I’ve been a Belfast Giants fan since their inception. I’ll admit that I don’t follow the team as much as I used to when I was a season ticket holder there for some eight years, but I always keep tabs on their progress. During those years of going to watch the Giants there were many glorious occasions and moments of immense pride: The 2002 league championship, the 2003 trip to Lugano to watch them compete in the Continental Cup, and the 2003 playoff title among many others. But these past few weeks another incident that occurred off the ice — one that was quite unsavory from the outset with the potential to destroy the club — once again filled me with pride to be a fan of the Giants because of their reaction to it.

Sometime earlier in the season — the dates seem to be a little hazy depending on what you read — the Giants were bought over by a businessman called Christopher Knight for a sum of £145,000. He took the team off the hands of Jim Gillespie, a hero among many Giants fans for keeping the club alive during some tough financial times down the years, but who in showing his business face first this time, took the money on offer and headed for the door.

No serious background check was done and the league itself with no ‘fit and proper person’ test in place just stood by as a new owner took charge. Even from the get-go something smelt off about the whole thing, though most suspensions gathered around who this owner truly was from a business point of view. Nobody dreamed of what personal issues were about to be dug up, but when rumours began to surface that the entire playing and management staff were at odds with Knight, questions were asked.

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