Time for Norman Smurthwaite to put a genuine price tag on the club and go

[old sage]

Let's all sit back and digest Malcolm's fine opening piece. The first thing I really struggle to understand is how, given the vast amount of information and actual dishonourable events and quotes made by the owner himself that there is a single, genuine Vale supporter who can still support this man.

 

These people slam the likes of Tim Barber, ST , Beza and myself to name a few who for some time now could sense the current episode starting to unravel before other 'non- political' fans. That is fair enough but when posters on here rubbish the likes of myself for our beliefs of course we are going to respond by trying to explain just why we are so disenchanted with Smurthwaite and so slowly this 'dirty linen' is put on such as OVF. Once again we still have a diminishing band of 'Smurfets' dissing our comments and so the accusations still continue to unfold. Can't these people see that they are actually fuelling the debate with their disrespectful opinions.

 

Believe me if I was to break personal trusts which I would never do, I could fetch out a lot more dirty washing. In fact I could bring a laundry basket full.

 

For the Club's owner to think that any potential buyer will pay for the many mistakes made by him. This quite frankly is simply astounding. I do wonder just what the asking price will be if he was to stay and drag us out of the football league £10 -£12 million. As I say it's ridiculous.

 

I do genuinely believe that if the owner has accrued as much as he and others would have us believe then surely he would have invested his money more sensibly instead of 'rooting around the scrappings' of the football pyramid.

 

A word of advice to the owner would be to watch an episode or two of 'Homes Under The Hammer' where he will learn that to make a profit that you must buy a house in a poor state and improve it. Unfortunately owner seems to think that it works the other way around! Utterly amazing.

 

To prevent more money being invested by the 'Bank of Smurthwaite' I suggest that he cuts his loses and sells the Club for the best offer which I suggest is around the figure that he acquired it for himself. Hand on heart can he sensibly claim to have improved Port Vale during his tenure?

[Howjy04]

What's Howjy's and Super Valiant's reason for defending the owner then ? that is what I'm struggling to comprehend?

 

Why am I defending him?Im just giving reasons why the likes of yourself should back off.He has said he is selling,you stated yourself "We should sell to the hedge funders,at least we will have a quick death".Who do you think is going to buy this club,at any price.Oh ,I know,the hedgefunders,Pluckanumberoutoftheair Ltd.

What is the common denominator with

Tim,OS and FST.I can't quite get my head around it.Sp.Trumpet has thrown me a bit aswell.Are the local company going to put in a revised bid?Watch those cars when you start demonstrating ,during the matches,on the carpark.

[Howjy04]

Mattholl has been working for the club.

Carpetman does business with Norman.

Like I've said before, they put their own wellbeing before the good of the club they say they support.

I don't knock that.

Fair play.

Tim,OS and FST have all had their noses put out of joint by the owner.I'm not sure where you fit in ST.

[Howjy04]

In my opinion a daft post. No he isn't going to write off the debt (so you do agree that he hasn't put money into the club but loaned it) the point is because he is completely out of his depth in this role that debt will continue to grow and grow as a result of his daft decisions. So the inevitable outcome is that he will continue to run up growing debts and make the price of buying the club totally unrealistic.

 

Whichever way you look at it, we are between a rock and a hard place. He appears to be so stubborn that he will continue to drag down both the value and reputation of club.

 

In my opinion of course

So how will it change with new owners?I know,a well run business owned by well meaning people who will **** off as soon as it goes **** up,because they won't be putting in unlimited funding.According to some people 3.7m is the least an owner should be putting in.Loans or whatever can be turned into equity if required.Whats the difference?We keep getting "Why don't we pay better wages?"We can only pay 60% of revenue.Do the maths Bert.

[Bert Llewellyn]

So how will it change with new owners?I know,a well run business owned by well meaning people who will **** off as soon as it goes **** up,because they won't be putting in unlimited funding.According to some people 3.7m is the least an owner should be putting in.Loans or whatever can be turned into equity if required.Whats the difference?We keep getting "Why don't we pay better wages?"We can only pay 60% of revenue.Do the maths Bert.

 

The point I and others are making is that he does appear to be willing to sell without getting hi loans back. If he converted them into equity then the club becomes a much better proposition for potential buyers.

 

The reason for his debt is almost totally down to his mistakes and there is zero evidence that he will stop making them and continue to blame everyone else apart from himself.

 

We will have to differ on this one. I'm focusing on a vital 3 points on Saturday.

[Howjy04]

The point I and others are making is that he does appear to be willing to sell without getting hi loans back. If he converted them into equity then the club becomes a much better proposition for potential buyers.

 

The reason for his debt is almost totally down to his mistakes and there is zero evidence that he will stop making them and continue to blame everyone else apart from himself.

 

We will have to differ on this one. I'm focusing on a vital 3 points on Saturday.

 

And everyone else should be doing likewise Bert,including myself.

[valiant_593]

It's nothing to do with any spat, it's because I and many others can see the damage Norman is doing to the football club I love. He is causing serious damage, and is making us a laughing stock.

 

In answer to your question about writing off the debt. If I had the money Norman reportedly has, with the way I feel about Port Vale, and the clear evidence that every plan I've ever come up with has failed, yes, I'd write it off. If, as he keeps saying it is effecting his health, I'd probably decide that time spent with the only thing more important to me than Port Vale, my family, was more valuable than money.

 

However, I'd like to think that if I was in charge of the club, I'd have done a damn sight more to ensure that income was increased to bridge the gap, thus negating the need to pump £80k per month into the club. I certainly wouldn't base my plan for success on luck, that's for sure.

 

No chance would anyone write off 3.7 million. Even if Norman were a lifelong vale fan he wouldn't do that. You talk about his constant mistakes but that would be one of his biggest!

[Family Stand Terrier]

No chance would anyone write off 3.7 million. Even if Norman were a lifelong vale fan he wouldn't do that. You talk about his constant mistakes but that would be one of his biggest!

For who? Port Vale? I'll be honest, I don't care if it's a mistake for Norman Smurthwaite. It would be anything but for the football club.

 

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[old sage]

Tim,OS and FST have all had their noses put out of joint by the owner.I'm not sure where you fit in ST.

The only thing that has been put out of joint in my case is with regard to the Club that I follow.

[old sage]

No chance would anyone write off 3.7 million. Even if Norman were a lifelong vale fan he wouldn't do that. You talk about his constant mistakes but that would be one of his biggest!

He has got simply no chance of recouping the money that he has put into the Club during the period of his mismanagement.

 

He should cut his loses and get what he can.

[Essex Vale]

No chance would anyone write off 3.7 million. Even if Norman were a lifelong vale fan he wouldn't do that. You talk about his constant mistakes but that would be one of his biggest!

 

 

No it would not, his biggest mistake would be to hang on and continue to cover the losses that have been incurred because of his management/owner decisions. Then at some point in the future when he runs out of money or decides that his £3.7 Million has now become something like £7M or £8M and that is too much he would have to go into administration. At that point new owners could pick up the club at a knock down price and Norman would be say £8M out of pocket. So selling now is quite a good idea even if it means walking away with £3.7M less in your pocket. Doing that now will end his losses, the longer he continues the longer he is putting his signature against a blank cheque.

 

Potential owners are not stupid, if they think we will go into admin they will sit tight and then pick up the pieces at a knock down price, the Chairman needs to convince them to buy now.

[bookworm]

would you take a loss ewd.

[Erniemossrules]

He is only creating a smoke screen to cover what he already knows Vale could possibly go down and try to cover his ar*e if they do.

He has already pocketed 350k towards his exit and is hoping some mug comes along and offers him more than he could possibly expect. If Vale get relegated surely it is worth even less in Div 2.If he was serious about keeping us in Div 1 he would have invested some of the money in getting some better players in.

There is no good future really because if we are relegated he will come up with his usual comments about cutting the budget and blaming anyone but himself for the situation he has created with his bumbling decisions.

[Fosse69]

What are the consequences of Admin? As I understand it, if the club goes into admin, as we have done previously, but as the ground is now a separate entity it would be protected from Admin and still remain Smurf`s property which he could rent to the club. Would it be better or worse for the club to be bought out before admin without the ground, than after admin? A consideration for a local buyer?

[Family Stand Terrier]

Tim,OS and FST have all had their noses put out of joint by the owner.I'm not sure where you fit in ST.

Nonsense. I've criticised, and praised Smurf long before he embarrassed himself on twitter insulting me. I care about Port Vale, not who currently owned it. I would love it if Vale were successful with Norman in charge, but when he makes the same mistakes over and over, I don't sit still and let it go. What I can do about it is limited, but given the by their very definition, fans forums and social media are quick and simple ways of speaking your mind, that's what I do. If Synectics take over and make us a success, I stand to make nothing other than the pleasure of seeing Vale do well in a position of strength. Exactly the same as I would if Smurf made us a success. Claiming people have personal vendettas or they're on some crusade to get rid of Smurf is just petty squabbling. The truth is, we don't like how Smurf is damaging the club, so we're expressing our opinions. Nothing more nothing less.

 

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