So last time people started asking questions about tax issue, they came out at the fans forum and said it would be sorted imminently. Then several weeks later it turned out they hadn’t sorted it at all, and people aggressively went for them, at which point they then came out and went “This time we REALLY sorted it, sorry about that!” But now it appears that actually they perhaps still hadn’t sorted it at all, despite saying for a second time that they had? Is it fair to assume that within that second statement of sorting it, they still weren’t being truthful? It certainly seems so.
I don’t know how much more we all need to see before we realise where this is all going. I’ve always enjoyed giving Charlie boy a good dig in the ribs, especially when I’ve known he was being a naughty fibber about certain things, but I was firmly in the Sartori camp at the time. He’s a legitimate businessman and with Stewart involved day to day, a lifelong supporter who had already gone above and beyond on multiple occasions financially, I felt that regardless of success the club would be safe and looked after. When that deal went away I was gutted, to be frank, and now I look at this complete shambles and feel even worse. The Sunderland gang may not have bankrolled us to immediate promotion (although who knows, maybe they would) but they certainly would have stabilised us. We’d finished what, eighth in the division when they tried to complete the purchase? We were already competitive. Now look at the absolute state of it all.
Just as damaging in other ways as the financial issues are the communication ones. It’s just total radio silence from everybody, all the time. No figurehead, no front person of the club engaging people, just bland and soulless appearances once every six months at best where all we hear is “we can’t say presently” or “we’ll come back to you”. Even when we won the most consecutive home league games we’d managed for something like 25 years, the stadium was flat as a pancake every single game. Even when it’s gone well on the pitch, albeit briefly, it didn’t lift anybody, because frankly the entire club is shot to s**t and 95% of the people turning up are doing so out of habit, and feeling as though they should, not because they have an urge to go. Everybody feels how rotten the entire thing is.
The question is, at what point do we collectively decide to do something about it? Where’s the tipping point? Because it’s been such a disaster on and off the pitch all season as it is, so I’m not sure at what point everyone is going to go, “Sod this, the club is dying again, let’s boot off.” If our supporters trust is even saying they’re satisfied with everything after talking to the owner, what hope do we have if barely two weeks after that happens we find out they weren’t even being completely straight?
They’ve done nothing but lie and ignore every single supporter from day one, and I don’t know why every last person hasn’t had enough by now. What are we waiting for?