Xpro

[Gudnib]

Having learned that Dean Holdsworth and another unnamed former footballer are allegedly claiming £200,000 from its management company I thought it might be interesting to find out a bit more about Xpro.

It was formed in 2010 to help former professional footballers who had fallen on hard times e.g. One of Celtic's European Cup winning team who couldn't attend a dinner because he had no shoes and had no money to buy a pair.

With its office in Birmingham it says it operates in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland (i.e.not England and Wales!). Its trustees are Nick Hancock, Terry Conroy (ex Stoke), Jim Walker? and Geoff Scott its CEO (ex Everton)

Xpro's website tells us that Sir Alex Ferguson, Gary Lineker, Sir Geoff Hurst and Alan Hansen have all provided testimonials to the charity. So how much money does Xpro raise and spend on its objectives? The Charities Commission website tells us that it hasn't had to file accounts as it has never raised more than £10,000 in any year.

That being the case what has Dean Holdsworth and the other unnamed former footballer done to justify claiming £200,000 from the charity's management company? All very strange.

[bobo the clown]

^^ blimey. He doesn't even own us (yet) and we're having to defend claims against him from people making their 2nd post.

What was the first post about. That's what I want to know.

[TonyDomingos]

Having learned that Dean Holdsworth and another unnamed former footballer are allegedly claiming £200,000 from its management company I thought it might be interesting to find out a bit more about Xpro.

It was formed in 2010 to help former professional footballers who had fallen on hard times e.g. One of Celtic's European Cup winning team who couldn't attend a dinner because he had no shoes and had no money to buy a pair.

With its office in Birmingham it says it operates in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland (i.e.not England and Wales!). Its trustees are Nick Hancock, Terry Conroy (ex Stoke), Jim Walker? and Geoff Scott its CEO (ex Everton)

Xpro's website tells us that Sir Alex Ferguson, Gary Lineker, Sir Geoff Hurst and Alan Hansen have all provided testimonials to the charity. So how much money does Xpro raise and spend on its objectives? The Charities Commission website tells us that it hasn't had to file accounts as it has never raised more than £10,000 in any year.

That being the case what has Dean Holdsworth and the other unnamed former footballer done to justify claiming £200,000 from the charity's management company? All very strange.

You are Phil Gartside and I claim my £200,000.

[Gudnib]

^^ blimey. He doesn't even own us (yet) and we're having to defend claims against him from people making their 2nd post.

What was the first post about. That's what I want to know.

First post was about XPro too, Bobo. Charles Sale broke the news in the Daily Mail yesterday. He suggests that it was the Holdsworth's (and another's claim) that caused Xpro management to go under 'after its fund-raising arm went bust'.
Don't know if the £200K claim is accurate but a bit of checking showed that Xpro Management had gone under and that there was not much evidence on the public record of the Xpro charity raising very much at all for its good cause. Sorry if you would rather not know but it did seem a bit topical with Dean Holdsworth supposedly fronting a consortium to take over the club.

[bobo the clown]

Just wondering what your angle is.

[Gudnib]

Just wondering what your angle is.

My angle is that I am a shareholder (though they are worth nowt), Lifeline member and season ticket holder and would quite like the club that I have supported for over sixty years to end up in safe hands. Too much to hope for?

[Lord Kangana]

Is it not already in safe hands?

[thebish]

Is it not already in safe hands?

aye - it is - but (arguably) in a safe pair of hands that would quite like to pass it on into another safe pair of hands sometime soon...

[Gudnib]

By the way I have no grudge against Dean Holdsworth (apart from his semi-final miss - but no, I have forgiven him that).
But if I was asked which former players I would like to see lead a consortium to take over the club, it would be a long list before Deano appeared on it.
Trouble is, how much patience has Eddie got to wait for the right people to come along. He's lost so much money and undoubtedly wants to get out as soon as he can. He would like to get some of his money back, of course he would, but I suspect that the most important thing for him now is to hand it over to the safest pair of hands he can find and it ain't going to be easy.

[Gudnib]

Another former Wanderer, Gordon Taylor, was also featured in Charles Sale's column on Saturday. It doesn't look like he is falling on hard times. The players union boss (who apparently received remuneration of £3,368,653 from the PFA last year) was evidently in the company of Greg Dyke at the England game in Spain last week. I wonder if they discussed FIFA or Michel Platini.

[thebish]

Another former Wanderer, Gordon Taylor, was also featured in Charles Sale's column on Saturday. It doesn't look like he is falling on hard times. The players union boss (who apparently received remuneration of £3,368,653 from the PFA last year) was evidently in the company of Greg Dyke at the England game in Spain last week. I wonder if they discussed FIFA or Michel Platini.

or Candy Crush saga....

[Worthy4England]

As far as I can recall, Gartside said in the mid noughties that if the right buyer came along, ED would be willing to sell. Clearly the balance between willing to sell and needing or wanting to sell probably changes your view of "right buyer" somewhat. Whilst it would be good to think Deano was a multi-billionaire with nowt to do other than reverse the Wanderers slide into oblivion (again), I suspect whether this looks a good or bad deal won't come down to Deano's net worth, but other folks in the consortium. I could be wrong, maybe he's now worth a few hundred mill and just does football management to keep him out of mischief. But I suspect not.

[bobo the clown]

^^ obviously he's not (a £multi-Gazzionaire) if he's willing to close a charity to get the £200k he feels entitled to.

B@stard.

May I be the first to say "Deano out !". Well, the first for a while anyway.

[Gudnib]

As far as I can recall, Gartside said in the mid noughties that if the right buyer came along, ED would be willing to sell. Clearly the balance between willing to sell and needing or wanting to sell probably changes your view of "right buyer" somewhat. Whilst it would be good to think Deano was a multi-billionaire with nowt to do other than reverse the Wanderers slide into oblivion (again), I suspect whether this looks a good or bad deal won't come down to Deano's net worth, but other folks in the consortium. I could be wrong, maybe he's now worth a few hundred mill and just does football management to keep him out of mischief. But I suspect not.

I suspect not too. He seems to live in a nice enough house in Droitwich but far from a millionaire's mansion and there seemsto be little indication of any track record of a successful career in business.
He seems to have formed two companies this year each with a share capital of £100 though even that is not necessarily paid up.
Sports Shield Ltd was formed in January 2015 with a registered office in Loughton, Essex.
Sports Shield Investments Ltd was formed in July 2015 with a registered office at Deano's Droitwich home.

[Spartan2]

The daily mail has a hate campaign against Bolton. Because I don't read it (I sometimes get the articles on news Africans agrigators(sp?)) I don't know if it's specifically aimed at bwfc, a selection of clubs or all football teams but I have noticed for a good few years now every article they write about bwfc is designed to undermine the club in someway. The most transparent and yet still infuriating is when we have a good player we want to keep they will "link" him with a move away and report it as news rather than bullshit they just made up.

Just to clarify I'm not making a comment about the op's post, I'm just saying that the daily mail has about as much credibility regarding bwfc as David ike does about the royal family.

[bobo the clown]

^^^ aaah. You can't beat a good dose of paranoia.

The media in general focuses.purely on the big clubs. In a cup run or a good period they may big-up a club for a time (viz. Bradford City recently). They also like a fairy tale (Bournemouth). But I don't think Bolton are any more the victims of being seen as nuisances and also rans than anyone else Spartan.

[Worthy4England]

As far as I can recall, Gartside said in the mid noughties that if the right buyer came along, ED would be willing to sell. Clearly the balance between willing to sell and needing or wanting to sell probably changes your view of "right buyer" somewhat. Whilst it would be good to think Deano was a multi-billionaire with nowt to do other than reverse the Wanderers slide into oblivion (again), I suspect whether this looks a good or bad deal won't come down to Deano's net worth, but other folks in the consortium. I could be wrong, maybe he's now worth a few hundred mill and just does football management to keep him out of mischief. But I suspect not.

I suspect not too. He seems to live in a nice enough house in Droitwich but far from a millionaire's mansion and there seemsto be little indication of any track record of a successful career in business.
He seems to have formed two companies this year each with a share capital of £100 though even that is not necessarily paid up.
Sports Shield Ltd was formed in January 2015 with a registered office in Loughton, Essex.
Sports Shield Investments Ltd was formed in July 2015 with a registered office at Deano's Droitwich home.

So it would be good to find out who the other consortium members are then.

[thebish]

if there even IS a consortium!

[Gudnib]

Another former Wanderer, Gordon Taylor, was also featured in Charles Sale's column on Saturday. It doesn't look like he is falling on hard times. The players union boss (who apparently received remuneration of £3,368,653 from the PFA last year) was evidently in the company of Greg Dyke at the England game in Spain last week. I wonder if they discussed FIFA or Michel Platini.

or Candy Crush saga....

You can't always rely on Wikipedia but it says Chunky (as he was affectionately known at Burnden) is a member of FIFA's football committee and reputed to be the highest paid union official in the world.

[Worthy4England]

What does this have to do with Xpro?