A CHRISTMAS FAIRY TALE…or two

I knew 1000 words wouldn’t suffice. Those still awake after last week’s column will remember Cardiff City allegedly owe ‘Langston’ £24m, plus interest. But only ex-owner Sam Hammam, who borrowed the money in the first place, knows who Langston are…and he ain’t saying. So it has been since August. Court proceedings, oft-postponed by Langston, are due in March (if only I’d kept it to that last week).

Last week, Hammam responded to pleas from South Wales Echo’s Terry Phillips – in the friendliest terms – to f*** off and stay away forever. I knew he would. It happened to me when Hammam was, unbeknown at the time, screwing Wimbledon for all he could….

In 1994, during lengthy but, it emerged, sham negotiations to return Wimbledon to home London borough Merton (from where he’d moved them in 1991), Hammam threatened a permanent out-of-borough move. Dublin and, ha!, Milton Keynes were to come. But he told London’s Evening Standard he’d consider changes of borough, benefactor and name: “If we went to Kingston (a neighbouring borough) then I think it is right to call the club Kingston.”

I replied, a long “ahem…excuse me” noting that Kingstonian had existed for decades and had been Wimbledon rivals – 100+ competitive meetings. “In no way should Wimbledon’s survival be at the expense of another senior football club” I wrote. Cross, I was.

He phoned back. His arguments, as the saying goes, initially made no sense and on further inspection made no sense whatsoever. “So what if ‘Kingston’ was a Kingstonian/Wimbledon merger? It would still be Kingston.” The rest was emotional, rambling guff – which last week’s letter brought back to mind.

To direct questions on Langston’s identity and motivation, Hammam replied: “I love the fans. I’m drained. I’ve lost my power. My wings have been taken away.” (Here, I’d usually insert: “OK, I made that last one up.” But I didn’t make it up). Tears, melodrama. As for answers to the questions, no chance. “Absurd” noted current chairman Peter Ridsdale, correctly.

Even more absurd, Hammam has issued a high court writ against City for loss of earnings. City stopped “golden handshake” payments to Hammam’s company Rudgwick - £500k over four years, £1.3m since 2003 – when Langston demanded their money. This has been termed merely “an aggravating factor” – Chris Gunther’s transfer fee from Tottenham should cover it. And Rudgwick may be entitled. But “earnings”? Not in my dictionary.

Back in 1994, I’d figured Hammam just didn’t get football’s tribal nature (hence his subsequent ‘Cardiff is the Welsh club’ faux-pas), writing: “His view is that of businessman not supporter. He has to strike a balance but hasn’t remotely struck the right one.” Then news that he’d bought Plough Lane and sold it to Safeways for £8m profit, revealed it was all ‘business.’ He’d make his money, everyone else could go hang.

The final twist? AFC Wimbledon play in…Kingston. At Kingstonian’s ground. Bought from a ‘businessman’ (Kingstonian surviving as tenants). Almost as if Hammam got his way AND his money. Cardiff beware.

So how about a happier story for the holidays? Ray Ranson’s got a club at last. Having, fortunately, avoided the imploding Southampton, the Ranson-fronted SISU Capital consortium bought Coventry, fifty minutes before they were due to enter administration with £38m debts.

Coventry’s old board set this deadline to speed any takeover deal. And the final week produced tension and farce in equal measure. Ranson/SISU had assuaged Coventry South MP and major shareholder Geoffrey Robinson’s reported doubts. But the deal would take time, with Coventry’s labyrinthine ownership structure and that of the Ricoh Arena stadium – a “successful entertainment venue”, bar matchdays (ho-ho-ho). No room for details here, my word limit is 500 not 5,000.

The papers could have printed “SISU are edging closer to a deal” every day for a week as the deadline approached. Then, naturally, a “39 year-old Greek film director worth £4bn” asked to see the books. The Guardian proclaimed Alki David (not a drink problem-induced nickname) Coventry’s saviour, disregarding Ranson/SISU entirely. No-one followed up the story, though. As it was rubbish.

David was a Panathinaikos shareholder (19%) and had seen the books. But he immediately claimed Coventry were “falling apart” and ran the proverbial mile. However, Ranson/SISU were encountering an unspecified “eleventh-hour hitch” which kept things running until the last minutes. The Coventry Telegraph’s web-site provided a near-running commentary on deadline afternoon before they grandly announced: “Don’t miss tomorrow’s special edition of the Coventry Telegraph on this historic event.”

Various luminaries produced variations on a “great news, now for the Premiership” theme (only Tory Council group leader Ken Taylor getting the Premier League’s name right). While ‘Sky Blues legend’ Jimmy Hill rejoiced, though noting: “You need more than money. It’s a matter of football wisdom that will push you up into an enjoyable winning state”, clearly too euphoric to make any sense by the end. And a triumphant Ranson was presented to the Coventry faithful before their home game against, of all clubs, Southampton.

Not everyone was toeing the ‘let’s party’ line, though. The deal required 90% shareholder-backing, which was thought a formality as the two major shareholders Craigavon – Robinson’s family trust (British Virgin Islands-registered, to satisfy modern English football criteria) and the Alan Edward Higgs charity put their 71.4% behind the deal. But minority shareholders, having paid hundreds of pounds for voting shares (Supporters Trust founder Lionel Bird paying £125 for each of his), were unhappy at having to ‘gift’ them back to the club in return for an unspecified, ‘nominal’ amount of “non-voting, non-participating” shares (the Trust Board have surprisingly recommended the hand-back to a January 3^rd members’ meeting).

The Christmas post is getting public blame for the initially slow return of shares. And with a January 7^th deadline, this version of football’s same old story isn’t over yet – the one where business counts the profits while supporters count the cost. Still, it’s Christmas. So let’s just pay tribute to the remarkable, enduring loyalty of supporters, without which football could hardly survive.

Happy holidays everyone.

‘MotorMurph’ is written by Mark Murphy

Entry Filed under: MotorMurph Column

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