Benny The Ball

In fairness to Howard he was asked If he thought BSA was involved in one of the consortiums and replied unlikely If you read "involved " as meaning as an investor he is most likely correct If however someone asked had the Dark Horse Consortium sounded out BSA in advance and got from him a commitment to participate in some capacity if they are successful with their bid and then used that as part of their package that persuaded ED Trustees to support that bid -that's when it potentially gets very interesting

I heard it a while ago and dismissed it as wishful thinking ... but its looking like there is something in it

Would certainly make life interesting If Sam popped up in some capacity

sometimes the Beano can explain it just as well ............

https://www.charlesrussellspeechlys.com/en/locations/offices/london/

My understanding as Howard has eloquently expressed elsewhere is that Ed trustees did a back to back deal with the other bidder - the so called dark horse as was mooted on here a few weeks ago Hilary Stonefrost would have been in court along with Paul Aldridge representing the football club with regard to the winding up petition and would have played the best hand of cards she had available. We will never know the timings but without doubt a phone call from CRS at some point on tuesday gave her a much stronger hand to play than that which she had on monday. The extent to which KA knew beforehand would have been minimal ditto WM as KA was not really at the table and if he was , at this point in time he was blindfolded and had one hand tied behind his back ( and I dont mean literally !!) so was not really in the game

Ken may have been talking to upteen potential bidders ,and what he refers to as "advanced talks " may or may not be true. The important point here and I will support Howard on this , is that the other bidder has talked with and reached agreement with ED trustees and the secured creditors and did not engage in discussions with KA directly and it is that other bidder that was referred to at court yesterday That is my understanding of the situation from person(s) very close to events

If you go back a page that in a slightly different way is the point I raised and howard answered Great Minds .............

So in reality its a done deal

Howard Is it feasible that the back to back deal was done in respect of the £5 million secured only ? And the supposed £3 million unsecured could have been in part waived by The Davies family so that in effect Eddies parting gift is to pay off Ken his farewell divi , leaving the new buyers to put all their monies into the club ?

Have they ? Have they not just done deals with all secured creditors bar Ken ?

Ay - he always has been and always will be half a HobNOB

Think there Leeds office represents KA

With the EFL monies you mentioned at the outset against which advances have been received via a factoring arrangement Would these continue to be receivable in the event of a liquidation or would the EFL be within its right to withhold pro rata outstanding monies for club failing to fulfill fixtures ? Am thinking potentially factoring company could be left high and dry and most likely to join HMRC in petitioning in such circumstances?

If anything comes out of the woodwork showing that KA has operated in a way that takes normal business ethics beyond the red line so to speak , given his previous ban , would he just face a fine / punishment fitting for whatever misdemeanor is uncovered , or would previous be taken into account and could he then be banned outright ?

What then is the position about KA securing the £5 million loan with a charge , if its subsequently proven the business was insolvent at the time the charge was put in place ? How would that unravel ? Wont unsecured creditors challenge it ?

Does anyone know if anyone is attending court who intends tweeting updates ? I remember back in 2016 Ian Firth (@SuperWhiteSmurf on Twitter) attended the court case, and live-tweeted the whole thing for the benefit of others. If anyone hears of anything can they post details please

Howard how would we know whether or not notice has in fact already been given to Ken to find the £5 million ? Could there be a scenario where that was given a while ago and the clock is already ticking ? Also given that they hold Kens undated resignation letter as a director of Burnden Leisure does that have any significance in the scheme of things with this 14 day notice period ?

I dont think It will come to that either but just supposing it did does anyone know how the league would be brought back into balance ? I assume 2 would go down from the Championship and with us gone 3 go up from League one and the championship has 24 clubs With only 2 going down to League one that would leave them with 23 clubs so do only 3 go down to league two and 4 go up from league two to league one ? And presumably only one drops out of league two and 2 come up from the National League is that correct ? If if it is correct the main beneficiaries would be whoever finishes 2nd bottom of league two probably Yeovil Notts County or Macclesfield

This got me thinking - saw it on the BBC website yesterday - its sad at any level of the game - you dont need to change many words in this article to get my drift Northern Premier League club and former FA Trophy winners North Ferriby United have been wound up. The decision follows a court hearing in Hull when it was ruled the East Yorkshire club would not be allowed to fulfil any more fixtures. They were due to host Bamber Bridge on Saturday, but were 19 points adrift at the bottom of the table with only two wins all season. North Ferriby played in the National League as recently as 2016-17. The year before, they beat Wrexham 5-4 on penalties at Wembley in the FA Trophy final after the game finished 3-3 after extra time. North Ferriby posted a series of farewell tweets on social media In a short statement on social media, the club confirmed it will now be placed in the hands of a liquidator. "We would like to thank every single player that has played for our fantastic club, with every manager who has led us to success," the statement said. "Our biggest thank you's are to the supporters who have helped to make this club arguably the friendliest in non-league. "Most importantly, you have given your support to the team, no matter where we sit in the table." The Northern League are yet to comment on what the decision will mean for promotion and relegation from the premier division this season.

This thread is getting weirder by the day - its turning into a real life version of one of my favourite films "Field Of Dreams " Does anyone know if Doctor Faustus has got the landscape gardeners around at his place at the moment ?

I am glad you have said that because I have heard this from a very reliable source , - the only element that has surprised me in what has played out thus far in public is that Michael James has appeared to have nailed his colours firmly with team Basran , when from what I know of the other party I would have thought his interests might have been better served by biding his time ?

Morning Howard Do you think the fact that Michael James is on board now precludes any other bidders ? Also with regard to Eddie Davies Trustees could you envisage a scenario whereby ( figures for illustrative purposes ) say Anderson has done a deal at £9 million and £8 million is paid to the trustees to clear the decks , the trustees in turn rebate the cost of Kens payoff £1 million using these figures back to the purchasers as a discount so effectively its the trustees and not the buyers who have borne the cost of paying off KA ?

I think the club found it difficult to do anything because for so long nothing had been done There was an awkwardness about it But its important also that the disaster is viewed in the wider context of when it occurred - the tail end of the war - life was cheap and death was all too common and people had to just dust themselves down and carry on

Don't know how many people are aware of this but the Burnden disaster was completely disregarded by the club for decades. It had been suggested to the club that a memorial be opened at the time of the Nat Lofthouse testimonial in 1989 as he had a direct link back to the era of the disaster ,and that unveiling a memorial would form a focal point at his testimonial , Barry Chaytow the then chairman was not interested and nothing was done. Then following the Hillsborough disaster a lady called Mrs Coward from Radcliffe whose own husband had died in the disaster launched an appeal in the Bolton Evening News and it gained some support from several fans and a campaign of sorts was launched through the opinion columns in the local press. ( No social media in them days ) Even then ( and I have a copy of Des McBains letter to Mrs Coward , who has now passed away ) , there was a reluctance by the club to do anything It is dated 13 July 1990 and reads Dear Mrs Coward Your letter of the 5th June 1990, regarding a memorial of the Burnden disaster was discussed at a recent board meeting. As you are no doubt aware the normid superstore is now built on the spot where the incident occurred. There is an area underneath the store which is going to be developed into sports and leisure area . When the work has been completed then the directors will erect a plaque on the wall adjacent to the spot where the disaster occured. Publicity will obviously be given to this ceremony and you will be more than welcome to attend. Yours Sincerely D McBain It would have been easy for the club to put a plaque on the Embankment entrance wall , but they did all they could to avoid doing anything until there was a groundswell of opinion and questioning as to the lack of it being marked in any way whatsoever Thankfully Mrs Coward lived long enough to see the plaque unveiled at what is now the Asda Superstore But the suggestion that Over the years BWFC have dealt with this in a class way is not something I buy into.