----- Original Message ----- > You seem to be suggesting that the pre-requisite for a fans take-over is > that a 'real' businessman has to step in first to save the club. I have to > say that I agree entirely - even given leadership and finance (possible at > a > York City but unimaginable on the scale of a Leeds Utd....) there would be > a > huge credibility gap, so that the creditors would indeed demand their > money > back rather than gambling on the track record of a 'businessman'.
If you are talking about the time of the AF takeover then you don't get it. The creditors at that time understandably wanted every penny (for themselves) that anyone making a bid could muster. It wasn't really a question of them leaving any money in or being able to get any more out. Nobody willingly left any money in that could have been got out, irrespective of the credibility of the new owners. Also irrespective of the credibility of the new owners, unless they repaid all debts in full and had money left over, the new owners would start their regime potless. Anyone who was in that position would probably have preferred to let the club go into administration as it would be cheaper for them. If you are talking about the current situation then I don't think that the creditors could demand their money immediately as schedules of payments have been agreed with the club. There may be some minor current creditors who might get jumpy but they are unlikely to be significant. > So, given that we 'need' Bates, we can't moan if the bar we have to get > over > to participate in the club is that much higher - he is after all a > businessman. It is not a given that we need Bates. What we needed was the Kransortium or a look-alike to get stage one out of the way. After "stage one", what was then needed was a second takeover or stage two by anyone who had the ability to pay the immediately pressing tax debts of just over a couple of million and who could then inject capital into the club. What we got was Bates who met the first criteria but who is now unwilling to meet the second. > If as fans, we're serious about running a football club, either stop > expecting free rides and pay what it costs to acquire a going (however > badly) concern, or start our own club up from scratch. Fans won't retain much credibility if they think thay are going to "run" a football club. Owning a football club is one thing but you have to leave the running of it to professionals in their fields. If the cost of running this club is going to be met exclusively from current income then the fans are paying full whack already for it -without any ownership attaching to their payment. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist 'I am in shock,' said Ferguson.
