Who's caused the most damage to our club? Opinions?

In my opinion we should learn from both these two and move on, we can't change whats happened but we can learn from it, surely we need to salvage what we can and hold on to whats left.

We need to face the future, whatever that holds, put your efforts into that and lets not get bogged down.

Wise words.

all of them, they all let us down

too true mopsey

You could blame every BOD since 1968 for the mess the club is in but I have to say the Richardsons have being a bloody disaster for the club

As for moving on I hope we have some thing to move on to because at the moment I am resigned to the fact that we wont have a club to watch come Feb

Perhaps what the current Board are guilty of is prolonging the inevitable and we should have reached the position we may face in the near future 20 or 30 years ago. As someone on another thread has stated, sport, especially RL, is not a profitable business and when the benefactors of the clubs stop putting money into the clubs (for whatever reason) then the 'problems' surface.
At this current time, my understanding is that structurally financially we are in a much better state than some of the other SL clubs (a Saints supporter on here has already pointed this out) ie we have no long term debt. However, what we do have is 'cashflow' problems hence the urgent need for capital into the club in order to meet the short term requirements. Although I, like others, would like to know whether there are any other 'short term' debts that need paying in the near future.

I have no love for the current Board of Directors, as I feel they have made some truly awful decisions for the club. It is, as many on here have pointed out repeatedly, run like a small family corner shop. I do not, however, believe that the current BoD, and particularly Ted, have deliberately run the club into the ground. Anyone who was at the shareholders meeting last week would have seen the genuine distress that Ted was feeling at the current predicament. I'm not saying that this excuses the poor management over the last decade or more, but I am suggesting that there was no-one else who put their hand up when the club needed saving, and the massive amount of personal money he has put into the club should buy him just a tiny bit of lattitude with the fans. Who's to say we haven't faced this problem every year, but Ted has always been able to draw upon personal resources to dig us out of the mire - unfortunately he's now skint and can't do it again. I have absolutely no doubt that if he had sufficient funds to cover the outstanding bills he would pay up in a heartbeat. And before anyone asks how much he has taken out of the club for himself, be aware that he still personally guarantees some of the club's debt, so it's his own house and assets that are on the line. I will probably look back on the Richardson era at the club with the view that it was managed by a wealthy fan who was a bit out of his depth, consistently outmanouvered by WMDC and the RFL, and allowing his heart to rule his head in keeping the club alive. I feel as sorry for Ted as I do for the rest of us poor supporters.

Has Ted really been putting his money into the club? What about this 700K loan against the ground that had to paid last year, when we received half the ground sale money? It's sounds more like he been using the clubs assets to rise funding. I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't put a penny of his own money in! One thing for certain, him and his family have had fair wack out of the club in salaries!

Show us then? How much have they earned between them?

Of course Ted/WT have been using the club's assets to raise funding (loans) that's how it works ie the bank needs security for their loans, in this case the ground.

Thats one of the questions that needs answering, as is what if any money the Directors/main shareholders have taken out of the club in the past 5 years.

I have some sympathy for what you've said; however, given that he was out of his depth, it's unforgivable to have invited unqualified family and friends to climb aboard the gravy train and milk even more money out of the club in salaries.

If a really good CEO had been brought into have oversight of the clubs operations, things may have turned out very differently indeed. For example, and probably most significantly, we may not have been so naive and gullible in our dealings with WMDC and as such, could have been in a new stadium years ago.

I take it those posters suggesting that the BOD and their families have been taking money out of WTW actually know this for sure ?

they have both milked the club for all its worth over the years. If i was to see Ted in the Street i would call him a disgrace !

I am not childish enough to ask for for proof , but you are certain ? , I take it they don't have any other income ? , ie any other businesses ?

As I don't know their history , how did they make their money originally ?

That being the case, why don't you find out for yourself, instead of trying to turn this thread into a repeat of the 45 page borefest on the VT?

What being the case ?

I am not trying to turn anything into anything , I did comment on the VT thread , but not massively , quite simply I am generally sceptical when I see posts proclaiming that ' this director or that director are incompetent or dishonest when in my experience they are usually the opposite and quite often are just trying to do their best in very difficult circumstances

Your average ' fly by night ' con man only stays a year or two before leaving , usually with the club in a real mess , anything longer than that generally is a fan who eventually gets out of their depth financially but still will only leave if there is somebody viable to take over

you commented enough along with sid jessie james and wellsey and most of it utter tripe of going round in circles

The club has been in decline since the late seventies and I while I have never had faith in TR, I doubt if any BOD has taken any monies out of the club, it simply does'nt work like that, in fact most especially those with money are usually putting there own money in. The fact that a family member or TR himself may have taken money out of the club is irrelevant if they have a job with the club that comes with a salary, which is the case. Whether they have done a good job is another issue and that should be the debate. Personally my opinion is they have not, hence the state we are in.

Mr newgroundb4cas, I know people who read these boards who would be very unhappy with your 'accusations', I would advise you not to continue unless you know for certain that your comments are true.

Can you point out what he's said wrong?

just been looking what did he say wrong.

Not on this thread - on another.

Do you mean the one where I was asking about the same thing on this one , where fans were suggesting that the current BOD of WTW were incompetent and potentially dishonest ? , and I was suggesting that if you look at things with a bit less emotion ( difficult I know if it is your club involved ) then quite often the opposite is the case

Is that the one ?