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Smisa - Where Are They In All This ?


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Dost my eyes deceive me?

Is the ever cynical Sid starting to sound like a spin doctor for SMISA or is he after a cnutcillor's job after all?

Dear oh dear. How quickly the whiff of power affects a man's judgment.

More likely a seat on the board. Well one of the many boards

You've all got Sid wrong. He's a very modest chap who doesn't like the limelight and prefers to work behind the scenes and not get lots of attention or accolades.

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I am a member of SMISA and got their most recent communication which effectively stated their reasons for being sceptical. My reading of the SMISA letter is not that they have some smoking gun or piece of info that no-one else does, quite the opposite! The committee don’t feel there is currently enough info for them to fully support the project and are concerned that the focus seems to be, 'get the money in, worry about the detail later'.

Smisa have worked very hard over the past 10+ years to support the club in a number of ways, in addition they have amassed £50,000+ of real people’s money, who gave it to them in trust and on the basis that they would do the right thing for St Mirren. There are still questions over the CIC, its operation, its structure and its business plan, SMISA are entitled to wait until these questions have been answered before parting with their cash.

Without wishing ill on the CIC, I'd also add, if this goes tits up in some unforeseen way, £50k in the hands of a genuine and hard working supporters association could become a very important lifeline for the club.

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I am a member of SMISA and got their most recent communication which effectively stated their reasons for being sceptical. My reading of the SMISA letter is not that they have some smoking gun or piece of info that no-one else does, quite the opposite! The committee don’t feel there is currently enough info for them to fully support the project and are concerned that the focus seems to be, 'get the money in, worry about the detail later'.

Smisa have worked very hard over the past 10+ years to support the club in a number of ways, in addition they have amassed £50,000+ of real people’s money, who gave it to them in trust and on the basis that they would do the right thing for St Mirren. There are still questions over the CIC, its operation, its structure and its business plan, SMISA are entitled to wait until these questions have been answered before parting with their cash.

Without wishing ill on the CIC, I'd also add, if this goes tits up in some unforeseen way, £50k in the hands of a genuine and hard working supporters association could become a very important lifeline for the club.

Thanks for that, seems entirely fair and reasonable. I doubt in the bigger picture whether the £50k is a deal breaker to 10000hours bid but it would be a real shame IMO if the SMiSA guys weren't heavily involved in the new organisation.

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The letter is posted 3/4 of the way down this page.......

http://www.blackandwhitearmy.com/forums/index.php/topic/33289-club-sale-developments-very-soon/page__st__380

It was animal who posted it, his post is below but don't think the attachment is shown in quote.

It would seem that SMISA are having similar communication problems with our black and white knight.

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The letter is posted 3/4 of the way down this page.......

http://www.blackandwhitearmy.com/forums/index.php/topic/33289-club-sale-developments-very-soon/page__st__380

It was animal who posted it, his post is below but don't think the attachment is shown in quote.

Thanks for finding that Scott. Letter seems fair enough too as far as I am concerned.

Hope they can sort it out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

SMiSA are having a wee dig at this thread in the match day programme today. jerry.gif

Hopefully then we will get a statement from SMiSA clarifying where they stand as we are still none the wiser.

Irrelevant whether we are members or not. The stance of the independent supporters association carries some weight.

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I don't think it really matters at this point. It is all about the numbers. A rally of support from SMiSA would be a nice to have; however the nature of the org makes that difficult. I don't think there is anything to be gained by poking them with an Internet stick either.

Yul Brynner gets a mention though. lol.gif

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Could you or someone else let us see it,Sid?

I'll type it out, but I better get a few likes for the effort. tongue.png (some creative editing might take place in the process).

CIC:

There has been a series of public meetings relating to the 10000 Hours proposal the most recent of which was held here at St Mirren Park on Thursday 19th April. Being the first public meeting in 5 months we were surprised at the very low turnout. Despite the lack of attendees the meeting finally produced a level of debate so far unwitnessed and from what we could gather those who had made the effort to come along generally agreed with this.

SMiSA have been in discussions with 10000 Hours since August 2010 and having received a mandate from out members to support this in principle we had at one point been looking for a method for contributing funds into this project. Over the course of the last 4 months we have encountered communication issues which have been previously reported on this page for which we have thankfully received an apology. The crux of the issue is SMiSA cannot move forward without key information and 10000 Hours cannot offer this at this time. We are jointly looking at a resolution to this and will report in due course. Communication and the flow of information are vital no one should underestimate this.

We feel there has been a distinct lack of public debate over this proposal. SOme of the public meetings have been a bit flat however it would be fair to say anyone initially encountering the proposal may take a bit of time to understand it but we would now expect the debate to be ramping up somewhat. While we all have to live in the www world the internet mudslinging around this proposal is not really helpful. At the previously mentioned public meeting we had a situation where an internet thread had been generated regarding happenings at the meeting by a baldy bawbag who was not in attendance. What was most disappointing about this was the baldy bawbag who generated this was in fact confirmed earlier in the evening as one of the 10000 Hours sausage roll theives. We have also had the bizarre on-line posting of a Saints fan that while clearly in opposition to the scheme was making some valid points worthy of debate. Unfortunately the individual choose the right of internet anonymity and was posting under the pseudonym of a Hollywood cowboy. Is this worthy behaviour surrounding the future of this football club?

If you are in favour of this get involved, you are going to have to at some point so let's see who is up for this, and what you can offer. If you are not then you must let it be known why and while it's not essential if you have an alternative to offer please say so. In many ways what you have to say is less important than the effort you make to engage face to face with other Saints fans and say it.

Where now? Well we have been informed that a current business plan will be issued once the 87 Club which forms part of the proposal is launched. There is also a draft of the constitution online at the 10000 Hours website and if you are considering joining then I would hope that you have a read over this. We are reviewing the document and will shortly be issuing our comments.

Nothing much of much interest other than the "you're a disgrace baldy webmeister" bit. jerry.gif

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Thanks for your efforts,Sid. Wasn't too hard to spot some of your creative editing. If I had to sum it up SMISA seemed in effect to be saying they have some doubts but no one else should really have any. Where I have to agree with them is that 10,000 hours have been conspicuous by their absence for weeks if not months at a time. If anyone asks what's going on they get the old answer of why don't you ring us. Why don't they push hard and improve their PR to at least schoolboy level?

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I'd agree with that Rick but as I've said before 10000hours isn't some faceless organisation - it's all of us. If the PR is poor then its a job you would expect one of the members to step up to do.

I've given the example before but another membership organisation I was involved with was Motherwell AC. When I joined the committee they had a paltry 6 track and field athletes and the desire was to boost numbers. Law and District overshadowed the club and always had press coverage so I had a go at writing copy for the local press. I wasn't very good but the effort brought in a few new members - one of whom happened to be the owner of The BIG Partnership - one of Scotlands largest PR companies. Within 12 months we had over 150 member athletes and we were getting half page articles in The Sun and The Record.

If the common feeling is that 10000hours PR is shit why hasnt one of the members stepped forward? Maybe we won't get as lucky as I did but there are plenty of journalists among the group that could do the job.

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I agreed with SMiSA on the night. The thread should never have been created. Can't think why we would seek to press them for their position on the CIC when they made their position clear that they want more information. We are all in that position. We all agree in principle, but no one is committed to anything financially until the fans actually vote through the constitution.

Have asked umpteen times for the process to be outlined for the more confused interested parties. Here's my take on it:

Fan investment commitment numbers attained - d.d.s and 87 club.

Club accepts those numbers

Social Funders agree to release their funding

Prospective member meetings to agree formation of CIC / Co-op

Agreement on constitution of the CIC / Co-op

Elect CIC / 10000 Hours Board Members

Elect SMFC Board members

Money starts being taken from accounts.

I can see that it is correct for some information to be kept from open public gaze until a certain point in that process is reached. Until we reach that point I don't think any of us can be in a different position from the one being declared by SMiSA. They have agreed in principle and that is pretty much everyone that is involved's position. The only difference with SMiSA is that they represent a group and their group contains people who do not want the CIC to go ahead. That makes their position more complicated than ours. Badgering them for more information than they can provide at this point is as daft as them badgering 10000 Hours for more information than they can provide at this point.

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I think the problems with SMISA highlight the failure of Richard to keep all fans on board to what was once an exciting prospect. His apathy (even allowing for being let down in first bid)has been shocking. The first apology accepted.....New website with no response! shocking. Campaign to MP's pathetic. Second apology not for me.....REA has treated a great idea with the worst PR in history (and no Stuart.....he needs to do his own PR until the deal completes.) He has made a point on this forum of getting one member to come down for a chat when this member has repeatedly said no. Although I don't agree with Somner 9 I respect his point of view and to try and force a meeting shows a lack of class for a leader. In summary ...a cic is a great idea....Richard has done well to secure £1M in payback funding but he is way way short of being the person we need to take this forward.

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I think the problems with SMISA highlight the failure of Richard to keep all fans on board to what was once an exciting prospect. His apathy (even allowing for being let down in first bid)has been shocking. The first apology accepted.....New website with no response! shocking. Campaign to MP's pathetic. Second apology not for me.....REA has treated a great idea with the worst PR in history (and no Stuart.....he needs to do his own PR until the deal completes.) He has made a point on this forum of getting one member to come down for a chat when this member has repeatedly said no. Although I don't agree with Somner 9 I respect his point of view and to try and force a meeting shows a lack of class for a leader. In summary ...a cic is a great idea....Richard has done well to secure £1M in payback funding but he is way way short of being the person we need to take this forward.

At the risk of paraphrasing Sid - it's Tuesday.....give it a couple of days and you'll be alright again. :rolleyes:

Reborn, it's a members club. Like any members club the membership is responsible for the handling of it's press releases amongst everything else. Your demands tonight are just f**king silly.

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At the risk of paraphrasing Sid - it's Tuesday.....give it a couple of days and you'll be alright again. rolleyes.gif

Reborn, it's a members club. Like any members club the membership is responsible for the handling of it's press releases amongst everything else. Your demands tonight are just f**king silly.

I really don't think you should paraphrase Sid because when he says something it is usually original and sometimes funny. In the year I have been on here I can count both your funny and original posts on one finger.1eye.gif

Edited by reborn saint
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At the risk of paraphrasing Sid - it's Tuesday.....give it a couple of days and you'll be alright again. rolleyes.gif

Reborn, it's a members club. Like any members club the membership is responsible for the handling of it's press releases amongst everything else. Your demands tonight are just f**king silly.

I think it's unfair to call it a club, Stu. I don't see how it can count as a finite body until it completes all the formalities. At best it is an embryo club made up of a disparate group of people. If Richard needs someone to handle the PR, and I think he does, it should have been sorted out a while back. You seem to want guys to volunteer to help when no one has asked for it.

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My original post on this thread was not meant to be an attack on SMiSA, if anything quite the reverse.

Despite a relatively low number of members I personally think the opinion of SMiSA is highly relevant and important.

I can completely understand why the guys are reluctant to just chuck over £50k without having plenty of assurances in place and having all the information they need to make that decision.

I just wondered what their current position was, as it seemed as an outsider that they were going cold on the idea and that thought, and the underlying reasons behind it concerned me.

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I think it's unfair to call it a club, Stu. I don't see how it can count as a finite body until it completes all the formalities. At best it is an embryo club made up of a disparate group of people. If Richard needs someone to handle the PR, and I think he does, it should have been sorted out a while back. You seem to want guys to volunteer to help when no one has asked for it.

Rick, at the only meeting I attended Richard made a point in saying he wanted to step back a bit so that people would understand that this wasn't all about him. The message was pretty clear. This is a community trying to buy a majority shareholding in a football club and yet within that community there's only one person who appears to be willing to step up and do all the work, and when he does he's got a range of snipers trying desperately to shoot him down.

The fact that direct debit payments haven't been drawn down or that the constitution hasn't been set in stone yet doesn't mean the "club" doesn't exist. Surely all the 1000+ members are united in that they want this to happen, so why not step up and get involved if you have the skills required to fix the bits you see as broken.

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Guest somner9

Love it when people (not we are the people, which does'nt mean anything) criticise, slate, poo-poo others comments, then suggest they (others) should volunteer to "Get Involved"

Ffs its very much like school playground pushing one another forward because you haven't got the bottle!

I'll do 10000hours PR..!

First press release...... 09:36am 2 May 2012....

As a fund raiser for the Cic we've taken the concept of "Spot The Ball" and given it a contemporary spin!

From this day hence it will be known as "Spot the 10000 hours Communication/Regular Update"

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Rick, at the only meeting I attended Richard made a point in saying he wanted to step back a bit so that people would understand that this wasn't all about him. The message was pretty clear. This is a community trying to buy a majority shareholding in a football club and yet within that community there's only one person who appears to be willing to step up and do all the work, and when he does he's got a range of snipers trying desperately to shoot him down.

The fact that direct debit payments haven't been drawn down or that the constitution hasn't been set in stone yet doesn't mean the "club" doesn't exist. Surely all the 1000+ members are united in that they want this to happen, so why not step up and get involved if you have the skills required to fix the bits you see as broken.

Fair enough,Stu, but doesn't it again demonstrate a lack of communication? Richard should explain exactly what he wants, spell it out. He could do it in this forum. I genuinely believe there are some talented guys who feature on these pages regularly (Don't all blush at once) who might come forward if invited. Almost all of us have the best interests of St.Mirren at heart. The events of the last couple of months have demostrated just how much more comfortable we would be if the CIC/Co-Op entity was in force.

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Love it when people (not we are the people, which does'nt mean anything) criticise, slate, poo-poo others comments, then suggest they (others) should volunteer to "Get Involved"

Ffs its very much like school playground pushing one another forward because you haven't got the bottle!

I'll do 10000hours PR..!

First press release...... 09:36am 2 May 2012....

As a fund raiser for the Cic we've taken the concept of "Spot The Ball" and given it a contemporary spin!

From this day hence it will be known as "Spot the 10000 hours Communication/Regular Update"

Nothing to do with bottle on my part. I could offer to do the PR, but as I've said I already know I wasn't very good at it. Then there is the fact that having my name on anything relating to 10000hours would be a massive PR disaster in itself. And then there is the fact that I'm heavy committed elsewhere doing my bit for my local community.

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Fair enough,Stu, but doesn't it again demonstrate a lack of communication? Richard should explain exactly what he wants, spell it out. He could do it in this forum. I genuinely believe there are some talented guys who feature on these pages regularly (Don't all blush at once) who might come forward if invited. Almost all of us have the best interests of St.Mirren at heart. The events of the last couple of months have demostrated just how much more comfortable we would be if the CIC/Co-Op entity was in force.

Aye - but why is everyone sitting around waiting to be told? St Mirren fans are forever posting on here their bullshit bluster about how St Mirren is "their" club. Well here is an opportunity for them to make that a reality but with the opportunity right in front of them instead of grasping the chance to put their stamp on it everyone appears to be sitting around twiddling their thumbs - trusting a consortium that isn't listening, and leaving everything to a man from Ayrshire who didn't support St Mirren at the start of this process.

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