More than a manager
 

James Beattie pays Accrington Stanley's tax bill | Mail Online

If true, well done, James, but is it a reflection of inadequate financial management from the club?

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Not only did he use to play for them but is one in real life,well done and thank you James

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Just begs the question, why is our manager having to do this? Hope its not a repeat of previous years under DON.

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Well done Beats, it don't beg any question to me, it demonstrates a club trying to survive on next to sod all.;)

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DON also ploughed his own money in to stem an earlier tax bill before the SOS crisis. I fear this scenario will keep rearing it's head.

Quite simply without the support of the town....the club will keep having to face these sorts of things or long term remain solvent yet playing at a lower level.

Well done James....a magnificent gesture. :)

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What an absolute gent !!

The club needs business thinking people running this club! Most of the staff there seem to know nothing about running a football league club and its quite clearly obvious in the last couple of months! It's a massive shame as on the pitch we are good looking team and nothing can be done more on the pitch!

This is happening far too often and is no surprise sometimes when the town of accrington don't come out and support the team !

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Not sure how many times we can keep going through this .........

:(

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the best bit of the article was the bit that said BT cleaned the bogs before Everton came!!!

James, get your hand in your pocket lad and buy up the remaining shares!

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Thank You JB

Too mad to even comment on the rest

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Okay calmed down a bit now

I totally agree with the comments of Redraine & Revived Red

Why has it happened again?

Why has the story come out in the Press before a word from the Club?

There are so many questions and so many unanswered ones if it needs a Shareholders AGM or a Q & A with the Directors then let's be having it.

Surely as a Business you know your budgets, your operating costs, your biggest revenue streams and if you don't then....

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A short reply :)

James wanted to sign Kal, due to the fact that we had not paid Taxman - which was not due until the end of this week - we could not.

James wanted Kal as part of his squad and did not want to wait, so he paid it.

There are much tighter constraints this season - squad number, wages to % turnover etc. - and the Taxman was flexing his muscle so to speak.

I hope that this will allay fears :)

:) :) :)

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Thanks very much for putting us in the picture, Joe.

What a pity that the club hasn't the nous to put the public at large in the picture via the press and t'fishy site. despite the story being in the public domain all day.

Tinpot doesn't even begin to describe it.

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if it was not due until the end of the week then there would be no embargo n'est pas? Surely the bill has to be down as a late payment for an embargo to be in place?

And is the reason why we have no substitute goalkeeper related to the same story?

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HMRC are good at moving the goalposts. :(

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What does that mean?

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It means that we were not late, but we were not on time, therefore they decided to say no ;)

:)

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Sorry, mate, sounds completely Irish to me!

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its good to see rangers help the Stanley, as they cancelled the 2 year contract so Stanley could get Naismith for free ;)

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Heard Ally McOist had a big hand in that.;)

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To me, this sort of revelation proves two things.

Firstly we have an extremely committed manager, who had to resort to such a selfless gesture to stump up the necessary funds, to enable him to sign a key player integral to his own plans.:o

And secondly, for me at least, it would also shed a little light on why Leam probably decided that a No2 position at Chesterfield was a better prospect to him, than fire-fighting here at Stanley as our No1.:confused::(

We're a League Two team in status, run on Conference level gates, backed up by the business / commercial ethos of a Unibond league outfit. :mad:

As a club, how much more negative press can we inflict on ourselves??? How many more times do we shoot ourselves in the foot???:confused:

And we wonder why the Accrington public don't come out in force to get behind it's team??:(

Those at the helm, i.e. those in power at Boardroom level, should be aware of one thing to be sure......There's only so many times you can wave SOS buckets around.:mad:

This club, namely it's commercial operation, needs to drag itself away from it's "tinpot" public image and start operating at the same level as it's playing staff.....professionally.:(

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Agree Carpon, aint as easy as it sounds though wi our finances?:confused: Yeh know the owd saying, "Yeh pay peanuts";)

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HMRC usually start proceedings against someone a week after the payment deadline, we must have been late with the payment for it to have been brought into the news. Things have got to change in the way operations are run day to day, surely someone who is independent of Stanley should be brought in who can put a proper structure in place in order to get policies and procedures in place to sort the club out.

The retail side has been a mess this summer and the club have missed out on valuable income from fans due to having little stock for sale. This and the online shop really need addressing if the club want dosh from fans into the coffers.

Well done to JB for stepping in but he shouldn't have to.

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Why should JAMES BEATTIE pay the tax man , ASFC have a payment from the FA or football league . they have had half the gate money from MIDDLESBORO , SKY money and the gate money from the PORTSMOUTH game , this income was generated in less than a week . It baffles me why James Beattie has to use his own money to pay the taxman ,Maybe someone from the club can explain WHY ? ,;

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I dont think any of that money will have been in the clubs account last week

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Ironic that a club who couldnt get thier house in order aare being touted as helping Stanley out :)

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All that money should have been banked at the latest on Saturday night the 10th of August...... surely they won't keep large amounts of money on the premises esp when Accrington Cricket club have been broken into at least 4 times in a month.

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The tax money will have had to be paid by the 8th for Naismith to play on Saturday

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Do you actually know if the money had been paid in? or any cheque cleared?:confused:

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Thanks for that

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Apart from the Portsmouth gate money I doubt they have seen the rest yet

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That was my thought as well.

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First off, Carpon, this is possibly the best post I've ever read.

From my perspective, the positives in this are:
- if this story is confirmed, then James Beattie is obviously taking his first job in management very seriously and is doing everything he possibly can to make sure he's successful, which can only be good for us.
- he's obviously a fella, who wants to uphold his reputation as a professional and within the game, as he has played at the very highest level.
- it shows he understands the club. He could have colour in the press bemoaning this, but has just got on with focusing on building the best side he can.


The Negatives:
- why oh why should our manager be put in this position.
- we need at least one credible person charged with running all aspects of the club on a day to day basis, to avoid these situations again and to at least manage some of the publicity around situations like this. I won't get on my leadership soapbox!
- if we are living above our means, cut our cloth accordingly.
- the club and indeed it's reps on this forum could have come out and told the full truth here to give us the full picture, but I feel they've been economic with the truth, especially with regard to the exact position with HMRC.

It never dull supporting our club!

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It's like Groundhog Day supporting Stanley

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Gob smacked yet again :eek: well done JB you've saved the stanley from more embarisment:( The club needs help from someone who knows how to get some much needed funds in on a regular basis, retail side and the on line retail side needs help big style no disripect to keil and dan ithink !! The club needs LEWIS CARROLL back to run the whole show :)

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rangers have been the victim of a huge fraud , caused by loyds bank who forced through the sale of the club to craig whyte who has allegedly has links to Charles green the sfa said craig whyte was fit and proper which clearly isn't the case . now we have a bunch of spivs using the club as a cash cow. trouble is brewing as there is going to be a coup in a week and its not going to be pretty. hopefully the retail will get fixed pronto ive been on the Stanley merchandise website but there is nothing on.:confused:

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I just hope disillusionment doesn't set in with JB long before his money is repaid.

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The Bottom line is HMRC after everything that has happened they should be Top of any List regardless of anything else if they say jump then we say how high.

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Reading between the lines, i think we did, Which is why Beats hadn't the available dosh to sign the lad? :) The guy is obviously interested in progression, sod all wrong wi that, Good on him.

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Afriend of mine and he knows what he's talking about says the best man to replace ROB HEYS is PAUL FLETCHER ex BURNLEY footballer ?

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In the grand scale of things the retail side is a contributor but not a club saver. The biggest source of income would be to increase the gates, unfortunatley result dependent, and the commercial side. Now the situation is vacant Stanley somehow have to find a person who is really going to bring in the bigger money from sponsors etc. To do that you have to pay bigger wages which can only come from somebody who is bringing the money in. Vicious circle :(

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It may be a stupid question but who actually owns the club/assets etc..???

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At Monday's OSC meeting it was said that 42 youngsters had
taken up the offer of a free season ticket.

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Beat me to it :D

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GOOD QUES.... Do ASFC still have the SHARE ISSUE money maybe our chairman can let us know ..... If we don't ASFC have not very much left in assets ...but wait a minuet wheres it gone..... i remember a couple of years ago the bailiffs came and apart from the floodlights there were nothing much else of value ...

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[QUOTE=ianray;1071564]GOOD QUES.... Do ASFC still have the SHARE ISSUE money maybe our chairman can let us know, BUT HE WON'T..... If we don't ASFC have not very much left in assets ...but wait a minute wheres it gone..... i remember a couple of years ago the bailiffs came and apart from the floodlights there were nothing much else of value ...[/QU

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This seems to be drifting away from what was a timing issue regarding finances, and I would guess, one the club has every summer with no income but players wages to pay up to the end of the July.

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If there are any questions / queries that fans have then please contact me as Accrington Stanley's Supporter Liaison Officer.
Email me: [email protected] and I'll try my best to answer.

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Will it be raining for the next home game ? :D

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in line with IANRAY comments on a NEW CEO, Paul Fletcher still lives in Newchurch Rossendale and Paul Agnew ( who was sat in the Directors box v Portsmouth could be the guys to take us forward behind the scenes
Both these guys are experienced working at clubs behind the scenes

IT COULD BE OUR MOST IMPORTANT SIGNING YET

Come Stanley put a smile on IanRay s face and make it happen !

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Paul Fletcher yes please. Paul Agnew absolutely NO WAY. The most poorly regarded Press officer the national dailies have ever had the misfortune to deal with and the fan's bogey man in his last job.

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I reckon Fletch's tax & NI should just about double the current payments :D

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I sit next to him every week and believe me Stanley have more chance of winning the FA cup than IANRAY cracking a smile.

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I agree entirely ....but not long ago Rob Heys said on the radio we get a £1,000,000 a year from other sources surely some of this should be put on one sde to pay the wages in summer .

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:) not true:( I see every home game and every away game on the away coach if i did not enjoy it i would not go) ha ha ha ha ha ha

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neither.
advertise the job and see who applies.

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Why is it always Accrington Stanley who are targetted for tax or arrears , when the Premier BIG guns are in £ millions of debt , yet can still buy players etc at extortionate prices . I love Stanley but feel we are often made samples of.

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NOWAY If the job was advertised a certain JC and JB might apply and that would be a disaster. NO PAUL FLETCHER is the man for the job keep the short list as short as possible :mad:

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No they wouldnt and no he is not.

Why do you need a football man to be CEO?
Is there any other cheif execs who are ex footballers?
I cant think of any.

If it must be an ex football man, it has to be paul Mullin.
Has the brains.

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JC is both a football man and has brains !!,don't forget he also managed the club thro turbulent times !!!

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Aye n fer all the good, was part of the reason fer the turbulence.:rolleyes:

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You can't advertise for applicants for jobs that don't exist. You'll have the club up before trading standards.

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Have I missed something-has Rob Heys been sacked? I would suggest from afar, that running ASFC would be akin to riding a unicycle on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon. I would guess that whoever was in charge would still be subject to the negativity Rob gets from some on here because he would still have the same budget, the same restraints and the same overheads. If he saves a penny here, there would be a penny required there. For what its worth, I believe Rob is doing a wonderful job, and if the great man himself (Ilyas Khan) endorses him,thats more than good enough for me. It should be the same for you.

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... and good on you JB, a legend already.!!

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Hang on a minute, if the club does advertise, surely it wouldn't be for the post(s) that Coleman and/or Bell could apply for. It's a Chief Executive we may need to find, not a new manager of the team. The problem isn't on the pitch.

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Quite. Thank you, saves me a post ....

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we HAVE to face facts and the facts are that Stanley have always been and will always be a poor relation. We hail from an unfashionable town that is doomed to merely exist and never again flourish. Punching above our weight isn't just a lame cliché that we trot out to make ourselves feel better every time the Barrow hits the fan.

In order to do more than just exist the club (and/or the town) needs to do something out of the ordinary that really galvanises the place.

A lottery winner couldn't guarantee success but he could revitalise the club from the ground upwards. It needs wholesale rethinking about how the money should be spent to build upon what we have. For some reason a Barrow club like us keeps managing to surprise people, we keep on getting to this level of football and outperforming what the experts think of us. If we had money behind us and exceeded expectation we'd be pushing out of The Championship ffs!

Only a ridiculous cup run and trip to Old Trafford, or unearthing the next Lionel Messi can provide us with the funds to turn the club around and become what we all want it to be. But should it happen one day I would wager that the money would be spent on 'having a go' at moving up rather than developing the income generators that would enable us to do that every season.

We SHOULD have the biggest, busiest and best function room in the borough
We SHOULD have the best training facilities in the borough
We SHOULD have a permanent town centre presence
We SHOULD own every school in the borough
We SHOULD have a fully functioning website that is updated the same day

We HAVE none of the above.

We have a fan liaison officer and two fan directors yet the perennial complaint of no communication still exists. We don't learn, stories WILL break and then those guys fire fight. We had/have a lifelong fan who worked his way from the terrace to the club shop, to secretary to CEO to MD yet he had to fire fight and (to some) his reputation suffered for it (long before the present and sad situation.

To those fan directors/liaison officers, please review your standing and consider what others think your role to be. Are you there to pretend to be directors? or are you our eyes and ears within the club? I love and respect the three of you as men and as fans but in my opinion the role is not self fulfilling. Most don't even know who you are.

2nd Rant

Somebody brought up the share issue and whether it is still going or whether the money is still there. When it was first pushed out it was on the back of IK stating that he would put £2m into a new ground and the share issue would hopefully fund another large chunk - with the remainder being contributed by sponsors/hotel/building contractor. With the best will in the world that is not going to happen is it? That ship sailed long ago and probably had as much to do with hype and publicity as it had to do with reality and intent. So why don't we put the story and hope back in it's box and start to review what we can do to the ground to bring it to where it needs to be? Livingstone Road isn't ideal and will never host a super stadium, but it doesn't need to. It needs to be home to Accrington Stanley and all that involves. From the bricks and mortar that were carried on the backs of a Lancashire Combination teams band of brothers, to the history and heritage of the two teams that came before. We can't incorporate a swimming pool, cinema or bowling alley but we can jemmy in some proper offices, shops, concourse outlets, dry seats and an impressive function room that is separate from the prawn sandwiches.

Last time we had any kind of murmurings about new stands there was a figure of £400,000 mentioned to develop the Whinney Hill Stand. There was also talk of Football Foundation grants for the vast majority if we built it all seater. Are we revisiting these thoughts? £400k shouldn't be too difficult to raise if it has a proper business plan attached to it. Or the FF option, nobody would begrudge an all-seater family stand running down the brickyard side would they? Build the changing rooms into and free up the existing area for a shop - or extend the away end right the way down and accommodate an extra 500 fans.

Many mentions are made on here by various people asking the club if we have a medium and long term plan. It is never answered. It is never offered. If we have one then speak it, orate to the public and let us in on the plan.

End of rant

We have a smashing little club and each and every one of us is proud of it. We are ridiculed wherever we go for poor facilities, Conference North crowds, sloping pitches, betting charges, betting charges (deliberately mentioned twice), stewards paid in washers etc etc. Yet still we gleam with honour at the fact that our run down little town has provided THREE football clubs that have defied the odds and produced teams to be proud of. We burst with pride when our laughable away crowds produce spirit that would have shamed the British Army at Rorke's Drift. We laugh at the bookies who are certain that Stanley will sink each and every year.

From Keith Morton to John-de-Maine, Eric, The Don, little Dan Warburton, John Alty, the irrepressible Frank Martindale, through to Ilyas Kahn, Peter Marsden and the Ben Hur cast that few can name, nobody has ever sat in that board room or commercial department and wondered how they can get away with doing nothing today. Everyone ever tasked with building our club has sweated blood and toiled long hours to doing everything they possibly can to get us going. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but each time they have dusted themselves down and gone back into work the following day to try again. Now is the time to dust ourselves off and keep moving. I don't know how much communication goes on between the powers that be and how often they get together, but it needs to be more often and more productive. Between all those guys are the brain cells, the ideas and the graft to find the way to take us forward another level.

Let's do this.

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Really Good post Rob excellent points that encapsulates in one post all the differing view points and potential alternatives.

Easy to get caught up in the keeping the wolves from the door routine and become insular the hard part is breaking that cycle standing back and being proactive.

It has been built on being a tight knit Club which for me is part of the attraction of the Club but also despair at the missed opportunities to build on the success of on the field and surviving every year is part of that cycle a chance to take the support and the Club onto the next level.

As Rob has said facilities are at best adequate then would come the reply well why spend on it?

Why not look to buy the Ground and slowly develop it to generate income?

I am grateful for all those who have & do work tirelessly to keep the Club afloat but that is the firefight escape that cycle leave nothing unturned and move it on.

There is still so much untapped potential out there and the current economic climate makes it even harder but if you reach out and emulate to fill the potential there is then who knows where we could be in two years or three years time but that is part of a plan.

No time like the present

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One of the best posts ive ever read .....WELL DONE .....

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Macca for PM!........great post buddy

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Having read with interest Rob's weighty tome, the thought occurs that when JB publishes his autobiog the chapter on his period at Stanley must surely be the most fascinating and amusing. Let's hope off pitch constraints allow him to enjoy a few years with us before a bigger club comes in for him. The man continues to impress and I, for one, am extremely pleased he is our Gaffer. Well done James.

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Just wait till Monday .... Then judge ....

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Think ones on reason that robbed picked up on is that we don't include the town . The fact is that the ground is too far away from town . It's a right trek away from the town and if your not determined to go to a football game or not a big Accy fan then people arnt going to make the effort to come watch the team.

At the club there are too many wannabes and not enough professional people who know what to do in a football club! There always has been too many people at the club to help out which is a massive positive and has helped the club survive but on another side it's also got a negative side where too many unqualified , non business like, rose tinted people who are nothing but a hindrance to the club and do not know anything about helping a FOOTBALL LEAGUE club and have wormed themselves into the club to be there full time!

Great post though Rob!

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Thats a bit of encouraging news mate.:);)

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I Think theres a job going now unless someone in the office is going to do ROB HEYS 's job ?

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Wrong thread, let's stick to comments about Mr. Beattie on here otherwise Rob Heys will swamp the site, or are you suggesting that JB could do the MD's job as well?

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well were still paying him, for not being there

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While i'm not trying to cast doubt, I know for a fact that your chairman did personally finance the pre season in Portugal (and new team suits for the first time), seams slightly weird that he's be splashing the cash on flying the squad to the sunshine (which must of cost about the same as the tax bill) when the club accountants must of known that the taxman would be calling soon? - Just saying!

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Yes, he's our chairman. But if he's not yours, as your post implies, maybe you should 'support' another web site. The chairman's, and the manager's generosity is welcome and to be applauded. But it's not news to anyone on here that, administratively and financially the club has rarely shown that it's anything but chaotic.
If you can do better, watch out for the job advert.

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ooops sorry,.... Good idea i think JB could do both jobs as long as theres no betting involved

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Let him win a few league matches or even 1 league match first!

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HE WILL ....Keep the faith ... ON STANLEY ON.... and upwards

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JB was on BT Sports for the Hyde v Grimsby game today

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Commentating?

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Analyst

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I watched most of the game BDM, what a rotten advert for the conference premier.
Both Hyde and Grimsby where rubbish, the guy from BT Sport leading the half time interviews ran out of things to say!


Do you think James may have been scouting? Hyde are part time and fairly local, so potential their for a signing?

It did make me realise how precious it is to keep our football league status.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DAV007 (Post 1073073) It did make me realise how precious it is to keep our football league status.

Amen to that, brother.

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Exactly the point i was making on the other thread.;) Much preferable to a perhaps we will get a plum draw.:eek:

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I don't think ASFC would not be able buy or sign except on loan any player from Hyde United fc . The main reason being H.U.fc are owned lock stock and barrel by one of the Premier leagues richest clubs .

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Seems Dave Jones has some good young uns, hes keen to get out on loan, to get em some game time, May be worth us having a sniff round? :) Sheff Weds have a fair youth system i hear. Haggis316 may know?

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Man City?

Doubt there is anyone in the squad with the remotest chance of ever playing in City reserves never mind first team.

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Man City stopped putting money into Hyde more than a year ago.