Still no comment from Watford over club's future (From Watford Observer)
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Watford unable to comment on whether former chairman has been repaid and whether the club is going into administration
5:40pm Wednesday 16th December 2009 in WFC in Crisis
There is still no comment from Watford FC over their immediate future after former chairman Jimmy Russo demanded the £4.88m he loaned the club be repaid by the “end of business” today.
Russo, his brother Vince and business associate Robin Williams all resigned from the board at the AGM of the Hornets’ parent company Watford Leisure Plc last night.
Russo has lent the club £4.88m via his company Valley Grown Salads and last night he told shareholders he would be demanding that money back with immediate effect.
A statement released by Watford Leisure this morning confirmed Russo had demanded the money be repaid “on or before close of business on 16 December 2009” - today.
The company requested its shares be suspended on the stock exchange this morning and the statement confirmed the club were considering “indicative proposals” from both Valley Grown Salads and Lord Ashcroft’s Fordwat Limited, which own 37 per cent of the shares.
The statement added: “In the event that a funding solution cannot be obtained then the Company may have to be placed in administration. A further announcement will be made in due course.”
The Watford Observer has contacted the Hornets to ask whether VGS has been paid the £4.88m owed and if the club have, or are set to, go into administration but the club are currently unable to comment.
Click here to read this morning’s statement from Watford Leisure
Click here to read our detailed report from last night’s AGM
Comments(25)
SouthOxheyHornet1
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5:41pm Wed 16 Dec 09
duckfan10
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5:45pm Wed 16 Dec 09
jasonsoloman
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6:20pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Rick Holden Forever
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6:22pm Wed 16 Dec 09
I'm getting some banner made up of Ashcroft and Simpson.
The tag line is:
Wanted for crimes against WFC.
Let me know if you're interested.
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys!
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6:29pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Johnjones59
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6:35pm Wed 16 Dec 09
grahamwfc
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6:36pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Following a meeting this afternoon, the Chairman, the Board of Reading Football Club and Brendan Rodgers have agreed by mutual consent that Brendan Rodgers will leave his position as First Team Manager with immediate effect.
Reading Football Club will make no further comment at this stage.
enlightened one
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6:39pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys!
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6:45pm Wed 16 Dec 09
mattjwilliams
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6:52pm Wed 16 Dec 09
UZZY
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6:54pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys! wrote:I agree but everyone is looking for some good news,cos there isnt much in these columns...so its good news !! Have some festive cheer for goodness sake !!
How sad. Isn't it time you moved on from this anti- Reading / Rodgers nonsense? Can't you understand that WFC didn't have the means to honour the contract and basis under which we (Simpson) brought Buck in? It was actually us that first mislead him not the other way round; and we certainly would't have got this close to turning the finances around without the money he generated from increasing player values and excellent buys.
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys!
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6:56pm Wed 16 Dec 09
rochdale away
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7:06pm Wed 16 Dec 09
and yet for some reason this isn't worrying me and have a feeling good will come out of it. I'm struggling to see how it will be with the 'spit my dummy out and to hell with the supporters russos' and if they do shaft OUR football club, how about this? Given that lots of clubs are in are situation, we get all right minded football fans to boycott valley salad foods and do unto the arrogant wotsits what they are doing to us!..............lot of football lovers out there.
My list of despised chairman is bonser,petchey and russo.....not simpson, I reckon he was just misguided and fed a line by ashton
enlightened one
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7:17pm Wed 16 Dec 09
N Joydegame
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7:25pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Bonser was old school and out of touch but he hardly ruined the club. Petchey was a money grabbing chancer but we did get two new stands whilst he was here, and also Graham Taylor back. The Russo's are complete unsung heroes as they got rid of the most inept and possibly corrupt chairman we've ever had, under who's watch managed to waste/lose/squander or misappropriate over £70 million quid!!! Vince has been in post for less than a year - unpaid )unlike Homer who managed to cream off for himself over a £million), and has halved our debts/put nearly £5m of his own family money into the club/financed the team and appointed MM and his team who have played some of the best football we have seen in years ( unlike that atrocious rubbish from Hoofy)
I take it you weren't at the AGM last night and so like the other halfwit Homer admirers are just talking out of your backside. Get real, get a life, and get lost
rochdale away
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7:38pm Wed 16 Dec 09
apatters
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8:07pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Anyway, tomorrow is another day, but remember we're all Yellow on this site!
V.o.R
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8:11pm Wed 16 Dec 09
rochdale away wrote:You sound like a very nice chap Rochdale and indeed essentially right but more importantly realising that this is brought about by one person that quite honestly hasn't got an ounce of yellow blood in his body!
I'm the bloke in the stand, who when we are 4-0 up with 5 mins to go is stressing for us to get the 5th to kill off the game................
and yet for some reason this isn't worrying me and have a feeling good will come out of it. I'm struggling to see how it will be with the 'spit my dummy out and to hell with the supporters russos' and if they do shaft OUR football club, how about this? Given that lots of clubs are in are situation, we get all right minded football fans to boycott valley salad foods and do unto the arrogant wotsits what they are doing to us!..............lot of football lovers out there.
My list of despised chairman is bonser,petchey and russo.....not simpson, I reckon he was just misguided and fed a line by ashton
To not even tell G.T of his intentions is out of order as is putting us fans through hell, wondering what the hell is going on.
How on Earth are we losing 1 million pounds a month under the 'R's' anyhow?
Wags it all about?
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8:18pm Wed 16 Dec 09
rochdale away
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8:32pm Wed 16 Dec 09
k you VoR, I seriously believe simpson is a Watford supporter,made a few quid,saved the club post vialli and then got 'sucked in' by deluded ashton and ending up making a mess. Not dishonest,just not quite up for the job. Fate and luck are funny things.....say that daft pen hadn't been given at goodison, marlon had stayed fit and we had stayed up....very fine line between success and failure.
joydegame,apatters is right,we're all yellow through and through here. We don't need to **** at each other. We all have an opinion,right or wrong..............b
ut that doesn't make you a 'plonker'
rochdale away
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8:37pm Wed 16 Dec 09
derry pigweed
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10:37pm Wed 16 Dec 09
rochdale away wrote:Please help me to understand how any Watford supporter could squander at least 75 million,leave us with a 3sided stadium and then watch the club go bust?
oh dear at the risk of making my self unpopular.......than k you VoR, I seriously believe simpson is a Watford supporter,made a few quid,saved the club post vialli and then got 'sucked in' by deluded ashton and ending up making a mess. Not dishonest,just not quite up for the job. Fate and luck are funny things.....say that daft pen hadn't been given at goodison, marlon had stayed fit and we had stayed up....very fine line between success and failure. joydegame,apatters is right,we're all yellow through and through here. We don't need to **** at each other. We all have an opinion,right or wrong..............b ut that doesn't make you a 'plonker'
N Joydegame
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11:08pm Wed 16 Dec 09
Just keep spouting your deluded opinions about Homer and you'll be right on the money. Just remember that Homer was first an actor, not very good one, but good enough to con enough gullible people like you into believing he wasn't such a bad chap.
The Vialli fiasco was more bad luck (digital TV) and bad judgement on behalf of the board. The Homer, Cashton and Hoofy escapade was neither. It was squander on an almost criminal scale. £70 million gone and NOTHING to show except the threat of administration. You can't blame this on the Russo's who have been open and honest all along about the club's position, and haven't threatened legal action everytime an article is printed in the WO. A pox on those three scoundrels for their legacy of debt, a derelict stadium, and the threat of administration and even liquidation. The Russo's bear no responsibility for any of this, and they can't be criticized for protecting their investments. What right do we have of expecting their company to carry the burden of debt brought about by Homer? None.
Richard - Come On You Golden Boys!
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11:55pm Wed 16 Dec 09
The situation is most definitely not Black & White, but for what it's worth, my views are:
1. Simpson is a long-time supporter of the club who once saved us from going under (with Ashcroft's major assistance); he then squandered the unexpected millions that came along as a result of promotion to the Prem & left us with an unsustainable business model that was losing c £1m per month when the Prem parachute funding dried up. I question his integrity because of the money he took out of the business and the incorrect statements he made; plus his judgement in allowing Ashton to run the business into the ground without a sustainable financial plan. Can he seriously expect to return or does he just want some of his money back?
2. The Russo's are not and never have been WFC supporters, they have been highly successful in running their own small business & JR made significant progress in managing the expenses down and getting maximum income from transfers.
However, they do not have the resources or desire to give the club money or wipe out debts. I now must question their integrity due to their action in demanding the immediate payment of their loan; placing their former colleagues on the board in an impossible position and the club's future at risk. (I expect having it secured against the ground was explained as a "last resort" to the board not how it has now been used.)
Perhaps it's the way they operate but it has not helped our situation and also makes me question their judgement as they appear out of their depth in dealing with LA. Maybe I'm wrong however and they still have a proposal on the table....
3. Ashcroft is not a supporter and never will be, his acquisition of the WL shares was a business decision, albeit a very bad one as a result of listening to Simpson (his 2006 press release on the rights issue is very upbeat).
He is a billionaire but not a philanthropist and will not be dictated to by the Russos ... or anyone else I guess. However I'm not sure he can be blamed for the mess the club is now in as he's had no involvement in the running of the club since day 1.
He also has a proposal on the table presumably involving Simpson....
4. Graham Taylor. Mr Integrity, Poor honest guy in the middle of this mess. His sole concern is the future of the club. Has stepped into the Chair because there's nobody else, however GT has very limited business experience or a personal fortune. Although he is a good friend of Sir Elton John...But that's another story.
We must await the next instalment and hope; but things are never quite what they seem.
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