Questions for the board

[Aftershow]

Originally Posted By: doheochai

I would doubt, however, that MyFC would be in the least bit interested in buying the shares of the ST or any individual existing non-director. MyFC would prefer to encourage active participation by the ST and others.

Oh, how thoughtful of them

[Yorkshire Fan]

I'll just give a little info about one point you mentioned - according to their wiki (I know, I know, wiki isnt the most reliable of sources) - MyFC had 53,000 registered members at the beginning of August. (Anecdotally, they are refusing to quote an official membership number because it would weaken their negociating position)

[Red Shadow]

David

Thanks for starting this thread with the most sensible questions asked to date - needless to say the replies /comments from MyFC

members lack any sort of conviction - other than "all will be revelaed after the due diligence is complete", or words to that effect. In other words, they haven't got a clue!

 

Of course the EGM proposing acceptance will be a total "fait a complait", given that the "guardians" of the club own the vast majority and will simply bulldoze this through whether we like it or not ! And people moan about the Russians at Stamford Bridge !!

 

Forgive me if I don't share all this evangelical crap being spouted by MyFC and the rhetoritic bile issued by the Board.

 

MyFC had their moment in the sun yesterday, but that won't happen again, today the sporting media will return to the state of Wayne Rooney's left buttock and we will be left with this potentially catastrophic state of affairs which, I assure you, will render the club a laughing stock.

 

There are a number of questions I will be raising directly with Mr Botley which, unlike most of the posts in this forum, will deal with facts, figures, proceedures, business planning, structures, long term security, fit and proper person's, the CURRENT financial sate of the club etc.. the list goes on.

 

I know some of you are blinded by the £ signs, but believe me it won't be as simple as that and those who possess half a brain need to act quickly before the club is turned into a real time version of "Strictly Come Dancing."

 

 

[Slartibartfast]

Well it hardly needs to be bulldozed through does it?

 

If two individuals own 66% of the shares in the club and they as individuals decide to sell to MFC, or anyone else, they are perfectly entitled to do so.

 

 

[Alan ( GNFC )]

Good post Dave.

The misquoted figure of £35 per MyFC member includes, according to the letter I received from Mr Botley, £7.50 per member towards operating the website, that is £150,000 a year. Have you or Ed received anything like this figure for the official site? Somehow I doubt it.

 

The strangest part of the letter received is that after investing several thousand pounds on ( devalued) shares and a ten year season ticket, I am offered the chance to pay £35 and

'Get more involved with the Club'.

Mr Botley, I cried with laughter !!!

 

Having seen Dave Boyle, the national football trust fellow, on Sky last night, I would also question the point of the Fleet Trust which presumably looks after the fans interests but in this instance has rolled over and spinelessly died.

[doheochai]

Originally Posted By: Yorkshire Fan

MyFC had 53,000 registered members at the beginning of August. (Anecdotally, they are refusing to quote an official membership number because it would weaken their negociating position)

53,000 people registered initial interest in the MyFC concept. Reaching a figure of 50,000 triggered the issuing of requests for membership payment. The process of actually signing up people as paid members began on 1st August. Since then over £700,000 has been raised indicating a paid-up membership of approximately 20,000. On legal advise it was decided by the administrators to keep the actual total membership figure confidential for the purposes of negotiations. There was a significant number of new members signed up yesterday, including, it appears, existing Ebbsfleet fans.

[doheochai]

Originally Posted By: Alan ( GNFC )

Good post Dave.
The misquoted figure of £35 per MyFC member includes, according to the letter I received from Mr Botley, £7.50 per member towards operating the website, that is £150,000 a year. Have you or Ed received anything like this figure for the official site? Somehow I doubt it.

The issue of the £7.50 administraton fee has been discussed at length on the MyFC forums. The MyFC website has required a significant amount of work to day and is having additonal items added on a regular basis. There are a number of prople working full-time on the project. The two sites are not really comparable.

[Red Shadow]

They may well be "entitled" to do so, but I mantain, the lack of any consultation with true EUFC fans and investors (shareholders), still suggests this is being bulldozed through i.e.in that the views of the above were never going to be considered.

 

By dint of association with this process hardly supports the theory that MyFC supports the views of real fans. If they did then surely they should have sought a referendum of some sort before assuming ownership - after all a voting process is something they seem very keen on!

[Mackster]

There are a couple of people on here from MyFc who are doing an excellent PR job and seem very reasonable people, but they fail to answer one question every time - and it is the most important question. Why were not Gravesend fans not consulted about these plans?

 

You claim MyFc was set up to give fans a voice in the game, a force for democracy, yet Gravesend fans opened the curtains yesterday morning to find tanks on the lawn.

[Bernard]

Originally Posted By: American FLEET FAN No1

I think the Trust come out of this with no credit whatsoever!

What evidence do you have for this ludicrous statement? At what point do you think the Trust found out about this move?

[Kenny]

It's a good point, Mack, and it's one which neither I nor probably any other of the rank and file MyFC members can really answer, certainly not to your satisfaction. As a few people have mentioned though, the one constant topic on the MyFC forums since this started has been trying to work out how to not alienate the existing fans and to get them involved (clearly, the lacks of thegaffer missed this topic).

 

I honestly think that if in a couple of weeks when everyone's had a chance to properly look at the idea and consider the implications and it emerged that existing fans were overwhelmingly against the idea then there would be a real chance that it wouldn't go ahead. I know that I would vote against it, anyway; I don't want to be part of a 'hostile' takeover.

[Stu M]

Jessica quoted in The Times: "It was a complete shock. It's difficult to say whether it's good or bad until we know the business plan..."

 

 

[chris blanc]

Originally Posted By: Kenny

I honestly think that if in a couple of weeks when everyone's had a chance to properly look at the idea and consider the implications and it emerged that existing fans were overwhelmingly against the idea then there would be a real chance that it wouldn't go ahead. I know that I would vote against it, anyway; I don't want to be part of a 'hostile' takeover.

I'd be interested how many of your fellow members feel this way

[Slartibartfast]

What option would the existing fans be voting on though?

Do you want MFC to buy 51% of the club or do you want the club to fold?

I haven't a clue whether this will work or not but the first club to try it gets an awful lot of publicity and hopefully an awful lot of money, if it doesn't work there won't be a second club trying it.

I think I will cough up my £35.00 and I think My Mother -in-law and my Father are both going to get part ownership of a football club for Christmas.

The bit I, and I am sure may others, are concerned about is the influence on team selection, tactics and transfers. I can't see how that is going to work in practise but if it is going to happen then I will at least be part of it.

The bits I find most exciting are the influx of money, the possibility of attracting more supporters and the possibility of games being streamed live on the net.

I didn't choose to support this club and I don't have the option of walking away so I guess I will cough up and hope that this is a long term and succesful project.

On Monday we where looking at mid-table obscurity, falling gates and apathy from all directions.

Somebody, almost certainly a Conference team, was going to get the MFC backing, having had a night to think on it I am glad its us.

It may not work out but doing nothing wasn't going to work out either.

[doheochai]

Originally Posted By: Slartibartfast

What option would the existing fans be voting on though?
Do you want MFC to buy 51% of the club or do you want the club to fold?
I haven't a clue whether this will work or not but the first club to try it gets an awful lot of publicity and hopefully an awful lot of money, if it doesn't work there won't be a second club trying it.
I think I will cough up my £35.00 and I think My Mother -in-law and my Father are both going to get part ownership of a football club for Christmas.
The bit I, and I am sure may others, are concerned about is the influence on team selection, tactics and transfers. I can't see how that is going to work in practise but if it is going to happen then I will at least be part of it.
The bits I find most exciting are the influx of money, the possibility of attracting more supporters and the possibility of games being streamed live on the net.
I didn't choose to support this club and I don't have the option of walking away so I guess I will cough up and hope that this is a long term and succesful project.
On Monday we where looking at mid-table obscurity, falling gates and apathy from all directions.
Somebody, almost certainly a Conference team, was going to get the MFC backing, having had a night to think on it I am glad its us.
It may not work out but doing nothing wasn't going to work out either.

I sincerely hope that MyFC doesn't disappoint you.

As for the team selection, tactics and transfers - to be honest nobody knows how its going to work or even if it will. This is going to be a steep learning curve for everyone involved. The advantage of MyFC is that if we find something isn't working then we have a mechanism to change it. It is positive that Liam Daish is willing to give it a go. It won't happen for some time (I would think at least a couple of months after the sale goes through) and it will give us an opportunity to put the necessary mechanisms in place and make some trial runs with consultative votes and the like.

[Red Shadow]

I honestly don't think any manager (of repute) will put up with this. I am an (assistant) manager at non league level - ok it's only Step 6, but it still puts me in contact with guys higher up the chain and they are all of the same opinion, as was Jason Cundy on Talk Sport last night.

 

It may also lead to problems attracting players of the right calibre with so many people in charge of their destiny. Time of course will tell, however, I am not surprised Liam is quoting the official line at the moment, but with so many contacts in the game, you can bet your life he will be getting plenty of alternative advice!

 

Other than my views stated above (and elsewhere on this forum), my other fundamental issue is how much will we really net out of this. If we assume the today figure is £700,000, this nets out at £550,00 after admin costs.

 

But what is the size of the debt ? And will funding be used to service this first, if so the net monies available to Liam / the Club "could" be significantly less.

 

I appreciate the potential to grow (i.e. more members) is significant, but so is the fickleness of football fans and indifferent results won't make EUFC an attractive proposition - even at 35 quid ! And if the managment structure is distabalised, as it surely must be with 20,000 potentially picking the team! Then on field inconsitency will surely follow ?

 

Certainly, the Club has to do something and you are quite correct, there is an apathy towards it, but some of that is self created by, amongst other things, almost de franchising themselves from the Gravesham area.

 

Far better for the Club to have called an EGM, come clean about the size of the issue and seek resolution from it's supporters and shareholders - IF then, MyFC proved to be the only/ best way forward, then so be it - but I can't help believing there are better ways.

[River Don]

Originally Posted By: Alan ( GNFC )

The strangest part of the letter received is that after investing several thousand pounds on ( devalued) shares and a ten year season ticket, I am offered the chance to pay £35 and
'Get more involved with the Club'.
Mr Botley, I cried with laughter !!!

At the very, very least, should this purchase go through, MyFC should ensure season ticket holders have free access to voting procedures.

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Originally Posted By: River Don

Originally Posted By: Alan ( GNFC )

The strangest part of the letter received is that after investing several thousand pounds on ( devalued) shares and a ten year season ticket, I am offered the chance to pay £35 and
'Get more involved with the Club'.
Mr Botley, I cried with laughter !!!

At the very, very least, should this purchase go through, MyFC should ensure season ticket holders have free access to voting procedures.

Don't hold your breath! They weren't given a vote before this was announced!It appears now that even the Fleet Trust weren't consulted!

[River Don]

Originally Posted By: American FLEET FAN No1

Originally Posted By: River Don

Originally Posted By: Alan ( GNFC )

The strangest part of the letter received is that after investing several thousand pounds on ( devalued) shares and a ten year season ticket, I am offered the chance to pay £35 and
'Get more involved with the Club'.
Mr Botley, I cried with laughter !!!

At the very, very least, should this purchase go through, MyFC should ensure season ticket holders have free access to voting procedures.

Don't hold your breath!

No I won't, I'm sorry I ever considered that £35. The £7.50 is plainly way more than an administration charge, it's a profit making venture and they will want to earn as much as possible.

On the brightside though, MyFC have found a way to extract cash from it's new supporters without exploiting the club as some asset strippering owners do. They genuinely do represent a massive boost in funding for the club. I think Ebbsfleet will eventually emerge from this experiment relatively unscathed.

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Look at my "No Debt, or Bigger Debt post!"