Statement From English Consortium

[davidg]

Nah - still not registered on Companies House

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//companysearch?disp=1&frfsh=1421082053result

Company number 04385792.

[slapsalmon]

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/01844765/CRYSTAL-PALACE-FC-1986-LIMITED/directors-secretaries

I tell a lie, they used to own crystal palace fc2000

If you look at the above link though from crystal palace fc1986 a director by the name of Gary withey appears. who was sniffing around with Mcgeoch was he not? maybe my joke conspiracy above isn't as far fetched as I thought

[Hambud]

Errr... "realistic"?? A Director of Football, a Head of Recruitment and a "comprehensive European Scouting facility" is in no way realistic for a club of our size.

you've never heard of dressing for the job you want not the job you have, have you?

http://www.adroitpeople.com.au/dress-for-the-job-you-want-not-the-one-you-have/

[Chris]

With regards to , New Manager , Assistant Manager , Director of Football , European scouting facility , whats wrong with that ? Why shouldn,t a club like ours have these ?

Quite clearly we could not afford to have people in all of those roles.

"Why don't we have scouts?" - "Oh, you have scouts...f**k off with your scouts!"

"Why aren't we more organised or ambitous?" - "You seem organised and ambitious. Well, you can f**k right off!"

St Mirren could definitely do a better job when it comes to scouting - but we should be scouting in Scotland and the rest of the UK. We do not need, and nor can we afford, "European Scouting facilities".

you've never heard of dressing for the job you want not the job you have, have you?

http://www.adroitpeople.com.au/dress-for-the-job-you-want-not-the-one-you-have/

I can only assume they are putting out their plan for world domination on a scale not in keeping with the budget of an SPL club because they think someone with more suitable means might read it. Shame they couldn't even spellcheck it before publishing it - I think that has more to do with your very odd Australian HR tip.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

I've not read their statement in full and to be honest I am not all that bothered if the English bid was a non-starter due to a lack of credibility behind their company and the people they were using and had lined up to takeover. What I am concerned about is St Mirren FC. If the English bid was laughable and if their broker's fraud conviction was known about months ago, why spin things out for 6 months, why have them heading north on 24th December under the impression they are going to complete the deal or at least sign he deal?

I don't think we come out of this well if there is truth in leaking a bid we didn't intend to see through or leaking Thompson's name or in claiming we had found out at the last minute about the fraud conviction.

My guess is the club strung them along to try and make it look like a few genuine bids were on the table and try and get a higher price for the sale, and that this statement is an attempt to hit back and scupper any deal or lower the cost of any deal to the winning consortium.

[TsuMirren]

Quite clearly we could not afford to have people in all of those roles.

St Mirren could definitely do a better job when it comes to scouting - but we should be scouting in Scotland and the rest of the UK. We do not need, and nor can we afford, "European Scouting facilities".

I can only assume they are putting out their plan for world domination on a scale not in keeping with the budget of an SPL club because they think someone with more suitable means might read it. Shame they couldn't even spellcheck it before publishing it - I think that has more to do with your very odd Australian HR tip.

A facility could just be contacts...how do you think we got Tess, Travner and Goncalves? No need to constantly pay someone. We also do have a manager and assistant, plus a Director of Football could take on the role Brian plays with contracts etc leaving Brian to run the club with Campbell.

As for "We should scout in Scotland", I didn't realise we'd left Europe.

The press release is tinged with anger, but then why not try knocking our board when it's obvious there's a leak somewhere.

[NeilPar72]

Seems like a statement released in anger. Perhaps due to the realisation that they have been strung along by our board for months.

By all accounts this bid had no chance of happening, yet these guys believe they were heading up on Xmas eve to finalise the deal.

So why not air some of the boards bad habits ie leaks from club for all to see as retribution.

[Stu]

It seems somewhat ironic that our club has a reputation for leaks when we seem to hear feck all directly from the board.

[djchapsticks]

I echo what has been said. Amateur as that statement is, the concept of stringing an interested party along, even if it's not really viable stinks of total small time and shady.

[alanb]

It seems somewhat ironic that our club has a reputation for leaks when we seem to hear feck all directly from the board.

And that indicates to me the lack of professionalism permeating through the club at the moment.

Maybe heads would roll at an other time.

[Griff]

A facility could just be contacts...how do you think we got Tess, Travner and Goncalves? No need to constantly pay someone. We also do have a manager and assistant, plus a Director of Football could take on the role Brian plays with contracts etc leaving Brian to run the club with Campbell.

As for "We should scout in Scotland", I didn't realise we'd left Europe.

The press release is tinged with anger, but then why not try knocking our board when it's obvious there's a leak somewhere.

Very much my thoughts , also it could be likely that one or two new board members would take on responsibility for contracts , and maybe another for scouting players in England . The club badly needs a Board of Directors and a five year plan , otherwise we could end up losing a lot of fans

[buddiecat]

Odd statement, thought provoking though, why ask for the statement to be published when the deal is off, i won't speculate, suffice to say that business deals are notoriously murky and we have only heard this statement and that our BOD did not approve of one of those involved. I for one will now only want to hear when a decision to sell has been signed and sealed, mainly because the board are not going to listen to my opinion when making their mind up, leaks of a sale being imminent and of dodgy people involved in bids is just part of their power game.

If a deal cannot be signed when the chairman is out of the country why on earth has news of the argentinian bid being accepted been leaked to our busiest forum, it gets more murky day by day.

[saintnextlifetime]

I've not read their statement in full and to be honest I am not all that bothered if the English bid was a non-starter due to a lack of credibility behind their company and the people they were using and had lined up to takeover. What I am concerned about is St Mirren FC. If the English bid was laughable and if their broker's fraud conviction was known about months ago, why spin things out for 6 months, why have them heading north on 24th December under the impression they are going to complete the deal or at least sign he deal?

I don't think we come out of this well if there is truth in leaking a bid we didn't intend to see through or leaking Thompson's name or in claiming we had found out at the last minute about the fraud conviction.

My guess is the club strung them along to try and make it look like a few genuine bids were on the table and try and get a higher price for the sale, and that this statement is an attempt to hit back and scupper any deal or lower the cost of any deal to the winning consortium.

Yeh , there will be a motive behind the statement and your suspected reason for it , sounds plausible enough. .

[ged62]

We may well be a laughing stock, but not because of this development. The English consortium clearly makes a laughing stock of itself with this pitiful statement, and we have definitely dodged a bullet there.

I think we're still dodging bullets, what mess this club is in & we can only blame current BOD, IMO. May I add.

[ged62]

Very much my thoughts , also it could be likely that one or two new board members would take on responsibility for contracts , and maybe another for scouting players in England . The club badly needs a Board of Directors and a five year plan , otherwise we could end up losing a lot of fans

I actually think that's the way we're heading, the fans are getting pissed off with the whole lot of this shambles. I've lost all respect with our board the way they have treated the fans. The appointment of TC, left it to long to sack him, the communication. Any board can put any am mount of money into a club, but without the loyal fans they have nothing.

[saint in exile]

This whole situation is a f*cking clusterf*ck. The BoD hasn't covered itself in glory if there's any truth in the English consortium's statement. Even if there's not, the fact that Div was 'informed' of unfolding events is unprofessional at best. As someone posted earlier, we've become a laughing stock.

And Shull, where can I buy a ticket to your little world? Face it mate, there's no fairy Saint mother out there waiting to save us and the current Board want out. Who are they supposed to sell to?

[Gordon Urquhart]

One word. Shambles.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

As I said earlier, I don't think the English consortium are without fault, eg, for a group seriously expecting to takeover St Mirren FC it looks fairly clueless if they didn't know SG, the chairman of the BoD and lead member of the selling consortium, was on holiday in South Africa and had been since mid-December and wasn't expected back until near the end of January. That said, it looks like it was the club that leaked news of their bid to the media, leaked news of who their managerial choice would be, leaked news the deal was off and leaked news that one of those putting the bid together had been in jail for fraud. A few weeks after expecting to conclude the sale they then hear of more leaked news that there is a done deal with a different bidder. I'm not surprised they have hit back, especially when on their version of events, the reason for not concluding the sale on 24th December was one board member could not attend the meeting and sign the deal.

I think the way things are going our board are managing to turn SMFC into almost as big and messy a soap opera as The Rangers International Football Club, with the number of takeover stories we've had, unsavoury characters we have been saved from, 10000Hours being rejected at the 11th hour, and meanwhile in the last 7 or 8 months they binned DL by letting his contract run out and told him after the end of the season so there was no farewell to the fans, appointed Tommy Craig and kept on backing him when it was clear he wasn't up to the job, backed him at the AGM and then sacked him 1 week later, have placed Teale in charge for an unspecified interim period and only asked him to improve things. Their main activity would seem to be buying up SMFC shares so they can increase their stake from 51% to 75% to improve the chances of a sale of the club while they knock back investment offers from SMISA and while the player budget is cut. We are now almost halfway through the January window with no signings, 5 players leaving the 1st team squad so far, star striker injured, our only centre half suspended and still no news on what is happening with shortlisting for the managerial vacancy.

[saintnextlifetime]

As I said earlier, I don't think the English consortium are without fault, eg, for a group seriously expecting to takeover St Mirren FC it looks fairly clueless if they didn't know SG, the chairman of the BoD and lead member of the selling consortium, was on holiday in South Africa and had been since mid-December and wasn't expected back until near the end of January. That said, it looks like it was the club that leaked news of their bid to the media, leaked news of who their managerial choice would be, leaked news the deal was off and leaked news that one of those putting the bid together had been in jail for fraud. A few weeks after expecting to conclude the sale they then hear of more leaked news that there is a done deal with a different bidder. I'm not surprised they have hit back, especially when on their version of events, the reason for not concluding the sale on 24th December was one board member could not attend the meeting and sign the deal.

I think the way things are going our board are managing to turn SMFC into almost as big and messy a soap opera as The Rangers International Football Club, with the number of takeover stories we've had, unsavoury characters we have been saved from, 10000Hours being rejected at the 11th hour, and meanwhile in the last 7 or 8 months they binned DL by letting his contract run out and told him after the end of the season so there was no farewell to the fans, appointed Tommy Craig and kept on backing him when it was clear he wasn't up to the job, backed him at the AGM and then sacked him 1 week later, have placed Teale in charge for an unspecified interim period and only asked him to improve things. Their main activity would seem to be buying up SMFC shares so they can increase their stake from 51% to 75% to improve the chances of a sale of the club while they knock back investment offers from SMISA and while the player budget is cut. We are now almost halfway through the January window with no signings, 5 players leaving the 1st team squad so far, star striker injured, our only centre half suspended and still no news on what is happening with shortlisting for the managerial vacancy.

That might be just a wee bit too much reality for a cold , bleak , January night. .in Paisleyshire. .

[saintnextlifetime]

This whole situation is a f*cking clusterf*ck. The BoD hasn't covered itself in glory if there's any truth in the English consortium's statement. Even if there's not, the fact that Div was 'informed' of unfolding events is unprofessional at best. As someone posted earlier, we've become a laughing stock.

And Shull, where can I buy a ticket to your little world? Face it mate, there's no fairy Saint mother out there waiting to save us and the current Board want out. Who are they supposed to sell to?

Indeed . They wanted to sell , the chances of a Saints minded Buddie coming along ( with a willingness to splash a little cash) were always going to be remote. They waited 5yrs to get a suitable offer and then , and then. .

. .some nice Argentine gentlemen pitched up and seemed to have the readies. .

[shull]

This whole situation is a f*cking clusterf*ck. The BoD hasn't covered itself in glory if there's any truth in the English consortium's statement. Even if there's not, the fact that Div was 'informed' of unfolding events is unprofessional at best. As someone posted earlier, we've become a laughing stock.

And Shull, where can I buy a ticket to your little world? Face it mate, there's no fairy Saint mother out there waiting to save us and the current Board want out. Who are they supposed to sell to?

If there is nobody to sell to presently, that's fine with me. Means the present Board will have to stay until they find another route out. I've explained how on another Thread.

Can't give you my ticket due to it being invalid for you.

[djchapsticks]

If there is nobody to sell to presently, that's fine with me. Means the present Board will have to stay until they find another route out. I've explained how on another Thread.

Can't give you my ticket due to it being invalid for you.

The problem being that the current board staying has gone from drifting stagnation, which most of us accepted and understood to actively hurting the club in a very short space of time which most of us don't understand. This won't get better or steady itself in time. We are now approaching the end game for SG and Co.

I never thought I'd see the day when I felt this BoD were unhealthy for SMFC but that appears to be the case now.

[shull]

It's the Team that are shite.

[djchapsticks]

It's the Team that are shite.

It is. But it's blatantly obvious that this has started at boardroom level with the cheapskate appointment of TC and the sanctioning of bargain basement signings who were plainly never going to be up to the job.

[Tam M]

I was approached this morning by Graeme Redpath who was part of the English Consortium who asked me to publish the following statement on the website for you all to read. I have not amended any of this, verbatim pasted from his email to me;

I might be on my own here, but I'm quite disappointed the English bid fell through. Obviously, there were some concerns about it but at least they were ambitious in what they wanted to achieve. When was the last time we had an ounce of ambition come from St Mirren Park?

I appreciate the titles seem a bit far fetched, Director of Football, Head of Recruitment etc. However it's very easy to make things sound more important than what they are. I remember my first job when I left school, my role was titled 'Business Adviser'... I worked in a call center. The chances are these were a few people putting in a few hours each focusing on one specific area rather than having the one person running about the place like a headless chicken (Brian Caldwell usually). Most clubs in this league will have a few backroom staff dealing with the general day to day running of the club, we seem to just have one. I'd much rather we had 4 people working 20 hours each a week than one person working 60 hours a week.

I liked the idea of having a scouting system in place. I know a few people at my old work who actually done scouting for Falkirk . The deal was that if they signed anyone that was recommended, they got a few quid, I'm talking about a few hundred pounds here. I've seen plenty of posts moaning that we don't have a scout. You just can't seem to please people on here.

What is playing on my mind is why the BOD demanded to know who they were appointing as manager? I'm sorry but what does that matter? Especially to the people that appointed Tommy Craig! You can't sell the club then want a say on the backroom staff. Especially as it seems to have all went pear shaped after that. Talk about trying to have your cake and eat it at the same time. The story seems to tally up as I remember when David Thompson appeared on the bookies list and Thompson denied it himself on Twitter.

The main bit of their plans (from what we know anyway) that really stuck out from me is that they wanted to use Ralston to develop our own players and then sell them on - which is where we are really failing at the moment. I'd much prefer that than youngsters from South America coming over for 6-12 months at a time then moving on.

As for David Thompson being the manager, it likely wouldn't be much different to what we have just now in terms of Teale. Inexperienced. The difference being that Thompson would have much better contacts. You can see from his Twitter that he is very friendly with some players who have played at the very top level (Robbie Fowler etc). In this kind of league contacts are everything.

The story regarding the broker is very poor showing from the club. It's clear from a 'google' about the brokers' past. As a broker he would just be seeking a few quid for sorting it all out. The BoD have obviously known about this for a while, I don't see them a few months later suddenly introducing their broker.

Obviously I can only base this on what the English group have said, as the board clearly aren't interested in telling us anything. If the deal is now 'dead' then there is no harm in telling us what happened. There's no harm in commenting saying we are in negotiations with the Argies without going into specifics. I see they declined to comment today to the media.

The club is a shambles right now from top to bottom and it's a sad day when I just want someone, anyone, to purchase the club as I'm quickly losing interest.

As for the poor grammar and typing, most people use their phones/Ipads these days to e-mail etc on the move. This is likely the reason. But really, who cares?

Edited January 12, 2015 by Tam M