timmy - be honest; we have been fighting amongst ourselves for the past 24 years.

Oxford - If fans (that have the right to vote on this issue) take it upon themselves to ask questions before voting, surely that's not only their right, but the sensible thing to do. If not, what's the point of giving them the right to vote in the first place? If the person being scrutinised doesn't like the questions, that's too bad. If there's nowt to hide, there shouldn't be a prob.

Story time on the guestbook it seems

Strangely I also feel sorry for some of the "Don's Trust" board members. I sat opposite Graeme Price on the Northern Line after the MK game for half an hour or so and I whilst neither of us know each other, I got the sense that he was positive and excited about bringing whatever deal he and others had been working on, to the table.

Enshriners = Football club killers

All going on cray game on bbc2 now

Hillary, Jocelyn and Vivian all used to be men's names (and Carol still is in most of Eastern Europe). These bloody distaffs are taking over..... ;-)

Oxford Don - you have summed up the overriding sentiment brilliantly. I can't imagine why anyone would want to put up with the level of hostility from fans that owners of football clubs experience. I remember regularly being seated near Sam Hamman when a few fans were yelling at him to get his cheque book out. Who wants all of that negativity!

Trigger, give us a taste of what KS had to say.

That’s where this year’s election really could be “pivotal” as if enough enshrines get on then the club is doomed and if Proxy gets on again then the club is doomed.

Nicander, I'm not at all saying people shouldn't have asked questions but that they should have done so via the proper channels and not demanded to be personally party to confidential info.

nicander - if things get worse, those people who did the aggressive questioning are going to get blamed whwther they deserve it or not. I'd hope they now keep a low profile rather than presenting themselves as saviours, for everyone's benefit as a bunch of people fighting each other does not look attractive to investors.

Oxford - I refer you to my previous post. If that was the reason, it would never have worked. It is not possible to message-manage 5,000 people. You could put up Mother Teresa and there'd be some shocking posts on X. He was the wrong investor for a football club. I think it is reasonable for members to ask questions and seek information when they are being asked to make decisions, if they don't believe the information they've been given is sufficient. No excuse for offensive or libellous words, obviously.

Oxford - 100% no chance of that happening!

Nicander, regulatory scrutiny, like the due diligence done by our lawyers, are all done in private for good reasons. Fans don't need to know every detail, just that the right authorities and their elected representatives have checked every detail. But some of our fans wanted confidential info and idle speculation to play out in public about someone who depends on having a good reputation and prefers to be a behind the scenes person. Utter madness.

I hope the DTB publish the voting result for the deal up to this point. If there was a clear majority for the deal, it will show the self-sabotaging zealots that they have no mandate and oppose rather than support democratic fan control of key decisions.

a4e, the trouble is they need not just £87 million but enough dosh to keep investing for years to come afterwards and a willingness to do so in an industry where almost everyone makes significant losses.

A4E - that's always the danger with relying on one investor - if it changes, they take all the money

Gutting, distressing, demoralising. How have we got here? I don't think you can blame fans, honestly - should be water off a duck's back at this level of business. Whatever the reason, it is evidence to me that, whatever your views about this deal, or any deal, this one could never, ever have worked. If it was media or regulatory scrutiny, it would only have got more intense. If troubles elsewhere in his portfolio were enough to derail it, then that risk would have been ever-present. Could never have worked. We need to pull together now and hope SSF can come back with something. Because otherwise they're just four guys who don't have £90m, and we have a plentiful supply of them already.

Nothing at all to suggest this has anything to do with AI stocks losing value. One of the first two people to break the rumour on X yesterday said it was because Mir was fed up of the unreasonably negative scrutiny from some fans. Why would he risk it all if some fans brief against him and place hit pieces in the media before he's even invested when he wanted to do so as an act of philanthropy? Pulling out isn't being thin-skinned but entirely logical under the circumstances.

I agree with Oxford about spreading the risk across multiple investors might well be better - maybe John Green, Vinnie Jones, John Galt, and a couple more perhaps…?

Mark, I suspect our views will be shared by the overwhelming majority. As I saw more and more of the anti-Mir stuff online, I increasingly feared this would happen given he's someone who seemingly likes to be away from the public eye (nothing wrong with that and would have been helpful for us) and is understandably concerned about/depends upon his reputation. The SCC guys fronted the proposal and Mir wanted to be behind the scenes but a minority of fans wouldn't let him. Stupidity beyond words.

There is no evidence that 'we blew it' and it is quite possible he has withdrawn for his own reasons that have no link to people questioning the source of his wealth e.g. the AI stock tumbling. If he withdrew because Nial Couper was getting journalists to investigate him or because he couldn't handle the scrutiny, even if it was hostile at times, then the likelihood is that he has something to hide about the source of his wealth anyway

Oxford Don - you sum my feelings up completely

We have no idea why he pulled out. Maybe he sensed he wouldn't make it through the Regulator's due diligence. Maybe he lost a lot of money this week. We will probably never know, but I wouldn't assume it's due to fan scrutiny.