Quote Originally Posted by thnhouse View Post
Mike, my point was this is about the directors and the current finances , not another chance for you to bleat on about the academy again.

The whole point of this is that it’s not the academy bleeding money from the club it’s a director.

You’re complaining about the paint job on a car while the engines on fire. Saying that I suspect if that happened to you the first thing you would do is complain that fires used to get put out with buckets of sand in the 20’s so there’s no point using a hose today.
I don't like knocking the club as they are getting enough of that already both on and off the field. My point is not a 'bleat' about the academy but that its central to the whole ethos of the club and so it cannot be isolated and in any case the Board has said they are looking that that too and its just my guess that it will be downgraded to Cat3 because that saves a lot of money without again in my view compromising the local lads wanting to play for us for the reasons I have given before. It would be nice if someone could acknowledge my concerns over many years about so much money going on the academy instead of the first team. No other club in football does that as so why do we? Because it was fine for a few years but that was BEFORE the EPPP and dictate of the FA insisting they know better. Dario had success without needing an army of coaches and others that cost over a million pounds per season and so it will go...I will have been proved right and would have saved the club millions over the last 5 years had they downgraded it.

Your other point is we don't actually know how much Hassall owes the club in loans he has not repaid. And so its difficult to use that term when we KNOW for certain that the club has raised over 25 million or more from player sales and most has gone back not where is should have but back into the academy and so for me even if Norman owes a million or even two million, that pales into insignificance to that risky adventure and in some ways worse.

Our other point is the Board seem to be complicit in allowing Norman to take out millions that was so badly needed for investment in the first team and also must have known that was a legal risk to allow such a thing and its no good moaning now when they all could have resigned and thereby causing a huge stink in football and may well have resulted in someone going to jail or a huge fine. I'm not commenting on the alleged abuse here but again its clear it took place and its alleged one Director was so concerned he contacted the FA and it was brushed under the carpet.

How come the NH court thing was not mentioned last night anyway when they made it public today? fans come second once again, just like someone suggesting reducing ticket prices to get more fans in.

I was a fan before the current board was here and before the DG era and will be if they all resigned tomorrow and we ended up in non league even. My point being this Board has never given a damn about the fans but now they are having at long LONG last expected to cough up some hard cash, its they that are bleating.

Your analogy about the car is that I wouldn't have allowed the car to get on fire in the first place by ensuring the right safety practices were put in place and so the Board is where it is is because they didn't use sand or a hose on Noman when it was needed. Being the largest shareholder should not have allowed him to act in an illegal manner IF that is what they are now saying in the upcoming court case that is...

This board and the academy is inseparable by means of words from their own mouths mate! They are now reaping what they all sowed....ie collectively and they cannot blame just one Director for it either!