Thetownend.com

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2546145/Notts-County-go-for-Sven.html (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2546145/Notts-County-go-for-Sven.html)  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I wonder if their new consortium realise there is a wage cap etc in League 2 as they seem to be being linked with lots of players.

I'd have thought they could get round it in the same way Peterborough did- sponsoring the club with their company for well above the market rate?

Sven is a pretty funny one though.

Thats funny.

that would be funny.

a cunt in charge of a cuntish club.

Sounds increasingly certain he'll be appointed in some Director of Football capacity.

Notts county seem to be about to become a very bizarre team, I hope for their sake that they get some instant success as if not when this mysterious overseas consortium pull out it'll have potentially disasterous consequences for what is the oldest club in the league. It all seems very strange to me and I can't help but think it will end in tears....

I think I'll settle for our approach asat least it should ensure we are a sustainable entity for many years to come and not at risk from the boom or bust approach.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8160968.stm

Fair play to them,say what you want if that was us most fans would be well exited

I hold little malice to Notts County but I do hope this whole thing crashes and burns disastrously.

Exited and terrified at the same time.

 Notts County are the club which wades in at 1, on the list of clubs with the most stressed fans, whereas we're about 4.

 I've always had time for County...particularly 70's and 80's.

 Look at this fine side, which finished 15th in the top flight around 81/82

 [url width=500 height=276]http://89w8tq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pajjax6T6I6R7YTJPeFd9Fp8ILiu7a5ebLW0LyeQm-w4IrlRDBnw8uIZsdHPcQHBgoMc_Kmx6uKCMZbicmAdb2A[/url]

Managed by Jimmy Sirrell, the archetypal snozzle nosed Sweatie....included in their ranks, Tristan Benjamin and Pedro Richards who at one time had their own battle of the afros.

Killer Kilcline...slightly less hirsute but probably nastier on opposition forward's achilles.

John Chiedozie....one of the first black speedy wingers, with pace to spare but no end product...destined as so many for Spurs.

Rachid Harkouk...destined for HMP....

Don Masson....midfield maestro of the sort Britain doesn't seem to produce any longer.

All done in the shadow of Forest.

Best of luck to County...but there I've got a nagging feeling that this is going to end in tears.

well.... its confirmed

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10426~1729552,00.html

Seems he will be on a performance related package ...

I wonder how fit the secretaries are at Notts County?

Mysterious takeover, nothing known about this "Middle East consortium" other than their name, first act seems to be a startling and pretty ridiculous statement of a classic boom/bust policy, I'd be shitting myself.

Yeah the fools. They should be doing it proper and appoint that Malpas fellow.

:nod: agreed, too much too soon.

Good luck to them I say. Let them enjoy it and I hope it doesn't end in disaster.

Fair play to them. Of course there will be a risk of it all going tits up but thats the same with everything. The pro's out way the cons.

Apparently they're giving Sven a 5 year contract on £2m a year.

Nice work if you can get it...but you can bet £2m was bigger than Notts County's turnover last year !!

Has anyone told them about the wage cap? :D

I expect it doesn't include boardroom roles, hence him being DoF not manager.

Apparently there is 6 women to every man in Nottingham...Sven will be in his element !!

I think its great and would be brilliantly exciting to be a fan of Notts County right now,yes it might go wrong but given the choice of plodding along sensibly in the bottom division hoping to build a side to make the play offs or having the club bank rolled by a mentalist foriegn consortium i know what Id choose.  8)

Hmmm I think ill ditch the Man City "project" for the Notts County one...

Welcome Yeovil Black and White!

Don't think it's quite like that now, but historically because of the lace making industry it was the case....when I used to go there regularly 30 years ago, it was still noticeable wandering around there were plenty of birds about.

When I went up there earlier this month it was no where near that number. More blokes than anything unfortunately. Loads of stag do's. Grrr.

http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=276829&c=Nottingham&d=13&e=16&g=395722&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1248270272190&enc=1

Pretty similar in the census.

Would that be a case of tatting totty Reg ?

My stag do was in Nottingham.  (Weekend of our 7-1 defeat at Forest.  Happy days.)  There were 20 of us there and the only one of us who pulled that weekend pulled another bloke (on account of him being gay.)  The 6:1 thing is clearly a myth.

Got rellies in Nottingham, and it used to be true, a lot of the single female population are now over 65 , Reg would still be in clover.

I really do fear for them, Sven has no experience of lower league football and when it all goes pear shaped he'll be there wanting his money and taking them to the cleaners.

I read that their TRUST gave the new owners their 60% holding in the club. The new owners have paid off all tghe debts except those owed to their trust.
I assume that their trust has got their eye on the ball.
As for the 6:1 ratio, when at college in the 70's I used to hitchhike down from South Yorkshire on the basis of those rumours. Trouble was it was ussually about 2-3 in the morning when the clubs chuckked us out so by the time we got to Nottingham ay about 5 in the morning their was no sign of any totty what so ever.

Quality...probably had a few of them 30 years ago. :)

Hmm, from what I can gather their Trust is pretty much split down the middle over the whole thing, there's been a lot of controversy locally about whether they should have just handed over the shares/whether they had any choice/how the Trust board managed the shareholding before the takeover.

Love life in tatters ?

I think there were a few resignations from the trust and trust board over this as well

Trusts are such drama llamas.

Drama Llammas?!!!! hahahaha thats ace!!

I don't normally like tinternetlolzphrazes, but I have to admit that drama llamas has gained a special place in my heart.

I look forward to the new FB computer game dramallamatron

randomly I was playing llamatron earlier. I love llamatron. Minter is a genius.

llamasoft is still going. Who'd have thought.

yeah. made space giraffe for the xbox360 recently. Split critical opinion somewhat.

Hey, I live in Nottingham & yes,the 6 bints to every bloke is a bit of a myth although there is some smart totty around. Some of the 30 year olds do bear an uncanny resemblance to Reg though!
Regarding the Sven appointment, most of the Notts fans are in shock.  They want to believe that it is the beginning of a new era but have this worry that it will all go pear shaped. Many of them have the reservations that are being expressed here.  Who are the backers?  A wealthy Middle East based consortium apparently but no names have been released other than the new Chief Executive Trembling & 1 other English person. They are worried about who will do what - McPartland is still manager but difficult to see Sven sitting quietly in the stands when Notts are getting a hiding at home.  Surely he'll be more hands on than that. Also no clues as to their players budget for next season although I see Lee Hughes has now signed for them, terms no longer a problem apparently.  All the talk is of the Championship in 5 years & becoming Nottingham's no.1 club but there is a lack of transparency about everything.  Reminds me of when the Portuguese Consortium were taking over the Town - plenty of aspirations but little substance.  The fans trust were not very well funded & had little choice other than to sell to Munto Finance.  However the club had no debts apparently so the fans are mystified by the £1 million debt that the consortium claim to have cleared. All very strange.
I hope that Notts do have a good future but it all seems to good to be true.

Is that army surplus store next to Meadow Lane still there? I used to always go in there prior to the away fixture.

I remember one time the shopkeeper appeared (all very Mr Ben like) and accused me of trying to steal some of his merchandise by hiding it under my STFC flag.... bloody cheek...

To be fair every person who enters that store is probably a potential thief.

I wonder what will happen when County don't get promoted next season?

A friend of mine proposed a decent alternative suggestion for the "Sven as suddenly knowledgeable about/interested in League 2 football" scenario we're all being sold - that with the Pompey takeover seemingly becoming ever more protracted he's just looking to park himself somewhere until he can get a proper job, while the "Arab Best Holdings" consortium could do with some head-turning publicity to distract attention from those awkward questions about who they are, what their plans are, how much they're actually investing etc. So that what we're actually seeing is a short-term deal of mutually convenient publicity stunt while Sven lines up his next actual move and in a few months (weeks?) he gets an offer "out of the blue" (that he's currently negotiating) which he can't turn down, and quits County without having made a substantial hole in the bank balance (which would be a first for King Payoff) and hey presto! all those awkward questions about the intent/ambition of the mystery Arab consortium are buried beneath an avalanche of "Yeah it didn't work out but boy they must have some ambition and are prepared to back it" style gawping. A touch cynical maybe but then I suspect most of us aren't cynical enough about the half of what goes on and never comes out in football - just look down the road at the fate of the once wunderkind "rescuers" of Derby, who've now been invited to an all expenses paid stay at Her Majesty's expense

Slightly less cynical than my mum, who heard it on the news and said "money laundering"

Charming.

Eriksson has signed a 5 year deal, so Notts County will get a good compensation payout when (and it is a matter of when) another club decides they want a bit of Svenmania.

We're all such horrible cynical bastards. I'm guessing it comes from our own wonderful investers promptly appointing malpas, going backwards on the pitch and a few months later fucking up all our summer signings. Yeah they're better than the last lot, but let's be honest, getting excited about how the backroom staff are being paid and that they've sorted out the pensions or something is a bit of a losing battle.

ARMCHAIRFAN: "Wow I hear you got taken over by some super rich betfair investers or something?"

STEREOTYPICALTEFER: "Yeah it's brilliant, I've heard that they're trying to sort out the catering"

It might not be sensible, but it would certainly be more exciting to swap places with a notts county fan. You lot take the fun out of football.

I think a lot of us can see the long term benefits and hopefully more sustained fun when it does come right by watching a successful team that isn't going to go bust any minute.

I also think a lot of us go too far over the top bigging up the backroom stuff and it does get boring.

Only exciting thing to happen post season is the signing of Douglas, we just need a striker to get things back on the right track again.

I found a sexy Sven avatar ...swoon

In other notts county news.....

[url width=656 height=427]http://i29.tinypic.com/jjbfyv.jpg[/url]

Sky sports not their biggest fans obviously :)

Haha, it took me ages to figure out what it was I was supposed to be looking at, I even clicked on the little play button on the image to see if the video would play :D

That is class  :D

I never realised Heybridge got relegated from the Isthmian League? Gutted.

They were terrible last season, so it was a rather swift affair.

Hey Arch Stanton - yes, the Army surplus store is (or was last time I was down there) still next to the County Stadium. If you want any flak jackets, pith helmets or 'camo' gear I'll see what I can pick up for you.
See Notts had a good win yesterday against their local rivals.  Curious that although the two clubs are based in Nottingham there isn't much of a rivalry between them & players have in the past moved between the two sides of the Trent with some regularity.  Sven's appointment & Munto Finance's publically expressed ambition to be Nottingham's top club might spice it up a bit.

When I spent a fair bit of time in Nottingham years back, I tried to figure out Nottingham football.  What surprised me was the number who supported both sides...when thinking about it though it did make a lot of sense...City Ground one Saturday...Meadow Lane the next.  Then you'd get new arrivals in the city...who'd maybe do County for a bit, then change to Forest depending on how things were going.

The hatred in 2 club cities is usually religious bigotry, or geographical location....neither apply in Nottingham.

I have a job interview in Nottingham on Thursday so I might pop to that army store (now I know its still there) to calm my nerves. I might get one of those Russian fur hats that they used to sell.... I could wear it to the interview and make absolutely no reference to it - and see what kinda reaction I get, the job is as good as mine....

Would that make you an Arch enemy ?

Ace  :D

" ... the job is as good as mine.... "

Was ... the HR manager is a Georgian.

*bump

Just signed highly rated keeper Kasper Schmeichel from Man City and have offered a contract to Sol Campbell, interesting times for Pies fans at the moment.

They signed schmeichal?! Fucking hell

thats rediculous, i mean its a fantastic coup but for an up and comming premiership keeper who would have been a top quality keeper in say 2/3 years to drop down that many leagues. fair play to them.

fair play to them.it's what i would like stfc to be able to do.

I wish more 'up and coming premiership keepers' would drop down to the lower leagues for first team football, the culture of the backup goalkeeper in the Premiership has killed a whole lot of young talent (and Carlo Cudicini)

Which in turn affects the national team - all the keepers are reserves or playing for shit teams.

I reckon they should make some changes to the loan system, with special rules for younger players on the edges of the England squad. Something like allowing them to be loaned out for single matches to Football League clubs to get them some decent experience. Even if it was just for keepers it would make a big difference.

In an ideal STFC world I think we all would and still most of us hope that Mr Fitton and Co. will still do, but I am happy with financial stability ATM.

They could let the big prem club's reserve teams enter the football league.

from the bottom i'd be ok with.

Nay, nay and thrice nay...I await the fishing smiley...

Trying to temp Pavel Nedved and Luis Figo out of retirement apparently..

Why can't we do that? Nedved is the sexiest most brilliant player ever.

Could still do a good job for us...in a five man midfield, of course.

Bastards have signed Johnnie Jackson now.......

He's one classy player.

The majority of career to date in this division would suggest overwise, he's an average league 1 midfielder but with good set piece delivery. He'll do well in league 2 but is nothing special.

I would have him instead of Timlin 10 times out of 10.

Ditto

That's because IMO Timlin is a below average league 1 midfielder, he has about 1 good game in every 10.

Very true.

Agreed

How the fock are they affording all this, surely it must be busting their wage cap with the league, these high profile players are not going to sign for pennies

I'm not sure, unless the club is only paying part of their salary and they're getting cash on the side from elsewhere. Which is probably illegal.

Is it not possible to offer big signing on fees and that way you get around the wage and bonus structures?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8218136.stm

daft so Cambell with sign for £90k a week plus a large signing on fee - Notts need to be investigated, how can these sort of players be anywhetre near their % of turnover, something smells a bit fishy

All reminds me of Fulham.  I can see them moving on up quite quickly at this rate.

Apparently its due to the owners sponsoring the club to cover the costs of wages of these players, so if Sol comes in on £50k a week which has been bandied around thenats £2.5mill a year so all they do is up the sponsorship deal for the club by another £2.5mill and away you go...rule successfully avoided.....as Peterborough did 2 years ago.

Which is fair enough because the money is guaranteed income for Notts County I suppose.  As it will be short term contracts it's not like they'll have a legacy problem if the new investors walked away.

I can see it ending in tears, eventually.

If we sign Campbell im going to support someone else...who else has a lot of money?

Makes sense, although no one still knows who Munto finance actually are, would Sol be able to hack it at L2 level though after playing so long in the premier ?

Homophobe !

Tough first day then Fred  ?

Real Madrid?

start been put back a week Nev...........IT issues evidently

  Newcastle..Darlington...Port Vale. Take your pick.

Campbell set to sign for them today, they're gonna announce it today at 3pm :D

What about Pompey? Isn't there a rich arab fella taking them over?

arab? yes! rich? apparently not.

And come to that, taking them over? Quite possibly not. Last I heard Peter Storrie, their Chief Exec, was fronting a new consortium to try a different takeover. Although that may yet turn out to be a front for the original lot anyway as the Arab takeover seems to have hit issues complying with some of the Premier League funding regs. Which makes you wonder

County dont even need campbell, they seem to be walking league 2 already! It just seems a pointless buy! Hope he plays shit

I remember watching match of a day and the comentator made a little comment along the lines of "[guys name] must be the only arab with no money"

Just had inside info from the chairman to a friend (his brother) that Sol has just signed on the dotted line!

come on berni, this news is atleast 2 hours old :-)

Nothing said that he had actually signed just that it was due to be announced before 3!  I was just confirming to everyone as soon as Phil got the text!

 :harhar:

Phil as in PT?  Am i missing something here?

sorry, ignore my last update, i get it now, you learn something new everyday

I see they've given Campbell a five year contract. What happens if Munto bugger off ?

He's 34 now, so he's contracted until he's 39!
Any idea how much he's earning?

We'll he's the highest paid player in the FL. I would say ay least £30k a week, as he had offers from Prem clubs.

Ha ha some County fans on another forum are getting quite wound up by my claims that they will be down the shitter in 2 years time. 

Good work IOB.

Well if Munto bugger off, they'll still have to hounour Sven, Schmeichel and Campbell's contracts, but with what ?

I don't thing they'll do the honourable thing and cancel their contracts.

Apparently they have a bank agreement for 5 years or something? Sounds a little dodgy to me.

I thought you knew?

5 Year deal, soapy tit wank. :D

£40K a week playing Div 4 football. Nice work if you can get it.

 It's not dissimilar to when we signed Ruddock....the perpetrators soon fucked off, and near on finished us off.

Yep. The word's "It'll all end in tears" come to mind. Nothing's certain, but current events could potentially lead to the death of the oldest club in the league if it all goes tits up

well if they do their fans will have a hell of a ride and fun in the process.i cannot see why it will go tits up in anyway differently,than it would anywhere else where the board throw money at clubs.
good luck to them and i'm a bit jealous really.

Really? I can't think of anything worse than having my club stolen and turned into some Arabs plaything circus

All it needs is for one thing to go wrong, for example a fall out amongst the owners or something. Campbell's contract alone could leave County in serious trouble if the backing went.

Campbell's 35 next month, even older than I thought.

Not even "Death by MauMau"?

Jake Hyde scored the winner against them yesterday.

4 year contract for a 35 year old on £40,000 a week? Who's not even fit?

Got to go tits up, surely?

He said stinging with resentment. ;)

But it'd be very exciting. It'd be like cheating at Football Manager and buying anyone who'd sign, only real.

And he said the other day he'll be only playing for 3 more seasons, so they'll be paying £40k a week for a coach.

christian vieri being linked with them now

and ljungberg

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5540744,00.html (http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5540744,00.html)

I don't think I've laughed so hard in ages.

OMFG what a fucking twat.

He wasn't getting picked when playing in the Prem, so he's not going to get picked playing in Division 4 !!

Cock.

Campbell clearly craves attention. The press will get bored of County soon enough.

Did I read that right? Sol Campbell...... playing in League 2..... wants to play for Englands senior team?

I suppose if he dropped down one more League he'd be eligible for the National Game XI (England C)

Eligible, yes. In contention for a place, ?

I see the Football League are now investigating the takeover of Notts County...

They seem confident it's legit. We shall see.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8266931.stm

If it is so 'legit', why the secrecy ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8270272.stm

Haha! :D

"Yes Mr Nottscounty that's right. Ummm, I'm not coming in again..." [grabs nose to block air ways] "... Yes, that's right. I'm ill... Yes, indefinately... Yes, possible death and stuff... Is my contact cancelled now?" [unblocks nose] "Excellent that's great news, it's a shame i couldn't have played more for your wonderful football club money laundering vehicle.... What's that? You're breaking up... Did you say 'reburn the zigning on fee'... Sorry? I can't hear you.Hello?I don't know what you're saying.mynumberschangeddontcallagain..." [line drops]

Curiouser and curiouser .....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/07/notts-county-ownership-qadbak-league-two

Looks like none of the people Munto claimed were the behind the Qadak consortium (the supposed new owners) actually are. Which re-raises the original question - who does own Notts County? And if no-one knows, how can they be deemed "fit and proper"?

Leeds are also facing the same question tomorrow after Bates ended up denying what he'd previously told the League in a recent court case - what odds on another FL fudge?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/oct/06/notts-county-leeds-qpr-briatore

It all seems very strange to me, if I was a County fan I'd be quite concerned at the moment.

Perhaps fB has bought the club?  That would explain his absence, although I'm not sure "fit and proper person" equates to "man getting drunk in his dressing gown".

Then he'd have to pass the "proper fitting dressing gown" test

And don't forget QPR as well with their owner effectively being banned by F1 then that no longer deems his as a fit and proper person

As said I'm sure that the FL will bottle it with these decision and do nothing about it

Have the Football League bottled it on decisions like this in the past? The FA yes, the Premier League yes, but I'm not aware of the Football League doing it. They always seem to stand up to people, no one has really tried fighting any of the administration penalties in court have they?

Not been put to the test yet - tomorrow is the first time the FPPT will have been tested. But given the test itself is somewhat limp-wristed and their history, not so much perhaps of bottling decisions, but certainly seeming able to punish the wrong people, hopes aren't high. I'll be more than happy to volte face on that if and when they ban Ken Bates from every ground in the country :)

Don't tease.

That would make just about EVERY football supporters day if that ever happened.

Sounds like the FL have bottled it on the QPR situation saying they are writing to Briatore and asking for responses - surely it is straight foward if he is banned from another sport then surely he has to be banned from football ownership on the plus side they are contacting Leeds to ask for clarification on the ownership issue, let's hope they charge Bates for misleading the FL upon the last takeover no word on the Notts County issue though.

I read one article, on the BBC website I think, that suggested Briatore's legal team were going to argue that he hasn't actually been banned from motor sport and that in actual fact, motor sport has been banned from having anything to do with Briatore. Which according to them, isn't the same thing.

I think it's an open and shut case in regards Leeds as court transcrips say Bates 'misled' the League about who owns Leeds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/sep/30/leeds-united-ken-bates-jersey

 

That's just legal talk. The fact is if he turned up at an FIA event, he would not be allowed in, so therefore he is banned...simples !!

I don't know that the FL have bottled it by delaying the decisions (on all 3 - QPR, County and Leeds). Both Briatore and Bates are notoriously litigious, so they have requested further information from both on the advice of their legal counsel, which seems fair enough. But if Briatore is allowed to wriggle out of a ban then you can throw the FPP test out of the window. This is the first time that the test is being tested (as it were) and he's a slam dunk failure. If he's allowed to remain as a director of QPR, then the test is null and void.

And for County, the situation is changing almost by the day (it's emerged today their newly appointed spin doctor has quit after the latest revelations re supposed owners denying they are), but actually what they need to do IS to seek more information

do you mean lorenzo the commentator? I heard he packed it in 2 weeks after calling it his dream job.

I think they are just erring on the side of caution, making sure they've got all the facts before they take action. I can't see them allowing Briatore to retain a 30%+ interest in QPR and there will be some heavy penalty for Bates, perhaps even a ban from being on the board of a league club.

Hope so jonny. I think you're right about Briatore as it really is open and shut, but I'll be astonished (and impressed) if they do anything more than fine Leeds

Frankly, I suspect that the League will seek to make an example of Bates & really throw the book at him - and warn him as to his future conduct.
Cannot see anyone there having the external male genitalia to take him on - the only winners will be the lawyers.

The football league have left it to late too late to set a precedent on the fit and proper person test thing. Also, going after boards/people once they've already had the football club for months seems a bit pointless.

Even if they start enforcing it now, sooner or later they're going to be put in the lose-lose situation of having to chose between bust or dodgy directors at a football club. What will they do then?

Well, quite. You can drive a coach and horses (or a Newbury-registered Range Rover) through the test itself and only attempting to apply it retrospectively is almost self-defeating. However, Mawhinney is showing signs that he at least is starting to realise what many people have been pointing out from the outset and this is still a crucial test. The League will get themselves in a pickle over this and they can go two ways - apply the rules but learn the lessons or bottle it and abandon any prentence that they will attempt to regulate/protect member clubs from their own directors. Time to show it's not all just harrumphing

Why is it too late?

Bates lied when he said he owned 50% of the club, this has only just been admitted and they are still trying to get to the bottom of who really owns it. The same applies to Notts County, no one knows who exactly owns the club. I'm not sure what else they can do, getting to the bottom of who owns club is a nightmare with the clubs fighting them all the way and as a result it takes time.

Until they know exactly who owns the club they can't apply the fit and proper test. Though I'd imagine they will be tightening the rules to ensure this kind of lengthy delay can't happen in the future.

I'm wondering if Bates knows he's fucked. Firstly he provides a written statement admitting that he lied. That isn't the sort of thing he does without a fight and to simply come clean like that says a lot. Secondly, he hasn't been all over the media mouthing off as usual. Its not like him to go quiet with something this big hanging over him.

Maybe he is in damage limitation mode and hoping they will go easy on him?

County deal ratified

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8212843.stm

One bottled, two to go. Already looking for wiggle room on Briatore:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/8313223.stm

Wonder what excuse they'll use to let Bates off the hook again?

From the Guardian if you haven't seen it.

Notts County's parent company may have to go to court over a
winding-up order.

Notts County's parent company will be wound up next week unless a
six-figure tax debt is paid. The League Two club are the subject
of a winding-up order scheduled to be heard at the bankruptcy
division of the high court on 18 November. Despite the notice
being served on 25 September on the club's UK parent company,
Blenheim 1862, the debt has still not been settled.

There remain only four days in which to make a settlement to
prevent the case going before the courts. Notts County have today
refused to comment.

The development is said to have come as a shock to those involved
in the transaction to hand over the club in June to the British
Virgin Islands-registered nominee company Qadbak. In that deal
the supporters' trust wrote off almost £400,000 in shares and
loans it held in Blenheim 1862. As a result Qadbak owns County
via another British Virgin Islands vehicle, Munto Finance, which
in turn holds the shares in Blenheim 1862.

It is understood that at the time of the transaction there was an
assurance that the tax debts, believed to be approaching £400,000
and which threatened the existence of the club, would quickly be
paid. It was this assurance, along with claims of enormous funds
available to the club under Qadbak, that led to the trust handing
over the shares to the BVI companies for free.

A source close to the club claims sufficient funds are being held
in an escrow account ready for release to HM Revenue and Customs
once the matter has been heard by the courts. The source added
that the debts relate to PAYE and VAT submissions dating back
over two years.

Blenheim 1862's sole directors are Glenn Rolley, who still serves
as the supporters' Trust's chairman, and the club's executive
chairman, Peter Trembling.

im still waiting for them to implode.

And more in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/11/notts-county-russell-king-korea

In a nutshell, bloke who FL apparently don't want anywhere near club (because he's got multi-million pound fraud charges hanging over him among other things) is conveniently disappeared around time they're assessed for "Fit and proper" but somehow still seems to be linked despite public denials via one of the many mysterious companies that surround County who he's still doing business for. The same company that were going to pay the bulk of Campbell's wages and who are paying a chunk of Eriksson's money for him to be an "ambassador" for them. Shades of Dunwoody/Diamandis here, can't help think this is all going to end in tears.

heres hoping, that'll learn them

Oh dear:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/27/notts-county-ownership
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Football/documents/2009/11/27/notts_county.pdf
http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=2916

I wonder if Sven will still be taking his "It doesn't matter where the money comes from as long as it comes" attitude if it turns out there isn't any money coming from anywhere and that he's been sold a pup?

Well, i'd like to see the criteria for the fit and proper person test if they got through initially, after reading that. Someone's going to have egg on their face(s)

That's a big part of the problem. The League apparently only initially passed the takeover after being reassured that Russell King wasn't involved. Now it turns out this may depend very much on how you interpret "involved". Much like in our own case where Diamandis escaped the FPP test (not to mention criminal charges) by not being formally declared a director, but was still apparently running the show. The test is a bit shit, basically.

A Bit Shit ?

Blimey that is an understatement, and the leagues refusal to publish the questions they ask publically is also poor, no regard for supporters to know what is going on at their club

Don't forget that the FL still have to announce what they are going to do about a certain Ken Bates about his 'so-called' ownership of Leeds and that Briatore is still in charge of QPR., despite being banned by the FIA.

At the moment, the F&PPT is not worth the paper it is written on.

I can tell you that .... fuck all. Absolutely fuck all. Bet ya!

Probably right Paul. They're probably thinking that if no-one mentions it, it might just go away!!

In fact there is more chance Ken Bates being named as Mawhinney's replacement as head of the FL ,than him being kicked out from Leeds!!

And as if by magic:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/27/sven-goran-eriksson-notts-county

To quote Johnny Rotten (not something I usually do), "Ever get the feeling you've been had?"

Notts County now put up for sale by the owners.

The Mirror reckon Eriksson himself will buy them.

Shame it's the mirror, as that would be quite fun.

This whole affair has seemed ridiculous from the start and has turned Notts County in to a laughing stock.  At least its not us...

For a change

This really is one of those situations where things are so good that the future can only get worse.  Having a big money benefactor to bank roll a club is only good for as long as they don't get bored - it's not a sustainable model - I thank god we have AF&Co in place as it has enabled us to get off the roller coaster ride that many other clubs are about to embark on...

Yes, but in this case, it never was that good. The whole Munto thing was just smoke and mirrors, they didn't have the money, they weren't even who they claimed to be, and as soon as anyone was publicly linked to the group supposedly behind it, they either denied it or quit. It was all just bullshit from start to finish.

The Chairman and Eriksson are trying to buy the club off of the Saudis.  The only sticking point is whether the Saudis pay up the money that is owed to Eriksson and is in his contract, if that happens it will probably happen, if it doesn't he will walk away.

So far Qadbak/Munto have failed to buy an F1 team and look to have shammed there way into buying a football club they can't afford to run.

I'm just waiting for SBC to say they are preferred partners for the town centre regeneration to complete the hatrick.

What Saudis? There are no rich arabs, that was all hogwash. It's just this Russell King chancer and a couple of his dodgy mates, all the rest is bullshit

They exist alright, it's just whether they really are as wealthy as they say they are.

Either way its the fans that get fucked over eventually and have to endure the 'We're rich beyond our wildest dreams...' #bump# 'How the fuck can we save our club...' emotional rollercoaster

Surely most County fans didn't genuinely think they were rich and there was nothing a bit suspect about the whole affair?  If they bought the whole thing without thinking about it then they need to use their heads a bit more.

Really? All I've seen is a trail of dead-ends that start out looking like they lead back to some Middle Eastern (well, actually South Asian but who's counting) people who then denied any involvement. There are Middle Eastern companies in the paper trail, but they're all pretty much shell fronts, not genuine Middle Eastern investors. If you've seen stuff to the contrary, I'd be genuinely curious to see it.

Thankfully we have dirt digging media who bring it out of the woodwork, without them i doubt the fans would have been any the wiser until it was too late - The FL would have found out FA about them...

True dat

I haven't seen it but I know the brother of the Chairman and he knows more than most.

Or has been told the same bullshit as everyone else and swallowed it cos it's his bruv. Every time they've offered up a "real" investor or proof that they'd distanced themselves from King, it's been shot down within 24 hours of being made public. You'll forgive my scepticism

Sounds like the PR departmentofr Munto have a 'Wheel of Misfortune'...  round and round the big wheel goes, where she'll stop nobody knows... (but if it stops on you just tell the football league that you are the club's owner... please?)

Don't forget before the club was so to Munto/Qadbak/Whoever, that they were run by the Notts County Trust, who actually saved the club from going under a few years ago, and due to Munto/Qadbak/whoever promising a massive cash injection, and that they will be in the Prem within a few years, when the Trust had a meeting to decide if to sell their shareholding to Munto/Qadbak/whoever, and the fans voted by over 80% to give the shareholding over to Munto/Qadbak/whoever for free.

So Notts fans in the end voted for empty promises. By the way, SSN was saying earlier that those shares are up for sale for £1.5m if SGE wants to buy them, so someone's going to make a few quid on the deal.

Sven you are a fucking joke.

Even more than you were before.

On a wider scale, it is scary that this Munto finance lot are still operating given all the damage that these 'hall of mirrors' companies have done to the World economy. Crooks.

Watch Sven leave Notts County due to not being paid and threaten to take Notts to court once they are taken over for unpaid wages and nearly bankrupt the club, either pushing them to the brink or sending them into administration.

And then he will re-appear at the WC manging someone like South Africa where he can get another big pay day

Feel for the fans....shit on again with false hope..

Sorry but i dont give a fuck. Im sure they were all supportive of us in our time of need...

There is a good article on Notts here :

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=4035

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, as I can't see Sven spending any money on a football club.

A lot of Notts County fans gave up all their shares for free.

Youve got to feel sorry for them?

To be fair, we went bust at the right time and we did get a lot more sympathy than clubs do now. In the late 90's the view of the football public was that League clubs were sacred and could not be allowed to go to the wall. That isnt the case now.

Clubs like Swindon helped use up all the goodwill from the football community. That and the fact that some of the numbers involved became so inflated that it is rediculous to even try.

An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.  Grow up and have some sympathy for fellow football supporters.

Ill arrange a collection.

Seriously though, this was always going to go tits up

The managment buyout went throughh the weekend for a nominal fee, apparently Sven is staying for the tiome being, no word on who the new owners are though other than CEO Trembling, how can they seriously afford Sven now ?

Also apparently going to have to rid themselves of Kasper Schmeichel and Lee Hughes in Jan.

Sol Campbell did them a favour in the end. I have certainly heard rumours about his departure that, shall we say, involved human rights.......

http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/25/the-story-behind-sol-campbells-departure/

Their supporters owned the club then gave it away to a company whose true owners still aren't known today (let alone at the time) who made a too good to be true pledge to turn the club round. But they were far too busy wetting their pants to see where this was likely to end, they're bloody lucky the club is going to survive and hasn't been irreparably damaged.

I know Fitton and co aren't splashing the cash in the way some owners are, but I'd go with them any day of the week over someone making out of this world promises and pissing money away. We're stable and moving forwards, too many fans want the big time over night and are willing to risk the future of their club for it. When it all goes wrong they've only got themselves to blame and they won't get any sympathy from me.

Hans Backe (the manager) has resigned.

Something is seriously wrong there.

Or Sven is mounting stage seven of his crazy masterplan.

"Sven-Goran Eriksson has called in his lawyers to help recover the millions of pounds he believes he is owed following the management buyout of Notts County last week."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/15/sven-goran-eriksson-lawyers-money

Sven = money obsessed fool.

Uh oh...

[url width=280 height=363]http://radyananda.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sinking-ship.jpg[/url]

[url width=333 height=212]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c115/dakrin/hindenburg.jpg[/url]

mwahaha

Are we really surprised ?

And another good article on the current situation. Apparently Kasper Schmeichel is on £15k a week :

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=4053

They're fucked

You are wasted on here.Genius

I get wasted most nights...

Apparently the County players have still not been paid yet, and there could well be a fire sale of their top earners in the new year.

Casper is definately on his way so I have been told.  £15k a week!!!!!

Hughes will be another going!

Another winding up order :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8440636.stm

It has now emerged that County's debts to HMRC are £600k with a further 900k owed to creditors.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homesport/Trembling-tries-reassure-fans-winding-petition/article-1674904-detail/article.html

Utter, utter madness!

But that can't be right. Only a few days ago, Trembling said:
And after all, if you can't trust the man who sold County the "Qadbak dream" who can you trust?

Peter Trembling is the new Baghdad Bob Holt ?

Now here's a surprise:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article6997553.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=796995

From the man who gave us "I don't care where the money comes from as long as it comes" (but forgot to add "but if it stops coming, I'm off")

Are we really surprised ?

Shocking.  I truly thought he was there for the long haul.

What a twat, now theres no money in it for him, he pisses off.

Sven is clever. He will leave while no one is looking. Like on the eve of Englands first world cup game or something.

Their investment has apparently fallen through...

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10426~1954570,00.html

"The investment hasn't fallen through, it's never existed"

Good work.

This coming a day or so after they had to issue a "clarification" to their earlier claim that HMRC had agreed to stay the winding up order because they were satisfied the proposed investment was genuine. Turned out HMRC never said any such thing and were a bit miffed at being widely quoted as having done so on the back of County's PR.

I surprised they haven't got Baghdad Bob in to do the 'We've got more investors than you can shake a stick at' line.

Oh dear:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/feb/05/peter-trembling-notts-county-nathan-willett

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=4451

Aparently been sold to a new consortium. Trembling to go...and aparently Sven to follow.

Aparently, Munto 'more money to shake a stick at' Finance, left the club in 'a desperate situation'.

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10426~1963308,00.html

Sven and Tord Grip (Sven's bag man) will leave in the next few days, Trembling has sold 90% of the club to the ex Lincoln city chairman, the only way Sven would have stayed was if they secured £25m worth of investment

So, the Sven/Trembling dream team never did bring in the pot of gold they kept promising having at best unwittingly front-ended a rather shabby con to take the League's oldest team out of the hands of supporters and place it into the hands of fraudsters and liars who damn near killed it off. They must be so proud, one can only hope their reputations are suitably tarnished - no-one comes out of this well.

The new Notts County owner, is already finding that things aren't simple and
straightforward at Meadow Lane.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/leaguetwo/nottscounty/7221032/Notts-Countys-expenditure-would-make-eyes-boggle-says-new-owner-Ray-Trew.html

Apparently Sven has left and has slid out of a side door and his house is already empty

Looks like it's from the frying pan into the fire.

Apparently their CEO is Jim Rodwell, formerly of Boston United, and there is talk that the former Chairman of Mansfield, Keith Haslam is involved as well.

Trembling also says he's going to sue Munto, if he could find them, for the £500k he put into the club.

I cannot believe this didn't work out...

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=4505

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=4500

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=4516

Not Haslam! The worlds oldest football league club might not be the worlds oldest football league club much longer.

Could be worse...it could be Stephen Vaughan !!!

Kasper Schmeichel is apparently on a £200k bonus if they get promoted this season.

Nice work if you can get it !!!

Notts need £2.5m for them to see out the rest of the season...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8516918.stm

There is a report in today's League Paper that says Notts have slightly gone over the salary cap. It should be 60% of turnover, but Notts has salaries that are 350% of turnover !!!

In this article, it says that Schmeichel is on £18k a week, and Lee Hughes is on £4.5k a week.

i believe it was said somewhere sol campbell was on 35k

What is the punishment for exceeding (smashing) the salary cap?

From the ineffectual FL?  Slap on the wrist and told not to do it again.  Unless they want to make an example of you then its demotion.

Surely it should be docking of points.  Points presumably have been gained through using an unfair advantage.

That's why they are under a tranfer embargo, for that very reason.

He might have been, but I was talking about current players. The scary thing is that Schmeichel has got a 4 year contract, so unless they can get rid of him smartish, they are committed to paying close enough £1m a year for the next 3+ years.

Campbell and Sven have done them a favour, like Roy Evans did for us, by leaving the club without a pay-off.

Apparently Notts are going to release a statement today at 2pm about their future, expected to go into administration

I thought they were naming Steve Cotterill Manager

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1252977/Steve-Cotterill-set-named-new-Notts-County-manager.html?ITO=1490

Hang on! Steve Cotterill accepts League Two job? He's been telling us he's Championship standard ever since leaving Burnley in 2007.

Yeah good isn't it? He turned us down as we were not in a high enough division....

Good job 'n all. He's a crap manager

Yeh, but Notts County are a team on the up. They'll be in the Championship soon.


Oh...

They are also set to announce a decision on their future, they face a WUP on Weds from HMRC for circa £650,000, and have admitted they are now £6m in debt and have to find something like £1.5m to keep going until the end of the season

Official, then (Cotterill, not admin):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/8530392.stm

No admin, cotterill confirmed

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10426~1974692,00.html

Fixed it for you :)

Nice to see that they've got their priorities right. They're up to our necks in debt...but it doesn't stop them getting a new manager in and put another salary onto the payroll.

Hmm, looks like they may actually have gone into admin (or some form of insolvency procedure) and kind of hidden it behind the Cotterill announcement:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/24/peter-ridsdale-cardiff-city-finances

It's definately all going bang. On SSN this morning, it stated that 18 prem clubs owed 3.4 Billion, which is 56% of all the debt in European football combined. It didn't however include Pompey or West Ham, which would make it worse. It's getting to that time of year where teams eye up the table and decide whether to go into admin, i think it's going to be horrific this year could be a dozen or more.

Why on earth did they not include Pompey or West Ham, they must be another 10% between them.

Going to be a very interesting few months in football I think. All hail Sirs Fitton, Arbib, Wray and er, the other one. Backhouse?

Charlton must be close to administration,a lot of charlton fans think they could be in serious trouble if promotion is not gained this season,although maybe a summer clear out of some of the better players may save them from admin,shelvey must be worth a tidy sum.

Not included as not full members of eufa or something. Didn't quite catch that bit.

English football fucking stinks right now. It's like the final scene in Poltergeist where they realise they built the houses on the Indian graveyard - all those bodies are about to come springing out of the ground

Oh, and the Grauniad have a write-up on the UEFA report which is probably a bit more indepth than the SSN treatment:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/23/premier-league-clubs-europe-debt

What's really worrying is those figures are from 2 years ago at least, most teams have gone even more mental with wages since then. Ah well at least Cole and Terry have made their money and can spend it on slappers, so it's not all bad.

That's not fair and you know it - John Terry spends barely a fraction of his entirely undeserved fortune on slappers, most of it he pisses up against a wall on gambling debts

County now reckon they are going to call in the 'old bill' next week to investigate Munto

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11750_5977240,00.html

A mixed and thoroughly unsavoury mixed metaphor.

Which is mixed.

Ah yes, I believe the word is 'oops'

That was a fucking awesome bit!

Interesting read....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/simonaustin/2010/03/saving_notts_county.html

Indeed. You have to laugh at this bit:
FFS!

I also liked the bit :

"I always said we shouldn't sign the big names until we had money in the bank," Trembling insists.

Doh!!!

They did, mate. Your life savings, if your account is to be believed.

I like the bit where it says that one third of their annual revenue goes to the wages of their goalkeeper.