3G pitches and security block

[Posh]

Interesting point for me is that the secured creditor brought bankruptcy proceedings against "one of the directors" due to a personal guarantee, which was settled, and subsequently the debt was reduced by circa £150k. £477k is still due to the secured creditor.

A report on the conduct of the directors has been submitted to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

I picked up this up as well. The only directors at the time of the administrators coming in were Peter McGuigan (who surely must be the one they brought proceedings against) and Diego Lemos (good luck finding him). There were various securities signed by directors https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... 44/charges, including some from when Rod Taylor and Graham Hodgson were Directors but I doubt they've been caught up in this. The most likely is from the later Barclays Bank charges.

If it is PMG, he may well be in trouble when BIS come to investigate the circumstances of the administration.

They are hoping to get £450k from the sale of the assets which will go to the secured creditor. This is noted with a point that this is an "estimate based on difficulties due to access issues" (which I see as a positive for us).

Richard Allan and I talked to the administrators around the time of establishing the Trust to get the full picture. They clearly weren't aware of the issues with the location of the land at the time but they do now.

I'm treading carefully here but my understanding of the situation is that Co-Op Bank were the secured creditor. Around the time of the crazy cocaine snorting vicar who was Co-Op Bank's Chairman and their near bankruptcy a big package of under-performing loans were sold off at a massive discount.

Basically, let's say that the portfolio owed Co-Op £100m but they took the view that it would take decades to get back £50m, it would make sense for them now to sell the loan book for £40m and give it to someone else to do the dirty work. The buyers are 'vulture funds' who have no qualms about getting every single penny back by whatever means necessary.

As this article shows one of the biggest players is an American firm called Cerberus after the "monstrous multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving" - yes they don't hide it - and it is they who own the land and Community Block at the back of the Globe, previously controlled by PMG Leisure.

The administrators Moorlands work on pretty much all of Cerberus's UK projects. They force the company into administration and then ravage over the carcass through debt reclamation, bailiffs, the courts and bankruptcy hearings. I firmly believe that the administrators could have kept open the 3G pitches and block in return for a rent that would have given the owners a return. However, by closing it all it forces us down a path they want of some sort of settlement. Basically, bollocks to the land covenant that allow kids to use it for free on certain days and the soccer schools for young ones - pay us our money!

How do I know who owns it? In the documents, it says the owners are Promontoria (Ram 2) Ltd. You can't find this in the UK, because it is an Irish company based there for tax reasons https://companycheck.co.uk/company/IE58 ... house-data. They seriously avoid tax as well https://www.irishtimes.com/business/com ... -1.2889897. The directors include Geert Jan Schipper https://www.linkedin.com/in/geert-jan-s ... -70a16422/ and as you can see he works for Cerberus.

So what can we do? I seriously believe that if we could scrape together some money - no more than £100,000. We could then launch a media campaign along the lines of 'tax dodging vulture fund denies deprived children access to football' and it would go down really well with the national press and TV. They would then be pushed into selling up. We could even picket the administrators offices.

I seriously think the Shrimps Trust could do it but it would be really helped if the club itself was more secure.

[Posh]

£282 per hour, not a bad little earner

That's what happens when you have high barriers to entry into a profession and an effective "closed shop". Insolvency practitioner remains a protected profession with relatively few trainee jobs available, mostly to the big firms, which act like a cartel (i.e. avoiding competition) so they can all keep their fees ridiculously high.

That's actually very 'cheap' and will be because of the relationship between Cerberus and Moorlands. During the recession there was so much work on many firms were charging over £1,000 an hour.

Here's PWC fees up to £1,075 per hour for one person's work. Even someone doing some photcopying gets charged out at £82 an hour. https://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/four_s ... ndix_d.pdf

[KenH]

I picked up this up as well. The only directors at the time of the administrators coming in were Peter McGuigan (who surely must be the one they brought proceedings against) and Diego Lemos (good luck finding him).

Makes you wonder why PMG didn't just stump up the money each month to pay the bank loan repayments. The bank/lender will only have called in their debt and forced administration because the loan repayments weren't up to date. Unless there's something weird in the loan terms, the bank/lender usually has to see out the loan if the lender meets their obligations, i.e. pays the repayments when due. £150k would equate to many months/years of repayments, so it would probably have been cheaper for him just to make sure the repayments were made and then at least they'd have kept the pitches/block which would have also made the whole club more attractive to potential buyers. As it stands, he's out of pocket by £150k and the club have lost those facilities.

[Posh]

I picked up this up as well. The only directors at the time of the administrators coming in were Peter McGuigan (who surely must be the one they brought proceedings against) and Diego Lemos (good luck finding him).

Makes you wonder why PMG didn't just stump up the money each month to pay the bank loan repayments. The bank/lender will only have called in their debt and forced administration because the loan repayments weren't up to date. Unless there's something weird in the loan terms, the bank/lender usually has to see out the loan if the lender meets their obligations, i.e. pays the repayments when due. £150k would equate to many months/years of repayments, so it would probably have been cheaper for him just to make sure the repayments were made and then at least they'd have kept the pitches/block which would have also made the whole club more attractive to potential buyers. As it stands, he's out of pocket by £150k and the club have lost those facilities.

I agree. I suspect the club were covering the repayments by paying for services but this may have become untenable. I also think the Co-Op would have been more forgiving about non-payment. However, when it was sold to Cerberus they would have almost immediately called in administrators.

[Christies Child]

As I posted before the fact that the club / Trust own the access land to the rear of The Globe. As a result I doubt it would be of interest to any speculator who thinks he /they could make a good if any return on their investment.

I know sweet fa about the ins and outs of this topic but I suspect that access to the land concerned is a serious stumbling to any deal.

Begs the question therefore what the Banks etc expect to get out of this.

[George Dawes]

As I posted before the fact that the club / Trust own the access land to the rear of The Globe. As a result I doubt it would be of interest to any speculator who thinks he /they could make a good if any return on their investment.

I know sweet fa about the ins and outs of this topic but I suspect that access to the land concerned is a serious stumbling to any deal.

Begs the question therefore what the Banks etc expect to get out of this.

Was going to post before but I've an architect Birdseye drawing of what the trust owns and what we don't , the gravele car park isn't owned by the trust and they can get access to the 3G pitches that way via Mini Rylands as its better known to some of us older ones, and maybe through the new housing estate what's just been built.

Ps, I'll try and put it up here in a bit..

[Morecambe Jack]

There is no need, it is on the Shrimps Trust website.

https://shrimpstrust.co.uk/campaigns/jb-christie-trust

[BerlinWaller]

Just to clarify for us not in the know or without architect drawings, when you refer to "the trust" do you mean the JB Christie thing or the Supporters trust?

[Christies Child]

Sorry should have made it clear that I was referring to J B Christie

[George Dawes]

Here, see you can get to it, there's a public road what goes behind that housing estate what takes you to some gates what gets you into that car park on the right of that drawing, forward thinking by PMG is say

[MFC-Manc]

Sorry if this has been asked before, does the American company own the land that the “Hurley flyer is on?”
And access to the Berlin Wall would be through the 2 ends if it all kicked off.

[jbcshrimp]

Sorry if this has been asked before, does the American company own the land that the “Hurley flyer is on?”
And access to the Berlin Wall would be through the 2 ends if it all kicked off.

By the look of the map they do hold the footpath at the rear of the outer wall. If they wanted to be awkward they could stop people using that and yes entry would have to be via the home end.

[Morecambe Jack]

All the land at the front of the Globe has been sold - as stated on the Shrimps Trust website so this is not owned by the Americans.

The JB Christie Trust has full access rights to all paths and roads around the stadium so there is no issues with access for the Football Club.

I'm not trying to generate hits to the Shrimps Trust website, but it does fully explain the situation in respect of the land. It is just one example of the excellent work the Shrimps Trust has done/is doing.

https://shrimpstrust.co.uk/campaigns/jb-christie-trust

[RedRedWine]

Here, see you can get to it, there's a public road what goes behind that housing estate what takes you to some gates what gets you into that car park on the right of that drawing, forward thinking by PMG is say

The drawings show J.B. Christie Trust land which is leased to the football club (inside the red perimeter).

Areas shaded blue are owned by other parties.

To my knowledge, Morecambe Football Club.Limited still owns the gravel car park which you talk about as access to the land where the community pitches are located. I think controlling this scrap of land is vital in the grand scheme of things - It has in the past had charges against it from the PFA.

[George Dawes]

This is a better one, can you get into that area in the corner, pink area in question RRW

[black morse]

This is a better one, can you get into that area in the corner, pink area in question RRW

This is the land registry map and the triangle of land and the pink tinted land appears to remain in the original title. Unless that part has been transferred off since this map was produced.