Over the last 24 hours I have been reading conflicting statements from James Brent’s Akkeron Group and P&A Partnership. Akkeron Group released a statement saying “ALL (Akkeron Group) will not improve on the terms of its best and final offer, I call on the joint administrators to follow the example set by PAFC’s employees and creditors and accept their losses and allow the cub to move forward.” While P&A released a counter-statement saying “We are still in negotiations and therefore disappointed that Akkeron has issued this statement, which is both premature and in parts inaccurate. In the negotiations the two professional firms involved have more than demonstrated their willingness to write off costs in order to save the club.” And the Argyle Fans’ Trust has chimed in with “Our message is very simple: sign the deal on the table now and salvage what little of your reputation remains.” – I just hope it’s sorted today one way or another!
I really don’t believe that Brent is telling the truth about wanting to stop the suffering of the staff and players by saving the club from oblivion, what he has done is very clever from a business standpoint but not so much from a moral standpoint. He is holding the administrators to ransom knowing he has the Argyle Fans’ Trust behind him along with large percentage of Argyle fans. He did exactly the same thing with the city council; forcing them to buy back the freehold to Home Park or watch the club be liquidated. If he really cared about the club, fans, staff and players he would make up the shortfall between what P&A want and what his Akkeron Group is willing to pay, to make the deal happen! £200,000 is not a lot of money in terms of buying a football club!
I would like to come a decision; either deal or don’t deal, liquidate the club if Brent isn’t willing to bridge the gap, it pains me to say this as a lifelong Argyle fan but the staff and players need to know what’s happening, so they can move on with their lives instead of being stuck in perpetual limbo! I have heard rumours that the Argyle Fans’ trust have been urging the staff at Home Park to not sign another wage deferral to force P&A Partnerships’ hand, I suspect that hand will be to liquidate the club rather than accept Brent’s £400,000 offer! What a complete shambles!!!
Update [28/10/2011 @ 10:00]: Administrators have announced that a deal has been struck to complete the purchase of Plymouth Argyle Football Club by the end of today (Friday 28th). Yes, it’s great that the club is saved and that the playing and backroom staff will get paid but I still have some niggling issues. The biggest one is a sentence from a statement from James Brent, saying “What I won’t do is part with control of the club until it’s properly stabilised” – which indicates to me that he is in this to make a profit from the club in a few years after pumping in as little as he can. I just hope that Brent does right by the club in the meantime, uses the £1.6m from the sale of the freehold to bolster our beleaguered squad as indicated! If immediate investment isn’t made, Argyle are sure to be demoted out of the Football League this season, the young players don’t have the experience or strength to truly compete in this league!