Based on this we should be considered as Legacy Members. I have had no voting email, nor have I had any response to my email to the Trust requesting one. That'll be another two non-voters then.
Let me know who you are please @HomerLone (my email is [email protected]) and I will chase up with membership secretary, but I know he has been away on business lately.
Not sure if you were trying to have a sly dig @AlanCecil but I think the point here is if you haven't captured multiple known legacy members how many others are out there that haven't been given the opportunity to vote due to error?
Your message was rejected by the recipient's domain because the recipient's email address isn't listed in the domain's directory. It might be misspelled or it might not exist".
To be fair, I replied to the last email telling me I wasn’t a legacy member and got a holding response from the Trust within a few hours. Fair enough as the membership person is away right now.
I was a legacy member in 2019 and all that’s changed since then is that I now pay by subscription. I always forget what the criteria is, so thought it was correct until I read @AlanCecil ’s post from the other day.
Those who pay for their season ticket by subscription are treated exactly the same as those who pay up front, as far as the qualification for Legacy Trust Member status is concerned.
@arnos_grove I don't think I said anything different earlier but apologise if any comment may have confused a trust membership subscription with a season ticket subscription.
Hi @AlanCecil . No, that was just me wondering! I was referring to your explanation of what a legacy member was. I always thought that meant you had to have a ST when the Trust was formed - just me being a bit slow!
Anyway, all sorted now so thanks for putting me right! And thanks to Russell for sorting out my vote 👍.
The trust has also decided to gift the £100k loan to the club to help cash flow.
I can’t help but think that this kind of decision should have been put to members. I’m much less likely to donate now that any funds could just be given away to save Rob having to put his hand in his pocket.
I'm delighted to be able to tell you that the legacy members vote on the transfer of Ordinary shares from the Trust to Feliciana has passed the 75% threshold needed to succeed. Here are the actual results as of now;
Legacy Members 666 Share of vote
Agree 521 78.2%
Disagree 13 2.0%
Not voted 132 19.8%
Total 666 100%
I will today sign a resolution to be passed to WWFC/solicitors as evidence of the resolution passed by the legacy members. I will also put in hand the transfer of the requisite stock certificates of Ordinary shares from the Trust to Feliciana. This will complete the agreement signed between the Trust and Feliciana on April 29th.
Thank you to all legacy members who voted, especially those who voted in favour. The % of those in favour out of all those who voted, was 97.6%. Although we have enough members who have voted in favour to have carried the resolution, the voting portal will remain open till the end of 16th June if you woud still like to cast your vote. Use the voting email that was sent to you on 18th May. Hopefully you've still got it in your inbox or maybe even in your junk box.
You will be aware that the Trust loaned £100k of its funds to WWFC in October 22. This was to be repaid with interest on completion of the deal. We have now agreed to convert that loan into a donation to the football club. The board believes that this will be beneficial to both parties, in that it:
- aids the Club's cash flow requirements given that significant capital expenditure is required by the Club;
- benefits Trust members, and club fans in general, by assisting with meeting the costs of projects such as (i) upgrading the stadium catering kiosks, (ii) refurbishing the stadium toilets, (iii) hiring grow lights to assist with renovating the football pitch and, (iv) setting up a Sensory Room.
The cost of these projects to the Club, will be in the region of £130k and the Trust's £100k donation will contribute to these. I will keep you updated on the progress of these projects in the future.
I would like to publicly thank Russell Jones, our membership secretary. He has been responsible for handling the voting process and sorting out who the legacy members are. This has been a huge amount of work which he has undertaken in recent weeks. All this in addition to holding down a major international role in Amazon, which has meant he has been flying/working in many countries at the same time. Thank you Russell, the board and I'm sure members too are really grateful.
---
I agree it feels like the £100k being donated really should have been voted or at least consulted on with Trust memebrs?
I thought the whole point of the Couhig's wanting 90% of the club was because the Trust couldn't afford to pay 25% of repairs. But now the Trust are the ones forking out £100k of £130ks worth of renovations, or 76% of the cost?
So the Couhig's get 90% of the club, but only pay for 24% of the latest round of costs?
On the face of it, it seems that Feliciana EFL, as 90% shareholders, should be paying £117k, with the Trust contributing £13k.
However, these items requiring repair all relate to Adams Park, which is wholly owned by the Trust.
And, if you were to establish the precedent that the Trust had to chip in 10% of any expenditure, that could backfire. Suppose we had the opportunity to sign a top class player for a £200k transfer fee - would we then expect the Trust to pay £20k towards that?
I think that, given the required majority have approved this deal, we should just leave it there.
“(i) upgrading the stadium catering kiosks, (ii) refurbishing the stadium toilets, (iii) hiring grow lights to assist with renovating the football pitch and, (iv) setting up a Sensory Room… will cost in the region of £130k”
I might not be an expert, but surely common sense suggests the cost of this will be much higher?
Also, what’s the point of upgrading catering kiosks if neither the price nor the product quality is competitive with vendors outside AP (Linda’s) or in the car park of AP (the food vans). That’s almost certainly loss-making behaviour.
I agree. We should have kept this money for a rainy day. If everything goes pear shaped with Rob, it would be useful to have some funds to help sort out the mess.
How on earth can the Trust board be giving the Couhigs a £100K donation without a vote of the members? What have the Couhigs actually invested in the club? It would be interesting if we could get enough meaningful financial detail to confirm just how much the Couhigs have invested from their own pockets and how much money they have taken out of the club since taking over the club.
I would dearly like to think differently, however I fear they (the Couhigs), may have actually spent little of their own money and are very much a smoke and mirrors act.
I don’t understand how any of the Gasroom assumes the Couhigs haven’t spent any of their money on the club. Next time you go to a home game actually open your eyes. It’s not necessarily spent in areas you would hope for, but it’s delusional if you don’t think they’ve invested.
Clearly the Couhigs (via Feliciana) have spent money on both the football club & on Adams Park.
This summers major expenses are the relaying of the pitch (again) as well as the list of items mentioned in the Trust's letter.
Looking at that list; the grow lights will come in at around £30k for a modest set up, the toilet refurb is likely to be around £50k (based on what I have priced to refurb similar in my local park & given the number of loos in AP), leaving only £50k for the rest of the list so I suspect The Trust have undercooked the numbers or misunderstood what they were told
Comments
Based on this we should be considered as Legacy Members. I have had no voting email, nor have I had any response to my email to the Trust requesting one. That'll be another two non-voters then.
Bit worrying isn't it really - I'm in the same situation.
Maybe they're hoping for a No vote?
It won't be a no vote as apparently you (and others) don't exist on the Trust's database
Oh.. Good point, I hadn't thought of that. So cancelling my annual subscription(s) to the Trust would seem the sensible thing to do then.
I will chase up with the membership secretary, but like you he also has a day job to manage.
Let me know who you are please @HomerLone (my email is [email protected]) and I will chase up with membership secretary, but I know he has been away on business lately.
Is there a deadline on this vote?
Not sure if you were trying to have a sly dig @AlanCecil but I think the point here is if you haven't captured multiple known legacy members how many others are out there that haven't been given the opportunity to vote due to error?
Deadline is 16 June.
No dig intended just trying to cut some slack for a busy colleague.
Its quite a job to compare Trust memberships with Club Season ticket records.
Hi Alan, I tried to send the email to you, but received the following error message.
"LO2GBR01FT005.mail.protection.outlook.com rejected your message to the following email addresses:
[email protected]
Your message was rejected by the recipient's domain because the recipient's email address isn't listed in the domain's directory. It might be misspelled or it might not exist".
Ok try [email protected]
To be fair, I replied to the last email telling me I wasn’t a legacy member and got a holding response from the Trust within a few hours. Fair enough as the membership person is away right now.
I was a legacy member in 2019 and all that’s changed since then is that I now pay by subscription. I always forget what the criteria is, so thought it was correct until I read @AlanCecil ’s post from the other day.
So why is paying by subscription changed your status? Surely you're still a season ticket holder?
Those who pay for their season ticket by subscription are treated exactly the same as those who pay up front, as far as the qualification for Legacy Trust Member status is concerned.
@arnos_grove I don't think I said anything different earlier but apologise if any comment may have confused a trust membership subscription with a season ticket subscription.
Hi @AlanCecil . No, that was just me wondering! I was referring to your explanation of what a legacy member was. I always thought that meant you had to have a ST when the Trust was formed - just me being a bit slow!
Anyway, all sorted now so thanks for putting me right! And thanks to Russell for sorting out my vote 👍.
Well the vote has passed as follows:
Legacy Members 666 Share of vote
Agree 521 78.2%
Disagree 13 2.0%
Not voted 132 19.8%
Total 666 100%
The trust has also decided to gift the £100k loan to the club to help cash flow.
I can’t help but think that this kind of decision should have been put to members. I’m much less likely to donate now that any funds could just be given away to save Rob having to put his hand in his pocket.
Full email:
Legacy Members Vote Passed
I'm delighted to be able to tell you that the legacy members vote on the transfer of Ordinary shares from the Trust to Feliciana has passed the 75% threshold needed to succeed. Here are the actual results as of now;
Legacy Members 666 Share of vote
Agree 521 78.2%
Disagree 13 2.0%
Not voted 132 19.8%
Total 666 100%
I will today sign a resolution to be passed to WWFC/solicitors as evidence of the resolution passed by the legacy members. I will also put in hand the transfer of the requisite stock certificates of Ordinary shares from the Trust to Feliciana. This will complete the agreement signed between the Trust and Feliciana on April 29th.
Thank you to all legacy members who voted, especially those who voted in favour. The % of those in favour out of all those who voted, was 97.6%. Although we have enough members who have voted in favour to have carried the resolution, the voting portal will remain open till the end of 16th June if you woud still like to cast your vote. Use the voting email that was sent to you on 18th May. Hopefully you've still got it in your inbox or maybe even in your junk box.
You will be aware that the Trust loaned £100k of its funds to WWFC in October 22. This was to be repaid with interest on completion of the deal. We have now agreed to convert that loan into a donation to the football club. The board believes that this will be beneficial to both parties, in that it:
- aids the Club's cash flow requirements given that significant capital expenditure is required by the Club;
- benefits Trust members, and club fans in general, by assisting with meeting the costs of projects such as (i) upgrading the stadium catering kiosks, (ii) refurbishing the stadium toilets, (iii) hiring grow lights to assist with renovating the football pitch and, (iv) setting up a Sensory Room.
The cost of these projects to the Club, will be in the region of £130k and the Trust's £100k donation will contribute to these. I will keep you updated on the progress of these projects in the future.
I would like to publicly thank Russell Jones, our membership secretary. He has been responsible for handling the voting process and sorting out who the legacy members are. This has been a huge amount of work which he has undertaken in recent weeks. All this in addition to holding down a major international role in Amazon, which has meant he has been flying/working in many countries at the same time. Thank you Russell, the board and I'm sure members too are really grateful.
---
I agree it feels like the £100k being donated really should have been voted or at least consulted on with Trust memebrs?
I thought the whole point of the Couhig's wanting 90% of the club was because the Trust couldn't afford to pay 25% of repairs. But now the Trust are the ones forking out £100k of £130ks worth of renovations, or 76% of the cost?
So the Couhig's get 90% of the club, but only pay for 24% of the latest round of costs?
Feels like we're being taken for a ride.
On the face of it, it seems that Feliciana EFL, as 90% shareholders, should be paying £117k, with the Trust contributing £13k.
However, these items requiring repair all relate to Adams Park, which is wholly owned by the Trust.
And, if you were to establish the precedent that the Trust had to chip in 10% of any expenditure, that could backfire. Suppose we had the opportunity to sign a top class player for a £200k transfer fee - would we then expect the Trust to pay £20k towards that?
I think that, given the required majority have approved this deal, we should just leave it there.
@bargepole Feliciana are responsible for repairs as part of leasing the stadium.
“(i) upgrading the stadium catering kiosks, (ii) refurbishing the stadium toilets, (iii) hiring grow lights to assist with renovating the football pitch and, (iv) setting up a Sensory Room… will cost in the region of £130k”
I might not be an expert, but surely common sense suggests the cost of this will be much higher?
Also, what’s the point of upgrading catering kiosks if neither the price nor the product quality is competitive with vendors outside AP (Linda’s) or in the car park of AP (the food vans). That’s almost certainly loss-making behaviour.
I agree. We should have kept this money for a rainy day. If everything goes pear shaped with Rob, it would be useful to have some funds to help sort out the mess.
How on earth can the Trust board be giving the Couhigs a £100K donation without a vote of the members? What have the Couhigs actually invested in the club? It would be interesting if we could get enough meaningful financial detail to confirm just how much the Couhigs have invested from their own pockets and how much money they have taken out of the club since taking over the club.
I would dearly like to think differently, however I fear they (the Couhigs), may have actually spent little of their own money and are very much a smoke and mirrors act.
I don’t understand how any of the Gasroom assumes the Couhigs haven’t spent any of their money on the club. Next time you go to a home game actually open your eyes. It’s not necessarily spent in areas you would hope for, but it’s delusional if you don’t think they’ve invested.
Got Wigan and Southend fans at work. As long as the club are paying the players and their taxes...things could be worse chairlift or no.
I know someone unfortunate who is both a Wigan and Southend fan.
Clearly the Couhigs (via Feliciana) have spent money on both the football club & on Adams Park.
This summers major expenses are the relaying of the pitch (again) as well as the list of items mentioned in the Trust's letter.
Looking at that list; the grow lights will come in at around £30k for a modest set up, the toilet refurb is likely to be around £50k (based on what I have priced to refurb similar in my local park & given the number of loos in AP), leaving only £50k for the rest of the list so I suspect The Trust have undercooked the numbers or misunderstood what they were told
I can promise you the quotes given to refurb all the toilets will be considerably more than 50k, probably nearer the 130k
Given that FALL own the ground and the Trust own FALL, I’m not opposed to the Trust paying for the necessary work on the ground.
What I don’t like is the phrase ‘cash flow problems.’