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I received mine 15 minutes ago. Just read the FAQs. Doesn't say much more.
[Post edited 21 Feb 22:51]
"FAQ's". The method whereby an organisation asks the questions it wants and gives the answers it wants. That's what shareholders have received. The radio interview this evening and "FAQ's" in the shareholders e mail convince me even more there is a buyer lined up who they don't want us "pesky kids" to know about.
Openness and transparency there is none. Can understand it in a way but not happy about it.
Months ago we were told potential new investors would be introduced to Dale Trust and shareholders. Apparently the last AGM was held so late because the board hoped to be able to introduce us to a new investor, but they unfortunately weren't able to. The "pesky kids" and Lawrance scenario? Who knows. So, how come shareholders are basically being asked to give up any control in the club to allow ???? to come in and take over sans introduction? A shift in position for sure. Is self-interest the motive?
Now, shareholders are being dealt a "Hobson's Choice" no alternative set of options. Reading the resolutions, they are clearly legal vehicles to manipulate the situation in favour of new investor(s) versus the fans who nominally own the club. The narrative is liquidate or agree to a set of conditions allowing an unknown person or persons or business taking over RAFC. The resolutions are aggressively against the average shareholder, and Dale Trust.
Let's see what emerges in the next 2 weeks. Not a happy bunny.
The question that needs answering is very simple.. " if not this, then what"? The board has no more money to invest They have tried and failed to sell the club at £2.35 per share. The fans have little appetite for investing at the levels required The ground has value but the Board has been denied the opportunity to set loans against it, despite shareholder agreement. There is no money to invest in a lottery or other money making schemes. There would be little change in outgoings next season but income from the EFL is halved leaving a large hole. Clubs below Championship level that actually manage to break even are as rare as hens teeth. For most , in the current financial climate, relegation is the kiss of a lingering death.
So if there is indeed someone prepared to put £2m into the club, and the specificy of the chairmans demands points to that being a disctinct possibility, we are in no position to turn them down. Yes there needs to be some due diligence to make sure they have the funds and I guess the " fit and proper person tests" will apply. But beyond this we are in the lap of the Gods, we might manage 1 more season, we might manage another 100 seasons. The only certainty seems to be that without someone coming in with hard cash, there will be no next season. The board might be able to do some sort of equity deal to get some money back on their shares, I couldnt blame them if they did. The rest of us will lose all our " investment" but it was never really an " investment" was it? Every company needs investors, particularly small companies that dont manufacture anything, so small football clubs get pulverised by big ones, small breweries and pub chains are in deep shit, theatres, cinemas, you name it...it's struggling. How many people can there be with a couple of million quid to waste on a football club? We are at the arse end of a national football finance calamity. Rising costs, crappy overarching rules and regulations for governing bodies with unfair TV money splits and transfer rules / compensation and laughable " standards". Over-regulation by "safety" nutters, police costs, stupid levels of business and personal taxation.
If someone has £2m , take it, screw the consequences, it can hardly be worse. Lets try and have another couple of seasons and see how many others make it so far. Many will not. As Dickens' Mr Micawber often said.." something will turn up".
I received mine 15 minutes ago. Just read the FAQs. Doesn't say much more.
[Post edited 21 Feb 22:51]
Essentially it says under his two years of leadership we have gone from a fan owned club to a fan-screwed club…well done simon. Which stand would you like named after you?
If we are moving into a phase of investors getting their money back where do I sign up? Oh its just Simon getting his money back is it. The rest of us can go to the (fan) wall….for a small additional wasted investment.
Ill be voting no. Starting afresh with a community/fan owned club would be miles better than continually having a gun pointed to our heads by a retired pilot and his cabin crew.
The Price of Football Podcast with Kieran Maguire is very good explaining the situation. Worth a listen. It seems this is the last roll of the dice. There is no administration- it’s straight to liquidation. Phoenix Club and Lenny barn.
No point looking back now.
It’s the choice of taking 4 bullets in the chest and maybe die a slow death or one to the head and get it over quickly.
Essentially it says under his two years of leadership we have gone from a fan owned club to a fan-screwed club…well done simon. Which stand would you like named after you?
If we are moving into a phase of investors getting their money back where do I sign up? Oh its just Simon getting his money back is it. The rest of us can go to the (fan) wall….for a small additional wasted investment.
Ill be voting no. Starting afresh with a community/fan owned club would be miles better than continually having a gun pointed to our heads by a retired pilot and his cabin crew.
If we are starting afresh or looking to restructure the club we need to keep hold of the stadium, not hand it over to investors to do what they want with. I don't trust the Chairman or the Directors, they've treated the shareholders and fans like idiots since they bought back the MH shares.
I would vote 'Yes' just to get rid of Simon, despite it goes against my better judgement to change the articles of the club. The club debt's are not that high and we own the ground, 'Simon's' words. I suspect according to Simon we may have an investor lined up.
The Price of Football Podcast with Kieran Maguire is very good explaining the situation. Worth a listen. It seems this is the last roll of the dice. There is no administration- it’s straight to liquidation. Phoenix Club and Lenny barn.
No point looking back now.
It’s the choice of taking 4 bullets in the chest and maybe die a slow death or one to the head and get it over quickly.
Too negative that, why would we end up at Lenny Barn?
I would vote 'Yes' just to get rid of Simon, despite it goes against my better judgement to change the articles of the club. The club debt's are not that high and we own the ground, 'Simon's' words. I suspect according to Simon we may have an investor lined up.
Apologies…voted down by mistake/fatty fingers.
However he has had investors lined up before…..rogues hall of fame seems to be where he looks.
Too negative that, why would we end up at Lenny Barn?
My apologies TS…. Firgrove 😂😂
To be very serious tho, it couldn’t be any worse and the possibility of a phoenix club is as real as ever. On a more positive note, there will always be a football club representing the town. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Up the Dale!
To be very serious tho, it couldn’t be any worse and the possibility of a phoenix club is as real as ever. On a more positive note, there will always be a football club representing the town. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Up the Dale!
It's just convinced me to hold on to my money this. I certainly won't be buying any season tickets until I know what's happening with the club and who is waiting to invest. It's a proper sh*tshow.
However he has had investors lined up before…..rogues hall of fame seems to be where he looks.
Did Simon not say we had debts of around £1 million, but own the ground, which is worth £2 to 3 million, yes we are skint, but with an asset, you could get a loan. As I and others have implied Simon seemed to indicate that an investor may be close.
But Simon stance undermines the confidence of the fans and crucially the squad, which I find deplorable, he could have been a bit more discreet, but to me, it also indicates Simon desperation to rid himself of his Dale investment.
Did Simon not say we had debts of around £1 million, but own the ground, which is worth £2 to 3 million, yes we are skint, but with an asset, you could get a loan. As I and others have implied Simon seemed to indicate that an investor may be close.
But Simon stance undermines the confidence of the fans and crucially the squad, which I find deplorable, he could have been a bit more discreet, but to me, it also indicates Simon desperation to rid himself of his Dale investment.
A loan would kick the can down the road for a little bit, however we'd likely be looking at interest rates in the double digits (if not close to credit card rates to be honest) - traditional banks wouldn't touch us as we don't generate any cash flow to service debts. So you'd likely be dealing with a lender who solely had their eyes on the stadium.
If we are starting afresh or looking to restructure the club we need to keep hold of the stadium, not hand it over to investors to do what they want with. I don't trust the Chairman or the Directors, they've treated the shareholders and fans like idiots since they bought back the MH shares.
Too many stupid, naive, fools who trusted Gauge Why would a pilot from down South be interested in RAFC? It never made sense from Day 1. Human action is purposeful behaviour. So what was Gauge's motivation to get involved in RAFC Is he even interested in football? I wonder whether Gauge does have an interest in property development? Time is revealing.
Too many stupid, naive, fools who trusted Gauge Why would a pilot from down South be interested in RAFC? It never made sense from Day 1. Human action is purposeful behaviour. So what was Gauge's motivation to get involved in RAFC Is he even interested in football? I wonder whether Gauge does have an interest in property development? Time is revealing.
Now is not the time for alluding to what has really been happening. If you have proof other than circumstantial that SG got involved with the club to deliberately destroy it so he could build houses on the land then please provide it
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
Did Simon not say we had debts of around £1 million, but own the ground, which is worth £2 to 3 million, yes we are skint, but with an asset, you could get a loan. As I and others have implied Simon seemed to indicate that an investor may be close.
But Simon stance undermines the confidence of the fans and crucially the squad, which I find deplorable, he could have been a bit more discreet, but to me, it also indicates Simon desperation to rid himself of his Dale investment.
Please read previous posts/replies directly to you - a loan against the ground was sought months ago but rejected by the National League.
Too many stupid, naive, fools who trusted Gauge Why would a pilot from down South be interested in RAFC? It never made sense from Day 1. Human action is purposeful behaviour. So what was Gauge's motivation to get involved in RAFC Is he even interested in football? I wonder whether Gauge does have an interest in property development? Time is revealing.
He answers your questions here. He met a Rochdale lady. Presumably moved up here. I think he was involved in Rochdale Cricket Club for years? His kid/kids are Rochdale fans and so is he now. Certainly no property developer - just out of his depth running a Professional Football Club.
[Post edited 22 Feb 8:52]
Its a BRILLIANT goal to cap a BRILLIANT start by Rochdale - Don Goodman 26/08/10
Did Simon not say we had debts of around £1 million, but own the ground, which is worth £2 to 3 million, yes we are skint, but with an asset, you could get a loan. As I and others have implied Simon seemed to indicate that an investor may be close.
But Simon stance undermines the confidence of the fans and crucially the squad, which I find deplorable, he could have been a bit more discreet, but to me, it also indicates Simon desperation to rid himself of his Dale investment.
National League regulations have already prevented the Club taking a loan against the ground - can't be done.
It's like turkeys being asked to vote for Christmas whilst they are on the butchers block in February. Death now...or in a few months.
Such a crying shame that it has come to this. The Board came into the club on the back of the removal of Bottomley and Rawlinson, and had the support of 99% of fans. There was an absolute wave of goodwill from the wider football community.
Sadly, they have managed, through a wide variety of awful business decisions, to completely destroy that goodwill, and have now become the target of fan angst themselves. It was almost impossible for them to have done this so quickly, but; they've done it.
A series of catastrophic business decisions have brought us to this point, and sadly, the fingers are pointed firmly and squarely at those who have been in the Boardroom recently. Have these people got any business sense? It really appears not from outside looking in.
What happened to change the Boards mindset from challenging the MH share transfers as being illegal to going cap in hand to them to buy up their shares at an inflated price? Was our legal advice flawed? If it changed, did we consider legal action against our advisory team?
What happened about a former Director who I believe still posts on here telling me personally that we were taking Bottomley to Court and " guaranteed a six figure pay out "?
In fact... what happened at the court case? We haven't had an update and it will have happened by now?
Why did the Board deem it good business sense to turn down offers of assistance from many people with vast knowledge and experience in the football world? That advice and help was offered unconditionally, but it appears that it was declined outright.
Giving Stockdale the transfer budget to waste and then sacking him so quickly into the season was hopeless governance. Followed by the desperate attempts to appoint his successor only to land an out of work journeyman and then give him a 2 year deal when he would have worked almost on a week to week deal.
Why did they repay a substantial (and low interest rate) loan which took up valuable cashflow? Baffling business sense. Cashflow is king in any small business.
Who oversaw the Ethan Brierly sh*tshow transfer episode? Sending him on loan to a club under a transfer embargo, and only bringing him back when it was too late to sell him elsewhere. Genius.
I bought my few thousand pounds worth of shares not in the expectation of getting a return on it...or even ever getting anything back, but to help my football club. The same principal should apply to those who are now desperate to find a buyer. Don't put money into a football club if you might need it back in the future.
The Trust has once again been shafted here, and all of us who gave money, shook buckets and undertook all manner of fundraising projects can feel likewise hard done to. If this motion is passed, the Trust will have no voice, no power and no authority whatsoever. The Trust Director must feel like an absolute fool, and should be withdrawn from the Board today.
So, after plenty of warnings and shareholders re-submitting their email address to the club, they're still putting themselves at risk of having any vote which gets railroaded being invalidated due to non-compliance with statutory obligations?
From 02.00 minutes onwards. A must listen and about 13 minutes of Maguire asking questions.
Reveals the ground is worth £4m to £6m and a valuation is being done by the Board.
Explains that there is an identified investor and lots of other interested parties, some with online presence and some not so, but nothing is certain.
On that basis, the club should have a future.
Its an interesting listen.
Sounds to me that there is a US-based investor waiting in the wings that has dictated terms for investing and has said they will proceed should the resolutions get voted through. Surely the trust should be allowed to meet with these people prior to the egm.
And now the clubs plight has been publicised suddenly there are a number of other interested parties getting in touch. Not surprised at that as 2million quid for 90% of a club that owns their own ground now looks an attractive deal.
So, after plenty of warnings and shareholders re-submitting their email address to the club, they're still putting themselves at risk of having any vote which gets railroaded being invalidated due to non-compliance with statutory obligations?
Hmm...
It's time the gloves came off
[Post edited 22 Feb 9:30]
Just to add to that... requiring a proper fully-accounted shareholder vote will ensure the club meets its obligations to ALL shareholders
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