What's done is done, pointless going back over it all now. The club was in a terrible state whichever way you look at it and who ever you choose to blame. It's taken a few years, but the club looks to be heading in the right direction

Let's look forward instead of looking back

Who did he stand in front of? I remember that time pretty well and the huge thread we had on here & we weren't exactly swamped with people rushing to takeover the Club just before the start of that season. We'd had Steve Parkin's interest and it was only when he dropped out when the RFL couldn't guarantee him SL status, Glover's name popped up and he got accepted by the RFL. I remember it was Elston that talked Glover into it when he'd gone round to the Club to talk about his sponsorship that year & Parkin was messing around. IMO Glover's mistake was not getting someone better than Elston to run the club at the time because apart from the marketing side of things Glover didn't have a clue about running a RL Club and neither did Elston.

To say he made all that money from his business I find it hard to grasp because he was so gullible and easily led by them around him.

James got the gig because he brokered the deal for Andrew.
Steve Parkin had form for messing the club around.
Not sure how much cash Andrew actually put in - he placed the debt against his company, but in the end I think much of it is the debt that Michael inherited.
Ted was just being Ted. I do not believe for 1 second he wished for any of this, and once again the delay in the Stadium issue is the one which comes out on top as the reason for his undoing.

This club will never move forward until we finally resolve the Stadium issue and have facilities suitable for this day and age.

In the meantime, I will continue to support those who are brave enough and willing to take on the role of running our great club, but the stability Chris and Michael have brought is something to be extremely thankful for!

A guy with lots of.trucks and a taste for football. As stated it's old history all I'm saying is that where we are today is complex and to state Glover saved the club is false.

I don't think he was malicious as it happens just rubbish and imho he got in the way and derailed the club rather than saved it.

You're right there was not a big cue but there were other and perhaps better options at the time.

The thing sticking in my mind and I may be wrong but I'm sure Glover did something during negotiation to buy the club that was dodgy and stopped others. Old history now but I just can't recall what it was. Not worth bothering about now it's just bugging me.

Your right though we've ended up ok bar the stadium.

I think it was the Parkin thing you are thinking of. Parkin wanted Andrew to step aside on the pretence that he would then step in and buy the club. I don't believe that he would have tbh, and therefore perhaps Andrew, on this occasion, should be allowed some slack.

If we could merge the Entrepreneurial spirit of Ted, the marketing nous of Andrew and the business acumen of Chris and Michael we would be well sorted!

Yes we should be thankful that in Michael and Chris that the club are now heading in the right direction.

I do agree though with an earlier poster that the state the club were in when he took over wasnt all down to Glover. I dont think he had the support he needed at the time. He had never owned a club before and some decisions made on and off the pitch were the wrong ones. Bearing in mind that when Michael took over Kath Hetherington came in but like her or not, the Hetheringtons know all the ins and outs of running a club.

I say this about Glover and Elston as I spent time working for the club between 2012 and 2013.

Doing what, if you don't mind me asking.

Sure.

In the Accounts Department.

I was responsible for day to day duties such as chasing customer payments and processing purchase invoices etc. Unfortunately I wasnt in a position to make any financial decisions like who to pay and who not. James and Andrew got a weekly report as to who were chasing.

I think we spent beyond our means on players those years and Eric France going pop didnt help but to pay a creditor after it goes to court increases the debt.

The near demise of this doesn't rest on the shoulders of Ted, Glover or MC it goes way further back than that. It actually started in the 1960's and gradually went down hill from there with some of the worst BOD any RL club has ever seen until eventually the Council bought the ground 1985 I think (see not the first time we've lost our only asset).

When Rodney Walker and Stuart Farrar came in they at least stabalised the club on the pitch but did little off it. Ted and his partner arrived after an abortive take over by Duncan Developments. In Teds reign he got us back into SL, kept us there all be it by the skin of our teeth and yes got the ground back! It's a tragic and sad irony that arguably Teds biggest achievements, keeping us in SL and getting the ground back were ultimately his demise and what he will always be remembered for.

Glover by comparrison was transitory, 2 years versus 15 and although he had his moments and as I say wasn't malicious he did virtually nothing in real terms. Now we have MC and we shall see.

Truth is we are still deep in the mire, we are now on life support but with hopefully a much more gifted surgeon.

You're brave to admit that I have to say.

I thought so too, but why not be open and honest.

I loved it though to be fair, working in an industry I love and to top it all at the rugby team you support and have been watching since 1980.

It was at the aame time hard and sad seeing the struggles and bot having any power to buck the trend.

Good for you, honesty is in short supply in this world and even though I think you're misguided it's nice to see you have a bit of loyalty for Glover and your time at the club. To many people on here snipe and scapegoat from the safety of anonimity so all power to your elbow.

On a personal level I don't have a problem with uncle Ted, but perhaps he might have been better off merging his alleged Entrepreneurial spirit towards the club instead of pursuing other interests

The reason why I mentioned Eric France was I think there are quite a few people who forgot that they went under owing the club money.

The sponsorship deal was a six figure sum, it was paid monthly to the club and several payments were missed. This happened out of season so must clubs are reliant on their sponsors to pay bills. We may have got a new sponsor as the season was starting but in comparison to the Eric France deal it was a bit lower.

Had all this not have happened the club may not have been as badly in the mire as they were. There were things that happened that snowballed on from there.

I dont feel comfortable to share the value, as one of the main things regarding finance is confidenciality.

Steve Parkin was serious about buying the club! He had accountants and solicitors do due diligence and found nothing in terms of debt or hidden debt to scare him off.

He offered to place a bond with the RFL and to introduce many of his business clients to the RFL marketing team. His offer was to pay off all the debt and spend whatever it took to make the club viable i.e. employ qualified staff in all departments as well as funding a competitive team.

The sticking point was that if he did things the correct way and spent a couple of million securing the club, he wanted a guarantee the RFL would not demote Wakefield by revoking their SL licence. All he wanted was to know that he wasn't going to spend 2 million to buy what would effectively become a Championship Club worth one tenth of that within weeks of the purchase.

The RFL flatly refused to give that guarantee either officially or unofficially, hence a Mexican stand off began which went right to the eve of the Millennium Magic season opener in Cardiff. The RFL were buoyed by the fact that if Parkin walked they had Glover waiting to step in and so stood their ground.
Parkin walked and the rest is history!

Yea I remember most of that.

It doesn't change your argument but Ted and Brian were already on board when Duncan Developments came onto the scene.
Rodney Walker, Ted, Brian and another bloke (Peter Robinson?) were the majority share holders after the share issue. Rodney and the other bloke then left the scene leaving Ted, Brian and Stuart Farrar to run the club. If I remember correctly, Duncan Developments were given shares in lieu of upgrading the east stand with Jim Duncan becoming vice chair. Duncan Developments went bust not long after and Jim and his mate left the club.

You can say what you want about Glover. At least he tried waking up this sleeping giant, cheaper season tickets, TV ad's etc. Unfortunately he came along when the club was on its knees and not much breathing space. The risks didn't pay off and errors were made but at least he tried to shake things up a bit. Elston and his missis were the biggest thieves of that era. Overpaid and incompetent.

Agree there Mash Potato.

Think there was a lot of money squandered over a period of time which caused the club to heamorrage money out of the club in various ways and it went beyond over inflated salaries.

Even basic cost cutting exercises which you would practice at home such as energy tariffs and bills were initially ignored.

There was also a very high amount of player compromise deals for ex players dished out during this time which mounted up.

Pure fantasy I'm afraid - anybody could do what Glover did if you weren't going to pay for it. If he's a hero then I give up, we might as well hand the club over to the moonies!

You do realise the only reason we still exist is because MC stepped in initially to save his own investment then the club and thankfully had the decency to pay most of the creditors.

Had he not done this Glover would have been the man to take us down and then you could definitely say what you like about Glover couldn't you!

As for blaming Elston and his girlfriend this is a new level of blame shifting - poor Glover being fleeced by a chippy ex player and a dancer - give us a break. How these teflon dons fool people in the first place surprises me but to still be fooling people is stunning.

my friend had a conservatory built by glovers company. damp comes up through the floor and the roof leaks. he has had them back a dozen times but they have never sorted it. says everything about glover . all mouth and no trousers,

Quote ="ball-in-hand"my friend had a conservatory built by glovers company. damp comes up through the floor and the roof leaks. he has had them back a dozen times but they have never sorted it. says everything about glover . all mouth and no trousers,'" Tell your friend to report them to FENSA.... www.fensa.org.uk

Quote ="ball-in-hand"my friend had a conservatory built by glovers company. damp comes up through the floor and the roof leaks. he has had them back a dozen times but they have never sorted it. says everything about glover . all mouth and no trousers,'" Tell your friend to report them to FENSA.... www.fensa.org.uk