Is there a price ??

So, from reading all of the above, here's the preferred solution:

1. John Fenty "gifts" his shareholding to the fans (Trust);
2. He write's off his loans
3. As a "fan" he secretly arranges to pay off the £325k guarentee
4. He then announces his departure from football with immediate effect
5, The next day, he purchases one million pounds worth of shares in Lincoln

Everybody happy?

Quoted from 1mickylyons

JF and his board MUST take up the cudgels and do 10 rounds with a root and branch approach to their own staff instead of blaming the fans.

People like you want to steer the blame towards the fans.

Thank you for your reply. I am really intrigued with your two comments above.

I would be grateful if you could please show me where I have steered any blame towards the fans, for any of Grimsby's football struggling, presently or in the past?

I would also ask you to show me where John Fenty, or the board, have also blamed the fans for any struggles? I can't recall that he has at any stage blamed the fans for any of the football related or business related matters.

Quoted from malkamalka

3. As a "fan" he secretly arranges to pay off the £325k guarentee

Number three in your post isn't possible, since it isn't an amount that has been paid, it is just a guarantee he has committed to, that he has offered to the clubs bank.

So essentially, a new owner would have to prove to the bank, that they have the assets or liquid cash amounting to £325,000 in security, should it be ever needed.

Just out of interest, business lenders, as a rule of thumb, look at a business asset value, and will normally lend up to around 70% of that realisable businesses asset value.

In respect of share purchase, it is technically illegal for a share buyer to use the assets of an incorporated business as security to lend in order to buy the shares in his/her target business to be acquired. However there are ways around this, which I have used myself. In the legal world it is known as the "whitewash procedure" (don't ask me why). It involves the auditors of the business and the incoming owner, proving and providing a legal document to state that they are satisfied, that in using the business assets for security to purchase the shares, that the business (not the shareholders) is still capable of meeting its financial liability as and when it is due.

The "Whitewash Procedure", on a much grander scale, was what the Glaziers were able to invoke, in order to purchase the shares of Manchester United.

On a much smaller scale, it cost me around £7,000 in professional and legal costs, to use the "Whitewash Procedure" when I borrowed around £220,000 to buy the shares in the business that I now own. So it ain't cheap in any respect. I only found about it when I was considering buying my business, because I was struggling to raise the money. No name drop intended, but it was only when I was discussing this with a friend of mine who is/was a top financial wizard for Richard Bransons organisations (and a Grimsby fan), that he informed me about it. Oddly enough when I spoke to the bank about it, my local commercial lending manager didn't have a clue what the "whitewash procedure" was. He had to go away and investigate it at a much higher level.

I am not entirely sure either, if since then, that the government have now removed the loophole of being able to use the Whitewash Procedure. Possibly they have in Private companies, but maybe not in Public companies.

That brings me to the matter of the gift of shares, because some people on here keep suggesting that shares should be given to the supporters or supporters trust. You are aware I hope that there is heavy taxation (Capital Gains Tax) associated with the gift of shares?

Quoted from 120790

Thank you for your reply. I am really intrigued with your two comments above.

I would be grateful if you could please show me where I have steered any blame towards the fans, for any of Grimsby's football struggling, presently or in the past?

I would also ask you to show me where John Fenty, or the board, have also blamed the fans for any struggles? I can't recall that he has at any stage blamed the fans for any of the football related or business related matters.

Did he not in the fans forum clearly blame us fans for investors not wanting to come on board, you know the ones who work all week and follow the club on a weekend up and down the country putting our cash to the table win or lose. I think he's had a fair few good offers of investment come at the club but look where we are now, all squabbling over a guy who's plummeted our historic club to its lowest ever. Am i right in thinking at one point we had an offer from coca cola for a new stadium???

Quoted from 120790

Thank you for your reply. I am really intrigued with your two comments above.

I would be grateful if you could please show me where I have steered any blame towards the fans, for any of Grimsby's football struggling, presently or in the past?

I would also ask you to show me where John Fenty, or the board, have also blamed the fans for any struggles? I can't recall that he has at any stage blamed the fans for any of the football related or business related matters.

Did he not in the fans forum clearly blame us fans for investors not wanting to come on board, you know the ones who work all week and follow the club on a weekend up and down the country putting our cash to the table win or lose. I think he's had a fair few good offers of investment come at the club but look where we are now, all squabbling over a guy who's plummeted our historic club to its lowest ever. Am i right in thinking at one point we had an offer from coca cola for a new stadium???

Did he not in the fans forum clearly blame us fans for investors not wanting to come on board, you know the ones who work all week and follow the club on a weekend up and down the country putting our cash to the table win or lose. I think he's had a fair few good offers of investment come at the club but look where we are now, all squabbling over a guy who's plummeted our historic club to its lowest ever. Am i right in thinking at one point we had an offer from coca cola for a new stadium???

OneLove, I think you have got that completely out of context to be fair. He has never blamed the supporters for anything at all that he has done in running the club.

Neither has he blamed anyone for not coming on board. He may have perhaps referenced them in his attempts to get people on board as investors. But that is hardly the same as blaming them for any issues is it?

Never heard anything about Coca Cola, ever.

Think it might of been the coca cola truck coming into town haha, nah Im pretty sure moons ago around that conoco stadium talk.

Well, i for one am heartened, and have a spring in my step now that Ascend has explained to me why we have absolutely zero influence in our club because we don't have the requisite knowledge, influence, or more crucially, the cash, to even consider such a thing. We don't have the business contacts either. Wish i had a mate who was a top whizz kid for Richard Branson, and maybe then i wouldn't be forced to shop in Lidl.  

Remind me Ascend, how much have the fans put into the club in the last 15 years? A sight more than the board i bet.

Quoted from 120790

Thank you pen penfras. Good post.

Why don't you just thank him in person, at the next board meeting ?