Fitzhugh Fella

I'm sorry Saint Chris, I did not intend to sound "pompous". My excuse is this has been covered in umpteen different threads and people seem frustratingly reluctant to grasp the fuller implications of Liebherr's purchase of SFC. However my reply was abrubt and I have since apologised to Topgun. I accept he felt a genuine need to ask the question and in my next post I will try and explain where I was originaly coming from. I wish I had given this fuller answer initially without being so dismissive to TopGun. Hope that justifies you calling me an idiot btw.

Part of the deal when ML took over was all these questions (ie the price he was paying for the club) would be confidential. So it is irrelevant unless of course you are a creditor. I think you can take it as read that no one got back what they were owed. And as for the shareholders nothing. I was a minor shareholder, the company went bust, I lost out. End off.

I think you miss the point. It is not WE any more it is HIM He owns SFC lock stock and barrel - we have no debt or financial obligations but as fans we have no rights. All your questions are completely irrelevant. Hope this helps.

Everthing is relative I suppose - to be debt free in the old Div 3 - 20 years ago would make us probably the strongest club in that League but now we live in the age of the Sugar Daddy so who knows "how wealthy" we are. All I know that in the 124 year history of the Saints - we have always been in debt and mostly had a mortgage on our ground. Now we haven't but, of course, we no longer control or even have a say in our own destiny.

Well that's a fair question but LC is not too happy that he was basically conned out of paying it, therefore it wasn't done as a charity gesture (his heart was ruling his head at this point). IE Pinnacle told him the money would be there in a few days but in the meantime etc etc. He had belatedly hitched his pony onto the Pinnacle wagon and was being strung along by a man who's name I know (on the original e mail) but won't go public with again just yet. From what I can gather it was he that led, Lynam. MLT and Crouch "up the garden path". FWIW I also heard that Pinnacle were already looking to sell the club on, and again the source for that story was very near the action. Pinnacle may have started off well-intentioned (Lynam and MLT) but their backers were never really interested yet never told them.

Beattie lazy? I have never seen a harder working centre-forward apart perhaps from Rooney.

Paul I don't think Fialka had much to do with things but he allowed himself to be presented as the face of Pinnacle without realising the implications. Certainly his name was not one of the 6 names that were originally presented to Mark Fry as being part of Pinnacle.

All crimes are history doesn't mean they shouldn't be investigated and the culprits brought to justice. And no offence but just so you get your facts right - Crouch paid the 500 thou + on behalf of Pinnacle who were then putting up all sorts of sob stories as to why they couldn't pay. I got that from the horses's mouth and he was none too pleased.

Absolutely 100% spot on.

19C you say we are a poor club with a wealthy owner. I know where you are coming from but in fact we are not a poor club. Poor clubs have debts and don't own their own (Premiership) ground. Every penny we take throught the turnstiles etc etc can go towards funding the club - that is not a bad place to be in even without ML's euros.

I hate to say this but they got as far as they did on the back of someones name who we all idolised and trusted 100%. Were Matt not involved they would not have got anywhere near exclusivity.

Initially I was very pro Pinnacle, mainly because of what I was being fed back from friends of MLT (in who I trusted implicitly) but once Lynam started posting on here with all the inconsistencies and then that chap in North London was unveiled I smelt a rat and if you recall released details of Pinnacle's original introductory e mail to Fry on here. That same day I recieved phone calls from Lynam, Crouch and MLT with the former threatening to call the police and the latter accusing me of wrecking the deal. Not a very nice weekend. I remain angry then that they were still going along with the charade even though most of us on here were waking up and smelling the coffee. Those five weeks wasted will be crucial to our welfare this season and you only have to look at the state we are currently in to realise those wasted weeks will take months to overcome.

We have to be patient. Christ, poor old Pardew is even probably making the tea at Staplewood at present - no assistants can't be helping his task. I fully expect us to still be -10 points come September. He inherited an absolute dogs dinner and we have no right to expect otherwise. However I remain irked that the main reason we are where we are is because Fry gave a bunch of chancers 5 week exclusivity and too many influential people threw their weight behind Pinnacle without properly checking their authenticity. In a few years it hopefully will not matter but sometimes good intentions no matter how well meaning can be harmful.

Pinnacle's empty posturing lost us 5+ vital weeks - can you imagine how much further ahead of the game we would be had Pardew and Markus Liebherr had been in charge since May? Pinnacle and those that backed them have got off lightly.

Bradford railway station post match about 6pm Saturday evening - me and a mate trying for a train because the driver and two others in our car were banged up. It was like a scene out of Clockwork Orange as the station was deserted and it was snowing. All of a sudden 20 Leeds fans appeared on the station and it took about 2 seconds for them to realise they had 2 of the enemy trapped. What happened next wasn't nice!!!!

Gawd - its just a football club isn't it. I'd hoped the politics and spin was in the past and best left to the government. People in this country are fed up of PR and spin - honesty is the best way.

How can anyone argue with this reasoning? Major surgery is required both physical and mental.

I still can't get the Edwin Hawkins singers tune "Oh Happy Day" out of my head. Was it really in the charts 40 years ago this month - seems like yesterday.

Well, at least I know what makes NickH tick now - the Daily Mail? :(O Now where are my leather sandals?

There is a difference, is there not, between overspending and overspending wisely?

Yes it was Art, AO I can live with Hone and Dulieu I couldn't.

I always had Steve Baker down as our worst ever player but to give him his due he did his best and never shirked a tackle. I still haven't worked out (or have I) why we signed Pulis but have a strong feeling there is more to it than meets the eye. I can't also work out why we signed Tommy Forecast on 6 and a half year contract.

Best go back to the Morning Star then I guess - is it still printed?

Tommy Lawton signed for Notts C when they were a Div 3 side, just after the war - caused a big stir at the time.

Can I just ask what's wrong with reading the Guardian?