Statement from the chairman

Sometimes less is more.

 

Glad he's alive.

 

flippin heck Shergar being rode by Lord Lucan... Totally motivated now

 

Be better if it was Lady Godiva.

 

I think a lot of the negative posts on here are the newer supporters, thats not a slight against them in any way. I've been going since 65 and remember the really bad old days , bucket and blanket collections to pay wages - bills etc . The statement says to me ( like you and many others ) that the club is quite safe . I've no doubt it will be more frugal at VP for a while after this pandemic, but i also think we are in a better place than most in the lower divisions , its bad , but not as bad as the 60s 70s and 80s .

 

There's nothing definitive about that statement whatsoever. A generic, 'hope you're all well and we're working to get through this together'. Will Rupp loan the club more money to ensure we don't go under? Probably, to protect his 'investment'. That's LOAN, not GIVE.

Its not like he's made ANY assurance in that statement of the extent to which he'll personally fund this club to not only survive, but thrive. We'll do the bare minimum that's needed to survive and minimize the risk of relegation. Anyone who thinks' he'll fund anything like an ambitious budget for this club to hit the ground running when the COVID farce is over, is dreaming.

'Typical Negativity'? Why should there be anything other than robust critique of his tenure? Other than loan money to the club to plug a financial hole that he's created in the first place, what's he done for this club? Anyone?

He appointed a lunatic to run he club, running up considerable debts and running costs that can't be sustained, loaned money to the club to avoid admin - very much mitigated by the McBurnie windfall - and it'll be interesting to see whether that windfall has seen the loan repaid or been swallowed up by the deficit black hole - seen us relegated, investment in nothing of value to the club, diluted the playing squad - and we're supposed to be grateful??!!

I struggle to think of a worse, more incompetent owner in the recent history of the club.

 

I'm equally baffled but for different reasons. I'm baffled at how easily pleased/misled so many of our fans are. Look how long it took for our fans to see Rahic for what he was.

It's a pleasant statement. Well wishes, a bit of humanity shown. Very nice, genuinely. I hope he and his family are well too. None of which makes a blind bit of difference to the future of the club.

And he doesn't emphasise that HE'S committed to getting us through this, he rounds it out by phrasing it as 'we're working together'. And anyway, his words hold no credibility - because they've never been backed up by any sort of effective action. Any money he props the club up with will be loaned only - so we'll have to pay it back. Which will further hold the club back. I'm baffled that people don't seem to be able to see this.

Any comfort in his words is false comfort. He's taken this club nowhere but backwards, however well-intentioned or 'honourable' he is.

 

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Not looking to be confrontational, but I think that's entirely down to personal interpretation than anything specific in the statement. One of our own club's directors has been on here to state that without the loan Rupp has put into the club, we'd have been in a very difficult financial position (I believe Admin was either stated or strongly implied). And that's before the worst crisis to ever hit the football league landed.

 

I honestly don't know. My belief is that across many other clubs, owners put money into their clubs in various ways - not always as loans.

Is there any aspect of the club, beyond the original purchase, where Rupp has materially put money into the club. Out of his own pocket, gifted to the club to improve it? to my mind and a cursory view of the financial statements we put out - which aren't exhaustive, show that the running costs have been increased to reflect where we've spent more, and he's loaned the club money to plug that deficit. Very much offset by the McBurnie money. Is there anything at all on the balance sheet to show where he's genuinely invested in the club?

He seems like a decent, honorable guy, much more so than Rahic, but completely out of his depth running a football club. He's been here 4 years - what has he delivered, in that time, to give supporters cause for optimism? Or at the very least, to make 'negativity' unreasonable?

 

You've missed your way @Faithful Bantam you should be a motivational speaker , no seriously I can understand your reasoning and Rupp's statement is hardly inspiring to fans.
I still believe he was very naive being taken in by Rahic, its sounds to me not only didn't he do his due diligence on the club but also failed in his due diligence of Rahics past (which a fellow fan posted on here and showed the man was hardly what he claimed) he also fail to grasp that very few teams in our position find a diamond of a player who generates enough finance to recuperate monies he invested to purchase the club.
What makes our situation even worse is that in their first season McCall got us to Wembley and obviously Rahic would have convinced him this is only the start, he took the bait hook line and sinker.
With regards going forward I'm not sure he could have said anything different because I personally don't believe he wants us long term no matter how he tries to convince us.
Unfortunately the only time we had owners prepared to invest into our club were the Richmond/Rhodes days but they also took more out than invested according to some who understand the ins & outs of dividends etc, and lets not forget where that took our club, I'm not sure as fans we can demand more, yes I know its been sad many times but at least after this present situation is over "we have a club to follow" because hearing some of the stories doing the rounds many fans won't have that privilege.
Yes I am happy to go along with the status quo hoping maybe somewhere down the line we may get an owner/owners who do know football, but I don't think I'll be around to see those day.

 

Prepare to be thought of as being "Negative" again FB
I fully agree with you how anyone can find positives in his statement is above me it's pleasant enough wishing us all well in these strange times I wish him well too but above that can not see many positives (for the club)
Posters praising Mr Rupp about how grateful they are for investments made in saving OUR club also baffle me last I heard Mr Rupp was the owner of the club and he would be investing to prop up/ rectify mistakes in his OWN company maybe he should have thought seriously before declining the rumoured offer to purchase the club
We the supporters who in my opinion are the life blood of the club can in no way influence the way the club is run and any investments made
A lot on here have invested time effort and not inconsiderable cash following the club, a massive part of our lives but in the end we hold no sway in the way the club is run
So far his tenure has been nothing short of disastrous we have gone backwards in every aspect
It could have been so different had the investment he promised McCall in the season we lost in the play off final materialized sadly, it didn't maybe that's what makes me sceptical about his words

 

People seem to be over thinking this so called statement from the chairman. If they had put it out a statement I could get the complaints that there isn’t much in it, but it is a message from him. By the phrasing of message I took it, before reading it, that it would just be a quick couple of lines rather than a detailed statement of intent

 

Just to be clear, I'm not knocking him for having made a statement and I don't expect him to have really said anything else - I just think some are reading what they want and finding false comfort. Actions are really all that matter, those haven't been anywhere near good enough.

 

It reads like an automatic email reply you get when making a complaint to a large company. It's nothing more than a a few lines, probably from Rupps PA, at the request of Ryan Sparks, to assure supporters he actually still owns the club.

 

Unfortunately "I just think some are reading what they want and finding false comfort" is the only game in town at the moment, I certainly wouldn't claim your negative in your post, you see the statement for what it is in your opinion.
The more I think about a man made multi millionaire I find it hard to understand why he, trusted Rahic without investigating his claims and past, but more so the comment Rupp made in one of the first comments in the T&A that "his investment was worth the risk".