Wanderers ask fans to help settle £125K legal bill (From Bucks Free Press)
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Wanderers ask fans to help settle £125K legal bill
12:09pm Tuesday 2nd October 2012 in News By Dave Peters
Wanderers ask fans to help settle £125K legal bill
JUST three months after taking control of the club, Wanderers Supporters Trust are passing the begging bowl around – looking for £125,000 to settle a legal bill.
They issued a notice on Tuesday asking supporters to give or loan them the money.
A statement from the Trust said: “Not to put too fine a point on it, we have outstanding legal bills of £125k and that in our 125th year, is an unfortunate coincidence.
“The Trust is therefore appealing to anyone, either personally or corporately, who is in the fortunate position of being able to offer financial support, either in the way of loans or gifts, to contact us as soon as you possibly can.”
The statement added: “To date, the lawyers have been very patient and understanding, but there is obviously a limit to such consideration.”
It went on to say: “The need for financial support is urgent, hence the reason for seeking your help now.”
Comments(20)
williamjames
says...
1:13pm Tue 2 Oct 12
mowgli1960
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1:16pm Tue 2 Oct 12
Goodbye Football League it was fun while it lasted (sometimes)!!
Stalemate
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2:05pm Tue 2 Oct 12
If this were the case, I am surprised the Trust has not pursued the previous owners for the money as the latter had a clear obligation under law to make the former aware of any outstanding liabilities at the time of the acquisition.
If the previous owner cannot demonstrate this, it would be very difficult for them to resist a petition for bankruptcy made by the Trust.
The Trust should issue the ptrvious owners with a Statutory Demand right away as a precursor to a petition. It is free too!
BigDuddy
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2:13pm Tue 2 Oct 12
i hope not though.......
Gerry47
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2:34pm Tue 2 Oct 12
Stalemate
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2:46pm Tue 2 Oct 12
BigDuddy wrote:If that's right BigDuddy then this is financial mismanagement by the Trust who should have paid £125k less for the club and set it aside for this bill.
im guessing the bill or some part of it was for legal fees the trust have been charged aquiring the club?
i hope not though.......
This news article by the BFP does make the plea for money sound somewhat desperate. This is damaging to the Trust as some may question whether they are currently trading insolvently. If that were the case, taking monies from season ticket holders for matches that will not materialise could result in long jail sentences for those running the Trust.
The Trust should have a long hard think about this, after all it's only a game.
Elmo
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5:41pm Tue 2 Oct 12
Kat4Steve
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6:24pm Tue 2 Oct 12
I cant help but wonder if this so called legal bill proves they couldnt afford to sack Gary Waddock? If this is so, then how can we afford to bring a manager in from another club? Will WWFC ask the fans to pay the compensation to a certain club for there manager & pay his wages?
Have a bad feeling that this is the start of the club going into adminstration & playing non legaue games next season. No money = No money for players or wages.
Stalemate
says...
7:15pm Tue 2 Oct 12
It is clear that the club was being run as a giant Ponzi scheme. He was using debt instruments to bring cash in and then milking it straight back out again, all the while the club getting further and further into the red.
But all Ponzi schemes come crashing down when the oxygen supply is cut; in the case of the club, that was when WDC canned the new stadium project which killed of the prospect of Hayes being able to write more debt into the books.
He should not be allowed to get away with this.
Kat4Steve
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7:34pm Tue 2 Oct 12
Stalemate wrote:I fully understand what you are saying but when Hayes was running the club he never asked the fans for money for bills or to pay debts off!!
Given that Steve Hayes is already under investigation by the police for other allegations, it would be prudent to extend this investigation with a look into the club's books and Hayes' personal finances.
It is clear that the club was being run as a giant Ponzi scheme. He was using debt instruments to bring cash in and then milking it straight back out again, all the while the club getting further and further into the red.
But all Ponzi schemes come crashing down when the oxygen supply is cut; in the case of the club, that was when WDC canned the new stadium project which killed of the prospect of Hayes being able to write more debt into the books.
He should not be allowed to get away with this.
Are the club better off with the trust in charge? I don't think they are, wheres the money coming from? People paying £10 a month for memberships to be apart of the trust?
bayriver
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8:59pm Tue 2 Oct 12
Stalemate
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6:24am Wed 3 Oct 12
Asking fans for money gives a direct and alarming insight into how bad a club's finances. Fans are naturally outraged and want something done.
However, it has been exactly the same arrangement for many years under Hayes, with Hayes instead tapping the debt markets every quarter for cash instead of asking fans.
This illustrates perfectly the true horror of running a club on debt. Someone can run the club for many years, no questions asked, in a way no fan would like IF they knew, and then when the oxygen is cut suddenly walk off leaving the fans to pay.
The reality is that fans should have been concerned all along as this debt mountain was not created overnight but over many years. But this is human nature, no-one cares unless it affects them personally!
As for Hayes, a decent QC or senior barrister could easily show a string of transactions, implemented by him, that could do nothing else but make the club insolvent. I suspect the reason that some of our great minds are not tasked with bringing chaps like this to justice is that the foundations of capitalism would be seen to be undermined.
BigDuddy
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7:45am Wed 3 Oct 12
Stalemate
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8:39am Wed 3 Oct 12
The Beavon sale could have been eaten up easily: £20k to National Power, to keep the lights on. £15k to Thames Water to stop them pulling the plug...all that kind of stuff. That's how bad it can get when a club is mis-managed.
There are a lot of sharks out there. I would love to know what kind of legal services actually rang up a £125k bill as it is no small amount of money. If a legal firm says to a client "pay us whenever you can" it is very easy to get sucked in and end up with a service that could have cost a fraction elsewhere, all because you are desperate and on your knees.
Maybe the Trust should give more detail on the nature of the services and the legal firm involved, that might help get the bill down a bit ;-)
ChilternsBlue
says...
6:30pm Wed 3 Oct 12
BigDuddy wrote:Huge misunderstanding here and throughout comments. The Trust is asking fans to help out with its own legal costs, not those of the club. None of this in any way impinges on the club finances. The club, if you recall, has its own sources of income which, rightly, are kept away from Trust business.
anyway why is the club so desperate to ask the fans for help paying £125k what happened to the money from the stuart beavon sale? that should be a lot more than £125K ? and they would have known about the debt at the time?
It would be entirely wrong for the Trust to rely on the club to pay its debts. Instead, the Trust, as a member run organisation is asking its membership to contribute to its running costs which, thanks to the task of saving the club from the previous administration, have been necessarily great.
Now what, precisely, is wrong with a Trust as a charitable organisation asking its membership or companies in the local community for extra income?
BigDuddy
says...
7:31pm Wed 3 Oct 12
ChilternsBlue wrote:thank you for clearing that up , to me and it seems many others it was not clear on the nature of the debt .
BigDuddy wrote:Huge misunderstanding here and throughout comments. The Trust is asking fans to help out with its own legal costs, not those of the club. None of this in any way impinges on the club finances. The club, if you recall, has its own sources of income which, rightly, are kept away from Trust business.
anyway why is the club so desperate to ask the fans for help paying £125k what happened to the money from the stuart beavon sale? that should be a lot more than £125K ? and they would have known about the debt at the time?
It would be entirely wrong for the Trust to rely on the club to pay its debts. Instead, the Trust, as a member run organisation is asking its membership to contribute to its running costs which, thanks to the task of saving the club from the previous administration, have been necessarily great.
Now what, precisely, is wrong with a Trust as a charitable organisation asking its membership or companies in the local community for extra income?
Personally im happy to match the price of my ticket to help them out , i know its not much but every little helps.
johngull
says...
11:59am Thu 4 Oct 12
SonyaB
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1:40pm Thu 4 Oct 12
Having said that, the Trust are now running the club and if this is an insight in to their financial acumen the outlook for the future is not encouraging.
gpn01
says...
12:10am Fri 5 Oct 12
ChilternsBlue wrote:Well said!
BigDuddy wrote:Huge misunderstanding here and throughout comments. The Trust is asking fans to help out with its own legal costs, not those of the club. None of this in any way impinges on the club finances. The club, if you recall, has its own sources of income which, rightly, are kept away from Trust business.
anyway why is the club so desperate to ask the fans for help paying £125k what happened to the money from the stuart beavon sale? that should be a lot more than £125K ? and they would have known about the debt at the time?
It would be entirely wrong for the Trust to rely on the club to pay its debts. Instead, the Trust, as a member run organisation is asking its membership to contribute to its running costs which, thanks to the task of saving the club from the previous administration, have been necessarily great.
Now what, precisely, is wrong with a Trust as a charitable organisation asking its membership or companies in the local community for extra income?
onthefells says...
1:09pm Tue 2 Oct 12
is the club stumbling back towards non league football?