Thetownend.com

Hello all, as you can see my name is Paul & I support a non league team from the North East called Billingham Town. We're currently in dispute with Hartlepool United to the point that they have served us with a winding up order ! The dispute is over a debt they claim we owe. The amount of the alleged debt is £10,344.97 which I think you'll agree is a rather insignificant amount to a club who are owned by an oil company. However the main part of my point is that I am disgusted that a football league club would want to put a grass roots club out of business. I would like to make it clear that I am not trying to drum up financial support for our plight, just moral support. I would be grateful if you would take the time to have a look at the following links.

http://nonleaguezone.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=73404

http://www.pooliebunker.co.uk/newbunker/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30894

http://www.pooliebunker.co.uk/newbunker/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30934

Thank you for your time and good luck for the rest of the season

Paul

er.do they owe the money or not?

and what exactly do you want for informing us of this?

They say we owe the money & we are contesting it, but rather than meet us round a negotiating table they are putting us out of business, we're just trying to bring this to the attention of as many clubs as possible before we  are confined to the history books. Please take the time to have a look at the links and get the full picture.
Thanks again.

i gave up after the first pages of each thread, as it doesn't really shed any light to the situation.
if the club owe then they should pay.if they dont then they can't shut them down.

I couldn't help laughing at this quote from someone at Billingham Town:


And what do they use for goal posts? Jumpers?

It almost came to that at the start of the season when the goalposts were removed from our ground by a representative of Hartlepool. I can see how this may seem funny to you guys, but at the end of the day my team may needlessly cease to exist soon because a football league team are turning the screw !

can you tell us why they think you owe them money?

Turning the screw but why? Dont get this, if you owe them money well tough shit, same as any other walk of life. cough up or fuck off.

Sounds a shite situation, but its hard to give morale support to a situation we now nothing about.

That said, I think Fred, who is well clever, said you can't get wound up over a disputed debt.

Sorry, it was the quote not the situation that I thought was funny.

But I'll be honest and say that I have very little sympathy for other football clubs in trouble. This goes back to when we get demoted and no one gave a fuck, so now I make a point of not giving a fuck when other clubs are in trouble. Where were you when we got shafted?

OK guys it's apparent from the responses that I'm not getting far here. It may be that I should have explained the situation a little better rather than expecting you to read the links. In a nutshell we host HUFC reserve games. They wanted our pitch to mirror their home pitch so relaid our pitch, paying all costs. The money they alledge that we owe is made up of maintenance costs since they relaid the pitch. We provide staff, heating for showers and changing rooms, floodlights when required and hospitality for the games we host at no cost to HUFC so feel aggreived that non of this has been taken into account. We believe we have also made reasonable attempts to resolve this amicably but we have met a blank wall at Hartlepool. All I'm attempting to do is drum up a little support for a non league team run by volunteers who face extinction.
Thanks for taking the time to read this & best wishes for the rest of the season.

Quite. If you are being done over for no good reason, then all the best of luck and all that. But as pretty much everyone else has said, it would kind of help if you could explain what it's actually about.
This kind of attitude just fucking stinks. Please ignore him

Gary Pallister might be able to help you out...

Ex player and all.

OK, that makes a bit more sense. So, once they'd done the upgrade, did you guys agree to pay for the maintenance costs (or part of them)?

This is the bone of contention, they say they have a document signed by a representative of our club agreeing to pay X amount. We say this person had no right to sign  it without the say so of a club director. I'm not for one minute saying that my club are whiter than white in this matter, I think we have possibly been naive and had our pants pulled down. It 's just the total sense of injustice that a club like Harlepool with the backing that they have can be so insensitive and aggressive when to be honest they've been in tough situations themselves in the past. In fact they've drawn on our league many times in the past to recruit players.

It might stink but that's the way it is and its not just me or fans in general either. Look at Avram Grant, he's suddenly become very vocal on points deductions for administration being unfair - I don't remember him being too bothered about it until it started affecting him.

Using Portsmouth for another example, I've seen as many posts on here getting excited about the possibility of them going out of business meaning an extra promotion place (which it won't) than posts sympathetic to their fans.

I don't wish ill on other clubs but any suggestion of a love in for other clubs in trouble is just a fantasy.

Ooooh, tough one. If the guy who signed the chit wasn't authorised to do so then I'd guess theoretically you'd be able to argue in court that its not legally valid. But given they're likely to have reasonably competent expensive-ish lawyers and you lot won't, theoretically probably won't come into it - you'll get done. But I guess you're not asking for a legal rights and wrongs opinion, at least I hope not as neither you (I guess) nor any of us is any position to give any kind of opinion on that, so much as moral support.

I guess all I can do personally, without knowing all the real ins and outs, is equate it to if Swindon Town were issuing WUPs against Supermarine or Highworth Town or someone (not sure where your equivalent level is), as a Town fan, I'd be pretty embarassed by that.

Still fucking stinks. I got mugged once, no-one came to help me, but having been through the pretty unpleasant experience makes me more likely to go help someone else being mugged not less so. Whereas I guess you'd stand and watch and smugly think "Well, no cunt helped me out, fuck him". Nice world view you have there

shite comparison paul

Overblown I'll grant you, but actually mirrors exactly the reasoning jonny set out. He's perfectly entitled to hold that opinion, of course, and I'm equally entitled to say it fucking stinks. Maybe if less people thought like jonny, we'd have got the help we wanted/needed back then and more recently when we were fighting to save the club?

Oh, and I guess you know this already, but if you're wrong and he WAS authorised to sign it, then whatever the rights and wrongs, you're fucked.

Erm, what was it you actually wanted us to do about this, btw? Beyond sympathising (or not, as the case may be)?

jonny I understand what you're saying, but I 'm not sure how relevant it is to Billingham Town's situation. If we are wound up, what do Hartlepool stand to gain ? There's no extra promotion place. If the court agree in their favour, we go under with no assets so theres no financial gain. If we are declared bankrupt we may be liable for 0.01p in the £ which equates to around £100.....so what's the point ?  

Absolutely hit the nail on the head there Paul

I think my point is being taken out of context. We got mugged and everyone saw it and did nothing, now they're getting mugged and they're asking for our help. Its not so much the fact that they need help I have a problem with, just that they're asking for help when not helping us when we were in a similar position. Its hypocritical, that is all.

For the record if I did see someone getting mugged I would do something about it, I even went out of my way to help someone last week that I don't particularly like or get on with. I'm not a complete and utter arsehole, just a hypothetical one.

Just trying to drum up a bit of moral support. We at Billingham are absolutely distraught at the moment. We don't understand what they stand to gain by closing us down and we don't understand why they won't negotiate with us.
I'm going to post this message on as many teams forums as I can and see if we can't get them to change their minds........fingers crossed.
Good luck boys, hope you can pip Leeds to that promotion place  ;)

What league are Billingham in?

skilltraining northern league division 1...........for now  :bye:

I think you should have that made into a T-shirt :)

 If Town went bust couldn't you just support the wonderfully named Billingham Synthonia?

 I've long wondered what Synthonia meant, as it ticked no boxes in my understanding of the English language. It appears to be a shortening of synthetic ammonia.

 Billingham shouldn't be confused with Bellingham, also in the North East, which is pronounced Bellingjum...and probably got a song written about it by the Cheviot Ranters.

For what my opinion is worth, I fucking hate Hartlepool.  That's all down to that smug cunt Stelling! :smack:

There is no way I could switch my allegiance to our nearest rivals. We have built this club from a pub team to what it is now, a well respected Northern League Division One team. We have too many years, blood, sweat and tears invested to let it just fade and die.
You're right about the Synthonia name. It came about because the team was originally formed from the ICI Synthetic Amonia works team. Two people of note who played for them were Brian Clough and.........Frank Bough !!
Jonny as for your point, when Swindon were having their problems, I was visiting family in the area (Covingham). I went to a game with my brother in law and dropped some money in a bucket in the pub we were in. I always make a point of taking in a Swindon game when I'm down that way and have on occasions been to watch Supermarine Under 18s when my nephew was playing for them.

You have my morale support I guess. Not sure what that really entails or how it can help you mind.

I also hate Hartlepool. Cos of that fucking shitbag wanker tosser Monkhouse.

Good luck, can't believe that one football club has issued a winding up order on another club especially at a much lower level

What Hartlepool are doing is disgusting - They shouldnt be allowed to do this a team so far below them.

All the best for Billingham.

Where do I sign to support poor old Hartlepool?  What Billingham have done to lowly Hartlepool is disgusting, I for one will be supporting their plight against thieving Billingham scum...   >:(

Thanks guys, to be honest our main reason for posting here was to raise awareness about our plight and get it into the public arena. Your messages of support are heartwarming and will help galvanise us. Now all we ask is that you give them an extra jeer for us next time you play them.
Thanks once again lads and good luck for the rest of the season.

come along and watch us against them in a couple of weeks, make a big Billingham reds banner, and you can sing fuck off hartlepool to your hearts content.

Now your talking my language !!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D

unfurl some banners about it, im sure our fans would love the aggro it would cause.

to quote the mokeys "its wrong wrong wrong but we do it anyway as we love a bit of trouble"

The Arctic Monkeys vs the Monkey Hangers