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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Mar 10, 2009 21:23:34 GMT
Their local paper is caught between a rock and a hard place when people write stuff on there that might be considered slanderous by the subject of the posting.
Not sure where the liability of such statements sits, but when it comes-down it, I would consider that it is a potential legal minefield if I was an editor/ legal advisor then perhaps I would decide that it is "better safe than sorry"?
Sounds bloody awful - poor bloke & family etc.
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Post by crispygull on Mar 11, 2009 16:08:29 GMT
Looks like it might be all over for Weymouth. I cannot now see them surviving another let down at this stage. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/weymouth/7937978.stmApparently Mr Beer didnt realise the extent of the debt the club has - of course whether the money (£300k) was ever there in the first place is currently open to some debate! |
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merse
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Post by merse on Mar 11, 2009 16:58:39 GMT
Looks like it might be all over for Weymouth. I cannot now see them surviving another let down at this stage. Apparently Mr Beer didnt realise the extent of the debt the club has - of course whether the money (£300k) was ever there in the first place is currently open to some debate!  Well if he's done his homework he'll have realised his statement that "everyone else needs to play their part" doesn't actually resonate at Weymouth. Other people won't put a penny in whilst Chief Executive Gary Calder is still there on his £100k per annum, they realise that all they will be doing is pouring their money into a black hole or in plain English they will be pissing it down the toilet. The debts are now over half a million, so where would Beer's £300,000 have gone? No wonder he collapsed under that stress. Just like Calder's "blizzard" when they needed a reason to pull out of our fixture, this "rescue plan" cobbled together to block an alternative one that would have seen him out on his ear, this has turned out to be so much moonshine.  |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Mar 11, 2009 17:59:59 GMT
The picture that brought hope to Weymouth fans and one now that must be up on every dartboard in Weymouth  When I was in Weymouth on Monday morning the manager from Jewsons( they sponsored the last home match) was saying how great it was that a Devon man had stepped in and saved the club, it will be interesting to hear his views tomorrow, when I will call and see him again. Gary Calder turned down the offer from a good local consortium and for the reasons Merse stated, it would have meant the end for him, but you have to ask if the so called deal with Beer, was just a means of buying Gary Calder some time, how long did he think it would buy him and did Beer even have that sort of money to put in. All may not be lost just yet, two things can now happen and the first is the club gets put into administration, not the best way forward but one that may just buy it some time to find a proper rescue plan. Two the consortium try again to take control of the club, I do know a few of them feel bruised over their offer being turned down, but Gary Calder has nowhere to go really and may now have to take their offer and move on.All this nonsense with Beer has just waisted so much time, its now three weeks since the consortium were told that there was another offer on the table. Unless some people are prepared to swallow their pride and do the right thing now, something that has not been happening in the more recent times, then Weymouth FC really be finished and gone for good. I'm still hopeful for them and if the real people who do care about the club, can get the control of it, then it will have a future, that may well be in a much lower league than the BSP. |
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merse
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Post by merse on Mar 11, 2009 18:53:13 GMT
Of course you realise that Gary Calder was the chairman of Hornchurch FC when they went tits up and was dismissed from that role by Karl Williams who financed that wildly underfunded venture. Before long, both he and Garry Hill (who had been manager at Hornchurch) had re-emerged at Weymouth and yet again the shit hit the fan financially and they were forced to offload several players (including Paul Buckle) and Hill left the scene much as he had at Hornchurch. RomfordGull might be in a position to correct me, but I seem to remember Mr Calder as a former Leyton Orient player who I first came accross when he was General Manager at Billericay Town, employing Kev's old mate Justin Edinburgh as his Team Manager. Living beyond their means prove to be a problem at Billericay too..................something that seems to follow Mr Calder around like a bad smell and he has also been rumoured to have been in negotiations with Cambridge United Chairman George Rolls ~ another character who has been bringing his club into conflict thanks to ducking and diving over the departure of Jimmy Quinn and the re-signing of Lee McHeavilly (against the advice of Quinn and BEFORE his successor Gary Brabin was in place) as well as the farcical carry on with Peterborough United over the loan of Scott Rendell ~ over taking over at Cambridge United as Chief Executive there! Again, RomfordGull will fill in the detail, but wasn't Calder too connected with Romford FC at some stage?
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merse
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Post by merse on Mar 11, 2009 19:21:52 GMT
A bit more research on Gary Calder turns this up on commenting about the spectacular injections of cash into previously moribund Hornchurch FC ................."There's not one person putting money in. Karl Williams is a fan of the club. He doesn't own it. Two off-shore companies own the club, but I'm not going down that road."~ Gary Calder in the Observer Newspaper Karl Williams in fact owned The Carthium Group who in turn owned double glazing firms Bryco and Coldseal who both went bust. They pumped huge sums of money into a club that never managed to attract four figure crowds and in fact were only being watched by around a hundred or so when it all started............Garry Hill was on a reputed "£100K pa" a considerable increase on the £76k pa he earned at successful neighbours Dagenham & Redbridge. So now we have to ask the question: "just what was Garry Hill on at Weymouth then?" Daryl Clare was reputedly offered £3k a WEEK to move to Hornchurch from Chester at the time and Barnet's Guiliano Grazioli talked of being offered over £2k a WEEK to play there when he was at Barnet and Kirk Stephens of doubling his Yeovil Town salary when he went there! With an annual wage bill of £1.2 million and gate receipts of just £60,000 for the season at Hornchurch when they had the plug pulled, one has to ask just what has been going on with the clubs Mr Calder gets involved with? Whatever it is, the financial wreckage of Billericay, Hornchurch and Weymouth doesn't look very good on his CV does it!
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Mar 12, 2009 17:39:52 GMT
While It stated on the BBC website that the deal was off and Beer was not putting any money into Weymouth it has not been confirmed by the club. below is an article that has appeared in the Dorset Echo and not only does it make sense, it really is the only way to go I feel
THE group of nine local businessmen who failed in a bid to take over crisis club Weymouth believe a “reality check” needs to occur at the Wessex Stadium.
The consortium, made up of Grant Leighton, Simon Etherington, William Ronald, Shaun Hennessy, Tristan Murless, Colin Brumble, Ramon Hidari, Stuart Barnes and Mark Coleman, saw their rescue package rejected by the current board of directors on February 25 in favour of Stephen Beer’s proposed investment.
The nine-strong contingent, who felt they could have safeguarded the future of the Terras, have issued a statement citing their disappointment at not being given the chance to elaborate on their plans for the club and the need to give fans the chance to make an impact.
It reads: “As a group of local businessmen and WFC supporters, we answered the call from Gary Calder to attend an informal meeting at the Wessex Stadium (February 12) to look at ways of saving the club.
“Nine of us at the meeting agreed to go forward as a group and put into place a plan for WFC which we felt would have ensured its survival and ensured the fans still had a team to support.
“Broadly speaking our plan was, with the agreement of creditors, to place the club in a pre-pack administration and to form a new company to take it forward.
“It would have almost certainly resulted in relegation, but we were certain that this would give the club the chance to remain in existence at a playing level that it could sustain.
“It would have given the club the opportunity to do the honourable thing with the creditors but also ensure any financial skeletons lurking in the WFC closet would not be able to hinder the club in its restructuring process.
“With administration would also have come the removal of the current board of directors. This fact may be the reason why our proposal was declined, and we were never even shown the courtesy of a meeting with the full board of directors to discuss our plans.
“We would have also wanted the club to return to part-time playing staff and to give the opportunity for a few more local players like James Coutts to step up to the plate.
“The recent history of WFC has been littered with financial disasters. The haemorrhaging of money and assets has come to an end and the cupboard is finally bare.
“Too many managers have come and gone – 23 in last 20 years – most bring their own favourite players and backroom staff but there has been little continuity on the pitch.
“It is the responsibility of the board of directors with its chief executive to ensure that the club is run properly.
“It is you the fans who pay your hard earned money week in week out and local businesses whose sponsorship money boosts the club’s coffers. Has the money been spent wisely?
“How can WFC, who were probably one of the wealthiest non-League clubs in the country, have transcended to the dire financial condition it is in today?
“The loyal fans are the ones who treat the Saturday afternoon heights of elation and depths of despair with the same stoic resolution.
“They should have a voice in the future direction the club takes and their representatives should be there at board level to guide it along that path.
“Even though it is still in doubt, the alleged £300,000 cheque from Stephen Beer would not plug the financial black hole that still exists at the club. It would still leave the club teetering on the brink of insolvency, still losing thousands of pounds every month.
“Surely the time has now come to take a reality check on what WFC actually is and what level it should be playing its football at.
“Our proposal, while not palatable to some, would have at least guaranteed football at the Wessex Stadium and then in its new home for the foreseeable future.”
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merse
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Post by merse on Mar 12, 2009 20:34:28 GMT
Seems like the plug has been pulled on the club's official website now as well as the one for the "SOC" ~ Save Our Club campaign. The statement by the "rejected nine" is of course perfectly realistic and reasonable, but of course it would make obsolete the current incompetant incumbents at the club.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Mar 12, 2009 20:43:36 GMT
sadly there would be losers and they would be all the ones who are owed money etc, but I do feel they have talked much sense and going part time and playing in a lower league where they could live within their means, has to be the correct way to go and start to rebuild the club.
The question is, will he see sense and do the right thing and move on and let those who only care about the club, take over and get on with what needs to be done.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Mar 12, 2009 21:05:01 GMT
Yes their website has gone,but the fans forum is still up and running. Seems there was a board meeting today, but no one knows what was decided etc, it also seems that the Gold Club winners have all had their winning cheques returned from the bank unpaid. It justs gets sadder and sadder and one poster was just asking if they could have their club back.
Like I said we really are the lucky ones and that is why our board deserve much better support coming through the gates than it is getting.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Mar 15, 2009 20:33:34 GMT
I had called for more time for Weymouth as I believed a real rescue plan was in place and we would have seen them fielding a much stronger team.
That is now not going to happen and allowing them to continue with a boys team has to be addressed by the league.
Mr Beer it seems is still in Dorchester hospital, but did he ever have the money he claimed he was putting into Weymouth? He had to do cleaning at our ground only two years ago, as he could not pay for the hospitality he had enjoyed in our ground. It seems he owes over £10.000 to local companies here in Torbay and was living in a one bedroom housing association flat.
The Weymouth chairman claimed he had Beer checked out, but he never saw anything from the Abby where the money was meant to be. What a strange affair, I do wonder if it all came about over a few drinks to many in a Weymouth hotel.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2009 23:03:48 GMT
Ian Ridley has something to say on Mr Beer in today's Mail on Sunday:
Happy days were here again and within a few of them, Mr Beer was meeting the board, manager and players. He joined the party to York City.
One of the players thought it a bit odd that he dressed so shabbily and it appeared to be the first time he had eaten in a restaurant, as he asked for explanations of dishes on the menu, but all assumed he was an eccentric millionaire.
He told the local paper he was a Christian and wished to share the good fortune of his 39 years. He even came up with a cheque for £300,000. The problem was that it contained spelling mistakes and had Tipp-Ex marks on it.
I found that on the web rather than in the paper. The NLP, which I read in the sun in the Fox Tor cafe's tea garden, reckons that Lee Power and Colin Hill are still sniffing around the ashes with Gary Calder looking more-and-more like the villain of the piece (I heard a cracking theory yesterday - based on nothing much at all - about Mr Beer being some sort of stalking horse. Brilliant stuff!). Meanwhile Ian Ridley - who I can never quite work out - says he won't touch the club with a barge pole now the FA is investigating betting patterns and financial irregularities. Whereas it might be difficult for the authorities to take action on the weakened teams - unless there are specific irregularities surrounding that Rushden game - you wonder if something that led to that state of affairs will eventually do for them in terms of finishing the season.
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merse
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Post by merse on Mar 16, 2009 3:53:18 GMT
He told the local paper he was a Christian and wished to share the good fortune of his 39 years. He even came up with a cheque for £300,000. The problem was that it contained spelling mistakes and had Tipp-Ex marks on it. [/i] [/quote] Not such a bloody Christian that he offered to subsidise Millwall's Lions at the Den then?  Just love it about the cheque, the Tipp-Ex didn't conceal the name "Fred Scuttle" did it? or maybe it WAS originally made out to Millwall FC and the signature HAD been "A. Christian"! Of course, he might have had a "Christian conscience" over winning three hundred grand off the bookies having bet on Rushden winning at Weymouth on that afternoon of high farce, and had he actually wormed his way into the club might he have used his "Christian" principals to take Chief Executive Gary Calder ( salary - £80k per annum) to task for making an eleven thousand pound payment to the company of potential future owner Keith Hill (ex Chairman of Rushden & Diamonds) during a period when the playing staff and management haven't been paid for two months. I hope no-one on here was gullible enough to chuck money into their "Save Our Club" campaign! |
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Post by tufcwewillbeback on Mar 16, 2009 19:43:03 GMT
Just noticed that bookies have stopped even offering odds on weymouth matches.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Mar 18, 2009 12:08:16 GMT
I have taken some lines from the Dorset Echo, as the club now has new directors and Calder has left the club and that should please many Weymouth fans.
"BUSINESSMEN Paul Cocks and Shaun Hennessy have been appointed directors of Weymouth Football Club after their rescue package was accepted by the club’s board of directors yesterday.
Following this decision, chief executive Gary Calder and director Mark Golsby resigned from their positions and left the club while finance director Ian Winsor will remain on the board.
Cocks said: “It’s been a very busy few days but we are delighted to clinch the deal. We are confident the club will survive and there is no risk of it going into administration however, cash will be very tight for a while.
We will be relaunching the share sale and hope as many fans as possible will invest in the club.
“Share certificates will be issued to the people that have given money so far but those that have changed their minds need to contact the club in the next 24 hours and we will reimburse them with their money.”
Calder, who joined the Terras in March 2005, refused to comment on his exit from the Wessex Stadium."
There will be money available to bring in some new players they have already signed ex-Cheltenham Town midfielder Ben Gill, others will hopefully soon follow and maybe we will see Weymouth putting out a stronger side than of late.
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