Not a problem - a lot of people think I'm employed by MCFC but I have never been an employee of the club. When I set up the museum it was on a temporary consultancy basis for 2 days work a week for 6 months. It was never extended but I stayed on that basis for a few years but was only ever a contractor. I've provided support to City (and other clubs) on a consultancy basis several times sometimes paid, often unpaid.
I agree that time would make a good book. Maybe one day I'll resurrect The Journey - the story of 2005 to 2011 I'd drafted but never published.
thanks
just that season alone would be a top top book. from thaksin shinawatra buying the club and Thailand frozen his money and the fit and proper test by the premier league ? the 6 or 7 big players signed in a rush and sven goran eriksson ? and then to the downfall in 12 months and close to liquidation the old chairman leading the club money to pay the wages. then on end of transfer day city becoming the richest club in the world with new owners
crazy crazy indeed
or old kippers!When he told those of us in the room at the time we all looked at each other. Person next to me whispered 'Is he thinking about the smell of the old Kippax?'
Who bought Jo then? It doesn't add up if we were struggling that much but could afford Jo and Kompany and pay for Hughes and his staff who were contracted to Blackburn.
Oldham. It's positively Arctic.
Boro's molten compared to Oldham.Boro's like Malta compared to Oldham.
on the drip and empty promises ? and believe me when i say thaksin shinawatra was spending money he really did not have and was locked up in Thailand and there courts and was frozen. so thaksin was loaning money from people and believing him on saying he will get the money back from Thailand but it never did ? the story and maybe little truth in it ? was that some or most of the money he loaned was from sheikh mansour and the abu dhabi backers. and in the take our they just took the debt and loan they used to buy the club of the final price they paid ?? that's why gary cook was sent in to clear the mess and sort out the new take over
sheikh mansour and the abu dhabi backers was in the market for a club and everbody knew the liverpool deal was dead in the water and manchester city was in a right mess. so the best way into getting football was opened. and even better they knew the trouble thaksin shinawatra was in and he was deep in shit because of the loaned money was not going to be paid back
the old chairman did loan the club money to pay the wages and city was in a mess ? everybody and i mean everybody knew it and players down tools and the manager was off and did not want any part of this mess and walked ?? but little did they know that gary cook was already part of the abu dhabi backers they sent in to look at the books. and get all the paper stuff sorted out and the fit and proper test and due diligence was already in place
but like i said many jumped ship and panic set in long before the new take over was headlining the media outlets and sven goran eriksson was first and the players panic and down tools and the crazy 8.1 was a show of warning something was not right at city and trouble was close
Cook was Thaksin's man and the players just took a beating in an end of season game like the Everton one in 1993 or we did to Oldham a year or 2 earlier , or Everton in 2004, it just happens.
Cook explains things here, the £25m loan against future TV money did not suggest the 2nd takeover was a banker.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/aug/27/manchestercity.premierleague1
Do you mean the museum wasn't extended or your contract?Not a problem - a lot of people think I'm employed by MCFC but I have never been an employee of the club. When I set up the museum it was on a temporary consultancy basis for 2 days work a week for 6 months. It was never extended but I stayed on that basis for a few years but was only ever a contractor. I've provided support to City (and other clubs) on a consultancy basis several times sometimes paid, often unpaid.
I agree that time would make a good book. Maybe one day I'll resurrect The Journey - the story of 2005 to 2011 I'd drafted but never published.
Oldham!If there's a colder windier place to build a football ground I'd like to know where it is?
Oldham!
Agree with all of this. I worked for a Bank that was involved with City at the time (we were trying to get out because of Thaksin - as were many others). We refused to lend to the club following the takeover and an American investment bank arranged a bond issue, that took out all the historic traditional bank debt but we were still involved with the mechanics of the finance, even that we wanted out of. The money was coming in at first through various dodgy channels and with Thaksin's wife's name on the paperwork. Those 'assets' were eventually frozen quite possibly because of the high profile nature of buying the club. If he had hidden his millions in a Panama trust fund he might not have lost it all. When the money stopped flowing there was no where to go, the club was toxic in financial circles due to the ownership. I don't think they ever failed to pay the wages but they were basically borrowing money to pay the creditors threatening to go legal, paying out the bare minimum from funds scraped together. We would not have gone bust as someone would have bought the club the question is who if the current owners had not.
Thanks for that, that was a really interesting read.Thanks. This is very interesting. At the time, I will in contact with someone who was a professional adviser doing work for the club. He told me that, at the beginning, Thaksin was funneling money into City from offshore accounts whose existence was disclosed by way of Thaksin offering proof of funds when buying the club. However, the intention was always for Thaksin to invest in the club using money he had in Thailand. IIRC, he had a couple of billion quid frozen there, but he expected the party loyal to him to win the Thai general election in December 2007.
He thought that victory would then trigger two developments: (1) the unfreezing of his billions in Thailand, which he could then withdraw from the country through MCFC outside the scope the restrictions of general Thai currency control legislation using an exemption concerning investments that enhance the prestige of Thailand internationally; and (2) the disbanding of a body called the AEC (Assets Examination Committee) which had been set up by the previous military government to look into Thaksin's offshore funds. But, though the largest single party in the Thai parliament, his allies fell short of an overall majority and neither of these things happened - which had serious repercussions for MCFC.
As discussed in another thread, MCFC had set up a deal to bring Nicolas Anelka back to the club in the January 2008 transfer window and that transaction fell through, obviously. He ended up going to Chelsea, where he in effect understudied Drogba, but he'd have opted to be the main striker at City under Sven had that option remained on the table. At this stage, Thaksin no longer was prepared to channel funds into the club from his offshore accounts lest he alert the AEC, watching on closely, to the provenance of the cash.
Thaksin's preferred solution was to bring money into MCFC by finding a partner who'd subscribe for a minority shareholding at a hefty price, and it was this plan that first brought ADUG into the picture. Thaksin's adviser Pairoj Piampongsan, a director at City, was based in the UAE and had top-level contacts over there. I believe that, even at this stage, ADUG regarded MCFC fairly favourably as a potential investment but their plans didn't involve playing second fiddle to anyone (and Thaksin's valuation of the club coupled with the amount of control he was prepared to cede didn't enhance the prospect of doing a deal with anyone).
As 2008 moved forward, it became clear that Thaksin's political woes in Thailand, his resultant inability to finance MCFC and the British government's decision to side with his enemies meant that he was always likely to have to sell the club on. Unfortunately, he was very slow in recognising the fact, believing for months that a solution would present itself and allow him to retain control of the club. That nearly cost us the ADUG takeover. I suppose we should thank the Thai military for ending up putting Thaksin in a position where, just in time, even he couldn't deny that he needed to get out. ;)
Thanks. This is very interesting. At the time, I will in contact with someone who was a professional adviser doing work for the club. He told me that, at the beginning, Thaksin was funneling money into City from offshore accounts whose existence was disclosed by way of Thaksin offering proof of funds when buying the club. However, the intention was always for Thaksin to invest in the club using money he had in Thailand. IIRC, he had a couple of billion quid frozen there, but he expected the party loyal to him to win the Thai general election in December 2007.
He thought that victory would then trigger two developments: (1) the unfreezing of his billions in Thailand, which he could then withdraw from the country through MCFC outside the scope the restrictions of general Thai currency control legislation using an exemption concerning investments that enhance the prestige of Thailand internationally; and (2) the disbanding of a body called the AEC (Assets Examination Committee) which had been set up by the previous military government to look into Thaksin's offshore funds. But, though the largest single party in the Thai parliament, his allies fell short of an overall majority and neither of these things happened - which had serious repercussions for MCFC.
As discussed in another thread, MCFC had set up a deal to bring Nicolas Anelka back to the club in the January 2008 transfer window and that transaction fell through, obviously. He ended up going to Chelsea, where he in effect understudied Drogba, but he'd have opted to be the main striker at City under Sven had that option remained on the table. At this stage, Thaksin no longer was prepared to channel funds into the club from his offshore accounts lest he alert the AEC, watching on closely, to the provenance of the cash.
Thaksin's preferred solution was to bring money into MCFC by finding a partner who'd subscribe for a minority shareholding at a hefty price, and it was this plan that first brought ADUG into the picture. Thaksin's adviser Pairoj Piampongsan, a director at City, was based in the UAE and had top-level contacts over there. I believe that, even at this stage, ADUG regarded MCFC fairly favourably as a potential investment but their plans didn't involve playing second fiddle to anyone (and Thaksin's valuation of the club coupled with the amount of control he was prepared to cede didn't enhance the prospect of doing a deal with anyone).
As 2008 moved forward, it became clear that Thaksin's political woes in Thailand, his resultant inability to finance MCFC and the British government's decision to side with his enemies meant that he was always likely to have to sell the club on. Unfortunately, he was very slow in recognising the fact, believing for months that a solution would present itself and allow him to retain control of the club. That nearly cost us the ADUG takeover. I suppose we should thank the Thai military for ending up putting Thaksin in a position where, just in time, even he couldn't deny that he needed to get out. ;)