dubai_phil

I'll give them the email address of my wife's divorce lawyer. That should stop that link stone dead :smt013

1) Sorry perhaps should have said Fry would insist on knowing and talking to the Moneymen. We were told of a meeting & conf call on 7th May with all the parties 2) MJ has made no statement to the press. An employee of SFC Ltd appears to have leaked the fact that MJ was at SMS on 7th May. If it wasn't an employee then it was Fry which is out of order. SG is the official spokesperson, I don't get the Echo but I think he has only made ONE statement so far. 3) I spoke to MJ this morning on messenger, neither he nor SG spoke to the Echo yesterday, so who else told that story today? 4) Agree it is hard to trust or take on trust anyone. These bids have by nature been put together very quickly. I expect if anyone could do a poll of everyone in any of these discussions I would expect No one trusts MJ No one trusts Fry Lynam no longer trusts one of his investment partners No one can keep their mouths shut at SMS so who's leaks can anyone believe And as for the Echo & Solent - Pink Bentley that may have been a Roller The PROBLEM is that I still haven't seen a viable alternative. If you have friends close to Pinnacle then they will be telling you what they believe the issues are that they are having. Think it is highly unlikely that their problems are caused by MJ's group. If it is so wrong that he is at least trying then Where the hell is everyone else that is supposed to be riding to our rescue? An overseas bidder? Hmm Think we've heard that one before A lunatic dyslexic FAN is the ONLY person left talking to Fry? Jesus that tells us a lot about our so called wealthy/benefactor/City Expert/uber fan/ Supporters doesn't it. What is the alternative right now at this moment? PLEASE somebody SOMEWHERE HELP. But they aren't and we're busy still trying to blame someone and couldn't even get our legends match together

And in that basic fag packet calculation lies the first conundrum. It sets the budgetary expectations of possible buyers and they then add in what they think the club needs to be stabilised for at least one season in L1. Anyone looking closely at the books would see something like that, make that level of bid and then react in amazement when told it is half what is wanted. After getting past that sticking point you get hit with the non refundable deposit. Easy this M&A stuff isn't it

I and others drank many beers with him & Stuart on 7th evening... and when Stuart or any of his guys came down this way we also have beers. In answer to the question, it will be nda'd, not itk'd and no I sign nuffink, never for noone.

Devils advocate FC Perhaps they did. Perhaps there were NDA's. Look how little we really know about the process and the "missing 32" interested parties (Oh and without being ITK but just reading I can say one thing happily - somebody DID come in, Fry mentioned it in his first press conference. Nothing happened of course, but he publicly admitted it) HTH

Weston has I am sure hit the nail on the head, and nickh was probably right with his thread. Somehow or another the wages have to be paid "on 4th Thursday of every month". it's a bank holiday, Fry hasn't got the money. Now the figures Fry will have given prospective buyers will have come with a BIG health warning. It is Caveat Empor, it is up to the BUYERS to get a teamof specialists into SMS to dig out everything. That will take TIME, Fry HAD that when a bid was made on 6th May but he didn't like the structure it seems, so he waited for the Legends game and Pinnacle. I think we and he are now screwed. IF He is insisting that somebody pays him 500k non-refundable just to look at the books and do the work he should already have done then no wonder things are proving "difficult" It sounds like his negotiation skills are about as good as Lowe's listening skills As for the valuation at 45p for a failed business, I note today that BAA's long term debt is selling at 46p in the pound - and they are still TRADING

Answered your own question in a way. Maybe they have met and talked, maybe we have simply typed. But he would not have talked without a proof of funds to get to NDA and then again proof of funds with an actual bid would have had to come from the principles not from the saleman HTH

Now, apart from wages and the electricty/rent rates bills, what is the ONLY cost that is likely to be going up VERY fast as time drags on??...... Oh yes the Admin Fee. Perhaps that missing figure is how much Begbies want? Wonder what sort of deal Fry has with them? Salary or bonused on results?

DP, That is fair enough, fair play for telling Marc personally how you feel, however I have one question. How can you possibly trust this man on anything given his past history??? It matters not whether I trust him or not. it doesn't even matter if FRY trusts him. It matters only whether he can get his group to DELIVER. So far they seem to keep being knocked back by Fry and yet still keep coming back. Thank God somebody is still fighting to save the club I posted an "essay" yesterday about what likely is going on at Pinnacle. just transpose that and somebody somewhere is probably trying to do something to keep a grouping coming back into the ring. But more than that, just think through the process. Fry required proof of funds to even SIGN an NDA. How did these two guys prove they had 15mil? Answer, it was somebody else who would also have HAD to sign the NDA, so clearly is aware of what is being done in his/her name even if they aren't fully involved Fry would have insisted on talking to the moneymen. How could MJ have "BS'd that? Fry would have insisted that any actual offer was linked with details as to who would actually be sending in the money There has only been one difference so far that I can see between Pinnacle & these guys - Pinnacle did all the talking in the media.

lol First question - which side of the road was it driving? If it was a true Arab it would have been on the right and to hell with the traffic Second - due to the homophobic nature of this part of the world it is more likely to be somebody's wife out shopping. Arab in a pink car.... nice one didn't think it was still 1st April

Stuart Green is the authorised spokesperson for the consortium. HE made that statement. MJ equally does not want Lowe back in any capacity either. Just to be completely clear however, again as posted before, Stuart & MJ know/have spoken to ALL the previous major shareholders on numeroous occassions, and they were responsible for hosting and inviting them to the meetings at Runnymede and elsewhere to try and negotiate common ground during the "Execs" time and the SISU bid. Also so we are completely clear, because of how he is regarded, I have told Marc to his face sometime ago AND posted on here that he was a W***R over the Bournemouth thing and my one valid input that evening into their current efforts was that Marc should never ever EVER be allowed near to a microphone or a reporter EVER again

Wish I could see the full article, but again, seems strange that Fry uses the Echo to tell the bidders what to do. Hope that doesn't mean he hung up the phone on them in a corporate alpha-male type temper tantrum. Still, it's Friday tomorrow again

No SR, he will not, I did mention that minor point before. It was made very clear to other forum members who asked him face to face by Stuart Green on 7th May at the Forum Match

This is a strange figure though. Weren't our debts supposed to be about 30 mil Not many people would expect to pay almost 50p in the pound in an administration situation, especially in such an economic downturn. How did Fry get on with the Silverjet Admin? Oh

great effort - all that way to try and win enough to buy the club

No news is another sign that it is very difficult to hit a moving target but just about anyone ever connected to Saints is either praying or trying

Based on radio and friends at matches and reports on here +1

And the self fulfilling prophecy comes to pass. The divisions stay. In truth, whether seen as a hero or a villian, as the man who saved us long enough for Admin to work or the man who could have saved us before, it really matters not one iota. Through timing and circumstance, any "close" involvement with the "new club" by Leon can ONLY ever be "Regal", never political. Just this thread alone shows how almost the mere mention of his name starts up all the bitter memories and divisions. Whether his fault or not, Leon will always be a reminder of bitter and dis-united times, his name is tarnished, even if his character is eventually proven to be a true Saint. Those BAD YEARS must be buried and quickly, and IF he truly loves the club I expect he will realise that deep down, and may have to help out again before the dust settles for scant reward but our thanks. Time for him to take the "John Mortimer" seat, sure he gets to sit in the Boardroom at away games and in his fiefdom at SMS, but a small price to pay. Arise President Leon and that I think is as far as we can honestly go (Yes Weston, you and me - same idea you put it better)

This is a really tough call, and some of the more dismissive resposnes don't quite do it justice in both directions. Crouch the "Chairman & politician" is something that I have issues with and I criticised him for his public speaking when in that role and for not finding a way to remove Lowe properly when he sided with Wilde. Add to that the not insignificant point that there could be no clean break with the past failed regimes IF he stays around, then door is left open for sniping or Leonisms instead of MLT isms Crouch the "uber-fan" and saviour - I like everyone else would welcome him with open arms and would happily fly over to join a queue to shake his hand and say thankyou for helping to save our club and would join any campaign to build a statue or rename a street after him. The PROBLEM as I see it is actually more about trying to find a way to reconcile the two. Leon has stepped up to the plate and bought some time, (not sure whether Fry has USED that very well though). He MAY have to do it again IF he can So how can the owners/fans reward him for taking that risk and yet avoid the problems of keeping links to the past? That I think is more the problem and one I have no idea how to solve

Well actually off to spend a day queuing up in immigration and the med centre for my visa renewal. ANYTHING is time better spent than that.

Groundhog Day. Hope not.

We all remember what happened to those who predicted the previous 8,975 takeovers. Whatever you may hear, there is always that thingy from Richard III or whatever about for want of a signature the nail was lost, for want of the nail the shoe and yeah whatever.

Says it all

possibly more than o'rly Should have morphed it at the end but I ran out of the will to type and no doubt other readers will lose the will to live half way through but something I've been thinking about for quite a while now

Oh carp one of DP's dissertations... UP, the real problem is that we have never been able to debate sensibly what is actually needed in order to get a possible investor to the table to conduct talks. Any attempt at that would have been greeted with a barrage of "what do you know/it isn't your job" sort of responses. What I think we have seen is that (despite forum preconceptions) the Club has tried for some time to attract "wealthy investor/benefactor types" ie the Paul Allen's we all hoped for. Clearly that never worked, but the standard assumption is that was because of unreasonable shareholder demands. The point is though that none of those who possibly looked before seem to have come forward on their own, even now that we are "a bargain", possibly because although rich they have assets that have reduced in value and little actual CASH in this crisis or maybe because they think we are not worth it now. While some "wealthy types" may spend all week looking for opportunities, often they need somebody to actually "sell" an investment to them. With Pinnacle I would think that one of MLT or Tony Lynam felt that they should go out and try and find some people with money to buy the club, it WAS badly run, and so does have a "recovery potential", but those guys will have had to use their relationships and contact lists. They did NOT need money of their own, ONLY contacts. They probably spoke to many possible people until eventually they found a number who between them felt it would be worth a "punt" on turning us around by using their "small change" (ie money they can afford to risk) The difficulty then comes once the group has looked at the actual figures. Anyone who (for example) saw last years accounts and a wage bill of 80% of our income then seeing relegation and minus 10 would run a country mile. It needs somebody closer to the club to explain that many contracts are up, many players can go and that in League 1 we could try and budget for a much reduced wage bill now that we have experienced youngsters and maybe some L1 level players. That is why MLT was important, he would have had the more detailed knowledge he would have had the passion to keep that group from breaking up. Because the group would have come together quite quickly, building any resolve into them or even passion would be a very difficult task. The skill sets required of salesmanship, leadership, negotating skills as well as knowledge of the club and simple stamina and motivation would always mean it was a work in progress. When you then add that mix in with the probable need to hit a "moving target" when negotiating the actual structure of a deal and then you will find that a gamble starts with "a few million" starts to become a step too far. That is what I think appears to have happened, something in the talks or the more detailed discussions about liabilities just pushed somebody over the edge leaving them one partner short. I would expect that Lynam has hardly slept for weeks and has been under the sort of strain that none of us can understand. But of course as we are always right and always uber warriors, he just becomes a tyre kicking numpty. He wasn't, he was nearly a hero. Whether they could keep enough of that "risk capital" back for the team or whether Fry and the creditors were pushing for every last penny also becomes a factor. Right now, as many have said - admin means we have no time to be selective, the first group past the post is our only hope, and then all we can do is to hope they "hid" some of their budget from Fry to give us a chance of starting to move forwards. With a sensible L1 wage structure, sensible management and making the squad better suited to the league we are in, then it will not need an investment of millions, just wisdom and listening skills (which have been in very short supply at SMS these past years), but THAT needed somebody with a love of the club (MLT) someone with faith in MLT (Lynam) and then a lot of contacts, hard work and expense and then luck.