The Fish Seller 0 Posted October 31, 2007 Please read the linked article from the BBC.Norwich president Geoffrey Watling has died at the age of 91. Watling, who passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, spent nearly 50 years at City and became chairman in 1957, a position he held for 16 years. The lifelong fan helped steer the club from near bankruptcy before taking them to a League Cup triumph in 1962. Chairman Roger Munby told the club''s website: "Everyone is deeply saddened - were it not for Geoffrey, this club may well not be in existence now." Watling was also an integral figure in buying out former chairman Robert Chase in 1996, when the club were facing severe financial hardship following relegation from the Premiership. He then sold his majority shareholding to current owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.Quite categorically it states that GW saved the club from bankruptcy......... Prior to 1962.In 1996 we were "facing severe financial hardship following relegation from the Premiership" NOT bankruptcy as many would have you believe, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cluck 0 Posted October 31, 2007 [quote user="Prudence with Damnation."]Please read the linked article from the BBC.Norwich president Geoffrey Watling has died at the age of 91. Watling, who passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, spent nearly 50 years at City and became chairman in 1957, a position he held for 16 years. The lifelong fan helped steer the club from near bankruptcy before taking them to a League Cup triumph in 1962. Chairman Roger Munby told the club''s website: "Everyone is deeply saddened - were it not for Geoffrey, this club may well not be in existence now." Watling was also an integral figure in buying out former chairman Robert Chase in 1996, when the club were facing severe financial hardship following relegation from the Premiership. He then sold his majority shareholding to current owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.Quite categorically it states that GW saved the club from bankruptcy......... Prior to 1962.In 1996 we were "facing severe financial hardship following relegation from the Premiership" NOT bankruptcy as many would have you believe, [/quote]Good post....but why let facts get in the way of myth eh? The Princess Delia fairytale makes better reading at bedtime......... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yellow Rider 0 Posted November 1, 2007 [quote user="Prudence with Damnation."] Please read the linked article from the BBC.Norwich president Geoffrey Watling has died at the age of 91. Watling, who passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, spent nearly 50 years at City and became chairman in 1957, a position he held for 16 years. The lifelong fan helped steer the club from near bankruptcy before taking them to a League Cup triumph in 1962. Chairman Roger Munby told the club''s website: "Everyone is deeply saddened - were it not for Geoffrey, this club may well not be in existence now." Watling was also an integral figure in buying out former chairman Robert Chase in 1996, when the club were facing severe financial hardship following relegation from the Premiership. He then sold his majority shareholding to current owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.Quite categorically it states that GW saved the club from bankruptcy......... Prior to 1962.In 1996 we were "facing severe financial hardship following relegation from the Premiership" NOT bankruptcy as many would have you believe, [/quote]Agreed! I have struggled with this ''myth'' or ''fact'' depending on which side of the fence you sit, about Smith''s role in ''saving the club''. Never ONCE has any evidence been produced to support the claim that had she not intervened in the summer of ''96 we would have gone under. IF the situation was as critical as her army of fans will have you believe then why the hell did the remaining club directors and trustees not go public and appeal for donations and launch a ''save our club'' campaign? IT DID NOT HAPPEN - FACT!It''s also amazing how the myth gets a different slant every time it''s raised. Some will say we were within ''48 hours'' of being liquidated, others say it was less than that whilst Michael Foulger (Director) at the AGM last month quoted ....''3 weeks''!! The ''story''is such an ingrained part of the folklore at NCFC that it''s ALWAYS wheeled out when Smith or the board come under any form of critical analysis. So no matter how much debt the club may be in, no matter if we get relegated to Div1 next May and yet another manager is slung out - NONE of this matters at all because many years ago (it''s now 11!!) she ...''saved the club''. Even in politics such an excuse would have long since lost any relevance to the current climate. Do you ever hear Labour trying to make an excuse for some of todays problems by saying...''ah yes but look what we inherited from the Tories in ''97'' ? NO - IT NOW HAS NO RELEVANCE! Even as recently as last week in The Pink Un, Neil Adams said it was out of order that Smith should be criticised at all and wheeled out the ''myth''. Without her there would be a ''Toys R Us'' or something similar on the current Carrow Road site - according to him! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carlos Valderrama 0 Posted November 1, 2007 Geoffrey Watling saved the club from bankruptcy in 1995. Delia and MWJ (approx. 1 year, maybe less) bought the shares of Watling in 1996.Lets look at it from the other perspective. Watling had the cash to bail the club out short term while a long term investor was sought, that long term investor was Delia Smith. Perhaps if a takeover from Smith wasn''t on the cards, or if a long term investor wasn''t on the horizon would Geoffrey Watling have taken the action that he did or would he have let the club fold.That is the myth and they are the unanswered questions. For me the gap between Watling buying Chase out and Delia buying Watling out is too close for coincidence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T 190 Posted November 1, 2007 Delia/MWJ whether they saved the club or not they have put reportedly 8m into the club without getting any return for 10/11 years. I suspect they will get their money back at some stage but from a pure financial perspective the club is not an attractive investment and they would have been far better off putting their money elsewhere. The club has undeniably underperformed in the last few years and I would be very pleased to see a wealthy new investor who is genuinely interested in the club take over. The board recognise that they have made mistakes which is the nature of life and business. Criticism of decisions is fine but they have have put substantial money into the club and personal abuse of them only reflects on the abusers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
As my login causes problems [ :o) ] 0 Posted November 1, 2007 As with all things Norwich City it is very difficult to get to the truth.However the story which Delia herself used to tell when explaining her involvement relates to being invited to dinner by Martin Armstrong the Chief Executive of the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and a Norwich City director at that time.The Norwich & Peterborough had a lot of money tied up in the club and were being forced by new legislation to do something about it. This had led to the pressures on the club, which were not necessarily going to result in Administration but were going to put pressure on to improve their finances and reschedule loans. This was the straw breaking the camel Robert Chases back.Armstrong agreed to help bring in new investment and took Delia and MWJ to dinner with the request that they get involved "to increase the club''s profile and add strength to the Board". He asked for £500k for a seat on the Board.Delia said if they gave £1 million could they both have seats.That is how they got involved, no white chargers, no puff of smoke, and no crack of thunder.Later on they may well have put much needed money in at the right time and bought further shares off Watling, but the original myth is all that, as they put in £500,000 that was wanted not necessarily "needed", and another £500,000 which was extra, and dare I say for more "control".The club had already been "saved" by Watling''s money and Armstrong''s expertise. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,509 Posted November 1, 2007 Thats not really how I remember it Jimmy500. I thought Geoffrey Watling brought Chase''s shares and then later that summer a board director called Martin Armstrong invited Delia and MWJ to join the board by investing .5m each. Of course they had both been fans for many years before that despite what people say on here. I think it was 2 years between their first investment and Watling selling them his contrlling interest. Even so I don''t think it was a case of Delia and MWJ bullying him into selling, I believe he sold because he loved the club and thought it was the right thing to do.I posted a lot of stuff from that time on this thread:-http://new.pinkun.com/cs/forums/948584/ShowPost.aspxI don''t think Gordon Bennett would be happy to see where this club is at now, so much progress off the field but we are even worse on the field than we were in those days. Maybe Glen Roeder will be the man to get the football team back on track we can only hope so. And maybe the Turners will be the people to get the clubs direction back but I guess we can only hope that too. I just wish we had someone like Gordon Bennett on our board today!However much anger and disappointment we are feeling today doesn''t mean we should try to re-write history. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unlucky Fried Kitten 0 Posted November 1, 2007 I never have believed this "Delia saving the club from extinction" myth - even at the time it was 1st trotted out, way back in 1996. If she hadn''t invested then, I believe somebody else would have done. Or, I feel sure, we as supporters would have started a campaign to save the club. Besides which, when has a club the size of City gone to the wall? The answer is never. If all else had failed we would have gone into administration - something which has done the scum no harm. They are sitting pretty in 4th, whilst our future is looking far from rosy just at the moment. If I hear "Delia saved the club" once more, I think I shall scream! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Carrow 376 Posted November 1, 2007 Some really good stuff on this thread (good post Nutty [Y]). Can i suggest one of you puts the real sequence of events into a letter to the EDP/Evening News? I really think it deserves to be read more widely and it would be interesting to see what the "Delia saved the club" brigade can come up with in response. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BBFF 0 Posted November 1, 2007 [quote user="Mr.Carrow"]Some really good stuff on this thread (good post Nutty [Y]). Can i suggest one of you puts the real sequence of events into a letter to the EDP/Evening News? I really think it deserves to be read more widely and it would be interesting to see what the "Delia saved the club" brigade can come up with in response.[/quote]Some people will only read what backs up there own opinion. The happy clappers pro board/Delia brain washed will totally ignore the truth as they always have.Ambition "off the pitch" + Prudence "on the pitch" = Disaster for a FOOTBALL club FOOTBALL MUST COME FIRST Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T 190 Posted November 1, 2007 Some good posts in particular from :0) and Nutty. They always strike me as balanced posters who set out the reasons and facts for their opinions which I always find far more convincing then vitriolic rants so I for one now believe that this is a myth. I very much doubt that any views of the directors as either super heroes or evil villains are anything more than over simplistic exaggerated caricatures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
