Crawford Rae, Cappielow and MCT

[vikingTON]

Makes sense for MCT to get a few directors in now so that they're prepared for the task ahead of them. 

[TRVMP]

Great appointment on paper.

[Renfrew]

 

[BishopBrennan]

Here are the filings - Clicky

It looks like three old loans that were taken out in 1981, I'm assuming Cappielow was listed as collateral. Here is the document listed as "10 Dec 2020    All of the property or undertaking has been released from charge 7" on the Company House listings, with Nick Robinson's address redacted. 

 

 

[9 Strathblane Crescent]

Couldn’t agree more Toby. HS tried the same move with Save The Ton, I’ll sell you the club but I’ll hold onto the ground and you can rent. He was told to take a hike yet here we are embracing this same deal from Crawford as if we had little or no choice.

I’m not a member of MCT but if the deal goes through I’m more than willing to join. Right now I don’t see why the fans should absolve Golden Casket of its responsibilities to the club. It would appear given the strength of our squad that rather than add to the playing budget MCT has been propping it up as a lot of us suspected.

As Toby says MCT are, right now, the only show in town and we have no option but to get behind them when they take over. I’m guessing a lot of current non members will do the same.

But I still have reservations as they don’t appear to be communicating with non members who are probably in the majority as to what their plans are the day they take ownership. We have criticised the club constantly for having plans that weren’t plans and having plans that never came to fruition. Now when we become fan owned we will have much more control over our destiny and should be able to agree a plan for the future and stick to it.

MCT need to come out with a comprehensive plan that the fans can all get behind otherwise we are going to drift along with all the inherent dangers that would have for a fan owned club with not a lot of financial clout in reserve.

Currently Cappielow is zoned for sporting rather than commercial use but that could change given it lies empty for a few years with no outlook of ever being used for its original purpose. I don’t see Inverclyde Council turning down a reasonable request if the development is right and brings money to the council coffers.

[Stevie Aitken's Love Child]

The point about communicating plans is a fair one. Even as a member, I was recently thinking about how quiet its been since they announced that they'll be taking ownership of the club, outside of the initial 4 weeks or so.

[EdinTon]

I think with the MCT director joining the club board this week that's a really positive sign.

[TaunTon]

Morton have done nothing under the GC regime and getting their dead hand off the wheel gets my vote. Arguing about the ground is academic as no one can seriously believe that GC would put anything into the club to keep it afloat after next year.

Time will tell if MCT with fan and local business support can provide a platform for survival and I'm happy to support that as it really is the only game in town at the moment. 

Also I do find it laughable to see complaints about lack of communication from some of the leading lights in GMST.

[TRVMP]

In light of this:

https://www.gmfc.net/david-hopkin-club-statement/

I'm now increasingly of the opinion that giving GC the chance to "safeguard" Cappielow is foolish. There's no way they can be guaranteed, long-term, not to just look out for themselves and get that albatross off its back (in exchange for a pile of money.)

[EanieMeany]

On 9/19/2020 at 2:29 PM, EanieMeany said:

A very cynical assessment would be that the Rae’s don’t expect MCT to be a success (not exactly unreasonable) and are holding on to the ground to sell it when the club goes tits-up. 

I fear this outcome now looks a lot less cynical and much more probable in light of this latest turn of events. Allowing the current owners to create such a catastrophic mess then just walk away with the club's only real asset is an intolerable and needs to be very strongly challenged.

[dunning1874]

I've said before on here that MCT are in awkward position in terms of making public criticisms of the club. They need to maintain a working relationship both for ongoing negotiations for the takeover, and to allow a smooth transition with members of MCT's board joining the GMFC board, and they couldn’t maintain that relationship if they were firing out statements lambasting the club every few weeks.

However, there are still situations where publishing a critical statement is absolutely necessary and this is one of them. Maintaining their credibility among the support who fund them is more important than tiptoeing around Crawford Rae's ego, and they need to get a statement out tonight expressing their concerns and asking serious questions about why Golden Casket's mismanagement was allowed to get so far out of control.

If the financial situation is so dire, what alternative options did the board look at to either cut costs or increase revenue? Why was there such a difference between the planned budget and our actual revenue, and if that difference is because the club budgeted to have fans back at this point then what contingency plans did they have for the entirely foreseeable scenario that games remained behind closed doors? Who on the board signed off on a 22 man first team squad, plus continuing to pay wages to 10 youth players who aren't ready for the first team? How did things get to this point despite MCT handing £10K a month to the club? What knowledge did MCT have of the financial situation and were their representatives on the board included in decision making at any stage of this?

Frankly I think they should be capitalising on the entirely merited anger of the support here to put pressure on Golden Casket to get Cappielow back on the negotiating table in the takeover, but at the very least they need to be clear that they're not willing to be used as a shield for the current board to deflect criticism of their outright negligence.

They need to reassure fans that they're standing up for the club's best interests rather than standing idly by for fear of causing offence while the Raes destroy the club and leave them inheriting an unsalvageable mess next summer.

 

[vikingTON]

This is the most significant leverage that an incoming organisation will ever get: the club is blowing from a foghorn its need for fan money to get through the next six months. MCT is in a unique position to turn this supply up - or even more significantly, down - based on the Raes willingness to scuttle out of the club without taking its only balance sheet asset. Their family and their company broke the goods: they can write that damage off and get fuck all. 

This is also a critical point for the credibility of MCT. The longer that they hitch their wagon to the failing Raes, the more damage that will be done to their group by association. They should be distancing themselves from this farce as of first thing tomorrow morning and putting pressure on GC to revise its terms of exit while they still have a football club to hand off. 

I still won't be buying streams to watch a fake season at stupid prices but am willing to increase or decrease my current MCT funding based on what I see next. That should be the stance of everyone invested in this club IMO.

[GiGi]

Can't imagine MCT will be at all pleased with how the substantial sums being given the club every month are being squandered. Bloated, poor squad of players, apparently can't afford the manager now and ominous signs ahead of March or whenever they're supposed to be taking over.

Hopefully they'll commence a severe baw-booting in the morning.

[irnbru]

8 hours ago, GiGi said:

Can't imagine MCT will be at all pleased with how the substantial sums being given the club every month are being squandered. Bloated, poor squad of players, apparently can't afford the manager now and ominous signs ahead of March or whenever they're supposed to be taking over.

Hopefully they'll commence a severe baw-booting in the morning.

There's two members on the board now so hopefully we see some sort of outside influence starting to creep in. Can't imagine they won't be aware of any decisions going forward from now until taking over. 

[9 Strathblane Crescent]

16 hours ago, TaunTon said:

Also I do find it laughable to see complaints about lack of communication from some of the leading lights in GMST.

That's a good point but at no time were GMST anywhere near buying the club in a few months time.

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, irnbru said:

There's two members on the board now so hopefully we see some sort of outside influence starting to creep in. Can't imagine they won't be aware of any decisions going forward from now until taking over. 

Classic Trust mentality at work - clamouring for modest and incremental change even when the club is being driven into the ground and asset-stripped.

[dunning1874]

Having had time to reflect on what's happened here, the stadium situation just has to change now. Golden Casket have demonstrated for the umpteenth time that they are incapable of safeguarding the club's future, so we can't trust them with any aspect of it. It's got to be a red line.

MCT's position should now be that the stadium remains with the club when ownership changes and we help bail you out of your latest self-inflicted catastrophe, with an earlier takeover if necessary to achieve that, or alternatively you can insist on sticking with your plan to do a runner with the assets and we do nothing to aid your latest round of begging for handouts with one hand and giving the support the finger with the other.

As ever MCT have to word things diplomatically but as that statement isn't shying away from saying that the club faces a genuine existential threat, I'm hopeful they're appreciating that the situation is drastic and the rules of engagement have changed as a result.

[DreamOakTree]

It’s not true today that MCT have to word everything they need to say diplomatically for fear of offending the outgoing incumbent, in fact that’s a ludicrous suggestion.

Business dealings are entirely separate from any idea of false sentiment and the more difficult the point to be made, the more critical the reason for making it.
Any concerns in a business sense will ultimately be included in the wordings of the subsequent legal documents for the takeover. Anyone who doesn’t understand or execute these basic conditions of business should not be anywhere near the negotiations.

[TRVMP]

9 minutes ago, DreamOakTree said:

It’s not true today that MCT have to word everything they need to say diplomatically for fear of offending the outgoing incumbent, in fact that’s a ludicrous suggestion.

Business dealings are entirely separate from any idea of false sentiment and the more difficult the point to be made, the more critical the reason for making it.
Any concerns in a business sense will ultimately be included in the wordings of the subsequent legal documents for the takeover. Anyone who doesn’t understand or execute these basic conditions of business should not be anywhere near the negotiations.

Bear in mind that the existing agreement for the takeover has both a delay clause and a get-out clause. It's not the case that MCT can publicly flap their gums about everything and anything without any possible consequence.

Now that said, you are 100% right that PR and communication cannot be a substitute for cast-iron agreements, and this is where I worry greatly about the stadium in particular. There are some very serious and experienced people at MCT and I don't want to second-guess their business experience or legal knowledge - but I do worry that they're playing with fire here unless every single dot and comma about the stadium is absolutely watertight. What I've seen so far - as a non-member - does not fill me with confidence. Take this from the Q&A for example:

Quote

Insofar as any purchase of Cappielow is concerned, there are numerous legal options that can be pursued in the lease. For example, there could be an option to buy after a certain number of years, or there could be a clause giving MCT first option to buy should Golden Casket ever decide to sell. We are not saying that these will be included, as the fine print is still being considered, but we can assure you that the future of the club at Cappielow will be protected. We will also publish the details of the lease after it is agreed.

Not exactly a confidence builder, is it?

[DreamOakTree]

2 hours ago, TRVMP said:

Bear in mind that the existing agreement for the takeover has both a delay clause and a get-out clause. It's not the case that MCT can publicly flap their gums about everything and anything without any possible consequence.

Now that said, you are 100% right that PR and communication cannot be a substitute for cast-iron agreements, and this is where I worry greatly about the stadium in particular. There are some very serious and experienced people at MCT and I don't want to second-guess their business experience or legal knowledge - but I do worry that they're playing with fire here unless every single dot and comma about the stadium is absolutely watertight. What I've seen so far - as a non-member - does not fill me with confidence. Take this from the Q&A for example:

Not exactly a confidence builder, is it?

That’s the sort of wooly words I’m worried about, no where near the concrete type of statement we need need for a sustainable takeover! MCT need to realise it’s a takeover, not a placation of the previous owners.