TRUST AGM - TONIGHT 6.30pm. - GW PUB

[jonny72]

Need to knock that shit on the head as it will just reinforce jonny's comments

Not good really

Again, I never claimed it's a secret society, just my perception.

Having Wray turn up and have everyone sign a nda to keep his comments private doesn't help. Again, not saying there is anything going on but it doesn't look good. Though I'm struggling to see any positive reason for Wray attending especially given the comments from Black and the sale of the club in general.

[Reg Smeeton]

To be fair, our second relegation in recent years was pretty much solely down to poor management on Wilsons part, and not Indicative of a more deep seated problem

Wilson would probably argue, it was partly as a result of selling players and not properly replacing them. This has been alluded to in the media, but a sort of Roundheads and Caveliers situation...Fitton=Roundhead...Wray=Cavelier.

[horlock07]

We would go straight back down but a season up there would be good for us financially given higher gates and more TV money.

And the higher wages and resultant downturn in fan support if we are getting beat every week.

Not saying that I actually disagree with you, but if we were bottom at Christmas would the fans not clamour that any extra cash should go on players and slate board if it didn't.

[Bogus Dave]

Wilson would probably argue, it was partly as a result of selling players and not properly replacing them. This has been alluded to in the media, but a sort of Roundheads and Caveliers situation...Fitton=Roundhead...Wray=Cavelier.

Selling Greer didn't help, but there was still enough in the squad to avoid what happened

[Reg Smeeton]

Selling Greer didn't help, but there was still enough in the squad to avoid what happened

True...but it did happen, whereas once upon a time it wouldn't have happened. We're probably closer to Div3/4 yo-yo clubs like Wycombe and Cheltenham, than say established Championship clubs like Leicester, Ipswich and Derby.

[Flashheart]

If we went down again, and we didn't have wealthy backers we'd still get promoted again. We're simply too big for that division. We could spend our way out without making a loss. We could also outspend half the teams in L1 without going over budget.

[Bogus Dave]

I'd peg us as pretty much identical to Brentford, if we're going to compare ourselves to other teams. I don't think anybody was comparing us to the likes of Ipswich & Leicester were we?

We've got the potential to make more of what we have done in the last five to ten years

[Phil_S]

I'm on the trust board. What was said was that the club are currently needing £3,000,000 a year to sustain the current budget playing staff. This varies from month to month & at present nothing is needed because of the season ticket money coming in. The new owners have therefore put in £1 to buy the club, and nothing may have been needed since. The minutes of the meeting will be on the Trust website soon for all to see. The main discussion was around how fans could have a say in the way the club is run, & whether sufficient investment would be available to continue the current plan champion ship football. Jeremy Wray was there as a Trust Member as was Justin Tomlinson. Both made significant contributions to the discussions. For example the £3,000,000 a year would be covered by the increased revenue of championship football. The main investment is in getting there!. The question was asked why sanction the sale of Matt Ritchie at a bargain basement price, when you could get 3x the money at the end of the season for the sake of a few weeks investment in the club.

[sonicyouth]

Black sanctioned the sale didn't he? Seems a bit of a moot point now.

What did Wray say and why can't it be disclosed? What's the point of inviting people to open public meetings only to discuss things essentially behind closed doors?

[horlock07]

I'm on the trust board. What was said was that the club are currently needing £3,000,000 a year to sustain the current budget playing staff. This varies from month to month & at present nothing is needed because of the season ticket money coming in. The new owners have therefore put in £1 to buy the club, and nothing may have been needed since. The minutes of the meeting will be on the Trust website soon for all to see. The main discussion was around how fans could have a say in the way the club is run, & whether sufficient investment would be available to continue the current plan champion ship football. Jeremy Wray was there as a Trust Member as was Justin Tomlinson. Both made significant contributions to the discussions. For example the £3,000,000 a year would be covered by the increased revenue of championship football. The main investment is in getting there!. The question was asked why sanction the sale of Matt Ritchie at a bargain basement price, when you could get 3x the money at the end of the season for the sake of a few weeks investment in the club.

Out of interest is that £3m including existing revenue, or £3m on top of existing income streams?

As JW as a board member would have been fully aware of the cash flows etc at the date when ownership changed would he not have a pretty good idea of whether the new board needed additional investment before season end.

I am sorry but this still doesn't explain why a former board member who was involved with those who sold to the new owners now seems to be stirring things up.

[Batch]

Stirring things up?

[Arriba]

I'm on the trust board. What was said was that the club are currently needing £3,000,000 a year to sustain the current budget playing staff. This varies from month to month & at present nothing is needed because of the season ticket money coming in. The new owners have therefore put in £1 to buy the club, and nothing may have been needed since. The minutes of the meeting will be on the Trust website soon for all to see. The main discussion was around how fans could have a say in the way the club is run, & whether sufficient investment would be available to continue the current plan champion ship football. Jeremy Wray was there as a Trust Member as was Justin Tomlinson. Both made significant contributions to the discussions. For example the £3,000,000 a year would be covered by the increased revenue of championship football. The main investment is in getting there!. The question was asked why sanction the sale of Matt Ritchie at a bargain basement price, when you could get 3x the money at the end of the season for the sake of a few weeks investment in the club.

Was the Richie question answered?

Regarding things being said at trust meetings and not being made public. Wouldn't that be hypocritical as isn't one of the trust's aims be for transparency from the board?
No good keeping secrets within the trust. Should be completely open and a voice for supporters.

I wouldn't compare us to alot of teams mentioned either. We are bigger than Wycombe, Cheltenham, and Brentford. Significantly more so imo.
We have decent gates and I don't think that would be too adversely affected if we were a self sustaining club. I actually think people would be attracted to a club knowing their money is for the benefit of the club and the club only.

Fans need to learn their lesson from the last board. One that threw loads of money at it but had infighting and in the end decided not to fund anymore. Rules should be put in place across football that money donated by backers should be exactly that,donations. Not a debt that can be called in, nor should clubs make money for individuals either.

[horlock07]

Stirring things up?

Possibly not the best turn of phrase, especially when we don't know what his purpose for attending was.

Its just when I read statements like that earlier posted in the AGM notes (I cannot recall by whom) which say

'Jeremy Wray pointed out that if there was a main shareholder or shareholders who wanted to prevent minority shareholders becoming too influential they could issue more shares, buy them themselves and dilute the fans’ shareholding. '

It just makes me a little suspicious as he was part of the previous board who did exactly that? Equally as I mentioned before why is he now a member of the Trust when he had the chance previously to get them more involved in running the club.

Like so much with the club at the moment it doesn't add up and makes me suspicious that there is a more political motive to all this.

[Batch]

I see. I'll try and track down that post. Thanks.

[jonny72]

I'm on the trust board. What was said was that the club are currently needing £3,000,000 a year to sustain the current budget playing staff. Jeremy Wray was there as a Trust Member as was Justin Tomlinson. Both made significant contributions to the discussions.

Was Wray also there in his capacity as the ex-chairman who increased our annual losses from c£1.5m to c£3m a season?

Did anyone ask him how the club will cover these massive losses if his gamble to win promotion fails?

I know most people are big Wray fans but I'm not one of them. That kind of spending is reckless and is one of the main problems in football today, pushing up player wages and leaving many clubs facing financial ruin.