What a fantastic interview from Wilder!

[Carpe_diem]

You can due diligence the hell out of it. It wont stop anyone from changing their mind and wanting to do something different at some point in the future. That's what we're talking about here isn't it. Two partners who have decided they want to do something different?

Don't be naive. If McCabe expected the Prince to put a certain amount of money in, he should have made it a contractual obligation. If the Prince didn't do so, McCabe should have been able to break the arrangement. Doing anything with a business partner based on trust - especially when there are millions of pounds involved - is misguided at best.

If he'd suggested it and the Prince had said no, he could have taken that as evidence of the latter's lack of serious interest and told him to jog on.

[GrayBlade]

Not much about McCabe bringing the Prince on board filled me with confidence once it had sunk in. It wasn’t something that had been planned, he hadn’t been selected out of a group of potential buyers or partners as the best man for the job, it was a chance meeting in an airport lounge.

Let’s not forget that at the time McCabe had pulled the shutters down was pleading poverty, I think all he wanted was for somebody to share the financial load, not necessarily take the the club forward. The Prince himself in an early interview told us that his fortune was ‘only’ measured in $millions rather than $billions which would probably put him in the same financial bracket as McCabe, and Baki stressed time and again that the Prince would not be like other foreign owners and throw money at it to buy promotion out of L1. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I never ever thought that there was any master plan to take us forward, we just seemed to be strolling along to the tune of Phipps’s ‘right on, high five!’ drum until they fell lucky and Wilder arrived.

We knew pretty early on that the ‘think Liverpool’ comment (whoever said it) was basically way off the mark, but I personally drew a bit of hope when the Prince said that he would bring serious investors onboard once we were in the Championship. Maybe this what he wanted to do and McCabe vetoed it and that started the fall out?

Either way, I can’t say that I trust the Prince to do right by the club or us fans because let’s be right, he’s hardly been around in the near 5 years he’s been involved with the club and has had very little to say of interest. The problem is that I do not trust McCabe or his family either, and I never will now. Others can buy into the ‘no bigger Blade’ and ‘where would we be without Kev?’ guff as is their right, but I’ll go with my own gut feeling which is that I don’t think McCabe has ever really tried or even wanted to find new owners for the club for his own personal reasons, not because it’s the right thing to do for SUFC.

It needs to be sorted and quickly and I’d be relaxed enough if both our current owners get on their bikes and disappear into history. We can’t keep living in fear of change and what-ifs. This club needs to move on and McCabe’s best legacy (apart from the ground) would be that he helped the club find new and worthy owners, not some guy he bumped into while having a Costa.

[FatherKnowsBest]

We knew pretty early on that the ‘think Liverpool’ comment (whoever said it) was basically way off the mark,

It was an off the cuff remark from Big Jim to stop us getting giddy about Man City levels of investment. It was never an indication of how much money would be put into the club. It has now been accepted by the Guiness Book Of Records as the 'Most misinterpretted quote'.

However, I get what you're saying about investment. Kev has made it clear all along that hes looking for investors, not a sale. In the end that means that the pool of interested parties is going to be small. What he's basically had to say is 'look, be my mate, I'll give you a chunk of football club and all you've got to do is pony up half the losses ad infinitum'. Its a cracking offer, isn't it?

I think the club could have easily have been sold during the last 15 years if it were just a straight cash sale, but who's wallet is it coming out of? Venkeys, Tan, Tunaman, Allam, Cellino? You're going to have to give me a tighter definition of 'new and worthy'. In the end, apart from the big money machines like Man Utd, Real Madrid, all football clubs are vanity projects that rely on the owner being happy to lose money so he can show us all what big balls he has. I've no doubt that Kev feels the weight of 'handing it on' to the right guys, but he's not getting younger and the time to let the club move on is approaching fast.

[FatherKnowsBest]

Don't be naive. If McCabe expected the Prince to put a certain amount of money in, he should have made it a contractual obligation. If the Prince didn't do so, McCabe should have been able to break the arrangement. Doing anything with a business partner based on trust - especially when there are millions of pounds involved - is misguided at best.

If he'd suggested it and the Prince had said no, he could have taken that as evidence of the latter's lack of serious interest and told him to jog on.

I'm not suggesting anything is done entirely on trust (although if you have to keep going back to the contract, its not a great relationship...) I'm guessing, in my naivity, that the contract clause might have said that the two of them must equally fund the club (cover the losses), and that additional speculative investment must be on a matched basis. You surely wouldn't put any nunbers on that, neither would you have a clause that one partner automatically has to match the higher offer investment with the other partner. I'm guessing it has to be by agreement and negotiation.

However, heres a scenario. HRH is sitting in his office in Saudi, he can see were doing well, January is coming. He has a top Belgian football guy in his set-up, maybe they talk, maybe some players are suggested, HRH thinks 'I know we'll pass these on for evaluation'. So word comes back, thanks but no thanks, we don't want them, and we don't want Rip van Winckley sticking his oar in either thanks. We know what we want and its not that. Oh by the way, I know we just slapped you down, and cold shouldered your boy, but we want to spend £5m on some L1 British players, so if you could pop a cheque for £2.5m in the post...

[GrayBlade]

It was an off the cuff remark from Big Jim to stop us getting giddy about Man City levels of investment. It was never an indication of how much money would be put into the club. It has now been accepted by the Guiness Book Of Records as the 'Most misinterpretted quote'.

However, I get what you're saying about investment. Kev has made it clear all along that hes looking for investors, not a sale. In the end that means that the pool of interested parties is going to be small. What he's basically had to say is 'look, be my mate, I'll give you a chunk of football club and all you've got to do is pony up half the losses ad infinitum'. Its a cracking offer, isn't it?

I think the club could have easily have been sold during the last 15 years if it were just a straight cash sale, but who's wallet is it coming out of? Venkeys, Tan, Tunaman, Allam, Cellino? You're going to have to give me a tighter definition of 'new and worthy'. In the end, apart from the big money machines like Man Utd, Real Madrid, all football clubs are vanity projects that rely on the owner being happy to lose money so he can show us all what big balls he has. I've no doubt that Kev feels the weight of 'handing it on' to the right guys, but he's not getting younger and the time to let the club move on is approaching fast.

I know it proved to be off the cuff FKB, but at the time nobody thought it was did they? It was a while after when the realisation set in which is the what I’ve just said. Maybe if he’d said ‘think Barnsley’ he wouldn’t have built up such unrealistic hopes.

I’m not going to try and convince you or anybody else to share my personal views on the subject mate, just like like nobody will change mine. I long since made my mind up on McCabe and he’d have to do something pretty outstanding now for me to soften my stance.

I see where everybody comes from on McCabe though and respect their individual views even if I don’t agree with some of them. Just like with the Ched Evans saga, I prefer to make my points and move on without joining any factions because I’ve been on forums long enough to know that it’s pointless wasted energy trying to change the minds of people who you don’t really know and who’s reactions you can’t even see.

Face to face in a pub it can be different, maybe we should do what we did on my old forum, all meet up and feight it ahht over a pint or 4.

[tomytony]

As it seems to be generally accepted that McC is, and has been for a while, looking for investors rather than an outright sale ( for whatever motives, which we can all speculate on) what do forum members think?

Has it benefitted SUFC?

Has it held SUFC back?

[GrayBlade]

As it seems to be generally accepted that McC is, and has been for a while, looking for investors rather than an outright sale ( for whatever motives, which we can all speculate on) what do forum members think?

Has it benefitted SUFC?

Has it held SUFC back?

Nobody really knows the answer TT, it’s all about individuals speculating for or against. We could have done a Portsmouth if he’d gone or we could have done a Leicester. I’ve just spent far more than I planned to on a (nearly) new car when deep down I really wanted to play it safe and spend a few £thou sorting out the old XJ, it still looked good was reliable and had zero depreciation, what’s not to like? But I bowed to family pressure and I’m happy that I made the change at least for now.

Now whether I’ll say the same in a few years time when the warrenty runs out who knows, and it’s the same with replacing McCabe. Some can’t wait for him to go, others seem nervous about losing him, but it’s about opinions. Just like my new motor it could be a total disaster or the best car I’ve ever had, but family were right, it was time for a change.

And I think it’s time for a change at the top at SUFC. I think that from the stadium’s perspective, he’s been the best owner we’ve ever had by a mile because property is in his comfort zone, but as for getting the best out of United’s potential Meh! He’s not consistent enough and has never stuck to a long term game plan. We set off in one direction then be panics and pulls down the shutters and off we go with new priorities. He’ll always grab while the grabbing’s good for a short term fix rather than try and build something, that’s his nature and of course he set on and backed Robson. That in itself should be enough grounds for divorce.

I think that we’d be in a better place if he’d left us a decade ago, I don’t think that he’s a good owner and I’d like him to go, but I do t know for sure, just like those who back him don’t.

[FatherKnowsBest]

For me, I think that Kevs stewardship of the club is defined by three events.

1. The reaction to relegation.

The relegation was unfair, and he did well to push the whole sorry mess past the FA to the European Court, and get a result of sorts. What came next was the mess. The hatchet could have been buried with Warnock. He was capable of getting us up again (I know there were lots of problems, but they could have be managed out...). With good funds available, we bungled it with Robson. Then when we got rid of him, we appointed Blackwell.

2. The timing of getting shut of Blackwell.

Blackie had done well for us, without a lot of style and enjoyments agreed, but he kept us in the top end of the Championship, BUT, he looked broken after the Wembley defeat. He should have had Kev's arm round him, and walked outside to have his brains blown out, not given a full summer and three games, by which time the advantage of a new manager had been totally lost. Gone by Tuesday after Wembley defeat, or backed for the season. This was the moment when we were heading for a long stay in L1.

3. Ched.

My take on the case, the retrial etc are well known, but this was about the clubs reaction. So the folklore goes, Kev asked Ched if he was guilty, Ched said no, Kev said 'thats good enough for me' or something similar. OMG, so who did we get in January as possible cover if it all went boobs skyward but a striker who had both hamstrings gone. On the day of the guilty verdict, we were totally screwed. Letting our neighbours get up instead was grossly negligent. Then when Ched was getting ready for release, Kev appeared to imagine that the whole circus would just blow over in a day, and that Ched would walk back into training on Monday and start scoring hat-tricks immediately. I am still convinced that we failed to buy strikers that summer because we thought we already had one star striker 'awaiting release' from prison. Failing to appreciate the outcry of the Evans release and the dirt that the clubs name would get dragged through was unbelievable for an experienced businessman.


Other than that and a bunch of other stuff, the lads done okay.

UTCB

[Blade for Life]

Club for Sale £80 million plus major renovations needed.to the squad, and a £20 million good riddance payment to the promising man. There will be a queue of Billionaires snaking round the car park tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we are left with a lesser of 2 evils. McCabe, who on the face of it is the better bet but none of us know that for sure.?Alternatively the mirage Prince who’s Championship investment never materialised or it was diverted to Belgium when the feud kicked off. Now is he the villain that many of us believe he is, again none of us know. Maybe we should circulate a for sale advert and see if we get a miracle ?. Questions questions they give us no answers to cut a long story short they f....Ed this season up.

[Ayamonteblade]

Get all of the above...........but sometimes there are more important things in life that put all this into perspective.