It feels like the only way to rid ourselves of the long list of awful owners is to somehow become a club with a 50+1 system of fan ownership. I was part of VIP Plan, it worked well having a 10yr season ticket, in fact it saved a lot of money paying a on off cost.
I'd happily invest in a fan led takeover, the exact figures I leave to others, but some sort of scheme where one invests and a season ticket is included seems to make sense.
If the various cowboys who have rocked up at Valley can get investment then surely a fan led club can also get investment from City, investment funds, wealthy fans to buy the Valley, Sparrows Lane and the team? Otherwise it feels were in a whirlpool of endless crap owner after crap owner who don't have the long term commitment or best interest of the club and are in it to turn a fast buck. We have some very knowledgable fans in CAST, Varney, Rick Everitt etc might they be able to explore the feasibility of a fan owned Charlton based on the German model ?
It was a one off payment but there was an upper amount that got a season ticket and those with significant contributions below that did get a discount from tickets. Of course it isn't the same but a lot of money was written off without thanks or apology from my memory.
I'm sure Airman Brown might remember but I'm sure people didn't lose money through the VIP Scheme.
What about Richard Murray share offer? I only found out about 2 years that the money I had put in was" gone"- the "shares" worthless- I think I'll frame the certificate. Lesson learned in football finances.
I’ve been thinking for a while, what if supporters established a fund with the sole objective of acquiring the valley and preserving it in perpetuity for its current / rightful use. In theory possible at the moment as presumably RD would sell with the lease in place (putting the obstacle of his valuation to one side).
Exit would be a sale back to the club, say once decent ownership in place (maybe measured against CAST’s charter) with some sort of valuation metric trigger, maybe all investors get their nominal investment back - not inconceivable in prem.
Sale back could be covenanted to prevent use for anything other than football, preventing separation from the football business ever again etc.
obvs there’s a lot of detail beneath all of that, it would take time to build the fund and there are costs, but it is something fans could actually do and begin now..
It’s just very difficult to raise £50M. If the sum was a more manageable (and more realistic) £20M we might be in with a fighting chance. Adding a quid to ticket prices would have to be done by the club, or whoever owns it, and you’d find that difficult to police.
The tragedy is the Duchâtelet bought the club for (a reported) £14M. Raising that sum would have been far more straightforward.
If only a more enlightened buyer had come along with the best interests of the club at heart, rather than Duchâtelet.
Guess I'd see this as a fund wholly independent from the club, set up by fans and for fans and a long term thing to be ready as and when.
Had, say, this started back in 2014 with 5,000 fans / investors putting in an average of £1k per annum it would be at a level now to maybe do a deal.
Realise that's easy to say with hindsight, and even CAST has a much smaller membership for a fraction of the cost, but maybe if this was pitched as an investment to be held in low risk / relatively liquid assets until being secured against real estate and then a sale, perhaps a sufficient quantum of fans would see this as an alternative to some of their savings or other investments.
Realise that sort of thing is not for everyone, but would be affordable / attractive for some and there are probably a minority of fans who might invest substantial amounts.
It at least starts to give fans some financial muscle and commercial influence. And who knows what might happen in the future.
Had someone come to me in 2014 with a crystal ball and said 'stop paying £80 per month into that endowment policy and instead put it towards CAFC being forever reunited with the Valley which (and you won't believe this) in 5 years time it will no longer own, and there's a reasonable chance you'll get your money back' - I'd have said yes...
The trick would be to turn this into an investment opportunity for the fans by convincing Roland to reduce the price .He is incredibly wealthy and might quite like the unconventional idea of fans owning the freehold of the club .
I think if it were possible to purchase a physical asset like the Valley and Sparrows Lane, then fans are more likely to be interested. Putting money into the purchase of the land and property, is far safer than purchasing the actual club. However, with RD wanting £50 Million it’s not happening.
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Had, say, this started back in 2014 with 5,000 fans / investors putting in an average of £1k per annum it would be at a level now to maybe do a deal.
Realise that's easy to say with hindsight, and even CAST has a much smaller membership for a fraction of the cost, but maybe if this was pitched as an investment to be held in low risk / relatively liquid assets until being secured against real estate and then a sale, perhaps a sufficient quantum of fans would see this as an alternative to some of their savings or other investments.
Realise that sort of thing is not for everyone, but would be affordable / attractive for some and there are probably a minority of fans who might invest substantial amounts.
It at least starts to give fans some financial muscle and commercial influence. And who knows what might happen in the future.
Had someone come to me in 2014 with a crystal ball and said 'stop paying £80 per month into that endowment policy and instead put it towards CAFC being forever reunited with the Valley which (and you won't believe this) in 5 years time it will no longer own, and there's a reasonable chance you'll get your money back' - I'd have said yes...