buctootim

No agenda, just wondered why people think we've had better results and often played better away from home. Cant cope with the extra pressure of fans expectations at home? nothing to lose away? statistical fluke? Any ideas?

Thing is tho, ignoring all the politics about RL - we are running the club without a sugar daddy or the sky cash that distorts the market. We are supported only by local money brought in through the turnstiles - and most fans are ****ed off about the players we can afford and how badly we are doing. Lots of people like the idea of a locally run, self sufficient club, but not the reality. Unless the rich owners of all the other clubs bugger off then were are still relatively poor, stuck in the CCC scrabbling around for the cash to employ a striker.

You and me both . Shame FF wasnt as sharp to see it for what it was intended.

Dear Mr Trousers. I'm sorry the world isnt as black and white as you would like it. Sometimes players like to consider more than one factor in making a decision, and then, scandalously I know, dont always tell their clubs or the press the real reason for deciding to leave.

Thanks for that. What are the FA rules on selling a ground, anyone know? Surely they wont take precedence over the administrators though.

Seems to me he's a form player -great when his mind is right. Lets hope that despite the interview he gave about wanting away that hes up for it.

NP, cheers. Sorry for one last negative post. I used to live near the Brighton Goldstone ground. The club couldnt repay a debt to its Chairman, secured on the ground - so he took possession and sold it. I had thought that would never happen because it would make him too unpopular and that no developer would touch the site because local people would boycott whatever was built there. In the event Toys R Us, Comet etc got built and of course people do shop there.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends whether he can outbid the flat developers, port owners, marina developers or anyone else who might be interested. Who knows who would be interested in the leftovers of the club and how much they would pay?

No more Bon Jovi even if it saves the club! Aviva are probably amongst those with the most to lose from the club folding. More likely somebody who hasnt been paid for three months would push the button. I dont know if we have anyone like that but it could come from Barclays, the bar suppliers, kit suppliers, Revenue & Customs or anyone of dozens of other places.

The administrators would have to assess all the offers they receive and decide which would return the most money to those creditors of the club. Maybe someone who wants to buy the whole club would have the best offer, but the real danger is that most money will be offered by those who just want to buy specific assets leaving the club well and truly ****ed.

The debts belong to the organisation -regardless of whether its a listed PLC, private company, Industrial & Provident or charity. Upon admistration a pro rata payout to the creditors would be arranged, the amount dependent on what the assets are sold for.

What does an insurance company do with an ex football stadium? Apart from the occasional Bon Jovi gig its only good for what it was built for. The only real use apart from as SMS is to knock it down and build something else - and I'd guess the cleared site would be worth a lot less than Aviva lent. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they have agreed to softer repayment terms for the loan - maybe interest only at a reduced rate for a period of time in the hope things improve.

The listing isnt important. The only thing which counts is whether you can service the debts.

Ive drawn some straight line graphs extrapolating the past year onwards for the next 10 years. I can say without doubt we will be in the Tyro League whilst Barclays will be capitalised at slightly less than Eastleigh Credit Union and the Bank of England interest rate will continue to be cut until it is at -346%. Or maybe things will reverse and improve.

The danger is that the offers for the individual assets of the club will be greater than the offer for the whole club as a going concern. I can imagine, for example, ABP buying the SMS site for £10m and David Loyds buying Staplewood for £2m - but I cant see anyone paying more than £3m for the club as whole unless a very large part of the debt is wiped out.

Perefectly acceptable in most social circles as long as you leave the kids out of it.

Gilletts ugly. Must be Schneiderlin.

I think its as simple as wanting to prove people wrong. Lowe is an innovator / maverick / whatever. He has rarely done things the conservative orthodox way of most football Chairmen. This means in the fan's eyes, rightly, he is much more personally closely associated with the outcomes of decisions made as Chairman. He has had very real successes but the overall verdict currently, where it really matters on the pitch, is of things not having worked out. I'd guess he just wants to right the club and prove his ideas. As mentioned above, if the other Chairman hadn't made such a hash of things he would never have got a second chance.

Ive never understood that either. When they were both appointed I assumed Wotte would be the head guy. Imagine my surprise.....

I think it was poo pooed at the time because the value of the club was much higher and therefore the chances of a fans buyout much less. 25% of the shares would provide a very strong launch platform - about £1.5m I think at todays price.

FF and TT. I think what you and others have done for Ron is fantastic. For what its worth, as somebody who donated in a modest way to the appeal, I think Ron should just be given the money as a thank you for all the pleasure he gave us fans. I'm not sure its riht for the GITR committee to decide how the money should be used - that should be a matter just for Ron and his wife. The more it can be made to look like a grateful gift from fans and the less like a charity case dole out the better IMO.

I'd guess both the board and the bank now realise the tap was shut off too much in the first half of this season. Lets hope its turned back on a little for January.

Brighton's new 22,500 capacity stadium is now estimated to cost £60m! so I cant see moving from SMS and starting again at Staplewood would release anywhere near enough cash. IMO the biggest priority should be to try to get the enormous business rates bill reduced, or if it came to it, trying to adapt an existing ground into football like Brighton did. The sports centre or the Rosebowl might work.

As a club our fixed costs are quite high - the mortgage and business rates on SMS particularly. IMO Barclays and Norwich Union / Aviva are likely to take the pragmatic view that they are more likely to get their money back long term if we continue in the higher revenue CCC. We would have little chance of servicing the debts in League 1 so it would be in their long term interests to advance us a little more cash for this season in an effort to avoid the drop.

The most interesting thing said at the AGM was Lowes apology for the late date - due to the time taken to get agreement with Saints creditors. No-one else seems to have picked up on this. That fact that club and creditors have recently agreed to some form of plan indicates administration isnt imminent. What the terms of that agreement are will dictate what the future brings. Anyone care to guess? IMO it will contain some provision for holding on to players in Jan and splashing a little cash in order to try to preserve CCC status.