Potential Investor

[Blue Ninja]

Hmmmmm and there was me thinking that he approached the board and they were that unorganized and unprofessional that they didn't have any up to date accounts for the club and hence then Mr Casson could go no further and formally put an offer across to the board. You dont offer on a business when you have no access to the up to date accounts. In business, offers generally change when takeovers take place to accommodate the finer points and dot the i's and cross the T's. Mr Casson can only summise what his offer would be due to lack of information from the board.
The mail contacted Mr Casson a couple of weeks before Christmas and maybe he now see's the Mail as a conduit to see how the land lies with the real people that matter.....the people of Barrow

[Wintergreen]

I Know The EM just see this as another story to sell papers. But just when the club was starting to unite on and off the field again, they conspire to divide us all!! Someone from the club needs to have a serious word in their shell like!

I don't see any division Mark - we all want to hear what Mr Casson has to say and getting him onboard in any way shape or form is going to be beneficial it would seem.

[McMark]

I Know The EM just see this as another story to sell papers. But just when the club was starting to unite on and off the field again, they conspire to divide us all!! Someone from the club needs to have a serious word in their shell like!

I don't see any division Mark - we all want to hear what Mr Casson has to say and getting him onboard in any way shape or form is going to be beneficial it would seem.

Agree with wanting to hear what Mr Casson has to say or any possible investor for that matter. But the whole thing could have been dealt with a lot better as far as the EM and their motives, timing etc. Sorry but I will always be Sceptical of them, It will come out in the wash!

[spirit of 1990]

After reading that letter it all seems very positive. I still think we can't afford to get carried away with all of this just yet but it certainly sounds good & fair play to the bloke for actually wanting to meet supporters.

His meeting with the supporters looks like going ahead BEFORE our AGM - that's one AGM I will not be missing. Promises to be.............interesting!!!

[John Very Little]

You could also argue the fact that if he hadn't gone to the mail to outline his proposals, we would never have found out about his offer, given our board and their openess to divulge information - NOT. The board wanted the NDA in place - not Mr Casson it seems.

No offer was ever made so what he told the Mail was outside the NDA and never even offered to the board. How could the club talk about something that wasn't submitted to them? However I do wonder about the NDA and what exactly it included.
SL explained to us at the AGM that PC didn't even know the club was a members club and didn't know about the debentures or set up of the club which is a real worry in itself.
On the point about the accounts and the clubs value he only needed do a company check which he can get online for a small fee or had a look at this forum and asked!! I suspect the board could have given a rough estimate as to what's happened since the last accounts were submitted. TBH the accounts summary we receive at the AGM is pretty well detailed.
The meeting with PC and the AGM looks set to be very interesting.

[spongebobsquarepants]

So PC wants a meeting with the Members who own/run the club and people think this is a bad thing?

If rumours are to be believed this would not be the first time he has been to Barrow in recent times to discuss potential investment. This time it is the members themselves who get to meet him/ignore him rather than just board members.

It's clear that he has used the EM to sound out the fans/members as he was not getting anywhere with the board.

[mark webb]

We'll be playing at The Walter Casson Stadium!!!!!

[Kieran]

I fully agree Pete as seems abit cloke and dagger to me
Why not be open and honest !
Or is this how business works ?

How much more open do you want than holding an open meeting?

I for one welcome this development 100%. He's going completely the right way about it, when the story was in the mail a few weeks ago most people were asking for an open meeting so it's a positive move in my view.

[barrowfan_chris]

We'll be playing at The Walter Casson Stadium!!!!!

We are currently playing at the Furness building society stadium.

It to me makes no difference what the ground is called we as fans always call it Holker street.

I think having this QnA will be the best thing we can meet the guy and get all questions answered.

From his letter I thought he seemed genuine so lets give the guy a chance first.

[Ste Story]

The letter in full, taken from today (27th January 2014)'s North West Evening Mail. Typed it up quickly for the benefit of our overseas/out of town members and those who have no access to an Evening Mail, so apologies if there's any typing errors on my behalf:


I have read the thoughtful and though-provoking comments available on the various blogs following the articles which described my potential interest in Barrow AFC.

The following seeks to provide additional clarification to what has already been written.

It is my declared intention to try to acquire Barrow AFC as a going concern, authorised to play football in whatever league they happen to find themselves in at the time of the acquisition.

I have never entertained any thought of developing the Holker Street stadium into anything other than a facility for the team to play its home games. I don't think anyone would disagree that there is a need to upgrade the ground for that purpose, but that's a discussion for the future.

Preliminary discussions were initiated by me through a Liverpool-based law firm in early August. A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) was signed shortly thereafter.

From some of the information in the blogs, several of which I assume were offered by members of the current board of directors, it seems that there was some misunderstanding in exactly what information I was requesting. I sincerely apologise if my representatives were unclear in their requests but I will endeavour to be much clearer going forward.

In retrospect, as no information not already available in the public domain was ever disclosed I consider the NDA to be no longer relevant. There has been some concern expressed about potential lawsuits based on the NDA, but I can state clearly that I have never in my life filed suit against anyone and I am certainly not looking to begin now. The board have my full and unencumbered permission to disclose any information they consider relevant to this matter.

Further, should matters progress, I believe that there is nothing to prevent the membership being fully informed as the discussions proceed, it is after all presently their club. From my side, I am happy to disclose any personal and business details that are material. My company website is indeed http://www.cmarkcorp.com (someone asked that question in a blog) and I would be pleased to provide personal references from my biggest customers - Ericsson, At&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile. I have been in business for over 20 years and I am proud of our history. The company operates in one of the world's most vibrant industries, that of mobile telecommunications infrastructure, and so we believe our future to be very bright.

With regard to planning the acquisition, the starting point needs to be an up-to-date valuation of the business based on all of its assets and liabilities.

This is probably best done by an independent third party, which I will willingly pay for. In the absence of a formal valuation - purely as an opening position and admittedly based on very limited information, I personally valued the club at £250,000.

What can follow after that is the development of a business plan aimed at achieving a specific set of goals, I personally set the somewhat modest goal, of promotion to the Conference Premier within two years, and guessed at what I may have to personally contribute to at least have a shot at getting there. I landed on £600,000 a year for two years. There is no guarantee we would make it obviously, but it's a shot.

That in essence is the plan, modest though it may be in the short term. As stated earlier, I thought I had made it clear to the board that I needed current financial information to help me decide if what I had in my mind was in any way feasible. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps I was not explicit enough. Hopefully the above will help to clear that up.

I'm sure most of you have questions with regard to my motivation for doing this. There is a significant emotional component involving the recent death of my father. He left this earth, a devout Christian and as a man who lived honourably, having hurt no-one knowingly, owing nothing and loving my mother unconditionally for over 60 years. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that I would name the stadium after him

Instinctively, sponsorship from heaven seems more valuable than any earthly entity. It was his actual passing in mid-September that caused me to discontinue any discussions.

There are times in one's life when outside interests simply have to be set aside. My roots in the town are deep. On my Father's side, the family has resided in the Furness area for as long as we know. On my Mother's side, her parents moved to the town around 1912, and she herself was born in Clarence Road in 1921.

Many of my family lie in rest on Cemetery Hill, which overlooks Holker Street. I doubt they'd be amused if I turned it into a block of flats.

Whatever I have achieved in my life was made possible by my upbringing. We Barrovians are tougher then we know. Our football team should reflect that.

More practically however it was, and still is, my opinion that Barrow AFC is under-performing as a business due to lack of capital.

In my opinion, there is the potential for a large upside, but at the moment any possible progress is being choked by a lack of funding, and none seems to be on the horizon.

There are many definitions of success, and not all are monetary. I think all would agree that even having a sniff at the Football League would represent a tremendous progress, but at present that possibility seems unattainable. Do I think i'll ever get the money I intend to invest back? Of course I do.

I'm confident enough that the club can function efficiently if well run, and that the feelings for the club in the town, in some cases long dormant, can be awoken.

The logistical details of a transfer from a member club to one privately owned are not easy but far from impossible. It starts with a majority of the members trusting that it's the best way forward. If the majority decides against the idea and the board presents a plan that excites and motivates the fans, then the club has progressed and I am content. I look forward to continuing the dialogue openly.

I am available at relatively short notice to host a member/fan forum in the town so I can personally hear and respond as best I can to your concerns.

I am more than looking forward to again meeting some old friends.

Sincerely
Paul Casson

[Uncle Peter]

The question I will be asking as a member is how does Mr Casson plan on making his money back?

Out of the 92 premier league and league club's only 1 turned a profit last year. A million quid is a lot of money to make, I'd like to see detailed plans on how he plans to do this.

I still feel the right way to do things would be to make his offer public and allow it to be debated at the Agm. That way everyone gets a say and it can all be done professionally.

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[Wintergreen]

Very encouraging. PC estimates the value of the club to be £250k approximately; I estimate that the club owe various Directors/Engineering Companies/others £300k approximately. The £300k approximately was accumulated over several years to keep the club going and should be paid back in my opinion. Pay that debt off and buy the club for £1 approximately might be a better way to go in my opinion.

[Spanner]

I still feel the right way to do things would be to make his offer public and allow it to be debated at the Agm.

What offer? I thought there never had been an offer? And in his letter he is saying that he can't make an offer until he gets the financial information that he wants (the blame for which he somewhat magnanimously puts at his own feet for not being explicit enough).

Anyway, there's no need to be worried about the NDA now, so let's hear the BoD's side of the story now in full rather than have to wait another 5 weeks until the AGM.

[Uncle Peter]

I still feel the right way to do things would be to make his offer public and allow it to be debated at the Agm.

What offer? I thought there never had been an offer? And in his letter he is saying that he can't make an offer until he gets the financial information that he wants (the blame for which he somewhat magnanimously puts at his own feet for not being explicit enough).

Anyway, there's no need to be worried about the NDA now, so let's hear the BoD's side of the story now in full rather than have to wait another 5 weeks until the AGM.

My understanding is that he is holding a meeting to put an offer to members directly. Thus far there has been no formal offers to the club.

The club supplied details of what we owe, and to whom and details of the club's assets etc. I don't really know what else we could have given.

Between the club's and Mr Cassons statements we've covered most of the ground. If anyone wants to ask anything inparticular I'd be happy to try and get answers.

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[Spanner]

My understanding is that he is holding a meeting to put an offer to members directly.

First of all, thanks for the reply.

Unless I've missed something, he doesn't say he is going to put an offer to members, just that he is willing "to host a member/fan forum".

The club supplied details of what we owe, and to whom and details of the club's assets etc. I don't really know what else we could have given.

Neither do I, but he seems to think there's something else he needs.

If anyone wants to ask anything inparticular I'd be happy to try and get answers.

Ok, I'll start. Will the BoD agree to an independent valuation on the stadium, paid for by Mr Casson, as per his suggestion in his letter?