"Lowe understood to have led Barclays to consider protecting bank staff at weekend"

[trousers]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23670913-details/Southampton+FC+fury+over+Barclays+%27death+sentence%27/article.do

 

The attack by Rupert Lowe, a high-profile name in the City and chairman of stockbroker WH Ireland, is understood to have led Barclays to consider taking steps to protect staff and branches in the South Coast city this weekend.

[Colinjb]

Any individual who diverts their anger against bank clerks deserves all they get as far as I'm concerned. I pray no-one is that stupid.

[bridge too far]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23670913-details/Southampton+FC+fury+over+Barclays+%27death+sentence%27/article.do

 

The attack by Rupert Lowe, a high-profile name in the City and chairman of stockbroker WH Ireland, is understood to have led Barclays to consider taking steps to protect staff and branches in the South Coast city this weekend.

 

I can't imagine that staff and branches of Barclays would be at risk because of this! I think most fans recognise that RL was the problem and not the Bank.

 

There are other reasons to be disenchanted with Barclays, but not this IMO.

[Channon's Sideburns]

A desperate man makes desperate comments.

 

Rupert really doesn't know when to give up or shut up does he?

 

HTH does he get these positions in firms??? Guy Askham can't be on the board of every company can he?

 

Second Colin's comments...do feel though that Barclays Staff need not worry - the best thing for Saints fans to do is close their accounts with them instead - don't harass innocent workers.

[Weston Super Saint]

LOL.

 

Barclays have a pop at Lowe, and Lowe has a pop back.

 

I guess it just highlights what a child Lowe really is...

[bungle]

I can't imagine that staff and branches of Barclays would be at risk because of this! I think most fans recognise that RL was the problem and not the Bank.

 

There are other reasons to be disenchanted with Barclays, but not this IMO.

 

Who knows how we ended up with a £6.5million overdraft, but it is true that when RL left there was no overdraft, and when he came back there was £6.5million worth of one. Somewhere in there is the main problem.

[jonah]

Any individual who diverts their anger against bank clerks deserves all they get as far as I'm concerned. I pray no-one is that stupid.

 

LOL, I guess you weren't up in the City this week!

 

Well this is the clarification I've been waiting for - forget the sniping about the boardroom and whether you blame Lowe or Wilde or the tooth fairy, here we have it in black and white... Barclays are the ones who stuck the knife in. From £0 to £6.3m in 2 years whilst we lost our parachute payments - who the F*** was stupid enough to (a) offer that extra level of debt and (b) who was stupid enough to sanction it?

 

I would be surprised if there isn't a case against the execs at the time for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. Unbelievable.

[Weston Super Saint]

Who knows how we ended up with a £6.5million overdraft, but it is true that when RL left there was no overdraft, and when he came back there was £6.5million worth of one. Somewhere in there is the main problem.

 

Yep.

 

Two years in the Championship after Lowe got us relegated

[Harry Faz]

So, does that mean that the club had reduced the overdraft from £6m , to nearly £4m.

 

So why did Barclays pull the plug now ? From those bear 'facts' it looks like we were managing the debt down. If so, I do think Barclays have some questions to answer here, as Wilde and Lowe appear to have some justification for their view that Barclays leant to much money to saints in prior periods - and havent given us enough time to bring things back to an even keel .

[Johnny Bognor]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23670913-details/Southampton+FC+fury+over+Barclays+%27death+sentence%27/article.do

 

The attack by Rupert Lowe, a high-profile name in the City and chairman of stockbroker WH Ireland, is understood to have led Barclays to consider taking steps to protect staff and branches in the South Coast city this weekend.

 

 

So not content with running the club into the ground, he now wants to put off any potential buyer by making us look like a bunch of brainless morons.

[OldNick]

I wouldnt condone any attacks on Barclays. I would move from that bank if my business was with though. They will try and play the innocents as they would realise they could have upwards of 30000 accounts who were saints fans, if it upset the peole of Southampton a lot more of course.That would be a lot of business to lose.

[Wade Garrett]

Is it just me who actually wants to shake Mr Barclays Bank's hand and thank him for getting rid of the clueless pair - Lowe and Wilde.

 

I'm not worried about us going out of business. Someone will come in and buy the football club, especially as they won't have to pay Lowe anything, or buy the holding company.

 

I'm thinking about opening a Barclays account at Bitterne to demonstrate my gratitude. The staff might want to watch out for Frank's Cousin and Nineteen Canteen though.

[OldNick]

Is it just me who actually wants to shake Mr Barclays Bank's hand and thank him for getting rid of the clueless pair - Lowe and Wilde.

 

I'm not worried about us going out of business. Someone will come in and buy the football club, especially as they won't have to pay Lowe anything, or buy the holding company.

 

I'm thinking about opening a Barclays account at Bitterne to demonstrate my gratitude. The staff might want to watch out for Frank's Cousin and Nineteen Canteen though.

I do hope your confidence is well founded Wade, if not then you may yurself go and kick down Barclays doors

[Wade Garrett]

I do hope your confidence is well founded Wade, if not then you may yurself go and kick down Barclays doors

 

I am honestly confident that we will be OK Nick.

[OldNick]

I am honestly confident that we will be OK Nick.

 

I have heard nothing from my friends and it is eerily quiet.I just hope that there is real interest. Morph has shown up on here again but he was here when the tyrekickers were around last time.

[Scudamore]

So not content with running the club into the ground, he now wants to put off any potential buyer by making us look like a bunch of brainless morons.

 

Please show me where in his quotes he actually encourages or indeed suggests that fans will be doing anything to a Barclays Bank branch...

[yorkiesaint]

I am by no means a Lowe supporter but he does have a point here. Barclays clearly lent to SFC on the understanding it would be paid off after the SISU takeover. When it failed to materialise the bank got edgy and demanded their money back. Now there is an argument that says that there was no definite deal, so the lending was high risk and unjustified. the execs at the time spent the money in the knowledege that new investment was round the corner, and in the mean time the money could be invested in the team. The lending risk was revealed when shareholders put their oars in and refused the deal, and no takeover was forthcoming. Lowe's mistake is not realising that, with the overdraft, was there was no way forward for SFC other than to sell at that point. the execs realise this and resign when it fails. the role SISU played in the accruement of the overdraft deserves further scrutiny. If the SISU bid was a factor in the bank's and SFC's decisions then you could argue that this was some ploy to get SFC over a barrel.

[aintforever]

As much as I dislike Lowe I think he does have a point.

 

Barclays can go **** themselves, they may well have killed our club, I'm gonna move my account.

[um pahars]

Sounds to me that Lowe lost the support and confidence of Barclays going forward and considering events on the pitch affected the business so much, along with having the baggage of Lowe and others around, it's probably not surprising that he didn't manage to get Barclay's on side.

 

For Barclay's to pull the plug in the manner they did (with all the inherent risks of losing their monies) would suggest that they had no faith whatsoever in the management of the Club.

 

Considering they were privy to the inner workings of the Club, then it is probably a very daming indictment.

 

As an aside, whilst there is no doubt that the Executive team made some big mistakes once the parachute money ran out, to suggest a claim for negligence or breach of fiducary duty is OTT and displays a rather knee jerk and misguided appraisal of the situation.

[OldNick]

Sounds to me that Lowe lost the support and confidence of Barclays going forward and considering events on the pitch affected the business so much, along with having the baggage of Lowe and others around, it's probably not surprising that he didn't manage to get Barclay's on side.

 

For Barclay's to pull the plug in the manner they did (with all the inherent risks of losing their monies) would suggest that they had no faith whatsoever in the management of the Club.

 

Considering they were privy to the inner workings of the Club, then it is probably a very daming indictment.

 

As an aside, whilst there is no doubt that the Executive team made some big mistakes once the parachute money ran out, to suggest a claim for negligence or breach of fiducary duty is OTT and displays a rather knee jerk and misguided appraisal of the situation.

Until we are privvy to waht went on it is difficult to really understand the decisions made.

[camdijk]

LOL.

 

Barclays have a pop at Lowe, and Lowe has a pop back.

 

I guess it just highlights what a child Lowe really is...

 

I see. It is ok for Barclays to have a pop, but if Lowe returns the compliment it is childish.

[sidthesquid]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23670913-details/Southampton+FC+fury+over+Barclays+%27death+sentence%27/article.do

 

The attack by Rupert Lowe, a high-profile name in the City and chairman of stockbroker WH Ireland, is understood to have led Barclays to consider taking steps to protect staff and branches in the South Coast city this weekend.

 

Is Rupert that likely to go on a rampage through Barclays Bank branches in the city, and if he is, can somebody make sure they film it

[St Paul]

Sounds to me that Lowe lost the support and confidence of Barclays going forward and considering events on the pitch affected the business so much, along with having the baggage of Lowe and others around, it's probably not surprising that he didn't manage to get Barclay's on side.

 

For Barclay's to pull the plug in the manner they did (with all the inherent risks of losing their monies) would suggest that they had no faith whatsoever in the management of the Club.

 

Considering they were privy to the inner workings of the Club, then it is probably a very daming indictment.

 

 

This is my take on it. Why doesn't Lowe shut the hell up, accept he's failed and move on?

[saint_mears]

Looks like he is trying to save face in the city where his friends reside. The same ones i presume who have seen thousands of pounds of money they gave him go up in smoke. Robert Lea is the same journo who broke the Paul Allen takeover stuff and i have read on here that Lowe has Daily Mail contacts its sister paper to the Standard.

 

Reading between the lines i can only see that barclays have pushed Lowe out the door.

[jonah]

Sounds to me that Lowe lost the support and confidence of Barclays going forward and considering events on the pitch affected the business so much, along with having the baggage of Lowe and others around, it's probably not surprising that he didn't manage to get Barclay's on side.

 

For Barclay's to pull the plug in the manner they did (with all the inherent risks of losing their monies) would suggest that they had no faith whatsoever in the management of the Club.

 

Considering they were privy to the inner workings of the Club, then it is probably a very daming indictment.

 

As an aside, whilst there is no doubt that the Executive team made some big mistakes once the parachute money ran out, to suggest a claim for negligence or breach of fiducary duty is OTT and displays a rather knee jerk and misguided appraisal of the situation.

 

Give me strength, you really need to get back into the real world - if Barclays had an issue with Lowe they would have agreed to continue provided he stepped down. They had already paid down over £2m of the Wilde/Crouch overdraft.

 

Honest to God, you wonder how we got into this mess and you never have to look very far.

[stevegrant]

Looks like he is trying to save face in the city where his friends reside. The same ones i presume who have seen thousands of pounds of money they gave him go up in smoke. Robert Lea is the same journo who broke the Paul Allen takeover stuff and i have read on here that Lowe has Daily Mail contacts its sister paper to the Standard.

 

Reading between the lines i can only see that barclays have pushed Lowe out the door.

The Standard is independent of the Daily Mail these days - sold to the Russians for the princely sum of £1.

[Guided Missile]

Give me strength, you really need to get back into the real world - if Barclays had an issue with Lowe they would have agreed to continue provided he stepped down. They had already paid down over £2m of the Wilde/Crouch overdraft.

 

Honest to God, you wonder how we got into this mess and you never have to look very far.

 

Mark, I think the following old posts will show you how out of touch Steve was, regarding the Trust's choice to replace Lowe. From 0 to a £6.5M overdraft in two years was exactly the way douche bag Wilde was running Merlion.

 

Scouser through and through.....

 

Posted: 24/06/06

My reading of the accounts of Merlion plc, is that it has a high level of borrowing with a resultant high level of interest payments. Most of the profits the company makes, rather than being re-invested in the group, are taken out in the form of dividends for a shareholder (presumably Wilde) So, in 2004, out of a profit of about £1.1M, a dividend of over £800K was paid out. Amazingly, in 2003, although a profit of only about £500K was made, over £1M was taken out in a dividend to a minority shareholder.

I haven't a clue what Wilde is personally worth, but it seems to have come mainly from bleeding the company he runs. What we are left with is a company, in my opinion, with high gearing, large debts and interest payments of over £500K a year. With the low level of net assets, due, for instance, to the withdrawal of £1.8M in dividends against £1.5M in net profits over the two years, 2003-2004, Merlion seems to be very susceptible to any increase in interest rates and downturn in the property market.

How does this affect Saints you may wonder? Well let's imagine Wilde has bled £5M from Merlion over 5 years. He punts a couple of million in Saints shares to satisfy his ego and very poor investment judgement.

Interest rates go up a couple of percent, property sales dip and all of a sudden, Merlion can't service the £500K a year in interest to service their debt. The banks look to the shareholders or they will call in the loans

and he either has to sell his Saints shares or let Merlion go to the wall. With potential personal guarantees, things are looking grim and the last thing him and people like Patrick Trant, also involved in building, want to

do is invest further money in a Championship football club that is going nowhere. I'm not saying this will happen and I am sure Wilde understands the risks of running a company like Merlion plc. I am aslo sure that

I would not like him running Southampton Leisure plc in the way he seems to be running Merlion plc.

For that reason, if he wins the EGM, I will be selling my shares PDQ and will certainly not be providing any more money in the form of a rights issue.

Posted: 24/06/06

I think you need to distinguish between his personal wealth and his own money that he has so far spent acquiring shares, and the value of a company he has a stake in (I say stake, as being a PLC, he is not the sole shareholder).

He has so far committed in excess of £3m, and says he has sufficient funds to add to this. He has never claimed to be a Roman Abramovich benefactor, using funds from his various companies to fund the club.

I think any new investment will come from a number of individuals all committing small amounts via a rights issue. I believe Wilde has sufficient personal funds to allow him to take part in this.

Edited 3 April, 2009 by Guided Missile

[um pahars]

Give me strength, you really need to get back into the real world - if Barclays had an issue with Lowe they would have agreed to continue provided he stepped down. They had already paid down over £2m of the Wilde/Crouch overdraft.

 

IMHO Barclay's lost faith in Lowe's ability to reduce the overdraft and if anything they probably looked at the numbers going forward and saw that the overdraft was going to increase and decided against increasing their risk.

 

Other than that, feel free to let me know why a bank pulled the plug on a company that they were confident would be able to happily trade it's overdraft off.

 

BTW The overdraft as of 30/6/08 last year was already down to it's current level of just over £4m.

[JustMike]

Give me strength, you really need to get back into the real world - if Barclays had an issue with Lowe they would have agreed to continue provided he stepped down. They had already paid down over £2m of the Wilde/Crouch overdraft.

 

Honest to God, you wonder how we got into this mess and you never have to look very far.

 

A chain of events involving Lowe, Wilde and to an extent, Crouch too. All must shoulder some of the blame.

[Andyb1]

Is it just me who actually wants to shake Mr Barclays Bank's hand and thank him for getting rid of the clueless pair - Lowe and Wilde.

 

QUOTE]

 

Yes you f*cking idiot... You certainly should be, but on this forum you won't be. IDIOTS the vast majority of you.

[borth2]

Just had a tenner on Time For Rupert at 50/1 , just had to back it

[Bartosz Bialkowski]

"problems mounted in the two years after he was exiled in a boardroom putsch in 2006. In that time, the club's bank borrowing went from zero to £6.3 million on top of the £23.5 million owed on its St Mary's stadium"

 

Says it all

[um pahars]

Mark, I think the following old posts will show you how out of touch Steve was, regarding the Trust's choice to replace Lowe. From 0 to a £6.5M overdraft in two years was exactly the way douche bag Wilde was running Merlion.

 

Scouser through and through.....

 

Thanks for that GM, it was good to be reminded that I never assumed the change in ownership would lead to a massive influx of cash as I was always of the view that if it was to happen it would have to be a grouping/consortium of people putting in say a £1m each as opposed to just Wilde and Crouch as they never had the money to do it on their own.

 

Hopefully those who showed an interest in 2006 will now finally step up to the plate and make something happen this time around e.g. Goodenough, Salz, Davies (and even Crouch maybe).

 

I wouldn't even be averse to Lowe chipping into the pot.

[Giordano]

Just boycott barclays.

Ive already sent my email complaint to them and copied it below.

We need to get barclays to back down - or pray.

 

Send to : customer.relations@barclays.co.uk

 

Dear Barclays,

 

I am writing to complain in the strongest terms possible about the news regarding your overdraft facility withdrawal with Southampton football club that has triggered administration of the holding company and possibly bringing the club to the point of extinction.

 

I will be encouraging all my family members and my 140 staff to to cancel their banking accounts and any commercial arrangements with Barclays Bank and will never consider any trade, domestic or business relations with you or your subsidiaries ever again as a consequence. I am also copying this to the Saints list which is a worldwide supporters web group in the hope that action is also undertaken internationally.

 

I believe your action in this matter is an affront to the people of Southampton for whom the football club is and has been an essential part of the community. It is a decision that hits the very heart of a proud city in which you do business. I cannot understand how this badly judged PR implications decision can marry up with your long term goals to provide profitable banking and financial service to the Southampton city and community in which you work. The loss of our accounts will far outweigh the overdraft fees and profits you wish to receive so I ask you to reconsider your position on Southampton football club.

 

Giordano Orsini.

General Manager.

[Johnny Bognor]

IMHO Barclay's lost faith in Lowe's ability to reduce the overdraft and if anything they probably looked at the numbers going forward and saw that the overdraft was going to increase and decided against increasing their risk.

 

Other than that, feel free to let me know why a bank pulled the plug on a company that they were confident would be able to happily trade it's overdraft off.

 

BTW The overdraft as of 30/6/08 last year was already down to it's current level of just over £4m.

 

 

It is thought that the administrators and Barclays, with which the club had exceeded its £4 million overdraft limit, believe that it will be easier to find a buyer for Southampton with the board gone. (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle6018444.ece)

 

 

If there is anything in this, the bank thought Lowe had no chance of finding a buyer, without which, we would not be able to continue as a going concern.

[Wopper]

Never mind Rupert time to move on. I expect Crouchie & his mates will buy the club for peanuts

[alpine_saint]

Barclays have done us a favour - if we now get bought by someone who is willing to put some money in and get the debt re-financed.

 

We were always going to end up in administration with Lowe's strategy anyway. So f**king what if the overdraft had gone down by 2million, we were playing crappier and crappier football, and ST sales next season would have been hugely reduced. Lowe would have just kept cutting-the-cloth, getting relegated every couple of years.

 

I dont know whay you are all whinging. We had absolutely no future under Lowe, we might get one now...

[exit2]

Just boycott barclays.

Ive already sent my email complaint to them and copied it below.

We need to get barclays to back down - or pray.

 

Send to : customer.relations@barclays.co.uk

 

Dear Barclays,

 

I am writing to complain in the strongest terms possible about the news regarding your overdraft facility withdrawal with Southampton football club that has triggered administration of the holding company and possibly bringing the club to the point of extinction.

 

I will be encouraging all my family members and my 140 staff to to cancel their banking accounts and any commercial arrangements with Barclays Bank and will never consider any trade, domestic or business relations with you or your subsidiaries ever again as a consequence. I am also copying this to the Saints list which is a worldwide supporters web group in the hope that action is also undertaken internationally.

 

I believe your action in this matter is an affront to the people of Southampton for whom the football club is and has been an essential part of the community. It is a decision that hits the very heart of a proud city in which you do business. I cannot understand how this badly judged PR implications decision can marry up with your long term goals to provide profitable banking and financial service to the Southampton city and community in which you work. The loss of our accounts will far outweigh the overdraft fees and profits you wish to receive so I ask you to reconsider your position on Southampton football club.

 

Giordano Orsini.

General Manager.

 

Sorry but why? I dont blame Barclays at all for pulling the plug on the overdraft. There is only so much one can do and to be fair you have no friends in business especially when money is owned and when in a current climate such as it at the moment. How many other business's have had their overdraft facility withdrawn so they have to cease trading, frigging hundreds.

 

The club has been running at a loss for months, so you tell me when do you say enough is enough. Personally I feel blaming Barclays is a cope out

[alpine_saint]

 

The club has been running at a loss for months, so you tell me when do you say enough is enough. Personally I feel blaming Barclays is a cope out

 

Yep, its just Lowe blaming everyone but himself as usual.

 

I am more likely to buy a Barclays employer a drink than slap them round the head.

[Andyb1]

Yep, its just Lowe blaming everyone but himself as usual.

 

I am more likely to buy a Barclays employer a drink than slap them round the head.

 

I don't write much, i just look at the board on the whole. But you are by far the biggest idiot i have ever had the misfortune to come across. Do you have nothing better to do than spout crap all day long? I dont know why i ask as i know the answer. People like YOU are are the big problem with this club.... YOU...

[alpine_saint]

I don't write much, i just look at the board on the whole. But you are by far the biggest idiot i have ever had the misfortune to come across. Do you have nothing better to do than spout crap all day long? I dont know why i ask as i know the answer. People like YOU are are the big problem with this club.... YOU...

 

Yep, I appointed two clueless Dutch minor league idiots and loaned all our strikers out...

[Guided Missile]

Thanks for that GM, it was good to be reminded that I never assumed the change in ownership would lead to a massive influx of cash as I was always of the view that if it was to happen it would have to be a grouping/consortium of people putting in say a £1m each as opposed to just Wilde and Crouch as they never had the money to do it on their own.

Look around you, Steve. Read the papers. Smell the air. WE'RE IN THE WORST RECESSION FOR 80 YEARS. There's no money, there will be no money and the game is up for this club, I am afraid to say. Anyone turning up for the rest of the season is simply helping to pay Barclay's back.

 

If we'd been spared the Trust's attempts to get a fan on the board, by bending over as soon as Wilde and his team of spongers and egotists road into town, maybe, just maybe, we'd have survived in the Championship.

 

Just admit it. The Trust, when you were chairman, should share the blame for helping to put the most incompetent businessman in Jersey, in charge of our old club, just because he threw you some shares.

 

"I never assumed the change in ownership would lead to a massive influx of cash". No, sh** Sherlock. Putting your hero in charge lead to a "massive outflow of cash", that has bankrupted us....

[Giordano]

Not having posted on here for ages I am not up to speed with the lingo on this site but i do recall that it still is an open forum so......

 

Ive never considered self-immolation a satisfactory way of sorting out anything.

 

Or, put another way, the only way to save ourselves is to kill ourselves approach......Some of you guys must like high risk games but i dont understand what you find so appealing about points deductions and relegation inflicted upon us through non-sporting means?

 

We can get relegated under our own steam thank you very much but im damned if im going to be buying barclays staff a drink for doing so. It beggars belief you can think in that way. With or without Lowe nobody was putting hands in pockets for our club.

 

They - All the names we know - are culpable in a long line to varying degrees - but to actively want the axe to fall---- death wish or what? Please resist the impulse to do a Nero and put pressure on the bank to rescind whatever conditions they have imposed seems practical and positive. I used to be a nihilist but i did not know so many saints fans still had that in them...

Edited 3 April, 2009 by Giordano

[saintwarwick]

As much as I dislike Lowe I think he does have a point.

 

Barclays can go **** themselves, they may well have killed our club, I'm gonna move my account.

 

Barclays killed the previous company I worked for. It was a small company that had a business account for 5 1/2 years but some 16 months ago on a Friday we had a phone call to say they had changed our business manager and the new one will be visiting on the next Monday to discuss our overdraft facility, the overdraft we had previously agreed some three months previous. On the day of the visit the new manager announced that we had until the Friday to pay the overdraft of otherwise the account would be shut down. He didn't want to see the full order books or discuss the overdraft which was being kept in line with the agreement. It was a short visit to basically say pay the overdraft within five days and sod the previous agreement or you as a business will be shut down. Five days later the administrators were called in and 8 people were on the dole. Barclays = w a n k e r s

[Window Cleaner]

. Barclays = w a n k e r s

 

 

But that's probably why they aren't taking government aid. They're cutting

their losses by any means. People who aren't hopelessly adrift have to pay to shore up those who are. Bet if we (Saints) were with the RBS we'd be AOK.

[eurosaint]

Give me strength, you really need to get back into the real world - if Barclays had an issue with Lowe they would have agreed to continue provided he stepped down. They had already paid down over £2m of the Wilde/Crouch overdraft.

 

Honest to God, you wonder how we got into this mess and you never have to look very far.

 

Steve Godwin out !!!

[Griffo]

Look around you, Steve. Read the papers. Smell the air. WE'RE IN THE WORST RECESSION FOR 80 YEARS. There's no money, there will be no money and the game is up for this club, I am afraid to say. Anyone turning up for the rest of the season is simply helping to pay Barclay's back.

 

If we'd been spared the Trust's attempts to get a fan on the board, by bending over as soon as Wilde and his team of spongers and egotists road into town, maybe, just maybe, we'd have survived in the Championship.

 

Just admit it. The Trust, when you were chairman, should share the blame for helping to put the most incompetent businessman in Jersey, in charge of our old club, just because he threw you some shares.

 

"I never assumed the change in ownership would lead to a massive influx of cash". No, sh** Sherlock. Putting your hero in charge lead to a "massive outflow of cash", that has bankrupted us....

Would you honestly, honestly care if there was no more SFC?

[um pahars]

Look around you, Steve. Read the papers. Smell the air. WE'RE IN THE WORST RECESSION FOR 80 YEARS. There's no money, there will be no money and the game is up for this club, I am afraid to say. Anyone turning up for the rest of the season is simply helping to pay Barclay's back.

 

Which is why if you have read any of my other posts you will clearly see that I too think we may well fold, as I think it will be impossible to come up with any funds given the financial crisis we find ourselves in.

 

Unless some benefactors let their hearts rule their head and pump some money in, then I think we're done for, as I can't see any bank providing cash to a fledgling consortium.

 

Which is also why I welcomed Barclay's support of both Crouch and Lowe in recent years, because I was aware that without it we were dead ducks (although you didn't seem as happy when Barclay's gave ther support and berated me for suggesting it was positive news, so I wonder how youre feeling now???).

 

"I never assumed the change in ownership would lead to a massive influx of cash". No, sh** Sherlock. Putting your hero in charge lead to a "massive outflow of cash", that has bankrupted us....

 

And if you go back and dig up all of my posts then you will see that I was first concerned about our financial status way back in 2005, but of course then it was just dismissed as anti Lowe rhetoric, despite it being patently obvious that any "established" club who gets relegated will have some serious financial problems.

 

You will also see that I said piecemeal cash injections would not solve our underlying problems and that I was also worried that our cist structure and set up would be very difficult to maintain on revenues of £13m-£15m.

 

And the cash has not just been flying out of the door in the years that Lowe was away.

 

In our first year down under Lowe we lost something like £10m out the door on normal operations (even after banking a £7m parachute payment).

 

We've been holed below the waterline ever since we were relegated and successive regimes have failed to patch up the hole.

 

I fully accept that some have even made the whole worse; Lowe in our first season down when a battle between Redknapp and SCW meant we were never in with a shout of promotion, the Executives in 2007 and their refusal to implement implement Plan B and lastly the all round disaster that is this season.

 

So if you want to solely pin the blame on Wilde for us going under, then I think you have a slightly blinkered view of how we got ourselves into this mess and are rather missing the bigger picture and the part played by Lowe and hs cabal.

[exit2]

Sorry but I dont get all this bad feeling aginst Barclays. Business is business! Im sorry to say that SLH was bad business.

[alpine_saint]

Sorry but I dont get all this bad feeling aginst Barclays. Business is business! Im sorry to say that SLH was bad business.

 

Exactly.