The Reasons For Paul Baker To Stand Down (April 09)
February 2, 2010 by admin
Filed under AFCB - News Archive 07-09
- 17th April 2009
Late yesterday afternoon, (17th April) Paul Baker, the owner of AFC Bournemouth issued a statement concerning the takeover negotiations for the club.
He expressed his disappointment that no agreement had been reached with what is described as ‘The Murry Group’ – principally an alliance of local businessman Adam Murry, and former owners Jeff Mostyn and Steve Sly.
He said: “I have stated, on many occasions, to people I have grown to know around the club that I would not harm this club, but the one thing I could not do was walk away with nothing. That said, I was prepared to risk just that in order to conclude a deal. My thoughts were that if the club stayed up then it was my money that paid the wages and brought in the players to overcome the points deficit.”
And continued:
“If the club failed and was relegated then I was prepared to walk with nothing despite having a young family to support and this whole involvement costing me personally and financially more than you will ever know. But I was confident and still am that AFC Bournemouth will survive.”
A duty of care
But Paul Baker had a duty of care to the club that has not been fulfilled. As a director, co-owner and the person that was portrayed as having the principal finance responsibilities, his duty was absolute. It was he that had to sanction the ‘business plan’ provided by Alastair Saverimutto, who was his partner and the Chief Executive until he resigned recently. It was he that held sway over the salaries paid and appointments made, including a near £100,000 per annum, plus expenses and benefits for Saverimutto and a £60,000 package for Ted Sutton, the ‘Football Operations Director.’
And it was Paul Baker that was responsible for turning down a £1.5 million offer for the club, which included a further £2 million of funds to support the club itself – an offer from high calibre international businessmen, who brought in a team of six for negotiations and offered proof of funding to Baker and to the then administrator, Gerald Krasner.
Baker says he turned it down because he was confident at that time that the club would be successful under the management of Saverimutto.
But the indications were already there – and this was before the start of the season and before the Football League had agreed to grant membership to the club under the new owners.
On the very same day – the 30th July 2008, that the meeting took place between the new bidders and Saverimutto (Baker did not show up and was ‘replaced’ by Sutton), a transaction was taking place, with monies going into Baker’s company, UK Sameday and then out again to pay the AFCB administrator. The sum in question was the loan that Saverimutto arranged with Magic Solutions, a marketing company he had engaged on behalf of the club. The non payment of that loan resulted in an expensive winding up action against the club. In other words, monies that were purported as being for the club this season were in fact being diverted to pay for the administration.
Paul Baker’s explanation
When tackled on the subject of the circumstances of the Magic Solution winding up petition, on February 9th, Baker responded with a detailed email, including copies of UK Sameday bank statements – which in turn raised many more questions and revealed how he felt about Saverimutto by this time – a month before Saverimutto resigned..
Below is a copy of Baker’s email:
Savi was acting CEO of AFC Bournemouth (Old Co) during the period that this transaction took place. Savi had engaged with a Company called Magic Solutions to bring in extra commercial revenues prior to the club coming out of Administration. Savi informed me that Magic Solutions had brokered a deal with Scottish and Newcastle Breweries to become a Commercial Partner of AFC Bournemouth (New Co). He informed me that the deal was done and that Magic Solutions would be forwarding £25,000 as part payment on the deal. As the monies would be for the club when it came out of Administration and at that point in time Sport 6 did not own the New Co (AFC Bournemouth Ltd) the monies were paid into UK Sameday’s bank account. This was done as a matter of convenience because the monies paid into that account had to be forwarded onto Gerald Krasner as part of the Administration funding the same day. As far as I was concerned this money was raised as part of the brokered Scottish and Newcastle deal and at no time did Savi tell me it was in fact a loan from this company or that he had told them it was money to pay for Scott Guyett’s Transfer Fee ( who was in fact a free transfer) It was only later when the Scottish and Newcastle deal fell through did he tell me he had brokered a loan with the company.
When I asked Savi about repayment of the loan he told me he had sorted it, it was not until I was informed by Sport 6’s lawyer that I was made aware of a Winding Up order,
I have attached a Bank Statement from UK Sameday showing three payments into our account on 30th July 2008 £25,000 is from Magic Solutions and the other £20,000 is from Sport 6’s lawyers, which has come from other commercial revenue. You will see from the bank statement that although the monies came into UK Sameday they were forwarded onto Gerald Krasner to fund the Administration process, these monies were paid directly into the AFCB in Admin No 2 account the same day. UK Sameday’s only part in this was to receive the funds and pass them on because AFC Bournemouth (New Co) did not have a bank account.
You can see from this paper trail that UK Sameday did not benefit from receiving this money and only acted as an agent in the transaction. You must also understand that I am less than happy with Savi and the latest statement from the ST which infers that UK Sameday should have a winding up order on it instead of AFC Bournemouth is nothing more than another fabricated story to cover his tracks.
I have given Savi far too much rope in the past and I won’t let him get away with any more lies and half truths. I wanted nothing more than this football club to be a success, I have already said that due to the financial climate I am no longer able to fund it but I determined to play a part in the club’s future being secured.
Readers can analyse this for themselves.
Not an innocent party
Paul Baker says he wished the club no harm. But harm has been done under his tenure. He blames Saverimutto, but Saverimutto was his partner and Baker entrusted the care of the club to him. By his own admission, he was at the very least aware that funds that were supposedly to help the club trade through difficult circumstances this season were diverted via his own company to pay for the administration of the old company.
He knows that two winding up petitions have been issued against the club this season, both of which were the direct result of actions by Saverimutto. Others settled the first, which effectively saved the club. The current one, due to heard in May, is a result of the flop of the cricket match organised by Saverimutto at AFC Bournemouth. Baker previously stated that the directors would settle any debts related to the event. They have failed to do so. He knows too that HMRC are owed a huge debt, because the business that he formed to take control of the club failed to pay. In other words, even if he feels he was misled and is another victim of the recession, he is responsible.
An unwelcome conflict of interests
Paul Baker is a self-proclaimed, passionate Chester City supporter – a previous director and sponsor who attempted to buy the club. Given the circumstances at AFC Bournemouth and the conflict caused by the relegation fight between the two clubs and their match tomorrow. It has to be considered unwelcome that he retains control. If ever there was a time for the Football League to intervene to protect the integrity of their organisation, it is now.
What next?
Baker is right about the ‘Murry Group’ reducing their offer to zero. They cite the discovery of new problems since they made the original offer. In the circumstances, that seems irrelevant.
In these circumstances, surely the right thing to do first is for Paul Baker to state that he will relinquish control for no recompense? With that accomplished, the first hurdle is cleared and the relegation conflict ended.
The ‘Murry Group’ have not yet raised the funds to guarantee survival after the end of the season. There are some definite possibilities – but it would be wildly optimistic to think that these could be implemented before the fight against relegation is decided.
What is clear though is that Paul Baker is badly compromised in terms of his failure to control aspects of the running of the club and his knowledge of questionable events, his admitted inability to settle debts incurred under his stewardship and the minefield of the relegation battle between the club he loves and the club he currently owns.
