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Post by Col ISIHAC. on Jan 10, 2007 17:13:19 GMT
As has been widely reported, the club are restructuring; the management team have left and the first team squad are all available for transfer.
Also widespread is the practice of gloating and rubbing the colective noses of Muff fans in the poo. Now; my lot share very little common ground or sometimes even the time of day with Weymouth as a club, but there are footy fans out there who are suffering at present and we all have something in common as far as this sport of ours is concerned.
Many of the users of this forum support clubs that, for whatever reason, have suffered financial problems - of their own or an individuals making. I would ask therefore that discussion here be restricted - should you feel the need to discuss it at all - to fact. No silly stuff please - there's any number of places on the net to make your feelings felt. This is a friendly, all inlcusive forum.
Lets keep it that way! ;D
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Post by coops on Jan 10, 2007 18:40:53 GMT
Can't argue with that.
It's always the fans that suffer when over ambitious chairmen use clubs as their personal plaything and then bugger off when it all, inevitably, goes wrong.
It seems that the now ex-chairman was banking on Asda building a supermarket on the club's land and also needed crowds of 3500 to break even, fanciful at best given the location of The Wessex.
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Post by malxscfc on Jan 11, 2007 11:09:55 GMT
I expect most of you will have read this: www.confboard.com/south.mpl?action=View+Thread&thread=10742I was going to reply to the Newport eejit there, but thought better of it. If you keep an open mind, you will find that Statement is very sensible, very honest, and extremely competent. The bloke is upfront, and KEEPS reiterating that it's necessary for the Club's long term survival. Okay. So the investment/gamble hasn't quite worked. So what? Businessmen take risks, and must sometimes fail. Why BLAME him because the Gates weren't high enough? [N.B. He didn't mention this in his statement, as it may have seemed churlish, at least!] At least the bloke hasn't done a runner, nor taken them into bankruptcy. I believe the Supermarket angle - again, you have to invest with a certain amount of risk - but unfortunately that side of the gamble didn't pay off. But that doesn't mean it couldn't have worked, nor that it wasn't worth trying. MOST significantly, I appreciate his consideration of the rest of his businesses and their 350 employees. If you worked for this Holiday Company, would you be impressed in a year if you were laid off work, seemingly so that the Owner could continue his Saturday afternoon hobby? That would be morally criminal. Sure, they're going to sink back (perhaps down to the Southern League) over the next few years, but what's so wrong with that? Year in, year out, Clubs change Leagues. The fans will still follow their Team, no matter what. But if the Club folds, there will be no Team to follow, and the fans will lose out. I reckon the bloke's been bold, and forthright, and the fans (and other detractors) have no reason to complain. Life ain't perfect!! |
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Post by coops on Jan 11, 2007 13:50:43 GMT
Very magnanimous of him I'm sure, but the fact remains that he gambled the future of the club to chase a dream of league football. If he had just taken a step back and had a look at the case studies of all those who have tried and failed to do this before maybe he could have saved the fans all the heartache of their inevitable fall back into the lower leagues.
The bit about the gates is significant, it's obvious that in chasing glory he did not really factor into his business plan that Weymouth are not a massively supported club, there was never a untapped resource of thousands of fans just waiting for Conference football.
As for the Asda thing, wouldn't it have been wiser to wait until they had the money in the bank before plunging the club into massive debt just to get promotion a year or two earlier than they might have done by being more prudent?
He gambled, he failed, his fault, the fans loss.
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Post by Giggy of Telford on Jan 11, 2007 15:25:48 GMT
He gambled, he failed, his fault, the fans loss. Unfortunately it always is going to be the fans' loss when things like this happen. Whenever anything goes wrong the fans are always the ones who will suffer the most.  Best of luck Weymouth. |
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Post by malxscfc on Jan 11, 2007 15:36:16 GMT
Very magnanimous of him I'm sure, but the fact remains that he gambled the future of the club to chase a dream of league football. If he had just taken a step back and had a look at the case studies of all those who have tried and failed to do this before maybe he could have saved the fans all the heartache of their inevitable fall back into the lower leagues. The bit about the gates is significant, it's obvious that in chasing glory he did not really factor into his business plan that Weymouth are not a massively supported club, there was never a untapped resource of thousands of fans just waiting for Conference football. As for the Asda thing, wouldn't it have been wiser to wait until they had the money in the bank before plunging the club into massive debt just to get promotion a year or two earlier than they might have done by being more prudent? He gambled, he failed, his fault, the fans loss. Just read your post again. By your account a) Harrison 'lost' nothing (e.g. money? :  b) The fans will only suffer a bit of heartache. HEARTACHE?! Which f'ing Team does anyone support that doesn't give 'em f'ing heartache?? !! What about the 2 memorable FA Cup runs which the Muff fans wouldn't have had? What about winning the CS last year? Think those would have happened without Harrison putting hand to pocket? Methinks not... |
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Post by coops on Jan 11, 2007 16:38:26 GMT
Aye, they'll be able to treasure those memories when they're supporting AFC Weymouth in The Wessex League won't they?
You can have cup runs and titles without placing a club on the brink of extinction, we Tamuff fans should know, we managed it! I just wish some chairman would realise this before going off on their flights of fancy.
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Post by malxscfc on Jan 11, 2007 18:27:46 GMT
I just wish some chairman would realise this before going off on their flights of fancy. Totally agree with you on that one - there are a lot of hard-nosed people out there who seem to lose their business objectivity (and their cash...) when faced with the chance of owning their own Football Club. [Must be similar to owning a trophy wife or an Italian Sports car, I'd guess.  ] But Muff are not in that much danger. His implementation of this survival plan EARLY - however embarrassing and untimely - is exactly calculated to avoid that dire situation. Though I wasn't around myself, I've heard enough horror stories from the likes of DaveT to understand how real the threat of 'extinction' can be at one's Club...  My point about this guy is that he HAS caught things before they go on the AFC-slide. I seriously doubt Weymouth'll be the next Canvey, dropping 4 Leagues overnight. They may well survive the drop this year, and work on survival next Season. Even Hornchurch seem to be on the right course back upwards, amazingly. [ www.tonykempster.co.uk/il1n.htm ] We shall see, I guess. Must confess I'm interested by this case. |
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davetscfc
Steaming Bovril
......and it's Salisbury City......
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Post by davetscfc on Jan 11, 2007 20:44:14 GMT
Hope this serves as a warning to those chasing the full time dream, often it seems to boost one person's ego.
Can remember a few years ago when the recommendation was that the lower divisions of the Football League went part time and regional, such a large proportion of professional clubs were actually insolvent. In fact it's gone the other way with the conference becoming virtually a full time league. Don't think there's another country in Europe with a full time league structure that extends down to 5 national divisions.
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Post by amberaleman on Jan 11, 2007 22:35:52 GMT
I think fans will have mixed feelings about people like Martyn Harrison. On the one hand he gave it a real go at Weymouth, putting a lot of time and money into lifting the club up to the top six in the Conference. On the other, he apparently failed to realise that you need to make a long-term commitment if you want to bring continued success - you can't always rely on others to take the strain when your own funds and enthusiasm start to run out. Like the Chairmen of certain other rather modest Non-League clubs, he raised expectations that soon proved unsustainable.
Weymouth fans have been living a dream for the last two seasons - but now that dream looks like going phut!
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Post by coops on Jan 11, 2007 23:24:21 GMT
But Muff are not in that much danger. His implementation of this survival plan EARLY - however embarrassing and untimely - is exactly calculated to avoid that dire situation. Hmmm...I'd like to see the balance books at Weymouth. If the club was on an even keel and with no significant debts I doubt he would feel the need to take such drastic action, this smacks of desperation and a realisation that he has managed to royally f**k up Weymouth FC! There were rumours a few weeks ago that the club was on the brink of administration, now you don't go into administration unless you owe a significant amount of money. Unless he has found someone to underwrite their debts then Weymouth are definitely in the Hornchurch / Canvey situation. Short term glory followed by your club's demise or sensible management with the odd bit of glory thrown in amongst the usual mundanity of following your club? I know which one I would choose and I just hope Tamworth never gamble their future on a whim. |
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Post by malxscfc on Jan 12, 2007 9:22:49 GMT
But Muff are not in that much danger. His implementation of this survival plan EARLY - however embarrassing and untimely - is exactly calculated to avoid that dire situation. Hmmm...I'd like to see the balance books at Weymouth. If the club was on an even keel and with no significant debts I doubt he would feel the need to take such drastic action, this smacks of desperation and a realisation that he has managed to royally f**k up Weymouth FC! There were rumours a few weeks ago that the club was on the brink of administration, now you don't go into administration unless you owe a significant amount of money. Unless he has found someone to underwrite their debts then Weymouth are definitely in the Hornchurch / Canvey situation. Short term glory followed by your club's demise or sensible management with the odd bit of glory thrown in amongst the usual mundanity of following your club? I know which one I would choose and I just hope Tamworth never gamble their future on a whim. We shall see. I've read on several different sites that when Harrison took over, Muff were riddled with debt. Apparently they are now free of it. This was a positive slant given by one of their fans on 'TerrasTalk': I suspect his view will prove to be the most valid I've read, once Weymouth finally emerge from this tunnel of uncertainty. |
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Post by coops on Jan 12, 2007 10:47:35 GMT
I hope this bloke is right, and if he is then I will certainly need to hold my hands up and say that my assessment of Harrison was wrong, we'll see.
I still say that a good businessman wouldn't have gambled the future of one of his prime assets on the hope that a supermarket would build on a piece of land well out of the town centre though.
I also think he badly miscalculated the impact The Conference would have on fan interest, did he really expect crowds to treble?
But if he has left them debt free than they should be okay, and that is good news.
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martello
Steaming Bovril
I used to be indecisive...now I'm not so sure...
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Post by martello on Jan 12, 2007 14:49:50 GMT
But as far as I can see, they WERE in debt - he gave them an interest-free loan of £2m, expecting to call it in once the attendances, etc meant the club could start paying for itself.
Once he realised that Satan would need a scarf and mittens by the time that happened, he pulled the plug on it - so if Weymouth aren't in debt, it's because he's taken back the £2m, hence the restructuring, going part-time, sacking of the management and transfer listing of players.
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Post by malxscfc on Jan 12, 2007 16:06:08 GMT
Either way, I'd expect that Matty will be back on the CS Forum in 2008....  |
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