Pilley gets 13 years

Zero sympathy for Piley - this was calculated organised crime over a long period of time and from a man who’d already been imprisoned for theft. The sentence matches the gravity of the crime as far as I can see. The levels he went to in order to mislead authorities and hide his actions will have been taken into account.

This however is devastating for Fleetwood as a town. I’m not sure who could possibly come in and save BES or even just replace BES jobs with something different. Can’t see them getting a license to continue trading.

I can’t see an existing business wanting to attach themselves with the BES name or the sales staff given the judges comments on the ‘culture’. The BES offices won’t be in high demand and you’d imagine the football club will be the same.

Hundreds of jobs almost certainly will be lost, livelihoods destroyed and the towns economy further crippled.

My only hope for Fleetwood would be the Lofthouse family.
 
Tanger said:
Here's a novel idea - why don't we take the high ground and demonstrate some compassion. Think about what it means to the people caught in the tsunami which will follow. It's not banter.
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Here's a novel idea lets have some compassion for the people he ripped off like my mate the businesses and charities also.
His staff new what was going on and are complicit in the fraud and are lucky not to have their collars felt themselves,AP and three others have took the fall.
Fuck them.
 
Talk about throwing the book at him, the judge has looked at all the aspects when sentencing (high culpability, amount of money involved, victim impact, previous convictions, attempts to avoid prosecution, not guilty plea, blame placed on others, no remorse shown and all these will have gone against him, he then decided to dish out a sentence that seems excessive to say the least (7-10 years was what most legal eagles spoke about), and I can't find any previous case of fraud where the sentence handed out is at this level of jail time even considering the aggravating factors and I'm 100% certain he will be appealing the length of time he's been handed.

The impact on his businesse's is another story as the legal costs for both the criminal and the civil case will be enormous, and then you have the POCA and what amount that is set at, as we know from our own previous owners experience once an amount has been determined then the owners have to stump up the cash and AP like many wealthy people simply don't have huge amounts of cash stashed away as it's all invested in various parts of the business's they own so they have to sell their assets usually at a discounted price as buyers know there's a bargain to be had in any fire sale.

This will have a huge impact on the football club as well as the livelihood's of many employees of the different business's associated with AP, the future for all concerned is very concerning that is for sure.
 
Tanger said:
The people singing songs on this thread need to give their heads a wobble. People will lose their livelihoods here and I'd think we had a little more class about ourselves not to revel in that. What Pilley did was wrong he is now paying the price, FTFC will not survive this IMO and that's more than enough. We don't need to sing about it.
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Deserves all he gets. Look at all the people that was ripped off by his terrible greed. People that lost their small businesses and livelihoods. People probably suffered breakdowns and mental health issues because of him. Trust me I know how it feels. Disabled charities etc ripped off lowest of the low if you ask me and certainly NO sympathy from me
 
I was shocked by the sentence and have no ill will towards Fleetwood town at all, I really hope somehow they manage to keep going as a league side, but I fear for them.

However, having read what the judge has said about the defendants, it appears abundantly clear that this wasn’t any old fraud. No victimless crime, it was a large scale attack on their customers for personal gain, without a thought or care for lives ruined.

One of my former colleagues served 7 years when he was found to have robbed 2 million electronically from the bank I used to work for and that didn’t affect anyone else beyond the banks bottom line, so this is much worse.
 
hills98 said:
I was shocked by the sentence and have no ill will towards Fleetwood town at all, I really hope somehow they manage to keep going as a league side, but I fear for them.

However, having read what the judge has said about the defendants, it appears abundantly clear that this wasn’t any old fraud. No victimless crime, it was a large scale attack on their customers for personal gain, without a thought or care for lives ruined.

One of my former colleagues served 7 years when he was found to have robbed 2 million electronically from the bank I used to work for and that didn’t affect anyone else beyond the banks bottom line, so this is much worse.
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My sister's best friends boyfriend also got a 7 stretch for fraud and also this is far worse.

They sent him to the Isle of Wight let's say that relationship didn't last long.
 
TheSpiritOf53 said:
Always someone siding with the criminal. It might be non violent but with financial crime the sentence needs to be big if the money is big. How many people would do a 4 stretch if they were coming out to millions in the bank.

You also need to remember he was given a much shorter sentence for a much smaller fraud years back and that taught him nothing.

I’ll save my sympathy for his victims.
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The Great Train Robbers got more than that the sixties (and never robbed or defrauded anyone person) lenient in my opinion for what he did robbing charities etc.
 
PETER SPRUCE 1 said:
The Great Train Robbers got more than that the sixties (and never robbed or defrauded anyone person) lenient in my opinion for what he did robbing charities etc.
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So what about that poor train guard that got clubbed over the head and ended up with a permenant brain injury and sadly died just a few years later?
I’m not sure Pilley clubbed anyone over the head? 🤷‍♂️
 
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poolseasider said:
Here's a novel idea lets have some compassion for the people he ripped off like my mate the businesses and charities also.
His staff new what was going on and are complicit in the fraud and are lucky not to have their collars felt themselves,AP and three others have took the fall.
Fuck them.
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The two aren't mutually exclusive.
 
I run a charity and when we got new premises to work from we had BES on the phone trying to sell us their product. We were fortunate in that one of our volunteers had a son who worked for them and he filled us in on the working practises of the company and told not to join up with them. He told us about what went on in the offices and other various things. I feel we were very lucky not to have signed up with them and they were telling us blatant lies to get us to join them. I think of the people they have conned and I don't have any sympathy for him or BES.
 
Interesting thread and must say knew little of it ,my takeaway from this is

Pilley was a Blackpool fan
He pumped a lot of money into Fleetwood FC and the local economy
League Football in the town about as safe as that shouty leader of the Wagner group
The sentence was harsh or bob on depending on your view of fraud ( there definitely victims)
Some Blackpool supporters cosied up to him and a small minority thought he could take over our club - a lot of people are attracted to flash ,wealthy people . He would have been slightly better than the Oystons (NB that is fk all to brag about) .IMO ,brilliant swerve .
The culture at the company was poundland Wolf of Wall Street -think sycophantcy, flash cars, conning ordinary people and way too much beak

In the end he's going to do at least 7 years which will be 7 years at a stage in life when time and freedom are of much more value than money - the fella will be in shock and it'll get worse

The guys a crook no doubt but would you swap your life for his? He's fkt
 
I bleed Tangerine said:
Just read that Fleetwood are in £23m debt and are losing £53k a week. I hope they don't go bust, but that isn't viable long term without someone like Pilley taking on that debt.
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It would be interesting to know if APs companies have creditors. If they lose any license to trade it could be like a stack of dominos falling.
 
With the myriad of companies/businesses/football clubs and a large portfolio of properties connected to him imagine the contingency planning that has gone on pre-trial and then pre-sentencing. Quite a task.
 
Fylde Seasider said:
As TowerPower99 said. It should be the terrorists, murderers and paedos sentences you should be complaining about.

What sickens me is that so many people think that middle class crime is somehow not that bad. How many millions or billions are suffering hugely because of fraud worldwide? The problem is that you can never satisfy the greed of the rich and people like you are willing to give them an easy ride! 😡
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The same people will be the first to criticise benefit scroungers, the world's gone mad !!
 
Bamberholic said:
If Pilley had a previous conviction for fraud going back to 98 how under EFL rules was he allowed to become chairman?
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I suspect in the same way that Owen was able to remain owner of BFC. The ODT stuff, pathetically ineffective as it is, came later.
 
Mexboroseasider said:
As an aside have a look at the judgment linked on the new thread about Oyston’s latest court defeat.

Looks as if Pilley put in a bid for £7.5 million.
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That's interesting! It does look to me as if he bid only for the properties though (Stadium and training ground) and not the footballing assets?
 
rikanio said:
That's interesting! It does look to me as if he bid only for the properties though (Stadium and training ground) and not the footballing assets?
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Yeah. I’m beginning to wonder whether the plan was to move Fleetwood to BR and eventually rename them.

That would avoid the EFL rules about owning more than one club.

Crikey.

Edit to add - someone has just pointed out the bidder could have been Haythornthwaite.
 
Mexboroseasider said:
Yeah. I’m beginning to wonder whether the plan was to move Fleetwood to BR and eventually rename them.

That would avoid the EFL rules about owning more than one club.

Crikey.

Edit to add - someone has just pointed out the bidder could have been Haythornthwaite.
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£7.5mn it was never Haythornthwaite!

The description matches Pilley and I do recall some of his acolytes on here bigging him up as a bidder and then attempting to sabotage and undermine Mr Sadler in his early days …
 
Memphisboy said:
Feel sorry for the guy if I’m honest. At the end of the day he’s been a Pool fan for decades and even when at the Cods went to most of our big games. It’s only financial crime, you could beat someone to within an inch of their life and get a suspended sentence and he gets 13 years. Whatever your opinion of him the Fylde Coast has lost a major investor and people kicking him when he’s down need to remember that.
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Utter rubbish. Only a financial crime! What planet are you on? Destroy people's lives and businesses through coniving greedy practices. Also, what the hell has being a pool fan got to do with anything? Major investment possible because of theft. 🤡
 
PNENIL said:
Fleetwood not our rivals or a derby eh?
I doubt the Burnley owner getting 13 years would get 280 posts in less than a day. Probably struggle to reach 20.
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Spot on.👍
Same happens on here, whenever we play them.

People try to pretend the Cods are meaningless to them, but when the fixture arrives, this forum and home crowd show the complete opposite.
 
ksteve said:
I run a charity and when we got new premises to work from we had BES on the phone trying to sell us their product. We were fortunate in that one of our volunteers had a son who worked for them and he filled us in on the working practises of the company and told not to join up with them. He told us about what went on in the offices and other various things. I feel we were very lucky not to have signed up with them and they were telling us blatant lies to get us to join them. I think of the people they have conned and I don't have any sympathy for him or BES.
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Be interesting to find out why he still worked for them if he know it was dodgy... peer pressure? Desperate for work?
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Zero sympathy for Piley - this was calculated organised crime over a long period of time and from a man who’d already been imprisoned for theft. The sentence matches the gravity of the crime as far as I can see. The levels he went to in order to mislead authorities and hide his actions will have been taken into account.

This however is devastating for Fleetwood as a town. I’m not sure who could possibly come in and save BES or even just replace BES jobs with something different. Can’t see them getting a license to continue trading.

I can’t see an existing business wanting to attach themselves with the BES name or the sales staff given the judges comments on the ‘culture’. The BES offices won’t be in high demand and you’d imagine the football club will be the same.

Hundreds of jobs almost certainly will be lost, livelihoods destroyed and the towns economy further crippled.

My only hope for Fleetwood would be the Lofthouse family.
Click to expand...
If local politicians work with whoever is going to take over Fleetwood Town I see no reason why the ground's office space cannot be filled.
 
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1966_and_all_that said:
If local politicians work with whoever is going to take over Fleetwood Town I see no reason why the ground's office space cannot be filled.
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There's already empty office space in Fleetwood. The top two floors of the Health Centre on Dock Street have been up for rent and empty since it was built. There can't be that much office space behind the stand behind the goal. It's not that deep.
 
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