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10:16am Thursday 29th July 2010 in
York City Knights executive chairman John Guildford has accused the city council of wasting taxpayers’ money over the proposed community stadium.
He also said the present plans lacked substance and would not benefit York City, the Knights or the community as a whole.
City of York Council this month voted to allocate a further £198,000 to the project, but he said “there is nothing there to agree to”.
“It’s one thing saying nice things about getting a new stadium. I’d love one,” said Mr Guildford, when asked if the Knights – who, along with City of York Athletics Club, use the Monks Cross stadium in its current form – were supporting the idea.
“But there’s no detail. That’s the problem. We’ve got nothing to agree to.
“There are no real plans, there are no drawings. The figures the council are chucking about are anything from £11 million to £32 million. Where’s this coming from?
“We are not pulling out of anything, but I’m not going to agree to something when I don't know what I’m agreeing to.
“What, exactly, have the council agreed extra funding for?
“Nobody knows, other than Monks Cross is a preferred site.”
Mr Guildford sits on the stadium project partnership group along with City chairman Jason McGill, Neil Hunter from the athletics club, and City of York Council’s city strategy chief Steve Galloway, stadium project manager Tim Atkins and city strategy director Bill Woolley.
He added: “Apparently £800,000 has been spent by the council on this – but what on? You could have built a stand with the money that's been wasted.
“The council’s objective was to come up with a stadium plan by July 2010. But all they’ve come up with are four sites, one of which is only a ‘preferred site’, and the other three they know would not work.
“No one had any money to buy land. That being the case, it ruled out the three other sites from the start as someone would have had to buy them.
“There was no option other than here (the council-owned Huntington Stadium). I don’t know what they’ve been playing at.”
JOHN GUILDFORD fears York City would not benefit from moving to Huntington Stadium – and believes council expenditure on the scheme amounts to bailing out the football club.
The York City Knights executive chairman said City were keen on the move as it would help them pay off debt, but he believed money from any sale of Bootham Crescent would be swallowed up by that debt, with nothing left for a new stadium.
The football club, however, “expect” there to be a surplus from the sale, which they would contribute, while their £2.2 million Football Foundation loan could become a grant once planning permission was achieved.
Mr Guildford said the football club was reportedly losing £400,000 a year at Bootham Crescent and said those debts would accumulate before any stadium was completed.
“Why then move to a stadium that’s smaller and further out of town,” he said. “How is that going to increase their income by £400,000 per year?
“If it’s a shared stadium, then we (the Knights) should want a similar income. So how are we going to increase income by £800,000?
“The council would probably want something if they’re putting money in. Where’s the £1.2 million profit per year going to come from?
“I don’t believe this is something that will generate that money. In that case, the football club might as well stay where they are.”
He added: “Until somebody tells me what benefits there are to the Knights, all it seems to me is the council are spending all this time and money just to get a private limited company (York City) out of trouble through state aid.
“But where were they when the rugby club was struggling? No one helped John Stabler (the then rugby club chairman) in 2002 when they were struggling.
“My interests are in the Knights and this city of ours. The football club are having a tough time, but I can’t see why they won’t have a tougher time if they come to our stadium.”
Mr Guildford also said there was no community aspect to the proposals, and said there was a danger it would end up less of a community facility than the current Huntington Stadium, which is used by the rugby club, for athletics, and by schools.
He said: “If City come, it’ll be them and us. There’s no room for it to be anything else.”
He added: “How would City coming here benefit the Knights? There’s no reason for us to want to cause more problems for ourselves.
“If somebody comes in to share your house, there are likely to be problems and, until the pitfalls or problems are ironed out, you don’t know what you’re agreeing to.”
Mr Guildford admitted the Knights would be unable to stop the scheme.
But he said: “The Knights have been moving along, paying our rent, paying our bills, living within our means and minding our own business, yet we might end up paying for that.”
York City chairman Jason McGill said: “Dependent on the sale value of Bootham Crescent, the football club would expect to have remaining equity on the ground which we would commit to the stadium project.”
YORK City chairman Jason McGill expressed surprise at John Guildford’s comments.
The Bootham Crescent chief said: “John Guildford has attended the stadium board meetings and has not expressed these opinions before.
“He has made it clear his preference was for the Knights to remain at Huntington Stadium, and what better option is there for his team and supporters than a brand new community stadium facility at Monks Cross, with new income-generating opportunities?
“It is a fact that new stadia attract increased attendances of up to 35 per cent, which would be fantastic for both sports clubs.
“I also think that John Guildford does not seem to be acknowledging the benefits of a community stadium to the city of York and the enormous advantages such a facility would have in encouraging and developing grass-roots sports in the city.
“Without a new facility I would fear the demise of professional sport in York.”
He said the football club’s financial situation was well documented, and said the city council had instructed Deloitte and Five Lines Consultancy to perform due diligence financial checks on the club.
He added: “The prospect of a new community stadium is a good news story for York.
“We are aspiring to have a sports stadium for football and rugby league that everyone can be proud of, as well as new facilities for athletics in the city.
“Surely this is much better than the two decaying stadiums we have at present, which are an embarrassment to sport in York.”
Coun Steve Galloway, the council’s city strategy chief, said he was “surprised” by Mr Guildford’s comments.
He said: “He was at a meeting of the partner organisations which took place on June 18 when a full briefing was given. Mr Guildford, at that meeting, confirmed his support for siting the community stadium at Huntington.
“At that time he seemed keen to end the uncertainty over the future of the existing stadium, and adjacent leisure facilities, when the present management contract ends in 2012.
“The council has not ‘spent £800,000’ on the project and professional officers provided a 110-page analysis of the options available prior to the council confirming its preference for the Huntington site on July 15.”
He said work would now begin on a detailed design and on the management arrangements for the new stadium, and said the rugby and football clubs would remain involved, as would the athletics interests.
He said the report made clear that external funding from other enabling developments would be needed and said he hoped the partners could work together constructively.
Comments(49)
josephheller
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10:42am Thu 29 Jul 10
Sir Alex
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10:43am Thu 29 Jul 10
AngryandFrustrated
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10:51am Thu 29 Jul 10
Taken for a Mug wrote:Another way of looking at it would be that he DOESN'T have his head in the clouds like a lot of the YCFC people and fans do and that he realises the costs/benefit ratio is not as rosy as both Mr McGill and CofYC would have us believe. They both say they are surprised at his comments but I suspect they are more p***ed off with the "whistle blowing" comments that he has made.
John Guilford has one interest in life and that's himself....
Princess Fluffy
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11:23am Thu 29 Jul 10
Monkey2
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11:24am Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning
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11:30am Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning
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11:47am Thu 29 Jul 10
Bishlad
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11:55am Thu 29 Jul 10
Princess Fluffy
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12:03pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Bishlad wrote:Galloway and co should be counting the days until they get booted out next May.
At last somebody is prepared to tell the truth about this unatainable project. Yet again a large amount of Council Tax Payers money has been spent on a project that won't happen. Another waste of cash by the lib Dems whose record is one of total disregard for our money. What a shower!!!!
AngryandFrustrated
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12:15pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning wrote:Generally, there are 2 ways of running a shared stadium. You either split all costs and profits equally (as intimated by Mr Guilford) or each party pay the running costs and claim the profit that their particular contribution has incurred/made.
Why does Guilford want an identical increase in income as the football club when the Knights attract attendances a good 2000 lower than YCFC? Some decent points about the delays, but the rest of it just looks like an ill thought through rant.
Zetkin
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12:18pm Thu 29 Jul 10
josephheller
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12:32pm Thu 29 Jul 10
yorkie1980
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1:00pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Daley Mayall
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1:23pm Thu 29 Jul 10
jcyorkie
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2:04pm Thu 29 Jul 10
AdmiralNN
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2:16pm Thu 29 Jul 10
josephheller wrote:No it wont at the moment itll be a little while yet before YCC can get that sort of planning gain. Other cities will offer much better deals to businesses.
What Mr. Guildford isn't making clear is that there is another sort of funding - one that I recommend that the Press checks out. A deal is being done to build a massive new office development on land next to the Monks Cross site. Planning permission will be dependent on providing a substantial contribution to the new stadium. It's just up to the council to play hard ball and you'll have several million from private investors. He knows this. So why's he playing dumb and talking about funding shortfalls?
sciencefan
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2:16pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning
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2:35pm Thu 29 Jul 10
billy shears
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3:12pm Thu 29 Jul 10
AngryandFrustrated
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3:17pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning wrote:Unless you are very well connected and attended the meetings, I would be very careful about making statements about whether or not Mr Guildford raised these issues at the meetings he attended. It is a fact that politicians and well connected business people up and down the country try to bury bad news or put "spin" on issues that do not suit them. For all we know, he may have raised reservations which were not initially in the public domain. What I find interesting is that neither Galloway or Mcgill have actually denied any of the comments he has made - they are just stating that they are surprised and are skirting round the issue.
This 'commenter' (sic) won't be making any apologies simply because someone who should know better rants in public, hurling a load of half truths around. Very strange that this was done via the media of the Press rather than at the meetings upon which he sits. I would also question the motivations of Mr Guildford who illogically doesn't want a new facility to replace the liability of a stadium his team now inhabit. I do wonder whether Knights fans share his ambitions for their club. Finally, when property developers start making rather strange public statements and want to deprive a city of potentially a wonderful asset, I begin to wonder whether some investigative journalism might well be called for as the poster above suggests.
Lizzie Browning
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3:31pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Princess Fluffy
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3:47pm Thu 29 Jul 10
AngryandFrustrated
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3:51pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning wrote:Read the article again - Mcgill denies Guildford has ever said those things, but Galloway hasn't. He states that Guildford gave support for the Huntington site, but as Guildford said, it was the only site that could have been chosen. Not once does Galloway state that Guildford gave his unconditional support for the scheme. Maybe it's because Galloway is painfully aware that as a politician, he IS accountable to the people of York if he is caught telling mistruths whereas as a private businessman, Mcgill isn't.
My observations about Guildford not voicing concerns at the meetings were an echo of what the Council and Jason McGill are quoted as saying - they of course were there! Or are you suggesting they are both lying? But either way its becoming a sorry fiasco. All I would hope is that all those involved have the good of the city and its sporting heritage at heart. I would also be interested to hear what Knights fans make of it all.
Taken for a Mug
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4:04pm Thu 29 Jul 10
redheadsrule
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4:28pm Thu 29 Jul 10
daveycfc655
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5:00pm Thu 29 Jul 10
daveycfc655
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5:00pm Thu 29 Jul 10
duffy
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5:18pm Thu 29 Jul 10
sciencefan wrote:Here we go again with the serial stalker of York City. You seem to spend your life looking for every City story in order to yet again have a go at the club. The fact half of what he says shows a complete lack of understanding of new builds and how clubs all over the country have moved forward with larger crowds and far better revenue streams seems to be ignored. The only thing worth reading is his comments on the disgraceful waste of money by the council who have spent a fortune and done nothing with it. This is not the fault of the football club but the council and shows without doubt that they have no real belief in the project and their words are completely hollow. They should have sorted the new ground out years ago.
Whilst the loyalty of YCFC fans is commendable, I think some apologies are now due from some of the commenters on this forum. It is clear from this story that the concerns that have been expressed many times by me and others on this forum are also held by others who are in a much stronger position to express those concerns. Whilst the Knights by their own admission cannot stop the development, they are in a position to frustrate it to such and extent that the development will be potentially untenable. Some of Mr Guildfords facts may or may not be accurate, but his assertion that Bootham Crescent may have no equity or be in negative equity against the loans secured against it mirrors concerns I raised over a week ago. If I was A YCFC supporter (which I am not) I would be looking very hard at the company management here and asking some difficult questions before it's too late.
sciencefan
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5:33pm Thu 29 Jul 10
duffy wrote:I don't believe I was whining. If anything I was admittedly gloating a little with a great big "I told you so". The die hard YCFC fans are fine to stay in their little bubble. The rest of us will have our say to the Council when the time comes.
sciencefan wrote:Here we go again with the serial stalker of York City. You seem to spend your life looking for every City story in order to yet again have a go at the club. The fact half of what he says shows a complete lack of understanding of new builds and how clubs all over the country have moved forward with larger crowds and far better revenue streams seems to be ignored. The only thing worth reading is his comments on the disgraceful waste of money by the council who have spent a fortune and done nothing with it. This is not the fault of the football club but the council and shows without doubt that they have no real belief in the project and their words are completely hollow. They should have sorted the new ground out years ago.
Whilst the loyalty of YCFC fans is commendable, I think some apologies are now due from some of the commenters on this forum. It is clear from this story that the concerns that have been expressed many times by me and others on this forum are also held by others who are in a much stronger position to express those concerns. Whilst the Knights by their own admission cannot stop the development, they are in a position to frustrate it to such and extent that the development will be potentially untenable. Some of Mr Guildfords facts may or may not be accurate, but his assertion that Bootham Crescent may have no equity or be in negative equity against the loans secured against it mirrors concerns I raised over a week ago. If I was A YCFC supporter (which I am not) I would be looking very hard at the company management here and asking some difficult questions before it's too late.
Why not start a new campaign against them and for heaven sakes get a new hobby and STOP WHINING.
duffy
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5:39pm Thu 29 Jul 10
sciencefan wrote:"Gloating" ?
duffy wrote:I don't believe I was whining. If anything I was admittedly gloating a little with a great big "I told you so". The die hard YCFC fans are fine to stay in their little bubble. The rest of us will have our say to the Council when the time comes. I work in the development industry and like Mr Guildford have some experience and knowledge in these areas. AngryandFrustrated is spot on!sciencefan wrote: Whilst the loyalty of YCFC fans is commendable, I think some apologies are now due from some of the commenters on this forum. It is clear from this story that the concerns that have been expressed many times by me and others on this forum are also held by others who are in a much stronger position to express those concerns. Whilst the Knights by their own admission cannot stop the development, they are in a position to frustrate it to such and extent that the development will be potentially untenable. Some of Mr Guildfords facts may or may not be accurate, but his assertion that Bootham Crescent may have no equity or be in negative equity against the loans secured against it mirrors concerns I raised over a week ago. If I was A YCFC supporter (which I am not) I would be looking very hard at the company management here and asking some difficult questions before it's too late.Here we go again with the serial stalker of York City. You seem to spend your life looking for every City story in order to yet again have a go at the club. The fact half of what he says shows a complete lack of understanding of new builds and how clubs all over the country have moved forward with larger crowds and far better revenue streams seems to be ignored. The only thing worth reading is his comments on the disgraceful waste of money by the council who have spent a fortune and done nothing with it. This is not the fault of the football club but the council and shows without doubt that they have no real belief in the project and their words are completely hollow. They should have sorted the new ground out years ago. Why not start a new campaign against them and for heaven sakes get a new hobby and STOP WHINING.
Taken for a Mug
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5:50pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Garrowby Turnoff
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6:07pm Thu 29 Jul 10
PKH
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7:14pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Silver
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7:40pm Thu 29 Jul 10
DarrenMiles
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7:44pm Thu 29 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning
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8:19pm Thu 29 Jul 10
sciencefan
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12:06am Fri 30 Jul 10
DarrenMiles wrote:Is that really the best you can come up with "don't feed the troll". The poet laureate's job is safe for the moment then. How am I the weirdo here? Try scrolling back up and reading the posts above. The majority of the comments on here that aren't from you or lizzie echo many if not all of the concerns Mr Guildford has raised. Leaving aside the merits of YCFC, the whole stadium idea is in a mess. This council struggle to project manage their way out of a cardboard box at the best of times. Now at the same time you want them to successfully develop a 6, 10 or 20,000 seat stadium with dubious financial backing at the same time they are developing their own new offices in West Offices. What do you think the council will be concentrating on? I had no idea that YCFC had refused to let the Knights use Bootham Crescent. When you are looking to house share with someone, don't be surprised if the deal goes sour because you told them they can't kip on your floor for the night.
sciencefan is a weirdo. Don't feed the troll.
Guildford is just upset because YCFC won't let them play at Bootham Crescent in August
Poxy minority support with 10 percent the fanbase of YCFC. Even if they do have more going on than the athletics.
Boycott the Rugby team.
Malcolm
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12:30am Fri 30 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning
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8:23am Fri 30 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning
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8:33am Fri 30 Jul 10
sciencefan
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10:37am Fri 30 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning wrote:I think you need to take a long hard look at some of your statements darling. You are the one that is ranting, accusing everyone else but yourself of having an agenda. I understand you are YCFC through and through, but that is your agenda, don't criticise others for having theirs. I check my facts. The Knights average attendance is about 1100 per game and has been for the last three years, whereas YCFC's average is about 2600. I realize you struggle with numbers, but that is not less than 25%. However the Knights attendances have been far more stable than YCFC with YCFC attendances dropping as low as 600 people in the last 2 years. Overall when looking at attendances versus the population of the city (200,000), they are all very, very minority.
Give it up Darren. Sciencefan has a personal crusade against YCFC for some undisclosed reason, he won't listen to reason, nor make any attempt to meet acknowledge others' opinions.
He isn't interested in facts, only distorting the truth. Note how even this last post tries to suggest YCFC and Knights gates are similar when the latter is less than 25% of the former.
The more balanced of us, without agendas recognise that some of what Mr Guildford said is accurate - mainly re the delays, but that a lot or the remainder, had the air of an ill considered rant. Perhaps by someone who isn't used to not getting his own way. Maybe over the Bootham Cres. refusal. Who knows, although that situation does make you wonder about pitch sharing in the future.
Lets move on however and those who are not interested in a stadium for the city, perhaps respect those of us who are. I've no interest (for example) in municipal swimming pools - haven't used one for 30yrs, but you don't see me ranting about taxpayers money being used to pay for them. Its called democracy, its called tolerance but most of all, its called respect. One can't always merely have just ones' own interests catered for.
Lizzie Browning
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11:16am Fri 30 Jul 10
sciencefan
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12:16pm Fri 30 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning wrote:608 (against Mansfield Town), Conference League Cup third round, 4 November 2008. So your wrong. Again
Out attendances have never dropped to 600 for any meaningful match! I would be surprised if there is more than the odd case of lower than 2000 for league games. The odd friendly maybe, or local/non-league cup comp, but that is about it. This is what I mean about bending the truth.
But look - wasting both our lives. You stick to your opinions and I'll do the same. And don't call me 'darling'!
Lizzie Browning
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12:42pm Fri 30 Jul 10
sciencefan
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1:04pm Fri 30 Jul 10
Lizzie Browning wrote:So what we can take from this is that YCFC fans will only turn out if they think it is interesting or worth their while. Very die hard.
The Conference League cup was a short lived tournament that fans had no interest in. It folded and no longer exists for that very reason.
This is why I said 'meaningful' matches - the Conf. Cup barely had the status of a friendly and was very poorly attended at each and every Conf. club.
Our home attendance for last season was over 2600 and one must recall that this figure will not include many away fans - in the Conference, only a small handful of teams bring more than 100. Minnows like Forest Green bring less than ten.
The Knights have averaged 814 (excluding friendlies) in 2010. So 25% isn't far out at all and a long way from the parity you intimated.
But really, where I was wrong was putting emphasis on pure attendances. The Knights, like ourselves, doubtless have their own latent historic fan base and have the ability to rise again with higher attendances. Which is why I am surprised that their chairman isn't grabbing the opportunity to have their aging ground rebuild.
Seriously - we've heard lots from YCFC fans, any Knights follows out there- what do you lot make of it all? And what about the pitch issues - could we use the same turf week in week out?
velcro
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4:40pm Fri 30 Jul 10
sciencefan
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5:14pm Fri 30 Jul 10
velcro wrote:Brilliant, love it!
science fan.
I believe i,ve got to the bottom of your problem.
You,re constipated, i believe!
Take yourself, and your opinions, half truths, and strange comments to the little boys room,
and work on them.
Darling
velcro
says...
6:33pm Fri 30 Jul 10
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Taken for a Mug says...
10:38am Thu 29 Jul 10