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The Club Buy Out - 10000 Hours


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Abramovic and Mileson are special cases, whilst I've no idea if Eddie Thomson was the overall 50%+ shareholder or if he was a majority shareholder with the ability to invest more...I have assumed that the Thomson's must own 50% plus though. In the CIC instance it would own the 52% and would provide the Chairman, but you would also have CIC members on the board and as mentioned through this thread that would see fans having a say and with more than the SMISA "let's hope we can get a seat on the board".

The most worrying thing about the CIC for me is it not going through and Gilmour etc then going back out to, what must have been poor offers (for them and the club), and asking if the interest is still there. Just what sort of investor would be interested in a club where the fans didn't care enough to take it on?

I'd also like to highlight that from what I've heard and been told, by others and Richard, this isn't along the lines of the Ebbsfleet model or the other CIC's in Scottish football. Ebbsfleet was initially about "outsiders" and the gimmick of Pick The Team, plus it was being run by someone who quite frankly lucked out by being the first to try it and having a few media contacts. I could waffle on about what was wrong with Ebbsfleet until sometime next week, but will leave that until the discussions about how we should operate if this goes through. Saint Mirren doesn't have third parties squeezing the life out of the club, has a good stadium, a training complex and we can point to a time when we had crowds that could fill the current ground. Yes we're all a bit apathetic, but the club is running break even and the potential is there for larger crowds...we just need to entice people back and show what a club working together with the fans can do.

Good post tsuMirren

I know I wont be telling you anything you don't already know here but I imagine it is important to the success of the new idea for running the club.

No way in hell are more punters going to come along to St Mirren unless the product on the park improves drastically. I have brought my brother to a game and after 90min said don't ask me to come again. There a quite a few punters in Lochwinnoch who call themselves Saints fans but don't go to the game. While am working away I let anyone of them have my season ticket. A couple have used it and have told me it's terrible football and would rather stay at home.

When the club was about to fold up SMISA was started up to try and raise money to help in some small way. At a time when the club could have went under only 300 fans signed up or not far off the figure paying in ten pounds a month. That raised three grand a month and while something is better than nothing is is far shorter than what was hoped. The share issue was also a disaster.

So I am some what sceptical fans will put money up and that the team can be improved to a level that will bring punters through the turnstiles.

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I am one of the biggest proponents for the club communicating better with the fans. However, some times it just isn't appropriate. I stumbled across a belter of an exclusive fairly recently whilst attending a game. An exclusive that is almost irresistable to me as it involves getting it right up the OF. However, it is utterly commercially sensitive and to be very fair the club is entitled to unveil it themselves should it come off and it is just about there from what I am hearing.

If I was to post all the genuine stuff I know I would be banned from the ground never mind the forum. :P

Some posters went through a phase of it early on in the web sites existence and I am sure we can all remember pishing ourselves laughing when Div got carpeted for it. One of the great things that came out of it though was the beginning of the Q&A sessions with SG - where he trusted us with critical information that included the situation with John Coughlin and also the plans to try and sell the stadium to eradicate the debt as we had already been living in borrowed time. The trust he put in us was respected and I think that was also the beginnings of SMiSA who went on to do great things with soap on a rope and players dressing gowns or something like that.

Back then the fans relationship with the club was poor. Thanks to the efforts of Div and the supporters groups it has come on leaps and bounds. There is more information - and misinformation :P - available about St Mirren and what is going on at the club than ever before. However, there are times when we need to respect the commercial confidentiality of certain relationships. There were posters that knew the score with the recent shirt deal - I am sure they would have loved to have chipped in with an exclusive but they knew that the info was commercially sensitive.

As in other area of life, its often what you don't say rather than what you do that should be the measure of you. As Broony & Co will confirm. :P

If anyone is desparate to know anything drop me a PM and I will invent something for you - then you can claim you are in the know too. :P

[/quote.There are a few on here who are closer to the board than others and are party to information which if put on here would be detrimental to the club.I have been disillusioned by the product on the park lately and asked the question of the direction we are going.I am more than happy with the answers i was given and excited about developements which will be announced next month.Ive not met the 2 new directors yet but will give them the same support ive given the current board and urge all supporters to pull together and boost our image iin the community.Renfrewshire is massive and we should be commanding larger crowds than present and feel we should be targetting old firm supporters youngsters.If we can change their mindset then their youngsters will grow up to support the team we all love.Im sure the majority on here support St Mirren because their father did and will continue to do so.

As supporters we are all equal and irrespective of whether you are a season ticket holder or casual fan are very important to the club.I think we should all ask the question what more can we do to support the club.We,re in this together so lets all push in the same direction.

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Good post tsuMirren

I know I wont be telling you anything you don't already know here but I imagine it is important to the success of the new idea for running the club.

No way in hell are more punters going to come along to St Mirren unless the product on the park improves drastically. I have brought my brother to a game and after 90min said don't ask me to come again. There a quite a few punters in Lochwinnoch who call themselves Saints fans but don't go to the game. While am working away I let anyone of them have my season ticket. A couple have used it and have told me it's terrible football and would rather stay at home.

When the club was about to fold up SMISA was started up to try and raise money to help in some small way. At a time when the club could have went under only 300 fans signed up or not far off the figure paying in ten pounds a month. That raised three grand a month and while something is better than nothing is is far shorter than what was hoped. The share issue was also a disaster.

So I am some what sceptical fans will put money up and that the team can be improved to a level that will bring punters through the turnstiles.

Here we all are 5 days, 250+ posts, 9000+ views later.

Still NO definitive answers even more ifs / but / maybe / as far as I know / as far as I am aware / heard that / think it / could be etc etc etc.

Still NO word from Mr. Atkinson.

Lochwinnoch Saint is right, when the club was about to go under only a few hundred supporters were willing to put their hand in their pocket. So not much chance, I suspect, of thousands wanting to put up £10 a month or local businesses putting up £10,000.

Lot of posters seem to want to wait until the deal is done (or the full details made public) until they make up their mind.

The fact of the matter is that both will happen at the same time.

One morning in the not too distant future, we will all wake up to a press statement in the papers or the morning radio / TV news. The club will be sold and Mr. Atkinson and a couple of his associates (I can't even remember their names) will control our club. No doubt he has already applied for the loans and grants and is just waiting for the green light from the Bank of Taxpayer.

It's time to waken up and smell the sh*t.

I will check back in a couple of day to see if any anything concrete has arrived - not holding my breath - even if some of you would like me to !

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Here we all are 5 days, 250+ posts, 9000+ views later.

Still NO definitive answers even more ifs / but / maybe / as far as I know / as far as I am aware / heard that / think it / could be etc etc etc.

This is a football forum, if you want definite answers, pick up the phone, send RA an email, pop round to his office at the Maxi Group. Basically, do something effing constructive instead of being a destructive, negative wee gobshite on here.

Still NO word from Mr. Atkinson.

Why would there be one? You haven't contacted him! I have had word from him, but then I bothered my arse to pick up the phone and call him. You really are a prize A tosser.

Lochwinnoch Saint is right, when the club was about to go under only a few hundred supporters were willing to put their hand in their pocket. So not much chance, I suspect, of thousands wanting to put up £10 a month or local businesses putting up £10,000.

Proposed quota for local businesses already met. So your "suspicion" are well off!

Lot of posters seem to want to wait until the deal is done (or the full details made public) until they make up their mind.

Those who don't really mind what happens have done that, those who do have spoken to RA - the offer is still there. Shall I get him to call you? PM me your details.

The fact of the matter is that both will happen at the same time.

Oh, this is a fact is it??? :blink: :blink: :blink: Substantiate please!!!

One morning in the not too distant future, we will all wake up to a press statement in the papers or the morning radio / TV news. The club will be sold and Mr. Atkinson and a couple of his associates (I can't even remember their names) will control our club. No doubt he has already applied for the loans and grants and is just waiting for the green light from the Bank of Taxpayer.

They will never be in control of the club. A CiC run by fans will be in control of the club. I know this is a complicated concept to get your thick head around, but it has been explained by quite a few people on quite a few ways on here. Short of using a big book with cardboard pages, big letters and pictures of animals - like my wee one has - I'm not sure what else can be done to try to make it understandable.

It's time to waken up and smell the sh*t.

That doesn't even make sense.

I will check back in a couple of day to see if any anything concrete has arrived - not holding my breath - even if some of you would like me to !

Woopdyf**kingdoo, I look forward to it!

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This is a football forum, if you want definite answers, pick up the phone, send RA an email, pop round to his office at the Maxi Group. Basically, do something effing constructive instead of being a destructive, negative wee gobshite on here.

Why would there be one? You haven't contacted him! I have had word from him, but then I bothered my arse to pick up the phone and call him. You really are a prize A tosser.

Proposed quota for local businesses already met. So your "suspicion" are well off!

Those who don't really mind what happens have done that, those who do have spoken to RA - the offer is still there. Shall I get him to call you? PM me your details.

Oh, this is a fact is it??? :blink: :blink: :blink: Substantiate please!!!

They will never be in control of the club. A CiC run by fans will be in control of the club. I know this is a complicated concept to get your thick head around, but it has been explained by quite a few people on quite a few ways on here. Short of using a big book with cardboard pages, big letters and pictures of animals - like my wee one has - I'm not sure what else can be done to try to make it understandable.

That doesn't even make sense.

Woopdyf**kingdoo, I look forward to it!

I am really fascinated by this constant suggestion that I should get in touch with Mr. Atkinson to get the full details of this 'deal'. I presume that if I did and then posted details of what I was told, DIV, ST SID, and KTF who seem strangely keen on this deal - (do they perhaps have any eyes on a seat on the Board ?) would then tell me that this is not the real story, and shout a few more sad insults.

Ktf do you talk to your 'wee one' like you write on here ?

The solution to all this is very easy. Please Mr. Atkinson come on here and tell me how wrong I am. Please spend 10 or 15 minutes telling us all how it would all work, how much debt of what sort is involved, what's in it for you, and answer the many other genuine questions that I and other have asked over the last few days.

Just to add to the list of unanswered questions. How does any SIMISA money fit into this jigsaw ?

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As a start animal, you could always go and read about a CIC and how it works. As mentioned already you could also speak to Mr Atkinson, after which you'd hopefully realise there are legal and commercial implications to making some things known. These things could also be detrimental to YOUR club, assuming you are actually a fan.

Having been involved at Ebbsfleet United I'm already happy that the person leading up the CIC isn't in it for himself (Will Brooks took a wage and his company took a cut of any MYFC member fees), there's engagement with the fans, Mr Atkinson is reading the forums and contacting members, there are some very good ideas (none of which we want stolen prior to SMFC having a chance to adopt them) and there appears to be a generally good take up with businesses in the community. SMISA also look to be genuinely engaged and happy with things, as opposed to the Fleet Trust who were just happy to accept MYFC's cash...as were Ebbsfleet to be perfectly blunt. There's a promise of real fan involvement at club and board level, I certainly don't see any indication that people will be getting called dishonest or insincere by members of the CIC.

If you read up on a CIC you'll see that it's not a monster looking to steal the crown jewels and sell it on. Sadly, it's also not a huge investor promising to plough millions in to the club and run it from his pocket...issue there obviously being what happens when he gets bored or it becomes totally unsustainable. Look at it another way...if let's say 20 or so local companies get involved and the CIC do sell off the ground or put the club into huge debt then what would that do to their stock? As a collective, Richard, anyone else at Maxi, local companies, local groups, the local council, fans and football fans worldwide who become involved, there is no way the club would be allowed to be destroyed from within.

I'm not sure exactly how SMISA will come in. You can argue it'd be double effort to have a seperate supporters association when the CIC will have a members group of it's own. I don't see why any SMISA member wouldn't want to get involved or put money to the CIC as it would go direct to the club and the former SMISA member would have more of a say, as opposed to contributing to purchase of shares. We also had the player fund during TH's promotion season, again why couldn't that be done and give us the chance to bring players in.

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I am really fascinated by this constant suggestion that I should get in touch with Mr. Atkinson to get the full details of this 'deal'. I presume that if I did and then posted details of what I was told, DIV, ST SID, and KTF who seem strangely keen on this deal - (do they perhaps have any eyes on a seat on the Board ?) would then tell me that this is not the real story, and shout a few more sad insults.

animal, the suggestion is being made in order that you might avoid making an even bigger @rse of yourself than you already have. You clearly have personal experience of CIC - as in Care in the Community. :P ; however your knowledge of how CICs actually work is clearly limited to a 30 second flick through wikipedia. You have made unfounded accusations and inferences based on your lack of knowledge of CICs.

I had some previous knowledge of CICs, but like any other genuinely concerned Saints fan I have done my homework in order to better understand what might be going on. 99% of my concerns have gone as a result - still some remain, but that is fine detail...and as you point out who might end up on the BoD. However, I can already see that the mix of representation will not allow some maniac like Shull to reduce all tickets to £2.50 and revert St Mirren back to amateur status, just as the nature of a CIC would stop us from getting into debt by panic buying players outwith our budget.

The critical aspect for me is the protection of the club for future generations - the CIC structure delivers that better than any other option.

I can reveal that Chic Youngs exclusive about the prospective new owner - the well ken't face to Scottish football was in fact Gordon Smith, who was leading a consortium bid. Anyone who remembers the Smith / Hay era, and Smith subsequent career as an agent will know exactly what that would have meant for the club. Based on your reaction to the CIC proposals I doubt you would have survived an announcement that Smith was taking over the club. :blink:

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All this rhetoric is, as far as I can see, academic as there is next to no chance of Mr Atkinson's plan comiing to fruition.

It has been intimated to me that this CIC project is doomed to failure so, Knickerwetters worried about the demise of our club, keep the nappies as there appears to be no "plan B". knickerwetters worried about the takeover and subsequent CIC status, keep the nappies as this was the only plan and every one of you will be united in a pool of P**h when the nappies overflow!

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All this rhetoric is, as far as I can see, academic as there is next to no chance of Mr Atkinson's plan comiing to fruition.

It has been intimated to me that this CIC project is doomed to failure so, Knickerwetters worried about the demise of our club, keep the nappies as there appears to be no "plan B". knickerwetters worried about the takeover and subsequent CIC status, keep the nappies as this was the only plan and every one of you will be united in a pool of P**h when the nappies overflow!

Substantiate this, please...

Any indication that I have received, both from out with and inside the proposal is that it is going 100% according to plan.

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Substantiate this, please...

Any indication that I have received, both from out with and inside the proposal is that it is going 100% according to plan.

Following the Cup Tie Ticket pricing fiasco, any information coming from St Mirren Football Club should not be taken as gospel.

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Substantiate this, please...

Any indication that I have received, both from out with and inside the proposal is that it is going 100% according to plan.

I would be wary of making sweeping statements like that. The CIC process is pretty damn complicated. Until the club presents its plans to the support I will certainly be making no assumptions of it going 100% according to plan until the full proposal is put out to the fans.

There will certainly be rumours of its 100% success and counter rumours about its 100% failure. Best to keep an open mind at the moment. I am certainly leaning towords the 100% success or somewhere close to it - but still too early to nail any colours to an outcome mast as yet.

As John rightly points out even if it doesn't happen, we will still have a solid financial basis for the club to continue running. What it might open up would be input from external investors who just want to take ownership of the club. However, I suspect that any setback would just be a temporary delay to an inevitable outcome of a CIC structure.

It is all about the proposal coming out to the fans...as that will mean we are in a position to progress. I don't think we are far away, but as there has been no hint of a 4pm press conference we're not quite there.

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In advance of my upcoming role as Chairman of the fans Board I would like to offer you a heartfelt apology on behalf of the outgoing BoD. and a complimentary lifetime season ticket and a brief for the Cup tie.

Aye awright !! :rolleyes:

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I reckon you must be immune to it now with your nose being so close to your breath. :rolleyes:

Some of the personal abuse "animal" has been subjected to here is unfair. And quite frankly I am surprised by some of the posters participating in this abuse. I think "animal" has some serious concerns and he is entitled to ask the questions that he wants to. So he prefers not to phone Mr Atkinson - So what?

By all means if you disagree with him then let him know, but the personal abuse has gone too far.

This website like our team has been a little stale recently with far fewer new topics open for discussion, this discussion it would seem is at least stimulating some debate, berating contributors or bullying them will simply make them drift away, a little bit like the football at the new stadium has seen the support drift away.

Give the guy a break.

Edited by boneshaker
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Some of the personal abuse "animal" has been subjected to here is unfair. And quite frankly I am surprised by some of the posters participating in this abuse. I think "animal" has some serious concerns and he is entitled to ask the questions that he wants to. So he prefers not to phone Mr Atkinson - So what?

If you read the tone of his posts you can see why he is getting a hard time.

He is so far up his own arse that it's impossible to take anything he says seriously.

The fact is that he has genuine concerns about the takeover of the club, and expects those taking over the club to post detailed financial business plans on an open internet forum so that he and other customers of that club can review them and pass comment.

That isn't going to happen, for reasons that have already been given countless times.

Hence he has been advised to get in contact with Richard and have that discussion in private, like dozens of equally concerned St.Mirren fans have done before him.

He doesn't want to do that as it doesn't suit his agenda. Instead he just continues to throw his toys from the pram and rattle his abacus from behind his keyboard.

It's far easier to do that than actually do something constructive.

Once he has spoken with the people that are trying to buy the club then he can give us an opinionated insight into the potential failings or otherwise of the model, and THAT will be useful.

Until then it just looks like pure spoilt brat behaviour to me.

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Some of the personal abuse "animal" has been subjected to here is unfair. And quite frankly I am surprised by some of the posters participating in this abuse. I think "animal" has some serious concerns and he is entitled to ask the questions that he wants to. So he prefers not to phone Mr Atkinson - So what?

By all means if you disagree with him then let him know, but the personal abuse has gone too far.

This website like our team has been a little stale recently with far fewer new topics open for discussion, this discussion it would seem is at least stimulating some debate, berating contributors or bullying them will simply make them drift away, a little bit like the football at the new stadium has seen the support drift away.

Give the guy a break.

:blink:

The guy is an attention-seeking keyboard warrior of the most tedious variety. Any constructive points he might have, are entirely clouded in the pejorative, smug, and facile tone of his posts. As has already been said, it's easy for guys like this to sit and fire off volleys from the relative anonymity and security of his front room.

As for his entitlement, sure he's entitled to put his points across in whichever unsophisticated manner he chooses, but he isn't entitled to any respect or grace from the rest of us in response.

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:blink:

The guy is an attention-seeking keyboard warrior of the most tedious variety. Any constructive points he might have, are entirely clouded in the pejorative, smug, and facile tone of his posts. As has already been said, it's easy for guys like this to sit and fire off volleys from the relative anonymity and security of his front room.

As for his entitlement, sure he's entitled to put his points across in whichever unsophisticated manner he chooses, but he isn't entitled to any respect or grace from the rest of us in response.

I'm not about to comment on animal's forum style - but seriously, what does he want? Let's just imagine for one moment Richard Atkinson sat down today and thought "Aye, I'd better explain on the forums exactly what this CIC plan is all about, let the punters know...." How on earth would anyone, anyone at all, get across what is involved without spending an entire day on a post that would probably be the longest and most involved single post in forum history.

I'm guessing here, but I imagine he's more pre-occupied in actually working on the complexities of the matter in hand, dealing with all sorts of issues, and the time to come out and say publicly what is involved will come in due course.

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Some of the personal abuse "animal" has been subjected to here is unfair. And quite frankly I am surprised by some of the posters participating in this abuse. I think "animal" has some serious concerns and he is entitled to ask the questions that he wants to. So he prefers not to phone Mr Atkinson - So what?

By all means if you disagree with him then let him know, but the personal abuse has gone too far.

This website like our team has been a little stale recently with far fewer new topics open for discussion, this discussion it would seem is at least stimulating some debate, berating contributors or bullying them will simply make them drift away, a little bit like the football at the new stadium has seen the support drift away.

Give the guy a break.

How can you personally abuse an anonymous Internet alias? :rolleyes: All he has to do is switch to another Internet alias like say "boneshaker" for example, and all the effort made abusing "animal" will be rendered useless. :P

The entire point of a forum is to present topics for discussion, some more sensible than others and debate them. Some of the most ferocious insults on here are actually between people that know each other very well. For example Bluto is a very nice chap in real life and takes it well. :P

The key to B&WArmy is to identify the wind up aliases and the more serious aliases. Div, for example rarely makes a wind up post, although I think he was at it when defending Gus. :P

I have already had a couple of PM discussions with posters where I have imparted my knowledge of CICs where they have at least got some better understanding of what a CIC is and how it might sit with the club. The reason I was happy to impart my CIC experience was that the posters approached me genuinely interested in my knowledge and just wanted a little more info to help calm their nerves about the unknown.

"animal" is clearly clueless about CICs, and is clearly overly wound up by the situation. If she / he was to PM asking for more information I would probably send them a link to information they have already skimmed through and decided was pish for their agenda. I probably wouldn;t waste my time on explaining my experience in CICs as it would be instantly trashed as the "alias" not necessarily the poster behind it is unable to listen to or accept information that goes against their own already entrenched view point.

Please remember the character traits of aliases does not necessarily reflect the genuine character of the poster that created it. Is "animal" even a St Mirren fan? COuld he be a disgruntled ex-employee of the club? There is no way of knowing. However, my money is on a genuine Saints fan with poor communication skills (bluto will now edit my entire post) and an unhelathy appetite for negative conspiracy theories and sensationalisation. Not a bad thing for an unofficial football forum; however he will get a response. :)

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Please remember the character traits of aliases does not necessarily reflect the genuine character of the poster that created it. Is "animal" even a St Mirren fan? COuld he be a disgruntled ex-employee of the club? There is no way of knowing. However, my money is on a genuine Saints fan with poor communication skills (bluto will now edit my entire post) and an unhelathy appetite for negative conspiracy theories and sensationalisation. Not a bad thing for an unofficial football forum; however he will get a response. :)

Nope.

Can't be arsed. :)

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