This thing at Garrison on Tuesday...

They've only invested 25% in FC Thun and seem quite happy with that.

 

I'd also be interested in seeing the source of that information. Not seen anything in the public domain about them being willing to sell.

 

NDA= Nice Dirty Anal

 

You don't talk about buuming club you know the first two rules.

 

But presumably not from a position where they were originally the majority shareholder?

 

No. It puzzled me at the time that they only bought a 25% share. They have majority shares in all the other clubs.

 

I think there are 2 things the 80% owners will want.

A profit on the sale of the club.
Their reputation enhanced, and at worst, not damaged (or at least the way they'll spin it).

The easiest way to attain the first is to remove the funds from the club to do so, like they did with the £750k. Whether they have to refund that, or are denied from taking anything else from the club is subject to a legal claim. There aren't enough profits to remove claim dividends, and the Crynes have a 20% stake in the HK vehicle, so it's unlikely they'd even want to channel "management charges" through asit would dilute the amount, just like they've diluted the Crynes amount with paying the £750k the ay they did.

So roll this forward...

When we go down, our income drops significantly, maybe to around half its current level. Wages drop too, but nowhere near enough to break even given we operate near a loss pre player sales anyway.

We're likely to lose a lot of season ticket holders in the summer too. It's also difficult to increase prices to try and offset losing people given the sentiment towards the owners and also the drop in league.

The obvious way to operate is sell as many high earners for as much as possible and aim to extract those proceeds, however they are lawfully able.

We could find ourselves in a position where they simply continue what they've been doing before but cut the cost base to match the new level of revenue. Free transfers, more academy players used in the first team. They could pad time and look to wait for an upturn in fortunes, a change in the football league pyramid, the production of a very talented kid sold for a significant amount... who knows what.

But if they can generate a good number of sales in the summer, so get some moderate fees for Woodrow, Helik, Andersen, Styles, Collins, Brittain, Morris, that alleviates any short term cash crisis.

Thats also going to clear a big amount off the wage budget too. You could see Palmer, Halme, Miller and Adeboyejo released as they are out of contract. Further savings on wages.

I suspect behind the scenes headcount would be amended and the constant negotiations to try and get the rent down.

The only way I can see the club being in financial peril is if the current owners took some crazy decisions that imperil it. Either for personal gain (withdrawing their equity) or just through their hubris that their model works, continuing to waste proceeds on players who are nowhere near good enough.

Or, the supporters withdraw the majority of their financial support. But I don't see us getting to hundreds of ST holders anytime soon, though that could change in 3-5 years if its a continuous torture of decline and lack of caring.

 

Haven't they recouped their initial outlay already, over the past 4 years? Initial £6million up front for a company with £5million cash reserves, player sales and promotion,ticket sales. Virtually no investment of their own, so a sale which includes the proviso of paying the outstanding amount to the Crynes,is still a small return for the investment group. It's a return but not as big as they may have hoped. That's how I have read the accounts since they took over. The problem lies with the Crynes,how much do they want to dispose of their 20%? Or are they willing to purchase the shares of the 80%? This is problem which was always going to happen with how the Crynes held on to a stake in the club. PMG and Chien Lee should have made a 100% Share purchase. The club as a business is now in a state of inertia and will be until either a forced resolution or one side takes a different position.

 

The ownership of the ground is 50% each to the Crynes and the council. I’d be very shocked if Patrick gifted the council their share given the difficulties between the 2. I will stand corrected. Cos I don’t remember the council dipping into the coffers on purchase.

 

How about paying the sale proceeds out to Topco, BFC Investments, and then introduce an intra Company secured across the club for the value of the cash extracted. That would mean that if the club were to fall in to difficulty they would be the biggest creditor, secured and have a big voice in any administration.

 

He didn’t. He wasn’t daft Patrick.

 

I do remember being at meetings when Patrick commented on the difficulties trying to get planning permission over Grove st school.
Edit
It actually says on wiki. The stadium is owned and was purchased by the council. Which blows my 50/50 thoughts out of the water. ?
Another report does say it’s 50/50 .
I believe the latter is the case.

 

I did think the route of getting money out would be to a 3rd party controlled group. But if they did that and then the company went into administration, wouldn't their be scope for proceedings for breaching director responsibilities? It would be a crazy maverick short term action.

They don't have to take their funds out immediately. There's no pressure for them to sell if the offer isn't there. They could quite easily milk what they can out over the next decade and make their return that way, making any final transaction of a few million clear profit.

I just don't see any reason why they would chose to lose their grasp on levers of control at the club.

I don't see anyone paying hugely over the odds, and I can't see them purposefully jeopardising their investment. This is going to be a slow burn I reckon.

 

I agree with most of that couple of things though the owners may want a profit on their investment but they bought the club as a championship team with a more valuable squad than the one we currently have. Next season we will be league one a poor squad and dwindling season ticket holders. No chance are they making a profit selling us. And they havent even paid the installments to buy the club i genuinely could see them cutting their losses and selling before it ends up costing them.
I cant ever see us getting to hundreds of season ticket holders unless we go down the route of a blackpool style boycott. But some still see no wrong in these owners or are sat on the fence.

 

There are only two ways we get rid of them. Somebody pays them enough to go. Or they bust the club and are no longer allowed to own the club.

If neither of those occur, they could just hold us for as long as they like and just drain a bit every year. Sell a player, take an amount out or pay the Crynes off (unless they lose the court case soon) and just keep doing that.

As has been said a few times, a business is worth what anyone is willing to pay for it and whatever the existing owners are willing to take.

 

Now I'm interested.