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Outside investment is only way forward for Saints (From Daily Echo)
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Outside investment is only way forward for Saints
6:00am Wednesday 3rd December 2008
FORMER Saints chairman Leon Crouch insists the only way the club can ever prosper again is to attract new investment.
Crouch was ousted as football board chairman back in May following the return of Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde to power.
Almost two years earlier Crouch had sided with Wilde to force Lowe’s resignation at St Mary’s.
The Lymington-based businessman still owns around 10 per cent of the Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC shares.
He became the second largest individual shareholder behind Wilde when he paid £1.8m for over two million shares at 65p each in April 2006.
With the share price now down to 25.5p, Crouch has lost £1.1m on his investment – and would happily lose the remaining £700,000 if a new investor appeared on the horizon.
“I believe the only way forward for SFC is for an investor to come in and buy the majority of the shareholding, with enough money to strengthen the squad and get us back to the Premiership,”
he said.
“I would give away all my shares to the right person. I don’t care about the money, all I care about is the future of this great club.
“Only outside investment would unite everyone again.”
The only firm investment offer ever put on the table remains the SISU one which former executives Jim Hone and Ken Dulieu worked on last autumn.
The three leading individual shareholders – Wilde, Crouch and Lowe – never spoke to anyone connected with the hedge fund, though, and SISU took over Coventry almost a year ago.
Crouch insists he has “no regrets” at not agreeing to support SISU, saying: “Look where Coventry are in the table? They haven’t done a lot there.”
During his time as football board chairman, Crouch says he met “three or four” people who had expressed an interest in investing in Saints.
One of them is Hampshire barrister Jonathan Fulthorpe, who was supposed to be peicing together a consortium bid.
Former Saints boss Dave Merrington was also involved in the consortium plan as a football consultant.
But months of speculation on that front has so far drawn a blank.
Crouch said: “I know that during my short time as chairman of the club, I worked tirelessly to bring in a new era and investment.
“I am disappointed that I was prevented from implementing these plans for this great club.”
He added: “One day the new investment will happen. The fans deserve better, the players deserve better.”
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Your Say YourEcho
wonder weasel, southampton says...
8:08am Wed 3 Dec 08
UTS, says...
8:59am Wed 3 Dec 08
We want a takeover and investment to rid this club of Rupert Lowe before its all too late. Some would say though its gone past the salvage point with fans who have watched the club for decades walking away.
SFC4EVA, Southampton says...
9:54am Wed 3 Dec 08
North-South-West, Woolston says...
10:15am Wed 3 Dec 08
SFC4EVA wrote:Actually, Crouch did nothing of the sort. The ones that squandered the millions were, in the first instance Wilde, when they gambled on Burley's incompetence to build a team for automatic re-promotion, then Hone and the Orange one, who sent the finanaces spiralling out of control.
Shut it Crouch, you kept saying a deal is around the corner yet nothing came of it. Meanwhile you squandered millions on over the hill players who just wanted to collect a paycheque and up'ed the boardroom's wages (check the accounts for the facts!)
Jesus_02, Freemantle says...
10:39am Wed 3 Dec 08
That’s another possible 100k in the bank. However if 500k is “a drop in he ocean” the insult that that additional £6 per head has caused will have less impact than a **** in Fratton.
St.Yorkie, Pocklington says...
12:52pm Wed 3 Dec 08
32,000 x £6 equates to nearer £186,000 - but then you have to take off 55% which takes it closer to £86,400 - but that's only if it sells out!
That's £13,600 less than a £100,000 that the bank will demand made up if there is a shortfall!
KCAJRETSOF, Detmold says...
4:03pm Wed 3 Dec 08
Traceyf, Southampton says...
4:13pm Wed 3 Dec 08
St.Yorkie wrote:There was no interest from Paul Allen, it was only speculation. When Paul Allen was link with Blackburn he personally denied on TV that he was not interested in buying ANY football team over here.
The "Dark Lord" does not want investment...and it seems if if Leon was talking to people with 10% holding he did not have enough say! I'm not going to refer to Mr.Wilde as "Judas" - but surely he has the power with his shares...why can't he see a good deal when it's on offer? The long and the short of it I suspect is there is "NO" interest...but what about the interest from Bill Gates's mate???
As for your claim that Lowe does not want investment, why woul dhe block and deal that he sees as worthy? From the right deal he would gain from it.
Jesus_02, Freemantle says...
7:45pm Wed 3 Dec 08
St.Yorkie wrote:Just a guess to be honest. Not a bad one by your calculations!
How do you make that out? 32,000 x £6 equates to nearer £186,000 - but then you have to take off 55% which takes it closer to £86,400 - but that's only if it sells out! That's £13,600 less than a £100,000 that the bank will demand made up if there is a shortfall!
And an even better post according to the automated moderator. It gave my fluctuant Emission 4 stars
security word "body-hate",slightly more shocking than ****
allsaintsnocurves, Southampton says...
12:19pm Thu 4 Dec 08
Traceyf wrote:Well Lowe doesn't believe an invester is in the best interests of the club so he wouldn't even entertain the idea if a decent offer was made. He is using Saints for his own personal gain for power and his own ego!
St.Yorkie wrote: The "Dark Lord" does not want investment...and it seems if if Leon was talking to people with 10% holding he did not have enough say! I'm not going to refer to Mr.Wilde as "Judas" - but surely he has the power with his shares...why can't he see a good deal when it's on offer? The long and the short of it I suspect is there is "NO" interest...but what about the interest from Bill Gates's mate???There was no interest from Paul Allen, it was only speculation. When Paul Allen was link with Blackburn he personally denied on TV that he was not interested in buying ANY football team over here. As for your claim that Lowe does not want investment, why woul dhe block and deal that he sees as worthy? From the right deal he would gain from it.
I have never had the confidence in Lowe that he does anything for the best interests of the club.
Even his plan on playing the youth players was not a new idea and would have been done by Crouch.
Lowe will always be remembered for wasting millions on sacking managers, wasting millions on Clive Woodward...not backing Harry when we needed it most and therefore, getting us relegated!
Any other decent Chairman with any morals would have put the club up for sale and quit!
UTS, says...
1:01pm Thu 4 Dec 08
Fears are mounting for the South Coast club, which is now £27.5million in debt and has barely any working capital to continue day-to-day operations.
Some Saints players and coaches are also extremely concerned by increased involvement in team matters by some of the club’s directors.
Striker Adam Lallana, 20, rated at £2m, and 22-year-old midfielder Andrew Surman — who could fetch £1.5m — are to be sold in January for an instant cash injection.
If the club is still unable to pay wages, and with the banks refusing to increase their already large overdraft, they would have to become the latest club to go into administration and suffer the resulting points penalty.
It will be a sorry fall from grace for the 2003 FA Cup finalists, who have failed to recover from relegation from the Premier League four years ago.
Despite selling a string of key players, including Theo Walcott to Arsenal, they have failed to balance the books.
Saints problems continue in the week that cash-strapped Watford stumbled from one crisis to another, with chairman Graham Simpson being forced to stand down.
Derek of Holbury, Holbury says...
2:10pm Thu 4 Dec 08
We would all then have something we can really discuss, rather than all this boring repetitive suggestion, speculation, hearsay stuff.
Will be quite refreshing and novel won't it?
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St.Yorkie, Pocklington says...
7:56am Wed 3 Dec 08
I'm not going to refer to Mr.Wilde as "Judas" - but surely he has the power with his shares...why can't he see a good deal when it's on offer? The long and the short of it I suspect is there is "NO" interest...but what about the interest from Bill Gates's mate???