Wilbur

As a SMiSA member, I was contacted a few months ago to cast my vote either in favour of SMiSA backing the CIC with a large financial commitment or not. I duly cast my vote. Then I heard nothing for a while until ............................. About a month ago I was contacted again by SMiSA to cast my vote once more (insufficient response to the original questionnaire apparently). So I voted again. Then I heard nothing. Again. Does anyone know WTF is happening with SMiiSA's funds ? Was there a majority in favour or not ??? Has apathy won the day or is the CIC proposed takieover still going ahead ? Does the majority of the St Mirren support really care who will run the club ?

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/st-mirren/meticulous-planning-for-a-brighter-future-case-study-st-mirren-1.1105687 Meticulous planning for a brighter future case study st mirren Richard Atkinson 8 Jun 2011 CASE STUDY: ST MIRREN THERE is something of the evangelist about Richard Atkinson. The 37-year-old company director is orchestrating the planned transformation of St Mirren from a traditionally run Scottish football club to an organisation with a much wider remit in the town of Paisley. In many ways Atkinson, whose family own a haulage and construction company in Irvine, is attempting to turn back the clock, returning St Mirren to its supporters and community. It will be a distinctly Scottish model, but borrowing from the membership concept of clubs on continental Europe, including Schalke ’04 and, yes, Barcelona. Whether the project is truly visionary or hopelessly idealistic remains to be seen. But what is not in doubt is that Atkinson has researched the scheme meticulously and that it is now close to becoming reality. The £2m to make it happen is almost in place, and it is up to the fans, and the wider community, to decide if they want to embrace it. The signs are that they do. If it was merely Atkinson and fellow St Mirren director Chris Stewart who were attempting to manoeuvre the club towards a more purposeful future, it might have been considerably more difficult to persuade the fans of its merit. The presence of club legend Tony Fitzpatrick has lent the project a weightiness which Atkinson acknowledges has been invaluable. \ It was important for the supporters trust, in particular, to believe in what we are doing “We’ve been accused of wheeling out Tony for public relations, but he’s been involved in this for over a year,” Atkinson points out. “He has a massive standing with the support, whereas Chris and I have none whatsoever. It gave us a bit of credibility because it was important for the supporters trust, in particular, to believe in what we are doing.” This, it has to be said, is no straightforward buy-out of the controlling 52% shareholding of the club held by a group of five directors, including St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour. They have been trying to sell the club for almost two years, and Atkinson spotted an advertisement placed in the Financial Times. He did some research, put his proposition to the board (which he then joined along with Chris Stewart) and the intervening months have been spent putting the complex deal together. Essentially the £2m required for the purchase will be provided by a number of social enterprise companies. It will be in the form of grants, soft loans and repayable debt. That will allow Atkinson and his group of advisers to form a Community Interest Company which will own the controlling 52% shareholding. The club itself will remain a limited company. In order for the social enterprise companies to release this £2m, Atkinson needed to find at least 300 individuals (fans) prepared to pay £120 a year each, 12 companies at £10,000 a year, and a further 24 community venture companies in the Paisley area to pay £500 a year. These numbers have been found – there were more than 700 pledges from individuals – and the project looks set to get the green light. It is envisaged that after 10 years of these payments, the debt owed to the social enterprise companies for the purchase of the 52% shareholding will have been paid off. Long before then, St Mirren will have become a democratic, members club. That is expected to happen at the end of this year, following a transition period when Atkinson and his advisers will ensure that the project starts on the right lines. But from November, or December, the members (those who pay annual subscriptions) will have a huge say in the way in which St Mirren is run, including sanctioning the comings and goings of players. “We’re trying to return St Mirren to what it was 100 years ago – individuals, businesses and community organisations all directly involved and helping the football club,” explains Atkinson. “We’re in a football stadium which sits in what is one of the most deprived areas in western Europe. It’s a £14m facility, yet it’s empty most of the time. “Community Interest Companies exist to use assets and profits for the good of the communities they are based in. This CIC has been created to bring the community of Paisley together round the football club for the purposes of the greater good of the community and the club. “We’ve always disliked calling this project the Barcelona model, or the Schalke model, because it’s not – although we have taken note of what they do there. Scotland is a country which has invented some of the most important things on the face of the earth, so I’m sure we are perfectly capable of coming up with a football model that everybody else refers to as the Scottish model.” In some respects the aims outlined by Atkinson are more those of a church than a football club, and it is no surprise that he confirms himself to be a committed Christian. He even envisages a day when free membership of St Mirren might be conferred on every baby born in the town – get them young being the only realistic motto for a club which lives in the shadow of the Old Firm. Yet for all this evangelism there is a hard-headedness to Atkinson also. The old model of football club ownership is falling down in Scotland and, if the professional game is to survive, new concepts must be embraced. “Football isn’t a business – it’s a passion,” he says. “Everybody has skills, talents and contacts, and we need to tap into the enthusiasm and ideas of the supporters. “You listen to football phone-ins and everybody is complaining. I hate people who moan but aren’t prepared to do something about it. Whether what we’re proposing to do works remains to be seen, but when people pull together, it makes the prospects of succeeding that much greater.”

Does the CIC have to purchase the entire 52% that the selling consortium have put up for sale ? Why not negotiate to buy only 51% or 50.1% ? Taking 50.1% would surely still constitute a controlling interest, ought to reduce the sum borrowed by approx £40k, and would leave the selling consortium with a 1.9% shareholding that would at least add some degree of legitimacy should any of them remain on the SMFC board after the sale has gone through.

I like this post Gruffalo, you have summed up the situation very nicely. If all possible scenarios for St Mirren's future could be laid out in a flow chart I think many more people would arrive at the same concusion that you have. Please have a green plus thing, the first one I've ever awarded.

Have you decided to support the CIC's takeover then ?

OK, I'll try again.

Dear 10,000 hours spokesman, Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere - Wiill the £1.2m (approx) to be borrowed by the CIC be sourced from commercial lenders who would expect their loans to be secured against tangible assets ? If so, what assets does the CIC own that could be used for this purpose ?

Has RA explained who the lenders of the £1.2m might be ? Are there loans already 'on tap' just waiting to be triggered once the CIC gets the go-ahead ? Judging by the estimated annual interest cost of £0.1m these would appear to be commercial loans rather than soft loans from a benefactor or a benevolent Council or whatever. In my experience commercial lenders will insist on guarantees and security in case things go tits-up - what assets will the CIC own that could be used for that purpose ? Apart from 52% of a football stadium I can't think of any. Has RA alluded to loan guarantees in his presentations ? If this 'asset lock' is the answer to my question did RA explain who / what would act as guarantor for the commercial lenders.

Do we know of SMiSA have agreed to back the CIC proposal with financial commitment ?

Div, I don't see how you can divorce these two Boards. With a 52% controlling interest, the CIC can pull the strings at the football club. The football club Board will have no autonomy. It will operate under the jurisdiction of, and within parameters set by, the CIC Board. Without football-minded people in charge of the CIC we are stuffed. Would you describe Richard Atkinson as a 'football person' with St Mirren FC in his blood ?

I wasn't really thinking about this from a 'money' perspective, Stuart. Having all the money in the world at your fingertips won't make a bit of difference if the will and ambition aren't in place to drive it all forward. The people who will be in charge are my concern. The CIC will have many admirable, praiseworthy aims that could be prioritised ahead of a successful season for the football club.

It know it must be my age but I still can't make up my mind about this CIC deal. In life there are occasional WIN : WIN situations but more often than not for every winner there is a loser. With this deal I see the big winners being the current BOD who get their long-awaited payout, the 'community' who will gain access to new facilities and, if I understand correctly, St Mirren FC because of the stability / protected status to be gained through being owned (52%) by the CIC. Have I got that bit right or am I already shooting off in the wrong direction ? Are there any losers in this deal ? Perhaps the current shareholders who are not part of the sell-out gang and whose clout will effectively be zero with a 52% shareholding dictating the agenda (no change from the current status I suppose). I'm just not sure if there will be a genuine commitment to driving the football club forward. Is there likely to be any footballing ambition from the new people in charge ? (Please don't use Tony Fitzpatrick's puppet involvement in this venture as a sign of any footballing ambition from the CIC). On one hand it will be marvellous if the creation of the CIC preserves St Mirren FC for future generations but I would hate to think that the football side of things could become of secondary importance to the CIC's other well-intentioned aims. Would the fans back the CIC if all they had to look forward to was a 'safe' future supporting a toothless wonder ? No abuse please. Yes Sid, I know I'm an old plonker, but having witnessed Richard Atkinson's CIC proposal presentation more than once I still don't feel confident that this is the best way forward for St Mirren FC.

What about The Club Supported By A Miserable Grumpy Torn-Faced Penny-Pinching Auld Tightwad Minicab Driver Society ?

The longer this complex process takes to materialise into something 'real' the less confidence I have in Mr Atkinson and the less convinced I am that it will benefit St Mirren in the long run. What's the worst that can happen if the fans refuse to back the CIC plan ? The existing board would still be in place, they would still want out, and they still wouldn't have the cash they are desperate for in exchange for their shareholding. What do they do next ? Would Gordon Scott be prepared to re-table his offer to take control ? If so, would that make his offer the new 'Better go with this - there's nothing else now anyway?' for SG and his cronies ? Their original decision to refuse GS's offer was taken while there were other interested parties sniffing around. Would it be so easy to knock back if it became Hobson's choice ? All supporters who believe that Gordon Scott could take St Mirren forward and render it unnecessary for our club to get involved in the black magic being promoted by Mr Atkinson ought to refuse to support the CIC plan.

I won't have time, I've arranged to watch some paint drying.

My guess is that he has particular players in mind. Also, he will have made this known to the players' agents. Alexander Graham Bell patented the first telephone on the 1870s. QED.

Which "David" is being quoted in the article. Three Davids in the photie FFS !!

Difficult not to laugh out loud at this plonker. Weren't Falkirk the club that spent looney money on Chris Waddle, Simon Stainrod, and plenty of others and ended up building half a stadium that they don't even own? http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport/Clubs-who-break-bank-39are.6200115.jp

David, JC was a successful manager for a while at both Dunfermline and Aberdeen. Jim Jefferies had success for a while at Hearts and Killie. I could probably carry on inserting several other names into similar sentences, all with the proviso "for a while". But when the money they were getting to spend on player transfers and inflated wages dried up the success dried up too. Just about any semi-competent or largely-incompetent football manager (Rowan Alexander FFS !!) can produce decent results when they have the wherewithal to outbid and outspend other less fortunate managers but they crash like Icarus when the dosh evaporates and (IMO) JC and JJ are no better managers (indeed probably less talented) than a shitload of guys that lost their jobs over the years because they were competing against teams bolstered by fantasy money. The fact that Calderwood and Jefferies are currently jobless should come as no surprise as they failed to cut it when their financial crutch was whipped away. Appointing either of these at a club with zero money to spend would be a disaster.

I only found out about Derek's death today. This is awful news, and difficult to take in. I don't recall if I ever spoke to Derek in person but we had joked with one another on B&WArmy many times in recent years and we had many shared experiences about growing up in Foxbar in ye olde days. R.I.P good Buddie.

A list of 13 potential concerns when in fact they only have one single concern. Conveniently placed smack in the middle of the list to make it appear of no more significance than any of the others. How transparent !! Don't you just love "Industrial Use of Playing Fields" being given more prominence in the list than "Valuation of House".

After what happened to Gretna while Innes was there, and now Ferranti Thistle, let's hope he re-signs for Killie. Lucky white heather, big man ?

Yoko Ono. The worst female vocalist ever by a cuntery mile. Bjork. WTF is that wailing all about ? Lena Martell. F'kn pish. Marianne Faithfull. Toneless, tuneless & talentless. Cut her bawz off and she might sound vaguely female. Posh Spice. No further comment required.

Is he related to Iain Munro ? I hope Alan Provan can unstick H A R T E from the back of all those replica shirts he now has in stock.

Every new signing represents a risk, and some risks (including this one) are greater than others. For every Andy Dorman there are probably ten Christopher Wrehs. Unfortunately, if you don't take any risks in life you'll never achieve greatness. If he's still got what it takes, he'll be a great signing. Either way (hero or dud), he'll probably be gone at the end of the season, either to a 'bigger fish' or to the knacker's yard. It feels good to know that our club is now in a suitable financial position to be able to take a chance with a guy like Harte.