create a group to take over charlton

jackmasterflash

i think charlton need to be owned by the fans. to do this make a share £200 and aim to raise enough money to buy the club. i think the group that we should make needs a mix of charlton fans and people skilled in management, hopefully both. im 14 so i cant play any part in this but what do you guys think. could we raise enough money to buy the club and and could we build a club good enough to match the premier league days of the past.

nth_london_addick

Nice thought young man but u would need more than two large for each person to buy a share big enough to purchase the club

grumpyaddick

We could buy a cheap non-league side just as insurance in case all goes pear-shaped.

LargeAddick

conservative estimate about 250,000 people at £200 each to buy the Club. Or one person with say 29m and I'm sure we could find the rest.

kigelia

At £200 I reckon we would need 100,000 shares sold to raise 20 million. If my Maths is correct. Doubt that is likely to happen.

stonewallpenalty

Patience. We'll get there again. Maybe not with these owners but not sure we are in the pompey state of desperation. We need an investor to see potential in us and be sensible on how they go about it.

se9addick

Good idea mate and it would be fabulous for Charlton to be a fan owned team.

Unfortunately right now the only prospect any set of supporters have for seeing their team owned by supporters is through some sort of financial catastrophe (Pompey, Dunfermline now and possibly Hearts in Scotland).

Based on current costs you'd have to raise aprox £8-12m p/a to break even and that's without tackling our debts so at a minimum you'd need about 60,000 people to put in £200 each every season.

Of course long term you'd like to reduce costs whilst paying down debt thus reducing your reliance on hand outs and generally becoming more sustainable. You could even sell 49% of the club to private investors (this is what happens reguarly in Germany).

All in all it probably won't happen any time soon, maybe ever, but I like your way of thinking. If you aren't already then join the Trust (castrust.org/join) - its free for u16s and we need people with your passion.

grumpyaddick

LargeAddick said:

conservative estimate about 250,000 people at £200 each to buy the Club. Or one person with say 29m and I'm sure we could find the rest.

You could probably raise that in an afternoon in Shanghai, Singapore or Hong Kong but not London (or Spain).

I can see £300 stake being very attractive for EPL mad Asian fans fancying a punt at promotion and 100,000 sales (= £30 million) is nothing as a percentage of the 820 million EPL fans in Asia.

Stick it on ebay quick before we have to flog Wiggins...

LargeAddick

kigelia said:

At £200 I reckon we would need 100,000 shares sold to raise 20 million. If my Maths is correct. Doubt that is likely to happen.

maths is correct but I reckon the asking price is higher.

se9addick

grumpyaddick said:

LargeAddick said:

conservative estimate about 250,000 people at £200 each to buy the Club. Or one person with say 29m and I'm sure we could find the rest.

You could probably raise that in an afternoon in Shanghai, Singapore or Hong Kong but not London (or Spain).

I can see £300 stake being very attractive for EPL mad Asian fans fancying a punt at promotion and 100,000 sales (= £30 million) is nothing as a percentage of the 820 million EPL fans in Asia.

Stick it on ebay quick before we have to flog Wiggins...

They might be up for it for one season, but would they do it year after year ?

cafcfan

Setting aside the actual dosh, the raising of capital from members of the public to set up a company (in this example with a view to buying a football club) is complex, potentially illegal and has to comply with a vast number of rules and regulations. That means the costs alone (lawyers, accountants, etc, etc) immediately take a big slice of the money raised.

First, from the Companies Act:

Section 755 Prohibition of public offers by private company

(1)A private company limited by shares or limited by guarantee and having a share capital must not—
(a)offer to the public any securities of the company, or
(b)allot or agree to allot any securities of the company with a view to their being offered to the public.

So, first you have, to set up public limited company.

Here's the opening para from Wiki on a PLC:
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC) is a kind of public company (publicly held company) in the United Kingdom, some Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited (liability) company whose shares are freely sold and traded to the public, with a minimum share capital of £50,000.

Typically for this complex topic though Wiki is wrong. A plc doesn't actually have to have shares that are freely traded. Any Tom, Dick or Harry (or Michael, Tony and Kevin) can set up a plc with only £12,500 worth of shares paid up and they don't have to be a quoted company. (We can all remember the old CAFC being de-listed from AIM - it remained a PLC though.)
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of PLCs are in reality tin-pot outfits trying to sound bigger and more important than they actually are. Nonetheless, you still have to find £12.5k plus setting up costs plus people prepared to become directors and company secretary with the legal responsibilities that brings. Not to mention appointing auditors, etc, etc.

Not saying it's impossible, just that you'd need someone with plenty of money to bankroll the setting up costs and professional fees before you could even start. And I'd suggest that no one is going to do that with no guarantee that the people who now own the club would actually be prepared to sell it to you.

kentaddick

200? Try 2 grand each. These guys want to sell at a profit, presumably with their refusal to sell to the Russians

ThreadKiller

We'd have to walk away from a deal when we start the due diligence

WSS

I'll put in a tenner

nth_london_addick

Can we buy a flag

T_C_E

nth london addick said:

Can we buy a flag

We didn't buy one when Palar5e were skint, why should we now?

Callumcafc

Maybe we could convince the board to donate the club as part of one of Henry's auctions. :-)

nth_london_addick

Just wondered if we were allowed mate 8}

JollyRobin

These things only happen when a football team is in absolute dire straits. With a value of around £20-£30m there is no way a fans consortium would be able to buy the entirety of the club, however a model similar to that of Swansea's now where fans own 20% of the club and elect 1 board member with investors/local businessmen making up the rest may be more achievable.

AddickUpNorth

If we ever get that 20% then for our selected board member may I propose golfie?

nth_london_addick

its a great thought that the young fans are switched on enough to consider proposals like this

shoul be like the young tories the cast yoof

falconwood_1

Sorted.

TelMc32

grumpyaddick said:

We could buy a cheap non-league side just as insurance in case all goes pear-shaped.

I think Peter Varney had the same idea Grumpy!! ;-)

jackmasterflash

i like the 20% model, so we would probably need 4m
that is way more reachable
we create a company called charlton athletic fans consortium
with 20% of the club we would have a say in matters and way more transparency.
raising 4m is still massive and maybe we could put share prices at £5 and maybe more people would be interested. that means each share would be worth 1/800000 of the club
fundraisers like faires and that stuff could be done aswell.

grumpyaddick

jackmasterflash said:

i like the 20% model, so we would probably need 4m
that is way more reachable
we create a company called charlton athletic fans consortium
with 20% of the club we would have a say in matters and way more transparency.
raising 4m is still massive and maybe we could put share prices at £5 and maybe more people would be interested. that means each share would be worth 1/800000 of the club
fundraisers like faires and that stuff could be done aswell.

I propose Jackmasterflash as our first Chief Executive.

He evidently has the entrepreneurial skill and vision the club needs at this difficult stage.

Also, it was his idea in the first place and being 14, he will bring more much maturity than the current owners.

Curb_It

jackmasterflash said:

i like the 20% model, so we would probably need 4m
that is way more reachable
we create a company called charlton athletic fans consortium
with 20% of the club we would have a say in matters and way more transparency.
raising 4m is still massive and maybe we could put share prices at £5 and maybe more people would be interested. that means each share would be worth 1/800000 of the club
fundraisers like faires and that stuff could be done aswell.

Im sorry but at 14 you are way more intelligent than some of the posters on here - and I include myself in that!

JollyRobin

Is there some sort of role I could have where I can take far too much credit for the little work I actually do? it's sort of my niece.

Fanny Fanackapan

grumpyaddick said:

jackmasterflash said:

i like the 20% model, so we would probably need 4m
that is way more reachable
we create a company called charlton athletic fans consortium
with 20% of the club we would have a say in matters and way more transparency.
raising 4m is still massive and maybe we could put share prices at £5 and maybe more people would be interested. that means each share would be worth 1/800000 of the club
fundraisers like faires and that stuff could be done aswell.

I propose Jackmasterflash as our first Chief Executive.

He evidently has the entrepreneurial skill and vision the club needs at this difficult stage.

Also, it was his idea in the first place and being 14, he will bring more much maturity than the current owners.

AND he really cares about our Club.

Shows that young 'uns aren't just interested in what happens on the pitch.

Nice one, Jack.

Jdredsox

The problem with this is maintaining the interest of the fans, and possibly continuing the funding into the next season, season after that etc.

Ebbsfleet are an example of where this sort of thing can go wrong.

If the PLC was kept solely in the hands of CAFC fans and there was a low annual investment I could see it working. But there would have to be a focus on keeping the fans involved otherwise I fear it would all fall flat on it's face.

Chris_from_Sidcup

The problem with Ebbsfleet was that pretty much everyone who paid into that wasn't a supporter of the club, they just fancied owning part of a football club.

With us you'd expect most of the people paying in to actually be a Charlton fan.

Charlton_Charlie

I'm afraid it's going to cost a lot more to buy the club....investors want their stakes back - means our price is way too high....which is why potential investors have walked away.

That said, the thinking is spot on - join the Trust and let's work towards making the club safe...