Brendan Guilfoyle, who has also over-seen problems at Crystal Palace and Luton Town, admitted that Plymouth had been 'the most challenging rescue of my career.'
- We only had one buyer who was prepared to show the colour of any money for the rescue. Heaney put down a deposit of £300k in return for exclusivity to negotiate and insisted on secrecy. He has lost his £300k because he could not deliver the rest of his promise.
- James Brent, the ultimate buyer, initially said he and his backer could only 'compete with the liquidator' - i.e. if and when the club was about to be closed. He was a reluctant buyer.
- When you negotaite a sale out of an insolvency, you have to make judgements which are based on years of knowledge and experience. The bank was the crux of any deal. It held security over the stadium which it said was watertight. I would have put money on them not shifting from this position. In the end, they took a very large haircut to make the deal work and save the club - but only when all other options had been exhausted.
- We had five other potential buyers but no one else committed money as Heaney did. Two withdrew because of campaigns run by the fans - they have families and businesses and the risks of the deal became personally too much for them.
So could we have rescued the club earlier? I hold my hands up and admit I thought Heaney would deliver the balance of the money and buy the club. I got that wrong. But in anyone's language, £300k is a big commitment of money to lose - this was not a fairy-tale bid. At that time the bank was holding its position, no other rescue was possible - and this was the only deal in town other than liquidation.
What were the pressures of this football club administration?
There were three aspects of this administration which nearly brought the club down:
- Secrecy: the inability to be transparent and open with fans who rightly wanted to know what was happening.
- Social media: the fans used Twitter, forums and blogs to get their messages out quickly. While understandable, this created a feeding frenzy and put additional pressure on everyone involved, particularly potential buyers.
- The protracted timescales: you could argue that in theory a rescue would not have happened without allowing time for everyone to realise how serious the options were. However, it meant considerable sacrifices for everyone - particularly players and staff.
The full article can be read at http://www.footballeconomy.com/content/football-clubs-are-they-businesses-worth-saving
Text at top (next game etc)
Next Game: Darlington Away In The League On Saturday 23rd November At 3.00pm