A couple of weeks ago, Bulls News approached David Keyte to set up an end of season session where he could answer a series of questions to clear the air on several matters. It was agreed that the session would take place at the end of the season and the meeting took place this afternoon.
BN – Stuart Fleetwood's transfer, can you give us the timeline and reasons for his sale?
DK – We had received a bid of £40,000 from Bristol Rovers during the close season and had declined it. At the time, neither Stuart nor his agent had been made aware of the bid. Some weeks later they became aware of the bid and it seems were unhappy that they hadn't been involved in the discussion. Stuart's performances in the early part of the season failed to match those of the previous season to the point where he was not an automatic pick for the team.
At Bournemouth (Johnstone Paint match) a fellow Director overheard a conversation involving Stuart where he was asked if he had heard anything about the Luton move. At that point, we had received no contact from Luton or any indication from Stuart that he was looking to move.
The very next morning I received a call from their manager (Gary Brabin) making an offer of £30,000, which I again declined. I pointed out that we had already declined an offer of £40,000 during the summer and we certainly weren't about to entertain anything less. He later came back (presumably having spoken to the Luton Board) with an increased offer of £40,000. In light of his disappointing performances, we (The Board) decided to put the matter to the manager (Jamie Pitman). Jamie said that he wasn't producing the effort he wanted and may as well go. We notified Stuart of the offer and told him he was free to discuss the situation with Luton. The next thing we heard was that Stuart had rejected the move and we assumed that the deal was off. I later got another call from Luton to say they had agreed improved terms with Stuart and the transfer was to go ahead. When I arrived at the office, Stuart was already there waiting to complete and sign the transfer papers.
The whole thing disappointed me particularly as we'd signed Delroy specifically to take the strain of being a lone striker off Stuart and to allow him to focus on scoring goals. I guess the final twist will be him scoring the winner to secure promotion for Luton.
BN - Starlite Rooms. Did the money for their renovation come from Club funds and did that, therefore, reflect in the player budget? Or, if it came from other sources, is there interest or repayments due on the investment.
DK – The money for the renovation did not come from HUFC funds. There were four investors. One part came by way of a donation, one is on the basis of it being repaid as and when surplus funds allow and two are loans to be repaid over the medium term.
BN - Without the investment in the Starlite Rooms, would you have been able to invest more "on the field"?
DK – Absolutely not. We were governed by the 55% rule on HUFC qualifying turnover. The only issues that greatly affected the playing budget during the season were the transfers of Stuart and Janos Kovacs together with the £600 per week that we received from Sean Canham's loan agreement.
BN - What is the turnover (profitable or otherwise) of The Starlite and how does that effect the playing budget.
DK – The Starlite is currently turning over about £4000 a week and making a small profit. That profit margin will increase once we've offset the initial set-up costs of the serveries (such as cellar and cleaning equipment etc.). The usage is increasing and we are very optimistic that both the turnover and profit will play a very worthwhile part in the long-term improvement of the finances of the Club.
BN – Why, when you appointed Richard O’Kelly, did you not dispense with one or more of the existing management/coaching staff?
DK – The deal with Richard was just for 10 weeks. He insisted that Jamie remained at the Club, as he was really the only person here that he knew and he felt that he needed someone who knew the players to be able to make any improvement in the short time available. Dispensing with any other staff before the end of the season would have made little difference to the finances in the overall scheme of things given that the season-end was so close.
To follow – Conference Finance, The Meadowend, The Blackfriars, Gary Peters, The Leases and The Richardsons, Agents Fees and Player Contracts.