Fans Forum - A few points

[Virgo's Haircut]

Just got back from the dog track.

Dick Knight, Martin Perry and Mark McGhee were there to represent the Albion.

I can't remember all of it but here are a few points.

Simon Rodger has retired from football

Ben Roberts will commence training next week when he returns from Lilleshall

Guy Butters will begin training at the end of this week.

Perry said the saga about the extra seats at Withdean is ongoing, they have a plan and are waiting to get the ok from the council at this very moment about another P&R site. They can they re-apply from the extra seats.

They have about £150,000 so far from the Alive & Kicking campaign, but still need more for the enquiry which will begin on Feb 1st 2005.

Adam Virgo will continue to play as a target man, as McGhee says he is THE BEST in this division.

McGhee explained in a LOT of depth about how he has built the squad up since he joined, and how far they have come.

The made an estimated £400,000 from the playoff final, but a lot of it went on player bonuses, and the FL charged the club £37,000 for the fireworks at the end of the game.

Dick talked about how he rejected the £60,000 from Wickes, and how after he explained the situation to the FL they accepted his reasons.

Comedy moment of the night came near the end when Martin Perry called Dick Knight "Bill" after talking about Archer, Dick then promptly fired Perry.

I'm sure they is lots I've missed out...

 

[Beach Hut]

Surely with the wages not now being paid to Lee, Blackwell and Rodger we can afford Alexis ?

 

[Zeitgeist]

£37'000 for fireworks?? Surely our very own rocket man could have done them a job lot?

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

Oh yeah I forgot about Alexis.

McGhee said he feels a permanant deal is very close. He is just waiting for Alexis to get back to him, as he is with the Cyprus U21's at the moment.

 

[dougdeep]

Thanks V.H.

 

[southstandandy]

Sorry - I've copied this from my thread which I was putting together at the same time -


A rather disappointing turnout I thought, but still good to hear from Dick, Martin, and MM.

A few points from tonight :

MM confirmed his interest in McCammon but only if a free transfer and the terms can be agreed - the club will not pay a transfer fee for a player MM signed for Millwall for free.

The club earned about £400k gross from Cardiff but by the time generous bonus's to players were paid and other expenses were paid this was severely reduced, but no precise figure given.

At Cardiff the Football League took £37k out of our share for the fireworks for God's sake !!!

MM will not be rejoining Leicester.

Assuming permission for Falmer is given then building work it is hoped will commence within the year. The worrying aspect to Martin's statement on this was that it will start when the funding is in place (ie grants, sponsorship etc). How long will this really take is my thought.

MM empasised the work that the squad has been involved with has concentrated heavily on physique during the summer as well as 'going back to the drawing board on tactics' for The Championship.

Ben Roberts is due back into training next week.

Guy Butters will resume training on Friday - so this seems to rule him out of the Crewe match (although he did'nt specifically say this).

MM confirmed the sad news about Rodger having to retire.

MM said the club were interested in a couple of strikers at Southampton (no names mentioned), but thought with their striker injury crisis it's unlikely any will be joining from them at the moment - but tabs are being kept, as he would still like a target man.

Adam Virgo will continue in his role for the forseeable future.

The capital gains issue surrounding the sale of the Goldstone is still hanging aroung the clubs neck - to the tune of about £360k. Martin said the club were being hassled for this almost daily, even though the club are trying to fight this.

A few more points were mentioned which I can't remember, so if anyone else wants to add to this and pick up on anything I've missed, I'd be very grateful.

Cheers
Andy

 

[saafend_seagull]

thanks for the information

Forwards at soton? is peter crouch still there

If Virgo is the BEST in the division why would we need another target man?

 

[Icy Gull]

The capital gains issue surrounding the sale of the Goldstone is still hanging aroung the clubs neck - to the tune of about £360k. Martin said the club were being hassled for this almost daily, even though the club are trying to fight this.

Andy

Talk about rubbing salt into the wound. Archer and Stanley ......bastards

 

[Lush]

Capital gains? Surely Bill Archer should pay this!

 

[El Presidente]

Capital gains? Surely Bill Archer should pay this!

Given that Bill Archer lost £700,000 on his loan to the Albion this is highly unlikely

 

[wadhurstseagull]

Have to say, this is one of my biggest worries - ultimately the tax man will win - and how much is it costing us to 'fight' this?

 

[Beach Hut]

The directors will pay if necessary I suspect they are just trying every single avenue available to try and avoid this.

 

[Marc]

ok 2 worrys out of that:

The Tax thing re Archer....f*** SAKE will this man haunt us forever more

£37,000 for fireworks......WTF? The FL are a bunch of for taking that...absolutley appaling

 

[e77]

My notes:

Injuries:

Simon Rodger announced his retirement at the weekend
Danny Cullip is making good progress. Coming into
work with Malcolm Stuart from tomorrow onwards.
Ben Roberts is going back to Lilleshall next week
(which apparently is a good thing) with a view to
coming back to training the week after

New Players:

Wants Mark McGammon from Millwall but doesn't want to
pay for him ! Millwall want a fee.
On the look out for a target man on loan but holding
out for the right player.

Current Squad:

Alexi Nicolas: Come back with a new package which his
agent seems happy with. He is away on international
duty but MM is confident of signing him permanently.

No official approaches for Dan Harding

Mark McGhee did an approximately 20 minute answer (I
kid you not) on how he has made the squad improve on
last season which he split into four phases:

1. When he first took over he 'deconstructed' the
team and took them back to basics, including what to
do for situations such as throw ins and free kicks as
he thought the squad had lost sight of the
fundamentals in the uncertainties with managers.

2. Improve the fitness of the squad, including
putting the younger members of the squad in the gym
over the close season and giving the squad diets and
training to follow in the summer.

3. Make them play football ! Decided we needed to
learn to keep the ball to succeed in the Championship

4. This very day he sent the squad home with a four
page questionnaire with a page each on mental,
physical, tactics and skills (if memory serves me
correct)and the players grade themselves on a scale of
1-10 with a view to identify areas for improvement.
Those who don't fill it in get a fine off Charlie !

Dick also said that him and MM had a chat about the
tendency for performances to go downhill after half
time and the cause might be the younger players
getting mentally tired.

Also, and rather worryingly, MM has recommended Adam
Virgo to the Scottish FA but they haven't looked at
him yet.

Finances:

The Alive and Kicking appeal has raised £150,000 via
donations from 800 people.

On the downside we have an income tax bill for
£360,000 over our head that the revenue want asap due to the sale of the Goldstone. Club are trying to argue that we are getting a new stadium soon but I don't think Martin Perry sounded too confident.

On the Wicks money, Dick Knight apparently went
ballistic when he heard the offer. The next day there
was a chairman's meeting and Brian Mawhinney had a go
at Dick but Theo Paphitis and David Sheepshanks (two
of the most long standing chairman) were very
supportive. Every other club will receive the money
except us.

Supporters Trust: The board would welcome a
supporters trust. The only observation was that it
would take time to set up so please still give to the
Alive and Kicking Fund but the club would consider
converting the sum given to a fan's share in the club
in the future.


Falmer:

Re-opened enquiry starts on February the 11th and can
go on for three weeks. If there is an election on May
the 11th ministers will not be allowed to make a
decision for a month before. Once the findings are
examined it may only give Prescott 10 days to make the
decision before the election, so obviously the club
will press for a decision before then.

If it doesn't happen before the election then the club
will 'examine options'. Not sure what that means !

Someone asked if we can get any money back from Lewes
Council for the appeal. Apparently not unless we
prove they did it just to delay the decision.

Also if it goes to Judicial Review, the party pushing
it will have to pay all costs.

Managers:

Mark McGhee thinks Leicester won't want him back and
Dick Knight said that Micky Adams may come back to
manage on the coast bu it won't be Brighton ! Wished
him well and led a round of applause.

Think that is it but I have no doubt left something
out !

 

[Yorkie]

e77 I am impressed. You must have had a recorder with you!!

That just about sums it up.

The expected answers from DK & MP but it was a delight to hear MM's answers.
The more I hear about what he is doing with the team, the more I am glad that Coppel left us and allowed McGhee to come here.

 

[trueblue]

Only one thing - on the capital gains tax front, the gist of it from Martin Perry seemed to be that we are trying to hold off the tax man as long as possible because if Falmer goes ahead there won't be a capital gains tax bill to pay.

A bit like moving house I guess, rather than inheriting one.

 

[Beach Hut]

You have to hand it to MM he is really working hard to sort out the team and it looks very promising.

 

[trueblue]

e77 I am impressed. You must have had a recorder with you!!

That just about sums it up.

The expected answers from DK & MP but it was a delight to hear MM's answers.
The more I hear about what he is doing with the team, the more I am glad that Coppel left us and allowed McGhee to come here.

Me too. McGhee was VERY impressive tonight - there really is a plan. To think that I was worrying last season that it was going to be years of lumping it to Iwelumo!

 

[e77]

e77 I am impressed. You must have had a recorder with you!!

I will save you all DK's 'witty' Irish story.

 

[Yorkie]

One note from MM about Jake Robinson. His view is that he is too inconstitent at the moment.