Anything to report from the AGM

[shreds1975]

Has anyone been to the AGM? Just wondering what the mood was like, any revelations or was it just a formality?

My brother had invite as a shareholder, but couldn't get documentation to them in time for me to go.

 

[Wards]

Len told me he'd be on anytime to give a full report

 

[shreds1975]

Len told me he'd be on anytime to give a full report

Len has so many unasked questions I am not sure he would have had time to ask them, even if he had been bothered to go.

 

[The One]

We are skint!

 

[Linz]

We were there as guests.

The mood was fairly upbeat. McCabe admitted that they'd tried something that hadn't worked and referred to the period post-Premiership as a "failure". He held his hands up and said that they'd spent a lot of a money in the wrong way.

Birch and Pemberton spoke about the grand plan of developing more of our own youngsters and Pembo said that he wanted to see "more Sheffield lads on the pitch". They've restructured the Academy from age 6 upwards and the new manager would be expected to slot into the process of development.

They were coy about the prospect of who the new manager would be. Birch said that "compensation wouldn't be an issue but that's not to say we wouldn't spend money on it". No names were mentioned but general laughter met the question of whether "we could afford compensation or would we get a manager who was already on the scrapheap?"

There was lots of financial stuff about the hotel which basically boiled down to Scarborough owning the club and Scarborough owning the hotel and the club have not been done out of the deal. The hotel was valued independently etc etc.

McCabe also responded to an accusation of the AGM being held at the hotel being a conflict of interest. He said that SUFC were not paying the hotel for the holding of the AGM. It was pointed out that it was a match day which is why the suites in the stands weren't used.

There was some more but my notes are at Foxy's.

The only heckling came from McCabe's gorgeous little granddaughter

 

[shorehamview]

Were there general wailings and gnashings of teeth when the board found out who hadn't come?

Thought not.....

 

[Blade58]

Linz,

What was all that about KM converting some loans into shares? (mentioned on another board)

What is the reasoning behind it from KM's point of view? Is it to make us more attractive to investors by reducing our debt?

 

[Linz]

Linz,

What was all that about KM converting some loans into shares? (mentioned on another board)

What is the reasoning behind it from KM's point of view? Is it to make us more attractive to investors by reducing our debt?

Don't quote me on this as I haven't got the notes but as I remember, there's an option to convert £13mil of Kevin McCabe's personal loans into shares with the club. The reasoning behind it was to "write-off" the loans as it were with McCabe not taking that amount of money back.

McCabe was at pains to stress to the shareholders and the local media present that the club is not for sale and that they are doing all they can to make the club stand on it's own two feet in order to sustain it until the banks start lending money again. Primarily they are looking at investors to take a minority shareholding in the club but if someone with "big money" came in, the club would have to take a collective decision on what is in the best interests.

He said that as we are viewed as a "wealthy" club, the bank wanted paying off in full because it believed we could do us. Ironically, if we were as skint as our near-neighbours, they'd have had to write it off (so who are the foolish ones there?)

Also, a question was asked with regards to PAYE and VAT. We're all up to date with our payments

EDIT:

Also remembered something else. Trevor Birch said there'd be no more spending on infrastructure (i.e. ground improvements) until we went up as every penny we have ought to be "spent on the pitch".

 

[Foxy]

Linz,

What was all that about KM converting some loans into shares? (mentioned on another board)

He was talking about turning loan notes into equity, more likely than not next February.

What is the reasoning behind it from KM's point of view? Is it to make us more attractive to investors by reducing our debt?

Certainly makes the balance sheet look a lot better

 

[shreds1975]

:thumbup: Thanks for the update Foxy and Linz, much appreciated

 

[Linz]

:thumbup: Thanks for the update Foxy and Linz, much appreciated

No worries. I'll dig out the scribbles I made to see if I've missed anything significant.

Forgot to add, it was confirmed that Simon Argall and Mike Farnan have resigned to "pursue other opportunities".

 

[Ballinpigpubs13]

Can somebody post a telephone number or a name I can contact regarding attending an AGM. I am a share holder and have never been to one. Since I moved house I don't get any information at all regarding shares etc.

 

[Oreyt]

Cheers for the info.

 

[SwissBlade]

but if someone with "big money" came in, the club would have to take a collective decision on what is in the best interests

On that note, we had our Christmas party with work last night and we have just managed to obtain/ secure phase II of project financing from 26 banks to the tune of 2.5 Billion Euros, so banks are lending!

The difference is I guess is that the banks will see a fast and guaranteed return in their investment within the next couple of years even if the outlay is massive to start.

I was speaking to our finance director later in the evening (the company also announced that everyone will get a 6 months salary bonus if we are ready to supply gas on 1st Oct next year!) and as he's a football fan (manure) I twisted the conversation around to the Blades. I happened to mention that we're looking for investment and he said he'd speak to the MD as he has a lot of "very rich" friends in Russia. Just thank me when we sign Messi

 

[Worksop II]

I was speaking to our finance director later in the evening (the company also announced that everyone will get a 6 months salary bonus if we are ready to supply gas on 1st Oct next year!)

Noted, will check back on this when I receive my Gas Bill next year

 

[SwissBlade]

ha ha well we wont be supplying the UK with Gas for a couple of years, but we have an agreement with Gazprom that 1st October we turn the taps on and start taking gas or we'll pay anyway.

On the investment, i'm surprised that we've not been making a bit of a bigger deal about getting investors into the club.

Can't we have a word with Cloud 9

 

[sheffielder]

Is this rumour true? AGM

Did Kevin McCabe stand up at the AGM and say that at some point he will write off the debt United owe to him?

 

[Blade58]

.................. eh?


Will this be the legacy he leaves the club when he finally calls it a day?

Now wouldn't that be a good leaving present?

 

[beightonblade]

or did he say : I'm keeping the freehold ?

 

[Linz]

Threads merged

Did Kevin McCabe stand up at the AGM and say that at some point he will write off the debt United owe to him?

See above. There is an option to convert £13mil of his personal loans to the club into shares.

 

[sheffielder]

Thanks Linz,

do you know how much do we owe him in total for the loan notes?

 

[Kopped]

From what another guy who attended, has said in Lehmans terms (he understands football finances much better than me):

Next years accounts should take some good reading as he's recognised the failures he's made and will be writing off the debt in June and selling some of his Shares to make some Money available to the Club.

Now to me, reading between the lines, that says, I publicly apologise for my failures and here is my token of good will. I am writing off the debt and selling some shares to help the club move forward from here!

The future is bright. The future is certainly Red and White.

 

[Worksop II]

From what another guy who attended, has said in Lehmans terms (he understands football finances much better than me):

Next years accounts should take some good reading as he's recognised the failures he's made and will be writing off the debt in June and selling some of his Shares to make some Money available to the Club.

Now to me, reading between the lines, that says, I publicly apologise for my failures and here is my token of good will. I am writing off the debt and selling some shares to help the club move forward from here!

The future is bright. The future is certainly Red and White.

So to sum up in "Laymans" Terms

He hasn`t appologised (though why should he its his club / money)

He hasn`t written off any debt

He hasn`t sold any shares (though how selling his shares makes money available to the club is beyond me)

 

[Sharpy]

From what another guy who attended, has said in Lehmans terms (he understands football finances much better than me):

Next years accounts should take some good reading as he's recognised the failures he's made and will be writing off the debt in June and selling some of his Shares to make some Money available to the Club.

Now to me, reading between the lines, that says, I publicly apologise for my failures and here is my token of good will. I am writing off the debt and selling some shares to help the club move forward from here!

The future is bright. The future is certainly Red and White.

If you seriously still believe a word that comes out McCabes mouth, well, rather you than me.

The guy lost my trust a long time ago.

Has he ever actually said sorry for hiring Mr Robson and giving him millions of pounds to spend?

That proved that he knows nothing about football. The appointment of Robson is the entire reason we are now in this mess.

 

[alcoblade]

From what another guy who attended, has said in Lehmans terms (he understands football finances much better than me):

Next years accounts should take some good reading as he's recognised the failures he's made and will be writing off the debt in June and selling some of his Shares to make some Money available to the Club.

Now to me, reading between the lines, that says, I publicly apologise for my failures and here is my token of good will. I am writing off the debt and selling some shares to help the club move forward from here!

The future is bright. The future is certainly Red and White.

IF that is the case then it will be a fantastic gesture, though to be fair he would be right in suggestig that he owes it to the club for huge mistakes made. But many wouldn't do the same. If he does, then fair play.

UTB

 

[Kopped]

If you seriously still believe a word that comes out McCabes mouth, well, rather you than me.

The guy lost my trust a long time ago.

Has he ever actually said sorry for hiring Mr Robson and giving him millions of pounds to spend?

That proved that he knows nothing about football. The appointment of Robson is the entire reason we are now in this mess.

Can we dispel a myth or 2 here.

Who hired Robson and who gave him the Money?

KM or his "Chief" advisor or CEO at the time? I'm willing to bet that it was a certain CEO who advised KM to hire a better named manager and supply him with the funds neccessary to move the club forward on and off the pitch. When in your and my lifetime have we ever had a name like Robson as Manager of our club except when he was CEO?

I have it on good authority that KM was misled by his advisers, not misled on judgement, he simply went about his "plan" as he said he would.

I'm not saying he's a Saint but if he is doing as he said yesterday, then I will be more than happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and am willing to lay the blame at his advisers and not entirely at his door.

 

[DuncDisorderly]

Has he ever actually said sorry for hiring Mr Robson and giving him millions of pounds to spend?

FFS, Sharpy, why does there have to be an 'apology' for anything. He made his best judgement on the information at the time with the best intentions. He committed a big chunk of cash to bounce us back up. That it then turned out to be a crock of crap is irrelevant. Why not just accept that everyone who makes decisions sometimes make the wrong one*..?


*This is everyone , except Mrs Disorderly, who to my knowledge has only ever made one mistake. It was when she thought she'd made the wrong decision, but it turned out later that she hadn't...

 

[Mad Mick]

Well said DD.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

*This is everyone , except Mrs Disorderly, who to my knowledge has only ever made one mistake. It was when she thought she'd made the wrong decision, but it turned out later that she hadn't...

So you're not a wimp then?

 

[ghandi]

Was any mention made of how we are going to approach the 5.3m deficit forecast? Would this be via cost-cutting (no spending in Jan), outside investment or bank borrowing as reported in the accounts.