Administrator's report

Nick Wall wrote:

It is not who was put off by Brent's friends. It was who was put off because Brenda didn't market the club properly. There were no "dogs of war" in April. When it became cloudy that the old directors were using Heaney to front a bid (and please no-one try and deny that) some people acting in the best interests of PAFC (in their opinion) believed he had no money. They were right. Buttivant confused the issue by throwing his hat into the ring. Did he have any money - no. By then Heaney had been given preferential status with his Ridsdale, Stapleton and Batley connections. At that point Brenda wasn't looking for other options. There was no-one to scare off. For four months there could have been no other bidders.

If Heaney had the money the club was his.

I participated in the campaign against Brenda, I participated in the campaign against Stapleton. My bottom line was that I didn't want anyone from the old regime getting control of the club.

I would do the same tomorrow.

I also firmly believe that if the supporters had not played their part Plymouth Argyle would have been in far worse ownership than we are now and could well have been liquidated.

Brenda is quoted by other people than Chris, Ian and Posty at the Pavilions meeting as saying there were no other options than Heaney.

One of the benefits of this website is there is no swear check. Having said that there are boundaries.

We got fuc..d by Brenda and we would have been royally f&&ked by Ridsdale.

The supporters who took part in the various campaigns were right and I'm proud to be one of them.

That pretty much says what I was going to say.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Nick Wall wrote:

It is not who was put off by Brent's friends. It was who was put off because Brenda didn't market the club properly. There were no "dogs of war" in April. When it became cloudy that the old directors were using Heaney to front a bid (and please no-one try and deny that) some people acting in the best interests of PAFC (in their opinion) believed he had no money. They were right. Buttivant confused the issue by throwing his hat into the ring. Did he have any money - no. By then Heaney had been given preferential status with his Ridsdale, Stapleton and Batley connections. At that point Brenda wasn't looking for other options. There was no-one to scare off. For four months there could have been no other bidders.

If Heaney had the money the club was his.

I participated in the campaign against Brenda, I participated in the campaign against Stapleton. My bottom line was that I didn't want anyone from the old regime getting control of the club.

I would do the same tomorrow.

I also firmly believe that if the supporters had not played their part Plymouth Argyle would have been in far worse ownership than we are now and could well have been liquidated.

Brenda is quoted by other people than Chris, Ian and Posty at the Pavilions meeting as saying there were no other options than Heaney.

One of the benefits of this website is there is no swear check. Having said that there are boundaries.

We got fuc..d by Brenda and we would have been royally f&&ked by Ridsdale.

The supporters who took part in the various campaigns were right and I'm proud to be one of them.

That pretty much says what I was going to say.

It's funny how Ridsdale is all of a suddent the anti-christ. Some people were falling over themselves to say what a job he did saving Argyle, and couldn't be friendlier to him last year. Looks like selective memory to me, because nobody high profile was shouting too loudly that they didn't want Ridsdale anywhere near the club last summer/autumn. Without him the club would have gone under, hang on that makes another "saviour" to add to the already long list.

And this is not aimed at Nick or SFD, but now that blame is being apportioned and people are revealing where they stood "during the war", any anti-Ridsdale posters, like myself, on Pasoti were shot down in flames and were told they didn't know how tirelessly he was working blah blah blah, didn't understand how deep the shit would be without Ridsdale. Well now all of a sudden nobody wanted Ridsdale anywhere near the club, not on their life, so why weren't the dogs unleashed on Ridsdale

Personally I've always lambasted him and thought him a total shark who didn't give a flying feck about anyone else except himself, but no no no, last year Ridsdale was the man.

Funny how subsequent events can cloud peoples memories.

This discussion should be about what you know and not about what you think you know or selective memory of where you stood or thought about somebody. My stance has not altered at all throughout and nor has my opinion of the main people concerned.

Ridsdale. Known to be a mercenary in his dealings in football. Therefore opinion based on what I know is that he did nothing for nothing at Argyle. Did put some work in but for pay rather than any love of the club.

Administrators. Did nothing for the club full stop. Failed to market the club or look for a viable alternative. Took the word of others involved in the club who had their own agenda and were incompetent at best.

Brent. Never promised the world at any stage and always declared his interest in development. Sat back without complaint or comment until he was the only player left in town and then came in with the original bid he always had. His declared intent to keep the club viable is in jury out mode as none of us can see into the future.

Newell. Probably started out with the best of intentions and the club at heart. Has subsequently become a believer in his own publicity. Has absolutely no power within the club but probably believes he has. Ego overtaken everything else.

Webb. Became involved again with the best of intentions. Given an honorary position as the fans Rep but cannot fullfill the position due to his clear biased to those that revere him. Is not inclusive of all supporters which should be his main roll if he is to continue. More a man for the fight than any peace.

I could go on about the old board but won't bore people with that except to say they will all go down in Argyle history as the evil sect and near destroyers of the club. Their part in this is there for all to see and there are no redeeming features for any of them.

Until any of the above is proved to be wrong by the publication of a full set of real facts, or happenings in Brent's case, without bias or predjudice then this will always be my opinion. Other opinions might seem just as credible and I might be persuaded to change it a bit but the argument will need to be a good one.

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

This discussion should be about what you know and not about what you think you know or selective memory of where you stood or thought about somebody. ..........
Brent. Never promised the world at any stage and always declared his interest in development. .........

I agree with lots of what you have to say but, just to pick one small section - I am unclear whether Mr Brent has ever said with any clarity what his plans are for the redevelopment of the ground in terms of the balance between adding to his personal portfolio of investment and contributing to the upkeep of the club. That is one of the questions I have put into his Q&A on the other site.

Does anyone know (that's not 'pasoti or ATD know') whether he has made any statement on this subject?

Dougie wrote:

merse wrote:

Given the amount of money being paid out to Guilfoyle's firm, I don't think the interests of the creditors have been best served at all

It's a point to consider as to whether BG did in fact serve the interests of the creditors before all else. The Mastpoint masif had already tied up their money outside of the agreed .77 pence in the pound for most creditors. Can't shake the feeling that they've done more then alright of the whole deal.
Also because of the utter silence on the issue by those in the know my suspicions are heightened. Do anyone think all those sharp suited business men and ladies from Mastpoint will have rolled over for the same deal as everyone else.

When you research the people behind Mastpoint it is obvious that their interest and involvement in Plymouth Argyle was not one iota football related but just like Brent on the land value and potential they thought they could unlock.

Maybe old news, but these are the people:

Larry Hirst CBE is the former Chairman of IBM Europe, Middles East and Africa and retired from this position last year.

David Rowe is the founder and Chief Executive of Easynet, a telecommunications company formed in 1994.
BSkyB purchased Easynet in 2006 but the company was sold to the Lloyds Banking Group for £100 million in July 2010 with Rowe remaining as Chief Executive throughout.
Argyle Director Keith Todd was non-executive Director of Easynet until 2006 when it was sold to BSkyB.
Rowe is a committed Argyle fan.

Andrew and Danielle Gardner are family members of Sir Roy Gardner.

Russell Chambers is an investment banker and a friend of former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Chambers often shared holidays with Blair and advised the Prime Minister on financial policies, he is also UK head of the Credit Suisse bank, where Sir Roy Gardner is a senior advisor
Chambers lives in London and is a devoted Chelsea fan.

Roland Rudd is a financial Public Relations guru who set up the Finsbury Company in 1994.
Rudd is a sought-after PR figure in London and is estimated to be worth £45 million.

Bernard Taylor is another investment banker and vice- chairman of US bank Evercore Partners Inc, responsible for Europe. The business news website Forbes puts his annual income at $9million.

Rob Lucas is the managing partner of private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, owners of the Merlin Entertainments Group who operate the London Eye, Legoland, Alton Towers and several other theme parks.

Newcastle United fan Richard Metcalf is Chief Risk Officer at Swiss UBS Investment Bank.

Eddie O'Connor is the founder of Irish-based firm Mainstream Renewable Energy and has $3 billion worth of projects around the world.
O'Connor, who is worth 130 million Euros, recently invited Gardner to become Chairman of Mainstream Renewable Energy.

Donald McGarva was the former Vice President of DHL's logistics operation across Japan, Korea and Philippines.
McGarva is now Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director at Amino Technologies, a digital entertainment solutions company where Keith Todd is Chairman.

Peter Wood is an entrepreneur and founder of insurance companies Esure, Direct Line and Sheila's Wheels and is one of the top 450 wealthiest people in Britain with a personal fortune of £120 million.

American Joe Plumeri is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of insurance and investment firm Willis Group Holdings and earned just over $4 million in 2010.
Gardner is also on the board at the Willis Group.

Natalie Newby-Ricci is a textile designer and owner of Luca & Amelie, a small company that supplies accessories for the home and garden.

Dick and Don Limited is a company formed by Mastpoint investors Donald McGarva and Richard Metcalf.

Two other Mastpoint shareholders include Daniel Desmond and Michael Claydon.

There has also been some recent Mastpoint investments from Koichiro Abe who has loaned £320,000, Singapore businessman Freddie Siy loaned £450,000 and a business colleague of George Synan has loaned £100,000.

Abe is a former Goldman Sachs banker while Siy operates a food and manufacturing company in Quezon City in the Philippines.

They are all associates or business partners of Gardner and Todd - there are investment bankers, Directors of large companies, a friend of a former Prime Minister, an entrepreneur and a PR guru.

Between them they are worth millions of pounds, a quick look at the personal wealth of just five Mastpoint members reveal that they are worth £360 million...............and YOUR club went tits up?

They all thought hosting a world cup match and having the new stadium was a licence to print money. They might have got away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids, sorry middle east bids.

Think it was more a case of a gullible and greedy bunch of directors, desperately trying to hang on and make their pot of gold. They brought these people in and then Ridsdale to try to save their own financial skins.

How could anyone with a love of PAFC...ever take the bid of the ginger one Heaney seriously.

His bid which was dressed up to look as if he was only the bids advisor (the word devious comes to mind),had no interest in the football club.

The development of the land that came with the deal was all important to Heaney,to stay within the law he was prepared to give the football club away for ONE PENNY to keep the FL happy.

A the end of the day the ginger one had no money (even Truro FC were financially in trouble) to buy PAFC......and Brendan Guilfoyle the administrator was fooled for months.

We where told that exclusivity was valued at £1 million........Heaney had only paid a small portion of that.....should that not of been a warning sign to Guilfoyle........months were wasted in persuing that bid.......the P & A company were to blame for poor business practice and nearly finished off PAFC as a football club.

From all the information coming out both from the report and from people's memories (substantiated with or without references), would it be possible to learn from this bitter experience therefore enabling the future better protection for our club (and others). With the GASboard meetings postponed, and a perceived lack of a slightly open door policy from Mr Brent, maybe now more than ever the fans need to be more demanding and vocal. It would appear that at times a persons relevant question gets shouted down, how do you protect your investment (emotionally, financially or both) when what could be argued as ego always seems to get in the way of clear and concise answers.
Viewing from afar and not seeing the back stage (or front stage) events as they happened last year, who from the fans perspective would be best to do a sort of overseers job? Is it even possible due to the nature of the company (private, no slur intended) owning Argyle?
All this waffle aside, I don't want Argyle down, and I don't want to see more financial woes being what seems to me the locus of a split fanbase (although some of the soap opera style banter is amusing).

I also wish forza verde had be called caldo verde, atleast then you could throw soup at the players when they're particulary crap.

hippo wrote:

From all the information coming out both from the report and from people's memories (substantiated with or without references), would it be possible to learn from this bitter experience therefore enabling the future better protection for our club (and others). With the GASboard meetings postponed, and a perceived lack of a slightly open door policy from Mr Brent, maybe now more than ever the fans need to be more demanding and vocal. It would appear that at times a persons relevant question gets shouted down, how do you protect your investment (emotionally, financially or both) when what could be argued as ego always seems to get in the way of clear and concise answers.
Viewing from afar and not seeing the back stage (or front stage) events as they happened last year, who from the fans perspective would be best to do a sort of overseers job? Is it even possible due to the nature of the company (private, no slur intended) owning Argyle?
All this waffle aside, I don't want Argyle down, and I don't want to see more financial woes being what seems to me the locus of a split fanbase (although some of the soap opera style banter is amusing).

I also wish forza verde had be called caldo verde, atleast then you could throw soup at the players when they're particulary crap.

Just shut up and support the lads

ZYPH wrote:

How could anyone with a love of PAFC...ever take the bid of the ginger one Heaney seriously.

His bid which was dressed up to look as if he was only the bids advisor (the word devious comes to mind),had no interest in the football club.

The development of the land that came with the deal was all important to Heaney,to stay within the law he was prepared to give the football club away for ONE PENNY to keep the FL happy.

A the end of the day the ginger one had no money (even Truro FC were financially in trouble) to buy PAFC......and Brendan Guilfoyle the administrator was fooled for months.

We where told that exclusivity was valued at £1 million........Heaney had only paid a small portion of that.....should that not of been a warning sign to Guilfoyle........months were wasted in persuing that bid.......the P & A company were to blame for poor business practice and nearly finished off PAFC as a football club.

Nobody disputes any of this ZYPH. It's the possible other bidders that were put off by the threats. Heaney was a front for a bid that was designed to save the former directors money, and give Ridsdale control of the club. Ridsdale's friendship with Guilfoyle ensured the saga went on far too long, and when I was vocal about Ridsdale's involvement last year I was told to shut up because I didn't know how much good he was doing and without him the club were dead. Now people are looking to lay the blame somewhere, Ridsdale is all of a sudden one of the leading villains in the piece.