I just got the email notice for this meeting today (I hope they can indeed live stream it!) and I was wondering if anyone has an idea what "financial options" they are referring to? Of course, I could just wait to find out, but the tone of the email was rather serious!
Comments
My guess is this is where we find out what @marlowchair was posting dire warnings about a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.wycombewandererstrust.com/2018/08/ww-trust-general-meeting
Not had an email but here's the details
According to Private Frazer we are all doomed!
+1 for live streaming. If it's as important as the email says I hope they can make this happen - even if it's just audio.
If it’s visual I’ll demand to be pixilated.
Don't worry Micra, the email said the bar will be open.
Yeah, but I’m driving.
It’s exactly what I was referring to.
We will be told we are not able to fund and sustain a league club. We will be told we have tried our best. We will be told we have to keep selling our prized possessions like 09 to keep our heads above water.we will be told our esteemed and hard working football club directors have kept us afloat for as long as they can. We will be walked through an investment prospect to sell. I know the details of the proposal but will only see criticism and derail the topic from the salient points if I say them.
We will be told the great men who have been propping our cashflow up month to month when needed won’t keep doing it forever and so we must take the deal . Or this will at very least be inferred .
The concern with this is. Those who will tell us the club isn’t sustainable on current funding models are also the ones controlling the club strategically and operationally day to day - so it is they who have failed us to this point ( in terms of running a loss making enterprise ) who now will be selling the investment model to us.
The big concern for us as a supporter trust is that we have in my opinion a lack of objectivity.
Obviously no idea what these "options" are, but of interest may be that the Newport FC Trust members, which I understand owns the club 100% ,has just concluded that that status is unsustainable and voted for a "hybrid" ownership model where the trust retains an ownership but less than 50%.
To be honest I dont really see the point in minority interests either for the Trust if it owns less than 50% or indeed for the incoming "investor" if he owns less than 50%.
Of course none of this may be relevant at all.
I agree Dev. Minor investors generally only want to stake claim for majority holdings over time. Any proposal that is for a foreign investor to take a minority share must have the question posed “why would they “? We don’t have a land Play.
Major investor proposal is selling our club to a privateer again .....
Two options
@marlowchair: the people you sardonically describe as “....great men propping up our cash flow...” are not, to the best of my knowledge, exclusively male. At the end of that paragraph (the third) you say that what you claim we will be told, if not spelt out in terms, will be inferred. I assume you meant implied. They imply; we infer. Sadly, however, the use of infer to mean imply is becoming increasingly common.
Possibly a privateer thats been lurking in the shadows, engineering the financial situation & waiting for the chance to take control ?
My approach for what it is worth will be to listen very carefully (assuming it is streamed) to what is said with an open mind. I will unlike Marlow assume that our directors have the best interests of the club at heart unless their is strong evidence to the contrary. That of course doesn't mean you have to agree with their conclusions whatever they may be.
In advance I will have ensured that I have a clear idea of what I am seeking to achieve for the club. I think that is maintaining league status for the foreseeable future.
This must be terribly exciting for you, just 20 sleeps until DevChristmas!
I honestly admire your faith in human nature Dev, the cynic in me however thinks it highly likely its misplaced, I hope I'm wrong and you are right
Why would you feel that Roger? What evidence is there to support a contrary view?
If the Trust has had any kind of viable offer from an investor then they would need to make Trust members aware. I hope and expect that this meeting has been called to present such an offer. I would be surprised and somewhat dismayed if this meeting is being called to present the current model as unsustainable.
I take it you meant “...solely to present (?) the current model as unsustainable.” @LordMandeville.
Indeed I did.
I don’t agree with Rogers theory.the bidder ( bidders) are not involved in the club and haven’t been over the recent years.
After the fiasco of Sharky's reign, I can't see that any proposal to sell the club, however attractive on paper, will succeed in getting the necessary majority of votes. If I recall correctly this is 75%. Once bitten, twice shy.
If we are going to sustain our league status long term it's vital that we get some investment from somewhere, otherwise it's only a matter of time before we face another Torquay experience.
Going to be an interesting meeting for sure.
It will be an interesting meeting with especially interesting timing a few games in to a big League One season. Not looking forward to the next couple of weeks on here though.
Iain McNay - Cherry Red Records would be my guess regarding a potential buyer. The guy loves football and has money, so may not be a bad bed partner.
Interesting picture painted by Marlowchair regarding the esteemed club directors.
This all seems so familiar regarding the potential lack of choice and a proposal based on failing financial models and maybe leading to only one way forward in reality.
Haven’t we been here before?
So @marlowchair i get the feeling that you dont like the secret plans or management of the club or the identity if those planning to take over. What is your favoured course of action moving forwards?
...
Can I ask what you've read (other than speculation here) that suggests a "potential lack of choice"? The notice of the meeting talked about discussion of financial "in principle" options, not some kind of take it or leave it ultimatum relating to a specific deal. It also suggested that the meeting was called to give the trust directors a feel for what members think about those options.
Why would anyone possibly want to buy Wycombe Wanderers?
I can't think of any motivation on the part of the buyer that would make me think it's a good idea
But we'll have to wait a few weeks and listen to what is said at the meeting. Should be an interesting one
First step for us all I suggest is to decide what is it that you want the club to be?
If you want the club to drive on towards the championship and beyond, then private ownership is probably the only way - but is that really realistic anyway. I would say not.
Do you see fan ownership as an aim in itself - never to be lost regardless of consequences - or is it simply a means to an end for you? For me it can only be a means to an end.
Do you believe it is essential that Wycombe remain in the football league or is conference and below football acceptable?
Do you believe that a fan owned model is sustainable in conference and conference south anyway - evidence would appear not.
Do you believe that WWFC can reasonably expect to remain in the FL into the future
under the current model - I have always been sceptical. The relative success of the last few years perhaps suggests otherwise. But is that down to the luck of having an exceptional manager and some good transfer fees?
Does fan ownership really secure the future of the club or if it means falling down the leagues is it in fact more likely to result in a Torquay style meltdown and increased possibility of extinction.
It will be interesting to hear the views of our elected representatives, with a far greater understanding of the true finances than we will ever have as to what they see as the realistic options and likely consequences of those options - good and bad.
But the Torquay-style meltdown happened under private ownership, right? So there are very real risks associated with that path as well.
Which brings us back really to @eric_plant's question above. We can only really judge a potential investor when we understand their motivations. For example, a wealthy fan who wants to run the club in a sustainable way and give something back to the town (basically what we have now with a bit more capital investment), would be a much more agreeable proposition for me than another Steve Hayes with a 5 year plan to take us to the Championship.
Tasty food for thought there @DevC .
I’ve come round gradually to the conclusion that fan ownership, much as I love it (and contribute significant amounts towards), could be imperilled by several factors, including discontinuation of the tax rebate component of the community share scheme after this year, indications that fans are less inclined to chip in to one-off fund raising schemes like the initially successful 500 Club. There could be further income from player sales but that is by no means a given. (Two seasons ago, I genuinely thought Kashket would be worth a million by,sadly, that wasn’t to be.)
Outgoings are no doubt increasing year by year (eg expensive stadium care and maintenance, including, I believe, renovation of the Frank Adams stand roof ) and of course the all-important and expensive replacement of the drinks cooler in the Woodlands!
In short, I can see why there is concern about sustainability but, equally, there is rarely a guarantee of sustainability with outside ownership.