If You're Still Looking For a Scapegoat....

[RobM]

I don't see how venting so much anger and scorn at one of the only two men who was genuinely weilling to risk his money on Saints makes any sense.

 

He bought shares.

He decided Lowe was to blame for the demise of our club.

He sided with Crouch.

He ousted Lowe to gain control of the club.

He then wrote a 'manifesto' that was, ultimately, bull shiit and a total pack of lies.

He promised things he could not deliver.

He brought in clowns to run the business/club.

He continued to promise 'investment'.

He failed.

He ran away.

We were left with a combination of clowns, ego's and mayhem.

He sided with Lowe, despite ousting him previously as the man to blame and somebody who was bad for our club.

Lowe came back.

 

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

Wilde is a ****. He is to blame for the demise of our football club. If he had not ousted Lowe we would still have a future... a boring, predictable future with no chance of success, but a future nonetheless. The position we are in is 100% down to the actions of Wilde.

[Guided Missile]

So you're saying that the problems at Merlion Group Limited have to do with Wilde's lack of business acumen and not the general collapse in the housing market? Or what? Bit of a crap argument if you ask me.

I hate to p!$$ on your chips, Danbert, but read this post from 2006 and the "crap argument" I was having re the Merlion Group, before the housing collapse:

24/06/06

Vectis,

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....

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 ..... 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 also 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.

PS. This thread is about Wilde. I think everyone knows that the majority on this site thinks Lowe is crap. For what it is worth, I think if Lowe swapped jobs with Wilde, Merlion would be the beneficiary. He would never run a company like that. Taking twice the post-tax profits as a dividend? Jeez, at least he took a pay cut when we got relegated.

 

Wilde is to business, what Pinnacle are to takeovers and your are to perceptive analysis...

Edited 20 May, 2009 by Guided Missile

[lenwilkins]

I think the work you did 'outing' Wilde for what he was, was excellent GM (as you also did with cross-dressing Dan the Blackburn man as well.)

 

However if Wilde thought Merlion was a busted flush, he was at least clever enough to milk it for all it was worth. He was of course a complete disaster for Saints along with his inspired choices of Dulieu and Hone. (I think Hoos was the only one of the three who did a good job.)

 

IMHO if you wanted to do a destruction derby on any business, the combination of Wilde and Lowe together would be pretty unbeatable. Perhaps they should do an anti-apprentice show on TV together.

[ottery st mary]

Guided Missile

 

John

 

As you know, I am not a fan of either of the failed business brains..Lowe and Wilde.

 

I have followed many of your posts over time and have seen your wonderful imput re Wilde and his business.. which has turned out very accurate. I have never seen a run down on the Lowe years in business..If you have done so please forgive me and kindly point me towards it as I am very interested to see how he has done in his many projects.

 

Whilst working in London, Someone once showed me a full listing of all his companies and associations with various businesses..I have lost contact and have no record of same now... If my memory serves me correctly..I did not see any money sucess through the years and particularly found it alarming the history/finance of the shelf company he fronted in the reverse takeover (or did I mis read that business or lack of substance to said old peoples homes business).I am sure you can refresh my memory re our friend Rupert...Would you be so kind. You are the best at that sort of thing and it may be worth reading in light of the Wilde stuff...In the meantime I will try to locate my old contact in the Financial world to remind me why Rupert was held as such an astute business brain by the likes of jonah and friends.

 

Mind you I can see why MPs and Lords get away with financial three card tricks...Like our money men running football clubs. Interesting to see what you produce old chap..

Bring back Rupes

[jonah]

I could be wrong but i thought i read somewhere that he drained the money from Merlion long before the recession struck.

 

IIRC there was one 12 month period where he took out over £2m in dividends whilst increasing Merlion's debt a further £2m by extending the overdraft - this was at a time when the housing market was clearly in a bubble and before the financial problems began in late 2007. He also exceeded his own stated rules on how much would be withdrawn in dividends (off the top of my head I think he changed from public to private limited company to help with this ruse). Then there are the 6-figure loans he got from Merlion. It was clear before the EGM this was somebody who saw nothing wrong with spending beyond your means, failing to plan for future problems and putting ego before the company's best interests. Still, at least he got some extra legroom for his £2m.

 

RinNY also has a fair point about Trant though - he was nearly as much to blame as Wilde, just without risking much of his own money or being the public face of the revolution. He supported Wilde and actively helped build up the boardroom lynch mob whilst lying through his teeth about putting money into the club. He didn't even bother turning up for the AGM when he was a Director, and of course he never responded to questions on his failure to invest the promised money (something Wilde at least addressed by trying to hide behind Takeover Panel rules).

[hughieslastminutegoal]

I blame Wilde equally for the debacle.

 

Lowe was a plain egotistical 'do no wrong' stupid amateur, completely out of his depth in football matters.

 

Wilde was weak and deceitful. He lied to us.

 

We wouldn't have had a Wilde if we hadn't had a Lowe.

 

All roads lead to Rome.