Steve Gibson trying to liquidate Derby

[jono]

Has to go to a league arbitration panel. The idea of it reaching court is laughable. 
 

I am beginning to wonder if Mr Gibson is financially stretched himself. In the end he is a long haul logistics outfit. A lot of liquids in IMO tank containers and presumably other containerised goods. The shipping industry across continents will have taken a big hit from Covid. Suddenly his hobby has become a financial drain on the motherload. 

[WestKentRam]

It seems to me there must be more behind Gibson expecting Derby to somehow stump up £45m that I cannot see will ever happen.

Ryan Hills informative book 'Pride' tells in its early chapters the history of Pride Park being planned and built. Gibson was very helpful to Peter Gadsby in this, as the blueprint for PP was the same as the already constructed Riverside Stadium. Gibson listed the features that he wished had been incorporated into their stadium, and 22 upgrades were made to PP when it was built helped by Gibson's advice.

It must be a bit galling for Gibson to see the club he has helped in the past seemingly cheat its way into a play-off spot at their expense. Like the lead character in a Hollywood movie, revenge will be his!

Looking at Gibson's Wikipedia page, this theme again jumps out at me as apparently he has accused others of 'betrayal' in the political arena, but then all is not lost as a 'reconciliation' occurs in the final act. I only hope this saga comes to such a happy conclusion and we can move on and concentrate on the small matter of an actual game of football...

[Pearl Ram]

I work with a Boro fan, great bloke actually, but he loves Gibson, he’s very highly thought of up there so I would think any support from their fans would be as likely as the EFL doing something positive for the game.

Myself, I think a swift dose of karma (and maybe a severe dose of The Chalfonts) is in order for a man content to deprive the thoroughly decent people putting their hands in their pockets to cover the debt owed to St Johns Ambulance of their local football club. Shame on him.

[jono]

24 minutes ago, WestKentRam said:

It seems to me there must be more behind Gibson expecting Derby to somehow stump up £45m that I cannot see will ever happen.

Ryan Hills informative book 'Pride' tells in its early chapters the history of Pride Park being planned and built. Gibson was very helpful to Peter Gadsby in this, as the blueprint for PP was the same as the already constructed Riverside Stadium. Gibson listed the features that he wished had been incorporated into their stadium, and 22 upgrades were made to PP when it was built helped by Gibson's advice.

It must be a bit galling for Gibson to see the club he has helped in the past seemingly cheat its way into a play-off spot at their expense. Like the lead character in a Hollywood movie, revenge will be his!

Looking at Gibson's Wikipedia page, this theme again jumps out at me as apparently he has accused others of 'betrayal' in the political arena, but then all is not lost as a 'reconciliation' occurs in the final act. I only hope this saga comes to such a happy conclusion and we can move on and concentrate on the small matter of an actual game of football...

There is something about his actions that seem out of kilter. My guess is he has certain ethics that he thinks have been breached. Everything I know about him in industry speaks of a straight shooter who plays fair. He’s also been supportive of managers in difficulty. Before all this I saw him as one of the good guys, so one wonders what the story is behind the story ?

[Sparkle]

48 minutes ago, WestKentRam said:

It seems to me there must be more behind Gibson expecting Derby to somehow stump up £45m that I cannot see will ever happen.

Ryan Hills informative book 'Pride' tells in its early chapters the history of Pride Park being planned and built. Gibson was very helpful to Peter Gadsby in this, as the blueprint for PP was the same as the already constructed Riverside Stadium. Gibson listed the features that he wished had been incorporated into their stadium, and 22 upgrades were made to PP when it was built helped by Gibson's advice.

It must be a bit galling for Gibson to see the club he has helped in the past seemingly cheat its way into a play-off spot at their expense. Like the lead character in a Hollywood movie, revenge will be his!

Looking at Gibson's Wikipedia page, this theme again jumps out at me as apparently he has accused others of 'betrayal' in the political arena, but then all is not lost as a 'reconciliation' occurs in the final act. I only hope this saga comes to such a happy conclusion and we can move on and concentrate on the small matter of an actual game of football...

Probably jealous that we made the stadium better and actually fill it with supporters over the years.

[WestKentRam]

7 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

Probably jealous that we made the stadium better and actually fill it with supporters over the years.

From Ryan Hills' book it sounds that Gibson was being very helpful giving advice on where he would make improvements that were actually incorporated into PP. This was done openly by him rather than the information gained in an underhand way by Derby.

[BucksRam]

1 hour ago, B4ev6is said:

I highly doubt that mate

Well yeah me too, but live in hope. 

[LeedsCityRam]

52 minutes ago, jono said:

There is something about his actions that seem out of kilter. My guess is he has certain ethics that he thinks have been breached. Everything I know about him in industry speaks of a straight shooter who plays fair. He’s also been supportive of managers in difficulty. Before all this I saw him as one of the good guys, so one wonders what the story is behind the story ?

Yes, I used to hold him in high regard too. Was a very young guy when he was part of a consortium that saved Middlesbrough in 1986, then bought the club outright in 1993 when he was just 35. Spent millions building Riverside Stadium, bringing in Bryan Robson & backing him massively with likes of Juninho, Ravenelli etc. Was a big deal for a very unfashionable town & club and liked them sticking it to the London media snobs in late 90s. Always seemed reasonable when interviewed on telly.

My guess like your previous post is that he's really struggling to fund them to the levels needed to compete with the Prem dropdowns. He will have seen 18/19 as their last big attempt to go up given it was their second season of parachute payments post-relegation & when they didnt under Pulis, it meant he had to cut back massively on wages/sell players to prepare for post parachute payments. Meanwhile Mel at Derby carried on spending despite publicly stating early 2018 we were going to rein it in & notwithstanding the issue of parachute payment fairness, it's probably riled him he was having to cut back when Mel wasn't doing the same. 

I do believe this is more about Mel than Derby & wonder if his claim is designed primarily to lower how much Mel can get for PP if administrators/new owners have to factor in a settlement to Boro. Sadly for him, he'll have a massive task to convince a court we directly denied them Prem money given the gap between 7th & ultimate promotion. He may have been badly advised by his legal counsel in that respect.

[Philmycock]

As us Derby fans whip together to raise funds for the St John's Ambulance service, Steve Gibson is menacingly trying to take our club from us for his own pleasure and financial gain.

Shameful. Unclassy. Spiteful.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Philmycock

[i-Ram]

2 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Yes, I used to hold him in high regard too. Was a very young guy when he was part of a consortium that saved Middlesbrough in 1986, then bought the club outright in 1993 when he was just 35. Spent millions building Riverside Stadium, bringing in Bryan Robson & backing him massively with likes of Juninho, Ravenelli etc. Was a big deal for a very unfashionable town & club and liked them sticking it to the London media snobs in late 90s. Always seemed reasonable when interviewed on telly.

My guess like your previous post is that he's really struggling to fund them to the levels needed to compete with the Prem dropdowns. He will have seen 18/19 as their last big attempt to go up given it was their second season of parachute payments post-relegation & when they didnt under Pulis, it meant he had to cut back massively on wages/sell players to prepare for post parachute payments. Meanwhile Mel at Derby carried on spending despite publicly stating early 2018 we were going to rein it in & notwithstanding the issue of parachute payment fairness, it's probably riled him he was having to cut back when Mel wasn't doing the same. 

I do believe this is more about Mel than Derby & wonder if his claim is designed primarily to lower how much Mel can get for PP if administrators/new owners have to factor in a settlement to Boro. Sadly for him, he'll have a massive task to convince a court we directly denied them Prem money given the gap between 7th & ultimate promotion. He may have been badly advised by his legal counsel in that respect.

He may of course have been correctly advised by his legal counsel, but decided to give it a go nonetheless. I still can’t see this going anywhere because in the most unlikely event he wins it opens a huge can of worms for the football sector. The EFL must want this closed down.

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

Can't remember where I saw itt but probably on here somewhere. Someone posted an in the know character analysis of Gibson and his refusing to let a perceived wrong go. It seems it just isn't in his makeup. Basically, he just will not let go... Ever...

Wish I could find it as it was very enlightening.

[I know nuffin]

21 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

He may of course have been correctly advised by his legal counsel, but decided to give it a go nonetheless. I still can’t see this going anywhere because in the most unlikely event he wins it opens a huge can of worms for the football sector. The EFL must want this closed down.

About time the EFL flexed their muscles and instructed both clubs to stop as they are bringing the game into disrepute and taking it to places that could start it breaking up. 

[PistoldPete]

13 hours ago, jono said:

There is something about his actions that seem out of kilter. My guess is he has certain ethics that he thinks have been breached. Everything I know about him in industry speaks of a straight shooter who plays fair. He’s also been supportive of managers in difficulty. Before all this I saw him as one of the good guys, so one wonders what the story is behind the story ?

He is a supporter of managers? He seems to be very fond of sacking them.

[Crewton]

3 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

He is a supporter of managers? He seems to be very fond of sacking them.

Yep, he sacked Southgate when Boro were 5th iirc. Him and Mel have more that unites them than what divides them ? 

[kevinhectoring]

17 hours ago, WestKentRam said:

 

 

From Carl Jackson's interview with Chris Parsons on the excellent Steve Bloomer's Washing podcast uploaded on Saturday, CJ said:

'This was never going to be, and I genuinely felt this right at the outset… an issue around finding a buyer. It was going to be about reaching agreement and compromise deals with those creditors, and those are the hurdles we still have to overcome. So we are still negotiating with HMRC, and we’re putting together a plan. Once we’ve got deals done then we’ll be in a position then to effectively conclude on a deal with whoever we’ve chosen as our preferred bidder.

So it’s not just a question of a buyer coming along, making an offer… What we need to do is try and get to a position where we’ve sorted out the liabilities, dealt with other what I call unascertained creditors, and again it’s been widely communicated that there are two other football league creditors or football clubs who are claiming, who are making claims against Derby County Football Club. We need to deal with those. So there are a number of hurdles or obstacles we still need to overcome. We are working on those. We hope to make some good progress over the next three to four weeks.'

From this, I would take that the Boro and WW claim would have to be dealt with before the club could be sold.

Ideally yes these ‘frivolous and vexatious’ claims need to be resolved before a sale. That’s why the likelihood is Gibson and  Couhig get what they want, money from the admins. Point is the admins want the bidding to be competitive and this issue - bogus tho the claims are - could distort the bidding. 
 

bwt, my guess would be it’s Couhig who has persuaded Gibson into this. It has US lawyers written all over it. If the claims go forward there’s little doubt they would have to pay a large part of our costs. But we don’t have time to let this happen, as they know ...

[Maharan]

12 hours ago, Philmycock said:

As us Derby fans whip together to raise funds for the St John's Ambulance service, Steve Gibson is menacingly trying to take our club from us for his own pleasure and financial gain.

Shameful. Unclassy. Spiteful.

Let's not lose sight of why Derby fans are raising funds for St John's Ambulance, and that's nothing to do with Gibson. 

As others have said, I can't help but feel there is something else going on here. The legal case doesn't seem to make any sense or have a cats chance in hell of success when looked at in isolation. I dunno, it's odd and appears to be petty, but being the natural pessimist that I am, I can't help but wonder if there's more to it. If there isn't, then this kind of claim undermines the integrity of the league, and hopefully they throw the book at them.  

[jimtastic56]

I wonder if Gibson has worked out the DCFC will only be able to pay 10p in the pound so by claiming £45 mill he is expecting to get £4•5 mill? Looking like a desperate man.

[I am Ram]

2 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

I wonder if Gibson has worked out the DCFC will only be able to pay 10p in the pound so by claiming £45 mill he is expecting to get £4•5 mill? Looking like a desperate man.

Either way, it's still expensive for a perm.

[Crewton]

1 hour ago, jimtastic56 said:

I wonder if Gibson has worked out the DCFC will only be able to pay 10p in the pound so by claiming £45 mill he is expecting to get £4•5 mill? Looking like a desperate man.

You don't simply get paid out whatever you feel like writing on the back of a fag packet. 

Unless they prove their case and get a valid decision from the Tribunal, or go through the Court, they won't get a bean.

[Woodley Ram]

it would be an easier claim to say we prevented them getting to the play off's so they claim for the compensation of the gate receipts for the semi final and Wembley (probably about £1.5m ish). By saying we prevented them getting promoted is a bit of a long shot. Would they have beaten Leeds and Villa? can they prove that on the balance of probabilities they would? I don't think so