an outcry when qpr didn't get a points deduction, and they ended up going up as champions. From a Norwich point of view, there wasn't too many complaints. We went up in 2nd place and apart from the odd few, as always, most of us didn't want to be seen as champions only due to a points deduction, However, there were quite a few teams just below us that were yelling for points to be deducted. I hope that you get a fine if you are to be punished. I can think of a lot worse clubs that 'deserve' a points deduction.
I've never been entirely convinced of the 'thrid party' owndership' line. Part of the sum we borrowed was against some instalments due on the Danny Graham transfer. Does that mean the lending company owned (or part-owned him)? There were also Promissory notes issued I wouldn't mind them going down the third-party line, as there is a precedent of only a fine, and no points deduction. It depends on how the FL see it.
Whatever the outcome i'm sure everyone is with me when i say i'd rather know sooner rather than later! I know the proper investigations need to be carried out and the FL certainly won't get any help from our prior owner. I will be gutted if we have points deducted for the actions of one very greedy person who put everyone in the dark.
Argument is that a 3rd party did not have any "ownership" of Danny Graham. Baz factored the invoices to be able to release the monies owned early, so the 3rd party had an interest in the invoice value and not what it was for. I see it no different to clubs factoring their season ticket revenue. What was wrong was that Baz's company did not reveal they had done so, and as he was the only director if would have been almost impossible for Watford to have taken corrective action - so a fine will be due.
Sounds like good common sense to me w_y, unfortunately we are dealing with the FL so expect the unexpected .
I am just concerned that the FL will use the case as a front to throw the book at us. I am sure they don't like our effective use of the overseas loan system and the clever methods of the Pozzos, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Until now.
Saxet--it would be quite wrong of the FL to punish us for one thing as a way of punishing us for something else entirely. The "overseas loan " system and the possibility of international co-ownership of teams is not against any current football regulations. If the FL do not like it they should work with other national football organisations to stop it, not look for sneaky ways to show they don't like it. It has been tolerated in the case of Udinese and Granada for a few years, so it would take a big groundswell of opinion in Europe to change it now. If we get punished it will be because of what "we" DID do wrong under Bas, not because our ownership structure and approach to loans is not liked by the FL. The hope is that the FL will recognise that the club was the victim and Bas the perpetrator, and structure the punishment accordingly. Even so we may well face a financial penalty . It is shocking that Bas has still not explained his actions to the fans. I hope he has the courage to face the media when the verdict is delivered.
I completely agree Roger. It would be more than 'quite wrong' - it would be a travesty. But I really don't trust the stuffed shirts at the FL. If we get away with a punitive fine and a suspended points deduction I think we have done OK.
WHYYYYYY IS IT TAKING SOOOOOO LONG ????????????????????????????????????????????? This is really dragging on.
If you got punished for something you didn't do, ie the loan system, would the FL not leave themselves open for a counter suit? Surely not even they are that bloody stupid are they?
No one has a Siesta here, it is more of a Spanish thing. In fact, people work rediculous hours here, unfortunately. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...hours-in-world/2011/04/27/AF3O0yTF_story.html
