ChapSmurf

I'm not entirely sure, at this stage, what the EFL can do. Yes we all want them to do something, but they have to abide by their own legislation. They are probably on a very sticky legal wicket right now. They aren't the law (we might think and want them to be) but the upholders of it. I don't know what constitutes a breach of regulation (in our situation), but I would imagine on a finacial basis, it would be non-payment, not late payment, of staff. And non-payment probably won't be just one month either, but several. Late/non-payment to HMRC is probably outside of the realm of what the EFL control. All that the we/The Trust can do is to keep up the pressure, in whatever legal, non-confrontational/aggressive way we can.

Thanks for sharing Joe. Great interview.

There will be a lot of people who don't use OT who will not renew. I can count both my immediate neighbours in those numbers. I also know of 2 other Wednesday households on our small, Barnsley-based cul-de-sac, and I doubt any of those will be on here. I know they aren't renewing either. That's at least 8 ST holders, on my close alone. How many other won't? Add to the that those on here, and family members of the same, who won't renew. Conservatively, I would reckon we are looking at between 3 - 5,000 fewer ST sales. Then factor in those who will renew, but not during Early Bird. That could easily be the same number. Even working on the lower end of the scale, you could be talking 6,000 ST sales either not going through at all, or not going through until April/May. That's a revenue black hole right now of at least £3.5 - 4M and I'm trying to be sensible with all the figures. That is not an insignificant amount of money for Chansiri to find and fund. * figures quoted based on 60% consumption of a 12.5% Chilean Chardonnay.

I lived in Scholes in my first years of life. I don't remember it that much, but I've been back through the village on many occasions. It's still as wonderful as ever. Wentworth is beautiful. Two great pubs, the cottage gardens in "Paradise Square", and not forgetting Wentworth Woodhouse: the largest private house in the world, and the longest house facade in Europe. It also has some amazing monuments and follies. My old house near by was called Hoober View, as it originally had views of Hoober Stand. Just around the corner in Elsecar is Newcomen Engine - the worlds first working (and practical) steam engine, often being cited as the start of the industrial revolution. All of this within 4 miles of each other.

I'll have to get myself one of these, probably the gold one.

Very sad news indeed. Thanks for everything you did, and tried to do. RIP Milan.

What a great article, from a great man. I think if Bannan didn't play, but was around the first team, he'd still be worth 10 points a season.

I'd absolutely back them to do this. As would the players of any team we are facing I'd imagine. Players may well be handomely paid, but they still have commitments based on what they should be receiving as a wage each month. It also sends out another, probably more important sign, that the players will not tolerate staff not being paid. Maybe the players have a comfort zone financially for a period of time, but it's more likely the staff don't. I believe it would also put the EFL in a position where something had to be done to resolve the entire situation once and for all, as this will impact not only the two teams scheduled to play, should any strike action happen, but it could possibly have a knock-on effect on other teams if fixtures need to rearranged.

Great work @SWFC Trust I'll certainly be getting one of those.

He was an old school professional. Wore the shirt with pride and honour. Always gave his all. Enjoy your retirement Lee.

I think the point is simple: If we keep on paying and giving Chansiri money, we could end up with no team to support. Neil recently asked a question to non-ST holders about why they would still go to matches. I'm a non-ST holder as I've been boycotting the club this way for 5 years. My decision very comfortably coincided with the birth of my son - my one and only child. I said I would still go to some games if my son asked. What I didn't explain is that I often get a free ticket and I'd just have to pay for my 5 year old. But that's still £9.00 (family stand) that I'm giving to Chansiri. Times that by 5 or 6 games, and we are up to £55.00. Times that by 500 others of the same mindset as I was, and we are now at £27,500.00. And the figure of 500 others, and 5 or 6 matches, is at a very low end. It could be 1000s still attending, for 10 or more games. We could be bankrolling our own demise. So I've taken the decision not to go to any games now. As things currently, what have no future. That's as close to being factual as is possible. If we keep bankrolling Chansiri, we could end up with no club, no team to support. I want to create as many memories with my son, at football (as well as other places), as is feasibly possible. For now, that means creating no memories at all, because long term, I'll be able to if we still have a club to support.

Then it's definitely time to unify behind the Trust, not attend and force a cancellation of the meeting. But we all know that won't actually happen, because there are still those who are blind and misguided.

I clicked "Agree" by the 4th line.

Then break into a 3 hour rant to himself about how without him, we'd be nowhere. If it is the case the the EP would be cancelled without any fans group representation, then now is definitely the time for all groups to unify and follow the lead of the Trust. I think I'm right in saying that these meetings are "legal" requirements by the EFL (or some other body) and it would send a further clear message to them that we, as supporters, will not tolerate this situation any further.

If no fans group attended, would that essentially cancel the EP meeting?

If my rationale is flawed, then so is yours, because you've just said the same thing as I have, bar the selling of the club. I never mentioned to who the loans are due to, because I don't know. What I do know, what we all know, is that there is litle 3rd party debt: New Avenue Projects being pretty much it. Ergo, any other debt must be personal, but that changes nothing. The monies are still owed, and it's my opinion that he's in well over his head. What I don't know and nor do you, is what his creditors are saying. They may be the ones putting pressure on him to hold out for a higher price. We've simply no way of knowing that. They may currently be comfortable with the situation at the club. We've no way of knowing that either. Logic dictates that neither of these things run true in normal situations, but we are dealing with Chansiri here. He may well have made promises to his creditors which he cannot back down from. He's extremely naive when it comes to business, takes no accountability for his actions and failings - blaming everyone else around him - and simpy cannot see what is blindingly obvious due to his narcissistic tendancies. He's also a gambler, hoping for that one "lucky" spin. These things will certainly be affecting his thought process somewhere. As I said, he's in well over his head. He has been since about 2017 in my opinion. Should he posses any business acumen, he and we wouldn't be in this situation. His personal funding has well and truly dried up and now he's trying to save face and his own wealth. In my opinion, he'll succeed at neither because his fragile house of cards is already falling down.

The "who" we will never likely know. The "what" is probably his personal debt to "who". I think of that we can be farily certain. Debt in business is far from a bad word. In fact the opposite can often be said. If the debt is managed and serviced correctly, it can - in the right hands and minds - propel a business forward. If sourced from a reputable company or individual, interest rates can be well below the projected return on investment. It also allows for any cash in the business prior to loan to remain in-situ. Importantly in Chansiri's case, it means no dilution of his sole ownership. Chansiri's debt is however in the wrong hands - his hands. He's a gambler, with zero or little forsight and planning. He has squandered every penny he has likely received and whoever this has come from, and it's my opinion it will be multiple sources, they'll want that money back and more. Any money he received wasn't on a charitable basis, even if from his own family. Returns on their investment were, and still are, expected. The position he is in seems to me, to be clear. His funding has dried up. The source of all previous funding is likely to be getting extremely twitchy right now, and some or all are probably looking at getting back as much as they can, while they can. And that is why he is asking a totally unrealistic and ridiculous price for the club. This is what is stopping him selling the club.

I don't have a ST so I could end up being classed as a non-boycotting supporter at some point. If it were just me, I wouldn't go, but if my 5 year old - who I desperately want to get the bug of going to games - says "daddy, can I go to the football to see my cousin and a friend, I'm likely to capitulate. If he asks for any food or merch, it's a straight "no" and I'll try my best to explain why. Going also means I'll catch up with friends who I wouldn't normally see outside of going to games, and I think that this is a HUGE part of what going to a match is all about. I know it's an old cliche, but it's the football family that people want to see on match days, as much as the game itself (moreso at the moment). So that's my adult answer. If I was a ST holder I would still go to games, for the same reasons as above. I'd have already paid my silver to devil, so why not turn up and support the team. Not being a ST holder I appreciate I am putting some money into the coffers, but it'd be very ad-hoc so the difference I am personally making is negligible. I appreciate the counter-arguemnt is "if enough people do the same, the money soon adds up" but is this honestly enough to keep Chansiri ticking over? I seriously doubt it. I also think that the more people in the ground who can form a protest, the better. I'll join any and every protest there is to force out this clown, but again personally, I'd have to balnce that out against boycotting games. I certainly wouldn't be sitting in silence.

At what cost? He gambled all his money in one season, and lost. Had he surrounded himself with people who know more about the game than he ever will, the same amount of money would have seen season-on-season sustainable growth, and right now we would have been looking at leaving this division the way we all want. No, I'm sorry. What he did was irresponsible, not successful. The bloke is a first rate clown.

I'm not a ST holder, as I packed all that in about 5 years ago when I saw the direction the club was going in. An early form of protest if you like. But if I was at ST holder, I'd be in the stadium at 3pm unless there was an official protest akin to the one at Leicester. As was coined by someone sometime back, support the the team, not the regime. I think the balance of protest last Sunday was perfect. The fact the Leicester fans applauded us into the stadium made the protest even more remarkable (kudos to the Leicester fans for an incredible show of solidarity). I'm away in Portugal so I won't be at the game today. I hope those that are enjoy their time with friends and family, irrespective of the result. It's what football is all about. #keepbelieving #enoughisenough #chansiriout

I've heard news for a good few weeks now, that he's stopping. Heard more of the same today. Let's hope it's true.

Thanks I'm glad that explained it in some way. You're right to stay away from it. It's mostly no good, but it is also only forms a very tiny bit of the internet. I doubt as an honest citizen, it has any appeal to you anyway. As for people not getting caught, they do and often, and it being fool proof, it's not. Nothing is. It just requires a lot of resources and time, which fortunately the police and agencies dealing with these sites have.

Because it simply doesn't work like that. Crashing a server simply takes it offline for a period of time. The data remains intact. And the agencies involved in taking down these types of sites, need that data. Destroying it, removes every shred of evidence they have. So it's paramount the data integrity remains. It also takes an incredible amount of manpower, and hours, to even find the originaring server. If the police wanted to take down owlstalk.co.uk, they could do that within seconds. The reason being the domain Registrar can easily be found (that's the place where Neil has registered the domain name owlstalk.co.uk) and it's just as quick to find out where the site is being hosted. I could provide this same info within the same time period too, because it's all in the public domain. These illegal sites don't have standard domain names like mywebsite.co.uk or .com etc. They aren't registered via a Registrar becuase essentially that links the domain back to an individual or company. The people running these sites want, and need, to remain completely anonymous. Nor do they use standard hosting platforms. If Neils hosts, or my hosts, found we were conducting anything illegal, not only would they shut the site(s) down, they'd report us to the police. They are duty bound to do that. So the police can't just go to a normal Data Centre with a warrent either. Now I'll talk about DNS. In laymens terms, it's similar to you having contacts on your phone. You've probably no idea what your best mates number is, but you know his name. So you look that up. This site is sitting on a server with an IP address, and that IP address would be hard for a human to remember. DNS allows a domain name to be associated with that IP address, so we can quickly get to this site. Essentially we lookup owlstalk.co.uk and not it's IP address - which would look like this for example: 86.154.30.78. Same as you looking up your mate, not his number. Now we need to go back to the onion and it's layers I mentioned in my original post. Each layer could be an individual, constantly changing, IP address. The agencies would need to navigate each and every one of these before they could find the true IP address of the server, and therefore its location. It's not impossible, but that is where the manpower and hours comes into play. I've obviously dumbed this down as I don't know your understanding of such things. There is a whole lot more to this than what I have said, but as an explanation, this will do.

Our club isn't worth anywhere near £100M. The factor used to put a price on a Championship club is normally double the turnover. Our turnover last year was, somewhere in the region of £26M. Being generous right now, that would value the club at c. £50M. Yes, you can factor in the fan base and the clubs potential. But if you do that, you must also factor in a reduced squad value, stadium repairs needed, etc. etc., I doubt it's worth close to £40M as things stand.

To be honest, I don't necessarily agree with the terminology. To me, it's the wrong way around. However, here's the explanation. The deep web (or a deep web site) is the easiest to explain. It is basically any site that doesn't show up in any search results, on the major search engines. Hence the term "deep". There can be numerous, legitimate reasons for this too. For example, I have a development portal which I have told Google not to index (not to crawl and find the pages on the site, therefore excluding it from its search results). The reason being is that it's basically a building site where I develop new sites. There is little point in Google throwing that up as a search result because it's of no interest to anyone bar the client (who do have access to the site, and know the link). So this development site is essentially on the deep web. So this is a forced move on my part, to make this portal "deep". Many of my customers web sites have deep parts too. Any customer information they hold on their sites isn't accessible to the public. Banks, Insurance companies and the like, all have deep sections of their sites, for security reasons. Another example of a deep site is one that is has been indexed by Google (or any other search engine), but ranks so low that it doesn't appear in their results. It's there, but it just cannot be found. The dark web is something entirely different, but very similar at the same time. Like the deep web, the dark web isn't indexed by the major search engines. It's also highly encrypted in places and you need specialised (but readily available) browsers to access this small section of the internet, to maintain (some level of) anonymity. One of the most popular is the TOR browser, which stands for The Onion Router - which in itself partially explains how the dark web works. Like an onion, it's layered, with routing through a host of different, anonymous, servers, different encryption and security protocols. All of this, to mask mostly illegal stuff that is on there. I only know this due to the various jobs I've done. It's not a place I've ever visited, or plan to either. I'd advise the same to everyone.