It is my opinion that we do not need a money man owning the club

What we need is a proper board of directors where the club is run by a mixture of proper local businessmen AND people with a knowledge of football. We should be self sustainable and if we were run correctly then I believe we could be.

In my opinion and my opinion only The only stumbling block to this isn't a lack of suitable people to run the club it is a lack of suitable people who are willing to pay what Patrick Cryne wants (or what it is percieved he wants) to relinquish ownership of the club and the stadium

And there lies the problem. Patrick Cryne has, intentionally or unintentionally created a situation where he is so hard to remove that nobody has actually made any real attempts to do so. In other words he has made himself indispensable. Very worrying and until that changes we are ******.

 

So you want john Dennis back basically?

 

His name never crossed my mind when I wrote that post to be honest but I would certainly approach him as being a part of the new board.

 

How old is JD now? He must be approaching 70. Would he really want all that stress at a time in life when he should be enjoying things and relaxing with his family?

 

We do not, on the other hand want to encourage "the wrong types" by selling out cheaply.
As the owner. he can put whatever price he thinks fit and at times this seems a good policy, look around at some of the candidates!
I'd much sooner have Patrick than Cellino!
He does however need good football people around him and a better "think tank" to help him in the running of this club.
He has made mistakes, no doubt about it.

 

If Mr Cryne does want to sell it's entirely up to Supporters to provide a reasonable & practical option. This is where the Trust IMHO are missing a trick - should've been developing this for years whilst times were 'good'.

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I've always thought that redfearns bar should have been raising money for just this thing to be honest

 

He is 65, possibly 64.
I wouldn't expect him to be there day to day but on the board in an advisory capacity wouldn't require that much time. How many days a year does Barry Taylor work at the club?

 

I didn't realise JD was so relatively young. To be honest I think you may well be on to something with your OP. However, having a proper board of directors doesn't require Cryne to relinquish control - theoretically there's absolutely no reason why he can't remain in charge with a board of directors in place. Whether he would want that of course is another matter entirely.

Out of interest, how many people were there making decisions at boardroom level during JD's tenure?

 

What do you reckon Liam, how much money would we need to raise to

a) buy the club from Cryne
b) put in every year to keep the club's head above water financially, assuming that we will not be self sufficient at first?

How many people generally join together in such a consortium? For instance, if we need to raise £5 million to take control of the club, that means 5,000 supporters need to chuck in a grand each. From my own point of view, I'd like to be involved in such a scheme. How much would I be willing to put in? Well, a thousand quid is about as much as I could justify. And then maybe another 500 a year to contribute towards running costs. I'm sure there are a fair few on here who could / would be willing to commit a lot more, and probably far more who couldn't / wouldn't be willing, which is absolutely fair enough.

 

I genuinely think this could be the way forward. I mean, look at Pompey, they're owned by the fans and if the season finished now - they'd be a league above us. We all know BFC isn't an attractive investment to any businessman. We aren't going to find ourselves bought by the next Abramovich and we're drifting into the abyss with Cryne at the helm... we're the only ones interested.

Thanks for saving the club, but it's time to move on from your little project.

 

Without knowing the accounts from Redfearns, I would very much doubt it would be able to contribute any significant revenue...and that's no criticism of the bar.
As to the fans owning the club, I'd love to see every club run like that but tbh it's a fantasy unless you have some individuals prepared to invest huge sums without demanding a controlling interest for themselves.

 

I've no idea John, genuinely.

There's no doubt that if it happened there'd have to be cuts to budgets but the simple fact is you'd have to spend within your means. Reliance on volunteer hours in the short term to get a grip of things, reduction in playing budgets etc etc.

But as we're told, we've got some of the highest revenues in this league so there's nothing that tells me with some qualified spending & investment there's no need for a 'sugar daddy'. I think my biggest frustration with Mr Cryne is that he's sought to cement this 'if I wasn't there there'd be no club' & it's absolute rubbish.

 

^^This.

 

completely agree with what you've just said

 

In this league I don't think we need a 'rich' owner. If we aspire to get higher in the pyramid we probably do given the finances at Championship and above level.

 

get the club fan owned

 

Swansea City have managed to do that

they seem to be doing ok. Their ground holds just under 21k too.

 

I won't toe out all the details of portsmouth' fan ownership. Google it and see for yourself.

A brief synopsis however is that a property developer bought all the land and built a tesco. 7 high net worth individuals put a heck of a lot of money in and "the fans" bought a share in a subsidiary organsation called the trust, who therefore own about 40% of the shares. hence the fans do not own or actually run the club.

 

Re: Swansea City have managed to do that

Our biggest problem isnt the cost, it's how committed will our fickle fans be. We have a poor season and fans abandon games and the team. If I looked at this from the heart I would donate to the cause, if I looked at it from my head I certainly wouldn't. The starting point would have to be a solid business plan based on a worst case scenario.

But what about a hybrid. What if a major sponsor, investor had 51% share vs 49% fan owned!