Are we the only team in the South West having "Potential" Problems?

[DB9]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-26443255

Just found this on the BBC website, Should the Janners be worried?

 

[feverpitch]

Just as greenjock said before his post was wiped.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

.................................

 

[STURTZ]

I won't be convinced until I see Ridsdale's smiling face back in the directors box once again.

 

[greenjock]

Just as greenjock said before his post was wiped.

Thank you Fever Pitch. Unfortunately my forthright posting upsets a portly Argyle fan who's tentacles spread out as far as this site.

Argyle are in deep doo doo. The planned higher home park development, which was a pile of dog crap anyway, is under real threat now.

Retail units not snapped up yet almost 6 months since details were announced made it impossible for work to begin on any of it.

The development was to contain an ice rink, cinema, a school believe it or not, a budget priced hotel with no catering facilities and several retail units that included a dental practice!

Sources in the know say that only one or two units had been leased with the rest not attracting much interest at all.

Another problem was that an underground carpark was planned, straight opposite the Life Centre which has hundreds of free parking spaces. Bit of a no brainier there, pay £8 to NCP or turn right 50 yards and it's free.

The idea of the school being built in the corner of a football stadium was to obtain a large government grant which would help pay for the overall development.

Unfortunately Mr Brent's venture missed out on this year's grants so he was rather hoping to get the grant after April but it's not guaranteed.

Now we have Mr Brent going cap in hand to anyone else for a cash injection into the club because he asked all of his current board and none were willing to invest in the club they run. Including of course Mr Peter Jones who made a fortune from selling his shares in the club to the former Argyle board who of course sent us spiralling out of control and into administration after overseeing our demise from the Championship to the depths of Division 4.

Of course part of that board was made up by Tony Wrathall who was partly responsible for dozens of staff members going 10 months without pay and being still employed by the club they couldn't claim benefits.

They relied on donations from fans who put thousands of pounds into collection buckets at every game which went directly to the staff.

All this happened until Mr Brent took over the club where he agreed to pay the staff their owed wages over a long period of time, 5 years springs to mind but I could be wrong on that, rather than just paying these amazing people straight away. Afterall he had £1.5 million given to him by Plymouth City Council and was given the accrued season ticket money.

So a drip feed of back wages was his ultimatum only he knew that a group called The Green Taverners would continue collections for the staff which would accelerate them receiving their rightful wages.

Brilliant of the GT's who will be reimbursed by Mr Brent some time in the future.

The majority of the cash raised is from the Argyle Fansfests which attracts hundreds of fans each week for some god awful entertainment from Dave Banana and Rick O'Shay.

Not my cup of tea, or pint.of Tribute and pasty which you get for your £5 entrance fee.

Great of Mr Brent to thank this group by NOT including any provision for the Fansfests in the multi million pound development of Home Park.

Anyway back to Wrathall. Nobody else was willing to chuck any money into the club so Brent went to former director Tony Wrathall to ease the impending financial crisis. This is all despite Mr Brent stating very firmly that NO members of the previous board would be welcomed back onto his boardroom, and that he would not seek any walleted director's on to his new board. He insisted he didn't need their investment so he wouldn't be taking any money.

Now after all of Mr Brent's sincere statements, including how he wanted supporters involvement and he would be open and transparent unlike the previous board, we have the situation where the Argyle Fans Trust are not welcomed by Mr Brent and he won't deal with them, whilst he set up his own supporters body, the PASB, which meet the board once a month and are allowed 5 questions.as long as they don't include questions about the clubs finances or anything other than pastys and the corporate lounge's menu.

Indeed several members of the PASB have become increasingly close to Mr Brent and are often his guests in the director's box.

statements from these PASB meetings usually take several weeks to be published and contain progress reports on the HHP development, such as "Still all on track"

Following on from the bombshell about Wrathall came the disturbing news that one of Mr Brent's business groups had been placed into administration, followed by another and another, all after having their name changed so that the word Akkeron was no longer included. Akkeron of course being Mr Brent's whole empire name.

Now we have had the unfortunate incident on Porky's Pasoti where a former Argyle Trust Leader and much respected fan who works for PCC and always knows exactly what is going on at Home Park, accidently posting what should've been a private message which raised real concerns about the clubs finances, Akkeron finances and some worryingly specific claims such as Akkeron were £37 million in debt and couldn't manage the interest payments, hence the much needed Wrathall input.

Amazingly Mr Brent was made aware of this faux pas and was straight in the phone to said supporter to reassure him that everything was hunky dory so there was nothing to worry about. Since then more divisions of Akkeron Hotels have fallen into administration and fans have become increasingly worried, quite understandably I'd say after recent events at Home Park.

Then yesterday there was a club statement saying that everything was Ok, no need to panic everyone, there was a temporary blip but it's all fine now and that the hotels all going into administration was just a normal "Restructuring" and more important was a united fanbase as there had been some in fighting and undue concern reported on some fan forums.

So there you have it. Everything's going splendidly in the Argyle world and Mr Brent's world and being a man of principles who would dispute his claims? Shut up and enjoy the ride.

Is it as bad as fans think? I don't know but if the HHP development doesn't go ahead then half of Plymouth is not going to be developed as PCC has awarded Akkeron contracts such as The Pavilions which were handed over to Brent last year with the sweetener of £2 million to help him run it until you new ice rink was completed at hhp and The Civic Centre Which Mr Brent had planned to turn into a funky modern luxury hotel.

Mr Brent has also had the assistance of being allowed not to pay Business Rates on Home Park as his relationship with PCC is remarkably tight so it's little wonder that there was a briefing for the PCC councillors this week following the worrying news about parts of Mr Brent's company. There has been an awful lot of trust and money put into Akkeron's ability to complete all of these intertwined developments, just as the same faith was placed in them by Torbay District Council over Oldway Mansions which some 18 months later is still sat with nit one piece of work started and according to concerned residents nearby the listed building is being left to rot with no sign of any work whilst the ceiling is falling down and water damage accumulating.

Has Mr Brent bitten off more than he can chew? Well he has no prior experience of such developments so it is concerning and also puzzling how he has been awarded such ventures for an inexperienced company.

As for Argyle we're hitting top form and sniffing a play off spot so hopefully none of the off field distractions will impede our progress and God forbid the statements from Akkeron are.merely buying time as another administration would cost us 15 points and who knows what would be included with the club for any potential future owner.

Sort of all makes your crumbling walls look positively fantastic and your current slump just a tiny stumble that results in nothing more than a stubbed toe.

Our esteemed club president has issued a bland statement about Wrathall returning saying it's made him an unhappy bunny but he blames everyone else and say Mr Brent has been badly treated? Don't bite the hand that feeds eh?

He hasn't gone as far as resigning as a matter of principle having been lied to by Mr Brent, as.that would mean handing in his name badge and it would take a few weeks for him and his cohorts on pasoti to undermine the Argyle Fans Trust enough for Mr Webb to be able to ride in as the fans saviour and thus regain his ability to have his name and photograph in the local press.

Watch this space though as he's considering his options at the moment.

So we're just about to play Scunthorpe and Chesterfield at home which could make or break our season, both of which should bring in half decent crowds and soon after its the "Devon Expressway Derby" as Mr Webb has.named the Argyle v Your lot local derby which should bring in a crowd of at least 10k despite it being an evening game.

Following that it may well depend on us reaching the playoffs to finance us until the end of the season I'm led to believe.

And vat , as Mr Webb would say as his forked tongue can't manage th's, is vat.

Ta ta for now.

 

[STURTZ]

Thanks for the update GJ, look forward to future instalments.

 

[greenjock]

Just one further development, the supporters board have released a statement saying that they're disappointed in how it's all gone since they started so they're disbanding dreckly, like Webb they want to wait a while before giving up their little perks.

 

[STURTZ]

So where does porky stand on all this Wrathall business?

 

[greenjock]

So where does porky stand on all this Wrathall business?

I don't think he's said a word which is so unlike him.

He's afraid to criticise Brent that's for sure. Previously he has vehemently defended him to all and sundry stating with absolute certainty that he is not a property developer and that his lip quivers when we concede a goal.

He also knows his family and says even Harry's kids are smitten with Argyle and they even wear a scarf to the games they attend!

Porky was also on some kind of secret committee who had some kind of input into the new grandstand. Nobody else knew anything about this but almost certainly Webb would've also been involved and Porky thinks it's amazing.

His admiration for Brent really does know no bounds so it is nigh on impossible for him to say one word which is derogatory towards Mr Brent.

This puts him in an awkward position regarding Wrathall because he's itching to try and quell any dissent on Pasoti but he's previously laid into the previous board and said some pretty strong words about them. Now he's sharing the director's box and prawn sandwiches with Wrathall so he can't really lay into him online without Wrathall finding out.

Not sure if Webb has actually bumped into Wrathall at Home Park yet but a friend of Wrathall's tried to speak to El Presidente on Saturday and apparently Webb was having none of it and blanked him.

This makes his non resignation even more strange. If he won't speak to him or his friends he must feel pretty miffed about his return but is still happy to stay in his official role.

If I were a betting man I'd say that it is odds on for Porky and Webb to use one of their various Pasoti multi accounts a la Deepthroat and Windsor Boy, and start a dirty tricks campaign from the safety of a nom de plume.

They've used this kind of attack several times and there's no problem using a number of Pasoti accounts. They regularly post on ATD on shared accounts, along with a couple of other Pasoti mods, and they would have others willing to join in as well like Lee Jameson and the social misfit Ian De Lar who makes Norman Tebbut look friendly and has fewer friends than George Osborne so he doesn't mind doing the dirty work.

Interesting times ahead for all Argyle fans but Porky is definitely hedging his bets at the moment in case there is a shift in power at Home Park. Previously he was a big fan of Paul Stapleton and wouldn't hear a word against that lovely man or his family so he's got previous in switching horses mid stream.

It's such a shame for Porky that his buddy Nikkkk's loan business has gone tits up or I think it was fairly certain that he would've had a major part to play in the future of Argyle.

I'm sure he'll be along soon to confirm all of this, and Webb from his account on here too, unless my revelations have really hurt him badly

 

[Greyhound]

Looks like we've all got to tighten our belts!

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-Argyle-tell-fans-threat/story-20767913-detail/story.html