Thursday, April 02, 2009

2 April 2009: Administration


Hard to gauge the feelings of the Saints fans this morning. Some are happy that Rupert has left, some are confused because Rupert might still be on the board of Southampton Football Club Ltd, having resigned just from the PLC parent company, and some are wary because Rupert apparently stated this morning that there is nothing stopping him from buying the Football Club Ltd company from the administrators.

You'd think he'd have had enough by now, wouldn't you?

Most worrying, though, is this section from the official SFC website, part of an interview with the administrators:

How long will this process take?

We have to find a buyer before the end of the season because there is not sufficient cash in the Football Club to support its ongoing trading beyond that time.

What happens if you are unable to re-finance or find a buyer for the club?

If the administrator is unsuccessful it is likely that the Football Club will enter an insolvency process which is likely to effectively mean that the club will cease to operate. Clearly this is an outcome that all parties will want to avoid.

No kidding. I'd rather take a fifteen point penalty both this season and next rather than lose the club altogether. Sadly it seems that Rupert, who's been in charge long enough, doesn't agree that Saints ceasing to exist is the bottom-line-thing-to-avoid and he was always just too proud to admit he was wrong.

Now, who's got a few quid so we can get a quick consortium together?

Update 10.34 eastern: Having listened to the Press Conference in full now, it sounds clear that Rupert, along with Wilde and Cowan, is no longer involved at either PLC or Football Club level. Now... whether there's a buyer, and preferably one not named Rupert...?

1 comment:

McDougal said...

yay, we're both top of our divisions, top of our alphabetic leagues http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

I thought I'd look to opening day for something to feel positive about then reminded myself that I seem to collect teams that are dysfunctional.

If there was promotion/relegation in the major leagues there isn't a snowballs chance that Baltimore would still be there! in fact the parallels are frightening - a one man team through the 80s and 90s... where else have we seen that?

difficult owner, notoriously poor recruitment policy... good players just don't want to go there... are they saints in disguise?