Originally Posted by Congy Red
*Note : Please direct all outright abuse and the clever snide remarks this post will inevitably cause at ME only. This board is filled with posts that are abusive to anyone like me who loves The Trust. Its unfair that they may get more abuse because of my opinion. Thankyou.
I have no idea if anyone else holds The Trust in the high esteem that I do, but if anyone else does then take heart, you are not alone.
I suspect many supporters are wrapped up in a short moment in time where; we're doing badly on the pitch, some people will feel the current board members are serving us badly, and we have a potential investor. I would ask those supporters to remember the good times under The Trust, which will inevitably come again with patience.
Looking forward to the vote: We are being asked to vote on a very flimsy bid. We can look forward to an exciting presentation, but please remember negotiations resulted in the WST "Information Pack for WST members". This is the concrete proposal. What we hear next will be aspiration, and more worryingly, it will be statements the bidders were unwilling to have placed in the 'Information pack'.
The Information pack puts to bed an outright lie, repeatedley stated on RP. The lie being that the Club will fold without investment. The Pack states
" We are sure that if we had to continue on that basis we would be able to carry on. If the football Gods smile on us we may even achieve our objective of a return to the Football League. We should all be incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the past nine years, it is absolutely amazing."
The figures in the pack support this, please ignore misinformation on this.
The figures also put the current bid in better context, its pretty measly. Trust members put money into the club every year, it varies but I think £200,000 is a good guess. The Information pack alos estimartes that volunteers put in another £200,000 of free labour. This investment is EVERY year, and its as secure as any investment can be. So, ignoring people like me, who are MORE likely to support the club, and attend games BECAUSE it a Trust, The Trust invests £400,000 per year EVERY year. Thats a solid commitment, and the proposed DOCUMENTED commitment in comparison is £2 million ONCE (plus rent on the ground).
A fair yardstick for Clubs that have blasted their way out of this Division with money is ; a PLAYING BUDGET of £2m PER YEAR. It worked for Forest Green and Fleetwood after a few years, it failed for Fylde. But that is what's needed to be top of the financial pile.
RP posts have frequently used a 'Crystal Ball' comparison to reject the argument we don't know who comes after R&R. The argument is imcomplete. I KNOW who isn't likely to be a bidder after they have gone. It's the Trust, and why won't they bid? Firstly they probably won't have funds to rescue the club again, and more importantly the people of the Town won't fall for the assumption that other supporters had the the clubs Best Interests at heart. Why would you buy an asset for the community, to have it sold for £1 again? Why fight in the Courts? Why march? Why dig deep in your pockets?
If R&R genuinely have the Community's interest at heart they will modify their bid so The Trust has first refusal to re-purchase, at a fair price.
I will vote for their bid then. And maybe over 75% of Trust Members will too.
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