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Fan ownership - a long-term solution

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137
January 8, 2018, 5:06am
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I shall be 62 later this month, so it's about time I made my will (should have done it already, actually).

Having ducked out of parenthood, the natural recipients are my brother and sister. In the event of me outlasting both my siblings, I'd always planned
to leave any cash to GTFC. (As I'm the only smoker amongst we three, I expect to go first - but you never know)

The current regime has killed that notion.

However, if the Trust were to establish a 'fan-ownership fund' (in my mind, a bank account which can only grow till it's big enough to take over the club)
I would be happy to make the terms of my will:  the estate to be divided equally between my brother, sister and the aforementioned fund.
We won't be talking a huge amount btw!  

This presupposes that the Trust openly commits to fan-ownership of the club being its long-term aim. (???????? )

The existence of such a fund might give the Trust's representative a bit more clout, and - in time - the interest from the account would be a source of
income for the Trust. It can receive contributions from the living as well as the recently deceased, of course.

Thoughts?
UTM
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H19P1
January 8, 2018, 6:24am
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Could fans also pay into the account via a monthly direct debit rather than just waiting for lump sums to be gratefully received?

If so then I'm sure many would contribute knowing that the outcome would be worthwhile.
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lukeo
January 8, 2018, 7:25am
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I like this. I'd pay a few quid here and there when I could.
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oldun
January 8, 2018, 7:47am

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Nice gesture, but don't underestimate what is required in term of funds and expertise. Operation promotion would pale into insignificance.
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pen penfras
January 8, 2018, 7:51am

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With the exception of removing the current board members, how does fan ownership change anything? The overwhelming theme on here is that the board don't spend enough money to achieve success, yet the club has consistently lost money. Fan ownership isn't going to bring in the sort of money to start spending like Scunthorpe, who I keep reading we should be competing with. I agree in the short term, gates will rise as people buy into the fan ownership and something new. But unless this is backed up by success on the pitch, continually, then they will drop back down and the status quo resumes. Only now, you have to go back out and ask for fans to cover the losses, which will take time to raise the funds.

All this ignores the fact the you're going to have to raise a significant portion of the £2 million to take control of the club. How much is a normal fan going to pay towards this, and how many fans are going to put into the pot? I'd expect if you can raise £300k then that would be an incredible achievement. Not even close to what's required to buy and then run the football club. I may well be wrong, but nobody has put the wheels in motion, which suggests that there isn't truly the belief that this will work. Even the trust don't seem to be behind fan ownership.

You can quote Exeter City, who paid off the debt largely through £1 million in receipts against Man Utd with a replay and tv money. Don't forget the other end of the spectrum has Stockport County. Wrexham have hardly been a success. Chester have peaked and now heading downwards. Every situation is different, but to only quote a couple of successes and ignore the failures is a misguiding picture. Chesterfield fans tried it and 2 years later it went belly up too.
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137
January 8, 2018, 8:26am
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Quoted from oldun
Nice gesture, but don't underestimate what is required in term of funds and expertise. Operation promotion would pale into insignificance.


Absolutely - I wouldn't know how to set something like that up.....I'm hoping sufficient expertise exists within the Trust (or can be found).

Managers are sometimes accused of not having a Plan B, so here's mine:
Calculate how much JF has paid for all his shares;
Add to this the amount of the benign loans;
Divide by the number of shares JF owns to obtain a 'fair' price for each share;
The Trust then approaches JF and asks if he would be willing to sell his shares (piecemeal) at that price;
If so, and some of his public statements suggest he might well be agreeable, every 3/6months/year the Trust empties its fan-ownership fund
buying his shares at that price until effective control has been achieved.

Effective control is the beginning, not the end of the story. The Fanboard would have to agree a direction and strategy for the club.
Regular visitors to this forum will be well aware that disagreement amongst Grimsby (or any) fans is not unknown.
FWIW I'd offer this as the philosophy of the 'new' club:
GTFC exists to provide an opportunity for local footballing talent, and others, to play professional football at the highest level at which
they can be competitive.

Someone else may prefer 'We don't rest till we've won the Champions League 3 times in a row' .
(by which time we'll have certainly earned a rest!)

Plus a million other things......it won't be easy.
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diehardmariner
January 8, 2018, 8:30am
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The reason the club has lost money is because of how badly it is run. It's that simple.  Poor use of resources and a refusal to move with the times to maximise profits.

Fan ownership would be fantastic and I would be much more confident in the fans running the club successfully and in a sustainable manner than Fenty and his mates.

Big problem is that Fenty had absolutely no desire to sell.
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dapperz fun pub
January 8, 2018, 8:37am
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Quoted from diehardmariner
The reason the club has lost money is because of how badly it is run. It's that simple.  Poor use of resources and a refusal to move with the times to maximise profits.

Fan ownership would be fantastic and I would be much more confident in the fans running the club successfully and in a sustainable manner than Fenty and his mates.

Big problem is that Fenty had absolutely no desire to sell.


I think he’s every desire to sell
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bedders78
January 8, 2018, 9:56am
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It might take a long time to achieve, but the fans will be here long after the current players, manager and board have left.  I'm not currently a member of the trust and the handling of the Mike Parker shares plus the £30k a year for nothing has made me wary of joining - but a long term plan of fan ownership would see me signing up and I don't think I'd be the only one.


Grim Outlook exile
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AndyDarloFC
January 8, 2018, 10:18am
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Fan-ownership is not all as it seems, only so much as fans you can give continually on a monthly basis, I can only afford £200 per month for Darlington. Whereas others cannot anything.

Clubs will always need an investor on the side sticking X amount in the club. There’s not a chance whatsoever clubs can survive with just fans funding.

Exeter managed it due to the FA cup games against the big clubs.
Wimbledon managed it due to selling a ground they effectively stole from Kingstonian.
We are struggling because we have a shitty ground at moment that we’ve funded ourselves and can’t win a cup game to save our lives lol.

If you ever go down this route, it’s a long hard road and you just can’t stop giving money to the club if you are frustrated at teams performance. The club would always be reliant on your incomings to help run it on a day to day basis.


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