Phew......

[Bob's Bitch]

I kind of feel a bit disconnected from all this (for lack of a better word).

Weirdly i don't even feel worried/frustrated/angry. It's been one thing after another for years now and i think part of me has resigned myself to the fact that we either won't be here next season, or if we are, i doubt it'l be in the BSP. This season has just been a fugging nightmare.

Perhaps it's due to the fact that there are only three of four players i'd be desperate for us to keep next season. We've been so rubbish on and off the pitch since November that i think i've just become disenchanted with the team and the club.

I sat at that awful stadium on Saturday (30k it may be, but its soulless and depressing), watching a bang average team put in a half-arsed performance, seeing P*** T**** run about and antagonise the away fans like nothing had ever happened, and just thought to myself - football shouldn't be like this.

Don't get me wrong, as long as there is a Rushden & Diamonds I will be there, but i'm bored of supporting a team where we're discussing anually the possibility of us going bust, when we get a player with an ounce of ability it's inevitable he's only going to be with us for a maximum of 2 years, and supporting a team that (with the exception of last season) seems to accept mid-table in the BSP as some sort of achievement.

:(

I agree with a lot of that, I also feel quite resigned and disconnected from it, however I do have some things to add. I don't think we accept mid-table in the BSP, it's just that since we've been in the Conference our managerial appointments (apart from JE) haven't been very good. Hart was crap so we got rid and then we got Westley. Not sure if we'll ever know why he was sacked but I firmly believe that if we'd stuck with him we'd be in the League by now. Hill was an ok appointment looking at his record but there was no reason to keep him as long as we did, personally I would have sacked him as soon as he headbutted the assistant manager at Salisbury. If we had sacked him say a year earlier then we might be in a totally different position today.

I'd be perfectly happy dropping down a level or so if it meant having a long-term future and not having to be constantly scared. I read the Southport forum last night and they were bemoaning their chairman's lack of ambition and the fact that instead of splashing the cash from their FA Cup run to keep them in the BSP he decided to keep it for a rainy day. I'd be happy with that to be honest, I wouldn't mind being a yo-yo club if it meant a long-term future where we could properly try and become a community club and build something. Max's dream was good but I think it was slightly built on sand, 10 years isn't long enough to build a good fanbase, we've got 1,000 now but if it was 2,000 then we'd be in a much better position, that can only be generated through being active in the community for a generation.

[coltrane]

I think that Rushden and Diamonds have a greater fanbase than 1000 or even 2000, it is just that people won't pay good money unless there's a good chance of seeing football at a higher level than BSP. If we were in coca cola division 1, not that I expect that to ever happen again, then I wouldn't be surprised to see 4000 or 5000 fans at games. In short what I'm saying that there are more than 1000 that are interested in Rushden and Diamonds even if they don't attend games at the moment.

[Pressman]

I wonder how todays staff meeting went - and also if the players and back room staff were involved?

With doubts about the clubs financial position its times like these when I feel so much for those who have mortgages to pay just like you and me. I just hope that those few employees left will keep their jobs.

I also hope that the players were paid today as well!

[Red Dragon]

... then we got Westley. Not sure if we'll ever know why he was sacked but I firmly believe that if we'd stuck with him we'd be in the League by now.

Then you haven't been listening, or asking the right people. I know why he was sacked, because Keith Cousins told me why the day after it happened, so that, as Fans' Chaplain, I could do as much as possible to reassure people that the right decision was made, and that people did their best not to rock the boat.

Trust me, Keith didn't have any real choice on the issue. I can't tell you what he told me, but I am absolutely 100% behind that decision, even if your second statement were to be correct - and there's DEFINITELY no way of knowing whether that is true or not!

[Oundle Diamond #2]

... then we got Westley. Not sure if we'll ever know why he was sacked but I firmly believe that if we'd stuck with him we'd be in the League by now.

Then you haven't been listening, or asking the right people. I know why he was sacked, because Keith Cousins told me why the day after it happened, so that, as Fans' Chaplain, I could do as much as possible to reassure people that the right decision was made, and that people did their best not to rock the boat.

Trust me, Keith didn't have any real choice on the issue. I can't tell you what he told me, but I am absolutely 100% behind that decision, even if your second statement were to be correct - and there's DEFINITELY no way of knowing whether that is true or not!

If what I was told was true, I'm also 100% behind the decision to sack Westley.

[DiamondEejit]

... then we got Westley. Not sure if we'll ever know why he was sacked but I firmly believe that if we'd stuck with him we'd be in the League by now.

Then you haven't been listening, or asking the right people. I know why he was sacked, because Keith Cousins told me why the day after it happened, so that, as Fans' Chaplain, I could do as much as possible to reassure people that the right decision was made, and that people did their best not to rock the boat.

Trust me, Keith didn't have any real choice on the issue. I can't tell you what he told me, but I am absolutely 100% behind that decision, even if your second statement were to be correct - and there's DEFINITELY no way of knowing whether that is true or not!

If what I was told was true, I'm also 100% behind the decision to sack Westley.

From what I've been told happened, sacking him was the only option...

[DiamondsFan]

Look at me, look at me, I know something you don't.... :roll: :roll:

[Chammie]

Look at me, look at me, I know something you don't.... :roll: :roll:

That attitude is a bit unnecessary bearing in mind that during at least two Fans Forums, Keith Cousins described in great detail exactly why Graham Westley had been fired.
So, everyone who attended knows the full story but Red Dragon is right, those reasons should not be for discussion on this forum.

[Red Dragon]

Look at me, look at me, I know something you don't.... :roll: :roll:

It isn't about "Look at me", nor "I know something you don't", as if I was making it up, just to be seen to be in the know.

I do know what happened, and whatever you say to try and wind me up, I can't say, because I promised not to... but I was specifically told so that I could, without breaking confidences, endorse the action taken, and be seen to endorse it as a representative of the fans on the Terrace who could be relied on not to break that confidence, and who could also be relied upon to tell the truth as he knew it to be.

You may not like it, but that's the case. Live with it.

[Chammie]

I feel that the creditors meeting is a last gasp attempt to buy some time. SB may be able to persuade some of them to hold off any action for a time but I doubt the big boys (HMRC) will be easily satisfied.
They would need to convince the creditors that they would be able to trade out of the current situation in a reasonable time period to such an extent that all, or most, of the debts would be paid.
A detailed financial plan would be required, and it would need to be backed up by some fairly substantive guarantees, and I think that is going to be very difficult to achieve unless a substantial backer comes on board very quickly.

I'd actually go a bit further than that. I would think it very unlikely that HMRC would attend such a creditors meeting yet without their involvement, any agreements reached as a result of the meeting tomorrow would be effectively without meaning.
Added to that, with the past caterers having taken the action they have, I am not sure that it would be in their interest to attend the meeting tomorrow putting them in the same controlling position as HMRC.
I do get the feeling that when one looks at the possible end-games here, it is also possible that Keith Cousins might be orchestrating / might have orchestrated events here. If only we knew which of the possible ending he had in mind when he let the Beasant s loose on the rest of us.
Incidentally, any news from the staff meeting?