Well, there's two sides to every story. Never let it be said that we don't put both of them...
STEPHEN VAUGHAN - HERO or VILLAIN?
HERO I never did understand all those who thought that Stephen Vaughan was bad for Barrow AFC. Now that he's gone they've all come out of the woodwork. But I didn't hear any criticism of him last May when we beat our promotion rivals, Boston United, 1-0 to clinch promotion to the Football Conference. He was a hero then. But to listen to people now, you'd think that happened on another planet. It was only seven months ago. Stephen Vaughan should have the heartfelt thanks of every Barrow fan for pulling up the club by its bootstraps when we were a mediocre, mid-table UniBond side. Before he arrived we were like Enfield, Sutton and Hyde United - perennials in the no man's land of a Conference feeder league; too good to drop any further down the pyramid but never quite good enough to get promotion. Vaughan changed all that. Or rather his money did. He's invested around three-quarters of a million pounds in getting Barrow AFC back into the highest level of English non-League football. The most visible evidence of this expenditure is the new grandstand. But that was only part, albeit the most expensive part, of the ground improvements which he initiated. Without this work Holker St would never have received approval by the Conference ground assessors. Without that, we'd be another Marine. We could win the UniBond as many times as we like but we'd never get promotion. It would be like the film Groundhog Day where the same moment is relived over and over again. We've got Stephen Vaughan to thank for making sure that we don't face that nightmare. Building a suitable ground is only half the story. The other half is building a team that can do it on the pitch. Decent players cost money, even in non-League. And to get players to come to Barrow takes a little bit more because of the amount of travelling involved. But Vaughan didn't let that put him off. He's brought ex-Football League players to Holker St who must have our opponents quaking in their boots when they see the names. I'm thinking of Steve Higgins, ex-Tranmere, Mike Marsh, ex-Liverpool, Andy Mutch, ex-Wolves, Mark Seagraves, ex-Swindon and Tony Parks, ex-Spurs. There aren't many teams in the Conference with players of that kind of pedigree. They came to Barrow because of Stephen Vaughan. It was his money and his vision of what might be that attracted them. Off the pitch, Vaughan straightened out the finances and put money into the club to make sure that the bills were paid. Although Barrow AFC rent the ground from Northern Improvements, Vaughan waived the £400 per week rent to help the club's finances. He's invested a small fortune in Barrow AFC with no hope of getting it back. We've got a lot to thank Stephen Vaughan for. I just hope that those who are now pointing the finger remember that if it weren't for him Barrow AFC wouldn't be where they are today.	VILLAIN I never did trust him. But I could never put my finger on why. I still can't, but there's no smoke without fire. After being cleared from a Customs and Excise investigation into money laundering, Stephen Vaughan is now under investigation for fraud over his recent offer to sell the shares he owns in Barrow AFC. Some fans sent in money but they never received any shares. No doubt he'll argue that it was an administrative oversight, not a deliberate deception. He may be right, given the cack-handed way the club is administered. But if you're a boxing promoter you're involved in what can best be described as activities located close to the border of what is allowed. It seems to go with the territory. Top British promoter, Frank Warren, is currently embroiled in a court case with American fixer par excellence, Don King, a convicted murderer. Warren himself was shot at by one of his ex-proteges, Terry Marsh. This is the sleazy world that Stephen Vaughan inhabits. During the money laundering investigations last year it became clear that Vaughan had business dealings with the now jailed drugs baron Curtis Warren. Is this really the sort of man we want as chairman and owner of Barrow AFC? If he is involved in anything illegal, then he'll drag the club down with him since whilst he owns the shares and the ground, effectively he is Barrow AFC. He's also led the club into a financial mess that is at least as bad as the one he inherited. Yes, he did clear some of the most pressing of the old debts, any one of which could have caused Barrow AFC to be wound up. But since we joined the Conference he seems to have had a rush of blood to the head. He's paid inflated wages and signing-on fees for the manager to bring in a collection of ex-League players who are lacking in pace, skill, match fitness and commitment. In so doing, he's ensured that we plummet to the bottom of the Conference quicker than a drowning man in a lead overcoat. He's also made sure that the wage bill of the club exceeds its income. Not a very clever thing to do. So much for his supposed business skills. He then decides to cut and run, leaving the club losing hundreds of pounds each week. Last time he resigned, at the time of the Customs and Excise investigations, he plunged the club into a financial crisis by withdrawing all financial backing overnight. One year later he's doing exactly the same thing again. If the players leave because we can't afford to pay them the wages Vaughan agreed, then we'll be certs for relegation by the end of January. Yet this is a man who expects us to believe that he's got the best interests of Barrow AFC at heart. He's got a funny way of showing it. And now it seems the club owes £200,000 even though Vaughan arranged for all the debts to be rolled up into a CVA in 1997. So how come we're so heavily in debt again so quickly? Might some of the £200k be owed to Vaughan's companies? If so, the best thing he could do is write it off and clear out. We'd be better off without him.

Issue 038 - January 1999