Many people have been saying over the past months that the salads were involved. I tended to dismiss the suggestion until they went without a wimper being paid 1p for their shares. Maybe they are or not, which is why I was interested to find out what the interview trailed in the WO between OP and them was all about. It seems that it only appeared in the paper copy, if at all.
Yes - only 24 hours ago it looked like there was some bright parts to our future but Winter going means the Summer of our discontent
I really do want to know what these PR people hired by Mr.B are getting paid for. Nothing is coming out of the club. Assuming they are getting paid they must think it is money for old rope.
The one salient line that I don't think I mentioned before was that 'Jimmy admits he would return if "the right people" were there.' I didn't think too much of it at the weekend. I just didn't think it was new, as it's no secret that he still wanted to be involved at this club when he stood down. Also, I took it as a given that he wouldn't be getting involved in the company while Ashcroft still holds leverage over it. It is food for thought though
I do not understand why some people (Harrow, Aberdeen as I read them) take comfort from the idea that there must be secret investors behind Mr B, who are using him as a front man in some cunning plot. Why would it be a "good thing" to eventually have owners who were afraid/unwilling to reveal their identity /motives in advance of a takeover? And the idea that these secret investors might be the Russo's is even more scary. Would you really want back a pair who were prepared to put us into administration just to get their own way--complete control of the club? I think Winter left because his plan to stabilise the finances of the club eventually failed--he got the operating costs more in line with Championship revenues, as intended, but failed to find a new owner who would take on the debts or put in new capital. Instead he has a new owner who has pledged to take £10m OUT of the club (to pay off the bonds) over the next few years. That money can only come from the player trading that was (under the Winter plan) expected to contribute to working capital and investment in ground/squad . End of plan , end of Winter. The issue now is whether the demise of the club will be slow (couple of years ) or quick. If Malky stays he might keep us in this division for another season, and produce another million pound player for transfer (Sordell?). With the little windfalls we have had/expect recently that will keep us going. for a bit, and who knows, new investors might turn up. If Malky jumps ship too, then our ability to recruit new players/loanees this season , and to maintain team solidairty, is much reduced, and relegation is inevitable. Then a whole new scenario of life in League One.
Roger, hasn't there been a case at Leeds where no one actually seemed to know the identities of the owners. There was quite a lot of noise when it looked possible that they could be promoted and would have to declare who the true people were behind the club.
The unacceptable owners for me are the russos. I am uncomfortable with Bassini due to his track record and therefore do prefer the option of there being somebody in the background with some substance preferably from the jewish/arab community where this reluctance to front in public is relatively normal without any sinister undertone. When rodgers left i had the very fears that you express re. recruitment, were they founded of course not so even in malky left there would be a future, if gt leaves however i think thats the heart of the club ripped out....
On these boards I see a lot of people trying to make sense of the ever more complicated DEBT VEHICLES, but let's not forget Simpson and Ashton originally lost control in 2006 when they got very excited with promotion (similar in a way to 2001 and the "milkmen"). Money poured out of the club under a phrase "the East Stand development money is ringfenced". No money was ringfenced and the club started to run at a crazy loss. I hope (in many ways) this trading loss continues only until the end of the month when Ellington and Sadler are finally released from their employment at the club. That was the plan, but the Julian Winter departure is not part of the "published plan" IMO. Therefore I believe we are entering a period of distrust. Its as simple as that IMO. I have never trusted these "non football" people (Ashcroft at the head and now Baz and any of his cronies). I have renewed my 3 Season Tickets - I have the right to a voice, and that voice is saying : W T F?
OFH--of course there may be secretive third parties behind Mr B--bankrolling him and pulling the strings. My point was to ask why anyone would see this as a "good thing" --a ray of hope if you will--- when to me it would be a source of even more anxiety. It may be as Aberdeen says that the (alleged) third parties (if there are any) are keeping their identity /motives secret for "cultural" reasons. Why is that not very re-assuring either? Mr B does not look, sound or act like a very bright person. He has no record of success in business of any kind.He is now in sole charge of the club at a moment of financial crisis. Oh dear.
He has a record, we do not know how he did it but he's sourced 7million pounds to sink into a football club less than 2 years after being discharged from bankruptcy. Is this good or bad, well it doesn't comfort me.
Roger - the only comfort on a hidden owner is that they are unlikley to be worse than Baz - and might just might have some money - other than that we are just clutching at straws and desperately trying to find that silver lining
OK I've now had a chance to sleep on yesterday's news. And I haven't changed my mind, my first reaction was WTF and my reaction now is just the same. My opinion on the situation is the top management should be a team, and I thought Taylor, MacKay, Timperley and Winter were a team who shared info for the benefit of the whole. Baz (who I believe is a puppet of Ashcroft) may have come in and tried to join what he saw as a clique. The others don't suffer fools gladly and Baz is just a clown, his record is dreadful, as traditional men don't appreciate a bankrupt for example. Maybe the others just cannot work with him? Whatever has happened it is not good for the club.
Aberdeen if you are right, then this stinks. I dont like anonymous owners, these people arent shy. My acquaintance who dealt with Baz a few years ago had trouble getting money out of him for labour on a small property job. He didn't like him then. Any anyway, do you honestly mean to say an "anonymous person" has chosen a bankrupt to front his enterprise? That sounds rubbish, and usually something that sounds rubbish IS RUBBISH. In 5 years time I think I will still be cursing this "custodian" of our football club and its 130 year history. I would love to be wrong, but I can't see how?
He does seem very much in the Robert Maxwell mould. It does begger belief that he would be chosen as a credible front so then the questions rerally start as to how did so much money become available in such short time. If the FA were credible you would hope they would run fit and proper persons tests which would uncover this sort of info but we all know a brown envelope stuffed with fivers is all it needs to get them onside. Like everybody here I hope we're all wrong but nothing so far has been done to allay fears that this period in our history is at best a sick joke and at worst fatal for the club.
Roger to think that any owner would just sink £10m of their own money into a club to wipe out the debts and not take anything out of the club is, with respect, incredibly naive. Who in their right mind would think of investing in a small football club in debt in the circumstances you outline. They would expect that money back in some shape or form at some point in time. Paying over £10m for a club like ours? No wonder we were left with Bassini if that was the starting point. Remember we are not a club with any obvious and immediate sign of making a return on any investment. Why should the club's income not be used to repay the debt? It may not be popular but it is how the world works.
