Stephen Malkmus

I.e. the same kind of situation as happened with Derby in 2022. “The joint administrators are delighted to confirm that they have formally accepted Clowes’ offer to acquire Derby County Football Club (“The Club”) out of administration. Clowes has been granted preferred bidder status with immediate effect. “The joint administrators will now enter into a period of exclusivity with Clowes, with a completion of the acquisition of the business and the assets of the Club targeted for 29 June 2022. All parties are now working hard to conclude what is still a complex legal transaction within a very short timeframe. “Once concluded, the transaction will enable the Club to move forward and prepare for the upcoming season out of administration. It will also ensure that Pride Park Stadium and the Club are under the control of a new, local owner with the commitment and resources to enable the Club to move forward with a clean slate. The offer also provides the best return for creditors and enables the Joint Administrators to fulfil their statutory duties and will ensure that there are no further points deductions levied against the Club once it is out of administration. “The acceptance of Clowes’ offer, and the entering into a period of exclusivity means the joint administrators are now prohibited from continuing discussions with other parties who had indicated an interest in acquiring the Club. The main focus is now on concluding the transaction with Clowes within the targeted timeframe.”

The halfway house is Mr. Savage being named preferred bidder by Friday, a milestone BDO have said they were aiming for by the end of April. This gives everyone some comfort and a bit more time to iron out the details.

£800k struck me as being an interesting number. If the administrator was being difficult about the trade creditors being ignored it would take another £200k or so to resolve that issue. A nice, round £1 million may be the figure Mr. Savage has in his head re. where he is willing to end up to get this done.

Although the shares seem to be the most important element now, this is a rough estimate of where we are in terms of the debt. I think Mr. Savage has probably offered £800k to wipe 1 and gain control, has likely paid 2 and 3, has likely paid some of 4 and is paying/will pay 5. - Total Debt at 16th December 2024 (date of Administrator's Proposal) c. £3,850,000 - [1] Directors, Local Businessmen, Chancer Ex-CEO Debts (£3,424,251) £1,650,251 - Ross Morrison £661,500 - Gordon Munro £410,000 - David Cameron £252,500 - David Sutherland £100,000 - John Gibson £100,000 - Liam Dalgarno £80,000 - Graeme Bennett £80,000 - Roderick Ross £70,000 - Scot Gardiner £20,000 - George Fraser [2] Bank and Tax Debts (£155,804) £149,538 - HMRC £6,266 - Royal Bank of Scotland [3] Football Debts (£33,926) £18,340 - Everton Football Club £3,982 - Dundee Football Club £3,145 - Adam Brooks £2,147 - Ross County Football Club £1,437 - Duncan Ferguson £1,057 - Stuart Garden £929 - Gary Bollan £715 - Wallace Duffy £700 - Scottish Football Association £650 - Flynn Duffy £535 - Cameron Ferguson £289 - Manchester United Football Club [4] Company Debts (£236,019) (only debts of more than £1k shown below) £26,312 - RedPoppy Restaurant (Muir of Ord) £19,129 - Anubis Security (Carluke) £8,148 - A9 Accountancy (Inverness) £7,967 - Otis (Leicester) £7,598 - HCA International (Prestatyn) £7,329 - Scotbake (Inverness) £7,183 - GroGreen (Haddington) £5,949 - Greentech Sportsturf (Stirling) £5,577 - WMG Management Europe (London) £5,356 - High Life Highland (Inverness) £5,150 - Cafe V8 (Inverness) £4,470 - Highland Heating Management (Inverness) £4,400 - Ness Castle Lodges (Inverness) £3,035 - Addleshaw Goddard LLP (Leeds) £2,640 - D&E Coaches (Inverness) £2,350 - Mr F S Haddad Surgeon (London) £2,512 - Catapult Sports (Leeds) £2,512 - The Sign Centre (Inverness) £2,422 - Scottish Police Authority (Glasgow) £2,100 - MISM (Smethwick) £2,000 - Superior Sports Management (Stirling) £1,936 - Quorum Sports (London) £1,800 - PM Sports Management (Richmond) £1,558 - Puma Teamwear (Manchester) £1,540 - AC Hotel (Inverness) £1,440 - ICR Solutions Epos (Inverness) £1,322 - Physio Inverness (Inverness) £1,290 - Football Safety Officers Association (Wishaw) £1,200 - Deadline Day Soccer Consultants (Glasgow) £1,092 - AJ100 (Dorset) £1,059 - Myriad Heat & Power Products (Melton Mowbray) £1,008 - RW Bell Electrical (Pitlochry) £1,000 - Dr Craig Goldsack (London) £1,000 - Miller Insurance Services (London) £1,000 - SM75 (Glasgow) [5] Administrator Fees and other Accrued Debts (Unknown)

With talk of deadlines and a stated desire for 100% control, we have to remember that exaggeration is an essential part of the character of most successful businessmen. Mr. Savage stated two weeks ago that he had "run out of money" to invest in the club. Had he actually literally run out of money to invest? Clearly not - it was just a negotiating tactic. Would Mr. Savage walk away if he only got 80% control and it took a month longer? Very doubtful. There are lots of benefits to using SPVs as a mechanism to buy football clubs and it is common. https://www.asroma.com/en/news/58441/official-statement-regarding-the-ownership-of-as-roma

If you're an old duffer and/or pearl clutcher, sit in the Main Stand. If you're a cool kid, cool adult or cool senior citizen, sit in the North Stand. Problem solved.

Mr. David Raven.

1. The only Jersey involvement is that this guy has secured a short-term loan from a lender in Jersey. There is no mystery Jersey investor. 2. Nothing suggests that this will happen. 3. There is zero evidence of this. Doing that would be miles above his level of competence and beyond his financial means. 4. The Council would not support this plan in principle. It would need to go through the planning process and would take far longer than 8 weeks, not to mention legals for the lease. This guy has had no serious discussions with the Council, he is a fantasist who thinks it makes him sound important to say he has been in discussions with the Council. He couldn't even tag the correct Council in his Linkedin post. 5. No evidence of this. 6. Probably true.

The forum nihilists will be gutted by this performance

Ujdur won't be wanting to risk injuring himself and that stopping his move.

"The fans" are not a uniform, homogenous group. Some fans have got some of what they asked for and others haven't. For some, playing a team of local boys, binning Kelty, the resignation of the chairman (presumably this forms part of the 'accountability' that is being demanded), and the future departure of the CEO will be enough to entice them back to support the team this season. Others won't be back until Duncan is gone, and some others won't be back until we are winning again and in a higher league.

Having a team made up of youngsters is clearly not ideal in a competitive sense - but it also provides a positive incentive for people to reconsider the withdrawal of their support for this season. Now that there is a good core of local young players to get behind, Kelty has been canned, and the CEO and chairman are out the door (or on their way out the door), the only sticking points now seem to be communication from the club, the continued ill treatment of staff by the board, and the fact that the manager is still in place. We can only hope that the first couple of these are resolved once Gardiner's notice period ends. I am also willing to give Ferguson the opportunity to prove us wrong after he gets a full pre-season in for the first time with us. We are at the point where not supporting the team will only lead us further into the abyss, and in my view it is no longer worth us as fans cutting our noses off to spite our faces. I will be buying a season ticket this year.

Yes, so hopefully once Gardiner goes the air of nihilism surrounding the club will lift and people will start backing the Bilbao of the north.

Thought he deserved his own thread now that he has been issued his P45 as well. Another club legend treated very poorly - thank you for your service, Mr. Esson.