Beer Engine

The point of the League's Insolvency Policy is to ensure that no club can gain a competitive advantage by living beyond its means and then walking away from the debt. The obvious scenario would be where a club (SFC for example) gambled huge sums of money it doesn't have in trying to gain promotion to the Premiership. The theory is that clubs would be encouraged to do this if they thought that they could avoid having to pay their debts by going into administration and subsequently selling the good bits to a Phoenix company that would take the League share and other assets free of debt and at a knock-down price. Unfortunately, we gambled £7.5 million that we don't have on a team whose only achievement has been to stay ahead of Charlton. Had we been near the top of the Championship at the time we went into administration, then we might have understood the sanction better on an emotional level. How pathetic is that. We can't even cheat properly!

As far as I'm concerned B*****mouth can **** off into the sea with their tartan shopping trollies .. The Mariners are, like us, a maritime community who play in stripes ... they were ****ed over by ITV digital and the football league's negligence in not getting parent company guarantees from Carlton and Granada .... we must offer them our support

Don't get me wrong, the Football League are meddling in something that they patently have no feel for - law. And they are generally a bunch of worthless, pompous incompetents. In real law, there are broad equitable principles that are invoked to try and make sure that no-one suffers real injustice on account of the strict application of technical legal rules. Principles like "noone will profit from their own wrongdoing" for example would prevent someone from claiming an insurance payout on the life of someone they murdered (assuming that the policy was silent on the issue). So, the Football League have probably got it right by penalising SFC because Rupes was trying to take the ****** based on a technicality ! Was prepared for this from day 1 of admin but still curiously stunned and shocked ..

There is zero percent chance of winning an appeal. What the League have done is right and fair. Even after administration, the "Investors" section on the OS said that SLH was a company whose principal business was the running of a football club. The useless ****wits who thought that they could escape the 10 point deduction on a technicality didn't even think to remove the self-incriminating evidence from their own website. Uselss f***ers. If I were a shareholder in SLH I would seriously contemplate suing old Cherry Face.

It's the correct decision and inevitable ... but an absolute disaster for SFC all the same. The decision to postpone administration until after the end-March deadline must have been the product of extreme stupidity and/or arrogance. As things stand, I think that the 10 point deduction at the start of next season is the least of our problems.

Exactly

But who or what are people supposed to donate money to and what is that money used for?

The club could fold - like any other business. But my own guess is that SFC is more like a Leeds than a Boston or Bradford PA. If you can be arsed to read the history of Leeds on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_Football_Club_Limited or look at the court cases that followed their 15 point deduction or indeed the case concerning MK Dons, you will get some idea of the complexity of the issues involved. We're talking a very toxic mix of the League's Articles of Association, the huge grey area of the League's discretion in relation to its own Insolvency Policy, the FA's role as supervisor of the Football League, the rules governing Administration of companies, wrongful trading, the relationship between SLH plc and SFC Lmited, the relationship between a football club (whatever that is) and the legal entity that owns it, a phenomenal loan secured against SMS and a shed-load of overdraft that Barclays will be very lucky to see a penny of ... not to mention the pressing issue of how to fund "the club" (whatever that is) and the costs of the administration whilst all these issues are sorted out ... oh, not forgetting 1 and possibly 2 relegations ... or worse ... Bates was able to transfer the assets of the old Leeds United company to his new company on favourable commercial terms without suffering an immediate second relegation (to CC League 2) ultimately because HMRC, the Football League and other bidders ran out of tarmac. The Football League clearly wanted Leeds to survive and exercised its considerable discretion to penalise Leeds 2007 relatively leniently .. having wanted to believe Bates' flimsy back of a fag-packet assurances about partially compensating unsecured creditors if Leeds got back to the Premiership. If there is a figure as committed and as well backed as Bates looking to buy the assets of Southampton Football Club (whatever that is) cheaply from SLH plc and/or SFC Ltd then we are probably entering the "chicken" phase of a game of brinkmanship involving Norwich Union, Barclays, HMRC and other creditors, the prospective new owner and the Football League that will probably end up with us starting next season either in League 2 or in League 1 with a further points deduction. If this game goes on for more than a few days then presumably SFC Limited itself will go into administration and a little more time may be bought to stave off creditors. This protection does not, however, provide funds to enable the "club" to keep trading (at a loss) in the interim ... and it was this imperative, I think, that ultimately saved Leeds .. ironically.. because Bates realised that time was on his side ... the longer matters went unresolved, the more chance there was of the club folding completely ... so in the end it was Bates or nothing ... and all objectors and competitors realised further resistance was futile ... Bates went nuclear and won ... It is interesting to note that Leeds United 2007 Limited, having sloughed off the £30 million or so debts of the old Leeds company, made a profit of £1 million in its first year in League 1 .... Obviously, we live in a very different financial climate from 2 years ago but .. fingers crossed .. COYR

.. that the Football league have approached the Blue Square Premier League to see if they would be prepared to accept Southampton if Saints are expelled from the FL owing to financial irregularities ... .. the story surfaced as a result of something said by a mate of some Chester fan who is apparently a coach at Southampton ... sounds highly dubious ... presumably this is complete bull$hit and just a case of desperate Chester fans clutching at made up straws ...? .. but in these troubled times ... it's on the http://www.devachat.com forum in the thread entitled "Southampton" ...

No midfield, no defence and very little threat up front - midfield was surrendered from the off and we played a pointless hoofball game to forwards and wide men who have no first touch or pace ... IMHO the scoreline flattered us ... and Charlton are no more than a mid-table League 1 outfit

10,000 maybe more

The administrator stated at the press conference that only Jones remains of the original SFC board plus one new bloke whose name I didn't catch. Quote: "He [Lowe] is no longer involved in the football club or the holding company" Sounds like he's gone then.

If you look on the OS under Investors the opening statement about SLH PLC is:- "The Company is the holding company of a group whose principal activity is the operation of a professional football club. Chances of the Football league letting us get away with it on a transparent technicality are very slim IMHO

Lowe was on the board of SFC Limited and I've seen no official statement that says he has resigned.

3 - minimum

The AIM Statement of this morning siad: "The Board announces today that it has appointed Mark Fry and David Hudson of Begbies Traynor (South) LLP as joint administrators to the Company. Rupert Lowe, Andrew Cowen and Michael Wilde have resigned as directors of the Company with immediate effect. Southampton Football Club Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, is unaffected by these insolvency proceedings." Obviously Lowe is trying to put some distance between SLH PLC and SFC Ltd for the purpose of avoiding the 10 point penalty (can't see that working BTW) but I can't see anything that says he's resigned from SFC Limited's board. Oh Christ I've bought 8 tickets for Saturday! Please provide me with proof that I've got this totally wrong! Aaaaggghhh

Old rosy cheeks has resigned from the board of Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC. But, ominously, I have not seen anything that says he's resigned from the board of Southampton Football Club Limited. The board of Southampton Football Club Limited still seems to comprise the usual suspects:- Michael Wilde (Chairman) Rupert Lowe Andrew Cowen David Jones Please tell me I've missed something! Anyone for Curveball?

I think ultimately the liquidation issue will be down to whether or not the development value of the land on which SMS stands is worth more than the 25 million we apparently still owe to Aviva. Even if SLH and SFC Limited go into liquidation, presumably the Phoenix company can still apply for SFC's football Share from the Football League and enter into a lease or refinancing/purchase agreement with Aviva re. SMS. The net result (after a lot of anxious moments) is likely to be Saints starting next season in the third division at SMS with a points deduction but without the burden of the club's current debts and without the current crop of idiots in charge? I would have thought that gates would go up in a strange new era/ backs against the wall sort of way ... I'd take 4 tickets for more or less every home game in those circumstances

Just bought 8 tickets - first match of the season - don't care if we get relegated as long as old rosy cheeks slings his hook

Who gives a s**t what Nick Illingsworth thinks about SFC or anything else for that matter. Instead of alternately carping and brown-nosing why doesn't he get off his backside and make enough money to (a) buy the club and then (b) invest in it? Until then, he's just another bloke sounding off in the pub ...

It is very much in Aviva's interests to ensure that SFC keeps going because without SFC Aviva would be left with a 24 million unpaid debt secured against a stadium which would have no value beyond that of the land on which it stands. My prediction is that Aviva will INCREASE its loan facility to SLH to allow it to pay off Barclays and have a small amount of working capital available. I suspect that Aviva have been playing hardball with Barclays - saying that they will refinance SLH on the condition that Barclays writes off 50% of the 4 million owing to them. The suspension of shares is the result of brinkmanship - Aviva saying to Barclays - look -you will get nothing at all if you don't take some sort of hit. Hope I'm right - in which case this could be good news. Bring on Charlton COYR