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FoH - final installment of BidCo payment made - share transfer likely in April


Footballfirst

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51 minutes ago, jambomjm74 said:

Those who have invested sizeable sums of money are rightly hacked off (I’d use stronger words - but wouldn’t be allowed). 
A massive positive, one that FOH should keep us all updated on !! 

Negatives are not difficult to find, I’d love to wax lyrical about all the positives but ...
 

 

let’s try again. 
 

WE ARE NOT THERE YET

 

no announcement had been missed but you are happy to moan just in case we don’t announce it. 
 

the point has nothing whatsoever about how much money we have invested. This is only about you moaning about nothing. 
 

do you moan on way out for a meal about how badly it’s going to taste?  

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9 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

That’s why, even though I might not agree 100% with FF, I think he does a great job bringing out the key points and gets some debate around it going on here. That’s got be healthy. 

Agreed that debate is healthy unfortunately a lot of people treat any sort of criticism as being akin to treason. 
I also do not agree 100% with FF (and FA for that matter) but as time has went on I’ve come to realise that they have recognised issues long before any else and didn’t deserve a lot of the sniping that came their way. 
I was really looking forward to what FF had to say when he got up to speak at the AGM but (and this is just my own opinion) it all felt a bit ‘why bother?’. 

That was the point that tipped me into the camp of reconsidering my continued contributions after the share transfer. 

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2 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I'm surprised nobody has highlighted this bit from the OP.

 

Wouldn't this need to be agreed through a ballot of the FOH membership? From what I've read on here, some folk might be against using FOH money for day-to-day running of the club.  Unless I've misunderstood the OP? 

 

Its already been agreed by FoH membership that subscriptions will be used at the discretion of the club.

 

Confirmed by vote at December AGM. 

Edited by Mikey1874
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40 minutes ago, neonjambo said:

Outwith the possible drop off in membership, due to the job done feeling.

This is probably one of the largest issues facing FoH.

An appointee whom all members can get behind or face a further reduction

in subscriptions.

 

 

An outline of where future pledges would be spent is essential. 

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1 minute ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

Its already been agreed by FoH membership that subscriptions will be used at the discretion of the club.

 

Confirmed by vote at December AGM. 

Too vague for me. 

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24 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Was it not meant to be up and running within three weeks of the AGM?  It's now approaching four weeks.

Give them a chance it has been the festive period.

Edited by Jamboelite
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Francis Albert
3 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

Its already been agreed by FoH membership that subscriptions will be used at the discretion of the club.

 

Confirmed by vote at December AGM. 

Correct.  Very few were interested in governance and FOH has done very little to interest anyone. The model of the founder members of FOH has therefore triumphed.

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Footballfirst
11 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I'm surprised nobody has highlighted this bit from the OP.

 

Wouldn't this need to be agreed through a ballot of the FOH membership? From what I've read on here, some folk might be against using FOH money for day-to-day running of the club.  Unless I've misunderstood the OP? 

It's a bit of a grey area.

 

The current governance model only really provides for repayment of the Bidco loan under the terms of the agreement and acquiring the majority shareholding. 

 

The new governance proposals allow for FOH to provide funds to the club for ANY purpose. However they don't come into effect until FOH becomes the majority shareholder.

 

A 4 month delay in bringing in the new governance proposals, as a result of delaying the share transfer, does mean that FOH would be collecting pledges over the period, but I don't think that very many people would have an issue if funds continued to be passed to the club in the interim.

Edited by Footballfirst
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Francis Albert
5 minutes ago, Jamboelite said:

Give them a chance it has been the festive period.

I assume that is ironic.  A FOUR WEEK festive period?

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13 minutes ago, Jarhead said:

Agreed that debate is healthy unfortunately a lot of people treat any sort of criticism as being akin to treason. 
I also do not agree 100% with FF (and FA for that matter) but as time has went on I’ve come to realise that they have recognised issues long before any else and didn’t deserve a lot of the sniping that came their way. 
I was really looking forward to what FF had to say when he got up to speak at the AGM but (and this is just my own opinion) it all felt a bit ‘why bother?’. 

That was the point that tipped me into the camp of reconsidering my continued contributions after the share transfer. 

So FF’s apparent apathy at the agm persuaded you?

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31 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

You better not have been on that pitch.👣👣

 
I was, however time on the pitch was very much limited to walking to my plot, photo taken then off again! 
 

Also the hydroponics were on

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Francis Albert
2 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

They have not announced it because it hasn’t happened yet. Strange. 

We are almost there would be a good positive message. Why do we have to rely on FF to work out and tell us where we are?

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pettigrewsstylist
5 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 
I was, however time on the pitch was very much limited to walking to my plot, photo taken then off again! 
 

Also the hydroponics were on

What in concert? !!!!!😉

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9 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

We are almost there would be a good positive message. Why do we have to rely on FF to work out and tell us where we are?

Maybe they don’t want to tempt fate and then get slaughteted for it? We should have one of those things Blue Peter used to have for their Xmas appeals. 😄

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46 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

Nobody suggested absence.

 

Thought you were suggesting a lack of communication in terms of the AGM. Perhaps I misinterpreted 

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2 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

So FF’s apparent apathy at the agm persuaded you?

No, it was just the final tipping point.

I’ve had growing concerns for a while now. Maybe my perceived apathy from FF on the night just fed into the apathy I feel surrounds FoH at the moment. 
It all feels such a shame when you read the plot ceremony thread and see how much that means to the fans who attend but I’m seriously worried that FoH won’t be the vehicle for the fans that a lot of us hoped it would be. 
 

Then again, maybe if we start winning games then everything will be rosy in the garden once more 🤷‍♂️

 

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21 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

We are almost there would be a good positive message. Why do we have to rely on FF to work out and tell us where we are?

 

FF posted it today, what if they have a prepared statement ready to publish tomorrow?

 

You have be idea if they have or not and yet still rip into them.

 

ps. Even if they do release a statement tomorrow they will be damned for only doing because of this thread.

 

Any excuse to kick the club/FOH though,

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27 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

We are almost there would be a good positive message. Why do we have to rely on FF to work out and tell us where we are?

Given the news was out there weeks ago I hardly think ff gave us an exclusive.

 

Nothing against him but this particular piece of info was public knowledge weeks ago ..then it was by March 2020 so maybe it's a month earlier than anticipated

 

It's not the club or FOH at fault if people don't keep up to date just a little bit..and in this case FF does keep up to date so for those who don't he seems to be their source of info.

 

I'd rather news was given when it happened  and a splash made at that point than 'some time soon this will happen' 

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Delighted we have nearly paid of our loan to the bank of budge, future is looking very bright for us once we move on from our current mess. 

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Ricardo Shillyshally

I felt the lack of communication from FOH was deliberate. There was a time when I got the feeling that folk were getting a bit fed being asked to contribute/increase so FOH stepped back a bit. Our shitty performances on the park make it a harder task too.

 

I'm also surprised to hear that folk might reduce their pledge when milestones are reached. Each to their own and their financial circumstances, but if the only reason for a reduction is a "milestone" then that's very disappointing.

 

As for apathy towards getting involved in running FOH, most won't have the necessary skill set. 

 

Anyway FWIW I have increased my pledged today.

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Lord Beni of Gorgie

Criticism is the simplest thing in the world. 

 

To be ignored where it lacks constructive support 

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pettigrewsstylist

If the communication was working particuarly well then this thread would not really exist in this form?

More an observation than a criticism tbh.

Edited by pettigrewsstylist
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1 hour ago, Francis Albert said:

We are almost there would be a good positive message. Why do we have to rely on FF to work out and tell us where we are?

I didn’t. I knew the rough situation prior to the agm, Budge confirmed it at the agm that the required sum to hit the threshold would be collected either Jan or Feb, however given advice from accountants and lawyers the £100k share transfer premium would not be handed over until late  June. This was also very clearly reported on the agm thread on here. 

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Once the milestone has been reached, I will carry on with my contribution and probably increase it as a few have already stated earlier.

 

my pledge is for life. 

 

Teams of a similar size to us Aberdeen and the Hibs will be left in our wake if the monies are used correctly.

 

onwards and upwards 

c’mon the famous 💕🇱🇻

 

 

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Francis Albert
56 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

Given the news was out there weeks ago I hardly think ff gave us an exclusive.

 

Nothing against him but this particular piece of info was public knowledge weeks ago ..then it was by March 2020 so maybe it's a month earlier than anticipated

 

It's not the club or FOH at fault if people don't keep up to date just a little bit..and in this case FF does keep up to date so for those who don't he seems to be their source of info.

 

I'd rather news was given when it happened  and a splash made at that point than 'some time soon this will happen' 

Yet according to you  the news was given weeks ago

 

Edited by Francis Albert
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55 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

Given the news was out there weeks ago I hardly think ff gave us an exclusive.

 

Nothing against him but this particular piece of info was public knowledge weeks ago ..then it was by March 2020 so maybe it's a month earlier than anticipated

 

It's not the club or FOH at fault if people don't keep up to date just a little bit..and in this case FF does keep up to date so for those who don't he seems to be their source of info.

 

I'd rather news was given when it happened  and a splash made at that point than 'some time soon this will happen' 

It’s amazing how some on here have to turn good news/events into criticism. When we announce it wonder what FA will moan about next?  
We should have a sweep as to who is first to moan on here when we start winning games again. 

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8 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

Yet according to you  the news was given weeks ago

 

I'm amazed you were not aware given your great interest

 

The news was out there but the news was not the 'official news' from FOH from whom we await the official confirmation

 

Won't be long but as I said I 'd rather wait until it is official when a true good news story can be released

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1 hour ago, Longshanks said:

Delighted we have nearly paid of our loan to the bank of budge, future is looking very bright for us once we move on from our current mess. 

Precisely.  How anyone can turn this into any form of negative is just beyond me.

 

The club has never been in a better position in my lifetime.  We will get things right on the field as well in the very near future.

 

Don't care that the stand is 50% above budget.  It is magnificent and will earn us massive additional income for decades.

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7 hours ago, Footballfirst said:

I've had a look again at the numbers from Club's and FOH's Accounts, as at 30 June 2019.

 

By my reckoning, the balance of the original £2.4m Bidco loan will be paid off in full from January's FOH pledges, which are due to be handed over at the end of this month.

 

At the financial year end, there was an outstanding balance of £890k still to be repaid. It initially looked as if pledging rates had dropped by over 8%, year on year. However, at the FOH AGM, it was stated that June's pledges hadn't been handed over by the end of that month as a result of an administrative delay (unavailability of a second person to authorise the funds transfer). As a result FOH had a cash balance in excess of £120k at year end and actual pledging levels were only slightly down on the previous year. Had the normal monthly handover taken place on time then the outstanding balance of the loan would have been £770k.

 

Assuming that the delayed £120k was handed over just a day or two late, then the balance of £770k would be  cleared within seven months, even with reduced payments of £110k a month, from July 19 to January 20, inclusive.

 

I don't know if FOH or the Club will make any announcement to that effect. I suspect they may not, as I'm sure that they both parties would like to see pledging levels maintained without any "job done" drop off.

 

The question is what happens next. FOH should have the funds required (£100k) to purchase the majority shareholding (75.1%) and complete the share transfer in February. However, AB suggested that the transfer of the the majority shareholding would be delayed until the next financial year end (30 June 2020), to simplify accounting, audit and legal requirements.

 

The FOH/Bidco/HMFC funding agreement does not specify that the shares have to be "purchased" immediately, so I guess it is open to the FOH Board to delay the share purchase to any specific date they want.

 

It may also be an attractive proposition to AB if the shares aren't purchased until June as it means that four months worth of pledges (February to May) can be used for working capital purposes and smooth out any cash flow shortages until next season's Season Ticket income comes in. 

 

At the point when the original loan is paid off, FOH will have handed over £9.45m to the Club and Bidco, with another £100k still to pay direct to Bidco for the shares. FOH will have also spent around £275k internally in costs (mostly in transaction and accounting fees). That's a startling figure of more than £9.8m pledged by fans since the first Direct Debit was collected in September 2013. Everyone who has contributed should be proud of their efforts.


Thanks for posting this FF. It’s absolutely incredible how much the fans have done for this club. Don’t you fancy standing for election FF? You’d certainly not be struggling for votes. 

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Francis Albert
56 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

I'm amazed you were not aware given your great interest

 

The news was out there but the news was not the 'official news' from FOH from whom we await the official confirmation

 

Won't be long but as I said I 'd rather wait until it is official when a true good news story can be released

So it is OK indeed admirable for the club to announce (albeit to 100 people in the Gorgie Suite) the good news but to expect FOH to do so to the 8000 or 10000 who have raised nearly £10m is unreasonable or unjustified criticism. FOH communication  with its members is a disgrace. 

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41 minutes ago, Mike Tyson said:

Sooner we pay her back and she ****s off the better, imo


up your contribution then , assuming you contribute 👍🏻

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Francis Albert

The last news item.on the FoH site was in June 2018. Neither Hearts nor FOH have yet posted anything about their AGMs nearly a month ago. 

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2 hours ago, Ribble said:

 
I was, however time on the pitch was very much limited to walking to my plot, photo taken then off again! 
 

Also the hydroponics were on

 

They do not seem to have much of an idea on how to grow "grass" even with the additional use of UV lights. Bloody amateurs.

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Francis Albert
15 minutes ago, Des Lynam said:


Thanks for posting this FF. It’s absolutely incredible how much the fans have done for this club. Don’t you fancy standing for election FF? You’d certainly not be struggling for votes. 

Oh I think he would . He still.gets more negative responses on here than positives despite being  more informed and accurate on FOH than any other poster. 

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2 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

Oh I think he would . He still.gets more negative responses on here than positives despite being  more informed and accurate on FOH than any other poster. 


He also puts you to shame with his positive responses.

 

 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Des Lynam said:


Thanks for posting this FF. It’s absolutely incredible how much the fans have done for this club. Don’t you fancy standing for election FF? You’d certainly not be struggling for votes. 


I was thinking this exact thing myself 

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15 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

So it is OK indeed admirable for the club to announce (albeit to 100 people in the Gorgie Suite) the good news but to expect FOH to do so to the 8000 or 10000 who have raised nearly £10m is unreasonable or unjustified criticism. FOH communication  with its members is a disgrace. 

Announcement made last month at the 1996 foundation meeting too as well as the October FOH meeting. 

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Francis Albert
1 minute ago, Vlad Magic said:


He also puts you to shame with his positive responses.

 

 

 

 

I would say his posts are more informative than positive  but I happily acknowledge they are more informative than mine.

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Francis Albert
3 minutes ago, jr ewing said:

Announcement made last month at the 1996 foundation meeting too as well as the October FOH meeting. 

Announcement where? And to whom? Attendees at a meeting? 

Edited by Francis Albert
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Great, another thread so the usual suspects can have a go at our club. When we have paid off the loan there will be an announcement. There will not be an announcement to say the loan will be paid off in a couple of months. 

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4 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

I would say his posts are more informative than positive  but I happily acknowledge they are more informative than mine.


Apologies I worded that badly.

 

I meant the responses he receives are more positive than the responses you receive.

 

Not difficult I admit but the point stands.

 

This one case in point I guess?

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Psychedelicropcircle

I think the FOH really have to put a sales pitch to us beyond the original goal of paying AB back, ill need some convincing as at this point the DD is cancelled as & when the goal is reached. Our predicament we find ourselves in just now a huge part of that is due to a lack of  professionalism. Granted we are trying to redeem ourselves at this point. When FOH become a bigger part of the club post budge repayment they had better grow a set instead of the starry eyed fans at the big table they are now.

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