Shrimpsvoices

The incident at Reading yesterday where disgruntled fans threw tennis balls on the pitch and later invaded in protest at the ownership of the club, set me thinking. What can we do to highlight our discontent with the ownership of our club and the apparently greedy behaviour of Jason Whittingham. I realise our board would not want any action inside the ground that could lead to a club fine etc. but I sense a growing frustration amongst fans at the continuing saga and the impact on our club. I admit my original suggestion was a protest march from the town hall to the Mazuma but I appreciate that the Trust and some fans seem divided on this. As I said in an earlier post we would not forgive ourselves if we were suddenly told our club had folded and we had done nothing to try to prevent it. If the idea of our club folding seems far fetched no doubt members of Worcester Rugby Club didn't imagine this fate would befall their club. What can we do to publicise the problems at our club caused by a greedy owner holding out for an inflated price for our League 2 club? What pressure can we bring to bear on him? Are we just bystanders watching helplessly as our club struggles to continue? Is it time for the board, the Trust and fans generally to get together to explore ways forward or do we just sit idly by and let events unfold? What can we do?

Not anything that may get us more points possibly deducted. Or Someone could draft a letter that we all sign or someone draft a template letter that we can download and sign and inundate the LFA with them.

The action taken by the Reading fans yesterday has got them some really positive exposure today. Food for thought

There is one MASSIVE problem with trying to bring pressure to bear on Jason...He doesn't care! About MFC, the fans, even his own reputation - it got so tarnished by what happened at Worcester it can't get any worse, so whilst I share the frustrations of many, I don't have any ideas as to what, and this is important, CONSTRUCTIVE we can do. We have to avoid, as Billy and Fulwood have both said, doing anything that risks sanctions against the club.

Answers on a postcard please...

Phil Anderer wrote:There is one MASSIVE problem with trying to bring pressure to bear on Jason...He doesn't care! About MFC, the fans, even his own reputation - it got so tarnished by what happened at Worcester it can't get any worse, so whilst I share the frustrations of many, I don't have any ideas as to what, and this is important, CONSTRUCTIVE we can do. We have to avoid, as Billy and Fulwood have both said, doing anything that risks sanctions against the club.

Answers on a postcard please...

Totally agree. He doesn't care about anyone or anything, beyond his own greed & bank balance.I'm not entirely sure he even cares about his bank balance, as surely the club was worth more in League One than Two, and the value will decrease further if we get relegated in to non-League? You'd think he'd want to snap the hand off anyone who makes a realistic offer?

I think a protest march from Town Hall to Mazuma would be a good thing to do, if only to allow fans to ventilate feelings and feel like we're doing something. But, we can't force him to sell, and he only appears to be interested if you have an imaginary drinks company with an imaginary fortune.

Phil Anderer wrote:There is one MASSIVE problem with trying to bring pressure to bear on Jason...He doesn't care! About MFC, the fans, even his own reputation - it got so tarnished by what happened at Worcester it can't get any worse, so whilst I share the frustrations of many, I don't have any ideas as to what, and this is important, CONSTRUCTIVE we can do. We have to avoid, as Billy and Fulwood have both said, doing anything that risks sanctions against the club.

Answers on a postcard please...

And the action taken by Reading fans will almost certainly bring them more sanctions. With the possibility of 3 points deduction already hanging over us we can't even consider a pitch invasion.

BerlinWaller wrote:The action taken by the Reading fans yesterday has got them some really positive exposure today. Food for thought

But what about the almost inevitable points deduction or fine?

Phil Anderer wrote:

BerlinWaller wrote:The action taken by the Reading fans yesterday has got them some really positive exposure today. Food for thought

But what about the almost inevitable points deduction or fine?

What about just sitting on our hands and watching the club die?

The Town hall is nothing but a customer service centre, no point going from there. Straight down the middle of Regent rd with the banners and flares.

We need to target his other business interests if he has any.

We need to get the attention Reading are getting. We need to get what is happening to us out there.

The more i think about it the more i think Sarb turning up the other week was Jason taking the piss.

His address is on Companies House, his other businesses are as well if you want to get at him that way. He is active on FB with a few fans already contacting him on there.

We need to be on SKY SPORTS NEWS and all over social media.

It has to be something that will attract attention and I still think that a huge banner with wording of 'CLUB FOR SALE' or something similar placed on the retaining wall in front of the Directors and Sponsors boxes on level 3 would be in direct view of the TV cameras but would not interfere with the on field match.

Obviously such a display would require the approval of the BoDs but I'm certain it would attract the attention of the media. Jason does NOT own the Stadium so he would have no say on whether it was approved.

A march to the ground would not i suspect get the coverage required but as i suggest a huge banner placed in front of the boxes would be in full view of the TV cameras.

Comments....

redrobo wrote:It has to be something that will attract attention and I still think that a huge banner with wording of 'CLUB FOR SALE' or something similar placed on the retaining wall in front of the Directors and Sponsors boxes on level 3 would be in direct view of the TV cameras but would not interfere with the on field match.

Obviously such a display would require the approval of the BoDs but I'm certain it would attract the attention of the media. Jason does NOT own the Stadium so he would have no say on whether it was approved.

A march to the ground would not i suspect get the coverage required but as i suggest a huge banner placed in front of the boxes would be in full view of the TV cameras.

Comments....

We get 30seconds worth of TV highlights a week, i doubt many people will see this huge banner.

BerlinWaller wrote:We need to get the attention Reading are getting. We need to get what is happening to us out there.

The more i think about it the more i think Sarb turning up the other week was Jason taking the piss.

His address is on Companies House, his other businesses are as well if you want to get at him that way. He is active on FB with a few fans already contacting him on there.

We need to be on SKY SPORTS NEWS and all over social media.

From your own answers in your heart you must know it’s a total waste of time and energy to have mass walks or heavens forbid a pitch invasion resulting in a game being abandoned, the owner will probably love the foolishness of it.
Because the Board of Directors have publicly declared no faith in the owner of the club the way forward may well be through the mass lobbing of the LFA to try and ask the LFA to look into the ownership of the club and whether the majority share owner is a fit and proper person to own a football club? Or through his ownership of Morecambe FC is bringing the game into disrepute? Are these justified?
I hope these test are applied yearly and not just when the club is being bought, especially now that the owner has been the majority share holder of Morecambe FC since 2018
There are also political moves to legislate through a Football Charter if the FA continues to not deal properly with bad ownership of football clubs. So there is hope there, however that maybe a long way off.
Since 2004 anyone involved with running or owning a football club must pass the Owners and Directors Test. There are ten elements to this test (look them up). I take it the majority share holder has passed these test.
The FA will not sign off on Sarbjot Johal’s bid because he as of yet does not pass all the elements within the test, so that shows they work!!
At the moment it is a case of the majority shareholder has passed the LFA tests and seeing they resigned as directors do they even still have to pass those tests?
What ever is done by the fans it has to be something that will have an impact and not anything could lead to more charges against the club.

I guess we have to see how things pan out with the points deduction and any other problems as the season closes out. Then it's potentially time to raise the stakes but to get any real impact you need to do things like Reading and Blackpool. This though means potentially seeing things get worse before they possibly get better

Has there ever been a more disengaged fanbase than ours in a situation like this?

BerlinWaller wrote:Has there ever been a more disengaged fanbase than ours in a situation like this?

Agree entirely BW.

I was reading the replies to Reading FC's announcement that the game has been abandoned on Twitter and there were a LARGE number of Wigan Athletic fans praising and complimenting the Reading fans for their actions. I'm not condoning pitch invasions personally BTW.

The general consensus of reply from Wigan was that the "worst" thing they did as fans was to sit back and do absolutely nothing until it was too late and the club ended up as it did before being sold etc.

Food for thought.

BerlinWaller wrote:Has there ever been a more disengaged fanbase than ours in a situation like this?

If someone wants to do things differently it does not mean you are disengaged, people do things differently, but I make this promise. You start a march from the prom down to the Maz, headed by the board and I for one will be with you. Who would see that coming a joint venture with the board!! Some people work in mysterious ways. Still for me is through pressure on the LFA to take charge of selling the club, that was behind the board making their feelings known on public record.

Seasider9601 wrote:

BerlinWaller wrote:Has there ever been a more disengaged fanbase than ours in a situation like this?

The general consensus of reply from Wigan was that the "worst" thing they did as fans was to sit back and do absolutely nothing until it was too late and the club ended up as it did before being sold etc.

Food for thought.

Was it "the worst thing" though? What if other action proved more damaging? If we [for example] had a pitch-invasion. The FA then say our next six home games have to be played behind closed doors. We then remove operating revenue from the club, and go in to administration. Ten point deduction for that, three points that were from previously not paying staff & four points from the pitch invasion itself. We end up going bust and reforming in North West Counties. Would that be "worse"?

The reality is, we can only force Whittingham/Bond's hand, if we deliberately damage the club, so his asset value diminishes. But, that runs the risk of fatally wounding it.

We also have a board that most of us trust. If we make their position untenable, and they resign, then what? What that make the situation worse?

It is frustrating, but our position is different, because of our board being basically, on our side, not the owners.

On Reading let’s see ‘what the powers to be’ decide to do! The fans are saying this is only the start, are’the powers that be’ just going to do nothing? I cannot find any statement from the owner. The club will probably face heavy sanctions as a penalty for the pitch invasion, they will not put the club into administration to force the owner to sell, (there are statutory laws that protect the owner).

Just a thought are the board with him? Or have they made a public statement (like Morecambe’s board), that they have no faith in him as the owner?

If Morecambe get to many sanctions that result in being in the bottom two, they are out of the league not dropped down a league, they will be OUT.

Let’s think outside of the box, at the moment the majority owner is out smarting everyone. He/they can sit there and just earn interest on his loans to the club again.

Keith wrote:

Seasider9601 wrote:

BerlinWaller wrote:Has there ever been a more disengaged fanbase than ours in a situation like this?

The general consensus of reply from Wigan was that the "worst" thing they did as fans was to sit back and do absolutely nothing until it was too late and the club ended up as it did before being sold etc.

Food for thought.

Was it "the worst thing" though? What if other action proved more damaging? If we [for example] had a pitch-invasion. The FA then say our next six home games have to be played behind closed doors. We then remove operating revenue from the club, and go in to administration. Ten point deduction for that, three points that were from previously not paying staff & four points from the pitch invasion itself. We end up going bust and reforming in North West Counties. Would that be "worse"?

The reality is, we can only force Whittingham/Bond's hand, if we deliberately damage the club, so his asset value diminishes. But, that runs the risk of fatally wounding it.

We also have a board that most of us trust. If we make their position untenable, and they resign, then what? What that make the situation worse?

It is frustrating, but our position is different, because of our board being basically, on our side, not the owners.

Spot on.
We can't do anything Reading style as it would end up hurting the club more. Jason clearly doesn't care, I still fail to see what he gets out of this though.

An update from the Board would be more than welcome, it has been ages since the last press release. Even if it is a 'Jason continues to be a nob' update.

A joint venture of demonstration with the Board would get my vote. Something before or after a game.

As I say Keith, I'm not in ANY way shape or form supporting pitch invasions. That's a no no.

[/quote]

Was it "the worst thing" though? What if other action proved more damaging? If we [for example] had a pitch-invasion. The FA then say our next six home games have to be played behind closed doors. We then remove operating revenue from the club, and go in to administration. Ten point deduction for that, three points that were from previously not paying staff & four points from the pitch invasion itself. We end up going bust and reforming in North West Counties. Would that be "worse"?

The reality is, we can only force Whittingham/Bond's hand, if we deliberately damage the club, so his asset value diminishes. But, that runs the risk of fatally wounding it.

We also have a board that most of us trust. If we make their position untenable, and they resign, then what? What that make the situation worse?

It is frustrating, but our position is different, because of our board being basically, on our side, not the owners.[/quote]

Spot on.
We can't do anything Reading style as it would end up hurting the club more. Jason clearly doesn't care, I still fail to see what he gets out of this though.

An update from the Board would be more than welcome, it has been ages since the last press release. Even if it is a 'Jason continues to be a nob' update.

A joint venture of demonstration with the Board would get my vote. Something before or after a game.[/quote]

The last update from the board was on 4 December so 6 weeks ago. We know members of the board read this forum so another update would be welcome.

I think we might have been closer to Reading's situation going into this season than we realised. It seems their owner is actively and blatantly trying to push their club towards administration in order to allow him to avoid paying his debts and strip the club of it's assets. I don't think we were a million miles away from this when we released all of our players and the owner instructed the board he wouldn't be putting any money in and we would be run to a break even level.

Major differences with our situation is our club/owner has no (or very little) debt and we don't really have any assets for him to sell. He doesn't own the stadium and can't sell the land or anything like that. There is really no benefit that I can see in letting the club slip into administration.

A small budget was provided at the beginning of the season so presumably Jason did put at least some money in, another high interest loan maybe? Either way it suggests to me that he doesn't want to put the club completely out of business. I think the issue really is as simple as he values the club far higher than anyone else and will not even entertain an offer that is not at the same level as Sarbjots.

As for what we can do, I haven't got a clue. If the EFL won't do anything about Reading then they definitely won't intervene with us. Nobody can force Jason to sell either, all I can think to do is we send letters to his listed addresses, make him aware of the damage he's causing and appeal to him to sell the club for the good of the town.

Exactly what point(s) would your joint demonstration be proposing to make OMK?

And as for a protest march against Jason for me it would achieve nothing as any news coverage would only be local. We need to do something that attracts nationwide coverage BUT does not hurt the club with a points deduction or an enforcement to play games behind closed doors.

I love my club but no way would I condone or even join in a march. For me it would be a pointless gesture that would achieve sod all.....

I still think that 'CLUB FOR SALE' banners both inside and outside the ground would attract the necessary attention IF we ensured that the media was made aware of the action.

What I find worrying is the lack of suggestions on our forum as to how we make the position our club is in to as wide an audience as possible.

What is obvious that Jason is not losing out financially as he puts a ridiculously high interest rate on any money loaned.