So he wants less risk but all the power? Sorry if I sound against the move, I'm not. I'm just wary after past two regimes.

You dont even have a dog

At the risk of being copy and pasted....

I doubt that some of the Darlo fans see it that way.... They seem to think he expected a club with about 1600 regulars to sell 2000 season tickets for starters.....

I have to say that I feel we're between a rock and a hard place here - the alternatives are boiling down to liquidation and a phoenix club, including a slog (possibly an enjoyable one but still a slog) back up from the Northern League, or a consortium mainly backed by someone who has previous when it comes to clubs in crisis - quite likely in NL North given it's possible we could be relegated even without a deduction of points. He may come across well one to one, but then so do a lot of people - it's not that long ago that many (including the Trust) were hailing Pam Duxbury as a breath of fresh air after all. Yes he has legitimate businesses and money, so does John Blackledge, and we'd be warning any club he appeared interested in to use a long barge pole. A number of Darlo fans, including the more sensible ones that are worth listening to, are doing exactly that....

I freely admit that I don't know what to do. I don't want to see us go pop, then again Raj - with a history of being thin-skinned if nothing else - isn't who I'd choose for a role that is likely to need the hide of a rhinoceros - if he feels that some/all of the fans don't love him if it's not going so well, what's to stop him pulling the plug in two years?

Up until May 2017 Raj Singh was still wanting to get involved in Darlington and it would appear that Darlington fans didn't want him for obvious reasons.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/darlington/15283743.Darlington__Raj_Singh_gives_his_side_of_the_story_in_lengthy_statement/

Should we take their lead or as many have said beggars can't be choosers

Is that what hes saying now? His aim at the time was for more season ticket holders but he was unrealistic about numbers at the prices charged. He couldnt even attract a shirt sponsor and ended up doing that with one his own companies.
What he did say is that he was there for another season but then pulled the plug not even half way through. He was picking and choosing which players should be paid and which ones shouldn't. He can say he was badly advised all he likes but to do that to paid employees shows just what a person he is at heart.

Darlo fans thoughts are interesting (never thought I'd say that!)

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35456

From the Darlo thread, this is my concern too

"You say they'll be no worse off in 3 years if they take Singh's offer, but who is to say they won't have lost 2,000 paying fans by that point? They've already put up with multiple relegations in the last few years. The longer the struggle, the more fans they'll lose."

I know I can't take much more of it, that's for sure.

From the Darlo thread, this is my concern too

"You say they'll be no worse off in 3 years if they take Singh's offer, but who is to say they won't have lost 2,000 paying fans by that point? They've already put up with multiple relegations in the last few years. The longer the struggle, the more fans they'll lose."

I know I can't take much more of it, that's for sure.

There was no agreement in place between Darlington fans and Raj, around the time of our FA Trophy games with Gateshead Raj had came out and said that for him to carry on he wanted 2000 Adult season tickets sold, this at a time when we were only averaging 1600 due to a shocking season under Steve Staunton, the 2000 Adult season tickets was always an unrealistic number. After then the true colours came out, players didn't receive full wages, he selected afew not to be paid at all, also went behind Mark Coopers back and held a vote between players as to whether Cooper should of stayed or leave. Then there is what we were left with once Raj had ran up debts and called in the administrator.

No Ground
No management team
1 player
No golden share
Lost our rightful name
£350k+ of debt us fans paid back
Relegated 4 leagues (5 if you include the league 2 relegation on raj's watch)
Local companies out of pocket
Staff laid off

I'd seriously urge Pools fans think twice before backing this man, just ask your very own Paul Arnison about him, even Ian Miller came out last summer and urged Darlo fans to keep Raj away from the club we have rebuilt

That is Raj is a nutshell as you’ll find out if he takes over, likes to change the version of events at a later date as if he’d never said/done something completely different initially. The amount of times this happens is staggering and everything is there on record but he just goes with the version of events he wants to believe when it suits.

I expect he wants to get the trust/fans on board as he’s always been keen on volunteer resource so he doesn’t have to pay people. I hope someone has a strategy because it’s unlikely he will based on past experience.

I'm with Raj Singh all the way PROVIDED he BUYS a controlling interest in HUFC.

If he intends loaning the club cash, I wouldn't have anything to do with him.

The problem is that it is so much more tax efficient for him to loan us the money as a director rather than buy a stake outright. Whilst I would prefer he bought his stake, I would kind of question his business acumen if he didn't use the route that was most tax efficient.

HUFC is presumably a private company. When one loans cash to a company, it does not mean ownership.
As I said elsewhere, buying shares in a bank gives one a part share in the ownership of the bank.
Loaning/depositing money gives no ownership rights whatsoever.

In order to buy a controlling interest he would have to buy the shares, which are owned by Sage through HUFC Holdings. The money would therefore go to Sage and not towards running the club.

In the consortium takeover scenario, the shares are passing to the consortium free of charge. I would imagine that he would be able to convert his "loan" to shares later on.

As far as I understand it, the money that is being put forward isn’t to buy the club, it is to run and restructure the club over the next 2-3 years. The shares in the club would change hands for no fee (or a nominal amount).

'........ it is to run and restructure the club over the next 2-3 years.'

Who will be running the club?

The Singh/Stelling/Trust consortium

Singh will be the lead so what's the difference between loan and purchase? None that I can see.

For him, tax. For us, his exit if/when he gets bored.

Whatever you do, DO NOT LET THIS MAN LOAN THE CLUB MONEY!!!!!
You will be making a rod for your own backs in the end. I'd rather go to Wonga!

OK. Loan Star. If you can prove that you have never posted under the pseudonym "DJ" then I would happily pay for your membership of HUST (if you aren't already a member) As a Pools fan since Poskett it has been nothing but heart lifting to have seen your comments on this board. It restores my faith. My faith in unity between football fans whatever their allegiances. It also serves as the perfect example to dickheads such as Bluthrunandthru and their sycophants as to what THEY should be doing if they want to save THEIR club as opposed to THEIR egos. Sorry mods but Sybil told me to write this....

Definitely not DJ, Phil Dunn will vouch for that!
Not a member of your trust and you dont need to buy me anything but thanks anyway!
I'm just like any of you lot, I love to see you get beat or relegated, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But you are all just football fans like I am and I know what its like to have my club as good as destroyed by chairmen who think they know best but are quick to do a runner when the shit hits the fan, leaving the fans left with the mess. It would be easy to laugh at your situation but having been there already I know exactly what you lot are going through and events like this should breach the divide.
Fair enough, some might take no notice and jump on the Singh bandwagon but if they do and he makes a bad job of another football club then any sympathy will have long gone.
Last summer we had Martin Gray asking for us to trust him over Singh, now you have Jeff Stelling. Singh didnt even hang around long enough to make his offer because of criticism. You can bet he will be having these boards monitored like a hawk for any signs of dissent. Is this a man you can honestly say can be trusted to look after your club?

I understand the concerns and am interested in the views of Darlo fans but I think the situation is different and the potential here is different. Darlo were as basket case of a club from the second George Reynolds decided to build the white elephant. It was a desperate folly and was always going to be the death of the club, whoever took over was set to fail.

Singh compared to some of the people who have been involved in Pools in last couple of years is like Steve Gibson. He’s at least a reputable businessman with cash to put in.

To a degree Pools financial position is false, we wouldn’t be in this position if we hadn’t had crooks basically stealing money from us then misleading an investment company to get involved. With a clean slate it’s not rocket science to run it on an at least even keel we don’t have some of the issues Darlo did, we have a ground and a bigger hardcore fanbase. He’s not getting involved for it to be a failure or to lose money. Also after years of absolute dross on and off the field it wouldn’t take a lot for the crowds to pick up more.

We are desperate that is true, it’s not perfect with his history that is also true but what is going to be in the clubs position? What matters that’s it’s feasible and has fan involvement and actually involves Jeff Stelling, you can’t underestimate what an asset he is moving forward. I think we need to get behind this.

I think Loan Star is a good egg as well.

Met a few Darlo fans over the years through work etc and apart from having a bit of a weak accent they're just the same as us in a lot of ways.

Do you think he'll count Darlo fans complaining about him on Pools boards as our dissent or your sour gapes? We hear you; he's the devil incarnate for some of you along the A66.

But as PJ said, that was then, this is now, Coxberg was at least as bad for our club as Reynolds was for yours. We've got to consider the circumstances Pools are in now not where Darlo were (white elephant and all) some years ago.

Bit harsh on Darlo , bit harsh on Reynolds imo. Reynolds was a dreamer and over estimated Darlingtons potential. Also the local council never really warmed to him and went out of their way to hamper any of his ideas , in respect of increasing revenue through concerts etc at the Arena. On another day It could of went the other way and Darlo could of done a Wigan. To compare Reynolds with Coxberg is absurd. In terms of how they ran their respective clubs, one was a fool the other a crook. Reynolds was a dreamer, as was our own Gary Gibson, we need more people like that in the world, people prepared to take a risk. Singh doesn't come across as that sort of person. He knows exactly what he is doing, and there are no risks involved from his point of view.

George was imprisoned for tax evasion. Must have dreamt he had £500k in the boot of his car when he was arrested. Where were you Horden? Hahaha

That was separate though from Darlo FC though wasn't it. He genuinely I believe wanted that to work , but he was naïve in the workings of a football club and made mistake after mistake. Yes I know he was a crook before that. I have read his book, and as a trades unionist, I know all about how he treat some of his workers who dared cross his path. As a person he was a twat, no doubt about it.

Reynolds is/was a nasty peace of work. A criminal, a bullshitter, a conman.

He was to blame for the liquidation of our rivals ultimately.

People look at him at times as a comedy character with a heart, I have heard plenty about him that suggests he is far from that.

Hey,it's great we can be friends again,even with your camp Boro accent.

I wouldn't call someone who picks and chooses which of his employees get their pay that month as reputable.
Imagine that, you dont get your pay packet but someone else who gets less still gets paid even though you both play in the same team.
I wouldn't even dare think of doing something like that to my employees, no matter what the cash flow is like!

I’m not talking about his previous involvement in football, away from that he is a reputable businessman. We have been destroyed by a combination of outright conmen and asset strippers, Raj is neither of those things whatever happened towards the end at Darlo. He’s nothing like Coxberg.

It's touching that Darlo are so concerned for us. I genuinely appreciate their input on the matter but would they honestly choose what they've been through over the league they're in being decided purely by what happens on the pitch?

I'm not hopefully Raj can turn us around completely but at least we'll have NL or NLN standard football in the town. It's a long way back up the leagues and that's not guaranteed. It would also be bloody quiet in the Vic against Marske.

George Reynolds wasn't a criminal, he was just daft. Fucking hell man, I'm done with this palce for a while

Yes, it's BYOB.

Wiki

He was arrested on suspicion of money laundering in June 2004 after being stopped with £500,000 of cash in the boot of his car. He later pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion and was sentenced to three years imprisonment in October 2005. Other charges which he denied, including money laundering, were left on file.
Reynolds was released on 6 December 2006 but was electronically tagged and subject to a curfew.
He was returned to prison for 2 weeks in April 2007 breaching the terms of his curfew.
He currently operates a vending machine company and works from an E-Cig shop in Chester-le-Street.

Reynolds was brought up in the slums of Sunderland and in his early life became involved in crime. His first conviction was for stealing cigarettes, which he traded for food for his family.
Another conviction in the 1960s saw him sent to jail for six months smuggling watches.
In 1964 he was jailed for four years for safe-cracking, handling explosives, burglary and theft. He was jailed in 1970 for burglary and again in 1976 for theft.

By what definition was he not a criminal?

You do understand I was on about Horden's post which was the daftest thing I read on here since PoK's outrage at Ricky Martin's revelation?

Other than being jailed on several different occasions for safe cracking, handling explosives, handling stolen goods, smuggling, theft, burglary, oh and tax avoidance, George Reynolds definitely wasn’t a criminal!!!

Damn you beat me to it!

Englighten me Yloop? I did say he was a criminal , I probably knew that long before you. What i said was I thought his criminal activities were seperate to his time as owner of Darlo. I stand to be corrected , but daft post? I don't think so.

What's this about everyone's favourite stud Ricky Martin?

"I probably knew that long before you."

Get over yourself.

I try, but it is proving very challenging

I know a lad who shagged George's granddaughter.

Give me his name, and I bet I can get him to donate 10k to The Trust

Don't be too hard on Reynolds man - as Horden says, he was just a dreamer.

Just like the failed property speculator Gary Gibson, who ruined Pools while the club was paying for his Rolls Royce. Dreamers, the pair of them.

Ah, but if the arse hadn't fallen out of the property market we'd have carried on flying with Gibbo. I blame capitalism.

Wow ! Great input Mr Dawes , Sarcasm the lowest form of wit quote springs to mind?.

I didn't hear many people complaining about Reynolds and Gibson when it was all going well.

Reynolds left a legacy in the ground he built. Wouldnt it be ironic if we ended up playing there.

You need to put down the glue bag and step away from the computer Mr Horden

Reynolds is an absolutely terrible bloke, his ‘legacy’ was a death sentence for Darlington Football Club that left several people out of pocket, and finally under what circumstances would we possibly end up playing there that’s an absolutely bonkers suggestion. Darlo probably have little chance or will to play there again never mind us we have more chance of moving into Wembley.

You seem to be working on the principle that if they were brought up working class they’re ok, if not then they’re just ‘investors’ to be kicked in to touch. I’d take a benign investor regardless of background and day of the week.
Running a football club cannot be based on the principles of a 1970’s union branch meeting. I went to plenty .

Raj Singh did hold a charge on the Arena until very recently but according to Companies House, Mowden Park have recently refinanced with the backing of Darlington Borough Council and have therefore repaid Raj his £800K. Probably the same £800K he’s now got burning a hole in his pocket looking for his next “opportunity”. As you can see he’s obviously all heart helping out North East sporting clubs in their hour of need