Quote: Wadski "I've avoided commenting on the subject after the lambasting on VT about a year ago when I summed up several items that pointed towards an iceberg on their horizon.
It's not a public issue of shares, as the BoD have said that if the fans raise this money they will hand over their stake in the business to the trust, not to the investors.
What concerns me further is what these fans will get for their hard earned cash? A business that is in debt, with the Image Rights issue still hanging over the sport, and a queue of debtors wanting paying.
£500,000 isn't much help to cashflow when they have already announced that £350,000 is to the VAT man and a £162,000 'donation' was infact a loan. (Although the latter may be part of the £350k). That swallows the fund before they even start to think about other debts, staff salaries etc. Administration will follow as soon as the rest of the skeletons come out of the cupboard.
If I was asked for my advise I would suggest they wait, raise their £500k if it's possible and use it to buy the club debt free from the administrators and own 100% not 50%.'"
Who is raising the £500,000? Is it the existing company? That is what it indicates on the web page I saw. Is it the new Supporters' Trust? The one that does not exist yet? Is it the accounting or legal firm to whom the cheques are to be paid? Is it someone else?? Not seen the appliocation form they refer to, so its hard to tell.
Unless there is a lot more info somewhere, the whole thing seems extremely unclear - and dangerous IMO.
I am having serious problems seeing how this is not an invitation to the public to subscribe for shares in the limited company that is the club, to be honest. Funnily enough, the group I am working for as an interim manager at the moment is doing something similar, albeit not with this urgency - raising though about £35m. And, funnily enough, it needs a full-blown prospectus to be allowed to invite suppliers and customers etc to subscribe for shares. Even though it is structured as a co-operative.
And yes, I have difficulty disagreeing with your assessment. It looks to me that they should let the thing go, let the existing BOD take the hit, and get the ST formed ASAP as the vehicle to buy the club off the Administrators. But what do I know?
