Views and Opinions!

Quoted from Cloudy

IIRC it has been posted on here before that the membership voted to transfer the shares by an overwhelming 86% in return for a seat on the board and JF buying an additional £200k worth of shares.

No spin whatsover the Membership voted in a democratic way.

I doubt they would vote the same way now but we would all like to re-write history from time to time

Cheers having never been a member of the trust I was never involved in any voting

Just so were clear when the shares were handed over it coincided with the Trust relaunch. In effect there was no Trust at that point BigChris doesn't need me to defend him BUT I was sat with him when this news reached his/collective Trust members  ears and within minutes he was elected Chairman as I recall this was unanimously. I saw and heard what went on and voiced my disapproval as did others but the Trust were put in an impossible position several felt so strongly about it they walked away from being involved with the relaunch including me.You will recall the last time I made comments on this I was asked to issue an apology by our majority shareholder as he didn`t like what I implied nothing he said to me in private changed my view and I apologised for the tone. Time does muddy the water somewhat but basically had the Trust not given the shares over they had to come up with a large chunk of money very quickly or the alternative would be Town would have to sell a player asset (at the time it was an in form Liam Hearn). The decision to give over the shares was deemed the best available option at THAT time and I might be wrong but thought the trust voted on it? Hindsight is great BUT had the Trust have hung onto the shares Hearn been sold mid season who would have got the blame for that player sale?BigChris and Dave Roberts did a fantastic job in my opinion with the relaunch and they got loads of support from behind the scenes from the many great people who freely give up their time.That great work was carried on and possibly even surpassed with OP but let`s be clear since then the wheels have come off.It pains me to see comments from realist and Moosey and begrudgingly having to nod my head in agreement.A mistake might well have been made with the handing over of the shares but I can tell you 100% that mistake was a very honest one and made for the right reasons at THAT time.I would love to see BC and DR back in tandem because I know they would get things moving and I would happily give up my time to help them.One thing I do know good though it feels moaning on here will not help get our Club back on track but come May it`s the Trust or Bust.

Quoted from Bigdog

Why wait until the end of the season? It will be too late to effect any significant change as the framework for the next season will already be set. Another season of despair and I will imagine the current outrage will turn into downright apathy in a year's time. Surely this is precisely the right time for gathering support and any kind of preparation?  Wait for seven weeks, and it will be another season wasted..

I think it is clear that apathy has already set in. As Civvy pointed out in a post yesterday, the fans at Lincoln just accepted another terrible performance and defeat as par for the course, with barely a whimper. Most of the outrage of a few weeks back was dissipated by the sacking of Slade, but it's clear that nothing has really changed, and it never will. The things that were said at the MJ press conference were said at the MB one and the Slade one. Building for the future blah blah blah.....

Quoted from ginnywings

I think it is clear that apathy has already set in. As Civvy pointed out in a post yesterday, the fans at Lincoln just accepted another terrible performance and defeat as par for the course, with barely a whimper. Most of the outrage of a few weeks back was dissipated by the sacking of Slade, but it's clear that nothing has really changed, and it never will. The things that were said at the MJ press conference were said at the MB one and the Slade one. Building for the future blah blah blah.....

I can assure you it`s gone nowhere it`s been put on simmer.

I was willing to forgive Fenty a lot. Our time in non-league was partly his fault of course, but I always imagined how much it haunted him that that had happened on his watch. I looked at awful owners elsewhere and thought at least Fenty isn't them.

But since coming back to the league his every action seems to have been in direct contradiction to all the supposed lessons I thought we had learnt in non league.

The fans and the club were united, pushing in the same direction.   Wanting to build on the success of promotion. Then there is no push or incentive to drive up season ticket sales, he votes for b-teams then maintains radio silence for as long as possible showing no care for how to communicate with fans. Fails to fight to keep Hurst, and while to be fair I felt Bignot was a good appointment at the time the sacking of hin and subsequent appointment of Slade was handled appallingly. Any pretending to listen to fans goes out the window as this season becomes a catalogue of mistakes, voting for b-teams again and that risible statement blaming the EFL for not explaining it better. After a first decent statement maintaining silence after Stevenage, picking a fight with a local journalist and making a fans forum turn into a farce and a chance to gang up on them. Disrespecting and effectively firing a volunteer SLO that had been one of the few bright spots. Putting out statement after statement backing Slade as he allowed any creative player to be sold off and all the ppl who had any connection with the fans to be sold off and replaced by loanees and useless mecenaries. Now he thinks OP was a burden for the club, well in the nearly 20 years he has been there he talks about his 2 million of 'benign' loans. We in one season put £100,000 into the club with no return demanded, aside frim the money we put in season after season to watch,  buy merchandise and be part of our club. Enough is enough. To go to conference once would be forgiveable.  Twice shows that there is incompetence somewhere and as much as he wants to blame the fans he can't on this one. All his actions sugges he just doesn't think of fans as stakeholders of the club.

It feels like everyone sees it now, I consider myself a latecomer to this conclusion but it seems clear now amd has been for sometime, our club will continue to be stuck in a malaise like this until Fenty leaves, and most of the board with him.

Et Tu Caeser.?

In the time JF has been at the Club he has put in £2-3M and that`s great. In that time though just on home ticket sales the fans have probably put in somewhere in excess of £10M+ so who really bankrolls the Club?T

Quoted from 1mickylyons

A mistake might well have been made with the handing over of the shares but I can tell you 100% that mistake was a very honest one and made for the right reasons at THAT time.

Micky is correct in that Trust members at the time we’re all asked to vote on the issue.

The offer of a place on the board was actually made part way through the voting period and there were calls made on here (Ginny and others I think) to postpone the vote until the end of that season considering that the ‘offer’ from Fenty had changed part way through the process.

The additional 200k injection from Fenty has always been a bit ‘grey’ - was this money already pledged by Fenty anyway in his agreement with Parker which set about the whole Parker issue?

Personally I didn’t like the ‘offer’ ie unless this is agreed the club will have to sell assets - depends how you view this yourself but to me it was tantamount to <will not be putting what I think it was because I don’t want JF putting pressure on Rob to shut the Fishy down again>

My primary issue with the vote was that it was perfectly feasible for JF, his family, the nodding yes men, JF’s cronies to all be Trust members who could influence the vote which would give him 200k worth of shares - that cannot be right.

As such, it would be interesting to see if this share transfer was actually legal and if not, a dilution in Fenty’s share holding by 200k and an increase in the Trust’s share holding by 200k may be enough (when combined with the voting rights of Parker and Mullen’s shares) to call an EGM and vote Fenty and his Yes men off the board.

Quoted from Quagmire

Micky is correct in that Trust members at the time we’re all asked to vote on the issue.

The offer of a place on the board was actually made part way through the voting period and there were calls made on here (Ginny and others I think) to postpone the vote until the end of that season considering that the ‘offer’ from Fenty had changed part way through the process.

The additional 200k injection from Fenty has always been a bit ‘grey’ - was this money already pledged by Fenty anyway in his agreement with Parker which set about the whole Parker issue?

Personally I didn’t like the ‘offer’ ie unless this is agreed the club will have to sell assets - depends how you view this yourself but to me it was tantamount to <will not be putting what I think it was because I don’t want JF putting pressure on Rob to shut the Fishy down again>

My primary issue with the vote was that it was perfectly feasible for JF, his family, the nodding yes men, JF’s cronies to all be Trust members who could influence the vote which would give him 200k worth of shares - that cannot be right.

As such, it would be interesting to see if this share transfer was actually legal and if not, a dilution in Fenty’s share holding by 200k and an increase in the Trust’s share holding by 200k may be enough (when combined with the voting rights of Parker and Mullen’s shares) to call an EGM and vote Fenty and his Yes men off the board.

no idea about the legalities but doubt it was illegal to transfer ownership from from 'body' to another?

As stated previously you are not going to get Mike Parker to involve himself let alone vote, so no chance of voting JF off, he has to go on his own accord. Who knows if he will bow to fan opinion and pressure? He hasnt taken any notice whatsoever in the past!

Quoted from Cloudy

no idea about the legalities but doubt it was illegal to transfer ownership from from 'body' to another?

It’s not the question of transferring ownership from one person / group to another being legal or not as it clearly is.

I’m questioning the legality of the process / vote.

Surely there is a conflict of interest if JF was a member of the Trust and was asked to vote whether the Trust should give him 200k of shares for free.  Add in family members as well and you have a situation where someone stands to gain financially and can influence that vote outcome.