Iron Bru › Forums › Blast Furnace › Dear David, › Reply To: Dear David,
Good post Siderite.
I agree with you probably more than you think. I did write a post early on after I heard David Hilton’s Sound cloud interview/statement/emotional outpouring in which I offered him the advice to issue an apology for misleading fans and to pay any outstanding invoices.
My opinion only but I think he deserves a second chance over the Fraud conviction but appreciate other don’t. I assume people that feel this way would want him away from the club immediately.
The apology and payment of outstanding debts would at least help take a bit of heat out of the situation.
None of this makes me a Hilton “supporter”. I didn’t support Swann or the Wharton’s either. I support the club and always will whoever (and sometimes in spite of) whoever is the chairman of the club.
The facts of the situation is that as ever is the case us supporters of a football club have little or no influence over control of said club.
Hilton has achieved a turnaround on the field at a club in seemingly terminal decline for 5 or 6 years. I give him credit for that. He is taking longer than I would like to solve the off field shitshow that he inherited. I have cut him slack on that due to the sheer scale of the inherited issues but after 6 months remaining issues should be sorted by now.
Regarding the ground and land I am hopeful that Hilton is working through a strategy to get that for something closer to its real market value. If that pisses off the previous owner I would see that as a bonus.
Sadly the only definite action we can ever take when disagreeing with the ownership is to stop going to games which is what half the fan base had done with the previous owner.
I think that you have misunderstood about having a second chance. Nobody has, as far as I’ve seen, opposed DH because he went to prison for fraud, although it cannot be forgotten. What many have said is that he went out of his way to attack people who suggested that he had gone to prison and had other names than White & Hilton. He denied this vociferously and has only confirmed it after the Athletic published their research.
Additionally, he has never said sorry for what he did, not has he apologized to any of those who suggested that he had other names and had indeed been to prison.
He is still playing the victim by suggesting that people are affecting his mental health and by threatening to walk away.
Finally, it would appear that by changing his name to Anderson and being registered as a Director (for 8 different companies I believe) within 5 years of being struck off as a Director, he may have committed further frauds. Did he admit all this when he declared for the fit & proper test? Companies House certainly didn’t know about it, and I would be surprised if the FA did.
Personally, if DH were to apologise to all those he slagged off, showed some contrition for what he had done, and sorted out all the outstanding debts, then I would happily give him a second chance.
Sadly, I don’t believe that he will do any such thing.
