LondonBristolian Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 I really don`t get all this saggy 1982 crap. If we had ceased to exist, then the club would have had to reform as an AFC in some crappy non-league pit .....like the Bananarama. Only the operating company was reformed, not the club. Thick, desperate Sag oinkers (and sympathisers). The thing I think people forget is that, for better or worse, we were the first club (I think globally but certainly in Britain) to have our operating company go bust and then reform as a new business and buy the club without the club itself going out of business. Prior to 1982, clubs simply went out of business and the model of entering administration, getting debts annulled and the football club being bought out (either by the previous owners or someone else) and continuing that's subsequently been used by Middlesbrough, Charlton, Portsmouth, Leicester etc. only existed as a result of someone at our club spotting a loophole, thinking we could get away with it, testing it out and finding that we could get away with doing that and the club continuing. Which means on the one hand that there are a lot of clubs who have a lot to thank us for as, if we'd gone out of business, it may have been some time before someone else thought of trying the same method to avoid going the same away and maybe many of those clubs wouldn't exist today. But it does also mean we're indirectly responsible for a culture that came to a head in the early 2000s where irresponsible directors would knowingly mismanage a club safe in the knowledge they could go into administration, form a new company without the debts and then buy up the club debt free to continue, so I can see why it causes some resentment. Although mostly nowadays of course it's Rovers or Swindon fans sticking the knife in. Which is ironic given the financial mismanagement at both those clubs over the last 30-odd years far outstrips ours... I know I'll get pilloried for saying this but I do think we, if anyone, should be a lot more sympathetic to the situation MK Dons are in. Ultimately they, like us, were in a desperate situation and their only option was an extreme solution nobody had ever tried before and where it was not clear how it would be received by other fans. In a parallel world, we could easily have been the ones that were seen as footballing pariahs as a result... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Hunt-Hertz Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Don't know how old your Walsall mate is but if he's over 44 ish he should well remember the direct link between the events at your club and our own in 1982. One of the "eight" was a certain Julian Marshall who we picked up. He was bad, I mean really bad for us. So whilst no Walsall fan would really have any reason to glory in your downfall at the time, if they really knew their onions they'd know that it hardly helped us either. Just as a matter of interest one of the others from the "eight" was our assistant manager at the time of that three-game play-off encounter later in the 80's. Gerry Sweeny. Nice bloke. Julian Marshall was bad, really bad, for us too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristol south end Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Always have had a soft spot for Walsall. Nice club, nice supporters. Been there a few times. Had a few beers with the locals. Remember going to see city there while i am sure Paul Merson was there player/manager. Seen a few city wins there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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