Frankie 8,146 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 As I pointed out before, while all the criticism is valid to the core, one should still not forget that they can't create interest and investment out of nothing. If there is no interest, it's like selling sand in the desert. And due to blowing the IPO money, it is a rather dry desert in investment terms for them. The only interest that we are told of is that of King. How valid or shadowy is anyone's guess. Likewise how easy it is for the board to get it. If the institutional shareholders et al decline King's offer ... well. No-one is saying investment is an easy thing to secure. However, saying it's available 'at the push of a button' only makes things worse when clearly it is not. Dave King continues to say - via what appears to be obvious involvement with UoF - that he's prepared to invest £30m under the correct circumstances. The board should, as a priority, be looking at the best way to facilitate this. Instead, they appear to be obstructing it. As it stands, there is no other way out of this mess. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 They have failed to re-pay George Letham by the agreed date. It is only through his good nature and love for the club that it was re-negotiated until after the share offer. Yes that's true and so stated in the Offer On 23 February 2014, the Company announced that it had entered into two secured short term credit facilities for an aggregate amount of up to £1.5 million. These credit facilities are due for repayment on 1 September 2014 and the Board is in discussions with the providers in relation to their repayment, part of which will come from the proceeds of the Open Offer. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,234 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 I have been told today that the institutional investors have had enough and that this is the "final throw of the dice". This is not first hand but from a previously reliable source. If the offer is not successful it is likely that the plc will sell the football club in order to recover its debt as far as possible. This may be what Mr King or someone else is waiting for. That said I think that some of the investors are now prepared to take a loss and sell out cheaply (the share price is now down to 23.5 and falling) as they no longer see the prospect of capital gain in the foreseeable future. How will this come to pass then? In business terms, I mean. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangersitis 0 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 The immediate problem as you suggest is one of cashflow or rather the lack of cashflow particularly with only one home league game this month (and there really isn't an attractive home fixture this year) and the crisis, for that is what it is, has been caused by the "success" of the SoS/UoF/DK campaign. No matter how many times you say that, it will still be wrong. If the board of Marks & Spencer are seen by their customers to be untrustworthy and failing in their business objectives, those customers will go elsewhere. Nobody from the company would then come out and blame them for the downturn in sales. That would be seen as ludicrous and would lead to a Ratner-esque meltdown. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 As I posted last week, I'd imagine there's a combination of factors involved in why these people have not renewed. We won't know for certain because the club has made no effort to engage with those who have stopped attending. Similarly, I doubt the board resigning en masse (or indeed the manager leaving) would help matters much but a genuine recognition of their failures and some indication of willingness to implement change would perhaps be agreeable as a first step. Accepting that after nine months they can't provide investment and openly concede shareholding ground to interested parties has to be part of that. All in all, only the rebuilding of trust will bring supporters back. Under the current board and beneficial ownership, that trust is missing. Ergo, IMHO, only a staged handover to a new board and new investment will secure the club's future. That won't happen today or tomorrow but it's the only solution. Blaming the fans certainly won't help. I am not blaming fans in general, I am blaming Mr King and his lieutenants for encouraging folk not to renew. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,409 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 What can this board do to pacify the fans? Is there anyway the directors can turn both the finances and the trust of the supporters around? With the club unable to repay George Lethams loan and the stark warnings from London that the investors may not support the short sighted share issue to the level required (75% uptake or the issue will not proceed). The fact that the club couldn't convince or provide 2 potential investors to underwrite the share issue let alone see any of the controlling investors (BPH Marg and Laxey) put their hand up to do so, then what is next should the share offer fail? Mr Letham has gracefully given the club a short time to re pay his loan and I can't see this being done if as it looks, the share issue doesn't provide enough capital. Does the immediate future of our club rely on this short sighted offering? If it fails will the directors be in the unenviable position of declaring insolvency? It certainly looks like it. One thing has been missed by many board apologists since Fridays announcement, why with the finances in such a state did it take so long for the board to even attempt to seek this small investment via share sales? With the amount of accountants at our club surely one of them must have been able to see this coming sooner and not left it till the last possible minute to panic. Did they maybe want the season ticket sales to finish before setting the alarm bells as I see no reason that fans have been able to predict even with 100% st renewals that the club would not get through this calendar year without investment. I spoke to Mr Wallace as far back as February and asked him what the club would do should the season ticket sales not reach the required level and I also asked him at the same meeting why not do a share issue now if one was available. Mr Wallace at this time suggested waiting as the price would be higher later in the year. I raised an eyebrow at this claim as I would have thought the less cash in the bank would surely not increase the share price but Mr Wallace has vastly more experience than me and I wrongly took his word on this. Maybe he didn't gauge the reaction to ST renewal notices that were working their way to postboxes at this time I have no doubt that the board apologists will say " aye it's because of the low season ticket sales they need the money and it's the fans fault they can't raise the dough" REALLY? The season ticket deadline was back in April and the board have had almost four months to react to the results, my goodness that's around 120 days which seems to be the normal reaction time round our boardroom to do anything these days. My prediction and that shared by many others is, if the share option fails to reach the 75% buy in, the fans will be blamed for not buying enough ST and putting the directors in this position, then the shareholders will be blamed for not bailing them out and the outcome will be "we needed to do a deal on the training ground/ cheap deal on naming rights to get us out of trouble, we are a good shiny new board" I actually feel sympathy for a director or two at this time because not only are they struggling to keep the lights on, they have to contend with in fighting and power struggles in the boardroom which will no doubt be also hampering their efforts to do the right thing I haven't even touched the "where's the promised investment?" question which has been promised now by both sides of the boardroom split. All this drama going on while a potential investor has declared the willingness to invest £30m but can't even be giving financial information when he's been asked to underwrite a share issue. The mind boggles. Sort out your boardroom differences, cut the crap and spin and pick up the phone. It's good to talk and you did claim you're "ready to listen". Craig https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfStruth 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 How will this come to pass then? In business terms, I mean. I honestly don't know the mechanics of capitalising the football club but it may involve a separate listing. This is not my field and I don't want to speculate beyond what I've been told. A couple of others on here may be better placed to advise. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangersitis 0 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Yes that's true and so stated in the Offer The point being that they were not in a position to re-pay the loan on the due date. Had George Letham played hardball, what then? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,050 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 I honestly don't know the mechanics of capitalising the football club but it may involve a separate listing. This is not my field and I don't want to speculate beyond what I've been told. A couple of others on here may be better placed to advise. It doesn't need to be listed, it's as simple as just selling it to whoever as it's merely a subsidiary. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgacus 8 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 It doesn't need to be listed, it's as simple as just selling it to whoever as it's merely a subsidiary. You'd almost think it was designed that way! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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