Luton Town go into administration

[chimaera]

Thank you for that, i was about to get annoyed at the daft sense of the person.

If only we hadnt had the -15 points, we would be top!!

I've had this discussion here before, but my team was one of many who sold players to Leeds in the last year and didn't get the money for over 8 months because of your problems. Those players had been earning you points whilst my team was struggling due to lack of finances for new players.

You don't deserve to be top this year, on paper the club may have been screwed over by HMRC but morally and ethically the vast majority of fans supported the -15 points.

 

[Gilly]

I found that hard to believe when you first said it, but it is actually a load of rubbish

 

[daz]

Care to illuminate us all who know less on the subject of Leeds United?

 

[Gilly]

He was at Leeds on loan, then signed on a permanent deal before (well before) the club went into administration. I can't remember where I read it now but it was shortly after the last whinge about Leeds not paying Barnet monies they were owed. Part of the finances were released showing that Barnet had been paid at least £100k in two £50k installments.

Exact finances are very rarely released but the overall fee reported was £200k. If £100k has already been paid then I would say that this is what the clubs had agreed. Surely if Leeds were witholding payments Barnet would have been going through the courts to get the money? It stands to reason that they were OK with the deal too.

It may have been that a further payment was cancelled or put on hold during the administration saga but there's nothing morally or ethically wrong about that, and that was caused by HMRC too. They wanted paying in full rather than the agreed percentage in the CVA. This is what forced Leeds outside the agreement and why clubs weren't paid first. I'm not sure if you know but in football the rules of administration are different to other areas of business. All footballing parties need to be paid before others.

Had HMRC not been involved in the way they were Barnet would have been paid straight away. Leeds wanted to pay the footballing parties immediately as part of the CVA. HMRC didn't let them do that. To compound the situation HMRC took Leeds to the courts in order to draw out the issue and to put the future of the club in jeopardy. They had no way of winning and they knew it, yet they filed an objection so that Leeds would have their hands tied. That the objection was removed by HMRC an hour or so before the deadline for the golden share so Leeds could get into the league.

it wasn't even a problem HMRC had with Leeds in particular. it was a test case they used as the aforementioned football administration rules are in breach of insolvency legislation.

 

[Tute]

Amazing to think that had all this not happened, Leeds would be 11 points clear at the top.

 

[chimaera]

Care to illuminate us all who know less on the subject of Leeds United?

What Gilly doesn't say is that Leeds unsettled the player before making an offer, obviously the player wanted to leave and lost interest in playing at L2 level. Because of the financial troubles they wern't allowed to sign him permanently so he went on loan for 6 months, as Barnet didn't want a player who wanted to leave.

So as it was a loan we lost the top scoring striker in league 2 for nothing, and had no extra money to sign an immediate replacement. Then the permanent transfer happened at the end of the year, but because of the problems with the CVA and HMRC the full transfer money agreed wasn't paid, whether that was £100k or £200k i don't know.

However what i do know is that it's a huge ammount for a small club, and the attitude presented by Leeds throughout the whole situation was not in the spirit of the game, they unsettled the player and trod on the little team in the process.

Gilly - Call it a whinge if you want but Leeds shouldn't have been signing players that they couldn't afford at the time, the CVA and HMRC problems were caused by Leeds Utd in the first place, so you can't really claim innocence when other clubs were dragged into it.

Edit* May i also quote from the Barnet FC website (August 07)...

"The club message underlines that Barnet have, as yet, not recieved any money from Leeds Utd for the transfer of Tresor Kandol last year".

The permanent transfer was in Jan '07.

 

[Gilly]

So what you're really annoyed about is the fact that you didn't get a replacement striker initially because you released the top scorer in your division on loan? Well the answer to that is really very simple. Don't release your top scorer on loan! Do you think that if Beckford decided he was unhappy at Leeds and wanted to leave that he'd be released immediately on loan with no replacement coming in? Not on your life

I can't think of any one single reason a club would do that, nor can I think of a reason that Barnet wouldn't have been going absolutely mental at not receiving monies for a player that had left. Leeds at that point (and still currently though not as much I feel) were a club that people loved to hate. Overspent and fell down the leagues, the history of being a hard side, Ken Bates and then Dennis Wise in charge... obvious targets. I can't believe that if Barnet were unpaid as they claim it wouldn't have been bigger news.

 

[chimaera]

Long Quote

Having thought on the discussion i figure i'll draw a line and stop having a go at Leeds as i'm sure we could go on forever, the transfer is done and the money paid. We didn't get relegated or come close to the playoffs so no matter how protracted the transfer it didn't have any long lasting effects.

Top players do go out on loan fairly regularly in the lower leagues though, same thing happened with Jermaine Easter at Wycombe, they had no choice but to send him on loan to Plymouth or lose him for a free. Transfers have changed significantly in the lower leagues since the ITV digital fallout, much to the detriment of the smaller clubs unable to offer long term contracts.

I'll freely admit i may have demonised Leeds somewhat, contrary to popular belief i like to watch our old players do well, no matter how bitter the transfer. Apparantly you've showed an interest in our latest gem Jason Puncheon (LW), the guys got some serious talent and would give you some great highlight moments.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1991278,00.html

500k cash in hand would be nice, nice chrimbo pressie from Leeds to say no hard feelings

 

[FeFiDoh]

So what happens to a club when it cant pay its players and goes into administration? Do they eventually just get removed from footballing league or what?

 

[Gilly]

We;re sorely lacking creativity. We have Derry (loan at Palace, will probably stay there), Prutton, Thompson, Howson, Westlake, Hughes, Weston, Douglas and Kishishev all who play in the middle of the park! The only wingers we have are Da Costa who is far too lightweight for the 1st Division and Carole, who has been doing a good job but can't do it all on his own. The list of CMs I just wrote are all battlers and passers, but not tricky and can't see passes no-one else can with the exception of Thompson, so we've become too predictable.

We need at least one centre half and really two wingers. A left back would be nice too.

We're looking at raiding Walsall for a couple of players (one of them is on loan there from Bolton) and we're back in for Michalik from Bolton too. We're gonna have a very large squad if we keep acquiring players like this, and nowhere near all of them will be of a standard required in the Championship. bit strange to say the least.

Tell you what chimaera, how about we let you have Kandol back for £300k now that we've improved him as a player

So what happens to a club when it cant pay its players and goes into administration? Do they eventually just get removed from footballing league or what?

Kind of. A club needs to prove to the League that it will be able to fulfil the fixtures for the coming season. If it cannot then it isn't given what is called the golden share. Without this the club cannot compete in the League. From that point on there's not much point in a football club.

 

[chimaera]

Tell you what chimaera, how about we let you have Kandol back for £300k now that we've improved him as a player

Bearing in mind our record transfer was £130k i don't think thats gonna happen i'd be happy for a few of your cast offs, we got Michael Leary from you pre-season, we needed a tough tackling midfielder and since you've got so many a free transfer was very welcome

 

[Silent-Lucidity]

We're looking at raiding Walsall for a couple of players (one of them is on loan there from Bolton) and we're back in for Michalik from Bolton too. /QUOTE]

If they do go, which I either hope they don't or for a much improved figure than 250k ( dann and/or fox) then I hope Leeds pay up front as we dont want 8p in the pound thankyou Mr. Bates.

 

[james.miller]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/7183317.stm

Manager Blackwell to leave Luton

Blackwell's decision to leave is another blow for the struggling club
Luton Town manager Kevin Blackwell has resigned from the financially stricken League One club which is currently in administration, it has emerged.

Blackwell will depart after the home game against Bournemouth on 9 February, reports BBC Three Counties Radio.

His assistant Sam Ellis and head coach John Carver will also be leaving.

The administrator has agreed to sell key players without consulting the management. Five players have left while three others are under offer.

In a statement, Blackwell said: "We [Blackwell, Carver and Ellis] came to Luton in the spring with a clear mission and it revolved around ambition, adequate investment for growth and real promise of a new stadium.

"Very quickly we found out that Luton Town Football Club did not do what it said on the tin.

"We have ended up managing a squad of players who do not know if they are being paid or have a future with the football club. This is becoming more relevant as we speak.

oh dear, it's not looking good at all.

 

[Gilly]

Must be Blackwell, thats two on the bounce he's been to that have gone into administration. Hope he goes to Sheff U or Town next

 

[Andybtsn]

I was gonna say I feel a bit sorry for Blackwell, although he can be a **** at times, he was only a game away from getting us back into the Premiership. He seemed to be doing a good job at Luton and now this..