Leon Crouch - a very successful business man.

Leon Crouch's company paid him £2.435m last year. So where does that place him in relation to the present SLH directors?

Just behind and to the left of them in that ghastly Leon & Lawrie executive box!!!!!!

Just behind and to the left of them in that ghastly Leon & Lawrie executive box!!!!!!

Interesting comment. Seems to be managing his business pretty well.

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

Interesting comment. Seems to be managing his business pretty well.

He does seem to be indeed (just trying to be somewhat light hearted).

I have alot of time for Leon, but being honest, sticking their names up there to replace the equally awful (if not worse) Ex-Directory sign is a tad juvenile.

He'd be better off chinning Lowe & Wilde in the Corporate Toilets.

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

He'd be better off putting it in the fire beneath the boiler and allowing the undersoil heating to be turned on for the month of January.

He does seem to be indeed (just trying to be somewhat light hearted).

 

I have alot of time for Leon, but being honest, sticking their names up there to replace the equally awful (if not worse) Ex-Directory sign is a tad juvenile.

 

He'd be better off chinning Lowe & Wilde in the Corporate Toilets.

I think you might get 32,200 in to see that.

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

Because Saints is a PLC. Why would he want to throw his money into a PLC to the financial benefit or his arch enemies Lowe and Wilde?

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

Incidentally that was a joke, yet strangely it doesn't seem out of place on this forum

He'd be better off chinning Lowe & Wilde in the Corporate Toilets.

You can poke your dog displays and your Albion band, THAT would be half time entertainment!

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

I have heard he is prepared to do just that in an effort to stave of administration (should it be needed) but he would understandably expect the other two major shareholder camps to do similar.

I have heard he is prepared to do just that in an effort to stave of administration (should it be needed) but he would understandably expect the other two major shareholder camps to do similar.

More chance of getting a blow job off the pope.

I have heard he is prepared to do just that in an effort to stave of administration (should it be needed) but he would understandably expect the other two major shareholder camps to do similar.

And rightly so

Would someone please explain to me why success ALWAYS seems to be co-related with Money? I taught some Special Needs kids a few years ago. When I first had them they couldn't even write their own names. With the help of a very simple computer programme not only could they spell their own names but also their address, say who their friends were and many other things we just take for granted. Success to them meant 'achieving' something practical. Any fool can run a business. All they have to do is employ silly b.....s like me.

He does seem to be indeed (just trying to be somewhat light hearted).

 

I have alot of time for Leon, but being honest, sticking their names up there to replace the equally awful (if not worse) Ex-Directory sign is a tad juvenile.

 

He'd be better off chinning Lowe & Wilde in the Corporate Toilets.

Now THAT i would like to see. LOL

In the "Corporate Toilets" .... Ouch.

is that worse than the bo llocks then

is that worse than the bo llocks then

:smt010

I have heard he is prepared to do just that in an effort to stave of administration (should it be needed) but he would understandably expect the other two major shareholder camps to do similar.

I'll believe it when I see it. Saying and doing are two very different things.

I'll believe it when I see it. Saying and doing are two very different things.

I believe him far more than I would any other board member.

He already has put in more than everyone bar MW.

He may not be the best guy to run the club, but he is a true SFC fan just like you and I.

he is a fan but fans should never be involved in the running of a football club imo...............................precisely why the saints trust is like flogging a dead horse.

Hopefully he will use his gains to buy more and more shares in the Club so that eventually Lowe & Co can be kicked out once more.

I believe him far more than I would any other board member.

 

He already has put in more than everyone bar MW.

 

He may not be the best guy to run the club, but he is a true SFC fan just like you and I.

I have met all 3 and while I think none of them are ideally right to "run" our club there is only one man I would trust in the trenches. Leon Crouch may not be many things but he is, imo, the most trustworthy and genuine.

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

Well He certainly aint poor.

I believe my company is cutting his lawn on Monday (cost £750)

He already has put in more than everyone bar MW.

He hasn't put any money into the club.

he is a fan but fans should never be involved in the running of a football club imo...............................precisely why the saints trust is like flogging a dead horse.

Are you for real? Crouch is a self made multi millionnaire. He didn't get where he is by being a mug. He was streetwise enough to appoint Nigel Pearson who should have been allowed to become a Saints Legend. And during his brief spell he started putting right the mess created by Lowe and then Wildes Execs by reducing costs loaning out top earners and proposing the closure of the corners.

Above all Leon Crouch is an honourable and generous man. He has the ethics we deserve in a chairman of our once proud club.

Leon Crouch may not be many things but he is, imo, the most trustworthy and genuine.

A Question for everyone. Who out of Lowe, Wilde and Crouch do you trust the least?

he is a fan but fans should never be involved in the running of a football club imo...............................precisely why the saints trust is like flogging a dead horse.

Steve Gibson ?

The old guy at Blackburn ?

The Ipswich lot ?

Ideally, you do want fans involved in running a football club.

You should be saying something like, "dumb people or people that don't understand the business should not be involved in running my football club."

He hasn't put any money into the club.

:smt038

I don't see much corporate business coming from Wilde's empire or Lowe Holdings. Even the Ex-directory lot have dumped their box now that they've got their freebies back.

Wrong! He's pumped thousands into the club via his company the Fuller Group. Through Corporate boxes, player sponsorship and other income streams.

Coooooome on. Renting a corporate box is all good and good but he is simply paying (presumably) commercial terms for a service provided, just like anyone using the boxes.

Player sponsership is what? A grand a year or something? It's a nice token to the fans, not a means of supporting the club financially.

Coooooome on. Renting a corporate box is all good and good but he is simply paying (presumably) commercial terms for a service provided, just like anyone using the boxes.

 

Player sponsership is what? A grand a year or something? It's a nice token to the fans, not a means of supporting the club financially.

I know that LC has used his own money to help the club find investment. I also know he is prepared to donate more (if others do) to help fend off administration.

And at the present he is physically supporting the club by going to all the away matches.

I know that LC has used his own money to help the club find investment.

Leon Crouch is a good part of the reason why we have not been able to find investment! You guys are incredible, it is like discussing things with a bunch of goldfish who can't remember what happened more than a month ago.

Leon Crouch is a good part of the reason why we have not been able to find investment! You guys are incredible, it is like discussing things with a bunch of goldfish who can't remember what happened more than a month ago.

You really do talk a load of tosh, just as you did on the 'Bootboy' thread and were exposed for your inaccuracies.

Leon Crouch is a good part of the reason why we have not been able to find investment!

Convince me!

He can’t its all rhetoric, along the lines of say something enough times and people might start believing it. Don’t hold your breath waiting for facts.

I assume he doesn't need all of that, why can't he put £2m of it into Saints.

With little or no say in what happens to his wedge? With two clowns paying themselves a dividend out of it?

Meh!

I have heard he is prepared to do just that in an effort to stave of administration (should it be needed) but he would understandably expect the other two major shareholder camps to do similar.

That, as they say, is the end of that idea then. Because if they haven't stumped up by now then they'll not be interested as we edge nearer to the financial abyss.

I have met all 3 and while I think none of them are ideally right to "run" our club there is only one man I would trust in the trenches. Leon Crouch may not be many things but he is, imo, the most trustworthy and genuine.

I get the impression that he'd be first 'over the top' whilst the other two would be more like Blackadder and Baldrick. Don't ask me which one would be which, it really is that obvious!

Are you for real? Crouch is a self made multi millionnaire. He didn't get where he is by being a mug. He was streetwise enough to appoint Nigel Pearson who should have been allowed to become a Saints Legend. And during his brief spell he started putting right the mess created by Lowe and then Wildes Execs by reducing costs loaning out top earners and proposing the closure of the corners.

 

Above all Leon Crouch is an honourable and generous man. He has the ethics we deserve in a chairman of our once proud club.

Crouch is a very successful businessman and has been generous to Saints financially within his own conditions. That does not mean he has carried that business acumen over to Saints. He would have sacked any employee of his own companies, taking similar directions as he did with Saints. When passions become involved, sometimes even the most competent of people have trouble with 2+2, such is what happens in football. Wilde is another good example and even more successful than Crouch, but I bet he finds it hard to explain those initial weeks at Saints.

But to try and paint Crouch as being being in favour of living within our means until his final last few days in the bunker is ridiculous. Throughout his tenure he had been advocating against cuts and player transfers with the execs. As immortalised in the statement he gave when being removed from the football board to allow the plc board to do just that. Or how else do you interpret "We have lost too many good people. I have fought them at every turn"?

Don't try and make Crouch out as some Jack Walker figure, you just do not know which side he will come down on. He could easily give all his shares to the benefit of Saints if it suited his other conditions. Equally he could be more than happy to burn the lot over some petty grievance, irrespective of the harm it would do to Saints.

You can talk all you want to about Crouch being prepared to close parts of the ground and various other initiatives, but in reality he did next to nothing. You can point to the opposite where he actually allowed the players wage bill to increase significantly. And throughout all of this what was the master plan he was placing our survival on? This mythical investment from Fulthorpe to save the day from the financial mismanagement he had been up to his neck in.

a very successful businessman, but in real terms £2m a year is not a lot when you want them to invest in a football club.

We need someone who is worth 500m and is prepared to lose 100m,where it is not a big loss in their living standars wheras someone worth 30m to lose 5-10m is a big cut in their lifestyle.

Leon Crouch is a good part of the reason why we have not been able to find investment! You guys are incredible, it is like discussing things with a bunch of goldfish who can't remember what happened more than a month ago.

We remember how bad Lowe and Wilde were very well.

I get the impression that he'd be first 'over the top' whilst the other two would be more like Blackadder and Baldrick. Don't ask me which one would be which, it really is that obvious!

TBH thats what worries me about LC. His heart is in the right place, but he really would be the first to go over the top. Do we need someone who would lead a glorious but futile charge which ends in the club being mown down a short while later?

TBH thats what worries me about LC. His heart is in the right place, but he really would be the first to go over the top. Do we need someone who would lead a glorious but futile charge which ends in the club being mown down a short while later?

No but I would prefer someone who at least gave it a go. He is no "first over the top" mug, naive in running a football club perhaps but the easiest thing for him to have done after he was ousted was to walk away but it appears that is far from what he has done. Southampton FC need all the friends in the world right now especially ones with a bit of financial clout.

We remember how bad Lowe and Wilde were very well.

exactly some peoples memories only go back 18 months , normally the same people who think the club came into existence in 1997.

You can point to the opposite where he actually allowed the players wage bill to increase significantly.

The increase in players wages (to a level commensurate with what it was under Lowe in the first season down) occurred when Hone & his cohorts had effective control of the day to day running of the Club.

Crouch had had no real power from the day Wilde stepped down, when power was effectively handed to the Executives, led by Hone. They were the ones who were in control and decided to let the wage bill increase during that period.

The position of the Executives was enforced in the summer with Crouch being removed from the Football Club Board, Hunt stepping down from the PLC board and Oldknow being appointed to it.

All this effectively gave Hone a free run of the place. He and his inner circle were taking the decisions that led to the increase in players wages. Someone with a good source has already pointed out that Crouch was against giving Euell such a handsome contract, but Hone pushed it through.

In fact, in the early days, when the board was more evenly balanced and Crouch played a role along with Wilde and others, wages actually fell by £3million from when Lowe left office.

When Crouch resumed any real control he was limited by what he could do, given it was halfway through a season. Contracts normally run out in the summer (i.e. Claus and others) and the main dealing period is the summer close season. Nonetheless he oversaw the loans of our two highest earners in Skacel & Rasiak, whilst keeping the bank on side.

This probably allowed for some flexibility when we hit the rocks on the pitch and allowed us to bring in some very important loans (even if they did cost some money) under Pearson. But the cost of these loans to the Club is small time in comparison to the cost of relegation and the disaster that would have surely followed.

Crouch made mistakes, I'm sure even he would admit to that, but blaming him for some poor financial decisions when others had their hand on the tiller is somewhat misguided, a common theme that comes across in many of your posts.

The increase in players wages (to a level commensurate with what it was under Lowe in the first season down) occurred when Hone & his cohorts had effective control of the day to day running of the Club.

 

Crouch had had no real power from the day Wilde stepped down, when power was effectively handed to the Executives, led by Hone. They were the ones who were in control and decided to let the wage bill increase during that period.

 

The position of the Executives was enforced in the summer with Crouch being removed from the Football Club Board, Hunt stepping down from the PLC board and Oldknow being appointed to it.

 

All this effectively gave Hone a free run of the place. He and his inner circle were taking the decisions that led to the increase in players wages. Someone with a good source has already pointed out that Crouch was against giving Euell such a handsome contract, but Hone pushed it through.

 

In fact, in the early days, when the board was more evenly balanced and Crouch played a role along with Wilde and others, wages actually fell by £3million from when Lowe left office.

 

When Crouch resumed any real control he was limited by what he could do, given it was halfway through a season. Contracts normally run out in the summer (i.e. Claus and others) and the main dealing period is the summer close season. Nonetheless he oversaw the loans of our two highest earners in Skacel & Rasiak, whilst keeping the bank on side.

 

This probably allowed for some flexibility when we hit the rocks on the pitch and allowed us to bring in some very important loans (even if they did cost some money) under Pearson. But the cost of these loans to the Club is small time in comparison to the cost of relegation and the disaster that would have surely followed.

 

Crouch made mistakes, I'm sure even he would admit to that, but blaming him for some poor financial decisions when others had their hand on the tiller is somewhat misguided, a common theme that comes across in many of your posts.

Excellent post, Um. The criticism that it was under Crouch's effective watch that the wages bill ran riot is plainly absurd.

He hasn't put any money into the club.

Apparently Crouch "and one other" put their hand in their pockets to find the Andrew Davies transfer fee.

Apparently Crouch "and one other" put their hand in their pockets to find the Andrew Davies transfer fee.

Keep hearing all these snippets, but nothing ever gets confirmed. If he has put money into the Club, then I presume it will appear in the Annual Report (due out soon).

I have met all 3 and while I think none of them are ideally right to "run" our club there is only one man I would trust in the trenches. Leon Crouch may not be many things but he is, imo, the most trustworthy and genuine.

I couldn't agree more. At present we have the very worst option in my opinion

Coooooome on. Renting a corporate box is all good and good but he is simply paying (presumably) commercial terms for a service provided, just like anyone using the boxes.

 

Player sponsership is what? A grand a year or something? It's a nice token to the fans, not a means of supporting the club financially.

Total Tosh

So the fans are not supporting the club financially then? ie season tickets gate prices & merchandise?