um pahars

Needs to put in perspective, because after Lowe's second stint of carnage we had absolutely no money and were out on our feet. The alternative to Pinnacle's "little" money would appear to be no Club.

Do you know that Stuart green posts on here??

You would have been better off PM'ing the two or three individuals direct. HTH.

I think we paid close to 7 figures for the initial outlay of the FM licence in 2004 (got the equipment FOC when Radio 1st went tts up a year or so earlier). It lost £200k in its last year of operation and I would have thought earlier losses would have been greater given the SKY 899 channel et al. Probably something approaching £2m over its short lifetime.

Have to agree. For too long people have perpetuated this myth that our set up over at Staplewood is /was up there with the best, when the simple facts are that it is average (at best). Certainly better than some, but light years behind what some clubs have.

My only contribution to this thread is that over the weekend I was told by someone very close to the action that Jackson and Green were too late. No other information was disclosed, but I read it that they were too late because someone else had pipped them (as opposed to the plug being pulled). Sort of stacks up with the OP, but never got any inkling about who the bidders actually were.

As a youngster how about Steve Foster??? As for "established" players, how about Adebayor & Maxi Rodrigues???

As if that's stopped you in the past:D BTW Stuart Green posts on here you know;)

Totally agree that nothing in football is a secret anymore. Rest assured if Sunderland and/or Derby were in for him then their agents/advisors would have been straight on to Jones' agent letting them know and whispering in his ear. The idea that you could keep another club's interest away from a player in todays world doesn't stack up. He may well have been pssed off that we were playing hardball for a decent fee and he could see the Premier £££££'s fading away, but that was no reason for him to go on strike. And didn't he even try to use the death of the Seville player to justify his actions?

We may be pretty skint (we may soon even be out of business!!!!), but I still think we are a very attractive proposition on the managerial front. Of course we never going to attract the really top talent and we're not going to attract those who want mega bucks, but even though we are Divisin Three side, I believe we would still be an attractive name for many managers to have on their CV. A manager who delivers success with us in Division Three would immediately be on a roll.

Sometimes, as was the case with Wigley, Gray, Poortvliet etc, the problem lies not with dumping the manager so quickly, but more with why they were appointed in the first place. I would argue that sticking with a poor, underperforming manager in the name of stability is a false economy. IMHO there's nothing wrong with booting out someone who is rubbish, you just have to learn from why you appointed them in the first place (or what caused it all to go wrong) and try and guard against repeating those mistakes. With 50% of the Revolutionary Coaching Set Up already on the scrap heap, I wouldn't be averse to starting all over again. Hockaday hasn't been around for ages, he's been on gardening leave for months. As for Svensson, well sorry but there are no sacred cows when you are looking to get this Club back on its feet. Getting back to the original premise of the thread, then I have to say Wotte is not the man for me to take this Club forward. I saw nothing when he was a part of the Revolutionary Coaching Set Up that made me sit up and notice and I certainly didn't see anything during the time he was solely in charge that made me think he is the man to drive us forward. If we have the money (and f we still have an Academy), then I would be OK for him to focus on that, well away from first team affairs, but otherwise a total break from the past wouldn't be a bad idea.

Whilst I of course hope I am proved wrong, I do have this very nagging worry that we really are in the mire!!!!! It may of course just be my perception, but when other clubs have gone into the mix, there always seemed to be something happening in the background. Our equivalent may of course be Pinnacle or these other bids, but I just don't think that at the moment there is anything tangible to any of them. As a fanbase we appear to be fairly apathetic to it all (which is understandable) and I also think the size of the debt and sums involved have led us to think that we, as supporters, are insignificant in terms of the whole charade. And of course the biggest problem is probably falling on hard times when there is little appetite for failing football clubs with the wider economy in such a poor state. The economic backdrop must be making it extremely hard to find any way out of this mess. I don't know exactly how it will all pan out, i.e. will we be permitted to ply our trade in the Conference, will we sink even further, is there a loophole that we could exploit to carry on in Div 3 etc etc etc, but I just don't see any White Knights coming over the horizon to buy us given our current circumstances in the current financial climate!!!!

And had Lowe done the same and lent the Club some money in it's hour of need, then I would have said fair play to him and defended him from any wakners who would so spectacularly be missing the bigger picture and putting their own petty spite and bitternes before the good of the Club. This thread has been rather enlightening on that front, as it has really highlighted those with bitter engrained prejudices who fail to see the bigger picture. And of course Lowe hasn't yet managed to help out.

He's not supplying goods, he's pumped in cash that will be paid out the back door as soon as he arrives at the front door with the money bags.

I much preferred you and others kicking Crouch, as your twisting, turning and squirming is no where near as good. The money Crouch has put in will soon be in Rasiak's, Euell's, Skacel's and many others back pockets. If he wants it back then he will have to pop round their houses if we're not sold. Anything of any value will already have a charge on it and Barclay's in particular will not be amenable to allowing Crouch to suddenly jump ahead of them in the queue of preferred creditors. There is a massive risk attached to this loan. I expected it of some of the usual dinlo's on this thread, but have to say I'm slightly surprised at how quick you jumped in here nickh.

In case it may have passed you by, we are on the cusp of going under, no one has yet to step up to the plate, we're not selling season tickets because there is no guarantee that they will be honoured etc etc etc so I think it is fair to say there is a degree of risk lending/giving money to the Club given its current predicament.

How do you manage to watch all of your teams then????? Do you have season tickets at ther grounds as well???? When there's a clash, who takes prioty???? Come on you Valiants, Lions, Pea****s, Whites etc etc etc:D

If Pearson was our RSM, then I can only presume that Jan veryPoor Feet and Wotte a load of rubbish are these two: Harry Enfield: Dutch Police Posted by Ed at 5:07 PM

I too have read this thread a couple of times and the hypocrisy, bias, spite and unbalanced posts from those determined to knock Crouch (amongst others) at all costs is risible. Many have shown that they are simply unable to judge individual decisions and outcomes without having to scrape the bottom of the barrel with their insults, but instead have to retreat to some entrenched position in an attempt to justify their rather myopic and impartial stance. What is noticeable is that after some initial robust posts, many who were at first criticising/crucifying/lambasting Crouch (in their usual knee jerk manner) have now started to rein in their crass comments as they have been found to be extremely wanting, so maybe we should be thankful for small mercies. Others however, still try to justify their crass position. In a way, a very enlightening thread which has shown how some have struggled to put their prejudices aside and instead have been happy to hang them out rather than being able to see what is for the greater good of the Club.

Absolutely. I would have thought any reasonable and sensible person could distinguish between the two. Crouch would appear to have acted rather generously here and looks to have bought us more time to be saved (no that's not the same as some idiot trying to claim that by buying us time, we have inadvertently incurred more of Fry's charges:rolleyes:), but that does not give him any right or shout over being in the hot seat going forward (not that I would want him there either). The two acts are totally independent of each other and should be judged as such.

Their wages are not guaranteed by the Football League, althought there is a precedent that the PFA might make a loan/payment to cover them. However, there is also the chance that if we fail to pay the players then they could walk away claiming breach of contract and therefore it would not be possible to raise any money from player sales to help take us forward. Additionally, I'm sure others, including myself, are probably more concerned with the office workers, and other smaller creditors etc at SMS who do not earn the big wedges and who would not be bailed out by the PFA. So whilst it probably made no difference to the Euell's and Rasiak's of this world, it will probably have rather different impact on the "mere" staff at SMS and it would also have a major impact on the future of the Club with reference to being able to raise sums through transfers if we got to a firesale.

What is hypocritical is the words from a few sad individuals (and I accept it is only a few) who are unable to judge and comment on individual decisions in differing contexts as time moves on. Whilst some are trolling, others would appear to be rather dim or indeed somewhat bitter and twisted that they fail to recognise good from whatever source. Crouch may have made mistakes in the past, but that should not preclude people from accepting that on this occasion he may well be doing quite a bit to keep our Club afloat. It is the carte blanche criticisms and risible attempts by a few to try and read negatives into everything by people (from all sides) that are hypocritical. When Lowe announced he had the support of the bank this time last year, many, including myself, congratulated him for securing that support as in the bigger picture that was certainly a benefit to our Club. Sadly, some of the more vociferous on here are unable to show such balance and what makes it worse is that some are very often the ones shouting loudest about impartiality and balance.

Which is exactly my thoughts and what I said, in that whilst I pray we will come out of this OK, I am rather pessimistic that someone will come up with the goods as a result of being in this crisis at such unprecedented times. I'm ever so sorry if my concerns upset you, maybe you just need to get some more vino down you. As much as I would love it to be the case, I very much doubt that mere positive wishful thinking on this forum will bring us our White Knight.:smt117:smt117

Maybe, so let's hope that even on their forward projections the gap between income and costs looks to be manageable. The problem looks to be as much about funding the losses going forward as it is the upfrnt price to join the game. I jusy don't think you can compare any premiership club with one from the lower divisions. the numbers involved are so different.

I think that's faor enough as we have seen it on numerous occasions how football is an eo trip, so there could well be other reasons to invest. It may not be atht they just don't have the funds, more that they're just not willing to pay out what is required/expected/wanted, even if it is just for an ego trip.