Shrimpsvoices

I along with no doubt a number of others have already forked out for a Season Ticket for next season.

I hope that the money is now in the club's account and not in the sticky hands of JW or the Bond Group which if they control the club's finances is a distinct possibility.

Clarification would be welcome for those like myself who made a purchase in all good faith never expecting OUR club to be in such a perilous position.

redrobo wrote:I along with no doubt a number of others have already forked out for a Season Ticket for next season.

I hope that the money is now in the club's account and not in the sticky hands of JW or the Bond Group which if they control the club's finances is a distinct possibility.

Clarification would be welcome for those like myself who made a purchase in all good faith never expecting OUR club to be in such a perilous position.

I am holding onto my season ticket money until I know for certain that Del and Rodders have severed all their connections with the club. I do not want to hand over money for them to seize for loans.

Me too was going to call today but sod it if we are not being told what is going on why should I part with my cash

Me too. I'll wait and see what happens. The deafening silence from Rod and Graham sounds very ominous indeed.

I suspect season ticket monies will be used for this month end's wages, if delboy and rodders haven't taken it out by then.

I'd expect season ticket sales just fell off a cliff edge

The EFL need to make a decision, one way or another. And quickly. If the rumoured 'group of wealthy fans' really exist, then now would be a good time to make a genuine bid. Whittingham/Bond have already seen their asset value drop due to relegation. If the EFL reject Johal's bid, and wages don't get paid again, we could be facing at best, a points deduction next season, at worst, administration.

Actually, would administration be the worst thing? Perhaps the group bid would be made then, when an administrator is more open to a sensible amount? If soon enough, we may get everything sorted before being kicked out of the league? Wouldn't it be ironic, if the EFL took so long to make a decision about Johal's 'fit & proper person test' that it then made a swift decision about our future?

It would be good if Whittingham/Bond could be offered what they put into the club, and a small increase, so they are in profit, then hopefully, they'd walk away. Wishful thinking...

Keith wrote:It would be good if Whittingham/Bond could be offered what they put into the club, and a small increase, so they are in profit, then hopefully, they'd walk away. Wishful thinking...

I think they've already had back what they put in, as the directors have said the club is now debt free, and of course, hundreds of thousands in interest has also been paid on that debt (£380,013 per the 20/21 accounts!) mostly to Bond group at what appears to be an extortionate rate of interest!

I think whatever they sell it for is now profit for them. But arguably the club is now worthless (in fact it was probably worthless when they bought it given the debt and making an average half a million loss each year!).

If it goes into receivership/administration, it very definitely is worthless, so Del and Rodney would be better to sell it now to literally anyone for a modest sum, rather than try to hold out for more than it's worth from Sarbjot and end up getting nothing!

I too am going to wait before I decide to purchase my season ticket..

KenH wrote:I think they've already had back what they put in, as the directors have said the club is now debt free, and of course, hundreds of thousands in interest has also been paid on that debt (£380,013 per the 20/21 accounts!) mostly to Bond group at what appears to be an extortionate rate of interest!

I think whatever they sell it for is now profit for them. But arguably the club is now worthless (in fact it was probably worthless when they bought it given the debt and making an average half a million loss each year!).

If it goes into receivership/administration, it very definitely is worthless, so Del and Rodney would be better to sell it now to literally anyone for a modest sum, rather than try to hold out for more than it's worth from Sarbjot and end up getting nothing!

Is that the case Ken, or were those debts that were cleared, on top of purchasing the club in the first place? I'm quite possibly wrong, as I don't fully understand the mess, but I assumed there was a capital payment to Peter McGuigan/Lemos/whoever actually owned the club at the time of the last soap-opera, and then there was a liquidity injection, which was the 'debt'?

If it is as you say, then that makes it all the more confusing, that they are holding out for a big pay-off, when the club is practically worthless. I'd assume that the money put in by Sarbjot Johal for previous month's salaries will be converted to [or actually] a loan, which will need to be repaid if he doesn't get ownership? Debt will soon be mounting up again if this isn't resolved, and as you say, they'll end up with nothing.

Unfortunately, as fans, we will have nothing too.

I thought that the money put in by Johal was is the way of shares. If so then that does not have to be repaid and if he wants the cost back somebody has to buy them otherwise he just becomes a shareholder with little chance of getting his money back.

Could be wrong of course.....

redrobo wrote:I thought that the money put in by Johal was is the way of shares. If so then that does not have to be repaid and if he wants the cost back somebody has to buy them otherwise he just becomes a shareholder with little chance of getting his money back.

Could be wrong of course.....

I thought it was said that they had done it with shares purchased. But neither of the cash inputs have been notified to Companies House as Issued Share Capital which is the usual procedure so it looks like loans.

redrobo wrote:I thought that the money put in by Johal was is the way of shares. If so then that does not have to be repaid and if he wants the cost back somebody has to buy them otherwise he just becomes a shareholder with little chance of getting his money back.

Could be wrong of course.....

The shares would probably have been issued with some kind of buy back clause/contract requiring the club or owners having to buy them back from Sarbjot if the sale to him doesn't happen, i.e. to reverse the share issue and return Sarbjot's money.

It'd be very foolish of Sarbjot to buy shares without such a buy back clause as if he didn't end up owning the club, he'd be a mere shareholder with basically no rights to repayment, unable to force a dividend, etc.

Couple of points to make on the season ticket thing. I don't think there's a simple way for Jason to extract money from the club in the position we're in - making no money. We're currently looking to just scrape by/breakeven. Even with season ticket money coming in, I can't imagine that there'll be money left over to pillage. So I don't think that your season ticket money would just be going straight into Jason's pocket etc.

Compare it to Man Utd, where the Glazer family have been able to take lots from the club in large part because Man Utd makes ridiculous amounts of money. Previously, Jason was making money from charging a daft amount of interest on a loan with the club, but this has apparently been pretty much paid off now following a profitable couple of years.

Another comparison to draw is Oldham, where many fans boycotted season tickets to try and force the owner out. The aims of this were to stifle the income of the club and therefore force their previous owner (Lemsagams) to have to pay more into the club to make up the difference, which then in turn increased the pressure to sell. Again, this is a bit different to our situation, where the issue isn't forcing Jason to sell - he wants to sell, but only to Sarbjot. I don't think the supposed £5 million that Sarbjot is offering is particularly dependent on the success of the club. Sadly, I do feel that Jason would be willing to let the club run on an absolute shoestring and potentially damage our on pitch performance in order to try and force the deal with Sarbjot, given how far he's gone already in doing nothing to try and help the club avoid relegation to L2.

Rod has re-assured fans on Facebook that the season ticket money is secure and can't be syphoned off by Del and Rodders.

That's good enough for me. I've just renewed my season ticket.

Is there a target to sell this year like the last couple of years , was it 1,000 standing and 1,000 seats ?

With some reservations over the current situation, I've renewed our tickets today.

Was anything learned at the Shrimps Trust meeting? We are in the middle of a Mexican Standoff. Jason playing the martyr, Sarbjot playing the Millionaire, the League sitting on the fence. In the meantime the club is in peril and waiting to see what is going to happen before you purchase a season ticket and rightly so is up to each individual. The day to day running will go on and ticket sales will carry on being sold, but if we don’t make kick off in the 23/24 season money wasted!! That’s the fear. What an absolute mess. I can afford to pay the price after the end of May so I’m willing to wait, but really want to show support and buy one now. With Lancaster Shity charging £150 and Barrow charging in the £300 region our prices are still a really good bargain, well below £10 a game for standing.

I'm still undecided about renewing my season ticket. I know its a great deal but i just feel until I see something positive happen at the club I will hold on to my money...

I doubt we will end up with a new owner soon. Just buy your season ticket and give the club enough of a budget to build a squad for League 2. I got mine last night. Things haven't really changed much since PMG sold up and may not even change much with a new owner. We basically have to live within our means.

Wild Bill wrote:Things haven't really changed much since PMG sold up

Well, the debt slate has been wiped clean which is a positive. Under PMG's ownership, we were making huge losses every year (between £300-£700k p.a.), paid for by selling off land, then by debt/borrowing, so at least the covid grants, player sales, promotion & tv monies have cleared the past debt.

Trouble is looking forward, we've nothing left to sell, so our inevitable future losses will have to be financed somehow, i.e. by new loans/debt or injections of cash from owners (new or old).

KenH wrote:

Wild Bill wrote:Things haven't really changed much since PMG sold up

Well, the debt slate has been wiped clean which is a positive. Under PMG's ownership, we were making huge losses every year (between £300-£700k p.a.), paid for by selling off land, then by debt/borrowing, so at least the covid grants, player sales, promotion & tv monies have cleared the past debt.

Trouble is looking forward, we've nothing left to sell, so our inevitable future losses will have to be financed somehow, i.e. by new loans/debt or injections of cash from owners (new or old).

Also selling players , anyone think both Bedeau and Mayor will kick off in our first EFL2 match in August ?

Just a reminder that the Early Bird offer ends on the 31st...so if you haven't already got your Season Ticket now would be a good time to buy and at the same time put some money into OUR club part of which could be used as part of DA's war chest for the coming EFL2 season.

Anyone got any idea of how many Season Tickets have been sold to date..

Renewed ours today. Come on folks the club needs us more than ever!

Just been announced over 1500 sold so far.

1600 or so now!! Good work.

Got mine, I hope the people who purchased last season will purchase again this season .

We have come such a long way since the dark days of BentleyBall. The Board deserve massive credit in the way they changed the outlook of the club and drove season ticket sales to an all new high with their aggressive pricing. To be going back in to L2 with over 1600 ST's sold is brilliant for the club