He lined up with the sponsors and shook our captain's hand when the players came out onto the pitch ............. a disgraced director of a company, Home Park Properties, standing on the pitch that his company didn't pay for says it all !
Life is full of things like that Gat so no real surprises from the rich is there. No shame at all any of them which is why they probably have money in abundance and we the great unwashed don't. If you stand back and look at the bidders for Argyle in the cold business light of day then somebody please tell me the difference between what Heaney for example and Brent were looking for on a personal level. Both of them are looking for development opportunities on the back of acquiring a football club. Heaney openly stated that he wanted nothing to do with the football bit whereas Brent made the right noises regarding this but the asperation was the same and anyone who believes that Brent is somehow a person who cares for Argyle above everything else is naive. He spoke softly and said the right things in the right ears. They heard this and were besotted by the man. Heaney was considered a leech because he told people nothing. One appears ethical the other a carnivor. But the aims don't differ that much. Ok, Heaney never had the money in the first place which is what derailed his bid and the difference is that Brent did have what he said he had. Brent has acquired this world cup pitch even if he didn't ask for it at the outset but he isn't about to say he will pay the full price for it. Nope, he will let his team play on it and won't turn a hair. I read PASOTI as you know and the love affair with Brent is almost sickening when you read the syncophantic comments about him on there by the persuaded. If the profits of the developments are ever known by the masses in the end I wonder if people will still think he is the mesiah or will recognise what he is first and foremost, a business man looking for a profit in all that he does.
I can't believe you said that about James Brent sensible............He was willing to stand aside to let a genuine football buyer do the business. He cares for what happens in the South West............he was disappointed that Plymouth lost it's Airport............and realized that losing it's professional football team was a step too far. He is happy to talk to anyone who wants to discuss his plans and ideas for the future.............I observed him at close quarters for over three hours and he and his family have become supporters of PAFC..........I don't think that was his intentions at the beginning of the buy out......but thats how it finished. OK in the future he might try to build a new mainstand and develop the ground in conjunction with the council.........it will be for the benefit of making Home Park a more attractive package and experience for the supporters and for the benefit the Plymouth area.........he wants Argyle to be a strong part of the city and reaching out into the community..........he is surprised how little outreach Argyle have into the large University population and should try to attract them to be part of the Argyle family.........not by building accommodation for students (Todds approach) but by attracting them to be supporters of there nearby pro-football club. I don't think I'm a naive person.........and I am certainly not cynical that there is always a hidden reason for doing things.........I just feel that Brent is the genuine artical and openly discusses his ideas and intentions with anyone that will listen. He is genuinely concerned with those who have had a hard time at the hands of the administration process and he his doing as much as he can to readdress that.......ie....50% of any transfer money going into the pot to pay back those that have lost out financially. Brent is definately a different type of owner and a blast of fresh air in what is normally a shady business..........you need to be in his presence to appreciate what type of person he is.........he is definately not a con-artist..........and he breeds optimism for the future.........he said he is here for the long run and will tell you that there will be no quick fixes but sensible business approach. If a big money man came to PAFC he would consider standing aside if he felt they had more to offer for Argyle and for Plymouth......not thinking only of the profit in it.......thats what I think, if thats being naive than so be it.
Why does everyone see the buying of the surrounding land a bad thing? HP seriously needs (sympathetic) developement, a hotel and shops would bring more people to the area, an area that is pretty much neglected - although I do feel we need to keep some green land too. Wasn't this development something we all wanted from our ex owners? If the Marflower was re-developed somewhere into the future, perhaps incorporating some shops and a hotel wouldn't this be a plus? I don't think anyone on here views Brent as the messiah, just the best of what we had to choose from. All business men have an underlying agenda, it doesn't have to be a bad thing.
Chris Webb has been on pasoti giving his side of the happenings yesterday. He has got some stick on there since the game.
I'm not saying that land development around Central Park is a bad thing. What I am saying however is that if it were not for the opportunity and being the first, second and third choice to do it by the Council, we may never have seen a take over at all. I am too long in the tooth to believe things at face value. There is no doubt that Brent is a different character to the likes of Heaney although it is not hard to be liked if only compared to him. But, he is also a business man and if there was no business opportunity then who knows. As for the airport, well, he would want an airport in Plymouth wouldn't he given it brings people to the City who might stay in one of his hotels. I don't see it as being cynical at all. There have been loads of smooth talkers in the past and there will be loads more in the future. What I see it as is being a little more realistic before bestowing a sainthood on somebody. And yes he was clearly the best bidder of the bunch.
I've been reading the comments on pasoti about wrathrall at HP and one poster seems to me to be actually suggesting that fans should have a say in who sponsors matches!! Maybe its the way I'm reading it but the person posted at 4.34 sunday on page 8. I have just read it again and I'm not so sure what he is saying.
Mouldy............the Wrathall post...........page 8 starts at a later time.............page7 would cover that time..........but no 4-34pm post..........maybe the mods have deleted it.
Surely football SHOULD be run as a business like any other? What is the problem with having people in charge with a profit motivation, provided they pay attention to where the business is heading, unlike the last lot who made the Captain of the Titanic look forward sighted.
Absolutely nothing wrong with a profit notdistant and I don't think anyone has said there is so far. My point is that the AGENDA may well be the same despite the love or hate of the two characters involved. Heaney was branded as the devil incarnate who wanted to develope the area and Brent is branded saint James who wants the same thing. The difference is that one had the money to start with and the other not. One spoke softly and the other not at all. If you take the characters out of the argument and only look at the aims then there isn't that much difference between them that I can see. That is my only point and not who makes money or doesn't. I have said many times and it is on record that clubs should live within their means and it should be run as a business whatever pressure may be put on boards by the masses. Having just been away for a week, I stayed in a large hotel frequented by coach loads of people from all over the country. I wear a coat with an Argyle logo on it and lots of people notice it. I have talked to football supporters from al parts because the coat provokes a comment and personally I will talk to anyone. The amount of unrest there is or seems to be around so many football clubs now is scary. The level of debt at clubs and the wages paid to players is the main criticism and I think loads of people have woken up to the fact that it is not sustainable. At least 6 people spoke of the HMRC being after a club and that they will keep on till they get one. People are aware when it isn't match day and they are on the terraces. A lot of lower league supporters are fed up with the big league and money involved. The big league in their eyes is the top half dozen in the premiership. The money they get and spend is considered quite obscene. Almost without exception there are no DS characters out there who think money is the answer to everything and should be spent whether you have it or not. These are ordinary folk with no business background and they can see it. If it is so obvious to them then why can't the so called successful business folk who run clubs not see it. They are purely gambling with a football club in the hope of something greater.
But increasing it isn't proper business people who run clubs, especially those either in the Premier League or just outside it in the Championship with the potential to get into the PL. It's chancers and ego manics. A proper business person wouldn't touch football with a barge pole as it's clear that the rules of the market are such that however well you do on a professional & sustainable basis, some twerp will come along and chuck barrow loads of cash into the club next door without thought how it's ever going to be paid back. That's not business, that's stupidity.
So James Brent is not a proper businessman or has delusions of becoming an ego maniac? God help us........(I know you meant clubs with pretentions not clubs like Argyle).
Plymborn, I have just checked again and the thread is the 17th down, 'wrathrall at HP today', page 8, sunday 4.34pm, 7th post down (2nd after Chris Webb) by 'x isle'. I have read it again and I still can't decide if he means fan's say so to who sponsors matches or fans on using companies who have made mistakes like the sponsor yesterday when it comes to Argyle.
Thanks mouldy......found it at 5-34pm. Sponsors I would think can ask anyone to be a guest at a time like that...........the question is are they doing it with the right intentions............not trying to push the boundries............and seeing what happens.........Wrathall should have said "thankyou but no thankyou............was he being used as a pawn in someone elses game.............low profile at such an early time since the buyout would have been the right approach. Individual fans have always had the right to withhold custom from any organization,firm or shop.............but if fans get subjected to being influenced by a third party.............in this case comments on [email protected] that is a dangerous road to go down. It reminds me of the 1970s when unions got too strong , I was in the AEU in those days and being the minority union on site I was forced out on strike for ten weeks by the electrical union ............ then we had Scargill and that odious woman Thatcher taking unions on..........and then ending up with no representation from the shop floor...............if you were in a union the firm didn't want to know and non-union staff got on better...........from one extreme to the other. Sorry I diversified there a little...........all I am saying is that p@soti and the Fans Trust mustn't get allusions of granduer beyond their station.........and that PAFC need to keep control of what goes on at Home Park although Fan power did help the take-over, they have been recognized by Chris Webb becoming Club President. Wrathall made the mistake of going on the pitch and putting himself in the shop window...........a low profile approach to him being a fan again would have been more acceptable to other fans at such an early time............wounds take time to heal.
Sensible I didn't mean Brent or Argyle in the first instance. There was a very interesting BBC documentary about football club ownership a few months back. It showed very clearly that the feeding frenzy was either in the cheaper end of the PL (i.e. clubs in the bottom 3rd) or clubs outside the PL (as low as League 1 at the time) which were perceived as having the potential to make the PL. Sheffield Wednesday were I think one of the clubs being touted around before their take-over by Mandaric. You can see how that obsession with the PL attracts the wrong kind of person and entirely unsound business practices. As a side-note, it was notable that PL style fan base demonstrable through attendances was a key selling point - a thing Argyle lack even if some think us a "big club".
It was tongue firmly in cheek notdistant............. But you have to doubt the sanity however grateful I may be for his potential lack of it.
Errrm by the way this thread was hijacked no one was bothered that, that scumbag was out on the pitch then !!!!!!!
Threads are always hi-jacked on here Gat so why make an exception with this one.............. Lets just say the hitman who got the Hereford player after Purse brushed past him missed his opportunity before kick off. Or for the sake of not being sexist which of course I could never be, the hit woman.
