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Will Ian not so Sharp still be sueing the club now he’s a director, and if as I hope he isn’t will he issue an apology for doing so in the first place. Lots of humble pie to be eaten St Simon and Ian and of course all those who thought the sun shone out their bums.
As you’re so vocal on the subject, please can you confirm the terms of the transaction between the club and Ian Sharp?
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Fair. I realise that Swann holds the blame there. Though, if Harness and co secure a ground solution it will be something Hilton failed to do, and that’s what I am trying to refer to really. Swann cost us club ownership of the ground, but Hilton’s nature might have costed us with playing there.
You do have to consider the possibility that Swann played awkward with Hilton as he realised he had made a grave mistake, and wanted to keep the ground away from the club until the club sorted itself out…
Very early on after joining this forum, I did say that Peter Swann was in the driving seat in regards to the club, the freehold and the inevitable situation concerning Hilton, much to the annoyance of some.
I don’t know Peter Swann or any individual associated with him and therefore I can’t speak for him but it would take a special kind of idiot to argue that Swann and his advisors didn’t drop an almighty one entertaining Hilton and doing a deal with him. Even allowing for the obvious oversight, Swann should have protected himself by having a clause in the sale agreement which stated that should Hilton fail to complete on the freehold as agreed, then ownership of the club reverts back to Swann. It would have saved a lot of messing about.
Going back to my opening paragraph, nothing has changed. This should not be considered as an exercise in trying to wrestle the stadium off Swann, it should be an opportunity to sort this mess out correctly, once and for all. Assuming that Peter Swann and the SUFC board are keen to see the stadium transferred back to the club, I would like to see clauses / deeds of variation which prevent current and future custodians of the club from selling off the ground to a third party. Hopefully the local Council and Iron Trust will play an active role here.
I would like to make two recommendations. First of all to the SUFC board, please get some specialist tax advice regarding the original transfer of the stadium, the debt write off and the potential repurchase of the stadium. Secondly to Peter Swann, draft the sale agreement in a way that Hilton or any individual associated with him can have no future involvement with the club, just for peace of mind.
Having the stadium back under the control of the club will be pivotal to safeguarding your future. I would like to see the new board consult with the local media and set out their stall on this subject.
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This is one hell of a relief!
Thank you Michele and others, this is what we needed. A new club owner who is known to be an Iron fan.
I just hope everyone lets her get on with her work. We no longer require any ‘bystanders’ of any kind.
You should revisit some of your posts on here and on Facebook over the past 4 – 5 months. If you did, you would accept that you well and truly had your head up your backside when it came to Hilton and if it wasn’t for the bystanders, it would still be firmly up there.
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I believe the statement from Michelle covers more of the truth than the majority of the posters on here, Hilton taken no fee and wiped out personal monies invested & Elliott massively assisted. Maybe all was not as black and white!! As many here believe.
I’ve seen too many statements released into the public domain which don’t reflect reality but serve a purpose.
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For those who think it’s funny to make crass jokes about anyone because of their sex is beyond the pale and I would ask all moderators to review said posts, remove them and issue a statement of intent going forward. Let’s not allow Irun Bru to descend to the depths of any form of sexist behaviour or commentary.
Well said.
It has no place in society.
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Honestly guys you want to look at yourselves. The lengths of some of the posts are crazy.
What has the length of posts got to do with anything?
Seventeen posts on this thread, most of them lengthy? Fansy put it succinctly in the OP.
Dunno why it’s turning into a witch hunt?
It’s called a discussion.
Given recent events, you should be actively encouraging discussion and debate not trying to suppress it.
I don’t know Simon Elliott and I have never met him but I’ve known of him for a number of years because he’s friendly / friends with a fairly prominent figure in my neck of the woods. Based on my dealings with this individual, I’m not sure why Simon would want the association on any basis, but each to their own.
Given that Simon is a former director of the club who has done all right for himself compared to the majority, most supporters will trust his judgement and with it, whether he likes it or not, comes a degree of responsibility. In respect to his own judgement regarding Hilton and his public backing of him, he has been totally irresponsible.
All this, I know what I saw doesn’t wash with me. Simon is an experienced operator and he will have met people from all walks of life. In other words, by now he should have the ability to see through people and be able to establish when further clarification on a subject is required.
Putting to one side Hilton’s background, here are some topics that I would describe as basic issues which, in my eyes, should have required further investigation on Simon’s part or certainly should have raised alarm bells well before he showed his support:
The £3M which Hilton claimed to have put into Ilkeston. I can’t find one iota of evidence in their accounts to support this claim.
Hilton’s claim that any money he was putting into Scunthorpe would not be in the form of loans. This would suggest that he had his own liquid funds to hand and was not reliant on any third party. Yet if Simon had looked at the last set of accounts filed for Hilton’s company for y/e 30/06/20, he would have noticed that Hilton’s business was reliant on the best part of £2.4M worth of secured loans provided by third parties, totally at odds with how Hilton claimed he was going to be funding Scunthorpe. If Simon had also taken the trouble to see who had provided those secured loans, cross referenced their accounts with land registry records relating to the assets the loans were secured against, it would have raised a further issue which required clarification. Simon would have also noticed that the accounts were overdue due (now 18 months), the negative net worth of £455K as well as a bank balance of £2K, another red flag.
Had I been Simon, I would have checked Hilton’s own residential status too which would have raised another question.
Put it this way, if I woke up tomorrow and announced to the World that I was prepared to throw seven figures at a football club and look the part by driving a flash car, it would be on the basis that I had no loans, no mortgages and a bank balance that would make your eyes water but perhaps I’m old fashioned.
I have said it before on here and I make no apologies for saying it again, high net worth individuals, the sort who have sufficient funds to throw at football clubs are not reliant on third party funders, they are the bank. They provide the funds and they charge the interest, they don’t pay interest. They also have a tangible background which demonstrates how their wealth has come about.
I don’t think Simon is a bad person but I am undecided as to his reasons for backing Hilton. Does he have similar character flaws to Hilton’s biggest supporter or was he desperate for Hilton to come good because the spotlight and burden would no longer fall on him? Either way, he should conduct some due diligence in future before opening his mouth and if he doesn’t know how to, he should ask.
I will leave it there.
As you’ve probably seen, there is a unity walk planned for Saturday.
Departing from Al-Murad car park on Berkeley circle, 2pm.
Be fantastic to get as many down as we could. We are aiming for the walk to be a show of unity for supporters and celebration in what could potentially be the last game at GP.
Additionally, we want to highlight to the world just what has actually got on here and keep the conversation going about how these ‘fit and and proper’ owners are continuously ruining community assets.
United we stand
First of all, what’s been achieved by your fanbase and the wider football community in such as short space of time has been nothing short of superb. Fundraising, unity and creating awareness of not only your issue but the wider issue of the suitability of some owners. In my World, decent, genuine and honest people will always come out on top, eventually.
I don’t want to offend any supporter of any club, but I can’t help but feeling that collectively you’re accepting what options are being presented to you. None of your fans want to see your team play its home games away from Glanford Park, you are only accepting the situation because you’re being told that’s the only viable option by someone that you don’t trust. I would have expected to see Scunthorpe United, its owner, the board of directors and its COO to have come up against a lot of resistance, especially given the seriousness of the situation.
There are some educated and articulate individuals on here and on other platforms (you, Siderite, MKIron, North Lincolnshire Irons, TheJuryEffsOut, Lesgio, Just Iron, Matt Blanchard, Matt Ellis, etc) who really should be asking the question, is a move away from GP in the interests of the club and if it’s not, why are we accepting it and what can we do about it?
Right at this moment in time, the prospect of moving away from GP should be the only discussion point for the Iron Trust and other supporter groups.
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Latest podcast featuring Scunthorpe from 2M/45S.
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If you want to be dramatic of course, still doesnt explain why our players would be any different to other clubs though. Don’t forget they’ll be on top dollar here and won’t want to walk away lightly, first port of call would be the Pfa and let them deal with it.
Not all of the players will be members of the PFA, only those who have previously been registered with EFL clubs will be.
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https://x.com/chrisdawkesITV/status/1706721406006755337?s=20
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I’ve just picked myself up off the floor after reading the bit about his family, inheritance, gambling, and especially the bit where he tells us all that he’s a good person. Good people lead by example. They don’t need to tell others, it’s obvious by how they conduct themselves…
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According to herbs.
Refund all season ticket holders(apart from £22 for each game played so far)and sponsors etcThe economics of the madhouse.
For me this is not viable in any way, shape, or form. There will be negligible savings with a shared facility but when you consider the rent payable to Gainsborough and the impact that such an arrangement will have on Scunthorpe’s revenue streams there will be no net gain. The cost of moving away from GP and the threat it poses to the club’s future should not be underestimated.
If another game’s being played, well the educated soon blew for time on the land owned by Onward Holdings Ltd.
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I can’t stress how important this is.
If you lose your home, you lose control and your identity. Sooner or later, you’ve had it.
The Iron Trust should be working with all other interested parties – and lobbying involvement from Rob Waltham and the Council – to ensure GP is not lost.
You’re preaching to the converted. I’ve been saying the same for a few weeks now.
The stadium and the ongoing issues surrounding the owner will be solved by the Iron Trust and local business people coming together with the assistance of the Council.
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