Thankyou David Bellotti

[Lord Bracknell]

a small minority always reacted badly to whatever I said.

Yeah. A small minority that happens to include EVERY Albion fan I've ever met.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

There is absolutely no need for that picture. The tie is hideous and doesn't go with the shirt. And as for the medallion man image, words simply fail me.






the rest is silence

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I think my father had dealings with him in the mid-nineties over an employment wrangle. He can't remember what it was about specifically. I'm hoping he wasn't representing Bellotti.

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Even if he had never been anywhere near the Albion, I'd keep him very close to the top of my list of unpleasant individuals I've had to deal with in the past.

I feel your waiting to be asked Lord B.

So carry on, what happened when you had to deal with him? I mean its not like you could taint his reputation now is it?

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Yeah. A small minority that happens to include EVERY Albion fan I've ever met.

A small minority managed to get a deputy PM... same old Lib Dems. Sorry wasn't politicising, just thinking about Bell'end'lotti's poltical persuasion.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

I would wish a long, drawn out painful death on all three of them, but working for the NHS, indirectly I'd have to treat the fuckers.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

If you really want to get upset, try this. Extract from Brighton & Hove Albion v Doncaster Rovers programme, Saturday 26 April 1997, page 37.

View attachment BellottiArticle.PDF

 

[Barrel of Fun]

If you really want to get upset, try this. Extract from Brighton & Hove Albion v Doncaster Rovers programme, Saturday 26 April 1997, page 37.

Ah yes. I read that, whilst going through some old programmes, a while ago and it made me mmmmm.... mmmmmmmm.... mmmmmmad sir!

 

[Ringmer Seagull]

Altogether now........BUILD A BONFIRE, BUILD A BONFIRE....................I think you know the rest. All these years later it still rings true.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I feel your waiting to be asked Lord B.

So carry on, what happened when you had to deal with him? I mean its not like you could taint his reputation now is it?

I had a lot of dealings with him when he was an East Sussex County Councillor and I was a council officer. Most councillors (of all parties) are quite decent people, who appreciate the work of the staff who work for them. Bellotti was an exception. He never said thank you, he always took the credit for the work that was done on his behalf and he invariably threw blame at the officers when things got difficult for him. And he rarely took our advice. We were expected to jump to his orders, even when he didn't know what he was doing.

And I'm not the only one to have a dim view of him.

 

[Ecosse Exile]

I had a lot of dealings with him when he was an East Sussex County Councillor and I was a council officer. Most councillors (of all parties) are quite decent people, who appreciate the work of the staff who work for them. Bellotti was an exception. He never said thank you, he always took the credit for the work that was done on his behalf and he invariably threw blame at the officers when things got difficult for him. And he rarely took our advice. We were expected to jump to his orders, even when he didn't know what he was doing.

And I'm not the only one to have a dim view of him.

It really doesn't surprise me to hear that, there are a lot of people like him at the top of many professions. It really does make you wonder how they get there with absolutely no people skills whatsoever.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

"History will judge me more fairly and as time goes on and the facts rather than emotions of the day remain, more people will realise what I did to help the club."

If Archer , Bellotti and Stanley were around in 1930's Germany they would have blended in very well amongst the hierarchy of the National Socialists.

 

[Buzzer]

I had a lot of dealings with him when he was an East Sussex County Councillor and I was a council officer. Most councillors (of all parties) are quite decent people, who appreciate the work of the staff who work for them. Bellotti was an exception. He never said thank you, he always took the credit for the work that was done on his behalf and he invariably threw blame at the officers when things got difficult for him. And he rarely took our advice. We were expected to jump to his orders, even when he didn't know what he was doing.

And I'm not the only one to have a dim view of him.

To be fair, in my dim and distant past when I was politically active, I met a fair few horrors of all political persuasions. The very worst has to be David Evans ex Luton owner, Tory MP - a man that I took an instant dislike to and when I finally got to know him merely confirmed my feelings when I heard his views on Clause 28. It was crypto-fascists like him that made me leave the Tory party.

I have tried to view this through a neutral's eyes, think about it all and what Archer and Bellotti were trying to do and see it from their perspective but it just doesn't ring true. The appointment as CEO for a start. Why bring in a politician who has never run a football club before at any level? Why bring in a man that Archer had never worked with previously? I can think of only one reason and that was that Archer needed someone who knew people at Council level and could wheeler-dealer with them. Why would a new chairman of a football club need to deal with the local council at such a fundamental level?

Why did Archer need to sell the ground? The bloke must have known what he was buying and how bad the finances were seeing as his old business chum Greg Stanley used to keep them. These people were minted, even then. What about re-mortgaging? Why sell with no idea as to a new home let alone agreeing a place for a temporary one?

I'm an accountant and I know that you don't go about changing the articles of association lightly. In fact I can't think of too many instances why you would have to, so what was the reasoning behind it? Why did no-one notice the "oversight" re. the profits of sale? It's about the most important bit of that document.

How can a piece of land worth £7m one year be worth £23m the next? How did Bill Archer not know this? Spotting undervalued investments is his stock-in-trade.

Far too many holes in their defence for there to be an innocent explanation in all this but what angers me too is the way the FA and FL did absolutely nothing. How can the actions of Bellotti and Archer be fit or proper with regard to how they ran Brighton during that time. It's clear to me that this was an old fashioned asset-strip. They (the FA/FL) could have used this as a landmark case and enshrined protection for clubs and fans against people like this, like Risdale, Mandaric, Bates, that bloke at Wrexham, that one at Mansfield. Thank God the Brighton fans took it upon ourselves to save our club.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Didn't Archer sell the Goldstone to one of his companies before making a tidy profit through the sell on?

 

[Buzzer]

Archer sold to Chartwell. Chartwell sold to Abbey Life (I think). I don't think he was formally part of Chartwell but I think I heard rumours of "consultancy fees" regarding the re-sale paid by Chartwell to Archer.

I would be extremely surprised if Bill Archer wasn't aware of the ultimate value of a retail park on that plot of land.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

And just for the clarification of those that don't know, did he not change the constitution of Brighton and Hove Albion FC Ltd that said he could sell the land without consultation?

 

[Buzzer]

Yes. I alluded to that in my first post. It was a change, if I recall correctly, that amended the articles from an original clause that said any profits would go towards another sports stadium in Sussex and then was "erroneously" changed so that the shareholders fully benefited from the proceeds.

Apparently it was an oversight but I would ask several questions to that: Why did they need changing in the first place? Why did no-one spot it prior to Paul Samrah? - we're talking about the club secretary, CEO, chairman, solicitors - people who actually have corporate and legal responsibility. Why did alarm bells not ring at the FA and FL? Did the the FL and FA ask if there were temporary and permanent arrangements for a new home? Did they insist on evidence?

 

[Sussex Nomad]

So it would also be safe to say that Belotti knew about the progression of the demise of Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club from day one, and the consequences of that was the loss of disaffected fans, me being one of them, a generation of Brighton supporters, the near loss of our league status and having no home for 14 years. Yes I will judge him for what he did to us, and that crook Archer should have been put away for what he did to people that live their lives by their passion for a football club. All these years on and it makes me desperately angry and those that have posted on this thread, they screwed with so many people's lives to just take the rug from under our feet. Can they not even now be brought to justice or was it all done above board?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Buzzer, you have typed out all my thoughts and answered all my questions that resurfaced since Bellotti... resurfaced again.

So many holes in the Bellotti's interview.

The big question is why didn't the FA/FL, as previously stated, do little to help and change the constitution for the future good of the game.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Also how much of this was down to that Ivan whatever MP that allegedly promised that Brighton would get a ground in the town upon the sale of the Goldstone? Is he as liable as the Archer/Belotti/Stanley coalition?