Paul Buttivant

Hugh Watt wrote:

Cousin Jack wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

Cousin Jack wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

Argyle's Vital Football site today reports that Paul Buttivant, one of the rumoured bidders for the Pilgrims, has released a statement.

  It reads- 'Having been contacted by a number of supporters regarding various rumours that problems have hit the unknown Preferred Bidder attempts to acquire the football club, we would like to make it very clear that our consortium remain ready, willing and indeed financially capable of saving Plymouth Argyle and are keen to open dialogue with the Joint Administrator immediately in order to complete a transaction, subject to our being able to complete our due diligence'.

 Paul Buttivant.'

How did the phrase "there was no one else interested in Argyle" come to stick? There is loads of material online to suggest this was not the case.
1) Irish consortium. Rumoured to be property developers! Operating under cloak of secrecy via Gibralter based shell.
2) Heaney, believed by panda to be backed by Todd, Gardner with Abe putting up the cash, again dirty property developers with Heaney believed to have struck a deal with Cineworld to build a cinema on the car park.
3) Buttivant, leading a consortium of people wanting to get into English football, Buttivant himself is a property developer and no doubt an hotel featured somewhere in his plans. He is now rumoured with his consortium to have bought Everton football club.
4) Brent. General saint, canonised for his charidee work with Citybank, never been a property developer nor will he ever be.

So why we're we told that Brent was the only bidder? More importantly who was telling us Brent was the only option? The name that comes up agin and again when reading over the admin. period is Chris Webb who funnily enough was the chairperson of the AFT at the time. Chris was regularly sitting down with Ridsdale, Guilfoyle, PCC and shockingly James Brent. In a spooky coincidence Webb was also bessie mates with the owner of PASOTI Ian Newell which at the time PASOTI was undeniably the go to place to find any news on Argyle and the unfolding crisis.
The going was not easy for Mr Brent at first with several vile and vociferous posters having the temerity to point out that maybe this Brent character was a property developer? This Heaneyesque accusation was shouted down in no uncertain fashion. Chris Webb cheer leading from the pulpit of the AFT backed by Ian Newell who now owned the biggest Argyle fans forum (although secretly at this time, in fact he was even claiming not to have moderator powers) were carrying out a very vocal and according to Guilfoyle a very intimidating campaign against anyone who wasn't called James Brent. James Brent was led to victory by these people, backed by the majority of Argyle fans because we were told that all the other interest was by time wasters with no money although Buttivant, Abe and without doubt the Irish were considerably wealthier than Brent. In fact so is Heaney. The other reason and the one that that probably Trumped the other bids was Webb and Nool both claiming that Brent "was not a property developer." Well I suppose that is in part true but it's not from lack of trying.
"Why drag all this up now", I hear the multi's on JBSOTI cry? I think the main reason for me writing this now is because I think Brent has gone about as far with the club as he's able to, I think we are on an inevitable downward trajectory which we will be lucky if we manage to arrest in league 2 this time. There seems to be a massive misconception that James Brent was THE ONLY OPTION. He wasn't, he was probably the least funded of the four bidders identified by Guilfoyle but was sold to us as NOT A PROPERTY DEVELOPER, a kind of skint but affable philanthropist.
The other reason to keep going over this is also to remember that two people that used to be Argyle fans are very much still in the game of promoting and lobbying in a positive fashion for James Brent, one of them Chris Webb rewarded with the title of club president even managing to keep it after an extra marital affair with club captains wife Purse which led to said Club captain playing shite then leaving the club at a crucial time. The other Ian Newell is struggling a little to contain criticism nowadays but the useful fool has fulfilled his purpose. Newell and Webb have both managed to quell any criticism of their preferred bidder, they have deflected criticism from Brent even when it was obvious he was trying to be a property developer, they have constantly defended lack of maintenance, lack of investment, lack of staff in turnstiles and ticket offices. All to land us with the reluctant bidder, the only choice, yet with Buttivants consortium recently purchasing Everton it would seem that was only the start of the lies.
MORE IMPORTANTLY with it looking like all Brents plans hitting the buffers again, it looks like the Hallett funded grandstand being the only thing to get built, eventually or imminently remains to be seen, we are again being told that we have to hope and pray that Brent finally after about fifty years of trying manages to build something. He won't and what's more he was never the only option, he isn't the only option now, the only obstacle to Plymouth Argyle receiving further investment is James Brent. Buttivant was chased off, Irish were chased off, local consortium were chased off, let's not let the underhand and purely self centred actions of people like Ian Newell and Chris Webb rewrite the history of Argyle and more importantly lets not let them damage the future of Argyle anymore than they have already.

Great piece well said! Please leave out Heaney in any future references. The bloke had lost the plot and was totally skint. He would have been a total disaster for us.

And the difference between a skint Heaney and a skint Brent is what? Heaney was also a front for Todd, Gardner and Kinso Abe our ex Japanese director who is minted. Do I think Heaney would have been better than Brent? No. However I do think he was backed with more money than Brent and also he was a major player in that story so his place in the story is deserved. What I'm trying to do is dispel the myth that Brent was and is the only option. We were hoodwinked about Brent's, means, motives and aspirations for the club by Chris Webb and Ian Newell after they were courted by Brent with silly hats and titles.
It is still going on, we are stuck with Brent, there are no alternatives, there were and are always alternatives.
Let's be positive and laud JB for putting us on a steady platform to build from. Thanks James, now fook off and let someone capable of running a FOOTBALL CLUB have a go, you are obviously tied up trying to wrangle your assets strip to a profitable conclusion.

I’m completely with you and understand the points you are making, but Heaney won’t cut the mustard with anyone, especially in Cornwall where he’d left a trail of debt,mostly to small local businesses. At the time he was linked to Argyle, he was as popular as a dose of the clap! This opinion hasn’t changed.That’s why I’d leave his name out! His name will never be credible. That ship had sailed.

Heaney was a front man, I don't why he of all people was picked as a front man but he was only the front man

Its strange how heaneys plans for home park were virtually identical to what brent wanted at first.

Thank God Nool rumbled his dastardly plan

Hugh Watt wrote:

Cornish Rebel wrote:

Well said.

The people that hounded and chased away other potential investors must hang their heads in shame. They have backed the wrong horse. They will never admit it however. As stated above they are too appreciative of the prawn sandwiches and pats on the head from Sir Jimmy.

Interestingly Nool is intensely disliked by many staff at Home Park. Webb never goes anymore as there are no available wives apparently.

Do they still call him Internet Ian?

Amongst other things

Angry wrote:

Another fact that doesnt get a mention anymore is that th administrators REJECTED james brent's first bid outright.

that was before heaney's exclusivity btw

I don't recall Brent's first bid being refused, although it might have been, as I recall the chain of events was that the first step out of admin was to agree a Creditors' Voluntary Agreement. To that end the unsecured debtors had to agree a pro rata repayment based on a bid of £100,000 which, since the acquired accumulated debt was about £9m, amounted to bugger all in practical terms. I think it was Brent who put forward the £100K on which the CVA was agreed but would not fund the administration thereafter. At this point Heaney/Bishop International gazumped the deal and met the CVA £100K and put up another £200K.

We should thank Heaney. He paid £300,000 for a failed bid and got nothing in return. P&A could have pulled the plug completely without that money.

Was Heaney a front for anyone involved in the current regime?

All these people tend to mix in the same nefarious circles.

Bishop International was registered at the same address as the offices for Stapleton's accountancy practice.

Who BI actually were was never clear because it's full details were held in Gibraltar which doesn't publish such information publicly.

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

Brent offered bracelets to the Indians......

Earwegoagain wrote:

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

I used to go to Argyle with a fella who lived away from Plymouth. He was doing alright and used to get a ST for himself, his wife and his kids despite only being able to attend fewer than half of the games each season. We used to take the piss out of him because he was so "Aviva" before Aviva was a thing.

He didn't follow the off-pitch stuff much and was appalled when I told him the HHP plan, the first one, had two bloody great concrete blocks (for the school and the dentistry) by the corner flags.

"How will we extend the grandstand?" he asked. "We won't be able to."

"Can't we go into the car park behind the existing stand?" "No. That'll be filled with other stuff."

"What a bastard! I can't support that. I'm never going to Argyle again while Brent is in charge."

And he hasn't. After 50 years or so of lifelong support he won't put a penny into the club while Brent is in charge. He still meets up with us for a pre-match beer. He just doesn't go. His wife doesn't go. Their kids don't go. And they never will.

He takes the piss out of me now. "Why do you put money into his pocket?" "Well... y'know..."

"Ridsdale was a bastard. Stapleton was a bastard. Kagami was a bastard. Heaney was a bastard. Brent is just the same as them. No difference at all."

It is hard to disagree. Brent isn't really the problem. It is the model that attracts people like Brent or Ridsdale or Heaney or whoever that is the problem; they are all just different versions of the same thing.

He remains a member of AFT and the moment he sees a glimmer of "ethical ownership" (for want of a better phrase) he'll be back. Sadly I can't see that happening while Brent is in charge.

I like the sound of your mate. Brent IS the problem. You have to personalise a rotten system or you will never help twopence to change it. It's not just about fiscal support, it's also about community chirp. It all helps change culture in the end.

You might know him actually...

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

I used to go to Argyle with a fella who lived away from Plymouth. He was doing alright and used to get a ST for himself, his wife and his kids despite only being able to attend fewer than half of the games each season. We used to take the piss out of him because he was so "Aviva" before Aviva was a thing.

He didn't follow the off-pitch stuff much and was appalled when I told him the HHP plan, the first one, had two bloody great concrete blocks (for the school and the dentistry) by the corner flags.

"How will we extend the grandstand?" he asked. "We won't be able to."

"Can't we go into the car park behind the existing stand?" "No. That'll be filled with other stuff."

"What a bastard! I can't support that. I'm never going to Argyle again while Brent is in charge."

And he hasn't. After 50 years or so of lifelong support he won't put a penny into the club while Brent is in charge. He still meets up with us for a pre-match beer. He just doesn't go. His wife doesn't go. Their kids don't go. And they never will.

He takes the piss out of me now. "Why do you put money into his pocket?" "Well... y'know..."

"Ridsdale was a bastard. Stapleton was a bastard. Kagami was a bastard. Heaney was a bastard. Brent is just the same as them. No difference at all."

It is hard to disagree. Brent isn't really the problem. It is the model that attracts people like Brent or Ridsdale or Heaney or whoever that is the problem; they are all just different versions of the same thing.

He remains a member of AFT and the moment he sees a glimmer of "ethical ownership" (for want of a better phrase) he'll be back. Sadly I can't see that happening while Brent is in charge.

Your mate sounds like me Fran, i've a season tickets and loved going, but Brent and the gang have killed it for me, the club died in 2011 now its Akkron Argyle, fvck that i wont be part of it.

Why can't it just be about a football club, not 'some' land for 'development'.....

Earwegoagain wrote:

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

I wouldn’t say Brent is any better than Heaney. What I can say is that Heaney development company Cornish homes (I think) went bust owing tens of thousands of pounds to local businesses (plumbers, painters etc). The very well trodden line In Cornwall, was that Heaney money,came from his wife, she pulled the plug and the rest is history, Heaney himself is not a great business man, he leaves a trail of destruction, nearly killing off Truro City AFC. What really confuses me, is why would anyone want that idiot to front a bid for the club.
I’m told now he’s a penniless dropout who’s completely lost the plot.

Away games only until the land grabber is gone.

Cousin Jack wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

I wouldn’t say Brent is any better than Heaney. What I can say is that Heaney development company Cornish homes (I think) went bust owing tens of thousands of pounds to local businesses (plumbers, painters etc). The very well trodden line In Cornwall, was that Heaney money,came from his wife, she pulled the plug and the rest is history, Heaney himself is not a great business man, he leaves a trail of destruction, nearly killing off Truro City AFC. What really confuses me, is why would anyone want that idiot to front a bid for the club.
I’m told now he’s a penniless dropout who’s completely lost the plot.

Especially as he couldn't own an another football club what with his involvement at Truro.

Cousin Jack wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

I wouldn’t say Brent is any better than Heaney. What I can say is that Heaney development company Cornish homes (I think) went bust owing tens of thousands of pounds to local businesses (plumbers, painters etc). The very well trodden line In Cornwall, was that Heaney money,came from his wife, she pulled the plug and the rest is history, Heaney himself is not a great business man, he leaves a trail of destruction, nearly killing off Truro City AFC. What really confuses me, is why would anyone want that idiot to front a bid for the club.
I’m told now he’s a penniless dropout who’s completely lost the plot.

But eee saved us!
Sorry thought you were talking about Brent again.

Earwegoagain wrote:

Cousin Jack wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

It's all on record I read about it today I think it's in the GOS bit but Heaney was fronting Todd, Gardner and Shinzo Abe which is basically Mastpoint isn't it? I reckon it was Mastpoint Lombard trying to secure their few million mortgage they had on the ground, it was secured and they've had it now I think but they as Franny said were proposing almost the exact same deal as Brent.
Anyway Rebel I am not a fan of Heaney, I'm not a Buttivant fan or Ridsdale fan but they were all involved and all deserve a mention the whole thrust of my argument is that Brent wasn't the only choice then and he isn't now.
Or to put it another way espech to the Brent supporters I would love them to explain exactly why Brent is better than Heaney who is portrayed as the anti Christ on the farm? Neither have any money, both want to slap a massive identical development on the car park and central park and they are both obviously very self centred.

I wouldn’t say Brent is any better than Heaney. What I can say is that Heaney development company Cornish homes (I think) went bust owing tens of thousands of pounds to local businesses (plumbers, painters etc). The very well trodden line In Cornwall, was that Heaney money,came from his wife, she pulled the plug and the rest is history, Heaney himself is not a great business man, he leaves a trail of destruction, nearly killing off Truro City AFC. What really confuses me, is why would anyone want that idiot to front a bid for the club.
I’m told now he’s a penniless dropout who’s completely lost the plot.

But eee saved us!
Sorry thought you were talking about Brent again.

Is this stuff about Brent only reluctantly springing forth from the telephone booth to heroically and altruistically save Argyle when no-one else cared still believed? How? It's a matter of record that he was sniffing around since day one and that there were other interested parties. Whether or not the fans would have been happy with said interested parties is another matter, but that's beside the point, especially given the way things have gone since Brent took over.


From the BBC on 11 March 2011, very shortly after  you entered admin -

...(Sir Roy Gardner and Keith Todd) are part of a bid from a new firm called Affinity Sports Finance.

...Advised by leading sports lawyer Chris Farnell, Affinity would inject £8m into the club this season, with £5m coming later to develop the Home Park site.

...The input of ....Farnell is also significant...he has been involved in some of English football's biggest recent transfers and has an impressive contacts book.

But whether he will ever get the chance to use it for Argyle's benefit is another matter.

The Affinity source told BBC Sport they thought Guilfoyle had already made his "preferred bidder" choice.

"It looks like a done deal, to be honest. We're struggling to get a look-in and it's incredibly frustrating," the source said.

That deal is widely believed to involve James Brent, an investor with a background in property and hotels, and Peter Ridsdale, the controversial former Leeds United, Barnsley and Cardiff City chairman who has been advising Argyle's board since December.


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So in other words, Brent was in like a rat up a drainpipe from the very start and at that very early stage at least one other interested group felt they were being frozen out in a stitch-up between Guilfoyle, Ridsdale and Brent.

This is the same Ridsdale who "accidentally" turned up on in Plymouth on a "walking holiday" and who has previous associations both with Brendan and with Citibank - Ridsdale's infamous £20+ million loan at Cardiff City came from Citibank and he had also been involved with them in trying to acquire Hull City and one or two other clubs.

Citbank sound like they may be somehow related to Citigroup (I'm being facetious) who as we know have a historically close relationship with the Reluctant Bidder. They have a pretty close relationship with the New York Mets too (they have naming rights to the Mets' stadium among other things). Funnily enough Ridsdale once went on an official fact-finding tour to the Mets' CitiField in Queens to see how things were done over there in the good old U S of A. It's obviously a complete coincidence that he went to a Citigroup team and not to that much bigger, wealthier American League baseball team in the Bronx, or to any other successful American sports team for that matter. (It would clearly be pointless visiting any of the big, financially successful overseas football clubs when you're actually in the same business yourself).

In fact during the era Risdale was at Cardiff and Argyle Citigroup seem to pop up at regular intervals - I seem to recall that Citigroup's sports division or somesuch were one of the organisations Ridsdale jetted off to pow-wow with during his heroic attempt to save you guys, although I stand to be corrected.

Of course Brendan only appeared on the scene after his old buddy Ridsdale managed to thwart the Inland Revenue's winding up-petition by selling valuable players for what seems to have been peanuts in order to pay the tax bill. By happy accident this avoided the prospect of the Inland Revenue doing Brendan out of a job and appointing their own administrator (who I suspect may have been far too impartial for Ridsdale's liking).

And then there was Heaney the Patsy backed by the mysterious Bishop international, who while Brendan fiddled and Argyle burned, faffed around until two minutes to midnight, almost as though he was keeping someone's seat warm - in the process creating an atmosphere of desperation, which is probably the dealmaker's favourite emotion in a counterparty.

SuperBrent then sighs, thinks of something green (probably not Plymouth-related) reluctantly screws his courage to the sticking-place and swoops in to save the day, managing to acquire the lot, including prime development land and a cadre of superfan enforcers to help smooth his way to develop it. All this, after having managed to avoid paying any of the costs of administration - the only unfunded administration of a football club in history. He even manages to get the local authority to go back on its refusal to buy the ground, in return for a presumably reluctant promise to redevelop the Mayflower (sometime after the Portsmouth home game I believe. Have you played them yet?). From where I'm standing that looks suspiciously like the council covering a large part, if not all of the costs of acquiring the club in the first place. Of course he had no intention of ever exercising his negotiated right to buy the ground back and potentially charging you rent, so not to worry.

Thank God Brent has been there ever since to lend Argyle money to cover the shortfall he was legally obliged to cover for fear of trading insolvently - a sharp-suited, bespectacled philanthropist to match any of the depressingly numerous ragged-trousered philanthopists in the fanbase (look up the book of that name if you don't get the reference).

I could be wrong, but far from Brent having been the one to place himself at serious risk to save Argyle and only later thinking about seeking his just rewards as a kind of accidental by-product, it seems that those among the staff who were subjected to scandalous and underhand pressure to forego wages they were rightfully owed were placed under more financial stress than the Reluctant Bidder ever was, whether they liked it or not.

It's quite extraordinary that there have been so many tangled webs in this saga and yet to this day it seems as though by and large little digging gets done and no questions are asked, outside a few who can see the difference between a hero rescuing a damsel in distress from drowning and Dracula pulling a virgin out of the Tamar.

We have a nuthouse main fans forum populated by a tiny rump of fans who have yet to abandon it like most of us, that is constantly fomenting ludicrous and patently stupid conspiracy theories, even when they have fans on the board standing next to them at games who I know from experience will answer any questions within reason. Apparently (I genuinely can't stomach even reading it anymore) they even accused Tisdale of wanting to use club money to "build somewhere to park his car" when the training ground parking facilities were brought up to scratch (I kid you not). They also supposedly slammed the installation of an all-weather pitch as Tisdale having delusions of Barcelona-esque grandeur - this at a time when for years we literally couldn't train properly for a couple of months every season in winter, so appallingly had the facilities deteriorated after decades of mismanagement under private ownership.

I'm not kidding  - if we had experienced  the sort of shenanigans that have been going on at your place there would have been a riot.

The Citibank connection was apparently a couple of Junior Traders turning and getting a free day out at Cardiff. The Malaysians that ended up buying the club basically refused to deal with Ridsdale and he was laughed out of Cardiff in the end but never mind we'll have him, "Look Wut eee did at Leeds". He's a chancer and an ambulance chaser but at least Newell thought he was a fine gentleman.

There are others that know far better than me but I always understood that Ridsdale was brought by Stapleton to save Stapletons skin, I think he was getting 25K a month for that onerous responsibility. The first thing he did on arrival was apparently walk straight into Ocean BMW and select himself a nice car, which Argyle paid the lease on. He was driving a mini up to that point you see.

Brent was always meant to be the main bidder but was never going to pay for anything himself, right up until "The Irish Consortium" rocked up and paid out some actual money with a man that owned another football club fronting it. "Never Mind" Said Uncle Pete, I will own the football club as he eagerly searched for his lucky charms and ordering a pint of guiness in a big green hat.

All of which put a bit of a spanner in the works for the time being until it was ascertained that BI didn't have any money. Once that game was up, there was no way Pete was going to work on a salary for someone like Brent so he was back up the M6 like a shot

Neither of course did Brent have any money, not that needed any as he had the council for that and like you say they completely funded  his takeover and bought the ground, sans HHP for twice the money he acquired the club for. Then the council told him he didn't have to pay rent or rates.

I have heard that the Kraft Family were interested at buying the club at one stage, obviously not for £10 million!

Kraft!!!
''The Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Stadium''

It was always about the Pavillions, PCC and Brent. Brent was obviously talking to PCC about the Pavillions when Stapes and co hit the shit. Brent was obviously talking to Hopwood and PCC before he became the reluctant bidder. I wouldn't mind betting that Webb and Newell were introduced to Brent by someone in the council. It was PCC that wanted it to pan out in this way from the start to link up Millbay, Colin Campbell Court and the top of town developments you could argue that the demise of Argyle was very handy for PCC and it's Ocean City dreamworld.

tigertony wrote:

Kraft!!!
''The Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Stadium''

Was that supposed to be funny?

I don't think Tony is ever intentionally funny.....

Tonies humour is as welcome as a cheesy helmet.