On a one to one with Tony Stewart, what would you like to ask him?

[gkotw]

Miller05 decisions relating to the ground forced Stewarts hand to move us out of Millmoor and so requiring him to build the new ground.

First , the sale of the ground. Second, the aborted redevelopment of the main stand redending the ground unusable.

We can agree on one thing mate, millers05 didn't have the financial clout required. Smallwood did but chose (as was his right) to limit his exposure. The spin by 05 was indeed good and intended to placate fears the fans had about RUFC losing ownership of Millmoor for the first time in 100 years.

I was disingenuous previously when I stated "uncle ken" because by this time it was ken jnr and james calling the shots. And I promise you they were not relinquishing that plot of land for all the tea in china. Stewart found out later how unprepared to sell they were. "Almost fetish like obsession with owning land".

Dont get me wrong, im no apologist for 05. Well intentioned dreamers.

[tony260674]

You are right there GF but there is no doubt the visibility of ASD lighting is far more than it was 10+ years ago and I suspect the firm does better because of this. Whenever I have met Tony I have got the same impression, he enjoys being the owner and it feeds his rather large ego so it is worth him burning a certain amount of cash each season but not too much.

[Galley On]

To be fair I have been after him from Day 1. Loyal makes an interesting observation "...he had no real attachment to..." Why then? If he wanted to do something for Rotherham a kids' hospice, nursery, free school or whatever might have been a better choice. Oh, and can people please stop bringing up the loss of his wife merely to portray his critics as insensitive. I was accused once on MM of not being a true supporter for missing a game and when I replied that my mother had died that day one prominent poster called me a liar. The subsequent death of my brother did not stop GWRU from demanding I be red-carded for disloyalty to TS and on the occasion of both breavements only a single MM poster, Casper, offered condolescences. So you can stick that argument.

Why would you be after him from Day 1? He had just taken over the club and then made the decision to leave Millmoor and the Booth family. Did you know something about him before he took over the Millers?

[MillerBill]

How much do we pay to rent NYS and where does it go?

[wrinkly]

It was Millers05 that sold the ground so relinquishing ownership from the club. The simple fact was they didnt have the money for the takeover and needed Booths financial help to complete the deal. They sold the ground to clear the £3m debt .

I will see if I can find the 05 prospectus where they announced the sale of the ground and low rent as a great deal for the club.

That said we can both spin the key motives whichever way we want.

This article https://www.theguardian.com/football...guetwofootball
written just before TS took over the club, is a reasonable summary of what happened back in the good old days.

In summary (at least as I see it and remember it):

At the end of 2004 the Booths owned the club which had an overdraft of £3million
They sold the club to Millers 05 for £1 and paid off the overdraft
They also lent the club £660,000
In return the Booths got Millmoor, the Tivoli nightclub and Hooton Lodge
Millers 05 agreed a £200,000 a year lease for Millmoor
They also got a load of goodies including 30 free tickets, with hospitality for every game , advertising, free FA cup final tickets (as I recall the number of cup final tickets eventually exceeded the clubs allocation - probably due to the forthcoming relegation and therefore a reduced allocation) I also remember physiotherapy being included in the bundle.
Ruchniewicz said the Booths paid £100,000 for the benefits and he did indeed say that this was a good deal for the club.

Millers 05 were not a success - making losses of £140,000 a month and taking us down (although we were probably doomed by the time they took over to be fair)
Bucket rattling and buy a brick scheme was clutching at straws and administration was inevitable.

In May 2006 Coleman took over and agreed a Company Voluntary Arrangement. All of the non-football creditors including the Booths and Trevor Smallwood agreed to write off the bulk of their debts. HMRC didn't but as they were owed £748,000 other creditors outvoted them and the Arrangement was made. Smallwood lost £800,000 plus and is a bit of an unsung hero in my book he had little input into the club's affairs except losing a load of dosh.

Ruchniewicz may have though he had struck a great deal with Booth but Coleman certainly did not. For one thing - the £100,000 for perks paid by the Booths was a bit of a bargain as it was a 79 year agreement, which weirdly continued after the CVA.
Outvoting HMRC for the CVA relied on Booth accepting it as he had a debt of £600,000+ (the loan to 05)
However Booth's vote was on condition that not only did the club under Coleman continue to pay £200,000 a year rent but also a premium on the lease of "coincidentally" £600,000. This always seemed very fishy to me. A creditor votes to write off a debt of £600,000 in an insolvency case on the proviso that he gets £600,000 back under a different name, after the event. Surely not right?

Later on in 2006 the Booths took the club to court for late payment of rent (a matter of days late if I recall correctly) with a view to eviction. The club (Coleman) counter sued on the basis that the original agreement was unsound.
I was told, with great confidence, at the time, by one of Coleman's party, that the club were in a great position to win the case and claw back loads of money from the Booths - all would be well. The club's case failed miserably but the rent was paid and the eviction didn't go ahead.

Cue the Administrator again, who put the club up for sale. Denis Coleman was a bidder to have another go if he could successfully challenge his disqualification as a director under the league's "fit and proper person test"

Well he didn't get it . Tony Stewart got it.

Having taken us through another administration, severing the "Booth" link , putting us through the dark days of Don Valley, three promotions and (probably) two relegations, moving into a fantastic new home, we are now running relatively smoothly.

All a bit boring - What say we chase TS away and get back to the good old days?

[wrinkly]

How much do we pay to rent NYS and where does it go?

We pay a million pounds a year to RU estates.
I assume all that then goes to pay off the loan taken out to build NYS
The million quid couldn't be paid if ASD lighting didn't pay us more than that in sponsorship.

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

Having taken us through another administration, severing the "Booth" link , putting us through the dark days of Don Valley, three promotions and (probably) two relegations, moving into a fantastic new home, we are now running relatively smoothly.

All a bit boring - What say we chase TS away and get back to the good old days?




We don’t know how lucky we are.

[WanChaiMiller]

Wrinkly - Dark days indeed. Remember it was the Rust (our then supporters club) and the fans who campaigned against Booth that forced him out. I remember him being punched at one game and pushed over in the car park at another. Both times by fans of the club.

And now we have fans trying to push Stewart out.

[Pocket rocket]

Having taken us through another administration, severing the "Booth" link , putting us through the dark days of Don Valley, three promotions and (probably) two relegations, moving into a fantastic new home, we are now running relatively smoothly.

All a bit boring - What say we chase TS away and get back to the good old days?






We don’t know how lucky we are.

Exactly.
You couldn’t make it up could you?

[CASPER-64-FRANK]

Exactly.
You couldn’t make it up could you?

)

Said it before though Pocket, how long can he put the Sponsorship money in ?
He's a businessman not a charity and will eventually want a return on his investment and the loans paying back.
Supporters have to play their part.