Noades interview on Sky

[Russell]

I was at the game last night (great performance in the second half boys) but had a call this morning and was told Noades said he might be around for another year. I didn't video it so can't comment but can someone put a brief transcript here? He was described as being at his arrogant worst and I don't suppose that was an under-estimatation.

 

[Isleworth Bee]

There wasnt an awful lot we hadnt heard before:

Bits I can remember:

1. He suggested that the team was playing better now that Scott had gone-conveniently forgetting how much better we would have done if we had somebody around to convert the chances made by our better play.

2. He said he doesnt see any change in the Lewington situation - at least not this season. he also implied that Lewi preferred it this way knowing he wasnt taking the can for poor performances.

3. He said he didnt know where the club stood with Hounslow Council and the new ground but if we had to stay at Griffin Park our outgoings and income would have to match each other which would mean a reduction of 75% in the wage bill.

4.He said (as he always does) that he had always intended to fund the club for two years but the Herman money enabled it to run for a third and now it looks as if he will have to stay for a fourth.

Few other comments which I cant remember.

The saddest thing of all is that as usual there was not the slightest use made of this TV opportunity to promote the club in any way and encourage anyone to come dowm and watch.

Maybe if Ron was watching the game on TV he would have seen for himself the damage he has done in selling our sole source of goals for peanuts.

Nice to see Ray Wilkins on the panel taking the same stance arguing against Scotty's sale.

 

[Russell]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Isleworth Bee:
4.He said (as he always does) that he had always intended to fund the club for two years but the Herman money enabled it to run for a third and now it looks as if he will have to stay for a fourth.</font>

He said that eh? Okay then, I think Noades should immediately honour his own promise as above and fund the club for the first two years. That means covering all the costs incurred by giving money to Brentford FC Ltd. That's giving the money, not telling a bank manager that he'll offer security for an overdraft - they are two hugely different things. About £4million different in fact.

The banks are open on Monday so he can do the transfer from his Altonwood accounts into the Club's and we should all be a lot happier for it.

 

[PJ]

It`s amazing that the major points re our club`s immediate future keep getting dragged into minor topics on "general discussion" or hidden elsewhere on various threads on any subject except major BFC ALERT!!.

I`m appalled at the amount of Noades sycophants this club seems to have at the moment.

I have seen the recent meeting between Noades and the fanzine editors/BIAS called a "Mad Hatters Tea Party" and such.
Well, i was at that meeting and, to be honest, nothing was said that any street-wise supporter wouldn`t expect to have been said.
Yes, a couple of issues (nothing major) were asked to be kept confidential, but in my view NOTHING (i repeat NOTHING), of any substance was asked to be kept from the public domain.

However, I do sometimes wonder if i attended the same meeting as others who speak regularly on this board in respect of their pro-Noades (sycophantic) ramblings.

In reference to the meeting (to which i refer several comments re....they must be gagged etc) - that is bollox.

As i say, a couple of (not particularly important) issues were asked not to be repeated (which i shall personally respect) but for anyone to think that everybody who attended the meeting is a pro-Noades sycophant is utter bollox.

I spent 2 hours in the company of RN and i`m not much the wiser.

As wary as ever.

I`m personally disgusted by Noades`s public absence/silence on BFC affairs since he resigned following the FA Cup disgrace v Kingstonian.

The fact that he has not had any column in the matchday programme for 3/4 months speaks volumes about his commitment to the club.

His continued absence from 1st team games is a disgrace......not to mention the financial dire straits HE (and HE alone) has put the club in.

Noades - your silence is deafening. Of course everybody knows your PR is a disgrace, always has been.

Your contempt for Brentford supporters is virtually W£bb-like......only you can correct that, but it`s too late for you to even do that (and you know it).

Address Brentford fans NOW.....tell them what the hell is going on, don`t blame everybody EXCEPT yourself.

Tell peeps how it is, tell people YOU have f***ed up (cos you haven`t got anyone else to blame but your self), but do not expect fanzine editors/BIAS reps to carry the can for your shortcomings cos it just will not wash with most (if not all ) of us.

Do your own dirty work, Noades.

PJ
Hey Jude)

ps - i don`t expect to be invited to any more of Noades`s "geting to know-u meetings".
But in my humble opinion, i HAVE NOT broken any confidence with my account of affairs.......i have the best interests of BFC at heart (my conscience is clear). Whether you do, Noades, only time will tell.

Personally i hope there`s an offer waiting from someone (some people) to oust you from BFC , but that`s just my opinion.

Wouldn`t it be fantastic (relaxing) to have people run this club sensibly with BFC at the heart, no ego`s , no financial gain, no crap, just pure BFC supporters with the club`s interests at heart (and if that means staying a "small" club - so what? Most of us know no different).

Long live Brentford FC.....

[This message has been edited by PJ (edited 17 February 2001).]

 

[Luton Bee]

PJ

I may well be one of those guilty of the "gagging" comments. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record on my views straight. The comments I made were based on the fact that the original meeting was, I believed to have been a Q&A session with Besotted based on questions solicited from the Besotted.com message boards. The next I heard was that this Q&A had been cancelled in favor of a quiet chat with the fanzine editors and (un-named) Representatives of BIAS. There was no report or even mention of this meeting, that I am aware of, until someone asked Dave Lane when the Q&A was to be conducted. This made me highly suspicious and coupled with the recent apparently pro Noades postings by some people on this board pointed towards some sort of "divide and rule" policy being concocted by Noades. I would stress that by making the "gagging" comments I was more attacking Noades than any other individuals at the meeting. As for my views on Noades, well as people know well from this week, I want him removed from this club, along with his cronies as soon as is possible. Being just an "ordinary" supporter I expect I don't matter much to Noades and my views are to him at least irrelevant, this is why I have taken the sad decision not to renew my season ticket next year in protest at the running of the club.

 

[Edmundo]

I think it's time to get real about the meeting with Uncle Ron. I don't pretend to know how it was portrayed to Beesotted, but as far as the rest of us are concerned, we were simply invited along to talk to Ron about what's going on.

Yes, we were told some things that are confidential (eg certain players wages), but that isn't really important. Because nothing of any substance that we learnt is secret. The club is losing money (hands up if you didn't know that already). The club thought it had a deal with the council to build a new stadium (again - is this news to you?). The club has found out that the council's ideas about a new ground are rather longer term than it had expected. This means that the new revenue streams that the club anticipated are further away in time than it once believed. Therefore it needs to cut costs now. Abracadabra. Make of that what you will. I don't honestly think anyone is acting dishonourably, but whether you think Ron should have run this club to break even from the word go or just from now, the fact remains that at the moment, we don't have the funds to buy ourselves out of Division 2.

 

[Mr Tree]

ed, has the BIAS newsletter thing been sent out yet?? can u email me a copy if and when it comes out??

 

[Edmundo]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dan the Bee:
ed, has the BIAS newsletter thing been sent out yet?? can u email me a copy if and when it comes out??</font>

Claire's getting it out this weekend, I believe. If you're a member, you should get a copy. If you're not, than I am certainly not going to email you one!

 

[Mr Tree]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Edmundo:

Claire's getting it out this weekend, I believe. If you're a member, you should get a copy. If you're not, than I am certainly not going to email you one!</font>

and why not?!

i am a member, but when i spoke to luke kirton at oldham (3 weeks ago) he said that he couldn't remember handling my application yet (i sent it off around the new year)... so was just wondering, if i don't get it sent, can i have a copy of it via e-mail... meanie

 

[Luton Bee]

I don't think anyone would argue about the state that the club is in and the fact that action must be taken. The strange thing is that the people who ran up these debts with their reckless spending, decided that the purse strings had to be tightened at almost the exact same time as a certain person stepped down as manager. Was that when the club "suddenly" discovered that the new ground would not be built in under a week? I would also like to know how, if Ron was prepared to bankroll the losses of up to 1.5 million per year for 2 years, 3rd year paid for by Hermann deal, how we have ended up in such a dire financial position? Is the overdraft above and beyond the money that Ron said he would invest, or is it the money Ron said he would invest?

At the end of the day it seems that we may well have to agree to disagree on this one. As posted above I have taken the most effective form of protest that is available to me, the individual at this time so I will have to settle for that at the moment.

 

[Chalfont Bees]

Lets be honest for a moment. I don't mean to discredit the club we love, but what person in his right mind would want to take over a club like Brentford who is running at a loss every week and get an average attendance of 4-5,000. Therefore I think we are stuck with Noades. He might not be ideal, but at least he adds a bit of stability to the club. I think the only way forward is a new stadium and if that means having to groundshare for a couple of years, then so be it. At the end of the day we all want what is best for the club and if groundsharing for a while is best for the club, then I think we should support Noades, who I sincerly think is doing his best for the club. I can't see anyone else doing what he is doing, can you??

 

[saffrey]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dan the Bee:
i am a member, but when i spoke to luke kirton at oldham (3 weeks ago) he said that he couldn't remember handling my application yet (i sent it off around the new year)... so was just wondering, if i don't get it sent, can i have a copy of it via e-mail... meanie

</font>

yes, i too have heard diddly squat, and I sent off my BIAS form early January.

This is appauling.

 

[Russell]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Luton Bee:
Is the overdraft above and beyond the money that Ron said he would invest, or is it the money Ron said he would invest?</font>

I doubt Ron Noades has invested any of his own money. In fact, I'd bet he's taken more out in salary, rent for GP and training facilities than he and the rest of the board have put in since he took over.

 

[PJ]

He might not be ideal, but at least he adds a bit of stability to the club. I think the only way forward is a new stadium and if that means having to groundshare for a couple of years, then so be it. At the end of the day we all want what is best for the club and if groundsharing for a while is best for the club, then I think we should support Noades, who I sincerly think is doing his best for the club. I can't see anyone else doing what he is doing, can you??[/B][/QUOTE]

How can groundsharing (even in an interim measure) be beneficial to BFC?
We`ve been down this road before.....and there is no justification for leaving GP before anything else is rubber-stamped.

Luton Bee- i agree with your assessment. This club has been mis-managed to an incredibly crass level, and you`re spot on with your assessment of when "time was called" (ie post FA Cup fiasco).

Noades has run BFC like his own pet toy for 2 years. In reality the way he`s run the club has been Goldberg-esque. Now that he`s not the centre of attention (ie playing out his fantasy of being `manager`),he can`t be arsed with BFC any longer and as usual will blame anyone but himself for the crisis we are in.

If you add the Hermann money to his sums, he`s spunked (on BFC`s behalf) something in the region of £6mill by by calculations. Thanks Ron......

 

[moribee]

Chalfont Bee I think with respect your view is dangerous.........PJ a great input but will he read it and Edmundo respect for your balanced position but the questions by PJ need answering........is RN going to anything if we slip inexorably near that bottom four cos he told our top goalscorer for peasnuts and does he actually care how well we play........I am very suspicious that RN wont even want us to beat Southend and will do something crazy to ensure it doesnt happen

 

[Mr Tree]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by moribee:
Chalfont Bee I think with respect your view is dangerous....
I am very suspicious that RN wont even want us to beat Southend and will do something crazy to ensure it doesnt happen</font>

agreed mori, i too share your fears

 

[Mr Tree]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by saffrey:
yes, i too have heard diddly squat, and I sent off my BIAS form early January.

This is appauling.</font>

appalling?!

anyway, i'm not gonna be too critical about BIAS, 1) they are bees fans, 2) they're working in their own spare time...

it's only been a month saff, calm down!!

 

[Edmundo]

If you haven't received your newsletter, Saffrey, then it should arrive very soon. But maybe we haven't got your term-time address.

There is a bit of an admin backlog due to my printer packing up

, but you should be getting the newsletters!

 

[saffrey]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Edmundo:
If you haven't received your newsletter, Saffrey, then it should arrive very soon. But maybe we haven't got your term-time address.

There is a bit of an admin backlog due to my printer packing up

, but you should be getting the newsletters!</font>

Cheers, Ed, it's just that I had no confirmation of receipt, and no money was transferred on 1st Feb, so I was thinking maybe it had got lost in the post - I look forward to my shiny BIAS membership card!!

 

[Luton Bee]

I received mine this morning so I guess you will all receive it in the next day or so.

 

[Bees Bhoy]

What is the latest on the 'consortium' which was banded about?

 

[shaggy]

some of us are still falling into the trap of saying in the same breath that he has driven into debt and also sold our best players. EITHER we slag him off for selling our best players OR we slag him off for running us in to debt, but compliment him on making a step in the right direction by getting some cash in (admittedly not much) but more importantly slashing the wage bill.

We can't have our cake and eat it guys!

 

[Baz Bee]

Sorry Shaggy, but you've missed the point on this one.

Ron got us in to the mess of overdrafts in the first place by his extravagant and foolhardy policy of high wages and (some) poor signings. He has been naive to the extreme and tried to lay the blame at everyone's door except where it belongs, his own.

If, in his own words, he was only prepared to finance the club for two years (3 following sale of Herman) then all players contracts should have been expiring at the end of that period. How else did he think they were going to be honoured? He cannot now walk away from his responsibility to the club, its employees, the players or the supporters. To then sell some of the major assets at below cost is akin to suicide.

There is only one person who has caused the current situation and that is the one now in Madrid. He had a fiduciary and statutory duty to act for the company(ies) in a reasonable manner. He has done neither and to rape the club in an attempt to remedy his own recklessness is nothing short of criminal. After all he started screwing us 7 months before the 3 years was up and we are still 4 months away from when his own time limit expires. So why is he tightening the reins already? Weren't his own words that he would fund for 3 years? Why then is he acting as he is? Surely good old Ron hasn't been telling us porkies all this time?

 

[AB]

Strangely, given the general sensitivity to such issues of the moderators of this board, no-one has mentioned the likelihood that some of the allegations about RN's running of the club are potentially libellous!

While it is true that the directors have fiduciary duties in relation to the running of the club, the UK doesn't have a culture of shareholder legal action to enforce those duties generally (unlike the US), so there are some risks involved in alleging breaches of that duty. BFC is unlikely to be being run in a fraudulent manner, just one that we as fans don't like.

 

[shaggy]

Agree AB, and who is to say that anyone was offering more than tuppence for Andy Scott? As for the value to BFC you can easily justify getting £100k (equivalent to 6500ish people going through the turnstiles) and not paying his wages for a few months rather than gamble on getting to, let alone winning, the play-offs.

Actually BazBee I think Ron's (business) management has been appalling - he is using BFC as his toy, he is guaranteeing the overdraft but not spending any of his own money, and he has been doing so consistently since he arrived. I don't want to say "I told you so" but I have been one of the VERY few who were saying that right from the day he did the deal with W£bb. There weren't many others saying we should sell Hermann when we were back in the third - that season was a gamble that paid off (and most therefore thought Ron was great) - this season it was a gamble which didn't, and although you could say that Ron lost his nerve I would have prefered it if he hadn't been gambling with the club finances in the first place!