Reply To: Dear David,

[Siderite]

I think my anger and loss of trust in this is a result of a culmination of events.

Of course we should allow rehabilitation of criminals into society and I agree with Les that there may be some unrectifiable criminals. However, it needs demonstration of rehabilitation and ownership of responsibility in action (not just words). It can also mean ramifications for the rest of your life. Rapists may be rehabilitated, but they will always be on the sex offender’s register, and so should they be. Even if it means they’re prohibited from certain jobs. The risk is too great just to spare hurt feelings. While fraudulent individuals could be rehabilitated, it should surely mean more wariness over how they conduct business, especially when they own our football club. He may have rehabilitated, but how do we know that, other than blind trust? Also, like with rapists, it may be that there is a need for a discussion over whether the risk of a fraudulent individual owning a community asset, like a football club, is too much of a risk to take a chance (he can, of course, do other jobs). Which I suspect the FA investigation will be thinking and his apparent lack of communication over name changes won’t go down well, I suspect.

We can chatter about the unfairness on Hilton, but ultimately, many have wanted stringency on how the FA deals with owners over their fit and proper status as owners. If Hilton hasn’t been open about his past and name changes with the FA, this might mean a tough decision, regardless of we think of Hilton as a person and his rehabilitated nature. If we want a fit and proper person’s test to be stringent, as many do when we see clubs in trouble, we need to be able to accept such stringency here. We have seen the consequences of weak authority from the authorities on this for many clubs, including our own.

Anyway, the question is do we believe Hilton’s rehabilitation? For me, and I can’t speak for anyone else, I have to look at what has been said. We now know Hilton committed fraud and now says he has taken ownership. Good. However, this has only been after he could no longer refute it. What could he have done? First, coming out straight away and being honest. This would have been good for transparency, but may have caused an initial lack of trust and I don’t know what the league would have made of it. The second is to not admit, but stay silent on the murmuring rumours until he had to open up. This would have got more sympathy from me, because it may mean he was just embarrassed by it and wanted to move on to a new chapter in his life. He chose a third option of saying accusations of fraud and wrong doing were caused by trouble makers at Bury, and those with an agenda, at the fan’s forum and on the Iron Army interview. He said that he hasn’t used other names other than Hilton and White. Yet the name he was sentenced under, as confirmed by Hilton, was Anderson. He has launched repeated attacks on the nature of those who have spoken about his past. He was more than happy to slander and attack them, while demanding respect and gratitude for being ‘the saviour’. He launched baseless attacks against the owners of this forum and stirred up a hornet’s nest with burners launching death threats, doxxing and libellous accusations. Even now, after an article has posted about this, he launches accusations against the journalist, who is only reporting on a situation and doing what good investigative journalists do. Speak truth to the public, letting us know the situation, warts and all. It’s in our interest, as Scunny fans, to know the information shared.

None of this demonstrates to me that he is trustworthy or given me confidence that he has truly taken ownership for his own mistakes. If he has, he wouldn’t have hurled accusations at others for daring to be honest. I give my sympathies for him experiencing depression, but that is no excuse for his treatment of others. Plenty suffer from it, yet don’t commit fraud or launch accusations against others or distort the truth. The nature of his past give me concern, but they’re not the full deal breaker. After months of fermenting a vision of him being a victim of malicious rumour, he confirms that some were true, and wants to get full sympathy after stoking division. I am sorry, but that is a red line crossed for me. I don’t see how he can rebuild any trust from my end.

Of course, it’s fair in asking what happens next. Our club is tied to the owner, but sometimes the owner is unfitting. Ideally, for me, someone else would buy the club and Hilton and the circus surrounding him clears off. However, that may be a pipe dream. Maybe Hilton can prove me wrong, but so far my concerns are growing rapidly and I have lost all trust. All in all, I cannot help but feel despondent about our situation now. Yes, it’s good on the pitch, but this off pitch drama has soured it all and that has come from years of Swann mismanagement and incompetence and a new owner I couldn’t trust if he said the Sun will rise tomorrow.

I appreciate others will want to believe after years of hardship, but I just can’t.