An article from Pompeytim looking to sell the idea of the proposed fans buyout, and why he is in – read on for more.
I have been critical of the trust, but I’m going to support the buyout efforts, and this is why.
1. The club is worth saving. It is so very important to me & thousands of others. We should never lose sight of this point. This should be point 1 to 10 in my view.
2. I still have questions as to whether this will work, but by putting up £100, I can still walk away if I am not happy & only lose £2.50.
3. The Trust are amateurs. However, the club would be run by professionals – not the Trust. So Ken Malley won’t be the fitness coach, nor will Jo Collins be the Manager. The hope is that Appy will stay as manager & people with experience in football will be brought in.
4. Although day-to-day decisions (e.g. Who to sign, how many pies to stock for half-time, etc.) will be left to the Exec board, the fans, i.e. The shareholders, will have the final say over big decisions, e.g. Whether to redevelop Fratton Park, etc. Exactly which decisions will go to the shareholders is yet to be decided, but currently we have NO say, but under this model we would have some. If we are unhappy with the board, we can vote them out at the AGM.
5. Even if the fans only get a 20% interest alongside a benefactor, we will have sight of the workings of the club. I.e. We will get to see what the finances look like before it is too late. Currently we have to wait for the Statutory Accounts to be filed, up to 9 months after the end of the year.
6. Milan Mandaric took £21m out of the club when he sold up. Gaydamak has bled the club dry with interest payments. All of this money would stay in the club under a fans model.
SO there are plenty of reasons to give it a chance. It may not work, but it is worth risking £2.50 to see if we, as fans, can do this.
There is currently c.£1m in the pot which is much more than I thought we would get.
I say don’t hold back. We don’t have long. If you can afford £1,000 (I personally don’t advocate fans taking finance for this) or can by clubbing together with mates, then give it a shot. You can pull out if you don’t like what they come up with once they put their business plan together. I may well do that, but you’ve got to be in it to win it at this stage.
Written by Pompeytim and initially posted in the forum – click here.
The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.
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