Northampton to be sold to Indian Consortium

[Glasshalffullpools]

Non taken !!!......football is a business , and at some point you have to speculate to accumulate ..although once again ..10 Million fo a stand that was not needed @!!

 

[barnet_pls]

For all his faults thankful that my club has a chairman only interested in the long term sustainability of Barnet. Having been there with Flashman - wish Northampton good luck (inspite of their fans cheering our relegation)

 

[HertsCobbler]

Latest news now is Buckingham the builders on the stand and in the past have delivered stadium:mk, the AmEx so clearly not in the league of Mr O'Reilly from Fawlty Towers have been speaking to the local rag.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/n...own-was-unconvincing-from-the-start-1-7028990

In effect the lead of the "Indian" consortium was Ravi Rach of Enfield.

http://thewhistleblowers.info/ravi-...-of-this-notorious-fraudster-money-launderer/

Not sure how legit this site is - but shows the sorts of people Cardoza has been dealing with.

 

[EricSabin]

Rumours gathering pace again that a takeover has been completed. Head of the official travel club etc all saying it. If it's true, it'll most likely be Kelvin Thomas and a few other business people. Hopefully it's true, then we can actually enjoy the good football we are playing and make a proper charge for promotion.

 

[LordJord]

So it seems kelvin Thomas has agreed to buy the club for cardoza. Also agreed with Buckinghams to continue the work to the east stand, no idea how it will turn out but anything is better than it's current state. One issue that remains is Thomas is yet to agree repayment terms with the borough council.

Still, this has to be considered good news.

 

[EricSabin]

A bit closer but still so far away. The council are in such a tough spot.

 

[Sergei from IT]

Kelvin Thomas is an excellent PR man and always says what the fans want to hear.
We had that for several years and simultaneously landed up more and more in debt.
I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw ;him.

 

[LordJord]

Kelvin Thomas is an excellent PR man and always says what the fans want to hear.
We had that for several years and simultaneously landed up more and more in debt.
I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw ;him.

In a difficult position now though. It's now been reported we owe 160k to to the tax man and that the sale of ivan toney was to keep the club running. The current chairman has completely stopped putting any more cash in. Were desperate, got to the stage where any alternative is better than what we have currently

 

[Jemfy]

Max Griggs was approached by Tony Jones (chairman of Irthlingborough Diamonds) regarding the merger after it was well known that Max wanted to put money in to Northampton, but wanted a seat on the board in return. The ownership structure didn't want him at the time for whatever reason(s), so Jones approached him and the merger came from there as both Irthlingborough Diamonds and Rushden Town were both in trouble.

Stephen is his son, and the rumours have reached us that he was interested in Northampton. No idea if there is any truth in them, or just some grasping at straws.

Griggs was looking at giving away the club to any genuinely benevolent parties for a few months while the supporters trust got put in place. Nobody better came through and the club was put in the supporters hands for free, with £750k split over two seasons (500 then 250) to help get the club on it's feet, plus the stadium. The deal was structured such as the stadium became a non-transferable asset of the supporters trust and not the club itself, with a "claw-back" clause should the stadium be sold or transferred out of the trust with any deal having to have the go ahead of the Griggs group or go back in to their hands. Further help was also provided behind the scenes.

The supporters trust was not able to run the club at break even for whatever reason. Mr Cousins came along after the supporters had been trying for 2 1/2 years and took over the club on the previso that he got control of the ground, with no intention of taking the club without the ground, citing that he needed total control and wouldn't trust it in the hands of anybody else. He ended up taking control of the supporters trust as a method of taking control of the club and all members were shifted on to make it happen. Cousins was meant to be one of part of a particular group interested in taking over the club initially who were known as the "dodgy Essex consortium", whom Griggs rejected as he did not believe they had the best interests of the club at heart. Other people who were meant to be involved include Cousins' long term friend Colin Hill of Peterborough fame...

I can keep going and go over the final days, but basically Cousins kept it going for a while, before shifting the club (and not the stadium) on to some patsies and letting it go under, all while still in control of the stadium. Which he then proceed to let out to Kettering Town, our local rivals. It should be noted that a merger with them was sort of felt out at some closed supporters trust fans forums... The idea did not go down well.

As an aside, John Terry is (or at least was) represented by Cousins' PR firm, what fantastic job they did with him during the whole racism row... Paul is the bigger cnut.

So in short, Max Griggs didn't screw over R&DFC, at least not intentionally. Stephen was never really involved. Max is still very well liked within the Diamonds fan base. If Stephen and/or Max has an interest in NTFC you're probably going to do very well with letting them take control. Kelvin Thomas doesn't exactly come in with a sterling reputation.

Genuinely hope NTFC get out of this. They were good to us when we went under, even if the main aim was to get fans to come over.

 

[LordJord]

Just been confirmed players and staff will not be paid on time this month.

 

[Pooliekev]

Kelvin Thomas is an excellent PR man and always says what the fans want to hear.
We had that for several years and simultaneously landed up more and more in debt.
I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw ;him.

He would be as he owns a radio station.

I thought you did OK under Thomas?

 

[womble76]

Thought I would bump this one as they have not payed their playing or office staff today. Also the caterers say they are owed 300k. If a buyer is not found soon the NTFC may go pop.

 

[EricSabin]

A buyer has been found and they are negotiating with the council. Will be tight.

 

[Pooliekev]

As I understand it (and I'd love to hear some NTFC fans views) it hangs on whether this Kelvin Thomas feller can reach an agreement with the Council about the loan.

However, there also the builders and the HMRC with writs in and hearings due. It's not looking good.

Like I've said, good luck with it. Bloody awful situation.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

its not going to be easy to win over the council, the club won't be allowed to just pay a portion back so I hope whoever these owners are can afford to pay back the £10 million.

if a takeover goes through its going to be interesting to find out how much money seems to have just 'vanished'

 

[EricSabin]

As I understand it (and I'd love to hear some NTFC fans views) it hangs on whether this Kelvin Thomas feller can reach an agreement with the Council about the loan.

However, there also the builders and the HMRC with writs in and hearings due. It's not looking good.

Like I've said, good luck with it. Bloody awful situation.

What do you want to know? It's very complicated but I'll try and answer

 

[EricSabin]

Kelvin Thomas statement on Wednesday: http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/n...s-takeover-deal-is-very-complicated-1-7035753

 

[EricSabin]

And the developer looking to build: http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/n...fore-winding-up-court-case-is-tight-1-7040500

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

has nothing yet been given as to just where that £10 million has gone???

it comes out quite obvious on the outside as to where, but has this just gone to cover someone's business debts or through a mass fraud or just pumped into player wages etc, etc?

 

[Pooliekev]

A buyer has been found and they are negotiating with the council. Will be tight.

What do you want to know? It's very complicated but I'll try and answer

Thanks for the links Mr Sabin, they explained much of what there is to know I suppose.

 

[EricSabin]

has nothing yet been given as to just where that £10 million has gone???

it comes out quite obvious on the outside as to where, but has this just gone to cover someone's business debts or through a mass fraud or just pumped into player wages etc, etc?

The chairman has had it.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Will he therefore be taken to court in future do you think, must be a way of being able to prove the money has been moved away from where it should.

going to be a long long road back for you lot if you do survive, your going to be paying back debts for years, we at Carlisle were just bloody damn lucky we got Courtney who paid off all the crap Knighton left us with.

 

[Wombletom]

The missing £10M. I know where it is...

Milton Keynes took it. They do have history of taking things that belong to other people. ;0)

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

The missing £10M. I know where it is...

Milton Keynes took it. They do have history of taking things that belong to other people. ;0)

Quite true, but then they invest and do a better job, so that 10m is probably at least 20m/30m by now...

Anyway, I don't quite understand. Chairman trousers £10m. Why hasn't he left the country? Why does he want the club wound up* (as he could pay these cases off with the change)? What do the council stand to get back for their money either way?**

This is all quite confusing from the outside.

*Obviously a naïve question
**And again

 

[LordJord]

Quite true, but then they invest and do a better job, so that 10m is probably at least 20m/30m by now...

Anyway, I don't quite understand. Chairman trousers £10m. Why hasn't he left the country? Why does he want the club wound up* (as he could pay these cases off with the change)? What do the council stand to get back for their money either way?**

This is all quite confusing from the outside.

*Obviously a naïve question
**And again

There have been rumours he headed to Canada but I know he has meetings at the Northampton Borough Council in the past few weeks. It seems like the Council may not have stipulated what the money is for, which if it is the case would be quite incredible.

Basically it seems like Cardoza is just not putting any more money in, hence why players and staff are not being paid along with HMRC. Its already been said that the Ivan Toney money we received from Newcastle went into running costs.

Almost certain the club wont be wound up by the council, would be political suicide and then they will be getting pennies. Our worry is that HMRC will wind us up if anyone does. The problem we now have is that any new investor needs to agree a repayment arrangement with the council and they want to make it appear they are protecting the public purse (little late for that).

Its confusing from the inside unfortunately as still at this moment, no one has been able to identify where £10 million pounds has gone. Quite incredible really, I wonder how legal proceedings cannot be put forward in this case.

Just can only hope that Coventry is not my last ever away game supporting Town, although if we have to go down the phoenix club route I will be down the dog and duck watching.

 

[EricSabin]

1) He's not putting any more money. You'd think its in his interests to pay the tax bill and keep the HMRC off our backs, but hey.

2) The land by the ground is how the council would get their money back, sell it to a company to be developed and then they'd take their share of the cash

 

[EricSabin]

Yeah the council have scored a massive own goal with their shoddy loan agreement, so heads would roll if they lost all the money. Hence why I think we've got a decent chance of being saved.

Also the fundraising is flying along now. £22k from the donations, and around £10k more to come from other initiatives.

 

[EricSabin]

I must say our fans are really impressing me in our times of trouble. One fan has managed to get 20 businesses to donate £200 each for sponsorship at the forthcoming Mansfield game, in 2 days, raising £4K in the process. E-bay auctions have raised nearly thousands of pounds, alternative fan merchandise has raised thousands more, and the latest thing is money to feed poor Vietnamese people.

One Vietnam based Cobbler has said for every £3 donated to the justgiving page with the message 'Food Pho Three' they will make the local Vietnamese soup and hand it out to Vietnamese orphans/homeless people.

https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/ntfctrust

 

[Jemfy]

Just can only hope that Coventry is not my last ever away game supporting Town, although if we have to go down the phoenix club route I will be down the dog and duck watching.

The dog and duck is ours, go share with Northampton Spencer or Sileby Rangers...

Clarification for those unaware - we ground-share with Wellingborough Town at the Dog and Duck (seriously).

Silly question, if you do go under and restart - what happens to Sixfields? Who currently owns it?

 

[EricSabin]

Council would take it back I assume.

A ground share with Sileby would be great as I live a 5 minute walk away.