Iron Bru › Forums › Blast Furnace › Where do we start the season? › Reply To: Where do we start the season?
TBF Rene, certain people have come on here and made claims regarding the new owner not having the financial ability to complete the purchase of GP and surrounding land on May 24th, all others have said is that without proof their claims mean nothing. They say one thing and others disagree but conjecture has never been helpful when trying to have an honest debate based on facts, that’s all most sensible minded individuals want don’t they?
Some thoughts:
1) Individuals who are able to purchase and finance loss making football clubs need to be extremely wealthy and have liquid funds on tap. Such individuals generally have a clear history of how their wealth has been obtained. These high net worth individuals buy assets which generate them a return, they are not reliant on third party funders, they use their own money because they are the bank!
2) In Hilton’s interview which was released on the club’s website on 02/04/23, he made the claim that he has put £3M into Ilkeston. I have looked at their balance sheet and there is no significant change to their fixed assets or net worth under his stewardship to show where the £3M has been invested.
3) Hilton claims to have told the National League that he will not be funding the club with loans.
4) If you look at the last set of accounts filed for Hilton’s business (Maxwell Cohen Ltd), assets total the best part of £2M including a bank balance of £2,023 and liabilities total the best part of £2.5M, the majority of which is long term debt relating to secured loans provided by Stoneygate 2007 Ltd & Westfoot Investments Ltd. Now if Hilton has sufficient personal wealth to purchase the freehold and finance the football club, I would have expected Hilton to have personally financed his own business by providing director’s loans and for his business to pay him interest on those loans. Why pay a third party funder if you can pay yourself?
5) If the Swann family are keen to do a deal on the stadium, naming rights and surrounding land and there are no restrictive covenants, I estimate Hilton needs somewhere between £3.5M and £5M to get the deal done and to see the club through the next 12 months. Remembering point 3, where is the money coming from?
I just don’t get it.
Great article, I too think the shit is going to hit the fan shortly, haven’t got a link for that yet AA ,
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