Kmcalpin Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 The club's AGM will be held on 21 February at 7pm in the Millennium Suite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inflato Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 Not expecting a big turnout then... Excuse my ignorance, but do you have to register an interest to attend or is it just turn-up on the night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldonmac Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 43 minutes ago, Inflato said: Not expecting a big turnout then... Excuse my ignorance, but do you have to register an interest to attend or is it just turn-up on the night? The AGM is for shareholders of MFC not The Well Society and all shareholders will receive details about the meeting advising the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inflato Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 1 hour ago, coldonmac said: The AGM is for shareholders of MFC not The Well Society and all shareholders will receive details about the meeting advising the process. Thanks mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the traveller Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 So the Club has reported a loss of £1.6m for the last year. However, it “ was fully anticipated , managed and primarily the result of various long term strategic decisions made by the Club in recent years “ so there is nothing to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 8 minutes ago, the traveller said: So the Club has reported a loss of £1.6m for the last year. However, it “ was fully anticipated , managed and primarily the result of various long term strategic decisions made by the Club in recent years “ so there is nothing to worry about. That is correct. If you have any questions about it, pop along to the AGM and ask. I've found in the past they are very happy to discuss things like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 8 Author Report Share Posted February 8 59 minutes ago, weeyin said: That is correct. If you have any questions about it, pop along to the AGM and ask. No doubt he will do so and quite rightly too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Stall Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 7 hours ago, the traveller said: So the Club has reported a loss of £1.6m for the last year. However, it “ was fully anticipated , managed and primarily the result of various long term strategic decisions made by the Club in recent years “ so there is nothing to worry about. In the big bad world, if you project your losses early doors & plan for them then its not really anything to worry about. Unexpected losses are however a different story. *except in the world of internet forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 21 Author Report Share Posted February 21 Club AGM tonight. Should be interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 1 minute ago, Kmcalpin said: Club AGM tonight. Should be interesting. You there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 21 Author Report Share Posted February 21 Unfortunatley not, but other posters will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clackscat Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 Announced 2 serious and credible potential investors, both would require a dilution of Well Society shareholding, Well Society Board to put to members whether this would be a red line, before we go any further. Basic summary of what became a 90 minute to and fro. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texanwellfan Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 I would hope not. We should, in principle, be open to any good choices the help ensure the future of MFC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StAndrew7 Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 (edited) 10 hours ago, Clackscat said: Announced 2 serious and credible potential investors, both would require a dilution of Well Society shareholding, Well Society Board to put to members whether this would be a red line, before we go any further. Basic summary of what became a 90 minute to and fro. There's a few details I think it's worth adding to this, particularly given some folks' concerns (on here and on P&B) re: asset stripping etc. The two bids that are furthest forward are: An American who "made his money in streaming" and now owns his own documentary company. His vision/strategy is to increase global exposure of the club and increase opportunities for further sponsorship, growing the fan-base and generating other revenue streams. An Aus/USA/Middle East group who are primarily looking to transform the recruitment side of the club and use more advanced data analytics, machine learning etc. to bring in players across the age-groups of the club to create a culture, style of playing etc. and sell them on for profit. Both parties have spoken with both the Club and Well Society Boards and at least one did it in person from what I picked up, although both may well have. Neither of the bids are philanthropic; they will be looking to make a return on their investment via their own business plans and strategy The investment will be made by buying shares, not in loans (like Hutchinson) or other guarantees that can be secured against the club; however these might be a special category of share that allows them to take some % of profits etc. (I missed the name of these) The share purchases will not be instant, nor will the investment be "transformational" straight away; one bid is proposing the WS go down to "around 50%" and another is wanting a controlling stake, but the % was not mentioned One of the groups would be looking to appoint their own CEO; "someone who played for Benfica and is running an Australian club" was mentioned (based on a quick Google, I believe that's this chap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaz_Patafta) Transfer fees recouped for players will remain within the club (I'm not sure how that will work with the second investor I mentioned; perhaps through their specific type of shares they'll be able to share profit rather than taking away directly from transfer fees) One of the reasons for the urgency/speed around this is that one of the parties wants to be involved in planning for next season; both are looking for exclusive negotiating positions There is still a long way to go with negotiations, analysis of club finances by parties, addition of potential clauses etc. still need to take place which will then result in a final offer The interested parties might come back based on the results of any vote of the WS membership and accept that a 51/49 split with WS retaining ownership could work for them and that would be part of their heads of terms/initial agreement with the club There is potential to negotiate with investors clauses etc. in the final proposal(s) that would allow the Well Society first refusal on any investor's shareholding, in the event they wish to sell their stake in the club so the club would return to being fan owned, should the Society have the necessary funds to purchase the shareholding Equally, a "No" from the WS re: the red line on majority fan ownership could will be enough for the two current front runners to back out In total there were 4/5 "serious" groups (of 8 who expressed interest) looking to invest in the club; I asked how those were progressing and the simple answer was "not as quickly as these two". At least on of the other parties are investing in other areas of sport (a golf team in LA was mentioned) and the board are trying to get to things developed without having to use a corporate finance consultant as far as possible. Another is an American who Derek Weir had spoken with, who was interested in developing an academy system in the US for developing players but not much more was said on that one. The Chairman did state last night that if this is something which does progress forward, he would absolutely propose bringing in experts in corporate finance to ensure nothing is missed in the minutiae that could come back to bite us. Also, we have interviewed 3 or 4 candidates for CEO by both Club and WS Boards. The issue we have is that with potential investment and at least one group looking to appoint their own, it's a difficult spot to be in. Normally this kind of appointment and negotiations for investment would, ideally, be years apart. So we run the risk of appointing a CEO who brings their own structures and ideas, to then potentially have them removed by any investor. The Well Society have asked for the opportunity to provide a strategy/plan that means they'll be more able to continue funding the club and any shortfalls and create a business / fundraising plan of their own for the club, along the lines of the investors. I also want to point out that Derek Weir stated that was his preferred option; that the Well Society is able to provide the funding required for the club to continue before difficult decisions (i.e. slashing playing budgets etc.) need to be made. Ultimately, the Society needs to be in a position in October to tell the accounts auditors that they have the funds available to support the club for 18 months; if not, that triggers a warning to the SPFL regarding our financial situation. Also, to be absolutely clear, the Board are in no way making recommendations to shareholders or the Society to go or not go for the investment from either party. That will be decided when bids are submitted and shareholders and WS members have their vote. They are exploring all their options to ensure the financial safeguarding of the club, which is their job as Directors. As I said above, that also includes the WS continuing in its current role and increasing its input to the club. Time, however, is of the essence. I would expect WS members to be polled/asked to vote in the coming days. Exactly how that will be put across is key and it'd be interesting to see what is sent out (I'm not a WS member, I have private shares in the club). Edited February 22 by StAndrew7 Edit: adding more detail as I remember and some clarifications. 5 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 StAndrew7 thanks for the comprehensive update. Much appreciated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clackscat Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 StAndrew7 Fantastic, comprehensive, and accurate update, you must have shorthand writing skills! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz7 Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 Echo what I'm sure everyone feels. StAndrew7 what a great post. There will be different opinions for sure . Initial reaction from myself is WS retain a position with the professionals from Aus doing their stuff seems a win win. Early stages obviously but a club our size needs to use analysis more as was spoken about in great detail by David on another post which was a really interesting read. Smaller clubs in leagues all over Europe use these stats and are giving the big boys a fright. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 44 minutes ago, StAndrew7 said: The Well Society have asked for the opportunity to provide a strategy/plan that means they'll be more able to continue funding the club and any shortfalls and create a business / fundraising plan of their own for the club, along the lines of the investors. I also want to point out that Derek Weir stated that was his preferred option; that the Well Society is able to provide the funding required for the club to continue before difficult decisions (i.e. slashing playing budgets etc.) need to be made. Ultimately, the Society needs to be in a position in October to tell the accounts auditors that they have the funds available to support the club for 18 months; if not, that triggers a warning to the SPFL regarding our financial situation. Great post mate - just wanted to reiterate this point. There's essentially no status quo option, there's the two investment options as well as the Society undertaking its own study & producing its own strategy, while simultaneously rolling out workstreams to target five key areas (communications, fundraising, membership, governance & events - more information should be shared with members in tomorrow's newsletter). I think we can all agree that there's a ceiling to the kind of growth & income the Society can generate, and what that is is clearly open to debate, but there is a refreshed desire to seriously looking at reaching that ceiling going forward, and, thanks to the board's renewed makeup, there's a majority of folk on there now keen to make sure that happens. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 22 Author Report Share Posted February 22 Firstly, thanks StAndrew7 for the excellent summary. Some very good discussion across on P & B. The issue of club ownership/investment is huge and I don't know if everyone has fully grasped the enormity of that yet. If they haven't they soon will do. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not against a new/owner or partial owner. For me, the devil will be in the detail. We have to guard against a ruthless rogue owner whio would be in it for purely selfish reasons. That said, any new investor owner would want to have a substanital say in the running of the club, or even control. Thats perfectly understandable. Every member of the Society will be entitled to a say and vote on the situation, if it gets that far. So, think about that. I just wonder about the position of the other 2 or 3 groups who haven't progressed their interest quite so far? I think change is inevitable, but it has to be on our terms. To those who advocate no change at all, I'd say "If we get relegated, and it might happen anyway, how would the fanbase react if we were to be stuck in the Championship for a good few years?" Jay sets out the situation in a fair and democratic way on P & B. There is a wide range of possible views and none is right and none is wrong. They reflect our own lives and characters. On a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 being no change and 10 being an open arms welcome to any new investor, I'd place myself at about a 6 or 7. I'm open to new investment but not at any cost. The bottom line though is doing nothing, Asquith style, is not an option. The world is changing; football is changing and there's no time or room for ostrich impersonations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mintymac Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 Excellent resume StAndrew7. Lots of points to ponder over and digest .As a current Well Society member I’ll be very interested in what we receive from the Well Society Board. Obviously the devil is in the detail but I hope we get the 3 proposals to look at (2 investors proposals and the Well Society’s proposal . I personally would like to see how the Well Society’s options compares to the other two investors . My understanding from the above is that the WS have asked for an opportunity to present there own proposals/plan so the question is will that be available to see/read this in the same timescales as the other 2 investors . I would certainly hope so . The situation re the CEO as to whether we appoint one now or wait to see if any successful investor wants his own person in well that is an issue . So on that basis would it be possible that Derek Weir carries on beyond his anticipated leaving date till CEO issue is resolved but I suppose that’s a question for Derek Weir . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 22 Author Report Share Posted February 22 One matter that does concern me though is that of the CEO vacancy. Apparently, the selection process is quite far advanced, which is encouraging, but would any candidate want to put pen to paper whilst the ownership/investment issue is hoveriong over the club? A real concern for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilmour Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 There’s quite a bit more fall out to come from this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelman1991 Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 2 minutes ago, gilmour said: There’s quite a bit more fall out to come from this Such as ??????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StAndrew7 Posted February 22 Report Share Posted February 22 3 minutes ago, gilmour said: There’s quite a bit more fall out to come from this From the CEO, the investment, what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 22 Author Report Share Posted February 22 Just read St Andrews7's update. That is concerning, and underlines that time is of the essence. An interesting option from the Well Society, and I'd like to hear more about that. If fans want to go down that route, they have to take more individual responsibility ie its not my responsibility its the Society's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.