Good luck

tREE_wiTH_hAMStER · **Joined:** Sat May 19, 2007 11:00 am **Posts:** 20758

To the Trust members in meetings with potential investors tomorrow and to Jeff (whether same meetings or not). Hope all goes well and can’t wait till Tuesdays Statement. Fingers crossed the books don’t put them off!

Be great to hear the Trust have helped secure HUFCs long term future. clappp

Freaky Teeth · **Posted:** Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:07 pm

Agreed.

GeoffcN · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2014 8:10 pm **Posts:** 463

Just hope they can pull it off. Fingers crossed.

Yubep · **Joined:** Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:35 pm **Posts:** 25266

Ahmen. Good luck to all
Volunteers, giving up their time, working their arses off for our club.

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frankie1966 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:44 am **Posts:** 273

Best of luck guys, hoping for good news.

Mick Tait's Head Bandage · **Posted:** Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:32 pm

They deserve the freedom of Hartlepool if they manage to pull this off!

pooliecrab · **Joined:** Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:31 pm **Posts:** 6028

tREE_wiTH_hAMStER wrote:

To the Trust members in meetings with potential investors tomorrow and to Jeff (whether same meetings or not). Hope all goes well and can’t wait till Tuesdays Statement. Fingers crossed the books don’t put them off!

Be great to hear the Trust have helped secure HUFCs long term future. clappp

Could this be the January Statement Coxall promised us?

qwerty keyboard · **Posted:** Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:54 pm

As the Trust will not be able to reveal details of the books can we have some sort of code. If there's a green flag flying over the Corner Flag it means we could get out of this mess. A Red flag and we're doomed.

Watching from afar · **Posted:** Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:05 pm

I would like to add my hopes to this thread too. The ideal news would be that the trust is taking over with a Consortium of business people. Here's hoping.

ElvisC · **Joined:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:55 am **Posts:** 4504

My ideal scenario would be this..

1) The fundraising combined with the Simpson transfer and a full-house on Saturday sees the Club through to the end of the month, with outstanding bills paid and more importantly, Staff paid up to date.

2) Jeff Stelling meets with his consortium tomorrow and that the books are shocking, (think that's pretty certain...) but workable. This Consortium decides it wants to work alongside Supporters Direct and HUST to carry the Club into the future, based on the model that is so successful elsewhere in the EFL. I can't foresee any other buyers, but naturally hope they are out there.

3) This new arrangement can cut costs (as clearly this Club cannot afford 29 players, 3 coaches and a Head Of Recruitment ) to suit a National League budget. Get rid of Craig Harrison and any players with connections to any organisation connected to Sage.

4) Bring in another Manager who can get the best out of who is left, and get some quality in on loan. This squad, minus a few truly awful players and plus a few loanees is capable of far more than they are currently showing if managed properly.

5) Implement a sensible three-year plan to get back into the EFL.

Dreaming?

Yubep · **Joined:** Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:35 pm **Posts:** 25266

ElvisC wrote:

My ideal scenario would be this..

1) The fundraising combined with the Simpson transfer and a full-house on Saturday sees the Club through to the end of the month, with outstanding bills paid and more importantly, Staff paid up to date.

2) Jeff Stelling meets with his consortium tomorrow and that the books are shocking, (think that's pretty certain...) but workable. This Consortium decides it wants to work alongside Supporters Direct and HUST to carry the Club into the future, based on the model that is so successful elsewhere in the EFL. I can't foresee any other buyers, but naturally hope they are out there.

3) This new arrangement can cut costs (as clearly this Club cannot afford 29 players, 3 coaches and a Head Of Recruitment ) to suit a National League budget. Get rid of Craig Harrison and any players with connections to any organisation connected to Sage.

4) Bring in another Manager who can get the best out of who is left, and get some quality in on loan. This squad, minus a few truly awful players and plus a few loanees is capable of far more than they are currently showing if managed properly.

5) Implement a sensible three-year plan to get back into the EFL.

Dreaming?

Now that’s a plan

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Yubep · **Joined:** Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:35 pm **Posts:** 25266

Can we also delete any mentions of the mill house fuckin master plan from existence cos that’s what got us into this stupid mess and that stupid patch of land behind the rink end attracting all kinds of stupid property people from all over who don’t care about pools but care about houses n hotels.

It’ll never happen

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Kirsty · **Joined:** Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:39 pm **Posts:** 271

tREE_wiTH_hAMStER wrote:

To the Trust members in meetings with potential investors tomorrow and to Jeff (whether same meetings or not). Hope all goes well and can’t wait till Tuesdays Statement. Fingers crossed the books don’t put them off!

Be great to hear the Trust have helped secure HUFCs long term future. clappp

Hopefully this can be the turning point that we've been waiting for the last 10 years to get us on an upward spiral. Jeff Stelling is so passionate about HUFC and hopefully with his commitment and contacts will help us save the day

charco · **Joined:** Thu Jun 25, 2015 8:24 am **Posts:** 885

phil wrote:

If Jeff pulls this off I suggest renaming everything in Hartlepool previously named after Ward Jackson after him instead.

The Jeff Stellin

We've already got a pub named after Bart Simpson's best friend ... so why not Jeff

MutleyRules · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:03 am

tREE_wiTH_hAMStER wrote:

To the Trust members in meetings with potential investors tomorrow and to Jeff (whether same meetings or not). Hope all goes well and can’t wait till Tuesdays Statement. Fingers crossed the books don’t put them off!

Be great to hear the Trust have helped secure HUFCs long term future. clappp

In full konkurence!!!!

horden · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 10:32 am

ElvisC wrote:

My ideal scenario would be this..

1) The fundraising combined with the Simpson transfer and a full-house on Saturday sees the Club through to the end of the month, with outstanding bills paid and more importantly, Staff paid up to date.

2) Jeff Stelling meets with his consortium tomorrow and that the books are shocking, (think that's pretty certain...) but workable. This Consortium decides it wants to work alongside Supporters Direct and HUST to carry the Club into the future, based on the model that is so successful elsewhere in the EFL. I can't foresee any other buyers, but naturally hope they are out there.

3) This new arrangement can cut costs (as clearly this Club cannot afford 29 players, 3 coaches and a Head Of Recruitment ) to suit a National League budget. Get rid of Craig Harrison and any players with connections to any organisation connected to Sage.

4) Bring in another Manager who can get the best out of who is left, and get some quality in on loan. This squad, minus a few truly awful players and plus a few loanees is capable of far more than they are currently showing if managed properly.

5) Implement a sensible three-year plan to get back into the EFL.

Dreaming?

Dreaming ? Yes !

Depends who consortium are really. I would assume consortium would be made up of business people, so depends on what they know about running a football club , as to whether this plan or any other plan would work or not. As you may of guessed I'm not a big fan of the modern day type businessman/woman, so I have my doubts.

In principle havent a problem with 29 players or 3 coaches and a head of recruitment, as long as they are good at their jobs, if they were though I doubt there would be a need for a squad of 29 players. My problem is all the aforementioned are crap at what they do , hence the problems on the field.

I think the best way is a club run 100% by the supporters, no consortiums or 20% stakes etc.

born toulouse · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:46 am

Good luck to everybody involved and thanks again for the hard work that the Trust board members are putting into sorting out a longer term rescue plan.

I did dream about this last night - we were saved when the German government donated compensation for the zeppelin attack to HUST. It was generously adjusted for inflation so we ended up buying the club and installing one of those sausage trains they have at St Pauli but it also carried free Strongarm. It was booed and then derailed by fans wanting chips. Scuffling broke out and the game was abandoned when a massive blue smoke bomb went off.

Hopefully the real plan is a bit better thought through.

dstanley · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:15 pm **Posts:** 677

It's true that no man is a profit in his own land, Horden, but I think you are spot on with 100% supporter ownership.
Apart from Jeff Stelling, I would not trust any investor to not want something out the club for their input.

dstanley · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:15 pm **Posts:** 677

BTW do clubs still have post match 'hospitality' for directors et al? If so how many of the Trust would get invitations?

PJPoolie · **Joined:** Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:28 pm **Posts:** 15342

dstanley wrote:

BTW do clubs still have post match 'hospitality' for directors et al? If so how many of the Trust would get invitations?

I think you're getting way, way ahead of yourself here. I think theirs far more important things to worry about than that in the short term.

PJPoolie · **Joined:** Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:28 pm **Posts:** 15342

dstanley wrote:

It's true that no man is a profit in his own land, Horden, but I think you are spot on with 100% supporter ownership.
Apart from Jeff Stelling, I would not trust any investor to not want something out the club for their input.

I thought Mr Horden was ambitious and always goes on about us winning stuff?

For me it's win, win the investor/fan ownership model. It's what works so well abroad. It's always going to deter the wrong type of people with the level of transparency that fan ownership brings and gives that extra bit of financial clout and security. A consortium involving Jeff Stelling and the trust is the perfect scenario for our club after the rubbish we've been through.

horden · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:21 pm

Certainly have no problems with Jeff Stelling as part of a consortium, as at least you know he has the club at heart. Obviously The Trust don't have the membership or the funds at present to go it alone, and doubt any potential volunteers of a supporters run club would rather spend their pre match time manning the turnstiles as opposed to supping the lovely Holsten Pils in the Mill House pub, but long term I think supporters run club would be best fit for a town like Hartlepool. Probably Jeff would work towards this.

northumberland · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:34 pm

Although 100% fan ownership is far better than the total mess we find ourselves in today, I agree with other that ideally a combination with business/investors is the best way forward assuming they for once actually do have the best interests of the club at heart and know how to run a business.

Otherwise I think it would be difficult to sustain a football league club as I suspect even well run, it would be at a bit of a deficit each year unless significant transfer fees where received.

StocksfieldPoolie · **Joined:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:48 pm **Posts:** 324

I agree Nothumberland but rather than an investor, we need a benefactor(s).
No one should be trying to "invest" in Pools to make money.
We need to be able to live within our means and any money made from transfer fees should remain in the club for football use!
Not a single penny should be taken out of the club once the new owners are in place.
And if the benefactor(s) need to top up every now and then, so be it.
But they should not be asking for the money back at all let alone a return on their "investment".

northumberland · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:41 pm

I was just picking up on the phrase used by PJ, but take your point Stocksfield.

I note the online definition of investing is "put (money) into financial schemes, shares, property, or a commercial venture with the expectation of achieving a profit".

No one in their right mind would invest in Pools and have an "expectation of achieving a profit" so they are either mad or have ulterior motives (Coxhall perhaps?).

Benefactor is a better phrase although the benefits of being involved with such a passionate club if ran well and successful together with the positive PR etc might help create profits within their other business interests. Also there is of course the tax right off of any losses against other profitable business interests within a group.

I say all this so as not to put off any legitimate businessmen with an interest in buying Pools that don't just see it purely as a donation and may need to convince others!

StocksfieldPoolie · **Joined:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:48 pm **Posts:** 324

At least anyone wanting to help Pools will be able to see the books.

I think the club can be run within its means, other clubs do it.

But what we don't want is some agreement that Sage will walk away so long as they get so much back each month over a period of many years!
As far as I am concerned, Sage have lost that money now and anyone wanting to own the club should not give them a penny.
And anyone else who is being paid by Pools, this needs to be discussed and sorted within these meetings.

It would be very interesting to go through the books, no doubt one day it will all come out.

Sage should hand the club over and the new ownership start debt free.

northumberland · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:13 pm

Realistically can't see that happening.

Sage were an "investor" (albeit ill advised / misled) and will want some of the money back. Even if the club not only went into administration but was liquidated it would get a low pence in the pound back.

Sage are not Pools fans and anyone making a decision on behalf of Sage need to do so in the best interests of the company. However, I have said before I would be surprised if they would get more than 5 pence in the pound or something like that so a new owner/consortia could agree to pay them eg. 10 pence in the pound (perhaps staged) which would at least prevent us from starting up again as a new co on Grayfields or the Rec.

StocksfieldPoolie · **Joined:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:48 pm **Posts:** 324

Wasn't the original "investment" for the Millhouse plan?
And Coxhall said the loan was against his name, I'm not sure if that statement was on the official site, but it was definitely on the web somewhere to be read by the public.
Sage obviously came in to make money and they have had their hands bitten!
To me they have not ran this club well, not been open and if you say you think they will get 5p in the pound, then that is probably a good outcome for all concerned.

Now where do I sign.... :laugh:

northumberland · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:59 pm

Amen!

StocksfieldPoolie · **Joined:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:48 pm **Posts:** 324

Who from the trust is at this meeting?
And when do we expect any news?

derwent · **Joined:** Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:59 pm **Posts:** 12362

Chip Fireball wrote:

I see nothing wrong with the Trust being involved in a partnership committed to building a sustainable and successful club. You just need people who are passionate and care about the club making business decisions which are all taken in the best interests of the football club.

The advantage of having someone like Jeff on board is that it raises the profile of the club and makes selling things commercially to businesses so much easier.

Having someone there with millions in the bank makes sense as no matter how good your business model is as there will be times when you have issues with cash flow. Football is unpredictable, income will fluctuate and injuries to players and postponement of games can impact the business. The other obvious benefit is being able to access their knowledge and experience of how to run successful businesses.

Likewise having someone involved in the consortium who is an ex player and manager will bring many, many, advantages on the footballing side of things. As Elvis says we need a 3 year plan to get us back into the EFL and the whole club has to be set up to achieve that from the kids teams through to the first team.

The LAST thing we need in my personal opinion, is another property developer owner, using the football club as a vehicle to get land cheap from the council with planning permission to build houses. The football becomes a peripheral interest and the club will continue to rot away as it is a secondary interest. We have been down that road for the last 3 years and it has been an unmitigated disaster.

Lets get people who actually give a shit involved, it can't be any worse- it just can't.

Amen to that.

qwerty keyboard · **Posted:** Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:08 pm

Any while smoke over the Corner Flag tonight? I suppose it's going to take President Stelling a while to get over the shock

Good luck

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