Supporters Trust to become majority shareholder

Last updated : 02 August 2006 By Rob Davies
The Trust board have agreed a deal with Haydn Green to up their shares from 30.2% to a controlling 51% share, that will see the supporters take control of the club for the first time in its 144 year history.

A meeting between the Trust's 1,300 membership will now be held in order to ratify the decision, that has already provoked fierce debate on the NCM messageboard.

“This is not an exercise in control or power broking," said Trust Chairman Keri Usherwood.

"The Club desperately needs a prolonged period of stability in order to continue to build on the firm foundations that have been put in place.

"We see our role as maintaining a “watching brief” over the happenings at the Club. The existing directors will continue to receive our support in running the Club.

It's ours!!
"We will be on hand to ensure that the excesses of the past will not be repeated."

Usherwood was delighted that the club have come to an agreement with Green - whose £3.2million cash injection saved the club back in 2003 - for his shares in the club.

“Football cannot continue to be run on a mixture of hand-outs, bail-outs and cop-outs," he said.

"There is no place for egotists or those who use football for self-aggrandisement. The majority ownership of the Club will be in the hands of those who provide the basis for its very existence, the supporters."

The Trust will take-out an interest-free loan in order to purchase the shares and, though it is not yet clear whether a second Supporter Director would join newly-appointed Eric Kerry on the club's board, they have confirmed that Jeff Moore will remain as the Club's Chairman under the new arrangement.

“We intend to promote an open culture where supporters are kept fully informed of all meaningful issues affecting their Club," Usherwood continued in the Trust's Press Release.

"Existing avenues of communication will continue to be improved and additional opportunities will be explored. After the difficult and depressing times of recent years this is an opportunity for the world's oldest football league club to look to better times with its supporters at its heart."

The Trust were widely-criticised for its part in the managerial appointment of Steve Thompson. Despite voicing reservations over the decision to choose Thompson, the Trust were over-ruled by Moore, Chief Executive Geoff Davey and Footballing Director Howard Wilkinson.

It is thought that, under the new arrangement, no such decision will be able to be taken without the say-so of the Supporters Trust.

Supporters will be given the chance to ask any questions they may have to the club's board at a specially-arranged Fans Forum tomorrow evening.

It is thought that a number of the Club's directors - including the Chairman - will be in attendance, as well as Thompson and assistant John Gannon.

For more information, you can visit the Supporters Trust's website by clicking here.



For more on the 'takeover', stay tuned to NCM in the coming days.