Rob Heys

[loweiy]

I have just read Rob Heys's article in todays accy ob, I think we should all get behind Rob and the team going foward. He is in charge of day to day running with Don/Eric only there on match days, reading between the lines we are in skint street again due to abandoned matches. I agree with all of you who dislike the thought of cash going into the old guards pockets and as Rob says Eric wants some cash back, however Eric is not in charge of the bank account, Rob is, and as such I trust Rob to steward the club through this difficult time.

Rob is a FAN 1st and the Chief exec 2nd and all fans must stand together. I have seen many people approach him at the club and he has always tried to answer them to the best of his ability, now that he is laying the cards on the table I think we should back him to the hilt. I for one could not have carried out the work he has done over the last couple of years and still tried to keep smiling.

Loweiy

[Pendle Red]

Very difficult to really comment without seeing the full extent of the article

It is something I have feared, at the end of the day as Loweiy has said there are people at the Club who still have to battle on day to day regardless of what is going on behind the scenes.

Once again a simple plea from me please just sort out the problems once and for all and let the Club and it's people move on.


I suppose the question for us all now is

What can we do as fans?

[lancsdave]

It's a shame that these threads and posts have to be made pleading to all fans when the actions of only 2 people to walk away would start to solve most of the problems.

I for one could not have carried out the work he has done over the last couple of years and still tried to keep smiling.

Would have tested the patience of any saint

[cashman]

well its incorrect that E.W. is only yon on matchdays fer starters.

[shillelagh]

ive just read the back page of this weeks accy observer and from a sometime visitor to stanley ... it makes scary reading ... think it needs sorting out ...

[maccawozzagod]

the most striking thing for me in that article is that for possibly the first time there was a lot of truth in it! Things that we have all pretty much known about but they have never been admitted - Eric wants money that he claims to have put into the club but there is no record of it so Ilyas and Peter are going through ALL the accounts to prove it right or wrong.

There's also a piece by Do'n saying that the fans are starting to get on his back ...

[shakermaker]

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

There's also a piece by Do'n saying that the fans are starting to get on his back ...

Diddums.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

the most striking thing for me in that article is that for possibly the first time there was a lot of truth in it! Things that we have all pretty much known about but they have never been admitted - Eric wants money that he claims to have put into the club but there is no record of it so Ilyas and Peter are going through ALL the accounts to prove it right or wrong.

There's also a piece by Do'n saying that the fans are starting to get on his back ...

would never have happened if the man had been straight up n not filled people with bull, from his early days, or at least explained why things were not as he said, so all i can say to that is GOOD.

[simon]

I agree Lowiey,

Rob, YOU have my full support.

Just hope this means Rob has been let off the leash, and is not just being a pawn as in the past.

[ukcowboy]

I also agree with Lowiey, but I do admit to feeling somewhat different in the past.

Is the article refered to availiable to read online?

[Pendle Red]

So where does it leave us then?

Too many unanswered questions...

Is there sign of movement on the ownership issue?

How can it be resolved taking into account already the timescale?

How are the Club supposed to move on be it on the field or off while it still hangs over everybodies heads?

Are we expected too dig deep again likewise others?

How can the Club function?

How can us the fans make a difference and in what way?

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

Eric wants money that he claims to have put into the club .

Money which became worthless in November 2009 when one man in particular and 100's of others put their own money in

[Whalley Red]

Chief executive Rob Heys admits it is getting harder and harder to run Accrington Stanley as long as the ownership issue remains unresolved.

The wrangling between major shareholder Eric Whalley, managing director Dave O’Neill and chairman Ilyas Khan, who wants to turn it into a fan-run club, has been ongoing for 18 months and nothing has really changed.

Peter Shaw is waiting to come on board as a fourth director alongside O’Neill, Khan and Peter Marsden but the problem of who actually owns the club remains up in the air.

Heys admits it is a battle just to keep the club afloat, especially with the uncertainty.

O’Neill, who tried to take over the club 18 months ago, has not been around the club day-to-day during the last month but is there on matchdays, like former chairman Whalley, who did try to sell his majority shareholding to O’Neill but the deal was never completed.

Heys said: "The ownership issue needs to be resolved and it is a real weight around the club. We continue to get some good results on the pitch; however, behind the scenes we are fighting a losing battle.

"It is getting harder and harder to get people to take the club seriously, let alone to support us in terms of sponsorship or even coming to a game.
"Finances are now tight, we are currently three games behind where we should be due to postponements and, even when they are played, rearranged match income is poor in comparison to original.

"Added to this one or two of our major sponsors have had difficulties. Our cashflow is thousands of pounds down at the moment"

Accrington millionaire Khan saved the club from being wound up by paying a £306,000 tax bill in November 2009, but is based in London.

He then donated his 12 per cent shares in the club to the fans and wants to turn the money he has since put into the club into shares which he says would give him 66 per cent shares and make him the majority owner. He wants to then find a way to let the supporters run Stanley. However, this has not been agreed behind the scenes and so the battle goes on.

The club still has to pay £30,000 a month to the tax man as well as the running costs, made worse over December and January due to the number of postponements of home games.

Heys continued: "In the past we have looked to Ilyas for support, and maybe if the situation was at its most serious we could ask for assistance. However, with no shares in the club, it is arguably not his place to be putting in the cash.

"There has been no involvement in the running of the club from those who are involved in the ownership wrangle since before Christmas.

"It is the staff behind the scenes who have been left to keep the club going, and they deserve a massive amount of credit for getting on with the job in hand despite all the difficulties. Every day is a battle and the attitude of all involved has been tremendous. Wages have been paid late, we have to fight to keep HMRC satisfied and more and more creditors are understandably pushing for money. We are fortunate that we have a great bunch of people at the club and a remarkable team spirit on and off the pitch.

"Staff and players have been patient with wages and fortunately for the time being there is an understanding of the issues we face on a daily basis."

The club wants to offer new deals to several of their players, whose contracts run out in the summer, but Heys admitted that they are hitting a brick wall due to the financial uncertainty.

"It is also having an impact on what is going to happen in the future," he said. "It is holding up negotiations for new contracts with the likes of Jimmy Ryan, Terry Gornell, Phil Edwards and others.

"There is a great squad, a real chance to do something this year, but whatever happens, we want to keep a side together for next season so we aren’t asking John Coleman and assistant Jimmy Bell to start from scratch again."

Manager Coleman, whose 17th placed side play Southend at home tomorrow, was able to sign Ian Craney on an 18-month new deal in January but Heys said: "That had conditions as I agreed with John that we would cover his wages with sending players out on loan and I expect a number to go soon after the loan window reopened on Monday."

The chief executive admitted the situation was exasperating for everyone connected with the club: "There needs to be a resolution before it is too late, whatever too late may mean.

"It would be soul-destroying to see us lose our Football League status, and it is debatable whether we would ever get it back within a lifetime.
"But the real tragedy is that if a solution can be found and a way forward agreed we have a great platform from which to build.

"We have a great young squad, an ambitious management duo, a good team of people behind the scenes who need to be given the freedom to do what they are capable of, and an inevitable swell of support that would get behind us if we could show we can get things in order.

"This club has had a lot of success in the last 10 years, and there is no reason why that shouldn’t continue.

"We could do something special with Accrington Stanley, but the situation at the top needs sorting now."

The future must be sorted - now | Accrington Observer - menmedia.co.uk

[Exile on Spencer St]

I don't know how much money Eric Whalley has put into to the club, or how much he has taken out. It would seem, given the time it's taking to sort this question out, few people, if any, actually know for sure.
But the idea that he expects to get his money back seems to me to verging on the delusional.
Stanley may be 'famous' but not as a Premiership corporation. Like it or not, we're famous for going bust. We are talking about a club that is trying to survive in a business gone mad with greed on average home gates of 1,750. A club that is so financially precarious that a few cancelled home games could tip it over the edge.
Just how does he expect to get his money back from that?
It's like fans expecting to get back the price of admission if things don;t go well at the end of the season. They 'invest' in the club too.
Whalley's return on his investment has been to see the club rise from the ashes and back into the league. For which we are all grateful. Did he really buy into Stanley expecting to get a return as if he was investing in the Footsie 100?
But by now appearing to have such unrealistic expectations (Man Buys Accie Stanley as Sound Financial Investment Shock!) he is fast losing the respect he might otherwise have deserved for helping to get the club back to where we all believe it belongs.
One of the dangers of the current boardroom stalemate, which I've long feared, is that it may only be resolved by the club going into administration, in order that a fresh start could be made. I really hope it won't come to that but, in business as in life, there's none so blind as those who will not see.

[lancsdave]

The stalemate needs to end quickly: O?Neill | Accrington Observer - menmedia.co.uk

Can somebody explain tis section of the above article to me ?

O’Neill says he has bought Whalley’s major shareholding in Stanley and transferred the money over 18 months ago but the agreement hasn’t yet been signed by former chairman Whalley.
"There is a stumbling block between Eric and Ilyas," said O’Neill.

If you buy something off somebody and they don't hand over the goods how can that be an issue with a third party