Steelworks End wrote: Perhaps the Supporters Trust ownership model which has been mooted could be used in conjunction with the limited company route? As has been previously mentioned, the cost of owning shares in excess of the capital put in by a new investor, and thus retaining control, would be prohibitive.
But could a Supporters Trust own a "Golden Share" of nominal value, but one which would allow the supporters to veto any plans put forward by the (financial) shareholders that was not in the best interests of the footballing side of the business? This wouldn't preclude the sale of Holker Street, providing robust safeguards were in place at such time to ensure that a new ground would be available on terms satisfactory to the Supporters Trust and to the footballing authorities.
People's main concern regarding Mr Casson is that he's really after the land/ground as opposed to the football club. He seems to say that he's only after the football club as he's a 'lifelong fan'. 'If' that's the case I think there's an easy solution that ought to keep both Mr Casson and the fans happy:
1. Convert the club to a limited company
2. Sell Mr Casson ownership for a sum/basis to be agreed
3. However, the fans club together and buy (say) 25% of the shares of the limited company (or even a smaller % - see: below)
4. Amend the standard company Article of Association (or Memorandum) to say something like 'a special resolution shall be required in order to sell or otherwise deal in any respect with regards to the land (gist)'
5. from memory I think a shareholder with 25% of the shares of a company can block a special resolution
6. alternatively, with 25% of the shares (or much less, say even 10%) you could again amend the Articles/Memorandum to say that 'in the event of any proposal to sell or otherwise deal with the land the percentage shares owned by 'x' (i.e. the fans group) shall be multiplied by (say) five with a casting vote'
7. option 5 or 6 above will give Mr Casson full control to run the club (which he says is what he's after) whilst, for a relatively small investment, give the fans both an interest and more importantly the power to outvote Mr Casson on one single issue (i.e. any attempt to sell or otherwise deal with the land)
If Mr Casson's intentions are what he says they are he should hopefully be okay with a proposal of the kind mentioned above.
The ground only has any real value to develop - either for commercial purposes (see: Asda's covenant) or for housing. My guess is that for either of these purposes the value of the land would be £500 - £600k. If the club was sold to Mr Casson with the above legal structure in place it would also solve the issue of the apparent 'high' value placed by someone/the Board over the ground. The ground would then only be worth value as it's current use (i.e. a football club) because the fans (I assume) would never vote in favour of developing it.
Over to you Mr Casson.
