Response to James Brent

Graiser wrote:

PatDunne wrote:

Doesn't get more ruthless than to turn a free ten million pound stand into a five million pound debt AND convince the fans that you're simply a smashing bloke.

In regard to the original HP development I wouldn't call Brent ruthless more like "got it spectacularly wrong"

Indeed, he got it spectacularly wrong because he has now found a way to build his hotel, ice rink, six restaurants, café. offices. gym without having to give us a ten million pound stand.

[quote="Keyholder"]
Not for the first time Argyle Talk Democratic has had to respond to the PAFC Chairman, James Brent, this time as a result of an unwarranted attack by him on one of it's posters, and a statement made by Mr Brent that this forum is 'vile and poisonous', both of which occurred at the recent fans forum.

These actions seems to have been provoked by a written question posed by an ATD poster concerning an amount of money raised by the Green Taverners and given to the club as a loan, several years ago. Mr Brent, ignored the question, and proceeded to malign the ATD poster, incorrectly saying that he owned the ATD forum and then, rather bizarrely, asking for a show of hands by the bemused audience of the value of ATD to PAFC. Having spent several minutes on the topic, he noticeably failed to answer the question.

It is the view of the ATD moderators and Keyholders that Mr Brent should be called to account for his unusual behaviour, which for a Chairman of a football club, is to say the least unbecoming and completely unnecessary. It has been clear for a long time that Mr Brent cannot take on board any form of criticism for his actions around the football club. There are many posters on ATD and other sites that do not trust Mr Brent's motives in owning the football club, and have pointed out, and will continue to so, Mr Brent's capacity for non-delivery of projects with which he is involved, particularly the first attempt at building a new Grandstand. There is little confidence amongst the fanbase that these latest proposals will ever take shape and there is a growing feeling that Mr Brent is simply using the football club as a vehicle on to which he can piggy back the private developments at Higher Home Park for his own benefit.

For our part, ATD will continue to question actions taken by Mr Brent, when there is a need to do so. As always, personal abuse will not be tolerated and we will not resort to calling Mr Brent 'vile and poisonous', which, in our view, demeans him as an individual and as Chairman of a football club.

In short, Mr Brent, it is time you delivered something for the benefit of the football club. Do that, and the feeling against you may well change for the better, and the mistrust of your motives may well ease. If not, expect more questioning, expect more criticism. Outbursts such as you made at the fans forum do not add to the debate, they simply make people more suspicious of you and your actions. On the pitch, the team has done well to reach League 1 and it will have our full support as always in the coming season. It will be interesting to see if the Chairman and the board can rise above Conference level.


Good post there.

The final paragraph says it nicely.

Just in case anybody was wondering...

I have written to James Brent about his childish tirade against ATD and myself. Having written twice before in the past about this subject and other matters and having never received a reply, I'm not holding my breath this time either.

However... This time I have been told that he will respond. We shall see?

Who said that he would respond?

a grovelling public apology would be my minimum expectation

Rickler wrote:

Just in case anybody was wondering...

I have written to James Brent about his childish tirade against ATD and myself.  Having written twice before in the past about this subject and other matters and having never received a reply, I'm not holding my breath this time either.

However...  This time I have been told that he will respond.  We shall see?

He's probably just jealous you can afford a sunlounger whilst he has share Peterborough Utds directors box with Nooly

This is Brent's response:


Dear Mr. Rick,

Thank you for your letter dated 23rd August which I have shared with Mr. Brent. He has read your letter and has asked me to resp‎ond on his behalf.

Your letter is aggressive and unpleasant. It also in large part sets out to defame ‎Mr. Newell: your differences are a matter for him and you to deal with.

If you wish to ask any questions about the Club in a polite and respectful‎ manner, the Club will respond to them in a polite and respectful manner. Please direct your questions in the first instance to Mr. Cowdery who I have copied into this email.

Kind regards,

(Name removed)
Executive Assistant to James Brent

This was my letter:


Dear Mr. Brent,

I have dragged myself off my sun lounger to reply to your little hissy fit at the recent Fans Forum (July 22nd). Firstly, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not, never have been, and never will be, the owner of ATD. I’ve also never even been a moderator on the site. You are blatantly lying when you claim otherwise. Where did this information come from? Let me guess…. Newell the pathological liar!

After the previous Fans forum (Dec 10th 16) where previously once again I had my moral character impugned by you, I had written you a letter of explanation as to why I was asking these questions. Amongst other things in that letter, I stated:

"I want to make it perfectly clear that I admire the GT's and the work they do. Without them our club would be in a lot poorer state. I don't want their reputation in any way tarnished by this simple request to you about PAFC debt and obligations."

So why oh why your childish tirade and why did you ignore what I had written to you? I too would have raised my hand when asked by you if the GT’s did fine work. You have conveniently and deliberately ignored my statement above and everything else by way of explanation that I wrote in that email, (and since it went to your personal secretary at Akkeron and to the club, I find it hard to believe you never received it).

Once again, for the record… To the best of my knowledge I have never, ever, ever maliciously criticized or abused the GT's, in any way shape or form, and I dare you to come up with any evidence that contradicts that statement. I also have never ever said anything about you in any way could be construed as “vile and poisonous” and I resent you tarring me with the same brush as others just because we sometimes post on the same site.

You have taken a simple "Transparency and accountability" question and twisted and extrapolated it for purely selfish reasons, so as to be able to malign me and abuse ATD. What I have done to deserve this? What has ATD got to do with anything regarding this question? My question was posed through the AFT - you don't bring Pasoti into things when their members ask questions.

Your childish 'grandstanding' actions in trying to whip the crowd up without me being there to defend myself were cowardly and those of a bully. Is this what you are going to do from now on to a fan who asks you a question you don't like? Try and put them off from asking difficult questions with intimidation - is that your aim? It is certainly behaviour unbecoming of an Argyle Chairman and quite frankly you should be ashamed of yourself!

Let’s face it… It wasn’t the question that fazed you, it’s the fact that I asked it. You don’t know me from Adam. I doubt you’ve ever read anything I’ve ever written on the internet, and yet I’m the Devil incarnate in your mind. All this nonsense no doubt has been put in your head by the cyber skinhead named Newell. You have befriended him for the obvious reasons. Well, if you are judged by the company you keep, you are in the gutter. How this despicable fool is allowed anywhere near the directors box confounds me and the scores, if not hundreds of other Argyle fans who loathe and despise this odious character. Talk about “vile and poisonous”! His actions over the years - getting his tech friend to have emails accounts hacked (mine amongst them – I have screenshots as proof), sending white feathers to a man dying of cancer, finding out where people live (me again amongst others) and turning up at their houses when he doesn't even know them to “discuss things” (that happened to Richard Woodman aka Cerbera), secretly creating a website solely to abuse and ridicule people on ATD (done in tandem with Dane Bunney), creating a huge flikr dossier with photos, personal emails, and text conversations (yours amongst them, which I've seen with my own eyes). All these things are easily provable and I and many others have the evidence. Much of it collected screenshots from Newell's own 'Flikr' account which he left on 'public' instead of 'private' viewing - being the complete idiot that he is. Would you like to see some? The one of you threatening Guilfoyle is quite spiteful! Your friends at Private Eye would love it!

The above list could go on and on, and this doesn’t even include stuff that is ‘alleged’. That list is longer than my arm, but would include phoning up peoples bosses at work and trying to get them fired. That happened to Gideon Baker who Martyn Starnes admitted to at a meet and greet last year, that he also thought Newell was behind the twitter account JohnShez1, which was used to attack and abuse the manager. …and still you support this “vile” man. I mean… WTF? The CEO of Argyle thinks Newell is doing this sort of thing and yet he still runs around Home Park and sits in the Directors box every week as your friend?

Rest assured, your association with Newell is much the reason you are so disliked by a large percentage of Freechat and ATD posters and why you get so much grief. It is rumoured you "backed" Newell in his buying of Pasoti. Believe me, the vitriol and criticism of you on that site would also be much, much greater if you didn't have “Internet Ian” (as he’s known around HP) banning everyone who doesn't toe the line in the manner he wants them to.

You make a mockery of your claim of being "transparent" and wanting to be held "accountable" because after all that ranting you did, we still didn’t learn anything more than we did last time - you conveniently forgot to answer the repayment part of the question. I don’t think you ever had any intention of doing so. The reading of the question was just a staged cue for your diatribe.

What is so upsetting in my question? You never get upset when somebody asks you how much the club owes Plymouth Council? Once again here is my question written exactly as it was the first time:

"The Green Taverners over the last five years have given money to the club and it is understood this debt has to be repaid in either cash or 'kind'. What is the current amount owed to the GT's and what is the plan to repay them? What are the tax consequences of the arrangement?"

There isn't anything by anybodies definition in that question that could be construed as an attack or disparaging of the GT's, and the question became legitimate as soon as you answered the club owed them eighty seven and a half thousand pounds. Hardly the sort of change you find down the back of the settee is it? Since you made a small fortune off the Liverpool games and have stated the club has made profits the last two years, I would have thought you might have paid them back before starting on the Grandstand and the other developments at HHP that are purely for your own profit?

In a previous muddled half answer to my question, you stated that the GT's supplied the money "for administration debts to staff members". Well, the next question is going to give you a heart attack! The club hasn't been in administration for years - are you still getting money or are the fans attending Fanfests etc, wrong in thinking that the money given to the GT's is still going to Argyle? For instance, how much was given to the club last season?

And don’t you dare try to suggest those questions are a knock on the GT’s!

The irony of fans giving money to the GT's who give it to Argyle, (meaning you and other shareholders) who will then repay the GT's with money collected once again by fans giving it to Argyle through ticket sales and merchandise etc, is beyond absurd. No wonder you really don’t want to discuss this!! What will the GT's do with the money at the end? Any idea? All this elaborate dealing and secrecy because it was rumoured you didn't want to pay the tax due on their donations in the first place (hence the tax question)?

I put it to you that people with these serious types of questions – as opposed to “what colour will the new strip be?” - have long given up on going to fan forums etc because they simply no longer believe a word you have to say on important subjects. Your answer to John Lloyd about not having thought about buying the stadium back would be evidence of this. Really… What sort of fools do you take some of us for? The whole deal with the council was structured with the intent of you buying the club back (FYI a good idea in my book). To have not thought about it would be a ‘dereliction of duty’. The problem is… Everything you do has your own interests at the forefront and not the clubs - for example robbing the club of HHP land that it owned and that you placed in your 'Pension fund'. You stated the club needed the money to survive? Well, you could have given the club a loan, but you didn't! It speaks volumes!

I've written to you twice before and not had the favour of a reply. I suspect this time will be no different.

Well, so much for transparency and being held accountable!

Have a nice day.

Yours sincerely,


Nigel Rick
COYG

Rickler wrote:

This is Brent's response:


Dear Mr. Rick,

Thank you for your letter dated 23rd August which I have shared with Mr. Brent. He has read your letter and has asked me to resp‎ond on his behalf.

Your letter is aggressive and unpleasant. It also in large part sets out to defame ‎Mr. Newell: your differences are a matter for him and you to deal with.

If you wish to ask any questions about the Club in a polite and respectful‎ manner, the Club will respond to them in a polite and respectful manner. Please direct your questions in the first instance to Mr. Cowdery who I have copied into this email.

Kind regards,

(Name removed)
Executive Assistant to James Brent

Have you got to do detention, too?

Rickler wrote:

This was my letter:


Dear Mr. Brent,

I have dragged myself off my sun lounger to reply to your little hissy fit at the recent Fans Forum (July 22nd). Firstly, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not, never have been, and never will be, the owner of ATD.  I’ve also never even been a moderator on the site. You are blatantly lying when you claim otherwise. Where did this information come from?  Let me guess….  Newell the pathological liar!

After the previous Fans forum (Dec 10th 16) where previously once again I had my moral character impugned by you, I had written you a letter of explanation as to why I was asking these questions. Amongst other things in that letter, I stated:

"I want to make it perfectly clear that I admire the GT's and the work they do.  Without them our club would be in a lot poorer state.  I don't want their reputation in any way tarnished by this simple request to you about PAFC debt and obligations."

So why oh why your childish tirade and why did you ignore what I had written to you?   I too would have raised my hand when asked by you if the GT’s did fine work.  You have conveniently and deliberately ignored my statement above and everything else by way of explanation that I wrote in that email, (and since it went to your personal secretary at Akkeron and to the club, I find it hard to believe you never received it).

Once again, for the record…  To the best of my knowledge I have never, ever, ever maliciously criticized or abused the GT's, in any way shape or form, and I dare you to come up with any evidence that contradicts that statement.  I also have never ever said anything about you in any way could be construed as “vile and poisonous” and I resent you tarring me with the same brush as others just because we sometimes post on the same site.  

You have taken a simple "Transparency and accountability" question and twisted and extrapolated it for purely selfish reasons, so as to be able to malign me and abuse ATD.  What I have done to deserve this? What has ATD got to do with anything regarding this question?  My question was posed through the AFT - you don't bring Pasoti into things when their members ask questions.

Your childish 'grandstanding' actions in trying to whip the crowd up without me being there to defend myself were cowardly and those of a bully.  Is this what you are going to do from now on to a fan who asks you a question you don't like?  Try and put them off from asking difficult questions with intimidation - is that your aim?  It is certainly behaviour unbecoming of an Argyle Chairman and quite frankly you should be ashamed of yourself!  

Let’s face it…  It wasn’t the question that fazed you, it’s the fact that I asked it.  You don’t know me from Adam.  I doubt you’ve ever read anything I’ve ever written on the internet, and yet I’m the Devil incarnate in your mind.  All this nonsense no doubt has been put in your head by the cyber skinhead named Newell. You have befriended him for the obvious reasons.  Well, if you are judged by the company you keep, you are in the gutter.  How this despicable fool is allowed anywhere near the directors box confounds me and the scores, if not hundreds of other Argyle fans who loathe and despise this odious character. Talk about “vile and poisonous”!  His actions over the years  - getting his tech friend to have emails accounts hacked (mine amongst them – I have screenshots as proof), sending white feathers to a man dying of cancer, finding out where people live (me again amongst  others) and turning up at their houses when he doesn't even know them to “discuss things” (that happened to Richard Woodman aka Cerbera), secretly creating  a website solely to abuse and ridicule people on ATD (done in tandem with Dane Bunney), creating a huge flikr dossier with photos, personal emails, and text conversations (yours amongst them, which I've seen with my own eyes).  All these things are easily provable and I and many others have the evidence.  Much of it collected screenshots from Newell's own 'Flikr' account which he left on 'public' instead of 'private' viewing - being the complete idiot that he is.  Would you like to see some?  The one of you threatening Guilfoyle is quite spiteful!  Your friends at Private Eye would love it!

The above list could go on and on, and this doesn’t even include stuff that is ‘alleged’.  That list is longer than my arm, but would include phoning up peoples bosses at work and trying to get them fired.  That happened to Gideon Baker who Martyn Starnes admitted to at a meet and greet last year, that he also thought Newell was behind the twitter account JohnShez1, which was used to attack and abuse the manager.  …and still you support this “vile” man.  I mean…  WTF?  The CEO of Argyle thinks Newell is doing this sort of thing and yet he still runs around Home Park and sits in the Directors box every week as your friend?

Rest assured, your association with Newell is much the reason you are so disliked by a large percentage of Freechat and ATD posters and why you get so much grief.  It is rumoured you "backed" Newell in his buying of Pasoti.  Believe me, the vitriol and criticism of you on that site would also be much, much greater if you didn't have “Internet Ian” (as he’s known around HP) banning everyone who doesn't toe the line in the manner he wants them to.  

You make a mockery of your claim of being "transparent" and wanting to be held "accountable" because after all that ranting you did, we still didn’t learn anything more than we did last time - you conveniently forgot to answer the repayment part of the question.   I don’t think you ever had any intention of doing so.  The reading of the question was just a staged cue for your diatribe.

What is so upsetting in my question? You never get upset when somebody asks you how much the club owes Plymouth Council?  Once again here is my question written exactly as it was the first time:

"The Green Taverners over the last five years have given money to the club and it is understood this debt has to be repaid in either cash or 'kind'.  What is the current amount owed to the GT's and what is the plan to repay them?  What are the tax consequences of the arrangement?"

There isn't anything by anybodies definition in that question that could be construed as an attack or disparaging of the GT's, and the question became legitimate as soon as you answered the club owed them eighty seven and a half thousand pounds.  Hardly the sort of change you find down the back of the settee is it?  Since you made a small fortune off the Liverpool games and have stated the club has made profits the last two years, I would have thought you might have paid them back before starting on the Grandstand and the other developments at HHP that are purely for your own profit?

In a previous muddled half answer to my question, you stated that the GT's supplied the money "for administration debts to staff members".  Well, the next question is going to give you a heart attack!  The club hasn't been in administration for years - are you still getting money or are the fans attending Fanfests etc, wrong in thinking that the money given to the GT's is still going to Argyle?  For instance, how much was given to the club last season?

And don’t you dare try to suggest those questions are a knock on the GT’s!

The irony of fans giving money to the GT's who give it to Argyle, (meaning you and other shareholders) who will then repay the GT's with money collected once again by fans giving it to Argyle through ticket sales and merchandise etc, is beyond absurd.  No wonder you really don’t want to discuss this!!  What will the GT's do with the money at the end? Any idea?   All this elaborate dealing and secrecy because it was rumoured you didn't want to pay the tax due on their donations in the first place (hence the tax question)?

I put it to you that people with these serious types of questions – as opposed to “what colour will the new strip be?” -  have long given up on going to fan forums etc because they simply no longer believe a word you have to say on important subjects.  Your answer to John Lloyd about not having thought about buying the stadium back would be evidence of this.  Really…  What sort of fools do you take some of us for?  The whole deal with the council was structured with the intent of you buying the club back (FYI a good idea in my book). To have not thought about it would be a ‘dereliction of duty’.  The problem is…  Everything you do has your own interests at the forefront and not the clubs - for example robbing the club of HHP land that it owned and that you placed in your 'Pension fund'.  You stated the club needed the money to survive?  Well, you could have given the club a loan, but you didn't!  It speaks volumes!

I've written to you twice before and not had the favour of a reply.  I suspect this time will be no different.

Well, so much for transparency and being held accountable!

Have a nice day.

Yours sincerely,


Nigel Rick          
COYG

Great letter Ricks, Jimmy, should know were here to stay.

Nice one Rick

alannotivvy wrote:

Nice one Rick

Yeah i second that

Well done Rickler. More truthful than anything on his propaganda site PASOTI

Sublime Rickler sublime......as much as I would love to add an introductory paragraph and put it on Freechat I have promised JL (who took a lot of stick in Holland) that I would lay off Brent and quite frankly John would have a meltdown if I whacked that up....course that doesnt stop anyone else with Nigels consent

Tell you something Brent will have been taken aback reference the quality of that letter and the clear concise degradation and humiliation of his hanger on Newell..... As much as Nool likes to believe hes bullet proof that letter will have had Brent thinking long and hard about the association.

harvetheslayer wrote:

Tell you something Brent will have been taken aback reference the quality of that letter and the clear concise degradation and humiliation of his hanger on Newell..... As much as Nool likes to believe hes bullet proof that letter will have had Brent thinking long and hard about the association.

Thank you for the compliment.

Needless to say... I have just written to Rick Cowdery in a most polite way.

harvetheslayer wrote:

Sublime Rickler sublime......as much as I would love to add an introductory paragraph and put it on Freechat I have promised JL (who took a lot of stick in Holland) that I would lay off Brent and quite frankly John would have a meltdown if I whacked that up....course that doesnt stop anyone else with Nigels consent  

It just goes to show you the nefarious attitudes of the 'rank and file' PAFC fan if he took stick in Holland for allowing free speech.
I still dont think enough is done to expose the real picture about the dodgy goings on at the club.
If the Aviva Tent dwellers dont want to see the real picture fine, let them stick to PASOTI but I find it strange that people can try and scream 'libel' on a group of 5400 everytime they read something that dosnt fit in with their green tinted view of the fine gentleman.

Brent has won every round so far. He won't believe for one moment that a letter from a supporter based in LA would harm him in any way (Rickler's letter is bang on)

Whilst Brent remains in charge Newell stays and the more that is thrown at him, the more he stays.

Look at Oldway, Brent doesn't back down and relies on the local populace to be less organised than he is. Local councils are easy spoils for him as they are star struck populists dazzled by business speak and projections by PowerPoint.

You want rid of Newell....either win the Euromillions (because one thing is certain they are not bezzie mates post sale) or hope someone with sense buys him out. Until then Porky, the piss stained pilot, Angry Andy and the rest of the mob are here to stay.

Dick Trickle wrote:

Brent has won every round so far. He won't believe for one moment that a letter from a supporter based in LA would harm him in any way (Rickler's letter is bang on)

Whilst Brent remains in charge Newell stays and the more that is thrown at him, the more he stays.

Look at Oldway, Brent doesn't back down and relies on the local populace to be less organised than he is. Local councils are easy spoils for him as they are star struck populists dazzled by business speak and projections by PowerPoint.

You want rid of Newell....either win the Euromillions (because one thing is certain they are not bezzie mates post sale) or hope someone with sense buys him out. Until then Porky, the piss stained pilot, Angry Andy and the rest of the mob are here to stay.

That's about the size of it.

The bigger picture in the most unlikeliest of 'friendships' has always been crystal clear to everyone. Newell controls the thought process on Pasoti and is rewarded with his AAA pass.

The problem for Brent though is that the more dissent that is quashed on Pasoti, the more people migrate to ATD and Freechat to voice their concerns. In that sense, Brent isn't really getting great value for money anymore with the gifts bestowed on Newell. Newell can only control Pasoti, much to his chagrin.

For me though the key point Rickler makes is the damage Brents personal reputation takes, purely because of his association with Newell. This allegiance of convenience has Newell totally living the dream. But the fact Brent will know all about Newells shenanigans down the years, and still choose to jump into bed with him (methaphorically) shows the Chairman to be both ruthless and severely lacking in moral fibre.

Top letter Ricks, bang on.

I am shocked that mr rick has not offered mr Brent a session on the sun lounger - jeeze, the reply is going to be a thing to behold.

All the posters on ATD are Argyle fans, Brent, is a Brent fan what possible use is he to Plymouth Argyle?

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

All the posters on ATD are Argyle fans, Brent, is a Brent fan what possible use is he to Plymouth Argyle?

Thought he was a Chiefs fan, really wish he would go up there and feck off from Argyle, but then that is so unfair on the Chiefs.

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

All the posters on ATD are Argyle fans, Brent, is a Brent fan what possible use is he to Plymouth Argyle?

It's rather strange how this bloke came out of nowhere to become the owner - I suspect there is a story there somewhere.

Bandwagon wrote:

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

All the posters on ATD are Argyle fans, Brent, is a Brent fan what possible use is he to Plymouth Argyle?

It's rather strange how this bloke came out of nowhere to become the owner - I suspect there is a story there somewhere.

The council aren't allowed to own anything these days so are chucking out money to any profiteer in a shiny suit, that can manage their assets. Quite how he's pocketed so much and delivered so little is another matter.

Bandwagon wrote:

sufferedsince 68 wrote:

All the posters on ATD are Argyle fans, Brent, is a Brent fan what possible use is he to Plymouth Argyle?

It's rather strange how this bloke came out of nowhere to become the owner - I suspect there is a story there somewhere.

The same month he left Citi, he became chairman of Plymouth City Development Company, an inward-investment
agency

(And he have been inwardly investing every  since, pension)