Prestwich_Blue
Well-Known Member
I've told this story before but with the various threads on managers who we courted but didn't take up the offer, I thought I'd tell it again.
Back in 2005, many fans were asking where the money was going, as we'd moved to the Etihad but still seemed to be skint. We sold SWP and replaced him with Samaras, which we now know was to raise some cash, as Wardle & Makin wouldn't put any more money in. We had around £65m of debt in total and couldn't cover the interest, as we were making a small loss before interest. John Wardle has many good qualities and put quite a bit of his fortune in to prop us up but I don't think he was a good chairman, certainly not compared to David Bernstein. Probably far too nice to make the difficult decisions and face down the self-serving rag Mackintosh.
So a few of us got together with the intention of forming a Supporters Trust. We got the backing of David Bernstein & Franny Lee, who could probably speak for about 12% or so of the shares. Franny reckoned he could get Mark Boler on board, who owned 17%, meaning we could potentially match the Wardle & Makin shareholding. Then we talked about approaching Sky, who owned 10%. One of our group had fantastic contacts and a couple of those were amenable to funding the purchase of those (which could be done for less than £3m).
In late 2006, we approached Sky and offered them around £2.75m for their shareholding. They weren't even aware they had those shares, which they'd bought a few years earlier, along with a stake in a number of other clubs. They'd sold all the others and were happy to get rid of the City shares.
On the morning of the 2006 AGM, I was driving 2 of the other 3 who'd been the original group to the Etihad, when one of them got a phone call to say Sky had agreed the sale. I was both thrilled and shitting it at the same time as, with those shares, we'd control over 40% of the shares, and maybe, with the help of smaller shareholders, get to the 50% level.
Sly had obviously been in touch with Mackintosh, who then came up with his story that we were in talks that we hoped would lead to investment. It was a total falsehood and he didn't tell the Stock Exchange, as he should have done, but he was in a bit of a panic as he knew it'd be the end of the gravy train for him. The SE suspended the shares until he'd made a formal announcement but, of course, no investor materialised until Shinawatra about 6 months later.
In hindsight, it would have probably been a disaster as there were lots of scores people wanted to settle. We didn't want to run the club but we wanted competent people (and City fans) like Bernstein and Sir Howard Davies on the board. Fortunately, although Shinawatra's year in charge was very nearly disastrous, it paved the way for Sheikh Mansour. So all's well that ends well.
Back in 2005, many fans were asking where the money was going, as we'd moved to the Etihad but still seemed to be skint. We sold SWP and replaced him with Samaras, which we now know was to raise some cash, as Wardle & Makin wouldn't put any more money in. We had around £65m of debt in total and couldn't cover the interest, as we were making a small loss before interest. John Wardle has many good qualities and put quite a bit of his fortune in to prop us up but I don't think he was a good chairman, certainly not compared to David Bernstein. Probably far too nice to make the difficult decisions and face down the self-serving rag Mackintosh.
So a few of us got together with the intention of forming a Supporters Trust. We got the backing of David Bernstein & Franny Lee, who could probably speak for about 12% or so of the shares. Franny reckoned he could get Mark Boler on board, who owned 17%, meaning we could potentially match the Wardle & Makin shareholding. Then we talked about approaching Sky, who owned 10%. One of our group had fantastic contacts and a couple of those were amenable to funding the purchase of those (which could be done for less than £3m).
In late 2006, we approached Sky and offered them around £2.75m for their shareholding. They weren't even aware they had those shares, which they'd bought a few years earlier, along with a stake in a number of other clubs. They'd sold all the others and were happy to get rid of the City shares.
On the morning of the 2006 AGM, I was driving 2 of the other 3 who'd been the original group to the Etihad, when one of them got a phone call to say Sky had agreed the sale. I was both thrilled and shitting it at the same time as, with those shares, we'd control over 40% of the shares, and maybe, with the help of smaller shareholders, get to the 50% level.
Sly had obviously been in touch with Mackintosh, who then came up with his story that we were in talks that we hoped would lead to investment. It was a total falsehood and he didn't tell the Stock Exchange, as he should have done, but he was in a bit of a panic as he knew it'd be the end of the gravy train for him. The SE suspended the shares until he'd made a formal announcement but, of course, no investor materialised until Shinawatra about 6 months later.
In hindsight, it would have probably been a disaster as there were lots of scores people wanted to settle. We didn't want to run the club but we wanted competent people (and City fans) like Bernstein and Sir Howard Davies on the board. Fortunately, although Shinawatra's year in charge was very nearly disastrous, it paved the way for Sheikh Mansour. So all's well that ends well.
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