I posted this on the Grim Outlook and someone suggested it should get a wider audience. So here it is, slightly edited because I know you Fishy lot are sensitive/scared of Fenty objecting to a fans and shareholders opinion, for you to consider...I know this whole issue has been touched upon in another post but I felt this statement and the issue in general deserves to be taken apart on its own thread.
And here it is in all it's glory...
Quoted Text
The Share Issue
TO set the scene I would just like to repeat that the current share apportionment is not one of my making. And it is not likely to be appealing/ healthy to any would be investors when they could be removed from the board within 21 days.
There are two single blocks of shares alone that combined can remove any board member from the GTFC board within 21 days.
My standing down as chairman was to enable other potential interest in our club to come forward, and if I that resulted in my removal from the board, I would not at any time put the club under pressure to repay my loans whatsoever - unless they were affordable. And in football you never know what is around the corner.
Centered around this throughout, I have maintained that I am not turning my back on the club, but just giving others the potential to take on the club or join the board of GTFC.
The fact of the matter is that the club technically run out of funds as originally projected last December when I pledged another £150k this season alone into the club which would see us through to January. Previous to this I had said publicly that I wouldn't pledge further funds until control returned to the board room.
My change of mind came about when the Mariners Trust Board made serious efforts to deal with this concern.
A few points.
As I remember it Parker and Fenty agree to invest another £500,000 each to cover the latter part of 2010-11 and the 2011-12 season. Parker did this (despite having left the board in the mean time) by doubling his shareholding. He subsequently gifted these £500,000 of shares to the Supporter's Trust.
When all this rubbish kicked off earlier in the season it was stated by Parker (and confirmed on the company accounts) that Fenty had so far put in £150,000 of his promised £500,000. He did this by way of a £75,000 loan and by purchasing a further £75,000 of shares.
From this it seems that the £150,000 he so generously put in to see us through to January was actually money he had already pledged nearly a year previously.
Which leaves £200,000 left of his pledged £500,000 (to match Parker). Which funnily enough is what he is promising to invest if the Mariners Trust donate just under 40% of their shareholdings to our multi-millionaire former Chairman.
Now, it's bad enough that Fenty is holding a gun to the Mariners Trust board and hoping their inexperience will see them capitulate. But the fact that he is doing it over money he has previously promised makes his actions seem even more suspicious.
And he keeps mentioning this mythical "control returned to the boardroom" rubbish with every official statement he subjects us to.
Load of rubbish. When have the board of directors ever accounted for 50% of the shares in GTFC? Here's a run down from the end of year accounts stretching back to 2001. All figures are for May 31st of the year in question...
2001: 46.1%
2002: 44.7%
2003: 46.7%
2004: 34.2%
2005: 18.5%
2006: 42.2%
2007: 42.1%
2008: 42.0%
2009: 42.0%
2010: 42.1%
2011: 39.9%
And currently with in the region of £1.85 million of shares issued Fenty, Elsom and Chapman have 32.4% of the shares between them.
Now, if you add into the equation the £200,000 of shares that the Mariners Trust have given voting power to Fenty for the board room actually has 43.1% of votes.
So, actually the board has more direct control over the club (in terms of shareholder voting rights) than at anytime since 2003.
And these 2 single blocks of shares that leave all board members looking over their shoulders...
Well Parker has £500,000 of shares and the Mariners' Trust have approx £522,000. This equates to 55% of shares and therefore votes.
But wait a minute, the Trust have already given £200,000 of voting rights to Fenty haven't they? So actually Parker and the trust have £822,000 worth of shares to physically vote with between them. Which is only 44% of votes and not enough to force out any board member.
And anyhow are the Mariners Trust really going to try and force a director out? Of course they aren't. It's just an excuse for Fenty to water down Parker stake in the club, and pay half the market price for doing so. And he would get the Mariners Trust's power reduced as the cherry on the cake.
Here's how the shares would lie if Fenty gets his way...
Fenty 975,000
Elsom 25,500
Chapam 500
BOARD 1,001,000 (48.7%)Trust 322,000
Parker 500,000
A.N.Other 234,000
NON-BOARD 1,056,000 (51.3%)The board still wouldn't own the magical 50% of the shares in the club. Maybe Fenty could achieve that by asking for another load of shares from the Mariners Trust this time next year?
I just hope the Trust members tell Fenty where to go.
Quoted Text
And here's the rest of his drivel for anyone with a couple of hours spare...
I have not played hard ball with the MT one bit, or held them to ransom as some are suggesting. I see them as passionate fans of the club with common objectives to myself.
Nevertheless their new found Shareholding in the club, in my opinion, would put off any potential further investment because it is too high at 27 / 28 percent.
Not one person in football who has shown interest in the club's current position thinks it is healthy. Nor do I know anyone who'd make funds available to any football club under the current circumstances.
Let's face it, if I was playing hard ball I would have let the club run out of money and have forced the situation.
My position has always been one of wider ownership. To cement this fact I used my shareholding in the past, which cost me considerably more than par value at (£2.50 each), to remove a block on shares being available to others. I could have also changed the cost of new shares to £2.50, irrespective of how much mine cost me, I left them at an affordable £1.00.
I own by far the most expensive block of shares in the club and at that time could so easily have taken total ownership, a position I have never wanted.
Most Trusts hold considerably less than 10 percent of the clubs they represent. Should the MT proposal find favour with its members and be ratified, it will retain approximately 14 percent of the shares in GTFC. This sum will enable the Trust to call an EGM and call for a poll vote at meetings.
There are an odd few who repeatedly question my motives and spin all sorts of rubbish about me and make preposterous scenarios/suggestions.
If there were no investment forthcoming ultimately the shares in GTFC are worth nothing. If I were holding a gun to the MT's head as some wish to suggest I am, then the first step would have been to stop paying the players and threaten administration. The likely outcome would be that the entire shareholding in GTFC would be acquired for £1.00 in a SVA, pre-pack or administration process.
The facts are that the club requires approximately £100k plus the Ryan Bennett income net of football fortune to barely scrape through to the end of this season.
This will not allow any latitude to secure player contract extensions or strengthen the squad further in an effort to build on recent good form.
To suggest that the sell on income was certain and i knew of this is rubbish. The club could not possibly forecast this as certain income. In reality, Swansea and Norwich were the only clubs interested in Ryan - irrespective of Barry Fry working his magic. Also the deal went to the wire, with only one minute to deadline.
Our club's concession to make this deal happen means that our proportion follows the receipt from Norwich to Peterborough after deducting the initial proceed of the principle sale value. The remaining certain income will hit the bank in twelve month's time.
In term of next year's funding, the projections are losses of £500k which would provide a modestly competitive playing budget which has no wriggle room and in truth is unlikely to be enough to keep the squad together or afford the purchase of players.
Going concern is always an issue (the ability for a business to pay its bills when due) and it is possible in a forced sale Liam Hearn could raise vital funds, but there is no doubt that we need him and do not want to be pushed into liquidating one of our finest assets of recent years. To date there has been no offers and I have made it well known he is not for sale.
Additional cash-flow funds are required to repay what was previously a £500k overdraft bank facility which, under duress, has been converted by the bank into a repayment loan to be repaid over 5 years. This sum is not covered in losses and requires further financing.
Without relocation Blundell Park is in serious need of investment to maintain it safety certificate.
Either way there will be some big bills to finance.
Along with this there are inherent and considerable risks associated with a potential down turn in form on gate income and player fitness/turnover etc.
The board of GTFC are purely custodians of our football club for the time being irrespective of shareholding, and if any of its directors are expected to provide vital funding as an when required, then it cannot be a surprise they require a little comfort.
Initially I was adamant that I would not purchase any additional shares to redress this problem. It has been to the Mariners Trust's credit that I have relaxed on this issue. Whereby without this to get to a position of appeasement they would have probably recommended giving away twice as many shares.
Naturally it will now be up to the Mariners Trust's members to decide if the proposal is acceptable to them.
I am just about to crack open a bottle of wine and settle into watching Grimsby v Southport online. That's thanks to my good lady's ingenuity as I have been able to carry bags, pay bills and still get to see the game.
UTM
John Fenty
If you got to the end of that you have a longer attention span than me.
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