One could paint former Notts County chairman John Armstrong-Holmes as the most disreputable man in modern football – bar Ken Bates, of course, let’s not be silly.

Armstrong-Holmes entered secret negotiations with unidentified investors last autumn. This ultimately led to Munto Finance, the Middle East consortium of still-unidentified investors, being gifted control of the League Two strugglers, and the off-beat appointment of Sven Goran-Eriksson as Director of Football.

 

He did this as the appointed board representative of the majority shareholders, the Supporters Trust but only told a select few directors, including only one of the 15-strong Trust Board, before details leaked in February.

His actions caused such public fall-outs that when Trust members were asked to vote for the takeover in June, they did so with relish.

The deal, on the newsstands because of Sven, has been gleefully portrayed by some as indicative of the failings of the Supporters Trust-model. They could not be more wrong.

Supporters Trusts have been set up at clubs to give supporters more say in their running, to make club owners more accountable and transparent and, in some cases, to actually take over ownership.

Trusts don’t work, the critics say, because their democratic structures prevent the serious investment considered necessary for progress up the Football League. Serious investors won’t invest without control.

Since a record-breaking 18 months in administration from 2001-2003, the result of previous “serious investment”, survival has been the height of Notts County’s ambitions. But now people like Armstrong-Holmes want more.

Thus has Armstrong-Holmes negotiated a deal which goes against about everything the Trust he was elected to represent stands for.

The Trust’s 60.16% shareholding has been gifted to Munto, along with a £170,000 Trust loan to the club. Yet Munto remain anonymous, had not completed due diligence at the time of the vote and have yet to pass the League’s “fit-and-proper-persons” test.

Their strategy, beyond Sven, is devoid of detail. The new Chief Executive, Peter Trembling, left previous club Everton under a cloud. Their investment promises are jargon-heavy, specific-light and shorter-term than the hype suggest.

And their first action after Eriksson’s appointment was an ugly effort to end their groundshare arrangement with Nottingham Rugby Club, which was overruled in the courts.

For Armstrong-Holmes, the ends may justify the means. But the means were betrayal of the principles of an organisation he was apparently representing. He, more than anyone, will hope Munto come good.