Dick Knight in today's Argus

[Ernest]

No truth as far as I know in the rumour that Paul Barber was heading towards the Dick's Bar sign with a stepladder and screwdriver ...

I WILL be there to HELP

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

... But if you're honest, along the way he could bullsh*t with the best of them as well. I rate Perry very close behind him in the pantheon, if not actually level.

'Lifetime of the scheme' when talking about the lifetime away membership we purchased

Not his finest hour.

 

[andy1980]

The thing is, people are asking questions. We are on here disgussing those questions with people who do have quite a lot of knowledge of what is going on. We can see that Bloom is taking control of what he sees maybe as hes. What we haven't seen is him doing anything that he doesn't feel is in the best interest of the club. We see some fans not likeing us go down the corporate route, yet that is the route football in general is going down, and this is a football club. We also see that everything Bloom has done has more or less come of in a successfull way. Everything he has done, he has done to a high standard.

Maybe in the future he will do something that is bad for the club, but he hasn't so far, as we have progressed after every action he has taken. This latest set of actions we will have to wait to see if that continues.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

DK was a great leader and figurehead and one of 2 or 3 people without whom we wouldn't be where we are. But if you're honest, along the way he could bullsh*t with the best of them as well. I rate Perry very close behind him in the pantheon, if not actually level.

Without wishing to do DK down, I rate Martin Perry as probably the key person in our change from nearly bust to where we are today. He's also a proper gent to boot.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

We'd still be at Withdean without Tony Bloom's money. It really is as simple as that.

I seem to recall that you were claiming that TB making up any shortfall that DK couldn't raise was always Plan B. Are you now saying that there were alternative funding options still available but that DK let TB fund the entire project, remove him as Chairman and take over full control of the club as his preferred option rather than seek these other finance options you claim were there?

My understanding is that TB's resources were available to make up the shortfall that external funding couldn't achieve (although substantial external funding was available - at a cost). I don't know the terms on which TB's 'top up' funding was being offered at the time. ROSM and Alex, Alex Dawson oo! oo! have set out their understanding, above.

What happened was that TB offered the bigger investment, on very attractive terms, and that was the one that DK and the Board accepted. The deal the Club got was the best available and it was obviously right to accept it, even though it gave TB full control.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Man of Harvey's and Lord Bracknell are making an important point.

It was always said under DK that the club should never again come under a single owner.

Now the club is, in effect, owned by one man, or one family.

I have no doubt that Tony Bloom wants what is best for the club. But a benign dictatorship is still a dictatorship.

If he suddenly decides [and I'm not suggesting that he will] that what is best for the club is to rename Dick's Bar "Barber's," change the kit from blue to red, or double ticket prices, then he can. As Dick Knight could have done, but I think that there the dissenting voices on the board might have been louder.

There may be one or two bitter old souls on here who resent the fact that they no longer have the relationship with those running the club that they did, but I think that's largely in the imagination of Beach Hut and one or two others.

Most sensible people must surely agree with MoH and LB [and Westdene Seagull above] that it's important to question decisions made by the club if we think they're all-advised or just plain wrong.

DK was in a unique position to do that. I fear he has put that position in jeopardy with the timing and tone of his remarks, but we'll see.

Maybe. Maybe DK was just worried that there were no questioning voices, or that the few there are were not getting heard. Maybe he felt that now was the time to use his unique position.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

My understanding is that TB's resources were available to make up the shortfall that external funding couldn't achieve (although substantial external funding was available - at a cost). I don't know the terms on which TB's 'top up' funding was being offered at the time. ROSM and Alex, Alex Dawson oo! oo! have set out their understanding, above.

What happened was that TB offered the bigger investment, on very attractive terms, and that was the one that DK and the Board accepted. The deal the Club got was the best available and it was obviously right to accept it, even though it gave TB full control.

Was there ever much discussion about TB becoming the largest minority shareholder? We were in a situation where the board committed that we'd never be in single ownership again, the fans were hugely in support of that, and most have assumed that TB made this investment primarily as a fan of the club.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

No truth as far as I know in the rumour that Paul Barber was heading towards the Dick's Bar sign with a stepladder and screwdriver ...

Stage 4 of Operation Barberossa

 

[big nuts]

Dick Knight will ALWAYS be BHAFC's greatest ever Chairman for me and that is all I want to add to the debate.

Amen.

 

[janee]

Charlie is a legend and always will be but from what I have heard, what he did was pretty bad and not related to poogate. He has given the club no choice and no possibility of coming back. Hope I am wrong mind!

This

 

[Danny-Boy]

Seriously I think DK thinks Albion have treated Oatway unfairly. He will have a lot of friends in the game over here, and that could hurt Albion in the longer-term.
Reneging on the Liverpool game will hurt a lot, to his pocket and his pride. Every player likes to have a testimonial after serving a club a long time.

 

[Working class pride]

Seriously I think DK thinks Albion have treated Oatway unfairly. He will have a lot of friends in the game over here, and that could hurt Albion in the longer-term.
Reneging on the Liverpool game will hurt a lot, to his pocket and his pride. Every player likes to have a testimonial after serving a club a long time.

Testimonial? When you can persuade my employer to give me one then I will fight for an average third division footballers right to have one.

On Dick Knight, we all owe him a great debt and I agree that the brand of the Albion should use the Archer years fight of the Albion fans to build the brand and be careful of going away from that too much. But, this club really has to go forward so to, for the first time in our history, properly make this club fulfil its potential. A club who sneezes and gets 30,000 through the door for a nothing second tier game against Wolves really should have had a few trophies. But so far we have have had nothing since 1910. Bloom seems to get this and I'm enjoying watching Bloom turning this club into one that expects and demands.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Testimonial? When you can persuade my employer to give me one then I will fight for an average third division footballers right to have one.

A little harsh.

 

[Beach Hut]

A little harsh.

He has a point football players are paid far higher than most so why should they be blessed with this lovely gift.

I got an extra weeks leave after 30 years service with the company I work for.

 

[clapham_gull]

Testimonial? When you can persuade my employer to give me one then I will fight for an average third division footballers right to have one.

On Dick Knight, we all owe him a great debt and I agree that the brand of the Albion should use the Archer years fight of the Albion fans to build the brand and be careful of going away from that too much. But, this club really has to go forward so to, for the first time in our history, properly make this club fulfil its potential. A club who sneezes and gets 30,000 through the door for a nothing second tier game against Wolves really should have had a few trophies. But so far we have have had nothing since 1910. Bloom seems to get this and I'm enjoying watching Bloom turning this club into one that expects and demands.

Totally agree. Testimonials are a nonsense and belong to another age.

 

[London Irish]

It's a good thing that Dick Knight has legitimised a debate about how Bloom is performing during the chaos of the past few weeks - because for me he has had a very easy ride from fans so far. The way the Bloom fanclub try and shout down any questioning of him with peasant-like foreluck-tugging idolatry of wealth is a bit pathetic. Yes, he's spent part of his fortune on great facilities for us but that doesn't buy all our silence about how he treats people.

The Oatway situation particularly rankles and ask yourself if a man of integrity like Knight would be sticking up for him if Charlie had done anything seriously wrong except show maybe self-harming loyalty to Poyet.

The Poyet stuff has been misrepresented as ego and personality but that's garbage too - it's a cold hard footballing disagreement between Bloom and Poyet about how much money we need to spend if we want to get to the Premiership. Nobody on here knows who is in the right here - only Garcia and his possible successors will prove if Poyet is right or Bloom is right.

But it's pretty clear Bloom already made a massive mistake in not paying to keep Murray and then not getting a real replacement in until 6 months ago, I think that cost us the £120m windfall that Palace now have - so that's one gamble that did certainly did not pay off for Bloom.

We're entitled to ask if replacing Poyet with Garcia is another such gamble. Time will tell and we can argue about it along the way with hopefully nobody on here arrogant enough to say they know the answer for definite now (yeh fat chance of that).

At the end of the day of course Bloom is entitled to spend what he likes on playing budget as it's mostly his money (along with a bit of ours from ST revenue) but if the aim is Premiership football we're entitled to ask whether that's going to realistically happen. Poyet gave his answer and unlike many on here I respect his honesty for walking away from a task that he didn't think had a probable chance of success.

Bloom and Poyet should call off their war, cut a deal on a proportion of his contract before we have to waste even more money and bad pubilicity fighting it through the courts. If that's what Knight means by sorting it out away from the limelight, then Dick is once again spot on.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

It's a good thing that Dick Knight has legitimised a debate about how Bloom is performing during the chaos of the past few weeks - because for me he has had a very easy ride from fans so far. The way the Bloom fanclub try and shout down any questioning of him with peasant-like foreluck-tugging idolatry of wealth is a bit pathetic. Yes, he's spent part of his fortune on great facilities for us but that doesn't buy all our silence about how he treats people.

The Oatway situation particularly rankles and ask yourself if a man of integrity like Knight would be sticking up for him if Charlie had done anything seriously wrong except show maybe self-harming loyalty to Poyet.

The Poyet stuff has been misrepresented as ego and personality but that's garbage too - it's a cold hard footballing disagreement between Bloom and Poyet about how much money we need to spend if we want to get to the Premiership. Nobody on here knows who is in the right here - only Garcia and his possible successors will prove if Poyet is right or Bloom is right.

But it's pretty clear Bloom already made a massive mistake in not paying to keep Murray and then not getting a real replacement in until 6 months ago, I think that cost us the £120m windfall that Palace now have - so that's one gamble that did certainly did not pay off for Bloom.

We're entitled to ask if replacing Poyet with Garcia is another such gamble. Time will tell and we can argue about it along the way with hopefully nobody on here arrogant enough to say they know the answer for definite now (yeh fat chance of that).

At the end of the day of course Bloom is entitled to spend what he likes on playing budget as it's mostly his money (along with a bit of ours from ST revenue) but if the aim is Premiership football we're entitled to ask whether that's going to realistically happen. Poyet gave his answer and unlike many on here I respect his honesty for walking away from a task that he didn't think had a probable chance of success.

Bloom and Poyet should call off their war, cut a deal on a proportion of his contract before we have to waste even more money and bad pubilicity fighting it through the courts. If that's what Knight means by sorting it out away from the limelight, then Dick is once again spot on.

So much bullshit.

1. Bloom's had an easy ride? The guy has bankrolled the club for years, and gets all manner of undeserved petty grizzling for his troubles.

2. Poyet / Budget. It simply doesn't wash. He was backed well enough to get 4th, then he / we blew it (against a side that had spent far less).

 

[Beach Hut]

It's a good thing that Dick Knight has legitimised a debate about how Bloom is performing during the chaos of the past few weeks - because for me he has had a very easy ride from fans so far. The way the Bloom fanclub try and shout down any questioning of him with peasant-like foreluck-tugging idolatry of wealth is a bit pathetic. Yes, he's spent part of his fortune on great facilities for us but that doesn't buy all our silence about how he treats people.

The Oatway situation particularly rankles and ask yourself if a man of integrity like Knight would be sticking up for him if Charlie had done anything seriously wrong except show maybe self-harming loyalty to Poyet.

The Poyet stuff has been misrepresented as ego and personality but that's garbage too - it's a cold hard footballing disagreement between Bloom and Poyet about how much money we need to spend if we want to get to the Premiership. Nobody on here knows who is in the right here - only Garcia and his possible successors will prove if Poyet is right or Bloom is right.

But it's pretty clear Bloom already made a massive mistake in not paying to keep Murray and then not getting a real replacement in until 6 months ago, I think that cost us the £120m windfall that Palace now have - so that's one gamble that did certainly did not pay off for Bloom.

We're entitled to ask if replacing Poyet with Garcia is another such gamble. Time will tell and we can argue about it along the way with hopefully nobody on here arrogant enough to say they know the answer for definite now (yeh fat chance of that).

At the end of the day of course Bloom is entitled to spend what he likes on playing budget as it's mostly his money (along with a bit of ours from ST revenue) but if the aim is Premiership football we're entitled to ask whether that's going to realistically happen. Poyet gave his answer and unlike many on here I respect his honesty for walking away from a task that he didn't think had a probable chance of success.

Bloom and Poyet should call off their war, cut a deal on a proportion of his contract before we have to waste even more money and bad pubilicity fighting it through the courts. If that's what Knight means by sorting it out away from the limelight, then Dick is once again spot on.

And there was me hoping you had left NSC for good.

Spectacularly crap journalism as usual

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

It's a good thing that Dick Knight has legitimised a debate about how Bloom is performing during the chaos of the past few weeks - because for me he has had a very easy ride from fans so far. The way the Bloom fanclub try and shout down any questioning of him with peasant-like foreluck-tugging idolatry of wealth is a bit pathetic. Yes, he's spent part of his fortune on great facilities for us but that doesn't buy all our silence about how he treats people.

The Oatway situation particularly rankles and ask yourself if a man of integrity like Knight would be sticking up for him if Charlie had done anything seriously wrong except show maybe self-harming loyalty to Poyet.

The Poyet stuff has been misrepresented as ego and personality but that's garbage too - it's a cold hard footballing disagreement between Bloom and Poyet about how much money we need to spend if we want to get to the Premiership. Nobody on here knows who is in the right here - only Garcia and his possible successors will prove if Poyet is right or Bloom is right.

But it's pretty clear Bloom already made a massive mistake in not paying to keep Murray and then not getting a real replacement in until 6 months ago, I think that cost us the £120m windfall that Palace now have - so that's one gamble that did certainly did not pay off for Bloom.

We're entitled to ask if replacing Poyet with Garcia is another such gamble. Time will tell and we can argue about it along the way with hopefully nobody on here arrogant enough to say they know the answer for definite now (yeh fat chance of that).

At the end of the day of course Bloom is entitled to spend what he likes on playing budget as it's mostly his money (along with a bit of ours from ST revenue) but if the aim is Premiership football we're entitled to ask whether that's going to realistically happen. Poyet gave his answer and unlike many on here I respect his honesty for walking away from a task that he didn't think had a probable chance of success.

Bloom and Poyet should call off their war, cut a deal on a proportion of his contract before we have to waste even more money and bad pubilicity fighting it through the courts. If that's what Knight means by sorting it out away from the limelight, then Dick is once again spot on.

It's parallel universe time. I just hope I've not stumbled into yours.

 

[London Irish]

So much bullshit.

1. Bloom's had an easy ride? The guy has bankrolled the club for years, and gets all manner of undeserved petty grizzling for his troubles.

2. Poyet / Budget. It simply doesn't wash. He was backed well enough to get 4th, then he / we blew it (against a side that had spent far less).

Well, whatever, I'm not expecting an amazingly socratic debate with you - but my bottom line is I really hope Garcia proves Poyet wrong and makes Bloom look like the perfect chairman that so many on here think he is. Garcia will be outperforming if he has the season Poyet just had, here's hoping.