Saints fans won't need
reminding of who this man is - it's Reg Brealey, theGrantham Town will shortly lose the services of its General Manager, Steve Morgon. Steve is due to leave the club at the end of the month with the day to day running of the club being past back to club Chairman, Alan Prince.
Steve Morgon has been with the club for the past six months and came with the take-over of the club by Reg Brealey and Antrac Investments. Prior to coming to Grantham Steve held a similair position at Darlington Football Club.
Steve Morgon has overseen the progress of the club from part time to full time status. Its is expected that Steve will still continue working as part of the Antrac Investments group of companies.
"The staff have been
brilliant, working themselves seven days a week to take the club forward."
says Steve. "The club is in better shape financially and physically."
Surprisingly enough ,
"millionaire" Brealey is declared bankrupt. An unpaid amount of £45k
is being pursued through the courts by a team of Scottish
Lawyers - almost certainly tied to the estae which Brealey has been involved in
for years. As the story shows the real push is for payment of over
£3m which Brealey is said to owe.
Bankruptcy carries with it a total ban on involvement with limited companies for
a set amount of time, until such time as the outstanding debts have
been settled. It is perhaps for this reason that Brealey has not been mentioned
as part of the new Morton executive - with Morgon as usual acting as
the frontman. One thing is crystal clear - Brealey is involved with Morton in
some capacity - total 100% certainty.
Remember the rumours at the time of Saints and Morton merging, and the famous
photo of High Scott and Brealey parading around the Cappeilow
turf when Reg was in the middle of the supposed saints takeover.
The sudden turnaround in Mortons stadium fortunes, the ground sharing with
Clydebank and the introduction of Morgon all seem in some way to
be related. What price a merger between Bankies and Morton ?
Reg Brealey declared bankrupt
The financial backer of Grantham Town Football Club this season and the major shareholder, Reg Brealey, was declared bankrupt by the courts this week. The former Lincoln City director and Sheffield Utd Chairman, who also controlled Darlington Football Club until recently was taken to court for £45,000.
| The
bill for £45,000 came from a company of Scottish lawyers and is
disputed by Reg Brealey. Waiting in the wings is a much larger amount
owing. The Inland Revenue are currently chasing 3.15 million from
Brealey.
Should Reg Brealey contest the £45,000 the Inland Revenue bill will automatically take president and as a result Brealey has been advised not to contest the £45,000. For the time being a receiver has been appointed to safeguards the assets of Reg Brealey. This are believed to total some 16 million pounds. |
These include Antrac Investments which have a ten year contract to run the South Kesteven Sports Stadium and, of course, Grantham Town Football Club where Reg Brealey is the major shareholder.
Steve Morgon, on behalf of
Grantham Town F.C. stated that it was a personal matter and that the football
club would continue as normal.
The plot really
thickens with this story. This surfaced well before Morgon got involved with
Morton. I remember the story well, Morton bidding over
a hundred grand for an unknown non-league English player. It seemed to come out
of the blue - and perhaps it was a valid transfer bid. But does it
not seem a bit strange that the club was also involved in possibly setting up a
player swap scheme and feeder club scheme with a club based in
the middle of England ?
It strikes me as a bit strange that the Brealey, Scott, Morgon link emerges
again, and Morton fans would be entitled to know why the club would
be prepared to spend so much on a non-league player. The fact that he once
played for Manchester Unites youth team is as relevant as asking why he
is now playing non league football ?!
Grantham Town have turned down an offer of one hundred thousand pounds from Scottish First Division club, Greenock Morton. The deal would have been made up of £75,000 down with £25,000 in instalments.
The deal would have beaten the previous best transfer for a Grantham player which saw Gary Crosby move to Nottingham Forest for £25,000. Gary went on the play for Forest and Huddersfield Town.
Grantham are believed to be looking for £150,000 for the Gary Twynham. The player has turned out twice for Greenock and the Gingerbreads travelled north last week to play a friendly against the club after which the offer was made.
Greenock spokesperson Hugh Scott said :"Our initial offer has not been accepted because Grantham are looking at a higher figure. It is a lot of money for us to spend on a player, particularly one who is not from Scotland, and I don't think we would be willing to go any higher. However the deal has not been killed yet and we are hopeful that we can convince Grantham to let Gary join us."
Clearly Greenock Morton were confident that the deal would go ahead. It was not just this deal that Greenock had in mind The Twynham deal was possibly to be the first in an agreement between Morton and Grantham Town to link up in a player-swap and feeder scheme. Morton are trying to set up a network of feeder teams in England, Scotland and Ireland in an attempt to bring through new talent.
Greenock were impressed by several other Gingerbread players and another possibility could have seen players coming from Scotland.
Ex-Manchester United youth
team player Gary Twynham began trials at Cappielow on Tuesday. Twynham was a
regular in the legendary United youth team which produced David Beckham and Paul
Scholes, before moving to Darlington. Hugh Scott said: "I know that Alex
Ferguson thought a lot of him during his time in Manchester and we have high
hopes for him."
What a surprise again. A club
in deep trouble headin g into the receivers - in comes the white knight in the
shape of Brealey - no doubt intent on rescuing the
club and then selling the stadium. It's all just sooooooo familiar........
Grantham Town backer, Reg Brealey, has been linked with Nationwide League side Chester City. It has been rumoured that Reg Brealey is interested in buying a controlling interest in the club. For the past few months Chester have been in the hands of receiver and are looking for new backers to keep the club going.
Rumours in Chester, which now appear to have reached Grantham have linked Reg Brealey, who supporters Grantham Town through his company Antrac, with a take-over of the club.
The following appeared on one of the Chester City Supporters Websites and quotes the local press: -
"It does seem that the sale of the club may be getting nearer. Tonight's Evening Leader reports David Acland as saying "Things are moving. I'm just waiting for certain information." Acland is remaining close mouthed about who may be involved, but there have been rumours that Reg Brealy, the former Darlington and Sheffield United chairman is interested. Neil Turner, writing in last weekend's Pink Echo says that one group of businessmen are willing to purchase the club at an agreeable price. He also raises the interesting point that ex-Chairman Guterman still holds the shares in the club, and these have to be purchased by any interested party. Presumably, the administrators will instruct Guterman to sell to the best offer, and if I was a businessman, I would offer him a quid for the shares, given that there has hardly been a stampede from interested parties. Hopefully, the situation will become clearer later on in the week."
The latest news is that a group of North West businessmen are the favourites to buy the club. Grantham Football Club have made no comment concerning the above story.
The "healthy" financial state of the club as reported by Morgon now seems to have been a bit of a porky pie. Putting the club full time seems to have backfiredAntrac Investments, who provide funding for Grantham Town F.C. have threatened to cut back if gates do not improve.
The club are reported to have debts of £100,000 most of which have occurred this season. Club spokesman Steve Morgon stated that the gates for February covered less than a third of the players wages and match expenses. These, he claimed, are not as high compared to some other clubs in the Dr Martens Premier. This is despite the club being full time.
Mr Morgon expects the investment to reach £150,000 by the end of the season which includes £75,000 for the purchase of shares.
Tony Kenworthy said
"Its hard to understand how a team currently in eigth place in the Dr Martens Premier League, with local players in the side and some of last seasons championship winning squad, and with some exciting young players from around the country all playing their socks off for the team, isn't better supported."
Mr Morgon felt that it was time supporters knew the facts.
"Our game on Saturday had the third lowest gate in the league. The figure was 511, of which 95 were free to schools, in our scheme in association with the supporters club. Another 126 were season ticket holders leaving just 290 paying customers. Allowing for concessions, at 20%, the take was £1,355.
The Gresley Rovers midweek game brought in £965 and the Gloucester match £1,368. That total was only 30% of the wage bill for February.
We think we have a great nucleus of support. So what do the missing fans want of us? I'd like to know. More support is not just being requested here, its essential for the club's survival."
The reaction of the supporters
has, so far, been not particularly positive especially after recent comments in
the match programme and the local press. Grantham had not won at home in 1999
until the last week in February which would go someway to account for the drop
in attendances. It was only the two wins against Gresley Rovers and Rothwell
Town that changed this pattern and incidentially pushed Grantham up to eighth in
the table the club's highest position for many weeks.
And so the loop completes.
Grantham are now facing an "uncertain future" - facing almost certain
closure. Brealey seems clever at preying on the hearts of
football supporters. First he'll ride in to a club in crisis, he'll promise the
earth, new signings, new stadiums etc etc... Then it all goes wrong, the
spending far
outweighs the income and the club starts to struggle - the fans rally round and
will do anything to save the club - they then "buy" it back off
Brealey and enter
into some leasing agreement for the stadium which Brealey now owns.
The future of Grantham Town Football Club hangs in the balance this week. Despite numerous crisis in the past this is the closest that the club have come to closing in the last sixty years.
The crisis revolves around the debt believed to be in the region of £300,000. Much now depends on Antrac Investments backer, Reg Brealey, backing a move to help secure the debts.
Those companies owed money have been sent letters outlining the proportion of monies they can expect to get back. Should any company fail to accept the terms offered the club could well be forced into volunteer liquidation.
At a meeting with Management Consultants, Advanced Business Services, stated that these negotiations were a step forward as they would receive nothing if the club went into liquidation.
There is a great deal of work to be done to complete these matters and the ownership of Grantham Town can only be discussed once these debts have been settled.
Ironically there is considerable interest in the future of Grantham Town with a number of groups and Individuals interested in running the club. None of them are interested while Reg Brealey continues to control the future of the Gingerbreads.
The Supporters Club, who recently pulled the plug on their £75,000 take-over of the club could still be interested, but only if certain conditions are met. At the moment they are taking a back seat and awaiting developments.
Former Chairman, Alan Prince, has also expressed an interest in taking over the club again. At this stage it is difficult to see where he would get the necessary backing to complete a take-over deal.
These is a local Lincoln based businessman also believed to be interested in becoming involved and he is believed to favour the business plan put forward by the Supporters Club.
Amongst the most pressing debts so far are for an outstanding VAT and Tax bill believed to amount to £55,000.
And here it is - Brealey takes his money and runs - with the stadium int he back and long term loans in place. The almist perfect crime !| After long negotiations
with Antrac Investments Grantham Supporters Club have been given the go
ahead to take over Grantham Town Football Club.
The document, which is not legally binding, allows then to buy £75,000 worth of shares and to run the club. The shares will be purchased over a three year period at £25,000 per year. Until then Antrac still own it and cannot sell it until a solution is found to the debts which have been reported at £300,000. This figure includes monies owed to previous managers and players along with the tax man and local businesses. Some creditors have been supportive towards the football club while other are believed to be considering legal action to recover their money. Antrac, who also have nine years remaining on a contract to run the South Kesteven Sports Stadium will become the clubs landlords at an agreed rent. They still expect the sale to go through as planned by the 30th June deadline. The deal comes after a great deal of work in particular by Paul Wilson and Nigel Podam. "This is about the whole community. The club was formed 125 years ago and now we are bringing it back to local people." says Paul Wilson "The Supporters have shown how they feel about the football club by pledging £20,000, now we need local businesses to help take us forward." The Supporters club expect to call an extraordinary meeting to elect a committee and members to the board. |
You can write the script for
Brealey, Morgon and Antrac. This story has been repeated at Darlington,
Sheffield United, Grantham and ............ Morton ?
We hope we are wrong - I did not write this piece to be smug or to stir trouble
in the Morton Supporters needlessly. I think most Morton fans on
the internet already know the club is in dangerous territory at the moment. If
Hugh Scott builds a stadium at teh same time as renovating Cappeilow
and then knocks down the revamped ground then I'll hold my hands up and say I
was wrong - but I think we all know it ain't gonna happen.
We respect Billy Stark and his ability as a manager - and we believe that there
must be a future for all provincial teams - but if Morton are to avoid
beign sold down the river then the fans should do something now before it's too
late. It isn't difficult to find information on the web about the characters
involved - surf on to Darlington, Grantham or Sheffield United websites for
information dating back years.
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