Let's get it clear on Delia

[Jack Barak 46]

[quote user="king canary"]@darryl

It''s ridiculous because most posters on the pinkun don''t have many contacts amongst millionaire investors so have no idea who might be interested in purchasing a football club.

I''m fairly certain most investors don''t make it public that they are looking either.[/quote]

10 years and no realistic approaches suggest what is they are looking for we do not have.

[morty 0]

Was he the one who wanted to "invest" 10 million, but wanted his money back if we didn''t get promoted?

[king canary 7,580]

@darryl

Well we dont know that do we? We don''t know if there have been enquiries that have been dismissed before we can actually get to the ins and outs of it.

[Beetley Yellow 57]

From DS''s Times interview: "we don''t even listen to any enquiries". I guess an unequivocal "no" tends to stop any potential approaches quite quickly.

[Jack Barak 46]

@King

But on that basis we don''t know anything that goes on at the club so cannot discuss anything. We don''t know what players get paid so cannot comment, we do not know what training looks like so cannot comment, we do not know what the players actually think so cannot comment, we do not know what is said in the boardroom so cannot comment.

As far as we are aware - anyone ITK who wants to say otherwise can do so -we have had one approach in 10 years.

[Len 74]

I''m not so sure that we''re a community club as we''re effectively owned and run by Wynn-Jones and Delia. Fans own a tiny percentage as far as I know, and haven''t had much of a say in the running of the club in the last few years.

[king canary 7,580]

@darryl

I''m actually saying the opposite. The fact we don''t know who might be interested in buying the club shouldn''t mean we can''t discuss the merits of the current ownership and whether it should continue.

[Chesney Hawkes 0]

I can categorically state without Delia and MWJs intervention, we would now be League Two and playing to gates of 12,000 at best.

Like the OP, I have no evidence for this scenario. People will however believe what they want to believe.

[nutty nigel 7,513]

I''m not so sure being a community club means we have to be owned by other fans then the ones who own us. After all a big percentage of the shares they own came to them because no other fans wanted them.

As far as I can see we are a community club which makes a huge difference in the community and our majority owners are Smith and Jones.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,020]

I do not buy in to the "Delia saved the club" myth, that said you cannot make a statement of fact on what the alternative path would have been if Delia had not invested in the Club. For me it is time for Delia to move on, I thank her and MWJ for their years at the club but she has got her money back and for me that influences the way the club is run. Next season really is pivotal, we have to get promoted, if not the financial chasm between the Prem and the Championship will make it difficult for us to compete with the relegated clubs. To be honest I do not actually believe that Delia will sell to anybody, even a Norfolk business and multi millionaire, she is passing the club onto the next Smith generation come what may......

[Mello Yello 2,282]

How the hell did this club survive before the true saviours that are Delia and Michael came to our rescue?

[komakino 272]

Delia bent the rules on NCFC ownership that one person could not hold a majority, so she bought two seats on the board which included MWJ.

She has veto on everything at the club and that isn''t going to change once Stone gets the new MD job while Ricky Martin looks after the football side.

Delia used NCFC as a vehicle for ow ends and it was a calculated risk that has served her well as it has kept her in the public eye.

Buying into NCFC was never about money, it was about power.

[Mike 0]

[quote user="Bundy"]Well, clearly, if you had any intelligence you would realise that evidence of something that hasn''t happened is rather difficult to come by.[/quote]

I get really fed up with the cult of Delia and the falsehood that she is our saviour. Lowest point in our history and weeks away from bankruptcy seems to have been removed from our history... Lambert saved this club.

[Johnny Stump 1]

So, in summation (as usual).

If things go wrong, it''s Delias fault.

If things are going well, it''s somebody else''s doing.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="komakino"]Delia bent the rules on NCFC ownership that one person could not hold a majority, so she bought two seats on the board which included MWJ.

She has veto on everything at the club and that isn''t going to change once Stone gets the new MD job while Ricky Martin looks after the football side.

Delia used NCFC as a vehicle for ow ends and it was a calculated risk that has served her well as it has kept her in the public eye.

Buying into NCFC was never about money, it was about power.[/quote]This is Trumpian in its mixture of nonsense and misunderstanding. There was as far as I am aware no NCFC rule against one-person majority ownership and even if there had been then Smith and Jones would not have got round it by having two seats on the board, since their two seats have nothing to do with their majority ownership. That they acquired by joint ownership of one tranche of shares.Having x number of seats on the board only gets them two votes in meetings, which is a minority, and bears no relation to ownership, which is determined by shares alone, and legally in terms of their holding they count as one person, not two. As with Trump, the more absurdities you post (for example on the board budgeting not to go up this season when the facts say otherwise) the less and less credible (if that is possible) you become.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Johnny Stump"]So, in summation (as usual).

If things go wrong, it''s Delias fault.

If things are going well, it''s somebody else''s doing.[/quote][Y]

[komakino 272]

After Chase, Watling was insistent that nobody could have over 50% control of the club. Maybe naively nobody thought a husband and wife duo would buy two seats at the table with controlling share. Ever heard of the infamous ''Delia Veto'' at CR?

I stand by my comments from a impeccable source at the club. And as events have turned out, I feel totally vindicated, if totally disillusioned with the majority shareholders.

[kdncfc 27]

       In the 20 years they have owned the club there have been some good and some bad times but we are quite clearly on a downward spiral which will not be halted without a change at top. The Delia and Michael thing is all a bit boring now - 20 years of them is more than enough.      

[nutty nigel 7,513]

Geoffrey Watling said he was quite happy holding those shares and then he quite happily sold them to the current owners. Your comments are continually made up untruths. Like Delia once supported ipswich. Your source doesn''t seem to know very much do they?

[komakino 272]

But that''s the point, technically Smith & Jones did nothing wrong - as did Watling - but got around the rules. It depends how you look at it.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,020]

I have supported Norwich City through thick and thin an will continue to do so. I am of the opinion that the fact that Delia has got her investment in the club repaid it influences the way the club is run. I am all for financial stability/sustainability, however I am not convinced that model will get us out of he Championship once the Premiership parachute payments run out. I am not suggesting we run up huge debts, but there is an argument that running the club with a small, manageable debt maybe the model we have to adopt to compete with the relegated Premiership clubs and their bigger parachute payments. In my view we MUST get promoted next season or face the stark reality of being a perennial Championship club like that lot down the road. I remain to be convinced that Delia and the current financial model will get us promoted , I also am not convinced Delia would sell her shares, even if a Norfolk born and bred multi millionaire pitched up, the die has been cast it is onwards with the Smith dynasty. Fingers crossed we get lucky.......

[nutty nigel 7,513]

[quote user="komakino"]But that''s the point, technically Smith & Jones did nothing wrong - as did Watling - but got around the rules. It depends how you look at it.[/quote]

Geoffrey Watling said he was happy holding those shares. He was then happy to sell them to the current owners. He held them for 18 months and to my knowledge had no other offers for them. Then there were various share issues to get the club through challenging times. These were under written by the current owners and because they were not fully taken up they ended with a bigger holding still. 

What would you have done differently with those shares?

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="komakino"]After Chase, Watling was insistent that nobody could have over 50% control of the club. Maybe naively nobody thought a husband and wife duo would buy two seats at the table with controlling share. Ever heard of the infamous ''Delia Veto'' at CR?

I stand by my comments from a impeccable source at the club. And as events have turned out, I feel totally vindicated, if totally disillusioned with the majority shareholders.[/quote]Your reply just digs you in deeper. I would suggest you stop, but it is enlivening a grey Sunday. For starters Chase never owned  50 per cent+ of the shares - it was only 34 per cent - so how Watling argued against something that had not existed seems odd.Even if he did it can only have been his opinion at one time. And since he later sold the shares to Smith and Jones knowing full well they were buying them as a couple (legally one person) and would then have the largest single tranche (with the possibility of reaching  majority ownership) presumably he didn''t object to giving them (as opposed to another Chase) all that power.In any event, opinion or not, there was certainly no rule to be got round and you (and/or your "impeccable" source) plainly still do not understand the crucial difference between two seats on the board and a single-owned majority shareholding and how the former is irrelevant to the latter.

[komakino 272]

Whether there were other offers for them is unclear, but Watling from memory went on record about the 50% rule.

Delia & Michael at the time came across as fluffy and well meaning compared to ''evil'' Robert Chase and maybe that helped them, but there should of been some rules set that some of their shares should of then been sold by a set time. And there would of been takers.

I am a firm believer that had Smith & Jones not have had a majority share, they would of been gone years ago because they wouldn''t of got all their way all of the time and that for me is the only way they can operate. Even Chase couldn''t do that (i.e when Lockwood went against him, which lead to O''Neill''s appointment that Chase did not want).

Either way, we are all guilty to a lesser or greater extent by buying into the Delia Dictatorship because the club is a model for bad, bad business.

[Mike 0]

[quote user="Johnny Stump"]So, in summation (as usual).

If things go wrong, it''s Delias fault.

If things are going well, it''s somebody else''s doing.[/quote]

IMO they have been pretty average owners at best and are now completely out of there depth.

To deny investment, allow the training facilities to become less that adequate, to fail to provide and install a decent scouting structure, to back a manager clearly out of his depth, two CEOs in a year, the Galway coffee fiasco... I could go on and on... Time for a fresh more invigorated approach and Tom is not it.

[Mike 0]

[quote user="Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB"]I have supported Norwich City through thick and thin an will continue to do so. I am of the opinion that the fact that Delia has got her investment in the club repaid it influences the way the club is run. I am all for financial stability/sustainability, however I am not convinced that model will get us out of he Championship once the Premiership parachute payments run out. I am not suggesting we run up huge debts, but there is an argument that running the club with a small, manageable debt maybe the model we have to adopt to compete with the relegated Premiership clubs and their bigger parachute payments. In my view we MUST get promoted next season or face the stark reality of being a perennial Championship club like that lot down the road. I remain to be convinced that Delia and the current financial model will get us promoted , I also am not convinced Delia would sell her shares, even if a Norfolk born and bred multi millionaire pitched up, the die has been cast it is onwards with the Smith dynasty. Fingers crossed we get lucky.......[/quote]

The no debt argument is silly... No business runs on not have a credit facility or small payable debt. Everyone who has a house initially has debt. It is how you manage that debt and if it is serviceable... The failure to get a proven goalscorer or centre back this season real sealed our fate before a ball was kicked

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

[quote user="Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB"]I have supported Norwich City through thick and thin an will continue to do so. I am of the opinion that the fact that Delia has got her investment in the club repaid it influences the way the club is run. I am all for financial stability/sustainability, however I am not convinced that model will get us out of he Championship once the Premiership parachute payments run out. I am not suggesting we run up huge debts, but there is an argument that running the club with a small, manageable debt maybe the model we have to adopt to compete with the relegated Premiership clubs and their bigger parachute payments. In my view we MUST get promoted next season or face the stark reality of being a perennial Championship club like that lot down the road. I remain to be convinced that Delia and the current financial model will get us promoted , I also am not convinced Delia would sell her shares, even if a Norfolk born and bred multi millionaire pitched up, the die has been cast it is onwards with the Smith dynasty. Fingers crossed we get lucky.......[/quote]

[Y]

[corbs 147]

The owners seem to divide people much like the debate on the European Union (liberals, community minded are pro, and ukip style reactionaries anti). It is laughable to suggest that Delia and Michael decided to buy into City motivated by ''power'', although I do think some misguided people have sought the ''status'' that can go with being an integral part of the community. In his 20 years at Orient I doubt if Barry Hearn increased his power base, or his ''wealth'', but I''ve little doubt he had lots of sleepless nights and took lots of abuse from ''supporters'' who obviously knew better than him how to run a football club. Look at the ''O''s now, after just a few years of foreign ownershio. As for the current position of our club, I think we will do ok next year if we bring on the youth, and I think we are probably in this division for a few years. As mentioned before (despite prem £) overall we have no god given right to be any highier in the league than other comparable provincial towns and cities (York, Lincoln, Grimsby, Plymouth, Swindon etc etc). The season starts here. Get with the programme.

[JF 694]

As mentioned before (despite prem £) overall we have no god given right to be any highier in the league than other comparable provincial towns and cities (York, Lincoln, Grimsby, Plymouth, Swindon etc etc). The season starts here. Get with the programme.

What a load of 💩

[ricardo 7,349]

[quote user="Mike "].. The failure to get a proven goalscorer or centre back this season real sealed our fate before a ball was kicked[/quote]Nothing to do with a striker but everything to do with a defender.I don''t care how many goals you score, you don''t go up conceding nearly 2 goals a game.