Business Opinion:John Nagle and colleague John Williamson are at war. And in war, propaganda is a powerful weapon. As a result one should take public statements in such situations with a pinch of salt, not least the remarks made by Nagle after winning an injunction last Friday preventing the Payzone board dismissing him, writes  John McManus

The statement managed to convey the impression that - as far as Nagle was concerned anyway - the matter was closed and he could now return to the business of running Payzone.

The reality of course is somewhat different. Nagle may have won the first round of the battle and there will be several more to come, but in the long term it's impossible to see him remaining on in charge when a majority of the shareholders, including 40.5 per cent shareholder Balderton Capital, wants him gone.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of what has happened at Payzone, if the owners of the company want the chief executive to go, then he has to go.

Payzone chairman Bob Thian might have made a complete mess of his first attempt to get rid of Nagle and Williamson, but as long as he has the support of more than 50 per cent of the shareholders he will eventually succeed. And indeed, so he should, if the concept of shareholding is to mean anything.

From this perspective it is easy then to dismiss Nagle's rhetoric as part of the elaborate process through which he and Payzone will eventually fix the price at which he will go.

But one can't completely discount the possibility that he really believes he will be able to continue to run the company against the express wishes of the majority of its shareholders. He does, after all, have something of a history of getting his own way.

The 2003 take private of Alphyra was not without controversy, with shareholders expressing concern at Nagle's dismissal as "hostile and unwelcome" a bid from First Data Corporation that topped his management buyout.

Shareholders ended up accepting an offer from Nagle that was 10 cent below the First Data Corporation offer.

Nagle's advisers are already talking about building some sort of "coalition of the willing", made up of the company's bankers and major customers, in order to try and sway influential shareholders ahead of the extraordinary general meeting that has now been called to remove him.

There are also mutterings about large shareholders operating as concert parties and all that entails.

Nagle and Williamson have taken comfort from the judgment given on Friday which they interpret as saying that the courts believe it is in the company's best interest for them to stay on. Along with Williamson he has filed a counter motion calling for Thian's removal at the egm, and again Nagle's advisers are hinting a possible compromise based around Thian's removal.

For Nagle to have any hope of success he will have to sway Balderton, who are represented by Irish partner Barry Maloney.

While they must be far from happy with the way things have turned out, they have backed Thian to date and were instrumental in brokering the merger between Nagle's Alphyra and Thian's Cardpoint last year.

The merger was in itself something of a compromise aimed at resolving the stand off between Nagle and Balderton over the future of the company and Balderton's exit.

A significant aspect of the reversal of Alphyra into Cardpoint and its reflotation was the cashing out of Balderton to the tune of €100 million and management, including Nagle, to the tune of €50 million.

That had to be shelved when the markets started to tumble late last year, although the flotation went ahead.

It is tempting to think that once their pay day went out the window, the various parties to the merger started to look a bit more seriously at who would actually be running the new company and what it might do, leading to the current power struggle.

With hindsight, the current turn of events could have been easily anticipated given the track record of both parties. Nagle is clearly used to getting his own way and not too worried about rubbing people up the wrong way.

Thian is equally clearly an angular character, having worked his way through four chief executives since 2002 at Whatman, the UK laboratory equipment company he chairs.

There is something of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object about it all and no doubt the next few weeks will be entertaining.

As a spectacle the events at Payzone score highly, but as a way for a public company to conduct its affairs, it's nothing short of a disgrace. Good job the shares are suspended.