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Home > Story Index >David Bradshaw (continued) |
| PS: The newspapers seem to be churning out an interview with Nicho on a weekly basis at the moment are you still talking to him? |
| DB: To say that he never rings me would be a lie but he is doing this off his own back. He is hurt you can’t dispute that. I think what hurts him is that when he was at Barry he had a lovely job but he can’t go back. |
| PS: Do you still keep in touch with Mike Lewis? |
| DB: Very rarely. I did negotiate with him the other day and told him he should agree for the 5p in the £. I don’t have much to do with him these days. |
| PS: Most people felt that Mike was out of his depth when he was chairman – I’m sure you are aware of fans feelings towards him? |
| DB: I’m not trying to defend him and I was as annoyed as anyone when Petty took charge. Mike should have made sure who he was selling the club to. I’m sure Doug Sharpe used to take a bond of people before he would consider a proposed purchase. Mike Lewis’ excuse was, and I’m guilty of this, when he thought the club was going under no-one would get involved in the purchase. I’m not along in being guilty on that either. |
| PS: You mentioned earlier about your sister looking to take over? |
| DB: My sister wanted to get involved in something in Swansea because of my Dad. She came over with a view to investing in the club. McClure initially wanted £4million for the club and she was going to get involved with some arab friend of hers. She felt the club was hopelessly insolvent and there was no guarantee of a new stadium because they couldn’t show her anything in writing. The guy from Dubai was going to come over but Neil (McClure) wanted him over sooner than he could make it. It basically just didn’t materialise but in defence of McClure I would say that when I had a friend down from Yorkshire with a view to buying the club he did say to him the pitfalls of buying the club. |
| PS: Were you ever offered a directorship? |
| DB: Mike Lewis offered me a directorship a couple of years back and I said I didn’t want it. I run a business that takes me all over the country and I think you have to be local based every day of the week. |
| PS: There was a story about six months ago of a Swansea fan from Russia who stated that you were threatening to turn his lights out? |
| DB: I have a little recollection of this one although I was told that it was a 51-49 situation and I was the 49. If I ever spoke to the bloke again I would apologise to him. When we used to go to the matches we’d get dropped and go to the Potters, the Garibaldi and the Harry Griffiths and sometimes we were half cut. On that occasion I will put my hands up and say that I was probably out of order. |
| PS: There was a statement on the internet a few weeks back about your association with a £7k debt on the creditors list? |
| DB: Total fiction. Because of my ‘involvement’ in the club I have always made sure that I have never had anything out of the club. Whenever I have gone out for a meal with the club I have either foot the bill or paid my own way. No-one can ever say that the club has paid my way. I was annoyed when I read that – it seemed to me that because I am not on the committee that one or two people were trying to make out that I was having something out of the club. |
| PS: What would you say to your knockers? |
| DB: To the ones that don’t really know me they can talk to anyone connected to the club they will be told that all I am doing is trying to help the club. To the one or two that are having a go at someone for their own ego or covering up their own past I find it ridiculous. Only one of my mates said I should go public with all this all the rest said that they know me and it doesn’t matter. I am Swansea as much as the next man. I am lucky as I do earn a few quid but that may not last. I don’t miss games, I go to them all. If the club ask me for anything then I will do it for them. I met with Huw Jenkins last week in the Marriott and wanted to clarify a few things. He told me that there was no problem and that he could remember me sponsoring the club and he wanted me to continue doing so. But it doesn’t encourage you when you keep getting knocked all the time. |
| PS: So would you say face to face criticism rather than on the internet? |
| DB: Definitely – if the odd person criticises me rightly then fair enough but I don’t think I deserve constant criticism. I helped as much as the next man to get rid of Tony Petty, the Evening Post will vouch for that. To the two people that had freebies off Tony Petty I think they have a bleeding cheek. I never had any freebies off him – none whatsoever. |
| I must stress this. The lads that have the club now need the backing of everybody. Instead of constantly having a pop at people on the internet they should be thinking of more ways to support the club. The tables could turn if people don’t agree with what is happening and it is a long slog ahead of them at the moment. |
| PS: If you were approached by the consortium to invest would you do so? |
| DB: I would rather do it through sponsorship. I have already spoken to a couple of people in the club today with a view of increasing what I am putting in. I don’t want to be a part owner of the club. The reason I buy my tickets every year is that no-one can accuse me of having freebies. I’m prepared to do my bit by helping with the sponsorship side. The year before Petty came the only sponsor bigger than me was the main sponsors, Stretchout. I know all the staff at the club because of my involvement – I’ve taken past and present staff to games – never charged them but people don’t seem to realise this. |
| I’ve also started sponsoring away games. I sponsored the match ball last weekend and took Wayne from Amman Travel, Phil from the Gate and my mate Dai Porter. I think this is a good thing to sponsor away games and why shouldn’t it happen? |
| If I was Neil McClure, Mike Lewis who was on £80k a year, Martin Burgess or Tony Petty who in his case screwed the club I wouldn’t mind the criticism but I’m not them all I’ve done is give. Last time I lent a car to the club, I foot the cost of insurance which was £150. No bill to the club. Don’t get me wrong, I have quietened down a bit and things used to get out of hand like with that chap but I stand up and say so. |
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