To be honest I'm not sure how much of a say Stephen Vaughan got on some of the "big" decisions. He did some good Commercial Deals, was a good promoter of the club and a decent guy in my opinion.
I think a lot of the work on those deals was done by Adam Benson the Chief Commercial Officer.
I only ever met Steve in passing, though he did fail to turn up for a meeting he'd insisted we had. I drove to the EPIC from Hampshire to find he wasn't going to be there after all, when a phone call or ema would have resolved it. So I'm less than convinced he was the all round good guy he has tried very hard to paint himself as.
However (as with vetoing the bid and his repayments from the bond) I think Derek did what Derek wanted to and as he owned 98% (via Moonstone I think) then who could stop him?
I don't know any of the details of the bid, but I know Derek was pouring his own money into the company until the very end.
I have been told that Derek owed money to Chris Holland and the Training Ground situation may have been part of that maybe as a settlement?
Derek? Or Wasps?
I've not met Chris Holland, but do have a business contact who has dealt with him in the past and says that he is a decent guy so unless I know any different, I'd take that at face value as being genuine.
I've met him a few times. He seemed like decent bloke. I'm very happy to assume the best until there's reason to do otherwise. But I'd be very wary of anyone trying to paint him as not having been part of the old establishment.
It's very easy to point the finger at Derek for all the issues with the club, but that’s clearly not accurate, and his main problem from what I can see is that he wasn't personally rich enough to keep bailing the club out. He's lost more money than anyone out of this.
Always a Wasp
