Thetownend.com

Mansfield fought long and hard to get rid of Keith Haslam, their answer to Diamandis, but just as they finally got rid he pretty much stole their ground from under them, forcing the new regime to pay him rent so he could continue to treat them as a cash cow, despite being finally kicked out. Now the new regime have engaged lawyers to investigate the almost certainly illegal sale of the ground (and sundry other "loans" over the years), they've been evicted from the ground:

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=10123

Maybe this is something the FA could intervene in to show the nation they do have a purpose. Or perhaps they could just sulk about how FIFA's bid process isn't as transparent as they'd first thought (big shock to them apparently) and continue to ignore the plight of the actual clubs they're supposed to protect.

Reading stuff like that makes me so angry and so glad that we now have proper people running our football club. Despite our current predicament Fitton & Co. seem to be building this club for the future and I have no doubt that we'll be hosting Championship football at the CG in the next 5 years.

However, if I were a Mansfield fan I would be organising a mob, hunting down this Haslam fella and burning down his house(after 1st making sure that any family members were out of course, you don't want any collateral damage)

Grade a c*nt

all a bit kassam like innit...

My mate is a very active member of the Stags Supporters Club and they have had a terrible time over the years since a certain Keith Haslam got involved.  For legal reasons I won't go into some of the stories he's told me about the man but if you ever have the misfortune to bump into Haslam just check your wallet is still intact.

I really feel for the supporters because although Haslam is no longer involved with the club, he's acquired the ground and surprise, surprise he's charging them an arm & a leg to use Field Mill.  They have a new owner who does genuinely seem to be trying to build a side that can compete & gain promotion back to the Football League but the club doesn't need this.

A sad tale....but alas they were not a big club and it will happen again.
If you look at the success that Chesterfield up the road are having with doubling the crowds at a new ground and being towards the top,then Mansfield should strive to get the same relative success.

I hope the new owners of Mansfield win their legal action, because people like Haslam should be locked up on an indefinite basis.

I guess they'd say they are striving to do precisely that. Having one of the original robber barons in charge for around a decade, then having him drain millions out of the club, use it to steal the ground from under you and evict you when you try to find out what happened to the money may be what's hindering them slightly in that effort. That's kind of the point.

Well the point i am making is that is history now......we know how you feel about it Paul...along with our plight and Pompeys.....get over it...the money wont ever be found and the reasons either.

Its tough but fact.......so move on forwards,not backwards by spending more money and time on past shit.
Mansfield are a good little club and i hope they are back soon.

Read the article, they know damn well where the money is, it's not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether it was lawfully taken. Are you seriously saying if Diamandis had given himself a £2m "present" before he fucked off and used it to sell himself the ground so we had to continue swelling his coffers by paying him rent for the next x years, you'd be shrugging your shoulders and saying "Ah, well. Get over it"?

If more people showed the balls of the current Mansfield board and actually tried nailing some of these crooks down, we'd see a lot less clubs in trouble. I'm looking at you, Football League, FA, DTI.

I think that's ample reason not to get over it Leefer

If everyone had that attitude then we would still be burdened with the debacle that was Wills/Diamandis/Gray/Holt et al

What has happened is a travesty....wrong,but its happened at lots of clubs.....the scamsters know how to bend the rules and get round the law......so how do you know Paul that the money wasnt lawfully taken?.....may not be morally right...may piss off fans all over the country....but that dosn't mean to say the money wasnt lawfully taken.
Many clubs have been hammered......including us..various individuals taking shed loads of our money....Ruddock nearly broke us but lawfully he was within his rights to take the vast amount of money he took....not right but lawfull,as a club we just had to accept it and move on.

Mansfield will have to do the same only the lawyers like at Pompey will gain  ...unless they can risk more money on proving in court that it wasnt lawfull.....seeing as there are padlocks on the ground it seems it was lawfull.
Personally i get pissed off with clubs like Pompey who bring in people who are a bit dodgy then whinge when suprise suprise they have been shafted....the same at Oxford,everyone saw what Kassam was all about....years before he walked away.
Most people up north knew Haslam was dodgy....Mansfield gambled on him...the gamble was always going to be a loser.
Sad for the Stags fans of course.....and i hope they do get a result,but can't see it.

Seems they were looking at the legal aspect, I don't think padlocking the ground is proof enough  :)

They didn't gamble on him, he bought the club about 10 years ago. What were Mansfield supposed to have done about that?
Did you actually read the article? I suspect not, or else you're just being deliberately obtuse

Well Batch...i take your point.......but most people can only padlock a property that is legally theres.

As Paul D says there are many who dispute this.....anyone can dispute and investigate(law firms etc)...but facts are facts...Mansfield have been done up like a kipper,when you get dodgy people on board as in the case of Pompey,Oxford etc.....it will always end up in tears sadly.
Paul.......i understand your frustations on how i see this....Haslam has been dodgy for many a year.

Obtuse.....no,just pointing out facts.......just because what Haslam has done is shocking...dosn't mean to say its not lawfull.
And that is unfortuanate for the fans but as i said it has happened to us and many others...and will continue to do so.

Use a time machine obviously

Fact is the club owe him rent......you dont pay your mortgage you will get kicked out of your house.

Is this morally right..no....is it a nice thing to do...no....will you and others be distraught..yes.

But lawfully... it is right...

He was attacked and put in hospital by his own fans so it isn't a suprise that he is not sympathetic to the cause.....and before you say it.........HE PROBABLY DESERVED IT

I don't think you've quite grasped what's going on. The current owners believe Haslam is not in lawful possession of the ground or the money used to buy it, which was the club's own money, given to his front company in flagrant breach of company law. While the matter is under dispute, they are paying the rent, but they're paying it into an escrow account operated by his solicitors. So it's not as simple as just reneging on monies owed. They are now seeking a court order to get the apparently legally shaky eviction overturned or at least injuncted, pending a full hearing.

You are right though that this is all going to take years and quite a lot of expense to resolve - what's going on at the moment is largely posturing on both sides, each throwing down gauntlets to the other and then in turn proving they are prepared to take things to the next level

Seriously, did you actually read the article? Because your grasp of the "facts" seems to consist of stuff you've randomly plucked out of mid-air.
What is happening to Mansfield is on a wholly different level to what happened to us. Or at least what has been shown/acknowledged to have happened to us. AFAIK, not even Diamandis went that far. Again, I can only assume you've not actually read the article.

Nobody is stating that Haslam doesn't have the right to evict the club if he owns the ground but it's how he acquired it which is potentially unlawful Leefer.

The argument is that money which was paid out of the club to pay for the ground was illegal, as it doesn't look like there were enough profits to pay out such a sum of money.

Haslam also took illegal loans from the company and never paid them back. The holding company also took out vast loans and never paid them back.

*BUMP*

Back in the ground on Monday and able to fulfill their fixtures from Boxing Day, so avoiding threatened fines/points deductions from the Conference:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/mansfield_town/9293320.stm

Dispute about whether Haslam owns the ground legally still ongoing though

Well whatever peoples opinions are thats good news...........lets hope it gets sorted and quick.

Damn right, leefer. I keep agreeing with you tonight. Must be coming down with something :)

No your not :D

Well you must be then. Because one of us is usually wrong :)

Or more likely both of us.