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Stirling Albion Thread


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9 hours ago, BB_Bino said:


From what I can gather from your posts, your biggest argument against it is based on what ifs. What if the consort starts borrowing money against the clubs assets......but what is stopping the current board, or any future board, from doing that?

Now I’m not saying you are wrong to bring up this point, but ultimately, you just have to put people in place and trust that they will do the best for the club. It’s not up to the supporters to decide if people are fit and proper, there are checks for that elsewhere. It doesn’t matter who you put in positions of power, within politics, business....or even football, you just have to trust that they will not abuse the power and trust they will do the job they promised.

We’ve had the bid, I’ve not read the full document (but I know Knowledgable people who have) but I have read the watered down version. Do I think it’s perfect, no I don’t, do I think it’s how I would run the club if I become a lotto winner, it probably isn’t but do I think it’s an improvement on how things stand just now, yes, do I think it’s exciting, absolutely I do, if this consortium pulls off the things they want to then, of course, it’s exciting times for our club and until they give us reason not to, then I feel they should be given the chance to at least try.

I personally think this is the crossroads for the club, we can either keep bobbing about in League 2 with little to get excited about or we can have a 10 year plan in place to be a Championship team, playing Full Time football, play a bit part in the community and see the club develop......pretty much risk free, I’ll take the chance that this consortium is out to do what they say they will, because if they are not, well, it’s there money and at least we will.be where we currently are.

 

What’s stopping the current or future board from borrowing money? Two things… Firstly, Stirling Albion currently has no assets so cannot get a secured loan. Secondly, the Trust board – backed by the members - is in place to ensure that the club does not take on risky borrowing. 

If Stirling Albion grew naturally and was in a place to buy assets, fine. But the danger here is that the club could be loaded up with assets bought with borrowed money and then see even bigger loans secured against those assets. The bid removes all the powers of the Trust so the board could not intervene even if it spotted disaster unfolding. Then the consortium could pull out, take their money and leave the club with fatal levels of debt.

This isn’t about whether you trust John Neill or not. Proper contracts are there to remove risk and take out the guesswork. You're right, it is all about what ifs. You can trust someone but still have the foresight to cover yourself.

I totally agree with you that the club is a mess, it’s at a crossroads, it has to improve and there is no second bid on the table. But the consortium is like borrowing money for a Harley Davidson because you’re fat, bald, middle-aged and just been made redundant. If we really want to turn the club round, there’s no other way than hard work, high standards and locating the right people with the right experience. Not as exciting in the short term but we’ll definitely have a club in the long term.

The fact the consortium and nobody supporting them is prepared to put up personal guarantees to cover any debts left behind suggests that people have more doubts about this than they’re expressing at the moment.

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 Not as exciting in the short term but we’ll definitely have a club in the long


Thats it, lets be a club like Montrose were and languish in League 2 with the occasional promotion to League 1! At least we’ll have a club!!!
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Thats it, lets be a club like Montrose were and languish in League 2 with the occasional promotion to League 1! At least we’ll have a club!!!
Hiya Jake Pal can you see us from here...
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Be careful what you wish for guys. When Wotherspoon took over at Airdrie and set out his grand plans it was hard not to get on the bandwagon. 1 season as the worst full time side in the country and he chucked the toys out the pray and left, leaving us with days to save ourselves and come up with the cash to see us through the season. Thankfully an Airdrie minded consortium have came in and seem to have saved the day. It might also be worth noting that our supporters trust are an equal party in the consortium.

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How was Andy Little for you boys? We've just signed him on a deal till January.


As I posted a few days ago mate:

It’s hard to gauge Andy Little at Stirling because of his injury troubles. When he first came to the club, it was to use the facilities to train in to get over an injury he had a Preston (I think) and off the back of that he signed, initially until the end of the 2016/17 season, I think he would of had something like 10 games under his belt. For the first few games he played, he looked very rusty but had ability and you could see that he was going to be a super player. Just as he was getting sharper and starting to look the part, the training ground incident happened and he was lucky to be alive. We offered him a new deal to show loyalty and he accepted, but he was out for pretty much all last season.
 
With his new Joey Barton look he finally managed to make a couple of appearances and get himself off the bench, he looked rusty again but fair play, he ran about a bit. He then made a start against Berwick, only to come off with a hamstring injury and that was the end of him.
 
Is he the same player that ripped this league apart with Rangers? Who knows. Is a good player still there? Who knows, is Andy Little now a bad player? Again, who knows. Wish him well though, he was always good when I chatted to him behind the scenes and he’s been through a hell of a lot over the past year.
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17 minutes ago, BB_Bino said:

Willie Robertson has now quit the club and looks to be quitting football.

that really is a shame. Hopefully he can resolve whatever has caused that decision.

 It definitely leaves us looking a little light in the centre of midfield.

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1 hour ago, BB_Bino said:

Willie Robertson has now quit the club and looks to be quitting football.

Wish him all the best, liked Willie as a player. Only problem is that leaves us short in midfield after the departure of Liam Caddis. Just hope we can get replacements in before the start of the League fixtures. 

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22 hours ago, King Crownest said:

nobody supporting them is prepared to put up personal guarantees to cover any debts left behind suggests that people have more doubts about this than they’re expressing at the moment.

That's just about the stupidest thing I've read on the internet this month, which is admirable in its own way. 

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4 hours ago, StewartyMac said:

That's just about the stupidest thing I've read on the internet this month, which is admirable in its own way. 

Is it as stupid as borrowing £600K you don’t need, handing your club over to someone who’s never run one before and giving them the power to dump the corpse and walk away scot-free?

We keep being told this bid is the dogs and it’s going to revolutionise Scottish football.

But bearing in mind what happened to Gretna I think it’s perfectly reasonable to point out that, as part of the contract, the consortium will able to saddle the club with debt but are not offering personal guarantees that their actions won’t end with Stirling Albion in liquidation.

John Neill has plenty of folk willing to shout loud on his behalf but none of them are willing to put their money where their mouth is either.

Montrose and Stenny got promotion last season with, at a guess, a playing budget about half the size of SAFC’s.

Meanwhile Albion Rovers blew money they didn’t have and ended up relegated and are now having to fill their squad with Alloa's teenage off-cuts.

So, looking about you at the evidence, why would you think borrowing a stack of cash is the way to go?

This summer should have seen the club and the trust helping Dave Mackay hold a post mortem to get the bottom of why smaller clubs with less money have succeeded where we’ve failed instead of squabbling over some bloke's magic beans.

Edited by King Crownest
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