Barnsley gull that's the easy way out, and one expected from the present owners
You seem to be towing Carter's line. On things,
Supporters and fans have every right to express views and be critical of the owners.

I think they have been given an easy ride, they have had 10 years to promote market and make the club a positive place to be. Unfortunately it's been a stink hole for players and supporters and if big Dave hadn't feturned things would have got worse and quite possibly nasty.
Sorry but to defend and offer support to the owners in my book gives them the right to do what they want.

Are they not in negotiations to bring in a new owner?
I actually agree we need a new team in but we don’t want to go down the Glover route (although as an individual I had respect for what he did to save the club) So, the takeover is taking time that doesn’t mean it’s not happening, of course.

I judge him on the balance of everything he did and we had some amazing times as fans under the ownership of Ted & Brian
As stated, we avoided being wound up, had an amazing season ‘98’ won promotion then had another amazing season, our first in SL. We watched some scintillating Rugby League, built the hospitality block, refurbished the Cats bar then came Ted’s semi retirement and the advent of John Pearman where it all went wrong. Yes we went into administration but the net result was we were saved and remained in Superleague so we really only suffered reputational damage. I knew Ted and Brian quite well, they were Home and Away lifelong Wakefield Trinity fans and became owners of the club to save the club!

As for Michael Carter his motivation for owning the club was to protect his own investment, like that fact or not it’s the truth!
I also know Michael Carter fairly well, going right back to the 90s & naughties, he’s not the man he portrays himself to be in public, you have to have seen the real him to know that because he’s very good at putting a front on.
Under his ownership we were saved from Administration albeit for other reasons to Ted & Brian but saved nonetheless. We had an awful season after selling our best players had one maybe two decent seasons and then nothing but dross on the field and derision from the boardroom.
We’ve built a new stand, half refurbished another one, which is a big step in the right direction but some see it as a poor return on the original promise of an all singing and dancing stadium.
Ultimately we’ve been relegated to the lower division with a fan base that’s split, a coach that’s not fit for the job and a squad that will struggle to be mid table next year.

That’s my cold and calculated judgement and as I’ve said before, I don’t blame anyone for seeing it differently because you can only use your own experiences to make that judgment

So Ted probably had 8 good years (1992-2000) but the pooh then hit the fan with his pal Pearman. Lots of wheeling dealing going on behind the scenes after that.

Maybe 8 years is about the norm unless you have Stuart Hadfield about?

I don't know Carter really. Know Ted.
I don't disagree with anything you say, except maybe the protect investment part. It clearly had to be more than that as he's never tried to receive anything more from his investment. Its all just a donation in the end.

If I remember rightly though, ownership of the stadium was lost under Ted which was a big thing. Took Carter a long time and a lot of money to fix that. And the good times on the field were great but again, because we pushed that and didn't try to fix the stadium, especially the North Stand meant Carter had to invest money there so he couldn't invest in the team.
All those decisions have consequences to the next owners on the list. Same as will happen now

Apart from Matthew Ellis of course. But the current owners won’t sign off on things just yet.

If I remember rightly though, ownership of the stadium was lost under Ted which was a big thing. Took Carter a long time and a lot of money to fix that. And the good times on the field were great but again, because we pushed that and didn't try to fix the stadium, especially the North Stand meant Carter had to invest money there so he couldn't invest in the team.
All those decisions have consequences to the next owners on the list. Same as will happen now'"

1) because we needed it. No one knew how long covid would last or how it would affect us. Silly thing to blame someone for that.
2) because that's how much it cost. Again, surely you know you can't just say you want to buy it for what was paid years earlier.

As I've said, they are not perfect but they've handled things as they come, some of which were consequences of decisions made before their time.

No I'm not.
Just would like posters on here to maybe put their money in - instead of moaning about people that already have.

Well the first bit about protecting investment came straight from the horses mouth

Note of correction it didn’t take any of Carters money to buy the stadium back and likewise Carter didn’t invest any of his own money to fix the North stand. In fact, the stadium was left to rot for many years under Carter as was the pitch

Quite correct, I think a statement is required.

Also, throughout this, we've only heard one side of the story through statements, thee are two sides to every story

Ot of all our owners since we got in SL carter has put the least money into the stadium. Ted got us the Flats, Glover paid for a couple or roofs and also spent money on the pitch, Carter has put noting into it.

In all fairness, most owners of club run their own business, and successful ones at that. It also helps if that person is a supporter of the club.

How many supporters of our club are in that position, and also potentially in a position to invest large amounts.

While I do think the vast majority of us are grateful for Carter and Minards investment, and dont take it for granted. To try and increase fan base, so that were less reliant on investment, they have failed on that front.

On thing in fans favour, chairmen do come and go, true supporters invest for a lifetime

For me, theres good and bad in all.

Didnt know Ted very well, but Glover and Carter I did, and still do.

Carter did good and bad, Glover too.

The one thing I did notice though when Glovercwad in charge, and I felt this both as a spectator and employee, was that there was a feel good factor about the place. This has been drained away

Did we ever pay for them?

The suppliers wanted them returning but wouldn't pay for the cost.
What did the local business's get from that 1st CVA? 10p in the £1
Did McNamara, Goulding, Maloney and the rest of the players ever get their wages owed?

Wasn't Glovers 1st expense paying off a £600k bill to the tax man left by Ted?

Ted got us the flats,, then we found out Ted could not pay for them .The only reason they are still there is because the building company said it would cost too much to knock down .Then along came Glover left us millions in det The club was ready for folding before Carter took over.Will be a lot more happy watching Wakefield in the Championship than not having a club to watch had Carter not taken over.Sounds to me that Ted and Glover were putting money into the club they did not have .We could do that

Think lot of people forget precisely what’s happened over the years - the sainted ted Richardson sucked every penny out of the club . Wasn’t his daughter Diane a very highly paid chief exec. Didn’t bank of Ireland end up owning the ground? Guy was looking after number one. I hate where we’ve ended up but we’d have been bankrupt 8 years ago if it hadn’t been for Carter. At least when we look back Carter / minards will leave the club infrastructure better than when we started , pearman garthwaite walker Richardson Everett single one of them left us with less on there departure than we had when they started. The club lost 600 k last year so to cover this every single supporter needed to put 15oo quid in (man boy etc ) just to break even

It still baffles me to this day, why as a sound accountant and businessman he claims to be, why the following.

As a member of the board and paying in a reasonable amount, why he was happy for those mistakes to be made, such as slashed membership sales and outsourcing catering. Humble supporters on here questioned such ideas.

Why let a businessman buy the ground for £600k, then allow the same businessman sell it back to the club for about 5 times that amount

Money may have been spent on the ground but not until it was bought back. Remember his quote 'I dont spend anything on what I dont own", hes even said it on here.

Theres a lot of re-writing history going on here. Rodney Walker had a big part to play with the club not buying the ground back for £600k. Additionally the £3.2m the club paid included the superbowl site as well as the stadium.

Ted sold the ground, God knows where the money went? This meant the BOI took ownership during the administration when Glover took over.

I'm not a fan of MC, and I don't think accountants ever make good leaders. They tend to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. He did however steady the ship and its telling we've not had an off season wondering how many winding up orders the club are likely to be receiving for a while.

Never the less, the club has stagnated and declined in most aspects over the past 5 seasons, a change is needed, and has been for a while.

Glover did put money in, and a considerable amount given the fact he was only there for two and a half years, in which he got
two stands erected, while at that time we didnt own the ground, and managed to do this without any shirt sponsor money coming in for the best part of 12 months.

I also think its fair to say that throughout that time of him in charge, most of the clubs energy and emotions, stadium wise, were pinned on Newmarket

... and again, I though Walker ended up forking out for the roof over the North Stand.

He didnt

Plenty of facts and figures relating to Trinity's finances over the year's in Mike Rylance's book.

TRINITY: a history of the Wakefield Rugby League Football Club 1872-2013

Rodney Walker paid an urgent tax bill of around £150,000
Had he not done so we were the subject of an Inland Revenue winding up order

Correct, and was paid back via the RFL, though I think it was nearer the £175k mark

They reduced it from our monthly funding along with the payment to the BOI