Entrepreneur Dies

[Addie]

I had an enjoyable encounter with Gubay many years ago. I was selling an item and he came to the house looking to buy. I hadn't a clue as to who he was. Anyway, he offered an amount for the item and I declined the offer. This went on for a while and I was getting somewhat bored so I made my excuses and said I had to be somewhere. He then asked if I knew of Celtic Bank. I replied that I did. He then announced that he owned it. So I said in that case he could well afford my price. He laughed out loud and we did the deal.

 

Max Power seemed to have the measure of him.

[ballaughbiker]

He once asked me if I wanted a cup of tea as he was ordering one for himself. I said yes and two were poured but he only paid for his.

[asitis]

I suspect as he has passed there are a number of skeletons buried not just one ! and some sighs of relief !!!!!

[ISS]

Chairman Joe thinks AG was a lovely guy here is the Liverpool Echo report.

 

Apparently work on Edge Lane is proceding apace .... I have not seen anything!

 

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/edge-lane-development-tycoon-albert-10695608

 

Then again Joe is of the same ilk though not as rich.

 

The previous Liberal administration could see AG for what he was and that is why things became bogged down. Of course socialist Joe was easily bought off!

[The Border Terrier]

I had an enjoyable encounter with Gubay many years ago. I was selling an item and he came to the house looking to buy. I hadn't a clue as to who he was. Anyway, he offered an amount for the item and I declined the offer. This went on for a while and I was getting somewhat bored so I made my excuses and said I had to be somewhere. He then asked if I knew of Celtic Bank. I replied that I did. He then announced that he owned it. So I said in that case he could well afford my price. He laughed out loud and we did the deal.

 

Max Power seemed to have the measure of him.

 

>I was selling an item and he came to the house looking to buy.

 

I thought you were going to say you were wanting to book a holiday chalet at Mount Murray, but that he came only wanting to sell.

 

Allan Bell's reputation was well and truly trashed over that business deal too.

 

Seems Albert often brought the worst out in people and then ultimately had to buy absolution - and at over £300M - it appears he got ripped over his final business deal.

 

 

TBT.

[Uhtred]

Chairman Joe thinks AG was a lovely guy here is the Liverpool Echo report.

Apparently work on Edge Lane is proceding apace .... I have not seen anything!http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/edge-lane-development-tycoon-albert-10695608

Then again Joe is of the same ilk though not as rich.

The previous Liberal administration could see AG for what he was and that is why things became bogged down. Of course socialist Joe was easily bought off!

Those in the know of course dismiss every word that passes the lips of Chairman Joe.

[thebees]

Aside from the Roly thing, the Mount Murray thing and various other things, he was a nice enough man.

[ISS]

 

Well I don't know if you can always dismiss everything that comes from Joe's lips.

 

He is eyeing up expanding the Cruise Terminal and given that the adjoining Steam Packet stage is becoming life expired some recent reports suggests he might be coveting that part of the waterfront which may have implications for the link to Douglas. Obviously the Cruise Terminal needs the packet terminal for access, but if it was replaced by an expanded cruise terminal the IoMSPCo would have to find another location.

 

Don't forget it was Joe who got away with turning a cruise call only terminal to a full turnaround terminal despite many objections and the need to pay off subsidies.

[Barrie Stevens]

My turn now!….At Mount Murray a while back now I used to clean the squash courts, showers, sauna, pool surrounds, the locker room where the golfers changed their shoes etc and some other sort of male changing room.

 

This was actually working there for a contractor.

 

Our Albert was willing to pay for only two hours cleaning per side from Noon till 2 pm so it was me for the Gents and a lady for the Ladies.

 

Well if you have been there you will know the area and just sweeping the squash courts and polishing glass is more than two hours…Anyway….

 

One of my jobs was load the soap dispensers in the showers with that “pink pearl” soap. At the same time I think guests or members got a towel with the deal.

 

I recall Gubay telling the manager lady that guests or members whatever would in future have to bring their own soap and their own towel…So that was one job less.

 

On another occasion I was given a pair of scissors and told to go round on my hands and knees on the carpet in the hotel entrance and up the stairs and clip the many strands of the hessian carpet backing that were coming through where the carpet showed wear and tear! Albert’s idea was to get a few extra years or months out of the floor covering!

 

I was ages on this job as the carpet was about done for.

 

At the same time the door handles all over were dull and unpolished and the glass almost opaque with finger marks…We were told not to clean them! More time and cost see.

 

An apocryphal tale is of a man on one AG’s building sites being called over because the sole was coming off one of his boots. Albert pulled a great wad of notes out of his pocket and the man thought that AG was going to buy him some boots. Albert Gubay took the thick elastic band holding the wad and gave it to the worker telling him to use that for now but to get new boots by the next day or no work!

 

Nothing unusual in all of this as it is often how self-made men made their money in the first place ie by hanging on to it!

[Cliff Hazard]

For a second there I thought you were going to say you once worked as Albert Gubay (obviously for a brief period in the seventies).

[Lightening McQueen]

 

Yes, a complicated man who could be very generous and also extremely tough.

 

He certainly left his mark.

 

Tell that to the Chief Minister!

 

It's easy to be very generous when you have loads of dosh.

[WTF]

I wonder if he got round to sending his manuscript for 'my private diary' to the printers??

[paswt]

I can only speak as I found him in the few times I had any dealings with Albert Gubay. If you let him take advantage he would, it seemed that as long as you were right and stood your ground he was fine. It turned out that on those three or four occasions where it could have turned nasty, he apologised and we moved on.

I think it was in his nature to challenge everything and people needed to know this before getting involved with him. We haven't had many people like that on the island but there are a lot of them around and someone will pop up sooner or later to take his place.

It's bound to happen as we are suckers to the likes of them.

Never met the man but would agree Max that some folk will by their very nature push their luck (when they are potless ) in order to get away with anything and if their opponent is weak they will 'win' so this becomes their modus operandi in life.

 

If, as a result they end up 'loaded' they will then bully those that they perceive as weak or who haven't the funds to challenge them through the courts .

 

They are similar to some members of the criminal fraternity who get their way by instilling fear or finding out the weaknesses of their opponents .......... and then exploiting them in order that they encourage/bribe them to "join the firm" .......... once "in" there is no way to back out.

[Chinahand]

If you are going to have the force of mind to create and sustain wealth as large as Gubay did via multiple business etc you are going to have a pretty unique personality.

He's clearly remembered more for those he trampled upon than the positive legacy of what he built and his generosity towards the Catholic Church will likely not help his reputation and may well hurt it further.

He did ruin people but he helped people too, not just with his philanthropy but in the careers he nurtured. My philosophy of live sees him destined for neither Pearly Gates or down there, but simply to decay.

Entropy will also reap its inevitability on his legacy, but in a thread which is dwelling by far the most on the negative aspects of this man's life, my contrarian personality wants to note Gubay achieved an awful lot starting with not much at all.

Doing that is admirable, He created a lot and many people gained a livelihood working with him, more than those ruined. His treatment of those he took against is well known and is correctly something raised whenever his legacy is mentioned, but Gubay was a more complex person than just that, as Max Power & Addie have hinted.

I don't want to downplay the negatives in Gubay's legacy, but just want to point out he was more than that - a unique business man has gone who created much, did much with his life.

There are complex lessons to be learnt from that.

[Amadeus]

 

Shame.....

 

Yes, shame on you for allowing all these disgusting comments about this man just because he's now dead. I note you didn't allow any while he was alive as you were scared of him. It's easy to be tough when the other person is dead or when you have moderator powers over them. What about his family who may be reading this thread? Have some respect. There are a whole lot of people who benefited from the philanthropy of this man, including me. Up yours @ the haters.

 

 

I am glad to hear that you never had to experience his dark side, as it is not something I would wish on anyone. While many people will attest that the man in question has undoubtedly done some charitable deeds before leaving this mortal coil, and while I did bump into him on a regular basis in the past, I still can't see myself sending flowers or singing songs of praise. Having had to sit in an office surrounded by his lawyers who shoved MF thread printouts into my face may have something to do with that.

 

Many a story circulating about him, most of which would make for great amusement I am sure, but that's all history now. History that is best fast forgotten.

 

Let's remember Roly instead.