Chance of a lifetime
After a weekend of confusion and some pretty wild headlines it would appear that the sale of St.Mirren Football Club could finally be close to happening, some 3 and a half years since a controlling interest of 52% was put on the market by a consortium of existing board members.
10000Hours, a co-operative movement which aims to put the ownership of the club back into the hands of it's supporters, today announced a major breakthrough in their attempts to fund the purchase, with news that the existing consortium have seemingly agreed to take a large equity stake in the co-op as part of the sale agreement for their shares.
This is potentially great news for St.Mirren fans, but 10000Hours has been a difficult concept for the supporters to understand, even those who have attended the public meetings on the subject.
So, given this is the second iteration of the takeover attempt, and since this is a once in a lifetime chance for the fans to take control of the club, I thought it would be good to try and explain my understanding of it all and what this means to "us" - the St.Mirren support.
10000Hours is the name of the group that has been working for almost 2 years now to raise the necessary funds to buy the controlling interest in the football club. 52% of all of the clubs shares is up for sale and best guesses seem to estimate that a figure of around £2m was the valuation put on those shares by the selling consortium.
The selling consortium consists of Stewart Gilmour, George Campbell, Alan Marshall, Bryan McAusland and Evelyn Purves. All of those individuals with the exception of Ms Purves, widow of the late Jim Purves, have sat as members on the board of directors at the club for many years and have undoubtedly presided over some of the best financial management of any football club in Scotland during that time.
The club has been transformed on and off the pitch with a brand new stadium and training complex, SPL football has returned to the town and almost all of the previous crippling debt has been removed. All of that progress acheived during a period of global financial recession and at a time when spiralling football debts and mis-management have brought other clubs to their knees.
It's been a bloody impressive acheivement and one cannot also forget the role that fellow directors Gordon Scott and Ken McGeoch, not part of the selling consortium, played in that fabulous turnaround.
10000Hours, a co-operative movement which aims to put the ownership of the club back into the hands of it's supporters, today announced a major breakthrough in their attempts to fund the purchase, with news that the existing consortium have seemingly agreed to take a large equity stake in the co-op as part of the sale agreement for their shares.
This is potentially great news for St.Mirren fans, but 10000Hours has been a difficult concept for the supporters to understand, even those who have attended the public meetings on the subject.
So, given this is the second iteration of the takeover attempt, and since this is a once in a lifetime chance for the fans to take control of the club, I thought it would be good to try and explain my understanding of it all and what this means to "us" - the St.Mirren support.
10000Hours is the name of the group that has been working for almost 2 years now to raise the necessary funds to buy the controlling interest in the football club. 52% of all of the clubs shares is up for sale and best guesses seem to estimate that a figure of around £2m was the valuation put on those shares by the selling consortium.
The selling consortium consists of Stewart Gilmour, George Campbell, Alan Marshall, Bryan McAusland and Evelyn Purves. All of those individuals with the exception of Ms Purves, widow of the late Jim Purves, have sat as members on the board of directors at the club for many years and have undoubtedly presided over some of the best financial management of any football club in Scotland during that time.
The club has been transformed on and off the pitch with a brand new stadium and training complex, SPL football has returned to the town and almost all of the previous crippling debt has been removed. All of that progress acheived during a period of global financial recession and at a time when spiralling football debts and mis-management have brought other clubs to their knees.
It's been a bloody impressive acheivement and one cannot also forget the role that fellow directors Gordon Scott and Ken McGeoch, not part of the selling consortium, played in that fabulous turnaround.
So, 10000Hours intends to buy this controlling interest in the club, and to then in turn allow "members" of 10000Hours to decide how this stake is managed, thus controlling the destiny of the football club.
£2m is a lot of money for a group of supporters to raise, however 10000Hours has access to funding "loans" which can be used to help facilitate this sort of deal, where the move of a private asset (St.Mirren Football Club and it's stadium in this case) is moved into "community" ownership for the good of the people in that community.
So, 10000Hours is going to borrow from a few of these "pots" of money in order to give it most of the funding it needs to complete the deal, however that money needs to be paid back and on it's own it isn't enough to swing the deal.
This is where the fans come in.
10000Hours is looking for the supporters to pitch in with a monthly "membership" fee that would entitle them to a voice within 10000Hours (and ultimately then the football club) and to eventually retain an equity stake in the ownership of 10000Hours.
So, once the loans are all paid off the fans would not only "own" the club, they would also have an investment that could be passed on to their future generations and one that in theory could even make money for them in future if 10000Hours returned dividends through it's own operations.
The financial model is pretty simple. Fans pay what they can afford into the co-op with a basic entry level of £10 a month being proposed by 10000Hours.
For that you receive one vote in the running of 10000Hours. Everyone receives one vote, regardless of the level of financial input. This is a really important aspect of the membership scheme. One member, one vote.
Your financial input though does dictate how much equity you would own in the company once all loans had been completed. You can pay monthly, you can pay one off payments, whatever you wish.
Today's news from 10000Hours is that the selling consortium have agreed to take part of their payment for their sharesin St.Mirren as equity stakes in the 10000Hours co-operative instead. This is a major breakthrough as not only does it demonstrate their trust in the model, it ensures that the same guys who steered the club through very difficult waters with admirable management will potentially still be around to do that job once their St.Mirren shares have passed over.
It will of course be up to them whether they stand for positions of responsiblity within the club, and it would be up to the 10000Hours members to vote for them (one member one vote remember), but the possibility is there and it shows confidence in the whole model from the people who are running the club TODAY. People we trust.
Richard Atkinson has estimated that 10000Hours now need to demonstrate that they can raise £250k over the next two years in order to start to repay the funding that will be drawn down to buy the controlling shares.
In short, 1000 fans paying £10 a month would just about swing it.
It's time for the fans to stand up and be counted. Do you want to play your part in ensuring that the club remains in the hands of the fans forever more ? Do you want to be 100% sure that the club can never become the victim of a hostile takeover attempt ?
If the answer is yes then head over to the 10000Hours website and pledge your support now and be part of the revolution.
This is our chance to step up to the plate from a position of STRENGTH rather than one of weakness.
We can ensure the future of St.Mirren Football Club for our children and their children to enjoy by protecting the incredible legacy we have been given. We can use this as a platform for growth and prosperity driven by the energy, passion and enthusiasm of the most important people at any football club, the supporters.
Be part of it, please consider joining 10000Hours today.
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