You've only yourselves to blame.

With the Manchester United Cup receipts and the sale of Will Evans Huw Jenkins has already recovered his outlay.

With January coming up will the new chairman put his money where his mouth is, or once again have Newport County supporters been shafted?

Because anyone who sat through that crock of shite v Harrogate and thinks our squad is good enough is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Shameful that when the last regime decided they had been caught out for the lying bunch of chancers they were, they chose to decree who should take over rather than allow a free vote of supporter owners.

Shameful that the supporters allowed it.

When I was at the supporters meeting it felt the options on the table were sell the club to HJ or cease trading.

Mr Hamid wrote:When I was at the supporters meeting it felt the options on the table were sell the club to HJ or cease trading.

There were two interested parties in taking charge of the club. Supporters should have been given the option of both.

Secondly the club was not sold to Huw Jenkins. It was gifted to him.

To be clear I am not saying that was the wrong course of action. Rather that the supporter owners of the club were never given a say. The suspicion which arises is that Huw Jenkins made the promise that the truth of the Foxall/Ward/Johnson regime's ineptitude would never see the light of day.

Whilst I'm sure that last seasons total cup receipts ( not just the Man U game), and Evans sale would have exceeded HJ's 500k 'investment', it is also certain that the club had a negative equity of 1.3 million as of June 2023.
What I have no idea of is what the clubs financial position will be come Jan 2025? although I very much doubt it will be near being in credit. The decision as to whether or not to spend in the Jan transfer will of course be HJ's alone. I'm sure he won't be basing his decision on the performance at Harrogate alone.

Oldcromwellian wrote:Whilst I'm sure that last seasons total cup receipts ( not just the Man U game), and Evans sale would have exceeded HJ's 500k 'investment', it is also certain that the club had a negative equity of 1.3 million as of June 2023.
What I have no idea of is what the clubs financial position will be come Jan 2025? although I very much doubt it will be near being in credit. The decision as to whether or not to spend in the Jan transfer will of course be HJ's alone. I'm sure he won't be basing his decision on the performance at Harrogate alone.

Absolutely right not to base anything on one performance. We are though quarter of the way through the season. My view is that it is now clear our first eleven is capable of challenging. However be it call ups, injuries or suspensions, our squad is simply not good enough. And as the season progresses injuries and suspensions are inevitable.

When it comes to income assuming an average of £20 per spectator a 4,000 average crowd brings in an income of £1,840,000. Add to that payments from the EFL, TV, ancillary sales and all of a sudden making money from a football club doesn't seem quite so difficult.

The BBC are the greatest news organisation in the world. That's what they tell us anyway. The victims of Huw Edwards, Jimmy Savile etc might not agree. The British Judicial system is beyond reproach. That's what they tell us anyway. The Birmingham 6 and the Postmasters might not agree. And if you think 900 Postmasters could have been convicted wrongly and not one single Judge noticed, I would respectfully disagree. Owning a football club means you're bound to lose money. That what the owners tell us anyway........................

Personally don't think HJ is likely to spend much if any at all , if we are in a similar position in Jan. My information is our gate receipts are likely to realise approx 1.6 million for the season, and EFL and TV monies another1.2 million. Recent years has seen our total turnover bring a little over 3 million, thus restricting our player budget to circa 1.5 million. Average turnover for League 2 teams according to the last EFL figures I've seen state over 5 million turnover and over 2.5 million for player budgets.
HJ as effectively the sole owner, has apparently failed to attract, acceptable to him, other 'investors' or even directors to form a club board. He therefore has set himself a massive solo challenge in balancing the books or realising a League average player budget.
I said at the time of his acquiring the club, that if he isn't able to attract further investors, the odds would be against him achieving his aims. Over a year on, I've seen or heard nothing to alter that view.

That's an interesting analysis. I will reply fully but need a little time to think about it.

I find the way you've phrased the topic title interesting. "You've" obviously is laying the blame at those that made the decision to gift the club to Jenkins, of which you obviously wasn't (having not bought shares when they were sold to the Trust by Lotto Les, or being a member of the Supporters Trust at the time the decision was made). To be fair I think if both bidders had been accepted and a vote for the other guy had prevailed then County wouldn't be owned by someone who had anything other than personal profit as their motive. It was a Tweedledee/Tweedledum option had it be offered. But County, having been mismanaged by the Trust board didn't really have anything to sell, and Huw Jenkins in all probability isn't Jerry Sherman. But nice to see you able to wipe your hands of a decision made by people, in an impossible situation (again), wanting to see the club they love survive as opposed to going bust (again).

I'm also impressed by your ability to write off the season (and many of the squad) as early as the second week in October. Yes things on the pitch could be better but the team aren't as woeful as under Butcher or Rowberry. I think it's fair to say the signs are that there's enough in the squad to suggest they will neither go up or down. Consistency at this level is often the problem and the team are struggling to put much more than a half of football together. I think tactically Jardim is perhaps a bit naive and the opposition often know exactly how County will play and are prepared to counteract it. I remain hopeful that things will settle down soon(ish). As for business in January, most professional sides will have some planning for several windows in advance and will have identified targets for every position in the team. Any business likely to be done will depend on where County sit just before the window opens. Unless Jephcott gets opportunities and can starting scoring then he's likely to be top of the list for departures...

In fairness Wattsville I haven't written County off. What I have said is that the squad is not good enough. I don't think we'll go down but we won't challenge.

I did buy shares in the Trust. I stopped being a member when it became obvious to me that only a complete idiot would entrust his hard-earned to a bunch of charlatans.

You are of course entitled to your view that I washed my hands of the decision. In my view I simply remain grateful that my late patents didn't bring me up to be so stupid to chuck good money after bad.

And I should add that if you read my post I am not saying that Huw Jenkins shouldn't have been gifted the club. What I have said is, and was, that as there were two bids on the table the supporter owners of the club should have been entitled to choose. Not have the choice made for them.

I sometimes wonder whether those who are critical of me do so because they think I'm wrong or because they realise deep down that they were taken for mugs and it's something they are unable to admit. Especially to the person who tried to warn them.

I'm of the opinion also that trust members should have been entitled to choose between both bids, although remain unconvinced that the Jon Pratt bid would have been approved by the EFL.  However,  the clock can't be turned back, and we have to face the reality as it is.
My belief is that many supporters were at the time of the vote on HJ's bid, and some still are, deluding themselves that because Jenkins as a minority shareholder, was part of a very successful consortium at Swansea, he'll inevitably be 'successful' at County as in effect the sole owner. They are very different scenarios. Presumably we'll have some indication towards the end of this season what progress he has made, if any, depending on our League position and what seasons 23/24 accounts reveal.

I don’t understand why it could be thought that Jon Pratt would not have gained EFL approval, as far as I can see he ticked all the right boxes and was even supported by a co-investor.

What should concern however is that we have an autocratic owner, an attribute that does not generally bode well for a business. The lease at RP has still not been secured with the result that we are now dancing to the tune of the Dragons, and fixtures are having to be changed as a result, Friday being an example. What happened to EFL fixtures having priority?

Where is the evidence of any investment into the Club from HJ as we only have a bargain basement squad, the majority of which are on 2 year contracts to probably soften their wage demands? Any clear out in January will be financially challenging.

Regards JP's bid, I don't personally have any insight into his bid or potential EFL issues, but have been told by an associate whose word I trust, that his bid may well have fallen foul of  the EFL regulations regarding repayable loans, and the legal requirements that bid would have put upon the Trust.
Also regards HJ's personal investment, I doubt that was ever the plan. Think many supporters have jumped to a massive assumption. He has already personsally invested 4 times more than what he did at Swansea. He doesn't have a wealthy 8 person multi-national consortium behind like he had at Swansea. Think supporters need to wise up to that fact.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:In fairness Wattsville I haven't written County off. What I have said is that the squad is not good enough. I don't think we'll go down but we won't challenge.

I did buy shares in the Trust. I stopped being a member when it became obvious to me that only a complete idiot would entrust his hard-earned to a bunch of charlatans.

You are of course entitled to your view that I washed my hands of the decision. In my view I simply remain grateful that my late patents didn't bring me up to be so stupid to chuck good money after bad.

And I should add that if you read my post I am not saying that Huw Jenkins shouldn't have been gifted the club. What I have said is, and was, that as there were two bids on the table the supporter owners of the club should have been entitled to choose. Not have the choice made for them.

I sometimes wonder whether those who are critical of me do so because they think I'm wrong or because they realise deep down that they were taken for mugs and it's something they are unable to admit. Especially to the person who tried to warn them.

My point is by framing the topic as "You've..." and not "We've..." you identify yourself as blameless in the whole farago. I bought shares when the Trust needed to raise money to buy shares, I joined the Trust and remained a member until the decision to gift the club to Jenkins was made and then left. I'm happy to accept my part as a member of the Trust in not being more vocal when the Trust board was made up of a cabal of incompetents. I tried to sway opinion on here, like you, but ultimately what was needed was a number of people willing to stand against them, but work at the time was too important and too time consuming for me to take on other duties. The emotions I had during the Trust ownership have largely dissipated, there's a new regime in place and it's trying to take County in a different direction. To use a Nursing vernacular mistakes were made but the patient survived. And sometimes being part of sustaining life has to be enough...

Let's not revert to type, by being personal about County chat. Thought that was gone when we didn't hear from Bangit etc.

wattsville_boy wrote:
You are of course entitled to your view that I washed my hands of the decision. In my view I simply remain grateful that my late patents didn't bring me up to be so stupid to chuck good money after bad.

A slightly emotive analogy don't you think?

Let me be quite clear. Whether I was a member of the Trust or not made no difference. For five years and more I was critised for stating my belief that the regime who ran Newport County ostensibly on behalf of the supporters were a bunch of charlatans who didn't deserve the support of decent people who ploughed their hard earned and often limited income into the Newport County Trust.

For five years I was told by good people on this board, of whom Wattsville you are one, that I was wrong and that year in year out the club was showing a substantial profit. And for the avoidance of doubt you are a person of integrity who has County's best interests at heart.

But I was right. Eventually they confidence trick could no longer hold. The club were broke, and Messrs Ward and Foxall simply ran away. I'm not a great fan of Shaun Johnson but at least he had enough about him to face the ire of supporters.

I do not feel guilty about not giving chancers my money so they could sit in the directors box and fine dine on away trips. I am not going to apologise for being right. And finally if one single reader of this board decides in future to be a little more circumspect before handing over their cash, I will rest easy knowing I have done some good.