Quote bobsmyuncle="bobsmyuncle"It was insincere if not dishonest of Hood to even suggest that the second £0.5M had any viable chance of being raised.'"
How can you make that statement? Do you have any clear knowledge that that was the case?
In the first place, when we met with the BoD before D Day (and before Caisley's intervention via the T&A) it was clear they were very mindful of their responsibilities as directors regarding trading whilst insolvent. I cannot believe all three directors would have called the pledge in had they not had realistic expectations that the business would continue as a going concern. To call the pledges in otherwise ran the risk of them becoming personally liable. At the time, I attributed the delay to the directors needing to be as sure as they could be on this point.
Secondly, everything I heard then - and indeed on the day the pledge was called in - from the mouths of directors - suggested they continued to believe that the remainder of the funds would be secured. If they were being unreasonably optimistic, especially regarding the impact of the Caisley intervention followed by Sutcliffe and Preston and Coulby, maybe we'll never know; but my own feeling is that they nevertheless genuinely believed that to be so at the time.
I suspect that, when history comes to be written, we may discover that matters did not proceed at all as expected at the time the pledge was called in. Although little in this whole sorry saga of kindergarten politics would surprise me any more.
Whether the public pronouncements on the inter-shareholder strife from a variety of people served to deter the potential funders, only those party to the discussions will know. And indeed, we've not yet seen confirmation that NO such funding will actually be forthcoming - even though I guess its not unreasonable for fans to be fearing the worst, especially given how Hood seems to have thrown the towel in.
After all, once Caisley had announced he had a majority to remove the board, who would want to conclude a deal with the club until and unless the internal strife had been resolved? Something Caisley must surely have appreciated, even if maybe the BoD may not have?
Fat ladies have not sung yet; we might wake up one morning to a headline (probably not in the T&A) that a white knight has indeed manifested himself? I'd think twice about betting the house on it though.