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Reg Brealey

#1 User is offline   Looker-on 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:02 AM

It seems that the name of our former director Reg Brealey has been on the tip of certain tongues, recently. This, from a 1999 WSC, lays out what he has been up to in the football world since leaving us after one season on the board:

http://www.wsc.co.uk...ington-grantham

Sheffield United fans will be only too familiar with the reputation of Reg Brealey, the chairman of their club in the 1980s. The one-time jute magnate is now officially bankrupt and has 20,000 luckless shareholders from a previous company failure on his conscience, but he has been far from idle since leaving Bramall Lane. In conjunction with sidekick Steve Morgon he has recently embarked on an unlikely groundhopping tour, sowing further confusion, debt and dissatisfaction wherever he goes.

After George Reynolds took over at Darlington in May, it emerged that the club was still owned by Brealey’s Gibraltar-based St Philip’s Trust, even though he claimed he had sold it to the club’s chief executive Mike Peden in 1997. The club’s accounts showed that its debts exploded from around £600,000 to more than £5 million in the last two years before the Reynolds takeover saw off Brealey and Morgon, who had been employed variously as secretary, commercial manager and general manager since 1994.

In summer 1998, Brealey and Morgon popped up at their local Dr Martens League club, Grantham Town. They announced grandiose plans for full-time football and appointed first Danny Bergara, then former Sheff Utd defender Tony Kenworthy as manager, both old muckers from Darlington.

By May of this year the club’s debts had mushroomed from around £120,000 to £300,000 and Brealey’s company Antrac Investments was ready to bale out, leaving the fans and local businesses to find £75,000 to buy its shares and take over the club. They are still waiting for Antrac to sign the Creditors’ Voluntary Arrangement papers to ratify the deal. Gingerbreads Wait For Reg To Sign Up reported the club’s website (though Brealey, as a bankrupt, cannot technically do so himself). If his past record is anything to go by, they should not hold their breath.

Even if they do so, Antrac will hold the lease on the club’s ground, the South Kesteven Sports Stadium, for another nine years. What the club’s president, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, thinks about such profligate financial behaviour is unknown. What’s certain is that it left the club in a parlous state at the start of this season, which began with nine straight league defeats.

Before the Grantham adventure, in the spring of 1998, Brealey’s name also cropped up in connection with cash-starved St Mirren (keep up, please). His flirtation with the Renfrewshire club also rang alarm bells at nearby Greenock Morton, whose chairman Hugh Scott has his own idiosyncratic methods of dealing with fans and journalists who question his motives (see WSC 140).

Scott and Brealey, it now transpired, are friends, and fans feared their intention was to merge the clubs on a new site and sell their current grounds for profit. Brealey’s involvement with St Mirren came to nothing, but Morton entered the picture again this summer, when Scott appointed none other than Steve Morgon as chief executive.

Morgon is currently commuting from Grantham to Greenock, although his position at the club, like so much else in the whole sorry saga, seems mired in doubt. Asked what his job currently was with the club, a Morton employee would go no further than: “You could say he’s chief executive.”

Morton’s future at Cappielow remains fraught with uncertainty. The ground is nowhere near the standard laid down by the SPL for promoted teams. Earlier this year Scott claimed “anyone with half a brain realises that Cappielow is finished”, yet it now seems his frequently announced plans for a new ground have come to nothing. The fans seethe and Morgon’s presence will not make them sleep any easier.

This post has been edited by Looker-on: 24 February 2018 - 11:05 AM

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#2 User is offline   Westbars Spireite 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:05 AM

1999?
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#3 User is offline   Looker-on 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:08 AM

View PostWestbars Spireite, on 24 February 2018 - 11:05 AM, said:

1999?

The Brealey family name is cropping up in conversations.
It's nice to be able to Trust again.
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#4 User is offline   Westbars Spireite 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:16 AM

What's he been doing in the 19 years since?
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#5 User is offline   Blue5 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:42 AM

http://www.heraldsco...bid_for_Saints/

Businessman whose company collapsed with #2m debt in the running Two in bid for Saints

An English businessman, one of whose former companies ran up debts of almost #2m, is behind a bid to take control of one of Scotland's oldest football clubs.

Mr Reg Brealey is one of two businessmen involved in takeover talks with first division St Mirren, established in 1877.

His involvement as chairman of the Dundee-based jute company Titaghur, which bought the West Highland Knoydart Estate for #1.7m in 1993, left a legacy of debts amounting to almost #2m - about #1.4m of which is owed to the Bank of Scotland.

Yesterday, St Mirren's managing director John Paton, confirming the Englishman's interest in the club, said he was not concerned at reports of Mr Brealey's business involvements outside football.

He said his previous track record with English football clubs - including two periods as chairman of Sheffield United - had been successful. St Mirren would be happy as long as his proposed financial investment in the Paisley club was ''sincere'' and could be taken forward.

Mr Paton's sentiments were not matched, however, by Mr Danny McLean, secretary of the club's official supporters' association.

He said: ''We are worried that a man whose companies have reportedly run up big debts in previous business ventures could become involved with the club.''

Titaghur went into liquidation last April, but is set to rise from the ashes following its takeover in November by London-based businessman, Mr Graham Avery. The company owns four textile mills in India which employ about 12,000.

The takeover involved taking control of Knoydart Peninsula Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Titaghur. It runs the 17,000-acre Knoydart estate in west Inverness-shire. The subsidiary is understood to owe the Bank of Scotland #1.4m and #500,000 to other creditors. The estate has been on the market for the past two years.

Mr Brealey, who is based in Lincoln, could not be contacted for comment yesterday. Inquiries at Companies House in Edinburgh show that he is listed as a director with six companies throughout Britain, none of which could be contacted by phone. The records also show he also held five directorships with other companies.

He has been involved at director level with several English football clubs. These included two spells as chairman of Sheffield United, and involvements at Chesterfield and Darlington.

A Sheffield United spokesman said yesterday that Mr Brealey's time with the club during the early 80s and early 90s had been ''fairly successful.''

A spokesman for Darlington said his trust had been a major shareholder for four years during the early 1990s. ''He kept the club from collapse and did a good job overall,'' he added. No-one from Chesterfield was available for comment.

Mr Paton said Mr Brealey was one of two businessmen who had approached St Mirren with a view to making a major investment at the club.

He said any deal, which could only be given the go-ahead following an emergency general meeting, would give one of the businessmen a controlling interest at the club. It is unlikely that Mr Brealey and the other unnamed Scottish businessman would both become involved.

Mr Paton said: ''Whatever track record Mr Brealey has had with other companies doesn't worry me. As long as he can satisfy me and the other St Mirren directors that he is sincere in his investment and can come up with the financial package we are looking for, we will be quite happy.''

The St Mirren managing director said the club was structured for the premier league, but was surviving on first division income.

Mr Paton added: ''We are looking for more investment so that we can strengthen the squad and not continue to be forced to sell our best players to survive.''
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#6 User is offline   dim view 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:42 AM

View PostLooker-on, on 24 February 2018 - 11:02 AM, said:

It seems that the name of our former director Reg Brealey has been on the tip of certain tongues, recently. This, from a 1999 WSC, lays out what he has been up to in the football world since leaving us after one season on the board:


Delicious.

I said this at the Brighton Conference ...
'Oh joy!!!
I'm really looking forward to the many happy hours I'll be spending trying to find out who the real money men behind the 'English Consortium' are. I'll start with discredited ex Directors of the Blades and the Owls. Plenty to go at.'

Can't Ashley keep anything secret? The Ides of March are imminent. He needs eyes in the back of his head.

This post has been edited by dim view: 24 February 2018 - 11:43 AM

Get it on, bang the gong , get it on
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#7 User is offline   Blue5 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:47 AM

http://www.heraldsco...ry_to_Knoydart/

Ex-owner says sorry to Knoydart

THE FORMER owner of the Knoydart estate, the Surrey-based property dealer Philip Rhodes, has apologised to the 50 people who still live there for selling ''Scotland's last wilderness'' to a company which plans to establish an adventure training centre for deprived young people. He fears it will come to resemble an open prison.

In March, Mr Rhodes, who had sold off different parcels of the once 80,000-acre estate to various parties over the years of his stewardship, sold his remaining 16,500 acres for just under #2m to the India-based jute company Titaghur. Its chairman, Mr Reg Brealey, a former chairman of Sheffield United Football Club, was the first Briton to face charges of insider dealing but was acquitted when the case against him collapsed in 1991.

At the time of the sale, The Herald reported that Mr Brealey already had approached Highland Regional Council over his plans to set up a training centre. This would accommodate socially disadvantaged young people for three months of a 12-month course which subsequently would take them to Mr Brealey's properties in the Far East. Titaghur's subsidiary, Knoydart Peninsula Ltd, has now lodged a planning application with Lochaber divisional planning department to allow work to begin on the centre. In response, Mr Rhodes wrote to the local community association and his letter was published locally. He wrote: ''It was with great regret that I was forced to sell Knoydart estate. It was a place I loved, felt responsible for and was proud of its improving face. This was helped by the new lives and interests of those who came to live there, together with the support I received from the majority of people already living there.

''To see Knoydart become, in effect, an open prison for young offenders is in no way a benefit to those offenders or the community, many of whom I sold land and houses to. The Back to Basics Course,however well-intentioned, could be a sad end to the tranquillity and security of the area. To the people of Knoydart I would like to apologise for, even under the circumstances regarding the sale, I feel that I have let them down.''

Mr Rhodes's letter says that an attempt to purchase the estate as a sporting club had been viable, but sadly not pursued with enough vigour or intent. There had been another group whose sole concern had been to secure the future well-being of the area and the community, but he had been advised that legally this interest was too late. That, however, would have been the best option and Mr Rhodes would still try and help this group.

Mr Archie Gibson, regional controller of the Back to Basics Course in Knoydart, last night reacted angrily to Mr Rhodes's letter. ''I find it quite bizarre that a man who bought the estate for #1.2m, and then proceeded to make #2m by breaking it up, before Titaghur came along and paid him more, plus taking on all the liabilities, has the nerve to talk in this way. If anyone has destroyed Knoydart, he has. ''A lot of people are knocking what we are trying to do here. The first thing is that Back to Basics will never be an alternative to custodial sentence. That is not what we are about at all. We want to help those people who have been disadvantaged through no fault of their own, the really needy. We will ask applicants if they have criminal records but there is now way we can be 100% sure they are telling the truth.

''I have spoken to all the Highlanders, all the Scots who live here and all but one are behind us. They see us as injecting new blood into the area. Initially, we are talking about 24 boys, until we have proved the thing can work.''

Lochaber planning office yesterday confirmed that a planning application had been received but it was thought unlikely that it would be considered before October. Meanwhile, Knoydart Community Association intends to meet soon to discuss the proposals.
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#8 User is offline   Westbars Spireite 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:48 AM

I don't know a thing about the man.

When I hear his name I think of Dave Basset era Sheffield United with 'Laver' on the shirts and him already an old man and now dead.
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#9 User is offline   Blue5 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:51 AM

https://www.zoominfo...ealey/778732077

Brealey Found Guilty 29th January 2002.

A former Lincoln City FC director has been found guilty of a serious breach of Companies Law.Reg Brealey was a director of Lincoln City in the early 1980's, a time when Colin Murphy was enjoying success in his first spell as Imps' manager.Brealey, who still lives near Lincoln, was found guilty today by a jury at London's Blackfriars Crown Court.The charge was that Brealey continued to manage the affairs of Antrac Investments Ltd, despite being disqualified as a director through bankruptcy.A football director journeyman, Brealey has been the chairman of Sheffield United and director of both Lincoln City and Darlington.

In the past he was linked to buyouts at various other clubs including St.Mirren and Cardiff City.Via Antrac Investments, he was also the main shareholder of Lincolnshire non-league side Grantham Town.In court Brealey described his rise from office boy to multimillionaire, a journey that has taken in fifty directorships as well as being chairman of ten other companies.Brealey's problems arose in 1998 when he was living in India having entrusted Antrac Investments to his brother.In evidence Brealey said "My brother cheated, fleeced and gambled on horses and lost everything.I got called back urgently by my wife but by the time I got back I lost the liquidity.It was horrendous."

Despite having assets worth over £16 million, Brealey declared himself bankrupt with debts of just £5 million.Though obviously having the assets the pay the debts, he argued that they were difficult to dispose of and was granted bankruptcy in October 1998.As soon as being declared bankrupt, Brealey was forced to resign from all of his companies as bankrupts cannot participate in company affairs.The prosecution alleged that Brealey continued to manage Antrac Investment's affairs after October 1998, a charge that Brealey denied.

At the time Antrac Investments was the main shareholder in Grantham Town and Brealey said in his defence that he was merely acting as a consultant for Antrac "to keep Grantham Football Club going".In court, Brealey said "It was the honourable thing to do.All I did was give advice.I've got enough experience to know where to draw the line and use discretion in what I'm doing below management level.If what I did was management, then I had it wrong for 50 years."The jury thought otherwise and Brealey was found guilty, with the court imposing a fine of £2,000 with an extra £1,500 payable in costs.He was also banded from being a company director for the next two years.

http://www.independe...ls-1534598.html

Titaghur delisting challenge fails

SHAREHOLDERS in Titaghur, the controversial company that runs jute mills in India, have failed in their attempt to obtain a judicial review of the Stock Exchange's decision to cancel the group's stock market listing.

Titaghur lost its quote in December 1990 when the Stock Exchange decided that the company's heavily qualified accounts provided insufficient financial information.

A Stock Exchange spokeswoman said the High Court's ruling meant that shareholders had no right under domestic law to challenge the exchange's delisting decisions.

However, the court was unable to decide whether shareholders had a right to challenge the decision under European law, and has referred the question to the European Court of Justice. The Stock Exchange intends to appeal against this referral.

The spokeswoman said it was still open for the company to challenge the delisting decision through the courts, but Titaghur had not yet done so.

One of the two shareholders who applied for a judicial review was Leonard Brealey, brother of Titaghur's chairman, Reg Brealey.

The Stock Exchange and the Crown Prosecution Service attempted to bring insider dealing charges against Reg Brealey but offered no evidence when the case came to court last year. The trial judge described the case against him as lamentable and criticised the prosecution's 'appalling catalogue of omissions'.

Len Bayliss, a Titaghur shareholder and spokesman, said he expected Mr Brealey to continue the fight to regain a London listing. The company is pursuing a capital restructuring plan, which involves the issue of 107,000 shares at pounds 4, followed by a one-for-one rights issue at pounds 1 and a one-for-four scrip issue.

Titaghur's shares soared from pounds 1.25 to pounds 16.88 after Mr Brealey took over in the late 1980s. Titaghur had accumulated retained losses of pounds 48m earlier this year.

View PostWestbars Spireite, on 24 February 2018 - 11:48 AM, said:

I don't know a thing about the man.

When I hear his name I think of Dave Basset era Sheffield United with 'Laver' on the shirts and him already an old man and now dead.

https://books.google...brealey&f=false
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#10 User is offline   Westbars Spireite 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 11:53 AM

With his track record he would appear to tick all the right boxes.
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#11 User is offline   Mr Mercury 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 01:06 PM

If he is one of the "other" consortium why on earth would Allen and co rather sell to them than an apparently sound Chinese bid. I wonder eh?
But I think we all realise that this is the route that any sale will take.
East stand second class citizen.
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#12 User is offline   Heavy_Soul 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 01:08 PM

View PostMr Mercury, on 24 February 2018 - 01:06 PM, said:

If he is one of the "other" consortium why on earth would Allen and co rather sell to them than an apparently sound Chinese bid. I wonder eh?
But I think we all realise that this is the route that any sale will take.


It’s sickening mate. Really really sickening.

I just hope Carson and co are some exposed for what they are before all this happens

This post has been edited by Heavy_Soul: 24 February 2018 - 01:09 PM

Every need got an ego to feed
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#13 User is offline   Looker-on 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 01:14 PM

View PostWestbars Spireite, on 24 February 2018 - 11:48 AM, said:

I don't know a thing about the man.

When I hear his name I think of Dave Basset era Sheffield United with 'Laver' on the shirts and him already an old man and now dead.


In the rumours I'm hearing, the family name won't go away. Do you suppose that the question of Reg's mortality would prevent DA coming up with a deal to sell the club to him? :D

This post has been edited by Looker-on: 24 February 2018 - 01:43 PM

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#14 User is offline   sherbet fountain 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 02:08 PM

[quote



Brealey's problems arose in 1998 when he was living in India having entrusted Antrac Investments to his brother.In evidence Brealey said "My brother cheated, fleeced and gambled on horses and lost everything.
[/quote]

It's probably worse than you are all thinking ....... it's his brother.🤔
NORTHAMPTON 783
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#15 User is offline   BigBlue 

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Posted 24 February 2018 - 03:34 PM

Bl op dy hell it's gets better, another dodgy chairman.
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#16 User is online   The Earl of Chesterfield 

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Posted 25 February 2018 - 07:15 AM

'Out of the frying pan...'
Spanish proverb: 'Pessimists are just well informed optimists'
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#17 User is offline   Exharboroughspireite 

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Posted 25 February 2018 - 08:19 AM

Sorry if I have missed something but where/ how/ why/ who has RG come up in all this?
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#18 User is offline   warfey is a spireite 

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Posted 25 February 2018 - 11:56 AM

View PostExharboroughspireite, on 25 February 2018 - 08:19 AM, said:

Sorry if I have missed something but where/ how/ why/ who has RG come up in all this?

heARD CONSORTIUM BREARLEY , BRIAN DEANE ANOTHER PLAYER including ashley , surely not
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#19 User is offline   Westbars Spireite 

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Posted 25 February 2018 - 12:02 PM

View PostExharboroughspireite, on 25 February 2018 - 08:19 AM, said:

Sorry if I have missed something but where/ how/ why/ who has RG come up in all this?


Who's RG?
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#20 User is offline   Exharboroughspireite 

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Posted 25 February 2018 - 12:36 PM

View PostWestbars Spireite, on 25 February 2018 - 12:02 PM, said:

Who's RG?


Fat finger alert. RB
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