Towards the end of last season the Trust Board announced that it was changing it’s style of communication relating to all fans message boards and rather than providing answers to individual posts, responses would be provided to questions via this website in the format of periodic Q & A articles, here is the first of the series.
LCFC Online Message Board Poster – Jay
Wheres the money? as you signed a document confirming you were selling your shares on the 11/02/2007 and now 4 months later I haven't noticed any further comment on what you have actually done with all the money, if you would care to explain what you have done with the FANS money
Paula Aldred, Trust Treasurer responds
Like every other shareholder, we haven’t received any money from Mr Mandaric as yet and under the terms of the agreement we may not receive any money until 2010, it is basically up to Mr Mandaric when the payment is made.
As a reminder, each shareholder is only guaranteed to receive 10% of it’s investment, so in the Trust’s case, we will receive £15,100. This level will increase to 50% if promotion to the Premiership is achieved before the 2010/11 season and the full investment paid back if Premiership status is maintained once promoted.
Therefore the money raised has been utilised funding LCFC to date. Once any money is received from Mr Mandaric, the Trust Board will put forward a range of options to current members on how the money should be utilised, and than act accordingly
LCFC Official Site Message Board Poster – Foxxing Despondant.
A while ago someone asked what will happen to the money given to the FT, that there were suggestions that it would be donated to local sports charities if they disbanded. I too gave 100 notes to the FT in the beginning and the thought that that would be given to outside organisations of any denomination simply angers me. How much money was raised and passed to the club? Do the FT still hold any?…….
Paula Aldred, Trust Treasurer responds
If the Trust were to be dissolved it has been clearly stated from day one in our constitution that:
“105. The Society may be dissolved by the consent of three-quarters of the members who sign an instrument of dissolution in the form provided by Treasury Regulations or by winding-up in the manner provided by the Act.
106. If on the winding up or dissolution of the Society there remains, after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities any property whatsoever the same is to be transferred to:a. a sporting charity or sporting charities operating in the Area; and/orb. one or more societies established for the benefit of the community operating in the Area; and/orc. one or more societies established for the benefit of the communityin each case as determined by the members at a meeting called to decide the issue. Nothing belonging to the Society shall be transferred to any other society unless that society has in its rules a rule substantially in the terms of this Rule.”
This statement is part of the standard constitution for all Trust’s, however it only applies upon dissolution and the Foxes Trust has no intention of disbanding.
The Trust has invested £151,000 into LCFC and as stated above may only receive back 10%, so the vast majority of funds raised have been utilised in keeping LCFC running. Although we have committed to sell our shares, we still remain as shareholders currently.
LCFC Online Poster – P Read
I'd like to know exactly what your position is in the club now MM is in charge and how much communication you have with Mr Mandaric.
Trust Chairman Ian Bason responds
Since Mr Mandaric took over the club, except for brief conversations after games or at social occasions, we have not had any formal dialogue with him. Although we accept that re-building the squad has taken priority, we are very disappointed that Mr Mandaric has not allocated time to meet with us so far, despite repeated requests.
Fans are the lifeblood of every club, so while communication to fans via the media has continued, this has just been superficial, we have a wide spectrum of topics we would to discuss with Mr Mandaric, as we seek to understand his strategy for the club across all it’s activities. Once this has taken place, the Trust can directly offer our help and support off the pitch, just as we have to previous people running the club, but that is made difficult without having full knowledge of Mr Mandaric’s plans.
As this article was being written we have just had the latest indication that a meeting will take place in late July/early August.
Official Site Poster – nickgreen160
Why didn’t you ever come out with a definitive stance on the Mandaric bid? I would have had more respect for you had you have opposed it and given us a reason than just "discussed possible alternatives".
Trust Chairman Ian Bason responds
We felt it was important to consider any options that may be put forward before making a final decision on any bid. Additionally there were a number of questions we had over Mr Mandaric’s bid that were not answered, had we received sufficient responses on these items it may have enabled us to give much earlier backing to the bid.
It must also be remembered that even in the days before the offer was accepted by the shareholders legally committing to sell their shares to Mr Mandaric, that an alternative option was being worked on, however in the Trust’s opinion that alternative was not as strong as Mr Mandaric’s bid in a couple of key areas.
LCFC Online – Preacher
The amount of questions you ignored over the last six months must stretch into hundreds.
I may be on my own here and if so I don’t care but as far as I am concerned your reputation has gone over the total lack of communication on the take over. I know all about commercial in confidence etc, probably more than you actually but you could have said that on a regular basis. I know you have produced something since
Trust Board Member, Alan Digby responds:
We were bound by the rules of the takeover panel and as a shareholder it was made clear to us all that leaking information could materially affect the takeover or indeed result in it falling apart, therefore we could say very little about the progress of the takeover from November 18th onwards.
Fellow Fans Consultative Committee members challenged me directly about this and Tim Davies pointed out to those present that we were not allowed to say anything and following the correct process, as did fellow shareholders. Mr Mandaric was slightly more liberal in applying the takeover panel rules when speaking to the media, hence at times it appeared to fans that the existing shareholders were delaying the process. They weren’t, they were just ensuring that no loose communication could result in complications and delay the entire process.
If you have a question for the Trust for future articles you can post your questions via a number of fans message boards, however you need to clearly mark the thread for our attention to ensure we pick it up, although two message boards www.talkingballs.co.uk and www.lcfconline.co.uk have specific “sticky” threads for ease of use.
If you have a question for us that requires an answer within 2 or 3 days then please email us directly at [email protected] or contact a specific Trust Board member, contact details can be found by clicking on the "Foxes Trust Board" link on the left of this article.
The second in this series of articles will be published later this week.