Re: Roy Blower - 'Boycott matches & starve club of income'

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

[quote user="Ren"]

Why oh why does everyone on here call for other people to do their work for them. 

If you feel the need to protest get on with it!!!!!

 

[/quote]

Are we to assume that you are happy with the financial & on-field disaster resided over by the clowns currently enjoying ownership of our club?.

I suspect that you (& around 20,000 others) still believe the same old spin & rhetoric coming from the ''saviours'' & their loyal employees. It is amazing how they have been able to buy so much time on the back of a myth.

I find it ironic (& very disappointing) that Blower seems happy to sit back and witness what his actions (back in the 90''s) have (all these years later) resulted in. He must be very remorseful, one would imagine!

He & his flock''s key topic when running the ''Chase out'' campaign was ''Where''s the money gone?''

Having eventually got their way, they were ''rewarded'' when Smith & Jones bought themselves into an unprecedented position of total ownership & power.

Having inherited a debt covered several times over by the market value of the playing squad (the contracted value of players not being capitalised within the club''s balance sheet in those days), they have increased net debt to £19m, whilst achieving very little on-field success.

Thanks Roy.

I would have so much more respect for you if you were to turn the clock back & begin your protest campaign a week on Sunday.

[Ren 75]

So you saw all this coming did you and therefore wanted us to keep Chase?  Yes of course you did! Hindsite is a wonderful thing!

Blaming Roy Blower for this mess is pathetic. 

I think you will find its general football miss management and living beyond our means, something an awful lot of clubs are guilty of and with this credit cruch, I honestly think we will see the death of football as we know it.  The Bolton Chairman''s idea will happen in some form or another, I think.

Oh, and no I dont like this current board and have not since the day they danced on Fulham''s pitch celebrating relegation with the majority of our happy clappy fans.  Where was I when they were doing this? I was walking accross the park behind there ground in utter discust at how we messed the end of that season up.  I have never liked or given them much time since!

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

[quote user="Ren"]

So you saw all this coming did you and therefore wanted us to keep Chase?  Yes of course you did! Hindsite is a wonderful thing!

Blaming Roy Blower for this mess is pathetic. 

I think you will find its general football miss management and living beyond our means, something an awful lot of clubs are guilty of and with this credit cruch, I honestly think we will see the death of football as we know it.  The Bolton Chairman''s idea will happen in some form or another, I think.

Oh, and no I dont like this current board and have not since the day they danced on Fulham''s pitch celebrating relegation with the majority of our happy clappy fans.  Where was I when they were doing this? I was walking accross the park behind there ground in utter discust at how we messed the end of that season up.  I have never liked or given them much time since!

[/quote]

Yes, I wanted Bob to stay. I have nothing but contempt for the small minded ''fans'' who brought about the demise of our club, whilst trying to oust the man who brought us the greatest period of on-field success that we have ever had.

The majority of our current core of ''supporters'' have got (and have had) exactly what they deserve.

Bob (on the board from 1982 to 1996) was voted into the ''Hall of fame'' by the club''s supporters & is rightly revered by many older fans who appreciate that wonderful period of football, the importance of which has wrongly been understated during the tenure of Smith''s board.

I told Blower what I thought of him & his followers at the time, & the past 12 years or so have unfolded as I thought they would.

 

[hogesar 9,838]

Would this be the wrong time to say "It''s only football"? [:D]

[Mr.Carrow 382]

I`m sorry DEB, i agree with alot of your points re. the current situation but i was part of the Chase out stuff and the reason for our problems is that we have continued with fat Bobs "infrastructure first" policy- the club is chaired by a man appointed by Chase and who has publically stated that he turns to him for advice. 

We are the ultimate style over substance football club; lovely ground, training facility, new pitch/ticket office/conservatory, offices, lots of lovely land and £1.5m road......sh*te football team and skint behind the scenes with no hope of improvement.  That outlook was instigated by Chase and continued by the current lot.

[Ren 75]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]

I`m sorry DEB, i agree with alot of your points re. the current situation but i was part of the Chase out stuff and the reason for our problems is that we have continued with fat Bobs "infrastructure first" policy- the club is chaired by a man appointed by Chase and who has publically stated that he turns to him for advice. 

We are the ultimate style over substance football club; lovely ground, training facility, new pitch/ticket office/conservatory, offices, lots of lovely land and £1.5m road......sh*te football team and skint behind the scenes with no hope of improvement.  That outlook was instigated by Chase and continued by the current lot.

[/quote]

Was just about to respond with something similar (although not as well put as you have done it).

Cheers - good post.

[Tangible Fixed Assets anyone? 0]

21/11/2008, 6:30 PM
Canary Nut Joined on 03/08/2005 Posts 1,457	Re: Lets not forget............
	Canary Nut wrote: BTW., if you think the power is only with the majority shareholding just look at what happened at Southmpton when the fans went on a season ticket renewal boycott.  Its just as much about recurring revenues as the majority shareholding! Enjoy Obama! Have a nice day!   Don''t forget the above Cranky Yanky. Where are the good experienced strikers? ---------------------------------------- Stagnation/decline with Delia''s NCFC.

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

[quote user="DEB never forgotten"][quote user="Ren"]

So you saw all this coming did you and therefore wanted us to keep Chase?  Yes of course you did! Hindsite is a wonderful thing!

Blaming Roy Blower for this mess is pathetic. 

I think you will find its general football miss management and living beyond our means, something an awful lot of clubs are guilty of and with this credit cruch, I honestly think we will see the death of football as we know it.  The Bolton Chairman''s idea will happen in some form or another, I think.

Oh, and no I dont like this current board and have not since the day they danced on Fulham''s pitch celebrating relegation with the majority of our happy clappy fans.  Where was I when they were doing this? I was walking accross the park behind there ground in utter discust at how we messed the end of that season up.  I have never liked or given them much time since!

[/quote]

Yes, I wanted Bob to stay. I have nothing but contempt for the small minded ''fans'' who brought about the demise of our club, whilst trying to oust the man who brought us the greatest period of on-field success that we have ever had.

The majority of our current core of ''supporters'' have got (and have had) exactly what they deserve.

Bob (on the board from 1982 to 1996) was voted into the ''Hall of fame'' by the club''s supporters & is rightly revered by many older fans who appreciate that wonderful period of football, the importance of which has wrongly been understated during the tenure of Smith''s board.

I told Blower what I thought of him & his followers at the time, & the past 12 years or so have unfolded as I thought they would.

[/quote]

[Y]

You just wait until nutty nigel gets you on his radar, Dennis.

Whoyoyowhoyyyyyyyyyy..........!

OTBC

 

 

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

[quote user="Ren"][quote user="Mr.Carrow"]

I`m sorry DEB, i agree with alot of your points re. the current situation but i was part of the Chase out stuff and the reason for our problems is that we have continued with fat Bobs "infrastructure first" policy- the club is chaired by a man appointed by Chase and who has publically stated that he turns to him for advice. 

We are the ultimate style over substance football club; lovely ground, training facility, new pitch/ticket office/conservatory, offices, lots of lovely land and £1.5m road......sh*te football team and skint behind the scenes with no hope of improvement.  That outlook was instigated by Chase and continued by the current lot.

[/quote]

Was just about to respond with something similar (although not as well put as you have done it).

Cheers - good post.

[/quote]

The difference is though on the field.

Compare 1986-1996 with 1997-2008.

The difference is that Bob knew broadly how to achieve both.

Bring back Bob? I could think of far worse fates!

OTBC

 

 

[whoareyou? 0]

Chase brought on his demise himself.

He took the club to the financial brink by getting it to a point where it could not meet it''s financial obligations and so was effectively insolvent. He had to let others bail it out for him. And all this despite continously selling our best players for big money and ultimatley ending up with a team that could not hold it''s own in the division it was in. So have no sympathy for him at all.

Sadly we now seem to be in exactly the same place!

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

Chase brought on his demise himself.

He took the club to the financial brink by getting it to a point where it could not meet it''s financial obligations and so was effectively insolvent. He had to let others bail it out for him. And all this despite continously selling our best players for big money and ultimatley ending up with a team that could not hold it''s own in the division it was in. So have no sympathy for him at all.

Sadly we now seem to be in exactly the same place!

 

Utter rubbish!

Did you ''copy & paste'' this from the ''Smith & Jones book of myth & spin''?

[whoareyou? 0]

No not at all. Did you not read the last line of my post as it didn''t fit in with what you wanted to say? Chase is partly responsible for where we are now..though Smith and Jones have had plenty of time to fix it but failed miserably.

In any case it wasn''t Smith and Jones who bailed us out from Chase!

[Ren 75]

I do agree wih a lot of you have said DEB, and I feel that Chase was hounded out for far less than the mismanagement that we are now putting up with.  Chase never told us that he did not have a plan, this lot have!

However I find you blaming just Roy Blower a little odd.  Look how many people were on the streets of Carrow Road protesting in anger over Chase.  We have yet to even see a proper protest against this board.  I mean our fans cant even stay and boo from the stands after yet another home defeat. 

[whoareyou? 0]

You don''t seem to understand what i''m saying some of you, Chase left because he had to as the banks etc had lost faith in him rather than him being hounded out by fans.

He brought the club to it''s financial knees such that he had to accept outside help to bail it out or let it go bust. The bank wanted it''s money back but he didn''t have it to give.

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

Blower (as leader/spokesman of the mob that protested & abused the club chairman) has to recognise that (in hindsight) his actions are partly responsible for the financial & on-field demise of our club.

I am simply making the point that Blower & his flock protested principally because of their concern over (what they believed to be) a deteriorating financial situation at the club, coupled with the fact that after a fantastic spell in the top division we had suffered a relegation. Please refer to his comments included in my opener.

The abuse that Bob endured was uncalled for - car vandalised, windows smashed, hate mail - and when his grandchildren were physically abused at school he made the decision to stand down.

Yes, the Smith & Jones era has resulted in financial & on-field disaster, but Blower & those that supported him must be held partly to blame.

I find it ironic that the very reasons for Blower commencing his campaign back in the 90''s (unfounded to an extent) are now magnified many times over, and yet we have heard nothing from the man. I would love to know his thoughts on the current situation & how things have panned out over the past decade or so.

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

Not true.

He had satisfied the first call for reduction in overdraft facility & still retained a very significant value in the playing squad - as confirmed in the notes to the Accounts produced by the new board after his departure.

You are simply regurgitating the myth that hs been spun by Smith & Jones and their loyal employees.

[Ren 75]

If Chase had managed the finances correctly and kept investing in the team I honestly think we would still be in the Premiership.  He was more interested in land and assets than keeping the team in the top flight and look at how much that has cost us over the years, with all the millions that got pumped into the top flight, just after we left it.

...and no thats not Delia spin thats my opinion.

Championing Chase over Smith is just not right, they are both as bad as it other.

 

[The Butler 0]

DEB support what you say wholeheartedly.

People still do not believe that the whole Chase situation was manipulated by a bank and our present "owners".

Bob was vunerable as he borrowed only on overdraft "repayable on demand" and that''s how the bank got at him.

The demonstrations should have been Barclays out!!

He was forced by them to sell players and reduce the bank level. Funny how they then allowed it to increase to levels far greater in proportion now.

The borrowings were more than covered by both tangible(land) and intangible(players) assets.

Bob layed the foundation that this lot have squandered since.

Success on the field would have continued if Chase had given Walker his head after Milan.

He could not beacause of bank pressure and the rest is as they say  is history.

GW brokered an already done deal. The board are now suffering from the "what goes aound comes around " law of life!!

Roy Blower is now firmly in the converted establishment brigade to do what you want. (poacher turned gamekeeper)

 

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="The Butler"]

DEB support what you say wholeheartedly.

People still do not believe that the whole Chase situation was manipulated by a bank and our present "owners".

Bob was vunerable as he borrowed only on overdraft "repayable on demand" and that''s how the bank got at him.

The demonstrations should have been Barclays out!!

He was forced by them to sell players and reduce the bank level. Funny how they then allowed it to increase to levels far greater in proportion now.

The borrowings were more than covered by both tangible(land) and intangible(players) assets.

Bob layed the foundation that this lot have squandered since.

Success on the field would have continued if Chase had given Walker his head after Milan.

He could not beacause of bank pressure and the rest is as they say  is history.

GW brokered an already done deal. The board are now suffering from the "what goes aound comes around " law of life!!

Roy Blower is now firmly in the converted establishment brigade to do what you want. (poacher turned gamekeeper)

 

[/quote]

 

Agreed . Big transfer fees were simply swallowed up by the overdraft and,as you say, the bank called the shots. Chase wasn''t helped by the fact that he wasn''t a great public speaker and lacked charisma, but,as is often the case (see also Watling) history shows him in a more favourable light. It saddens me to think what we could have achieved if Walker had been given more backing.Sitting in the Barclay when Gossy scored the equaliser against Bayern it seemed like the ground was going to explode. Compare that to the "atmosphere" today. Its enough to make you weep!

[The Butler 0]

Stood in the San Siro when Walker waved his goodbyes.

We lost the lot then, taken away by....................?

I just hope  Smudger/Cluck etc will be able to live with the results of another revolution,whatever that may bring

[nutty nigel 7,695]

[quote user="The Butler"]

People still do not believe that the whole Chase situation was manipulated by a bank and our present "owners".

[/quote]

I am struggling with this statement. I normally agree with your view on history and DEB has a better memory than most on here. But our present "owners" were only fans at the time unless that''s a code for something else.

 

[nutty nigel 7,695]

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

[Y]

You just wait until nutty nigel gets you on his radar, Dennis.

Whoyoyowhoyyyyyyyyyy..........!

OTBC

 

 

[/quote]

You should maybe take part in the debate instead of petty point scoring. The trouble with that is you will find it difficult to google anything that far back.

Nevermind... I''m sure you''ll try...

Marvo [:|]

 

[BigFish 1,997]

The rehabitulation of the reputation of the reputation of Robert Chase is very interesting as is the decline in esteame for the "Chase outers" and Roy Blower. While some still hold out as a badge of honour that they were charged by the police in CR hindsight points out the untold harm that the protest did to the club. Chiefly the sense of entitlement, cynacism and negativity that pervades elements of the support even now.

Chase cocked it up royally, there can be no doubt about that. Short term financial committments did for him in end rather than the protest but as is repeatedly pointed out the long term was sound. That and running out of luck on the pitch.

The Chase model was to buy cheap and sell dear. After the protest this was never going to get past the fans. As a result we held on to Eadie, O''Neill & Johnson too long rather than cashing in. That £10m+ could have built a promotion winning side but was lost to injuries and underperformance.

D&S still don''t have luck on the pitch but they have learnt not to get caught out by short term debt, hence the securitisation. The problems that the current majority shareholders have were excellently put into perspective by Peter Cullum in his EDP interview. But realism is not a key aspect in this debate.

The "Chase outers" gave us the snake pit and through this largely denuded the Barclay of atmosphere. They left a bitter residue of resentment. They didn''t provide an answer but some of the causes of the current situation, with hindsight, can be left at their door.

[nutty nigel 7,695]

Great post BigFish.

But what should also be remembered in the inevitable comparisons between then and now is how very different football in this country is since it was hijacked by those with such selfish interests.

 

[The Butler 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="The Butler"]

People still do not believe that the whole Chase situation was manipulated by a bank and our present "owners".

[/quote]

I am struggling with this statement. I normally agree with your view on history and DEB has a better memory than most on here. But our present "owners" were only fans at the time unless that''s a code for something else.

 

[/quote]

Not quite "just fans" Nutty. You are aware of my close involvement with the club during that time. I was told sometime before that meetings had taken place and............

Will give you chapter and verse when we meet as names are still relevant and ethics dictate.

By the way the best guy we have had in charge for sometime was good old Gordon Bennet. From the academy to Chief exec. the man was NCFC and a football fanatic through and through.He went as did all the old stalwarts of the club. That''s one of our BIG problems, no one who remembers our history is left to pass it on.

[nutty nigel 7,695]

[quote user="The Butler"][quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="The Butler"]

People still do not believe that the whole Chase situation was manipulated by a bank and our present "owners".

[/quote]

I am struggling with this statement. I normally agree with your view on history and DEB has a better memory than most on here. But our present "owners" were only fans at the time unless that''s a code for something else.

 

[/quote]

Not quite "just fans" Nutty. You are aware of my close involvement with the club during that time. I was told sometime before that meetings had taken place and............

Will give you chapter and verse when we meet as names are still relevant and ethics dictate.

By the way the best guy we have had in charge for sometime was good old Gordon Bennet. From the academy to Chief exec. the man was NCFC and a football fanatic through and through.He went as did all the old stalwarts of the club. That''s one of our BIG problems, no one who remembers our history is left to pass it on.

[/quote]

I am not going to question your information Butler. But surely it was Martin Armstrong who made the approaches to Smith&Jones when they were invited to invest in the club in return for a place on the board. Martin Armstrong was very much Geoffrey Watlings man as I remember and it was widely assumed that he would become Chairman but I don''t believe he ever wanted to. I remember Gordon Bennett being highly rated by Chase and the fans. To this day I never hear a word said against him.

Here''s an archived article from the old ECN site. : -

In the early spring of 1996, Norwich City Football Club almost ceased to exist. The fact that, come the late autumn, the club is gently knocking on the door of the FA Premiership''s promised land is a remarkable tale -- a story of a stricken club lifted off its knees by a handful of individuals; a story in which one person is key, the club''s new chief executive, Gordon Bennet. In his first major interview virtually since he arrived as the club''s youth development officer in 1989, the man who quietly assumed day-to-day control of the ailing First Division club earlier this summer puts the record straight.

Like all good doctors, Gordon Bennett mingles the good with the bad; the tears with the hope; the promise of a brighter future with the dark recollections of a troubled past. For as he arrived back at Carrow Road from his youth development role at the club''s Colney training HQ, Bennett discovered a broken club on the very brink of the abyss; a club whose very existence hung on the generosity of an 84-year-old Norwich businessman. "I was brought in in the last week of March and I realised within three days that the club was technically insolvent. To be honest I did not think that it would even fulfil its fixtures last season," admitted Bennett, as the administration of ex- chairman Robert Chase began to fall apart.

Indeed, by the first week of May, Chase had gone. "Probably the only reason that the club is still in existence is the fact that Mr Watling bought those shares and put up seven-figure guarantees at the bank," added Bennett, as Geoffrey Watling''s crucial purchase of Chase''s shareholding kept the wolves from the door. A club that, in the words of one senior official "had the income of a Southend and the expenditure of Real Madrid" had been saved. Just.

"From a position of relative crisis in the summer, we are now inching towards safety," said Bennett, introducing the next great player in the unfolding drama -- newly-appointed director Martin Armstrong. "Since then there have been a number of turning points, the first in June when Mr Watling said that he''d like Mr Armstrong to become chairman. Mr Armstrong, as chief executive of the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, couldn''t do it because the board of his building society were not prepared to sanction it.

"But in a board meeting that month, he made a very powerful speech in which he laid out what he would do if he were the chairman; how he thought the club could trade its way back, not to safety, but to prosperity. First, as Gary Megson was clearly not universally popular, something that was already showing in low season-ticket sales, that the board should consider replacing him with Mike Walker. Secondly, that we should do our absolute utmost to avoid selling any of our better players to improve our chances of Mike having a reasonably successful team and thirdly, we had to organise adequate long-term finance to be able to fund the previous two aspects.

In the shorter term, however, it was Bennett who was charged with the task of slashing costs -- "down-scaling" to economists, making long-time friends and colleagues redundant as the club''s new axe man. "It seemed to me that last spring, with my experience at both Bristol Rovers and West Brom, that as a hatchet job was necessary, it was best done by someone who knew where there were still fresh twigs that could flourish as time went on," said Bennett, formerly club secretary at The Hawthorns and youth development officer and chief executive in 13 years at Rovers. "But it was extremely difficult -- these were people that had been very kind and made me feel very much at home since I first arrived. It''s not a job that I particularly enjoy -- I''d much prefer to be with the kids."

As principal architect of the club''s youth system, Bennett was overseeing a Colney production line that had the likes of Chris Sutton, Darren Eadie, Andy Johnson and Keith O''Neill at its head. It is the defence of that achievement, those talents that drives Bennett on. And with the returning Walker matching the club''s slow financial restructuring with equal achievement on the field, so Bennett can launch a fierce defence of the club''s greatest assets.

The following will be music to thousands of supporters'' ears. "Mike Walker has been absolutely magic -- he has already repaid the faith shown in him many times over," said Bennett. "And I can state quite categorically that there is absolutely no way any of our coveted younger players will leave the club for financial reasons. They will only leave if Mike Walker decides they can go for footballing reasons.

"I would not be here now if I thought there was any doubt about that whatsoever," added Bennett, who turned down a 10-year youth development contract at another club to help steer City to safety. "I was youth officer at Bristol Rovers for six years, chief executive for seven and all the good, young players there were sold off to pay off debts. It was a soul-destroying experience and if I thought I''d wasted the last seven years at Norwich City Football Club just to see players flogged off I would have gone last summer. Indeed, one of the principal factors in me staying at Norwich City was the reasonable prospect of the younger players being kept at the football club and them forming the nucleus of a successful Premiership team."

Equally, Bennett has inherited a successful middle-management team, suddenly freed to manage once the shackles of the old regime were torn away. "One of the main reasons that everything off the field is going so well is that in club secretary Andrew Neville, commercial manager Trevor Bond and company accountant Ray Housego you''ve got three very able and experienced backstage managers and without them it would have been incredibly difficult to have progressed with Mike as far as we have," said Bennett. Armstrong''s fellow directors earn every credit from their new chief executive. "Mr Munby''s initiative in taking the club out to its fans and repairing the bonds between the club and its supporters has been an enormous plus. Mr Lockwood, Mr Nicholls and Mr Paterson should be admired for the way they''ve stuck at their posts and helped steer the club out of trouble -- it would have been the easiest thing in the world last May for them to walk away. To their credit, they didn''t."

Come the New Year, all the major players will begin to discuss installing a new business plan for the 1997-98 season and it is a sign of the club''s growing confidence that two plans will be on the table. "In January and February we will be producing two business plans for next season -- one to cope with the challenge of winning the Nationwide First Division championship and the other to cope with the challenge of a provincial football club thriving and surviving in the Premier League," said Bennett, offering a whole new policy and priority to the club''s future direction. "The football team has got to come first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth -- the new South Stand is a long way away. At least five years in my opinion," said Bennett, as the beloved bricks and mortar of the old regime are abandoned in favour of investments in flesh and blood.

"My guiding principle is that I will do whatever is in the best interest of those 12,000 hard-core supporters out there and for as long as I''m here there will be constant downward pressure on all non-football costs," said Bennett, whose day-to-day powers even extend to the fact that he is the only person at the club able to authorise expenditure over £50. As for his own future, that could still rest with the make-up of a still-awaited boardroom shake-up. But for many people''s money, Bennett is a breath of fresh air, a no-nonsense football man fast returning Norwich City to whom it rightfully belongs -- the fans. "I don''t know how long my tenure of office might be. A new board might decide it wants to get rid of a cantankerous, dictatorial, bad-tempered old chap like me! But it proves that if you look hard enough there are better answers to financial difficulties than simply selling a player -- that should be the last option not the first."

 

[Bobzilla 179]

I was a 14 year old kid when all this was going on. I remember seeing a team that had beaten the undisputed Kings of defensive Europe in their own back yard (we still remain the only English club to have beaten Bayern at Bayern, so I believe), and then within a few months all that to fall apart with the sales of Fox and Sutton. Then to go from that to Bryan Gunn getting injured at Forest, a (good but inexperienced) 20 year old between the sticks, and Sheffield United''s 3rd choice keeper being loaned to us instead of the Chris Woods that we should have gone for (bit old, but look at how long Seamen went for, and we only needed cover for a year until Marshall was experienced enough, and Gunny was back) was all a bit much.

I knew what was going on, and I saw the background to it, but I had no idea about what was going on behind the scenes. Now I''m a bit older, a bit wiser and work in business and finance, I have a much greater understanding, and can see how we can get into such a mess, and how the road out of it is long an painful, and does not necessarily involve Norfolk-born billionaire insurance salesmen, but investment in the future of the club (NOT its present).

I suppose what I''m trying to say is that we should beware the simplistic view on things that we are often sold, and will quite happily swallow up. Often the reality is far bigger than most of us can grasp. The grass is not always greener.

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

[quote user="BigFish"]

The rehabitulation of the reputation of the reputation of Robert Chase is very interesting as is the decline in esteame for the "Chase outers" and Roy Blower. While some still hold out as a badge of honour that they were charged by the police in CR hindsight points out the untold harm that the protest did to the club. Chiefly the sense of entitlement, cynacism and negativity that pervades elements of the support even now.

Chase cocked it up royally, there can be no doubt about that. Short term financial committments did for him in end rather than the protest but as is repeatedly pointed out the long term was sound. That and running out of luck on the pitch.

The Chase model was to buy cheap and sell dear. After the protest this was never going to get past the fans. As a result we held on to Eadie, O''Neill & Johnson too long rather than cashing in. That £10m+ could have built a promotion winning side but was lost to injuries and underperformance.

D&S still don''t have luck on the pitch but they have learnt not to get caught out by short term debt, hence the securitisation. The problems that the current majority shareholders have were excellently put into perspective by Peter Cullum in his EDP interview. But realism is not a key aspect in this debate.

The "Chase outers" gave us the snake pit and through this largely denuded the Barclay of atmosphere. They left a bitter residue of resentment. They didn''t provide an answer but some of the causes of the current situation, with hindsight, can be left at their door.

[/quote]

Excellent post.

[Mr.Carrow 382]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Great post BigFish.

But what should also be remembered in the inevitable comparisons between then and now is how very different football in this country is since it was hijacked by those with such selfish interests.

 

[/quote]

I seem to remember you once thanked the Chase-outers on here nutty [Y].

But i realise now everything wrong with the club is our fault.....Absolutely hilarious and priceless [Y] [Y] [:D]

[The Butler 0]

Nutty your post brought back a lot of very good memories for me in a very traumatic time for the club. I knew all those talked about in the article well and worked closely with them all. Andrew Neville kept in touch after he went to Leicester. My source of information was from amongst those so believe it or not it''s your choice. Not everything printed is gospel as we all well know and some things could not be said at the time.