Mick

Not at all. I find it amazing that they think they will get a meeting with Ashley or Llambias while wanting them out and still protesting. As for them having a list of 6,000, if the other 5,999 are like me then they'll not turn them into members. I was interested in joining a "Supporters Club" but no matter what they claim, they are from being one.

A couple of points, firstly, Ashley did become a "Whistle Blower" but he did it because a cartel was trying to fix the price of goods which they sold and he wouldn't go along with it. To hold that against him is nothing short of desperation on your part. Any retailer should be able to charge whatever they want for the products which they sell and it's then up to the buyer to decide where they will and will not buy goods from. If Ashley had become the sole supplier of Umbro goods then that could have brought different problems but that was never going to happen. As soon as one company tries to monopolise in an open market then another retailer will come along and go for selling in bulk at a reduced profit margin. I can purchase almost any consumer goods from anywhere in the world via the internet, usually cheaper than I can from home so the same could have happened with Umbro sports goods if Ashley has gained a monopoly. From what I can tell, Ashley's motives were to get people into his shop to purchase branded products then pick up some of his cheaper unbranded stock, I can't see anything wrong with that as it's down to consumer choice. Price fixing is illegal in this country, and rightly so. You've looked at the situation from Umbro's point of view, it's hardly surprising that they would want to keep an inflated selling price to give the retailers an inflated profit margin, an illegal profit margin it has to be said. You’re trying to make Ashley out to look the bad one in this and that is incredible from a consumer’s point of view. As for the poor man’s JJB, you’re having a laugh. JJB were on the “At Risk” list just before Christmas when business experts were worried that they may go into receivership because it didn’t look as if they could afford to pay the rent on the shops which they use. Also Ashley’s company exceeded expected turnover and profits the last time they posted results, that was within the last couple of months, they are doing well under difficult economic conditions for most retailers, especially those that sell goods which are not classed as essentials. We're being told that this is the worst recession for 100 years, worse than the depression in the 1930's. I’m digressing here, what has that got to do with HTT’s post anyway? Secondly, Ashley did speak to Keegan when he returned from the USA, he didn’t fail to “open dialogue” at all. As far as I'm aware he was in America when everything kicked off and he returned within a short time scale, as far as I remember he was in contact with Keegan within 24 hours of his return to the Country and a meeting was arranged and held. None of us know what was said or what demands were made by either party, if any. If you're going to hit him with a stick at least do it for valid reasons and carry out a bit of research before doing so. I think enough valid reasons exist for having a go at him without making them up

I noticed 2J was in the thread just before posting but he didn't bite.

Do you mean we've got shit admin?

It was about 10 minutes ago.

Spurs, Portsmouth and Blackburn.

or, [email protected]

Trust is required and those in power at the club have to earn it.

The Sunday Sun has a letters page, they would probably print it and it would cost nowt. They would have to extend the paper to get it all in though.

I'm not trying to have a go here because I actually understand large parts of that, I just think it's out-dated. I think at this time we can't afford to go throwing money about, we're in a stage that you actually mention yourself, we're having to "ease back a bit, regroup, and try again." I also agree that we're heading towards having a 60% full ground unless something changes and the club can get the majority of the fans back on-board.

I'm not trying to have a go at NUSC here but I would love them to come out with something like HTT's post.

Sometimes they are worth reading, this time being one of them.

That took some reading but it's a good post and I think most would agree with it. It's what I was trying to get at a day or two ago when I questioned you about a comment that you made, again, good post.

I agree that we don't know about Ashley's personal finances, he could have invested everything with Madoff for all we know. What we can be almost sure of is that he'll have had very little at his disposal because he'll have had it invested and working for him.

Commercial borrowing was costing a fortune only a month ago and that's if you could get it.

Playing with 10 men would put us at a great disadvantage, it wouldn't help us at all although no Shola, Duff or Butt should more than make up for that.

Bobby Robson wanted him when he was at West Ham but we went for Nicky Butt instead, I've no idea how we missed him earlier.

We still don't know how much Jonas is going to cost us, if anything. We've got a few potential large holes in our finances so budgeting can't be that easy.

I would expect that we'll be factoring all of our income at a guess, transfer money in is a bit different as the income could be spread over a number of years. And I doubt that will be included or if it was then the costs will be much greater or they might pay us a month or two before that income is due.

I agree with that, the factoring is a bit like a short term loan in that we get money before it's due and we pay a fee for doing so. And like you say the payments we receive are lumpy and generally fall during the closed season.

It was the same day that I mentioned it on here, at least that's when I first noticed it. It couldn't have happened over night so it must have been put in place before the transfer window closed.

Factoring can be used by growing companies who need the cash to expand, it's not all doom and gloom but I don't see how that would fit in with our situation.

I can understand that because of the reason most people have for using it.

The factoring has only just started, maybe Ashley doesn't have the readies to keep ploughing in the £30 million that he had to in the last set of accounts. It's all guess work where the money is going but the short termism of factoring suggests we have cash-flow problems.

The Company doing the factoring have to wait and are paid on normal credit terms, the 30 or 60 days that I mentioned but they pay us early, usually within 24 hours and that costs us 5 to 10% of the transaction value.