Keith Wyness

[ChicagoLion]

I',m reserving judgement on the Wyness / Xia blame game until things are a bit clearer

Blame them both

It always starts at the top.

[oldhill_avfc]

It already seems fairly clear that cash flow was an issue for a long time and Wyness kept things going as best as he could.

It's also fairly clear he knew the consequences of the play off and acted according to his (legal?) obligations.

I can't see he did a lot wrong.

[sickbeggar]

It already seems fairly clear that cash flow was an issue for a long time and Wyness kept things going as best as he could.

It's also fairly clear he knew the consequences of the play off and acted according to his (legal?) obligations.

I can't see he did a lot wrong.

Depends how you see his responsibilities. If i was the CE of a major business and the whole existence of the company depended on intermittent payments arriving from china to keep us afloat, then i'd hope i'd be doing something to alter that in getting the outgoings down, rather than praying we go up. When we were spending millions on players last year, he must have known it wasn't sustainable, and despite public utterances he had no plan if we didn't go up.

[garyshawsknee]

I can't see how he's not to blame, as a CEO he signed off the transfer fees and wages, he must have been fully aware of the risk if we didn't get promoted.

[oldhill_avfc]

What risk though?

The last signing was Grabban in the transfer window.

Either this was sanctioned by Xia or within the agreed budget/financial plan - or Wyness decided on it himself and took the risk.

If it was the latter I'd have thought Xia would have got rid of him well before now.

[Risso]

Xia was obviously sanctioning all of the transfers, hence his ridiculous and childish 'enigmatic' Twitter posts.

It's the owner who sets the agenda for how the club works, from the top down.  If he has said "I'll pump in X amount for player purchases, and X amount for wages.  Don't worry about making a loss this year, I'll support the club with the necessary working capital" then it's Wyness and the other board members' jobs to implement that vision.  If that cash is then not made available, it's hardly the fault of the rest of the board.  If the situation then becomes critical such that important creditors like HMRC can't be paid, then Wyness is legally bound to look at all avenues to do what's best for the club, NOT Tony Xia. 

In certain circumstances, directors can be personally liable for unpaid debts, and at the very least censured and prevented from being a director when clubs go bust, so I don't blame him one bit for looking around at the best way to get out of this predicament.  If Wyness has failed at anything, it's at not stopping the ridiculous shit or bust strategy this season when we've been paying Premier League wages to a load of 30 something loan players.  But then again, if he has been assured that cash isn't a problem and Xia could manage the losses even if we didn't go up, again I don't see it as his fault.

[oldhill_avfc]

Precisely

[Drummond]

And all-in-all we still have no real idea what's happened other than not paying HMRC and Wyness being suspended.

Anything could have happened. Our two most senior people are saying nothing publicly though it appears one is briefing the press.

[PeterWithe]

Im still thinking Xia was a part of a group of silent other Chinese backers and they’ve pulled the plug, seems to fit with everything we know.

[PeterWithe]

And all-in-all we still have no real idea what's happened other than not paying HMRC and Wyness being suspended.

Anything could have happened. Our two most senior people are saying nothing publicly though it appears one is briefing the press.

Seems someone from Xias side is briefing Collymore as well.

[Risso]

And all-in-all we still have no real idea what's happened other than not paying HMRC and Wyness being suspended.

Anything could have happened. Our two most senior people are saying nothing publicly though it appears one is briefing the press.

We know that cash hasn't been sent from the owner, which is all we really need to know to be honest.  If it had, we wouldn't be in this situation.  Now all we need to know is that there's a way out of it.

[john e]

I've always been against the shit or bust policy,
I've always wanted a more progressive build type program running through the club

but I have to say if things are truly as bad as it looks right now it wouldn't have mattered much if we had been promoted this would still have happened at some point in the future imo

[Drummond]

And all-in-all we still have no real idea what's happened other than not paying HMRC and Wyness being suspended.

Anything could have happened. Our two most senior people are saying nothing publicly though it appears one is briefing the press.

We know that cash hasn't been sent from the owner, which is all we really need to know to be honest.  If it had, we wouldn't be in this situation.  Now all we need to know is that there's a way out of it.

Fair point. Let's hope we get that confirmation soon, or at the very least that the bills are paid.

[Jon Crofts]

Im still thinking Xia was a part of a group of silent other Chinese backers and they’ve pulled the plug, seems to fit with everything we know.

This or that there just never was the money in the first place, if the former he's having electrodes attached to his testicles as we speak I hope.

[ChicagoLion]

Im still thinking Xia was a part of a group of silent other Chinese backers and they’ve pulled the plug, seems to fit with everything we know.

My thoughts aswell, the Wembley loss did for Xia and Villa.