Company accounts

[SMURF]

Does that not suggest that they saw after those 3 months what it was really worth? As to needing finance are you saying that they originally said that they had the cash or finance in place and then conceded that they didn't and would need to raise the money somehow? Cos if it's just a case that they didn't have the cash but had the finances in place via some other legitimate means as long as you get your money it's no concern of yours how they raise that money is it?

 

I initially had no knowledge of these people

I was proceeding with the sale to a group from Boston(who are still there)

The owners approached Bill Lodey and behind my back went to the FL to try and get approval of the fit and proper test

The League then got intouch with myself

I met the party and their Legal advisers confirmed the price l agreed with the Boston consortium

The agreed to match that price pay a fee for 3 Months exclusivty and confirmed it was a cash offer

Not wishing to doubt or offend them did not ask for proof and kicked the Boston guys into touch

Their main condition was that Rob be retained in the role as Manager

3 months later they dropped the offer by 2 M and conceeded they needed finance

With that l went over to Boston to face up to some very angry people and flew back full of red bull at 8.30 Sat to go and watch us beat Peterborough and felt l could not dispose of Rob in early March as nothing was to be gained by that

They will not be buying the Club although at the time l felt that their intentions were genuine and they had the cover of staff we did not have and could have made a good case for community involvement

[DIV3SOUTH]

Just read the whole thread. Only one thing to write. He doesn't love the vale. He bought something he thought he'd be good at but unfortunately knew nothing about. He probably thought it would be dead easy for him. I thought he loved Coventry?

[SMURF]

That appears to be a good answer.If Nathan Smith is sold in the summer will the proceeds go into the team or to pay of loan account? If the latter will the selling price reduce?

 

My view on all income the Club makes should be retained by the Club

Equally any player has value and any futures sell on clause should sit on the balance sheet if a value can be put on it

[valeparklife]

Norman, firstly, thank you for coming on here and answering these questions.

 

Second, something I'd like to know is how you expect to recoup the £3.7m debt/loan that is owed to you?

 

A lot of us are worried that:

 

a) you intend to recoup this by adding this figure onto the asking price of the club (which will be very over-bloated and will put off potential buyers).

 

b) you will sell the club, but keep the ground and charge us rent for xx amount of years until you have your money back.

 

I would be concerned with either option personally as neither will benefit Port Vale Football Club.

[SMURF]

Norman, firstly, thank you for coming on here and answering these questions.

 

Second, something I'd like to know is how you expect to recoup the £3.7m debt/loan that is owed to you?

 

A lot of us are worried that:

 

a) you intend to recoup this by adding this figure onto the asking price of the club (which will be very over-bloated and will put off potential buyers).

 

b) you will sell the club, but keep the ground and charge us rent for xx amount of years until you have your money back.

 

I would be concerned with either option personally as neither will benefit Port Vale Football Club.

 

When l sell it will be the Club Ground and all assets

Buying a Club is the least of one costs so if they cannot afford to buy it for cash the defo will not be able to pay to run it so l should not concern yourself in putting anybody off l try to do that when l first meet any interested party

 

I see the sale as an adoption process you would go through for a child and that bit l will concede will have some emotion but beyound that l have a duty of care for the future of the Club

[smithie]

Just a suggestion here, but if you had the time Norman would you do a "Chairman's Hour" on here once a week/fortnight?

 

It seems like a good idea to me and would allow you and others to raise issues and get answers.

[SMURF]

Just a suggestion here, but if you had the time Norman would you do a "Chairman's Hour" on here once a week/fortnight?

 

It seems like a good idea to me and would allow you and others to raise issues and get answers.

 

Only if

1 no abuse

2 Understood that some info cannot be disclosed

 

As stated earlier this was once a good forum to understand real issues but in being open just was inudated with abuse

That said l want to undo some of my short comings and try to overcome a lot of under investment/neglect of the previous 10 years of my ownership

[smithie]

Free

 

How time flies

[JOHNNYAITCH]

I initially had no knowledge of these people

I was proceeding with the sale to a group from Boston(who are still there)

The owners approached Bill Lodey and behind my back went to the FL to try and get approval of the fit and proper test

The League then got intouch with myself

I met the party and their Legal advisers confirmed the price l agreed with the Boston consortium

The agreed to match that price pay a fee for 3 Months exclusivty and confirmed it was a cash offer

Not wishing to doubt or offend them did not ask for proof and kicked the Boston guys into touch

Their main condition was that Rob be retained in the role as Manager

3 months later they dropped the offer by 2 M and conceeded they needed finance

With that l went over to Boston to face up to some very angry people and flew back full of red bull at 8.30 Sat to go and watch us beat Peterborough and felt l could not dispose of Rob in early March as nothing was to be gained by that

They will not be buying the Club although at the time l felt that their intentions were genuine and they had the cover of staff we did not have and could have made a good case for community involvement

 

Thank you for the response

[smithie]

I agree that abuse is unacceptable and serves only to cloud the real issues.

 

Many thanks for your replies.

[pjg1876]

Free

 

How time flies ��

 

To be fair, I think he meant before his ownership

[Animal]

Haven’t posted on here for what seems like an eternity…

 

As much as I don’t agree with a lot of the decisions our chairman has made…as much as I don’t agree with the manner in which he has dealt with various aspects of the running of the club….and as much as I do fear for the future of our club, I personally feel that there are too many people that are still stuck in the V2001 era…where the finances, asset and sale position of the club were our (the fans) problem and our responsibility….as we owned the club.

 

I understand that a football club goes beyond being just a ‘business’ when it comes to the fans and I appreciate that owners will come and go…but when we were protesting and campaigning to oust the old regime, we did so because we wanted the club to be owned by an outside investor(s)….we wanted to take this risk, as fans, and hand it over to someone else. Obviously, in the end, administration forced that to happen but that’s what we all wanted…and we had a right to push for that scenario…. We had information on potential interested parties, business plans made public, interim board of directors etc….

 

We all have our right to express an opinion, to comment on decisions made and appointments made on and off the pitch, ask questions and of course air those views on social media etc…. but I don’t think a campaign of trying to force the current owner out of the club is the way to go……..it’s a dangerous tactic and doing so has no guarantees of improving the current situation and in my opinion has a high risk of triggering something far worse.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Only if

1 no abuse

 

Totally agree but one also has to accept that criticism can be perceived as abuse by the person on the receiving end of it.

 

Perhaps we could have some sort of moderator proactively monitoring what is going on and deciding what is and isn't abuse and those taking part agree to be bound by that moderator's decisions, with temporary 'bans' during the duration of the debate for anyone going too far and rapid removal of abusive posts? An extension of how this forum works anyway.

 

Of course the moderator would have to be acceptable to all parties so this idea maybe goes too far.

[onestepatatime]

Only if

1 no abuse

2 Understood that some info cannot be disclosed

 

As stated earlier this was once a good forum to understand real issues but in being open just was inudated with abuse

That said l want to undo some of my short comings and try to overcome a lot of under investment/neglect of the previous 10 years of my ownership

 

 

I, too would like to take this opportunity of saying thanks Smurf for coming on here and trying to answer queries raised. I am not on facebook or twitter like many, many others so don't really understand what goes on there other than to read snippets of abuse by either you or others on there. My suggestion is that hopefully OVF can open up a decent, logical, reasoned question and answer forum for you and the genuinely interested in Vale people.

 

We cannot of course keep off here the idiots or those who will resort to abuse but there are massively more of us truly heartfelt Vale fans than there are the handful of WUM's etc.

 

As a regular poster on here and one I hope who puts forward reasoned thoughts, I would ask that you ignore any such idiotic posts and not resort to involving yourself in inane banter with those that clearly do not have our Club's interests at heart.

 

I echo smithie's post number 191 and feel a regular interjection on your valued time on OVF may prove very beneficial to Valiants who hopefully can then understand more about you as a person and current custodian of our Club.

[Tomo]

Just a suggestion here, but if you had the time Norman would you do a "Chairman's Hour" on here once a week/fortnight?

 

It seems like a good idea to me and would allow you and others to raise issues and get answers.

 

This doesn't seem like a bad idea to be honest. As long as there's no abuse, some bridges could be built between the supporters & the owner/club, which is desperately needed right now.

 

Even better if ideas & feedback from the fans (for example the recent suggestions on marketing/promotion in previous threads) could be passed on.