That makes very interesting reading, am reminded of Ian Flemings quote in Goldfinger "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”
The evidence would appear quite damning - the bent ****er (Richardson?) at Donny Rovers did a similar thing.
Richardson was chairman of Bridlington Town. Put a load of money in, got a lot back by over inflating costs and writing off against tax, got the club to Wembley twice and promoted to their highest ever position whilst paying over the odds wages to players, involved in arguments with the council and threatened to move the club out of Bridlington. All went tits up and the club tumbled back down the leagues. Sound familiar?
I Googled Ken Richardson after posting and found that before he paid to have Belle Vue torched he'd fallen out with Donny Council over free/cheap land to build a new stadium there, as you suggest, it's eerily uncanny!
Fish and Dolan got all the flak, some of which was deserved, yet the majority owner Chris Needler escaped all criticism.
He was going to move Brid Town after falling out with the council, which is what I was referring to. Google Flockton Grey for another bit of Richardson shenanigans. I could tell you a host of things regarding him but better not to on a public forum. When he was at his peak he used to hire lawyers just to comb the media and put in injunctions to stop anything he didn't like being published. In his rows with the council he worked on the principle that the council had less money to spend on lawyers than he was prepared to pay so they would blink first.
Martin Fish may have been arrogant, incompetent and a a man way out of his depth, I'd like to suggest that certainly doesn't put him in the same league as Heginbotham and Richardson though.
I agree. He was just an accountant, he didnt go out of his way to be a horrific human being like some other chairmen....
He got some flak off some of us. Myself, another poster off this forum and others attended a shareholders meeting when the Action Group were given some shares by someone and we bought 4 each, the number required to attend, the money going to Action Group funds. Dave Dewberry got Needler so riled he was nearly frothing at the mouth and he screamed at him to sit down to the embarrassment of all the people on the stage. Went in the boardroom afterwards and it was painful realising how out of touch C Needler and some others were with the feelings and aspirations of fans. Most memorable thing was seeing a model of the 80,000 capacity Boothferry Park which was originally envisaged. Though on reflection it was a good job it didn't get built.
I've heard about that, wasn't it envisaged after the Man Utd record attendance? I'd love to see pics if there are any.
As Supersoes says, Fish wasn't a bad person, just out of his depth and the subject of abuse which should have been directed at others.
No, it was planned for right at the beginning as they hoped to get internationals played there. Kempton was one level of a 3 tier stand which would have been the largest in the country. Derby planned a 72,000 stadium and Port Vale a 70,000 one for the same reasons. Apparently the towers at the San Siro were inspired by someone remembering the plans for the Derby stadium. All those plans came to nothing when the FA signed up to play all their internationals at Wembley from 1948. There is a cover of a programme on line with a rather fanciful artists impression complete with train behind the East Stand some 6 years before Boothferry Halt opened but I can't find it. Found this, which would have been the kit if Harold Needler had got his way and renamed us Kingston Upon Hull City AFC. Fortunately he was someone who listened when there was an outcry against it. Although he did drop the stripes for a plain shirt. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
There's an artists impression kicking around somewhere, of the Hollywood Bowl type thing they were planning on building at Boothferry Park before flogging the stand off for a supermarket.
Let me refer those that have criticised me for my apparently negative (I say realistic) attitude to various council plans for Hull, to these previous pie in the sky dreams. Keep on daring to dream. Make sure you spend money and waste valuable resources while doing it you silly bastards.
