this is a non-league
on the net star site
Posssibly the saddest and most frustrating piece we've ever had to put on the website.
The following information has been sent to us by a shareholder in Woking F.C. As a first we must thank him for having the courage to trust us with such information, and for letting us share it with you.
Whilst the information we have here doesn't answer the eternal question "where's the money gone?" it does give at least one example of what has gone wrong in the efforts to dig us out of the debt we now find ourselves in.
Please read, inwardly digest, and then I'll carry on after the article.
| Some time ago (last yearish) we
were in discussion with Berkely Homes about them buying Kingfield.
Berkeley Homes (BH) worked out their finances and reckoned they could build 220ish houses on the site including the snooker centre and Chris Lane. Chris was offered £1m as was the guy who owns the tip (who's name escapes me). The council would have been paid off and they were happy with the deal. Plans where drawn up (they are still around) for an 8,000 seater stadium (10,000 later if req) in Edgley Rd, the council were still happy as this would have released them from their commitment to build us another stand upon entry to the football league (this has become a bit of a political hot potato). WFC would have got the new stadium all loans paid and £2-3 million, BH asked us not to re-negotiate with Chris Lane without consulting them (CL was having his rent review), so what did we do? yep , we went to CL gave him permission to build his extension and therefore put up the price to BH who then couldn't make the deal worth it. No more deal. Chris Lane now pays us £13k PA for his site for the next 30 years. I'll leave you to make your own conclusions as to why I didn't think it was right to make this public knowledge. What worries me is the potential political vacuum that could take place with no one prepared to take over. There are numerous other issues such as MX not having paid us any instalments this year and claims that we can't find the contract, the potential share issue not even off the ground yet, the cash flow forecast presented by Bill Sutton already way behind, Bill Sutton not turning up for crucial board meetings, falling gates, lack of revenue form commercial activities, need I go on ? There is a very real possibility that we will
be in liquidation by
One option we have is to release the council
from their obligations to build the stand in return for £250k probably
a reasonable thing to do right now?"
"I don't think there has been any wrong doings, although I am half expecting to be corrected on this. IMO the people in charge have been incompetent andhave not seized the opportunties when they arose (the BH deal being a prime example) after the 96-97 cup run we should have been selling ouselves to the big corporates in Woking and we didn't, two bad years later and there's nothing left to sell. One of the other big mistakes was letting Phil Shorter go, a lot of people didn't like him but the guy put his heart and sole into the job and his only crime was to be over enthusiastic. Rose Hurl is no salesperson and she wasn't capable of putting togther a deal to sell and advertising hoarding let alone a major sponsorship. There are people waiting in the wings who are ready to try and reverse what is going on but we are kept at arms length by the board (contrary to the chairmans statement), one plan is to allow the club to go into liquidation and then buy it unencumbered and basically start again ( I appreciate the risks involved in this)"
To clear up some other issues/misconceptions, the LGS agreement with the Council is still very much in place, i.e. we are not paying a penny for that at present and will not until the club reaches the Football League. Secondly the size of debt at present is reckoned to be around £300k.
First point is that there are always two sides to every argument. With that in mind we presented exactly the text you see here (except for a couple of alterations made in this lower part of "my" message") to a member of the Board at Woking FC this evening (Tues 16th Nov), but he didn't want to add anything (It must be said however that he was actually very supportive of the site in general and of us posting this piece.) So if anyone from "the other side" wishes to put his/her point of view either officially or anonymously then feel free to contact us at the address shown below. Alternatively (and a lot more
importantly) if anyone at the club wishes to enlist the help of the loyal supporters of this club, who can offer many areas of expertise, then please come clean. Tell us what the mess is and what can be done to clear it up. This is not the time (nor do we have the time) for witch hunts and passing blame around like a hot potato. The future of this club hangs in the balance and that is far more important than anything else. From the clubs point of view, please do not insult us with more statements like "the financial situation isn't good but it's not desperate" and then a month later have to sell a player to pay off a short term debt. From the supporters point of view, it sounds very much like this is getting way way beyond any sort of joke. We could all call for the instant resignation of anyone at the club who could be considered fallible in this, but that ain't gonna help right now, because by the time it's sorted the club may be gone. ANYTHING you can do to help, DO IT.
The unofficial Woking FC Website - 16/11/99
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