[JohnG]

For quite a while now Stags fans have been very unhappy with the Chairman who controversially sacked Keith Curle and then Mansfield went downhill after that. A few months ago the chairman arranged to sell their best goal scorer to Hartelpool against the wishes of the manager and the player. The player involved (Richie Barker) said he did not want to leave, and so it all went quiet for a while. The other week the manager was sacked and an ex manager appointed - it would appear he's been employed as a Yes-Man by the chairman. Today Richie Barker was sold to Hartlepool.
The Stags are now hovering dangerously near to dropping out of the league completely with a Chairman who will sell "at the right price". A sad time for Stags supporters.

[Boy Named Sue]

My sympathies. When I used to live in Cambridge I went to see United play and I've kept an eye out for them since; past couple of years they've been heading down the same route as Mansfield - no money, too much politics in the boardroom, having to seel everything. They're now out of the League and at the wrong end of the Conference table (three points above relegation zone). It ain't pretty. My best wishes in getting out of the situation.

[JohnG]

According to the SSA (the Stags Supporters Association) website the chairman received an unbudgeted amount of £125,000 for Liam Lawrence a while ago and the fans most common song since then has been "Where's the money gone?".

[JohnG]

Well this whole sorry saga has now reached the pages of Private Eye !

Is Mansfield MP Alan Meale attempting to score an own goal? The football-supporting MP is attempting to force the official supporters' website of Mansfield Town F.C. to hand over the names of two fans that made allegedly libellous comments about him on a message board.

Stagsnet, the website of the Stags Supporters Association (SSA), had voluntarily removed the offending remarks, which followed more than a year of scandal at the club. The Labour MP had repeatedly defended majority shareholder and sole director Keith Haslam. Mr Haslam had to apologise to the League Two club in December 2005 after the Guardian revealed he had taken out large personal loans from the club's cash. Mansfield Town hit the headlines again last summer with allegation that the club had drawn money for salaries from it's associated charity, the Stags Community Trust, of which Mr Meale is the chairman. Meanwhile a SportEngland audit found that more than £23000 of lottery money had been misspent by the club, including £255 on a parking fine.

In August a judge at Manchester county Court described a club disciplinary process against its former manager Keith Curle, which was chaired by Alan Meale, as "a sham".

In a statement, the SSA's committee said that being taken to court by the MP had been "very stressful" for them as volunteers. "SSA have had no other option than to follow legal advice throughout" they said. "The judge ordered the release of registration details and found our conduct to be entirely proper and reasonable and endorsed such conduct by ordering Mr Meale to pay SSA's legal costs."

But Mr Meale has told local press in Mansfield that he intends to win that money back with a libel action against the two fans - an interesting approach to protecting his constituents.

[miceri]

1st team I ever saw play.

My dad, who is definately not a fooy nut, tried to 'bond' us with his local team.

Much the same as his dad did I guess. I was between 6-8, can't really remember it. Well, apart from it was very cold and I wanted to go home...

Stood on the terraces though . I'm alot more into footy now, always look out for towns results.

My fear is they will go ka-put soon .

[JohnG]

It gets worse ! On Saturday a photographer was ejected from the ground and will be charged later this week. This taken from mansfieldtoday.co.uk

Ejected photographer thanks Stags' fans
The freelance photographer thrown out of Field Mill for displaying a 'Haslam Out' photograph on his laptop today thanked the hundreds of fans who sent him messages of support.
Dan Westwell has been charged with a public order offence after being ejected from the ground, arrested and taken to Mansfield Police Station - because there was a photograph of a 'Haslam Out' sign on the screen of his laptop.
His dismissal during Saturday's 2-1 win over Division II leaders Walsall, by both stewards and police, prompted loud chants against Stags' owner Keith Haslam from a large section of the crowd.
Earlier in the day renewed protests against Mr Haslam had begun with signs being erected on roads across the area, a petition being gathered outside the ground and chants for him to quit the football club once the game got underway.
Tonight Dan, who is due to appear in court on Friday and has been threatened with a banning order from football grounds, said: "I was absolutely stunned at what happened . . . as far as I was concerned I was just doing my job as I do every week following Mansfield Town all over the country .
"I still haven't been told why I was ejected from the ground, but if it was because I'd got 'Haslam Out' photos on my laptop, I had taken those the previous night around Junction 29.
"It is my job to cover a 'newsworthy' story around Mansfield. When I got my laptop out, they were on there as I opened up my software to sort out the photos from the Walsall game.
"As I was led out of the ground the 'Haslam Out' chants were deafening and when I looked at the magnificent fans in the West Stand and Quarry Lane end, they were giving me a standing ovation and chanting my name.
" I would also like to thank each and every Mansfield Town supporter for their amazing support and backing that I have been shown since the incident.
"I have had hundreds of emails, text messages, phone calls and also seen several Internet message boards where there are hundreds of people supporting me. I can't thank you all enough for that support."

[JohnG]

Worse still the Chairman has banned the local paper from printing their fixture list ! :-

STAGS supremo Keith Haslam today withdrew permission for the Chad to use the club's fixtures for the forthcoming season in this week's newspaper.
Chad has to pay a large sum of money each year to advertise the club's fixtures and also gain a letter of permission from the club to do so.

That permission was given last month but today, on the day the fixtures were released, Chad were informed the club had withdrawn that permission.

Mr Haslam has also withdrawn permission for the Nottingham Evening Post and Football Post to use the fixtures too.

[overkill]

What a total . It's jokers like him that blight football at the lower levels. It makes you wonder if the old days of 'bowler hat' type chairmans were so bad after all. Yes they did very little, but sometimes it's better that way. As long as the grounds were safe, and the clubs ticked along everyone was happy.

Now we get these 'flyboys' who want to make a name for themselves, with plenty of 'business plans' and 'long term solution platforms', yet no clue about how to run a football club.

Yanks and 'flash merchants' like that sad act at Mansfield will be the death of the game in England.

[JohnG]

Haslam keeps going on about "getting bums on seats", but doesn't seem to notice that the crowds for home games have gone down since he started acting up and milking the club. Before that there were often sell-outs of 9 or 10,000 but now it's down to about 2 to 3,500 thousand. Lots of people do not want their money going to this man.
To back this statement up, when Mansfield played away just down the road at Notts County there were 4,047 there from Mansfield - more than for most of the home games this season.
The fans have tried to buy the club but he always prices it out of their reach. He appointed a new Chairman a couple of months ago and he has now just been done for drinking and driving..... the sorry saga continues.

[JohnG]

Well the saga continues and after a couple of months of local businessmen trying to form a consortium to buy the club, there is now the prospect of the bloke who sold the York City ground to build a supermarket taking over
This bloke sounds like a total nutcase - just read this :-

Stags to be renamed Harchester United ?

I had to look at the date to see if it was April 1st after I read that.

[la gran siete]

It reminds me of Brighton and Hove albion which basically nearly went out of existence because of the actions of wide boy directors/ chairman back in the eighties They lost their ground and now have to make to do with an inadequate ground that barely houses 8000 fans. How they have managed to survive in the league is extraordinary, even more so given they are challenging for playoff place in div1. They now have decent chairman a good academy and good manager in Dean Wilkins( Rays brother).

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by JohnG

Well the saga continues and after a couple of months of local businessmen trying to form a consortium to buy the club, there is now the prospect of the bloke who sold the York City ground to build a supermarket taking over
This bloke sounds like a total nutcase - just read this :-

Stags to be renamed Harchester United ?

I had to look at the date to see if it was April 1st after I read that.

probably not a bad idea

"C'mon you Harchers"Sounds good.

[JohnG]

Not to the good folk of Mansfield it doesn't !!
The other annoying thing this bloke has said is that he's purely in it for the money and is not interested in talking to supporters, he's only interested in talking to customers.

[JohnG]

Something else to mention is that the current owner (Haslam) spent £500,000 of the clubs money on some land jsut outside of town in order to build a training academy a couple of years ago. This has never been built and he still owns the land and the club hasn't received the money back.

[Decadence]

Harchester? The guy should be ashamed...he's obviously not a football man. Depressing story.

[JohnG]

Again proof that people are staying away from home games. Yesterday Mansfield played at Notts County and took 3,300 fans, which is far more than their home attendances this season. People have refused to give the current owner any more of their money.
People are now suspicious about this pratt Batchelor and some believe it's the current owner Haslam trying to get his own back on the people who are campaigning against him by bringing in someone worse than himself.
I notice Jeff Stelling made a comment yesterday afternoon and said that people like Batchelor should be stopped from taking control of football clubs.

[Decadence]

Can't the FA step in? I guess not but this is ridiculous.

[JohnG]

You would hope that someone could step in and stop this madness. Hes now talking about a 4 million pound mortgage to fund it all see here which could leave the club in deep trouble if he left quickly as he has done with other things he's done.

[overkill]

Originally Posted by JohnG

You would hope that someone could step in and stop this madness. Hes now talking about a 4 million pound mortgage to fund it all see here which could leave the club in deep trouble if he left quickly as he has done with other things he's done.

Seems the nutters run from top to bottom of football these days John. If it's not PL owners squabbling it's nutcases like Ridesdale getting into another mess, or some egomaniac taking Wrexham to the cleaners, while another tries to run Mansfield down.

There is some form of regulation among banks as too who can take charge, so why the hell can't football do it? It's obviously BS that there can't be regulation.

[JohnG]

One of the supporters groups have issued a statement Batchelor is not a fit or proper person to own a football club giving their views and responses to this farce.
A couple of interesting paragraphs :-

TEAM Mansfield cannot support any attempt by John Batchelor to purchase Mansfield Town Football Club. We consider that Mr Batchelor is not a fit or proper person to own a football club and that the long-term future of Mansfield Town will be put at risk if Keith Haslam sells the club to him.

Mr Batchelor has already been responsible for taking York City into administration and has admitted that he made £120,000 from his short period of ownership of that football club. He has also admitted asset stripping companies and being involved with 15 other companies which have ended up in receivership, administration or liquidation.

Former employees of these companies have contacted the Chad website as well as TEAM Mansfield and warned Mansfield Town not to have any dealings with Mr Batchelor. Our concerns about Mr Batchelor plans have also been shared by persons at the Football League and Supporters Direct

[JohnG]

Talk about kicking someone when they are down !

THE capacity at Field Mill has been cut again - to 50%, 4,684 - after problems over the club's safety certificate.
The move comes ahead of Tuesday night's match with Wrexham - at which the club has offered a discounted admission to try to attract a bumper crowd.

And it follows the resignation of the club's chairman and safety certificate holder James Derry on Friday and appointment of a replacement, mayor Tony Egginton yesterday.

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire County Council, which issues the club's safety certificate and monitors safety at Field Mill, told Chad in a statement:

"The decision reflects the council's view that there has been a interruption in the safety management culture at the club due to the resignation of the chairman and general safety certificate holder James Derry. Previously the capacity was set at 80 per cent of maximum as the club continued to work to address safety issues."

[JohnG]

Interesting article in the Guardian about the bloke who wants to take over the club see here

[JohnG]

John Batchelor the asset stripper who wants to take over Mansfield Town made the mistake of standing with the Stags fans this weekend during their away match at Macclesfield.
You can see the video here click on the play video link on this page.
WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE

[JohnG]

Well the Stags are almost down and out of the league now and to cap it all the current owner who had previously promised to stay away from the ground was there for the game yesterday. He was attacked by fans at the end of the game and taken to hospital. Everybody who I've spoken to in Mansfield is over the moon that someone has finally given the git what he deserves as he's the one who has dragged the club into this situation and creamed money off the club for years.
I feel for the future of the club now.

[overkill]

Not looking good is it John. Bar a miracle, they are going out of the league, and, with so many problems, a ground which needs massive improvements, it looks even less healthy than Wrexham.

I just hope this puts the idiots off the club and someone with a bit of sense comes in and buys them up.

[JohnG]

Well it looks like someone might have finally stepped in to buy the club. The fans have joined forces and decided not to buy season tickets until Haslam has gone and the local sponsors are also boycotting the club until he's gone as well.
Latest article from the local newspaper:-

PAUL Holland tomorrow enters the final seven days before pre-season training with just eight players and no guarantee on his own future.
The Stags boss is in an impossible situation at Field Mill and said that the club now has to give the green light to bring players in before the weekend, whatever the state of the proposed takeover.

"Somewhere down the line a decision has to be made and it needs making this week," he said.

"I don't want to come back in for pre-season training on Wednesday with just eight players. It sends out the wrong signals to players already here and makes those very important first few days very hard.

"Ideally I would like to have an absolutely packed weekend meeting players and sorting contracts.

"My target would be bringing in at least six or seven new faces by Wednesday.

"I spoke to all the players I want to bring in again at the start of this week and they are all still very keen. I have told them I will have some news for them by the end of the week. They can't wait forever.

"All I want to do is get a good squad together so we can have a good season. If Colin Hancock does take over then I will be straight in to see him as he will have a very big say in it all.

"It would seem the deal is very, very close to being done without being finalised."

[JohnG]

Well the Stags have now been taken over by a consortium of local businessmen. Hopefully now they will be able to get a team together for the new season. They haven't even released any prices for season tickets or anything for the coming season yet !

[JohnG]

New owners, new manager on the same day.

STAGS' new boss Billy McEwan says he cannot wait to get the club 'rocking n' rolling' after several years in the doldrums.
The tough-talking Scot made his comments as he was unveiled to the media by the club's new owners - Andy Perry, Andy Saunders and Steve Middleton - at a press conference at Field Mill on Friday.

But he warned long-suffering fans that the Stags face a difficult season ahead - and in a thinly-veiled attack on former owner Keith Haslam, described the club as rundown and its facilties as 'awful'.

McEwan has had experience in the Conference after almost three years at York City - and says it is a difficult league to get out of with '10 or 12 teams' who could easily meet the demands of League football.

"It's going to be difficult, we've got no team," he told reporters. "We're starting from scratch. There's only five or six players left. The rest have gone for some reason.

"We cannot sit here and say we're going to get promotion straight away. We're actually talking about building a football club right from the bottom.

"There's hardly anything left here. I went for a walk behind the scenes and the club is rundown. The facilities are awful."

And he added: "It's a new challenge. I've got a lot of afinity for this football club. It's just sad the way it's been handled behind the scenes - but that's the past, we've got to look ahead.

"

McEwan, who had a stint at Field Mill as a player in the Division Three title-winning team in the mid-70s, said he did not intend to have an assistant, but may strengthen the coaching set up.

When asked if he would bring a number two in, he jokingly said: "What would I do?"

He also revealed that he had spoken to much-wanted star striker Mickey Boulding about his future, saying he and the club had done all they could to keep him at the club.

"I've spoken to the lad and the question I asked him was 'do you want to play for the club?'

"I want him to stay at the club - I feel I can make him better. But it's his decision. We've got to know one way or another what he wants to do."

And when asked if he would take advantage of his friendship with Sir Alex Ferguson, the new manager refused to rule out the possibility of signing Manchester United youngsters on loan.

"I've got players from Manchester United before," said McEwan. "I got Shaun Goater when he was 20 and not getting a game for Manchester United's reserves.

"I took him in at Rotherham and he went onto become a household name at Manchester City. He's a legend."

(taken from chad.co.uk)

[JohnG]

Last season's leading goalscorer Micky Boulding has left Mansfield Town, after turning down the offer of a new deal, report BBC Radio Nottingham.

The 32-year-old is said to have as many as 15 clubs interested in signing him, having bagged 25 goals for the Stags during their relegation fight.

His brother Rory has also turned down a contract offer and will leave the club, along with defender Gareth Jelleyman.

Stags manager Billy McEwan is left with just seven players on his books

[JohnG]

The Stags now have 9 players, so only 2 more and they've got a team to start the new season with