[Archived] Venky's willing to sell?

[LeChuck]

- The club will return to the Premiership in no more than 2 years

To me that is a massive problem if it is part of the plan. There is plenty of recent anecdotal evidence to suggest it is hugely unrealistic.

The only clubs that tend to bounce back quickly are yo-yo clubs who almost planned to relegated from the PL in the first place using the idea that they could mount a strong promotion push the following year, or larger clubs who have the financial backing to keep most of the team together (Newcastle, West Ham).

We are nowhere near either of those categories. We would undergo HUGE changes on the playing side and would do well just to stay in the Championship in those two years. It will take longer than that to rebuild and have a stable team capable of getting out of a very competitive division. Middlesbrough are a decent example - they had to go through a few years of restructuring on the playing side before gathering a stable team of good Championship players - only now are they threatening to return. And that's with a chairman prepared to invest his own money in the team.

Given that parachute payments last for 4 years, I think that should be the absolute minimum to be aimed/budgeted for. 2 years is incredibly unlikely, and therefore makes the plan dangerous.

[TBTF]

I do not think the plan even involves the two Ian's. It was not long ago that Glen was commiting about Ian Battersby's trip to Pune and Jerome Andersons role in the same. Even though Ian Battersby answered and gave good explanation to have that trip happened and the arrangements. That appears to have been rejected by Glen.

I think I would be happy to support a consortium with the Two Ian's involved. But buying the club with fans wages is not a good idea. We already pay the players, the club etc everytime we go through the turnstyle. If we were talking about an amature club, such as Ebbsfleet who did a simular thing, it would be different.

BRAGS idea is dependant on Rovers going down. Well they must have cursed WBA yesterday. Their victory and Rovers the day before, took us out the bottom 3. BRAG's motives from now on will be questioned by many, even if it has not already been questioned.

Ur right Pafel.There seems to be confusion in some places about who is linked with who. Currie/Battersby won't be within a million miles of this hair brained crap.If they deal with the people that everyone says they do then can you see them scrambling round for some pocket money to buy the club? I am holding out alot of hope that the 'Silence of the Ians' as opposed to messageboard squabbling from BRAG is actually positive.

[Sparky Marky]

Who the hell is going to stand the debt. I assume venky's have the debt secured against the holding company with Barclays. If this plan came into fruition who would barclays come to if the payments were not made?

[OJRovers]

Who the hell is going to stand the debt. I assume venky's have the debt secured against the holding company with Barclays. If this plan came into fruition who would barclays come to if the payments were not made?

The current debt has security against the future Prem League income and other BRFC assets. Nothing is secured against Venky's assets.

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

Just read through Mr Wilds proposal and some things dont add up.

In the financial projections (2013 / 2014):

• wage expense drops from £47m to £23.8m
• other operation exp drops from £15m to £7m
• debt service drops from £5m to £1m (yet debt only drops by £1m)
• the club is bought for £0 outlay (free???)

I assume that these figures are based on being relegated to the championship and taking 2 seasons to be promoted, but wages would not drop to half without drastic changes to player and staff contracts and there is the issue of paying off those who will be told that their services are no longer required.

Other operating expendiure to also half - heating bills are still the same in the championship as in the prem as are many things - there will also be long term contracts in place that will need to be renegotiated to achieve that figure.

Debt - the bank would have to be willing to forget any interest payments - not even Barclays are likely to agree to that.

Cost of purchase ? The Venkys to give away their asset - I dont think so unfortunately.

Not even the Trust and JW managed to turnover a constant profit, yet that is what the projection assume.

It also does not account for future transfer fee outlays except that Rovers would have to sell to buy players.

The proposal reads like a business plan for a business not a football club - IMO on the basis of this early proposal MR Wild is close to making the same mistake as the Venkys in that drastic investment would be needed but is not accounted for.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for the idea of a takeover but Daniels plan had more substance to it and covered these issues along with sustained funding but Mr Wilds plan does not.

Thanks for the great post. This is my proposal, albeit a heavily modified and scaled down version of it.

Wages - yes this is a huge drop in expenditure - however, if the statements Karen Silk made in this year's accounts are correct, there are very good relegation clauses in place in the player contracts. However, as nobody has access to this information, it is an assumption, admittedly.

Other operating expenses - Traditionally these have been under £10m per year pre-Venkys, and this in the Premier League. The largest line items here are Player Amortization (£7.8m) and depreciation of fixed assets (building and fixtures, £1.4m) So that's over £9m right there. Sown up in that player amortization number is player agent's fees, which were more than triple what we traditionally have paid out. In the Championship player amortization would be greatly reduced, as we would most likely sell off our highest wage earners and players that would want to stay in the Premier League and would attract buyers who could facilitate that. Samba, for example would lessen this number by a couple of million himself, plus there would most certainly be a net profit on his sale recorded considering the price we paid for him originally, even though we have renewed his contract a couple of times. So I don't think this a very far fetched number, as everything else put together under this line item adds up to less than £1m, including interest expense.

Debt service - The debt service refers to paying down the capital balance by £1m each year. This is actually a bit on the conservative side, as it is being widely reported that Barclay's are going to have their £10m before the end of the season. So it is very possible that the debt level would be £10m at the time if any possible takeover. The current debt facility earns interest at LIBOR + 3,25% or on average 4,25% annually. This means that at the stated £15m would earn £637,500 in interest annually. This is accounted for in the other operating expenses line.

Cost of purchase - This is of course a big one. Arguments for this are that both Borckhall and Ewood are protected from being sold by Venkys due to covenants in the purchase agreement they signed with the Walker Trust. So these really are not in the equation when negotiating a purchase price. Secondly, the main value Rovers have for Venlys is in their League status. Virtually all branding and marketing value is lost if we are relegated. In addition, this would give them an option of spinning their exit as a noble gesture, "returning" the club to the supporters. There could also be non-cash sweeteners, such a possibly allowing right of first refusal on advantageous ad-board or sponsorship deals for example. It is all about finding what would make Venkys feel good about what they were doing.

As stated by other, Mrs. D is a business woman, and she surely recognizes that the Club has been devalued substantially since they purchased it, even not withstanding possible relegation.

As said, I am not claiming this is easy or that everything is going to be exactly as on a piece of paper. However, it has not just been thrown together without any thought either. Those number didn't get there just out of thin air or on a whim.

[PAFELL]

Well if Wayne Wild, Glen Mullen are looking for us to say yes or no to this plan.

My answer is NO. I do not believe it is feesable.

It also appears that the focus and motive of the protest organisers has officially changed. Which means the same for BRAG.

[Sparky Marky]

The current debt has security against the future Prem League income and other BRFC assets. Nothing is secured against Venky's assets.

Yes but who was originally underwritten for the debt by barclays. Therw must be a debtor if there is a creditor. If venkys never actually paid their payments who would be liable?

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

Its not being marketed as a contingency plan though Dave. The plan is being pushed now as the only alternative that BRAG are coming up with, and implies then that we have to be relegated for this to have a chance to succeed.

If this marketed as a "should we go down and/or into administration we need to be in a position to take over" I think it would get more outside support, but if this is seen as a BRAG initiative then, given they havent yet reached out to the majority of fans, then many will just ignore it.

Anybody who is expected to come up with £1000 will rightly demand the right to ask questions before investing. Calling them thick will only drive people away.

A few questions that i've got already are :-

Does Daniel have an alternative plan to cover what would happen if we stay up ?

Who gets what cut out of any deal and how much ? Including potential positions within the club ?

Does this plan cover any other potential pitfalls and how would it cover us should we need further investment ?

Would this be managed by the supporters trust ??

To answer your questions:

No, I don't, because it is assumed that Venkys will not want to sell if we do stay up. The actions they have taken in the last couple of months have shown that. (Trying to bring finances in line after their incredible blunders of 2011, even though they will not take responsibility and put in new money to do that)

Nobody gets any cut - Wayne and I have only talked about trying to get at least two of the old Board to come back home in the event it succeeds, if not all of them, so nobody has eyes on any senior positions within the club - no money would be exchanged except to be put into an investment fund under Rovers stewardship, and the shares of the club going to the organization under which the supporters bought the club. In addition I know that I personally would not stand for any Trustee Committee position within that supporters organization. For one, it would require another international relocation, and that would have to be justified to my wife and kids

This plan has attempted to be conservative in its nature and is based upon a commitment to a budget structure than follows our turnover, not one that follows a wage level and tries to make everything fit. I have done endless research and tea dup on all the things that have gone wring at many other clubs, and 99% of the time it comes down to ownership greed and shady chairmen...it is amazing - but in reality of course nothing is guaranteed, but I would like to think that with the club being owned by the supporters, it would be run in the most responsible fashion possible, as there would not be a single large ego in charge.

I would love it for the Supporter's Trust to step up and take on that role - it would be ideal - but it would require them to change legal status to an Industrial and Providential Society under British law for the PL or Football League to accept them as owners. Without getting into too much detail, I would envision an elected Trustee Committee that represented the Supporters' Trust as the ownership body to the Club, in addition to having Board Member Representatives.

Actually, if you had bothered to read what I wrote I think you will find that I didn't suggest anybody wanted to see the Rovers relegated. I note that Mr. Wild states that his plan is an option only if the club are relegated and that it wouldn't work if we remain in the Premier League. Personally, I believe it wouldn't work in the Championship either, but that's only my opinion.

As you clearly have difficulty in taking on board opinions other than your own it's difficult to see how you are going to cope with a serious debate on this subject. As I said earlier, opting to insult the very people you want to buy into this "pie in the sky" scheme is not the greatest marketing strategy, indeed, it's the sort of strategy I would expect from the present owners.

I wasn't referring to you, you, I was referring to you, as in 'one' - if one thinks...I'm sorry that didn't come over properly.

But shouldn't it be drawn up quietly, in the background?

There is no way that should be presented to the public whilst it relies in the thing we all fear the most to make it happen.

This is a fair statement - but the reason that we decided to come out now is because number one - we need time for people to digest it and gauge whether it is impossible or not. Two, all traditional background channels have been shut off for some time and it became clear that a different approach was necessary.

Thats a very fair point - IMO they should have worded it so that it was clear that this was a plan which would be initiated in the worse case scenario of Rovers being relegated. That would have then allayed fears of the supporters about what might happen to their club if relegated, it could then have been worked on like you say in the background.

Very valid point, and we all see what the result of putting it out there in the first place has been - total uproar! Then again, we are 2/3 of the way through the season now. Not being sarcastic at all when I say we probably could have done well putting a big red "In case of disaster only" disclaimer on the thing.

Well the average lottery jackpot win is £2million so if 15 fans won £2million we would have £30million in the kitty. Sounds as feasible as the other idea I think. Who's in?

:)

Finally a serious alternative!!! and no abuse to boot, good one!

So 20,000 supporters @ £2.00 ea gives us a 0.0171626972% chance of winning.

So we all need to buy 5827 tickets to cover all the options, however because the jackpot is only 32% of the prize fund we can expect to pick some winnings beyond just the jackpot. So lets borrow a few million quid from a bank for the extra tickets (as we will get this back in addition to the jackpot) and call it 5000 tickets each so £10,000 per supporter will do.

The model is also infinitley scaleable, each ticket (or shall we call them shares) can go for as little as £2.00 if neccessary, we just have to increase the number of supporters to compensate.

Sound familar? How long have you been working on it?

Careful, opinions like that will get you branded thick!

Although there are a couple of flaws in the plan - please don't ask questions or point them out!

Wait a minute...what if the £10m raised was put into buying lottery tickets? Would we have a good chance of increasing our money? Appreciate the sarcasm there, it is a good dig at me.

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

Who the hell is going to stand the debt. I assume venky's have the debt secured against the holding company with Barclays. If this plan came into fruition who would barclays come to if the payments were not made?

As others have said, the debt is secured against the TV money for the most part, and some "lesser" assets, i.e. not Brockhall, and not Ewood Park. The holding company doesn't actually have any money, it just "holds" the shares as a buffer between Venkys and Rovers. So the Bank would never agree to securing money against the holding company's non-existent assets. Barclays doesn't even have to sign over the debt to the new owners, as it is already inside the Rovers PLC. They would just have to sanction the new ownership. This would take meetings and negotiations with the bank, as per normal business procedures.

Yes but who was originally underwritten for the debt by barclays. Therw must be a debtor if there is a creditor. If venkys never actually paid their payments who would be liable?

Blackburn Rovers Football Club and Athletic PLC.

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

To me that is a massive problem if it is part of the plan. There is plenty of recent anecdotal evidence to suggest it is hugely unrealistic.

The only clubs that tend to bounce back quickly are yo-yo clubs who almost planned to relegated from the PL in the first place using the idea that they could mount a strong promotion push the following year, or larger clubs who have the financial backing to keep most of the team together (Newcastle, West Ham).

We are nowhere near either of those categories. We would undergo HUGE changes on the playing side and would do well just to stay in the Championship in those two years. It will take longer than that to rebuild and have a stable team capable of getting out of a very competitive division. Middlesbrough are a decent example - they had to go through a few years of restructuring on the playing side before gathering a stable team of good Championship players - only now are they threatening to return. And that's with a chairman prepared to invest his own money in the team.

Given that parachute payments last for 4 years, I think that should be the absolute minimum to be aimed/budgeted for. 2 years is incredibly unlikely, and therefore makes the plan dangerous.

Valid concern. The parachute payments are in the following format: 16-16-8-8 (million £) The best shot you have at gaining back promotion is the first two years - you have the ability to maintain a wage bill that is much higher than your opposition. Years 3 and 4 reduce this advantage dramatically - and assuming you don't have deep pocket or high-risk taking ownership, you have to rescale your budget (which would already be done in player contract clauses) to reduce your largest expense, player wages. So instead of being able to support a wage bill that is in the top 4 of the league, in year 3-4 you have one that only just gets you into the top half, and then becomes middling afterwards. Of course if promotion is not achieved these changes have to be made, that's life, but you still have a football club to cheer on. A lot of perspective has been lost in the rich years under Jack Walker, who was a one of a kind legend, and people's expectations appear to have been really skewed. I would rather have a club to love than none at all.

I know that is not an answer to your question, or one that you wanted to hear, in any case, and I don't have a magical one that will fill you all with inspiration and falling over yourselves with deity worship. Only £100m in my back pocket would do that, I know that. If we are relegated - IF - then we need to be realistic and think about saving our club first and foremost.

[Ste B]

To answer your questions:

No, I don't, because it is assumed that Venkys will not want to sell if we do stay up. The actions they have taken in the last couple of months have shown that. (Trying to bring finances in line after their incredible blunders of 2011, even though they will not take responsibility and put in new money to do that)

Nobody gets any cut - Wayne and I have only talked about trying to get at least two of the old Board to come back home in the event it succeeds, if not all of them, so nobody has eyes on any senior positions within the club - no money would be exchanged except to be put into an investment fund under Rovers stewardship, and the shares of the club going to the organization under which the supporters bought the club. In addition I know that I personally would not stand for any Trustee Committee position within that supporters organization. For one, it would require another international relocation, and that would have to be justified to my wife and kids

This plan has attempted to be conservative in its nature and is based upon a commitment to a budget structure than follows our turnover, not one that follows a wage level and tries to make everything fit. I have done endless research and tea dup on all the things that have gone wring at many other clubs, and 99% of the time it comes down to ownership greed and shady chairmen...it is amazing - but in reality of course nothing is guaranteed, but I would like to think that with the club being owned by the supporters, it would be run in the most responsible fashion possible, as there would not be a single large ego in charge.

I would love it for the Supporter's Trust to step up and take on that role - it would be ideal - but it would require them to change legal status to an Industrial and Providential Society under British law for the PL or Football League to accept them as owners. Without getting into too much detail, I would envision an elected Trustee Committee that represented the Supporters' Trust as the ownership body to the Club, in addition to having Board Member Representatives.

Thanks for the answers - pretty much what I wanted to hear. I believe that the Supporters Trust is being setup in such a way which is why its taking so much time.

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

I do not think the plan even involves the two Ian's. It was not long ago that Glen was commiting about Ian Battersby's trip to Pune and Jerome Andersons role in the same. Even though Ian Battersby answered and gave good explanation to have that trip happened and the arrangements. That appears to have been rejected by Glen.

I think I would be happy to support a consortium with the Two Ian's involved. But buying the club with fans wages is not a good idea. We already pay the players, the club etc everytime we go through the turnstyle. If we were talking about an amature club, such as Ebbsfleet who did a simular thing, it would be different.

BRAGS idea is dependant on Rovers going down. Well they must have cursed WBA yesterday. Their victory and Rovers the day before, took us out the bottom 3. BRAG's motives from now on will be questioned by many, even if it has not already been questioned.

When MyFootballClub bought Ebbsfleet, it was not an amateur club. It is not now. I actually did a case study on MyFC on the blog of the Investment Fund. There are a lot of problems with the way MyFC works that make it not a viable concept for a club at our level, and this plan is nothing like it in execution or concept.

I too would see a marriage between this idea and the two Ian's as an ideal partnership, it would make the capital raising much more feasible and would gain wider support with three of the area's most prominent and successful people working together to make something happen. All for it.

It is very unfair to say that about BRAG. At best. I actually exchanged words with my brother in law yesterday at my nephew's 2nd birthday. He had Fletcher in his fantasy team and when Wolves drew 1-1 he was thrilled - I actually cheered out loud when WBA went 1-3 up and went giddy when the 5th went in. A bunch of reserved Swedes stared at me. Not even having played and we were out of the bottom three! To think we would have been 16th but for a horrendous second half performance on Saturday even if it would have been only on goal difference...

[LeChuck]

Valid concern. The parachute payments are in the following format: 16-16-8-8 (million £) The best shot you have at gaining back promotion is the first two years - you have the ability to maintain a wage bill that is much higher than your opposition. Years 3 and 4 reduce this advantage dramatically - and assuming you don't have deep pocket or high-risk taking ownership, you have to rescale your budget (which would already be done in player contract clauses) to reduce your largest expense, player wages. So instead of being able to support a wage bill that is in the top 4 of the league, in year 3-4 you have one that only just gets you into the top half, and then becomes middling afterwards. Of course if promotion is not achieved these changes have to be made, that's life, but you still have a football club to cheer on. A lot of perspective has been lost in the rich years under Jack Walker, who was a one of a kind legend, and people's expectations appear to have been really skewed. I would rather have a club to love than none at all.

I know that is not an answer to your question, or one that you wanted to hear, in any case, and I don't have a magical one that will fill you all with inspiration and falling over yourselves with deity worship. Only £100m in my back pocket would do that, I know that. If we are relegated - IF - then we need to be realistic and think about saving our club first and foremost.

Thanks for taking the time to provide a lengthy response.

Although not explicit within what you've written, it sounds like the plan doesn't fall apart if promotion isn't achieved, which isn't what I had assumed initially. I still think a minimum of 4 years should be planned for based on recent evidence though.

The only problem I have really is...

The best shot you have at gaining back promotion is the first two years

This isn't supported by any evidence. I know that you are using the theory that the higher budget means you should be able to have better players, but this rarely happens to be the case in the Championship. In reality you're carrying poor players on inflated Premier League wages - the ones not deemed good enough by other PL clubs to be purchased. You don't have any room to bring in players, it's just a case of trying to shed as many high earners as possible.

Teams like Norwich, Swansea, Blackpool etc. wouldn't have been anywhere near the top of wage budget spending in the years they got promoted. Money in the Championship is far less influential than money in the Premier League. Just look at Leicester as an example. Stability, good management and players experienced at Championship level are far more important.

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

Thanks for taking the time to provide a lengthy response.

Although not explicit within what you've written, it sounds like the plan doesn't fall apart if promotion isn't achieved, which isn't what I had assumed initially. I still think a minimum of 4 years should be planned for based on recent evidence though.

The only problem I have really is...

This isn't supported by any evidence. I know that you are using the theory that the higher budget means you should be able to have better players, but this rarely happens to be the case in the Championship. In reality you're carrying poor players on inflated Premier League wages - the ones not deemed good enough by other PL clubs to be purchased. You don't have any room to bring in players, it's just a case of trying to shed as many high earners as possible.

Teams like Norwich, Swansea, Blackpool etc. wouldn't have been anywhere near the top of wage budget spending in the years they got promoted. Money in the Championship is far less influential than money in the Premier League. Just look at Leicester as an example. Stability, good management and players experienced at Championship level are far more important.

Very good analysis. Blackpool actually did risk by increasing their wage bill, but it still wasn't in the £20m range, you are correct. You are also correct that inflated PL wages are a problem, and the very top earners would have to go - they probably wouldn't want to stay anyway, as they could get PL football somewhere else. I also agree that our squad was a bit special last time we were in the Championship...I understand this completely. I am not familiar with Norwich or Swansea's wage bills, I can look into it - but the key here will be how well the Club has handled relegation clauses in contracts - hopefully with the younger first teasers those are firmly in place, and the statement by Karen Silk in the annual accounts appears to indicate this. Hopefully a massive player restructuring wouldn't be required. I know that hopefully word will be latched onto, but as there is no access to that knowledge, one can only work to what one knows or has evidence of.

This is one of the reasons why the first real priority would be to see to the manager position and his staff - it will be the building blocks with which the club rebuilds it culture and will influence how willing to stay certain players are. A lot of different factors go into it - it is definitely no a simple process, and the financial projections certainly do not tell the whole story, that is for certain, and was never believed to be the case.

[Ste B]

Dan - Can I suggest that you collate these questions / answers and put them into some sort of FAQ that potential purchasers can read.

Theres no doubt that many will be asking the same thing if you're asking them to part with a fair chunk of money.

[rhodie]

Is it not possible that maybe a totally new outlook would be more feasible.Instead of wishing/dreaming that Venkys are going to give away 10`s of millions of pounds to complete strangers for a cause they aren`t interested in, maybe a more feasible way would be to keep them as owners/part owners but in a silent capacity.This would take pressure off them and put stability back in the club.Surely if you kept them in at say half owners it would let them save face and at the same time greatly reduce the amount to be raised.

Another option would be a phased takeover of ownership possibly over a 10 year period. This would also enable an easier financial plan to be arranged and still give them time to get bored of their baby.

The good thing about any of these ideas is that they are not dependant on us going down first and could at least be a more attainable option.

[Amo]

Is it not possible that maybe a totally new outlook would be more feasible.Instead of wishing/dreaming that Venkys are going to give away 10`s of millions of pounds to complete strangers for a cause they aren`t interested in, maybe a more feasible way would be to keep them as owners/part owners but in a silent capacity.

Could they get anymore silent?

[rhodie]

Could they get anymore silent?

Funny enough as I posted that and reread it I thought the same.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Its fantastic that Rovers fans / business men are prepared to pull the club out of the brown stuff..I tip my hat to you people.

BUT,I just cant help feeling its all pie in the sky,Venky's willing to sell for just 10 million (or even 'give us away') if relegation is realised?...surely the Rao's aren't that daft.

There is also a real possiblity a fans takover in this financial climate could be disastrous.

Once more, I appreciate the efforts but remain sceptical.

[EwoodDawn]

Daniel, please excuse my nosiness and if you have already disclosed this info recently (I have been laid low with a bit if a virus and the old grey matter is a bit 'foggy' at the mo) but would it be too rude to enquire as to what sort of job you have? I think I read somewhere on this thread that you are indeed working today. My boss wouldn't be too happy if I sent nearly 30 posts when I should have been cracking on with my duties. Yours must be very understanding. Or are you your own boss?

[Majiball]

They have a website, and a Facebook Group, where every is out in the open. Of course some things have to remain discrete, otherwise they never would get anywhere trying to open a dialogue. But just because it isn't spelled out on these forums doesn't mean it isn't out there in the open domain.

Is it all out in the open?

I am very curious why Wayne Wild would ask Glen Mullan about your proposal? So wayne saw it and thought i know that GM chap leading the protests is the man to go speak too?

There's more to that side of things isn't there?

PS try not to respond with insults, I won't react well, if you can?

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

1329157280[/url]' post='1225542']

Daniel, please excuse my nosiness and if you have already disclosed this info recently (I have been laid low with a bit if a virus and the old grey matter is a bit 'foggy' at the mo) but would it be too rude to enquire as to what sort of job you have? I think I read somewhere on this thread that you are indeed working today. My boss wouldn't be too happy if I sent nearly 30 posts when I should have been cracking on with my duties. Yours must be very understanding. Or are you your own boss?

Absolutely, Dawn! I take no offense to questions about my professional or even to a certain extent my personal life, and will try to answer any of those questions in addition to those about the initiative.

I am the Chief Financial Officer at a tech-sales company in Sweden. I just recently finished doing the annual accounts for the company, which is called Jobtip Services by the way, and late January and February are a light periods, and I actually have taken holidays back to visit my parents and siblings in the US with my family in the past. Then comes March and the auditors cone in to go over the accounts, and we have our biggest and most in-depth Board Meeting of the year and things chug along nicely until the summer holiday break that goes on here in Sweden in July.

I do have a lot more free reign in my roll than maybe I normally would have, but that is because the ownership is very satisfied with my work, and as long as I produce the goods, they probably won't mind my methods, within reason of course. I'm not here to write my CV right now, but I had a large part in turning the company's fortunes around mainly through renegotiating bad contracts with our bank and major business partners. I am actually pushing it a little bit right now being on here as much as I have been the past 24 hours, but I think this is important.

[Hughesy]

Theoretical question.... IF we had a solid ownership in place, would anyone be willing to contribute say 5% of their take home pay to the club?? Similar to how some religions receive income?!? That way people only pay in an affordable amount relevant to their circumstances?

Surely an excellent way to boost incomes if a large number of fans/ local businesses would be willing to sign up?

Perhaps it could be linked to benefits, such as it covers the cost of your season ticket and discounts other items the club may offer, such as corporate events or club shop merchandise etc.

[Ste B]

Theoretical question.... IF we had a solid ownership in place, would anyone be willing to contribute say 5% of their take home pay to the club?? Similar to how some religions receive income?!? That way people only pay in an affordable amount relevant to their circumstances?

No. Ludicrous Idea. Everybody should pay the same.

[OscarRaven]

Wait a minute...what if the £10m raised was put into buying lottery tickets? Would we have a good chance of increasing our money? Appreciate the sarcasm there, it is a good dig at me.

Welcome back and every credit for taking the dig in the spirit it was intended.

Very impressed with today's approach. Took a lot guts. Every respect for you and the endevour you have put into the proposal. I hope it gets off the ground but unfortunatley I don't think it will.

We are not going to agree on going public with a relegation contingency and I fail to see what BRAG bring to the party on this topic. All that has happened is that any future protests will be viewed negativley (even more so) by a large proportion of the support.

It's a shame as they were an important element of this battle with Venky's and effectivley they have shot themselves in the foot.