[Fit as a Nelson]

calvin plummers socks, on 11 October 2023 - 03:21 PM, said:

He appointed or bought:-
Dean Saunders
Caldwell
Jack Lester (as manager)
Ebanks bleeding Blake
Ched
James Rowe

He deserves all the shtt thrown his way

What did ebanks blake and Ched do wrong?

[h again]

azul, on 11 October 2023 - 03:16 PM, said:

This seems a very mixed up post to me, how about this….

He funded the stadium because he thought it would be cash cow
He installed incompetent managers and a CEO to run the club
When he realised it wasn’t, he scaled back support before totally relinquishing responsibility
He installed more incompetents to run the club into the ground
He bailed out saving what money/face he could muster leaving the club at its lowest ebb in 100 years
He could have complicated the sale, like others have done at Southend/Scunthorpe but didn’t for whatever reason

Dave Allen thought a lower league football club would be a cash cow? I love it. He'd have to be naive beyond belief, and being Dave Allen, he wasn't.
He installed competent managers at first, including Paul Cook.
He didn't "realise it wasn't" a cash cow. He knew very well, as we all did, that anybody running a lower league club had better have deep pockets.
True. Delegation wasn't his strong point.
Saving what money/face he could? After further subsidising the club to the tune of a million quid in his last year, he took care to give it to the fans, and wrote off his massive investment.
He could indeed have complicated the sale. He didn't, nor ever looked like doing, so he probably deserves a bit of credit.

[Mr Mercury]

h again, on 11 October 2023 - 06:33 PM, said:

Dave Allen thought a lower league football club would be a cash cow? I love it. He'd have to be naive beyond belief, and being Dave Allen, he wasn't.
He installed competent managers at first, including Paul Cook.
He didn't "realise it wasn't" a cash cow. He knew very well, as we all did, that anybody running a lower league club had better have deep pockets.
True. Delegation wasn't his strong point.
Saving what money/face he could? After further subsidising the club to the tune of a million quid in his last year, he took care to give it to the fans, and wrote off his massive investment.
He could indeed have complicated the sale. He didn't, nor ever looked like doing, so he probably deserves a bit of credit.

Dave Allen is on record as saying that he expected to run the club well for around 5 years then sell at a profit. So yes I’d say he thought it would be a good investment.

[h again]

Mr Mercury, on 11 October 2023 - 06:35 PM, said:

Dave Allen is on record as saying that he expected to run the club well for around 5 years then sell at a profit. So yes I’d say he thought it would be a good investment.

As a business plan that doesn't even begin to make sense. Dave Allen playing to the gallery is all. Did anybody on here or in the real world, expect him to make his 10 million back with a decent profit? From a lower league club?

[Mr Mercury]

h again, on 11 October 2023 - 06:48 PM, said:

As a business plan that doesn't even begin to make sense. Dave Allen playing to the gallery is all. Did anybody on here or in the real world, expect him to make his 10 million back with a decent profit? From a lower league club?

So you now doubt what he said in an interview widely available on you tube?

[azul]

Fit as a Nelson, on 11 October 2023 - 06:30 PM, said:

What did ebanks blake and Ched do wrong?

My guess, SEB was a lazy bar steward (although CPS has more info or so he has alluded to)

Ched was an an exploiter and abuser of women by his own admission , although he eventually got cleared of rape.

[RikShaw]

h again, on 11 October 2023 - 06:48 PM, said:

As a business plan that doesn't even begin to make sense. Dave Allen playing to the gallery is all. Did anybody on here or in the real world, expect him to make his 10 million back with a decent profit? From a lower league club?

No, not by being a lower league club, but by being a Championship Club.

Me a group of friends had a few drinks with DA in the bar in the ‘early hours’ at the hotel at the top of the bypass following that year’s POTY do. Lee Richardson was still manager at the time but DA said to us LR was a nice guy, but he wanted ‘winners’ at the Club and that Sheridan was his choice. He wanted exciting players, players that would have fans on the edge of their seats winning games not 1-0, but 3-0 or 3-1 even 3-2. He wanted excitement to not only to get the people of Chesterfield coming to games, but also the people from ‘South Sheffield’. It all sounded great to us sat around the table having a few drinks with him, but I had to ask why, why was he getting involved with Chesterfield, especially after his experiences at S6?? His reply was, and I still remember it clearly: “I’m 70 years old and I want this club in the Championship within the next 5 years, and then I will sell it”. He continued “A championship club is x times more valuable than a L2 club and, at which point you’ll be happy (by being in the Championship) and I’ll be happy with my return”.

We left the hotel feeling like we were finally got someone who can take us to the promised land and later that summer seeing Sheridan appointed, then the new stadium a year later, then promoted as Champions to L1… we were half way to the Championship after just 2 seasons. Not forgetting the concerts; who would ever have imagined seeing Elton John,Tom Jones & Lionel Richie on Whittington Moor? Unfortunately 2012 derailed us, but the appointment of Paul Cook got us rejuvenated during 2012-13/13-14 however, DA was always disappointed that the people were not backing the club with the increased attendances he had hoped, especially considering he had played his part with his investment. The club was now at its watershed moment at it was all about to come to an end. Needless to say,the rest has been well documented elsewhere.

[ash_cfc]

azul, on 11 October 2023 - 07:08 PM, said:

My guess, SEB was a lazy bar steward (although CPS has more info or so he has alluded to)

Ched was an an exploiter and abuser of women by his own admission , although he eventually got cleared of rape.

From a purely footballing point of view SEB wasn’t anywhere near as bad as folk like to make out & Ched was far and away levels above anything we’d had previously, and in the league at that time. Hence the current championship player status. Albeit injured currently.

[metallilad]

DerbySpireite59, on 11 October 2023 - 12:57 PM, said:

What do you make of Dave Allen's transfer of £10m debt owed to him to The Trust? Knowing it could eventually be written off by the Trust, as it has been, for a tax offset of £850k?

What do you make of Dave Allen being the only person willing to get involved with the B2Net Stadium?

What do you make of Dave Allen only wanting a 3 years timescale on money being repaid if we were promoted back to the EFL?

What do you make of Dave Allen only wanting a % of the proceeds should the Trust ever deem it appropriate to sell to a profit making company or individual?

I get your hatred for Dave Allen, but i'm wondering if that pure hatred is after having recognised, and considered all of the above? I accept that I may be well wrong with my understanding of some/all of the 4 considerations.

For what it's worth, i recall us being well off the play-offs when Eoin left. Even if we had retained him and invested in a couple of players, we wouldn't have caught the top 3, let alone 2. We might not even have made the play-offs. Remember, we went in to siege mentality mode after Eoin left, and our ppg actually went up.

That would have been a massive gamble to take just so us oldies could potentially see Town in the Championship, even for just one season. A gamble that was not likely to come off, and if it didn't, may have seen our descent being even more rapid.

Seeing the likes of Burton, Wycombe and even Scunny being in and around the Championship, makes missing out even more frustrating. I get that.

I also get that Dave Allen is not a likeable bloke, and a Yorkshireman, but credit where it's due. Imho.


I get that this post will rile many in here, so feel free to put me straight on each of the 4 points. I'm open minded. LOL

It really is as simple as this.

His achievements (good deeds if you will) are nullified.

[Fit as a Nelson]

ash_cfc, on 11 October 2023 - 08:27 PM, said:

From a purely footballing point of view SEB wasn’t anywhere near as bad as folk like to make out & Ched was far and away levels above anything we’d had previously, and in the league at that time. Hence the current championship player status. Albeit injured currently.

Absolutely agree.

[h again]

metallilad, on 11 October 2023 - 08:37 PM, said:

It really is as simple as this.

His achievements (good deeds if you will) are nullified.

How can they be nullified when we're playing in his stadium

[h again]

Mr Mercury, on 11 October 2023 - 06:54 PM, said:

So you now doubt what he said in an interview widely available on you tube?

No. I don't doubt he said it. He said what every new owner or manager is expected to say, and means nothing. It turned into the famous five year plan, which Allen "promised" according to many on here. I'm sure he wanted it to happen but he must have known realistically the odds were stacked heavily against him, to put it mildly.
All of which is nothing to do with the fact he built the stadium.

[calvin plummers socks]

h again, on 11 October 2023 - 09:32 PM, said:

How can they be nullified when we're playing in his stadium

His stadium my a***

[azul]

ash_cfc, on 11 October 2023 - 08:27 PM, said:

From a purely footballing point of view SEB wasn’t anywhere near as bad as folk like to make out & Ched was far and away levels above anything we’d had previously, and in the league at that time. Hence the current championship player status. Albeit injured currently.

I’d take issue with that SEB and Ched were worse that useless for us and that is all that matters - from a purely footballing point of view

[metallilad]

h again, on 11 October 2023 - 09:32 PM, said:

How can they be nullified when we're playing in his stadium

Amazing. You want to come over here as a clever bloke then go and ask a question when the answer has already been posted by myself earlier if you could be bothered to read them.

[danblue]

ash_cfc, on 11 October 2023 - 08:27 PM, said:

From a purely footballing point of view SEB wasn’t anywhere near as bad as folk like to make out & Ched was far and away levels above anything we’d had previously, and in the league at that time. Hence the current championship player status. Albeit injured currently.

SEB was way past it and a poor signing on purely the name Ebanks Blake stealing a wage. In fact after ending his time here, he went straight to a couple of 'Dog & Duck' teams.

Evans was basically keeping fit and biding his time. He never got out of second gear and looked like he had no intentionof busting a gut for the cause.
That's why (footballing wise) I personally dislike these two players.

[Mr Mercury]

danblue, on 12 October 2023 - 07:29 AM, said:

SEB was way past it and a poor signing on purely the name Ebanks Blake stealing a wage. In fact after ending his time here, he went straight to a couple of 'Dog & Duck' teams.

Evans was basically keeping fit and biding his time. He never got out of second gear and looked like he had no intentionof busting a gut for the cause.
That's why (footballing wise) I personally dislike these two players.

Evans started like a house on fire with a few quick fire quality goals then he suddenly became “injured” and that, as they say was that. A very brief history.

[monte]

danblue, on 12 October 2023 - 07:29 AM, said:

SEB was way past it and a poor signing on purely the name Ebanks Blake stealing a wage. In fact after ending his time here, he went straight to a couple of 'Dog & Duck' teams.

Evans was basically keeping fit and biding his time. He never got out of second gear and looked like he had no intentionof busting a gut for the cause.
That's why (footballing wise) I personally dislike these two players.

Evan's signed a new deal for us so we could get a fee for him knowing he was wanted and could have walked. Footballing wise he was good, I didn't think we should have signed him given the risk he was guilty but at the end of the day we got a nice fee didn't we?

SEB was your average league 2 striker but on very high L1 wages, that's why people didn't like him. That being said he's certainly in the bottom 25% of strikers we've had in the last 30 years

[Paragon of Virtue]

SEB wasn't great but compared to O'Grady, who was touted as our highest paid player ever when we signed him, he was world class.

[dim view]

AGlassHalfFull, on 11 October 2023 - 07:57 PM, said:

The club was now at its watershed moment at it was all about to come to an end. Needless to say,the rest has been well documented elsewhere.

Not sure it has.
The root cause of the bust up was that the Board of Directors split into 2 factions, half of 'em dead against Allen's plans. There are people still at the club who could explain the split and their allegiance but haven't, so I'm not sure its has been well documented.