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Smisa Statement On Fan Ownership / Gordon Scott


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http://smisa.net/news-archive/180-smisa-statement-fan-ownership-gordon-scott

There have been some important developments of late which the committee of the trust are keen to share with members and the wider support.

Over the past few weeks we have been working with former St Mirren director Gordon Scott on plans to make a joint offer for the shares held by the selling consortium.

As part of our research into that we conducted a survey of fans, which had about 600 responses, and we would like to thank everybody who took the time to fill it out.

All in, 96% of fans backed the idea of fan ownership, and 94% backed the principle of a fan on the board, while 60% said they would be willing to make a financial contribution towards a scheme that would bring about either or both.

Those results have encouraged us to go public on plans which if realised could ensure St Mirren stays in the hands of the people who care about it most...you.

Members of the consortium have already indicated to the trust that they are happy to listen to what we put forward.

We would stress things are at an early stage and there is a lot of work to be done before we would be in a position to make a formal offer to them.

However we have the basis of a plan which - should an offer be accepted - would bring about meaningful fan representation over the short and medium term, and a transfer to majority fan ownership over the long term.

The model we are looking into is as follows:

- Gordon will put up most of the money, and SMiSA will fundraise the rest. The fundraising campaign will only start if we agree a deal in principle with the consortium;

- if a deal is done, Gordon would become the majority shareholder and chairman of the club;

- SMiSA would substantially increase its shareholding, and receive a place on the board, to be elected by the fans;

- Both parties would have an agreement that would see SMiSA continue to fundraise over several years to raise the cash to buy Gordons majority shareholding at some point in the future

The financial details are still to be decided but we envisage a £10-per-month membership scheme being the primary source of long-term ongoing funding, while other short-term income streams would be needed to fund the trusts contribution to the initial share purchase.

The trust has a five-figure sum of money in the bank as it stands, however we would only commit this towards an offer for the shares if a majority of members were happy for us to do so.

We see the benefits of the proposed model as being as follows:

- the current board deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the job they have done over the years, but they have made it clear they would like to move on. This would allow them to do so while keeping the club in the hands of St Mirren supporters;

- it would see control of St Mirren transfer to Gordon, a lifelong Saints fan with the business background and boardroom experience to take the club forward, while the fans would have a direct representative with influence over its day-to-day running;

- the previous attempt at fan ownership suffered because it had to find all the money at once; this would be different as Gordons presence means an Ann Budge model where we would have years to raise the funds to buy him out and put a viable fan ownership structure in place;

We are very keen to hear the thoughts of members and the wider support on these plans, and invite your feedback.

Although we believe SMiSA is best placed to be the vehicle through which this process should happen, ultimately it belongs to everybody who cares about St Mirren.

We have already begun the process of engaging with fan groups because we know what we are proposing will only work if the wider support is willing to back it.

As it stands, the SMiSA committee is a small group and we would welcome the input of any fans who feel they have the expertise and skills to help us take it forward.

As we say, things are at a very early stage and there are a lot of hurdles which would need to be cleared before any of this could become reality.

It wont happen overnight, but we will do our best to keep members and the wider support updated whenever there are developments to be shared.

However, we are excited by the possibilities of what this could mean for our club and hope you are too.

The SMiSA committee

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Would be great if this happens. Most promising development since the club was out up for sale particularly as GLS is involved. One question though,. Would there be money set aside for any short falls? I appreciate things are very much at the infancy stage and wish you the best of luck getting the deal done.

Edited by Master Yoda
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This plan is obviously similiar to The Foundation of Hearts whereby finance will eventually be paid back to Ann Budge in due course thus enabling The Fans to take control of the club.I would most certainly be willing to subscribe but would wish clarity on my present shareholding also that of my wife and family.I am very excited that Gordon Scott is willing to front the initial takeover.

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This is extremely encouraging and exciting news and I like that we have the figurehead of Gordon Scott behind it who has the best interests of the club at heart Onwards and upwards and I'm sure this will get the backing of the majority of St Mirren fans

Edited by gazmc83
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will the bod be interested in selling to gls,not sure there is too much love between the two parties ?

I think that's true but surely SG & co have to put all differences aside for the sake of the club this is the best offer they are going to get and it will keep the club in the hands of the fans

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This is a truly encouraging development, and hopefully all fans who are in a position to get behind this do so. I will be talking to my bank to see what my options are re a direct debit taking into account the ever changing exchange rate, and lets hope that any discussions on process on this forum can proceed without rancour and recrimination.

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Apologies for being naïve in this matter however reading it as a novice, I can only see that this would leave us with 2 members on the BOD, (Gordon Scott ) and an elected member from SMiSA, so my question is surely their would be more members of the BOD,s and who would have control over the day to day running of the club.

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Would be great if this happens. Most promising development since the club was out up for sale particularly as GLS is involved. One question though,. Would there be money set aside for any short falls? I appreciate things are very much at the infancy stage and wish you the best of luck getting the deal done.

We do have plans for covering shortfalls, going by the survey response we were encouraged enough to get this going, we need to get an agreement from the consortium on our offer for their shares, then we need everyone who can do it to sign up to it, this is not about SMiSA this is for all SMFC fans to take the opportunity to take the club into the hands of the community, businesses and other community members will also be welcome to back us. Together we can make this happen. COYS
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Apologies for being naïve in this matter however reading it as a novice, I can only see that this would leave us with 2 members on the BOD, (Gordon Scott ) and an elected member from SMiSA, so my question is surely their would be more members of the BOD,s and who would have control over the day to day running of the club.

The aim is to buy the consortiums shares - approximately 52% this would give us the majority that the consortium have now, other major shareholders can of course be board members and their experience and input is vital, this plan aims to be an inclusive one which is not about one group it is for all Saints fans and those who want to see Saints safeguarded as their club, if successful the club will remain in the hands of us - the fans, and would never be open to speculation from business groups who could use it for their own agenda - then drop it like a stone when they had taken what they wanted. We want to take majority control now, and not in the future when some group have left us in the lurch. The club is not in crisis at the moment and this plan can ensure we never are. Edited by buddiecat
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The aim is to buy the consortiums shares - approximately 52% this would give us the majority that the consortium have now, other major shareholders can of course be board members and their experience and input is vital, this plan aims to be an inclusive one which is not about one group it is for all Saints fans and those who want to see Saints safeguarded as their club, if successful the club will remain in the hands of us - the fans, and would never be open to speculation from business groups who could use it for their own agenda - then drop it like a stone when they had taken what they wanted. We want to take majority control now, and not in the future when some group have left us in the lurch. The club is not in crisis at the moment and this plan can ensure wee never are.

After the much publicised share buying last Autumn do we know hown many shares the members of the consortium own?

I'm presuming GLS wishes to keep his shares in the proposed set up but what about Ken McGeouch?

Edited by Bud the Baker
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