Simon Lenighan

Has everything been taken into consideration here ?

Are you referring to the charges against him?

yes..........this could be a PR disaster

I am sure that the club will have taken this in to account. It is a bit concerning but from a football point of view, I think it is a great signing.

for legal reasons his case has been suspended until a future date....can you imagine the press we will get ? It will be " Harrogate Town's Simon, (not Leeds United Simon) is to appear in court on rape allegations".

Don't like this one little bit for a family club.

YEP 23rd April
YEP 24th April

Both the above refer to the case been suspended for legal reasons.....

I am very concerned about this on the reputation of our club.

the news is on the advertiser website and it mentions the court case, it will be all over the town by the weekend "town have signed an alleged rapist".
No smoke without fire and I guarantee floating supporters will turn their back on this club. If I was a potential sponsor I would not get involved. His case re starts on September 1st and we will be dragged through the mud I am sure.

For what ?

Will the other players be happy with him ? What about morale. I hear he is a "big time Charlie", I am lost for words with this news.

ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS !

unbelievable   

hi RR

are you with me with my concern ?

This news will be in the advertiser on Friday. The advertiser will have its biggest sales ever on the eve of the tour de france, its a catastrophic pr own goal.

Pub gossip will make us a laughing stock in town and from visiting fans. Negative, sarcastic and cruel jibes. Its already started with me with people I know.

If we had to sign him, why not stay quiet until after his trial restart on the 1st September ?

If he is guilty, no one needs to know. Do your time and sort yourself out.

If he is innocent, we announce it, bring him on board and all move on. Good luck to him to restart his life. I would be the first to cheer him on to play for town, innocent and playing for his hometown club. Give him support and a chance.

We have just tarnished ourselves with a situation that will gather in cheap gossip around the town and be damaging to the club I love.

This town is full of Leeds fans who will spread the word what we have signed. Why did they get rid ?

Guarantee, this is a huge PR own goal. That is a fact.

Spoke to a few fans tonight who are appalled and disgusted.

Come on Town, Why do such a schoolboy error. Why not keep it under wraps for a couple of months.

Why be associated with this in the press and social media.

It smacks as though we have no morals or class, when we do. Massively.

Well the damage is done for me. Its damage limitation now. In 3 hours I had so many calls and texts that are un repeatable.

Sorry for the post, but this is a bad day.

I'm torn on this. Innocent until proven guilty but then when you read up on the case it doesn't look good. At the very least the lad was involved in filming a drunken woman naked, making derogatory remarks about her and laughing about it. The police have the evidence to support that much. Whatever the outcome, I just don't know what the club were thinking signing this guy - why associate the club with any of this? Doesn't say much for some of the individuals involved with our club either. For all their money, the weaver's simply ain't a clue when it comes to avoiding bad PR.

thanks TS for your reply. I have had no end of calls/texts about this tonight, town fans disgusted. Rumours in this town spread like wild fire and a bit more is always glossed on. Why oh why go public ? Left messages for ged and garry just to provide feedback on the reaction I have had. I have nothing against the player or anyone, I just wanted to highlight my concern. Its hardly a secret when its on Harrogate Advertiser website and twitter mentioning the case. Google it and its appalling. This is a damage limitation now.

Have had people from Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and plenty from Starbeck loving this, revelling in it at our detriment.

Would Barry Hearn sign Tyson whilst he was under rape allegations ?

Is he cheap ?

Beggars belief.

WHAT IS GOING ON !

Must confess I didn't know about this, and it sounds like a PR disaster already. As TS says 'innocent until proven guilty', but if the case goes to court and is proven, what a diaster for the club.

Seems incredible that having spent four years (very successfully), building up a family image for the club, this should happen.

There must have been other decent players available.

I think everyone should be careful about what they say on this one due to the threat of Liable.

Now for me all I can say is that until he is found guilty I have to assume he is innocent. If innocent we have ourselves a very good player (My BPA side of the family have told me he is one of the best at this level)

Also I have to note when I have spoken to other fans yesterday I did not get the same negative reaction as Martin has spoken about at all. In fact many comments were relatively positive (including a railway fan.)


But naturally this is a risk and I would be the first to admit that if we lose this gamble it will be a massive negative.

Hi NZ

None of my comments have been targeted to the player so I have no exposure to any libel, as no one has. I just deal in the facts of what I know.

My main point is the handling of the release of information. Although on the HTFC website there was no mention of the charges, last night the Harrogate Advertiser revealed his outstanding charges.

This should have been kept quiet until after the trial.

From the comments around my workplace, as a barometer of the mood, Town have become a joke, bad PR, family club ???? Don't shoot the messenger.

No Martin the liable comment wasn't aimed at you it was aimed at the entire forum!

I agree with you about the release of the information. A statement saying something along the lines of

"The club acknowledges the charges against Simon and has to make it clear that if found guilty he will no longer play for us as we are a family club and will not tolerate such behavior. However until that date we as a footballer club are 100% behind the play in such difficult circumstances"

something along those lines would have been a better move I think we all agree.


But my main point in the first post was that people I have spoken too have not been as negative as the people you have. And perhaps the negative PR will not be as bad as we think/expect. Unless of course he is found guilty. I have to disagree about town becoming a "joke" though.

I would like to ask Mr Weaver one question (or Ged if he is reading) did we not attempt to get Nathan Turner who signed with BPA? Brother of Lewis and just as good a CM imo (without the controversy) He surely was interested to sign with his brother as he always has???

Yeah I am struggling with this one, we have signed someone with charges of rape outstanding and another guy who has served time for assault but we want to be known as a family club.

Lenighan could be a fantastic signing long term if the charges are dropped, but once he clears his name he will probably have other clubs sniffing around him anyway. I do think we should have done this on the quiet, register him to play but don't play him until after the trial.

I am not overly negative myself but can easily see how people would be in this town and it may put off families coming down to the cng too. I certainly dont think he should play any part until the trial, we don't want to get some kind of system going only for him to be removed from it.

Can't imagine local schools will be queuing up to have these players getting involved in educational projects. Sponsors don't need to wait until the trial - it's simply not worth the negative press even if the guy is innocenr. Would be interested to get the reaction of the other players too.

The issue here surely is why take the risk? The trial, I believe, re-starts on September 1st. Why not wait until the verdict is in. If we lose him to another club as a result, so be it.

It is not as though we are short of quality players already, and, presumably, there will be more trialists hoping to catch the eye (hopefully Michael Woods!), during the pre-season.

Just seems a very strange thing to do.

Lenighan has gone out on loan to Alfreton for the remainder of the season.

I suppose with the form of the current Midfield, and Nowakowski and Milligan being bench warmers, its a good move for him.

The signing of Milligan looks stranger and stranger. Presumably he was signed just before the decision was taken to go with the youngsters. That has worked out so well (so far!), there is no place for him.