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Did Mr Liebherr or Mr Cortese ever comment retrospectively on Saints fans' donations?


trousers

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Large apologies if this has been covered before and also apologies if this sounds like I'm having a go - quite the opposite in fact.

 

All the talk about the dire straits at PFC has obviously reminded me of all the money raising endeavours of Saints fans and friends of Saints fans last May/June (e.g. Saints Aid, bucket collections, 'buy and extra ticket and donate it to needy kids', etc).

 

Whilst these endeavours didn't perhaps raise the level of funds that people were hoping, it was still a heart warming effort by fans (and friends of fans) and I was simply wondering if Markus and Nicola have ever directly acknowledged this effort in public?

 

I know people are going to jump down my throat and say 'the past is the past' but I've never seen an interview where Cortese is asked questions about the events leading up to their takeover in terms of what the fans were doing (yes, he's hinted at 'problems' dealing with the 'business' side of things but that's not what I'm getting at here)

 

And, to pre-empt an inevitable question, no, I'm not for one minute suggesting that they should have taken this a stage further and offered people who perhaps couldn't afford to give what they gave their money back - they gave us back our club which is thanks enough - but looking at the plight of our neighbours has brought it all back to me and I never recall seeing any acknowledgement anywhere, from either the old regime or the new, regarding the activities of Saints fans in those darkest of days in May/June 2009.

 

As I say, maybe it was all acknowledged and reported but I just missed it.

 

Over to the floor to read something between the lines in my post that isn't there.... ;)

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I asked one of the Saints Trust 'Save Our Saints' bucket holders before the Ajax game this question and was told that all donation totals would be posted 'shortly' on their website. As far as I am aware that never happened. As for SaintsAid, again, I never saw any figures published and am still not sure who the organisers were. However, I do not live in Southampton so may have missed this. I remember in particular, the grandmother giving £500 over, featured on SSN.

 

It is not essential that we know IMO, but I would have expected to have seen some figures somewhere, just as a matter of courtesy if nothing else.

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I asked one of the Saints Trust 'Save Our Saints' bucket holders before the Ajax game this question and was told that all donation totals would be posted 'shortly' on their website. As far as I am aware that never happened. As for SaintsAid, again, I never saw any figures published and am still not sure who the organisers were. However, I do not live in Southampton so may have missed this. I remember in particular, the grandmother giving £500 over, featured on SSN.

 

It is not essential that we know IMO, but I would have expected to have seen some figures somewhere, just as a matter of courtesy if nothing else.

 

 

I remember posting at the time that it was disgusting watching an old lady who did not appear to be wealthy (hard to tell) handing over an envelope of £500 on sky sports news, which at the time would have paid Bradley Wright-Phillips for half a day.

 

There really should have been a register made of all names and amounts donated, and those people given a formal thanks by the club, maybe even a free ticket to a game. Didn't the official site name all donations over £1000? which was Crouch and a few others (Askham as well I think)

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Many of the donations were collected BEFORE the end of last season and that was some time before Southampton FC even appeared on ML's radar.

 

Other donations followed during May, again before they became involved.

As the period of exclusitivity was awarded by Mr Fry to Pinnacle instead of ML then you can argue that their involvement came much later, even though they may have been watching from a distance whilst the Pinnacle thing was playing out its pantomime.

 

Would ML and NC even have known about the bucket collections, Evening with LM, MLT and MC etc etc ?

 

I think its an excellent question - what did happen to the donations, how much did it total, what were they used for - and I think each and every one of us who donated deserves an answer, but I'm not sure it is a question or questions ML and NC could answer.

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I wasn't really asking the question to unearth the final resting place of the donations, I just don't recall anyone at the club (before, during and after the takeover) actually thanking the efforts of the fans in those dark days.

 

I accept that the new regime are under no obligation, moral or otherwise, to specifically mention the deeds of fans during those couple of months as they have given us enough back in both words and actions at a generic level.

 

Reading about the Pompey situation just brought the question back into my head. Sorry for any confusion.

Edited by trousers
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I think its an excellent question - what did happen to the donations, how much did it total, what were they used for - and I think each and every one of us who donated deserves an answer, but I'm not sure it is a question or questions ML and NC could answer.

 

I agree 100%.

It really has nothing to do with ML or NC.

But the question remains, and those who are ultimately accountable should provide a breakdown of how the monies were used.

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Maybe hard for ML & NC to comment on things over which they were not in control of or ever got the full info. on.

 

Knowing how overworked NC was in the first few months in the job this probably came quite low down his list of priorities.

 

True. Perhaps it'll get a mention in his end of season review. It would be a nice gesture.

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it is a difficult question. it has nothing to do with the current regime.

I would hate to think that saints fans were not honest in this event.I went on the fun day, that was very poorly attended and there were loads of very good saints people collecting money to save the club. Where it went ???

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As others have mentioned, this really has nothing to do with ML and NC as the efforts were in place to secure the clubs future before they were involved, therefore they have no moral duty to comment. What Markus has done for the club has said it all IMO.

 

However, the organisation behind the collection SHOULD be held accountable and tell supporters where the money went (even though I suspect it was to pay player salaries including players that are now getting paid even more at other higher league clubs.

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I agree 100%.

It really has nothing to do with ML or NC.

But the question remains, and those who are ultimately accountable should provide a breakdown of how the monies were used.

 

I remember at the Evening with Lawire Mac and co, when talking about the game they were arranging that was ultimately scrapped, Lawrie said the money raised would go into a seperate bank account so that the money would not get swallowed up and lost within the club's exisitng accounts/debts. In the end of course anyone who bought a ticket was given the choice of their money back. I suspect, having already donated, many took that opportunity so the money from that sadly failed effort is probably accounted for.

 

BUT, its the things like the bucket collections, the Saints Aid Day, the granny with her £500 etc - how much was collected in total and where did it go ?

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Surely this question should be addressed to the Administrators, Was it not them in charge of finances during that period. But I agree with Trousers and others some form of thanks and recognition of the fans efforts would be nice, also the amount raised and what the cash was actually used for.

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Surely this question should be addressed to the Administrators, Was it not them in charge of finances during that period. But I agree with Trousers and others some form of thanks and recognition of the fans efforts would be nice, also the amount raised and what the cash was actually used for.

 

Perhaps the money in the buckets paid for Mr Fry's room service bill at the De Vere?

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I agree the money collected should be accounted for but I didn't donate to receive a thank you further down the line from the new owner, I remain thankful to them for coming in and reference has been made by them to how they regard us, you make a donation to a cause you feel worthy and not to be thanked at a later date, I simply expect my donation to go to good use which is not clear at the minute, in this instance

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Surely this question should be addressed to the Administrators, Was it not them in charge of finances during that period. But I agree with Trousers and others some form of thanks and recognition of the fans efforts would be nice, also the amount raised and what the cash was actually used for.

 

I agree, they got an award for doing such a great (???) job but so far have neither mentioned this money nor have given sufficient information to SLH shareholders as to where they stand regarding losses !

All IMHO of course !

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I agree, they got an award for doing such a great (???) job but so far have neither mentioned this money nor have given sufficient information to SLH shareholders as to where they stand regarding losses !

All IMHO of course !

 

It is for the Administrator to answer this question. No-one else. And Fry should. Presumably accounts have been (or will be) submitted to HMRC, and they will surely want to be satisfied that donations have been included and accounted for.

 

I certainly do not regret the paltry sum that I donated. Our donations and efforts may have supported the impression that Marcus does have that Saints have always had a dedicated, fan-base. And always will have. I believe our efforts were not in vain.

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There are two issues here, one was the money donated to keep the club going which went direct to the club to cover ongoing costs.

 

The other was the Saints Aid which incurred considerable costs to stage. As they had run out of money I was asked if I would order and pay for the equipment to manufacture the CDs that were sold and be reimbursed after the event.

 

I did this on that understanding as I had already donated to the club. I supplied the suppliers invoice and was eventually reimbursed. At that time there were still I believe others awaiting payment,

 

From what I was told I would be surprised if the event did any more than break even at best as it didn't attract the response that was expected.

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The money allegedly all went into the back pockets of LM and LC and probably MLT! Just ask 19C. He`ll give you all of the details. Where is he by the way? He is not doing a David Tennant and regenerating into a new identity tomorrow is he??

 

Not posted since Christmas Eve.

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A bit of a leftover curiosity from Saints Aid: Southampton Football Club still receive a royalty everytime a copy of the Saints Aid single 'Colours' is sold on iTunes....which admittedly isn't an ongoing fortune but it's still the case.

 

I hope Mr Pardew spends it wisely :D

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Wasn't all the donated money directed straight to the financial black hole that Fry was wrestling with to try and keep the club afloat, in difficult circumstances?

 

At the time Fry was scrabbling to pay the wages to keep the whole thing together so that (he thought) Pinnacle could ride to the rescue.

 

Eventually he realised why they kept putting him off (no funds or prospect thereof) and finally got round to flogging the whole shabang to Markus.

 

By that time I assume Fry had absorbed all donated monies into the aforementioned extraterrestrial object. That whole process was prior to ML + NC and not for them to comment as surely they saw none of the money and not involved in it's collection. Fry was running the show at that time, but did any of you expect any communication from him once the money was handed over and new owners sorted?

 

Still he did win an award for his expert handling of our case now didn't he....

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I asked about the money raised back in June, didnt get an answer then either...

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=13471

 

I think that, by the time Saints Aid went ahead, the new owners were well on their way and it was realised that the money raised wasnt needed to "save" the club.

 

It was suggested somewhere that the money would go towards buying season tickets for kids a local schools. Wonder how many got one....

 

Edit: Trawling through my old posts, back in April I dared to suggest that Saints Aid wasnt a very good idea

 

I even asked the organisers some questions, hoping to highlight some holes in the plan, but they went ahead with it anyway.

 

(post #30 of this thread, http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=269820#post269820)

 

To me, the whole "Saints Aid" thing sounded like the usual suspects (you know who you are) organising something that THEY thought was a good idea, without gauging opinion first.

 

This is not a "I told you so" post, just highlighting that the question has fallen on deaf ears before.

 

Perhaps you should ask the OP on the second link, it seems as though they were one of the organisers of the event.

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Wasn't all the donated money directed straight to the financial black hole that Fry was wrestling with to try and keep the club afloat, in difficult circumstances?

 

At the time Fry was scrabbling to pay the wages to keep the whole thing together so that (he thought) Pinnacle could ride to the rescue.

 

Eventually he realised why they kept putting him off (no funds or prospect thereof) and finally got round to flogging the whole shabang to Markus.

 

By that time I assume Fry had absorbed all donated monies into the aforementioned extraterrestrial object. That whole process was prior to ML + NC and not for them to comment as surely they saw none of the money and not involved in it's collection. Fry was running the show at that time, but did any of you expect any communication from him once the money was handed over and new owners sorted?

 

Still he did win an award for his expert handling of our case now didn't he....

 

I believe the donations went to SFC Ltd which legally was still trading and not in administration. The Administrators whilst controlling the holding company would have no call on the donations including those from Leon Crouch to pay the salaries.

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I asked about the money raised back in June, didnt get an answer then either...

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=13471

 

I think that, by the time Saints Aid went ahead, the new owners were well on their way and it was realised that the money raised wasnt needed to "save" the club.

 

It was suggested somewhere that the money would go towards buying season tickets for kids a local schools. Wonder how many got one....

 

Edit: Trawling through my old posts, back in April I dared to suggest that Saints Aid wasnt a very good idea

 

I even asked the organisers some questions, hoping to highlight some holes in the plan, but they went ahead with it anyway.

 

(post #30 of this thread, http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=269820#post269820)

 

To me, the whole "Saints Aid" thing sounded like the usual suspects (you know who you are) organising something that THEY thought was a good idea, without gauging opinion first.

 

This is not a "I told you so" post, just highlighting that the question has fallen on deaf ears before.

 

Perhaps you should ask the OP on the second link, it seems as though they were one of the organisers of the event.

 

Full list of organisers on www.saints-aid.co.uk

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The money allegedly all went into the back pockets of LM and LC and probably MLT! Just ask 19C. He`ll give you all of the details. Where is he by the way? He is not doing a David Tennant and regenerating into a new identity tomorrow is he??

 

Juust a thought but has anyone noticed if 19C and Corpy both go to ground at the same time?

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I believe the donations went to SFC Ltd which legally was still trading and not in administration. The Administrators whilst controlling the holding company would have no call on the donations including those from Leon Crouch to pay the salaries.

 

This is all very well Derry, but it is clarification that is needed - I had my own thread on the subject and still feeli9t is necessary for the organisers to show there accounts.......... the wall of silence is deafening but someone should just stop this from being an ongoing cause for debate by publishing the accounts. The continued silence would surely be something to continue to raise concern. So for one last time....can we have the final accounts please??

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This is all very well Derry, but it is clarification that is needed - I had my own thread on the subject and still feeli9t is necessary for the organisers to show there accounts.......... the wall of silence is deafening but someone should just stop this from being an ongoing cause for debate by publishing the accounts. The continued silence would surely be something to continue to raise concern. So for one last time....can we have the final accounts please??

 

I think you have to ask the club that question as SLH Ltd was liquidated whilst SFC Ltd was bought I believe as one of the assets of SLH and was the recipient of the donations.

 

The Saints Aid money was held by the club and some was paid to the Saints Trust eventully to settle bills, which was how I ended up eventually being repaid.

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I think you have to ask the club that question as SLH Ltd was liquidated whilst SFC Ltd was bought I believe as one of the assets of SLH and was the recipient of the donations.

 

The Saints Aid money was held by the club and some was paid to the Saints Trust eventully to settle bills, which was how I ended up eventually being repaid.

 

but surely an account or total from the organisers would have been adequate? It would stop these repeated questions, surely they are duty or legally bound to report there total, as I guess this is something any kind of fundraising should do? Especially as it was encouraged/supported by the club?? You know where I stood on the issue at the time and I am sure nothing un toward has happened but the silence does raise suspicion.

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but surely an account or total from the organisers would have been adequate? It would stop these repeated questions, surely they are duty or legally bound to report there total, as I guess this is something any kind of fundraising should do? Especially as it was encouraged/supported by the club?? You know where I stood on the issue at the time and I am sure nothing un toward has happened but the silence does raise suspicion.

 

At that time the club was being run by Mark Fry so surely he is the person to direct the question to ???

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