Get O'Neill Out - NOW

[loweiy]

Originally Posted by Doug

)

Forget equality ownership; even if you can get people to buy a maximum 35% it’s not going to mean they will all keep putting money in. Unless we can keep the minimum required income up; this will keep happening.

Part of my reason for the 35% of the club owned by the fans is to generate and save money through a full and frank understanding of how the clubs is run. If we had 2 or more fans on the board that were voted in each year by the fans then the level of understaning and help that could be provided would only increase. If the club has 1000 fans as share holders that may mean 1000 good ideas fed straight into the club at board level. Its not just about 1000 x £100 for the shares, its about helping the club before its too late and providing a frame work for true open discussion. Most companies spend vast sums of money trying to find out what their customers want, we would have that information and whats more as share holders we would have a say.

Is that so bad?

A new share option must take place this summer and be open to all

Stephen Lowe

[Pendle Red]

Originally Posted by loweiy

Part of my reason for the 35% of the club owned by the fans is to generate and save money through a full and frank understanding of how the clubs is run. If we had 2 or more fans on the board that were voted in each year by the fans then the level of understaning and help that could be provided would only increase. If the club has 1000 fans as share holders that may mean 1000 good ideas fed straight into the club at board level. Its not just about 1000 x £100 for the shares, its about helping the club before its too late and providing a frame work for true open discussion. Most companies spend vast sums of money trying to find out what their customers want, we would have that information and whats more as share holders we would have a say.

Is that so bad?

A new share option must take place this summer and be open to all

Stephen Lowe

Totally agree and should be affordable for all not like the last one, just a share and no frills

[VALAIRIAN]

Originally Posted by Pendle Red

Totally agree and should be affordable for all not like the last one, just a share and no frills

To be fair Google Page Ranking, the last one was only aimed at making money, to pay off the debt!! Next time round, it will be aimed at involving fans - I hope!!

[Pendle Red]

Originally Posted by VALAIRIAN

To be fair Google Page Ranking, the last one was only aimed at making money, to pay off the debt!! Next time round, it will be aimed at involving fans - I hope!!

I understand Joe

But how many of those shares were purchased & how much was actually raised?

[smudgie]

Yet another disaster from ASFC publicity point of view

BIG changes are needed at the club in the summer behind the scenes, simple as that.

Hopefully Ilyas will have it all sorted

[Doug]

[quote=loweiy;792890]Part of my reason for the 35% of the club owned by the fans is to generate and save money through a full and frank understanding of how the clubs is run. If we had 2 or more fans on the board that were voted in each year by the fans then the level of understaning and help that could be provided would only increase. If the club has 1000 fans as share holders that may mean 1000 good ideas fed straight into the club at board level. Its not just about 1000 x £100 for the shares, its about helping the club before its too late and providing a frame work for true open discussion. Most companies spend vast sums of money trying to find out what their customers want, we would have that information and whats more as share holders we would have a say.

Is that so bad?

A new share option must take place this summer and be open to all

Stephen, I do see your point and it is a good idea in view of understand and managing the financial aspects of the club and for generating ideas; but I stumble with the possible financial implications; Once you issue shares and sell them all your income from that source of capital dries up, if we where wise and invested that money it would have a limited annual benefit from interest after that your then only left with gate receipts, sponsorship and fund raising from the fan base to raise further capital and we saw what limitations fund raising had during the SOS drive for survival. Who is going to invest long term, a single wealthy owner or a collective with financial means would see the club through a crisis; if it was left to the fans alone we would struggle. That's the way I see it; if I'm wrong please show me how it would work.

I agree about a share issue taking place but give me time to get some money together.

[yerself]

Originally Posted by Doug

Stephen, I do see your point and it is a good idea in view of understand and managing the financial aspects of the club and for generating ideas; but I stumble with the possible financial implications; Once you issue shares and sell them all your income from that source of capital dries up, if we where wise and invested that money it would have a limited annual benefit from interest after that your then only left with gate receipts, sponsorship and fund raising from the fan base to raise further capital and we saw what limitations fund raising had during the SOS drive for survival. Who is going to invest long term, a single wealthy owner or a collective with financial means would see the club through a crisis; if it was left to the fans alone we would struggle. That's the way I see it; if I'm wrong please show me how it would work.

What baffles me about all this is how Ilyas has managed to become a millionaire merchant banker and Doug's a Fylde coast care assistant ???

[expatriate]

cashman, i am sorry i took so long to reply. the post torquay blues took a day to lift - and even now i feel awful.

ON your message I just want to say that i did not say (and would not say) that the embargo is not serious. in fact its a negative that cannot be apologised away. However I really do think that there is a degree of over-reaction here. However, i think we are all singing from the same hymn sheet, and we (that is the club) have a long way to go before we start getting back to the sort of consistent standards of achievement off the field that our fans and stake holder base should come to expect.

Also, can i just say how interesting i find the whole conversation about equity ownership. I have no fixed opinions on this, except that I truly believe that in time ASFC can be a vibrant, well run and solvent organisation. However the capital and invstment needed to get there (in fact the capital needed just to clear the decks) could not have been a commercial decision. Squaring this circle is very difficult, and whilst its easy to sit on the sidelines and theorise, I can tell you that the reasons behind my decision bear little relationship to much of what I find being written here on this board. Its not that i agree or disagree, I just think that in circumstances such as this, words are cheap, and I dont recall anyone else turning up to the party. At the end of the day therefore i had to make a quick decision, and one which I DO NOT regret at all. My objectives have become somewhat different, and at some point I will expand more on this. I find myself picking up great pointers each time i speak to people, and some of the ideas generated on this board are informing and influencing my thoughts. No question about it. So once again, whilst its been tough, I DO NOT regret at all putting up the cash, and helping out, and hoping now to build the platform that can see us really stabilise.

Cashy, sorry to use my reply to your post to write this, but I just wanted to get something off before the weekend is over.

Ilyas

[bdc]

In terms of the payment being missed, would it not have not been easier to put off paying trade creditors for a few weeks in order to pay HMRC?

[expatriate]

BDC was that a question posed to me or just generally fired off into the ether ? May i please rquest that when people (or i should say if people) want to direct questions to me then please will you say so explicitly. thank you.

That way, even if i miss a question i normally get an email or a text from people who read the board and bring it to my attention.

[bdc]

Also, in terms of the actual stewardship of the club I think that things do seem to be improving in particular on the club shop side. The only thing that concerns me is that Mr O'Neill is in charge of the day to day operations and the missed payment must fall under his remit surely? Contingency plans must be put into place in order to ensure that the risk of cancelled games is minimised and that a pot of money could be kept aside to help keep the club ticking over in times of need.

[bdc]

Originally Posted by expatriate

BDC was that a question posed to me or just generally fired off into the ether ? May i please rquest that when people (or i should say if people) want to direct questions to me then please will you say so explicitly. thank you.

That way, even if i miss a question i normally get an email or a text from people who read the board and bring it to my attention.

Ilyas,

It was just a general question not directed straight at yourself but if you wish to answer it then that would be good. It was not aimed as a criticism either it just that I have worked for a company previously that struggled to pay creditors. We generally tried to make sure that we paid HMRC first and then the rest after this.

[expatriate]

Hello BDC. thanks for that clarification. I did not read your comment as negative or a criticism, but just a perfectly valid question, and fairly posed. Firstly the thing which has become apparent to me is that cashflow forecasting at ASFC has been very volatile. Over the past few months the historical preference to defer HMRC has certainly been changed, and the current management team have been trying to regularise forecast and contingency management. However the past week or so has proven that this is still not working to best advantage. All i can say is that I have been trying to ensure we look at the prioritisation more carefully, and whilst it might not appear so, I can say, hand on heart, that the current set up is a vast improvement on the situation that was in place during most of the last 12 months. the main reason (of course) is that we are slowly moving from panic/survival mode, to a more regular mode.

As you are aware, I am not involved day to day, and frankly dont have the time to be involved, but as we look forward from Feb onwards, getting these things right should hopefully creep on to the agenda.

I dont suppose this anwers your question, but I did not want to give you the impression i was ignoring you.

Ilyas

[katei77]

at least the club didnt try to hide the late payment this time unlike before everyone was quick to call the club when nothing was said untill a winding up order was issued last year leading to the SOS appeal but when they issue statements telling the fans that they were late with payments everyone demands peoples heads within the club should roll

yes was i was like for **** sake when i heard

it was not the best Google Page Ranking statement

yes the payment should of be paid

yes they should of foreseen a shortfall in funds and had a plan B for these times

but it was only a few months ago we very nearly didnt have a club there has be huge changes within the club not only with the members of staff brought in but also in the way things are run

we do not have a magic wand we can wave to suddenly become a fully run proffesional football club over night mistakes will be made and sometimes the same mistakes will be made again but things will improve in time

there will be people within the club you dont like and we all know DON isnt very popular with the fan base but he is the man in charge of the running of club and IMHO he isnt going any where so instead of calling him,demanding he steps aside etc...and now i know pepole will jump on me but give him a break he is man running the club you may not trust him ,you may not like him,you may think he should not be allow to step into the club but he is all we have at the minute

i cant say is he top of my friends list but guess what he is in charge

Ilyas seems quite happy with the set up,do you really he would just kept quiet after bailing the club out if he wasnt happy,he has always be open and honest with the fans,he has always respected our views and happy to meet anyone with concerns about the club

this a new era for everyone at the club from the burger van girls the 50/50 ticket sellers to the man at the top for years the club has be run on washers but now everyone within the club has the chance to run a proffesional club
some thing very new to everyone both staff and fans

remember rome wasnt built in a day

[VALAIRIAN]

Originally Posted by Pendle Red

I understand Joe

But how many of those shares were purchased & how much was actually raised?

Last time I spoke to someone (Martin??? Not too sure!!) it was not at three figures!! But that was towards the end of last year! Maybe done more since then.