Shares Working Group

[rab]

The club AGM in February decided that a Working Group of Directors and shareholders should be set up to look at the club's share structure and report back (by the end of August)! Never mind missing the deadline - 8 months on, the group hasn't even been set up.

After the AGM, I put myself forward to be a member of the group and received an acknowledgement of my interest. Since then - nothing. And no response by the Board to a follow up request asking for an update.

I recently discussed the issue with 2 Directors before matches. One said there had been a meeting with a solicitor and a group would soon be set up. The other said, worryingly, '....if we decide to set up a Shares Working Group.....'.  When I pointed out that the AGM required this, he appeared annoyed and said 'OK then, when we set up a Shares Working Group'. I was told the issue would be discussed at the Board meeting on 4 October. So was there any decision at that meeting about taking forward a SWG? We have yet to hear.

The Trust have not covered themselves in glory either. They arranged a Zoom meeting (at just 24 hours notice) in May to discuss nominating a Trust representative to the SWG. At the meeting, several people (without any prompting) suggested me as a representative. I said I was keen to be involved, but there needn't be just one Trust member - anyone who could contribute or was prepared to do the work should be considered. At the end of the meeting, the Chair said there were not enough people at the meeting to take a decision and all Trust members would be contacted for their views. An email was duly sent. Since then? Nothing. I have twice asked for an update and have received no response.

Of course the Trust are not the decision makers here. It is up to the Club to get their act together. There are people on the Board who are genuine Rovers fans. There are others who just seem to enjoy the prestige of being a Director, don't want anything to change and would prefer if everybody else would just keep quiet. I was hoping the new Directors would shake things up a bit - there's no evidence of that so far, but I'm still hoping.

I really did not want to make this criticism public - I've been a football club Director myself and know the pressures they can be under. But it is clear that certain Directors are either playing for time on a Shares Working Group, or would prefer to kill it off altogether.

It is one of the duties of Directors to act upon decisions taken at AGMs. Any Directors who don't want to do this should resign and let others take it on.

[mildrover]

Oct 11, 2021 15:04:00 GMT rab said:

The club AGM in February decided that a Working Group of Directors and shareholders should be set up to look at the club's share structure and report back (by the end of August)! Never mind missing the deadline - 8 months on, the group hasn't even been set up.

After the AGM, I put myself forward to be a member of the group and received an acknowledgement of my interest. Since then - nothing. And no response by the Board to a follow up request asking for an update.

I recently discussed the issue with 2 Directors before matches. One said there had been a meeting with a solicitor and a group would soon be set up. The other said, worryingly, '....if we decide to set up a Shares Working Group.....'.  When I pointed out that the AGM required this, he appeared annoyed and said 'OK then, when we set up a Shares Working Group'. I was told the issue would be discussed at the Board meeting on 4 October. So was there any decision at that meeting about taking forward a SWG? We have yet to hear.

The Trust have not covered themselves in glory either. They arranged a Zoom meeting (at just 24 hours notice) in May to discuss nominating a Trust representative to the SWG. At the meeting, several people (without any prompting) suggested me as a representative. I said I was keen to be involved, but there needn't be just one Trust member - anyone who could contribute or was prepared to do the work should be considered. At the end of the meeting, the Chair said there were not enough people at the meeting to take a decision and all Trust members would be contacted for their views. An email was duly sent. Since then? Nothing. I have twice asked for an update and have received no response.

Of course the Trust are not the decisions makers here. It is up to the Club to get their act together. There are people on the Board who are genuine Rovers fans. There are others who just seem to enjoy the prestige of being a Director, don't want anything to change and would prefer if everybody else would just keep quiet. I was hoping the new Directors would shake things up a bit - there's no evidence of that so far, but I'm still hoping.

I really did not want to make this criticism public - I been a football club Director myself and know the pressures they can be under. But it is clear that certain Directors are either playing for time on a Shares Working Group, or would prefer to kill it off altogether.

It is one of the duties of Directors to act upon decisions taken at AGMs. Any Directors who don't want to do this should resign and let others take it on.

[new2rovers]

Oct 11, 2021 15:04:00 GMT rab said:

The club AGM in February decided that a Working Group of Directors and shareholders should be set up to look at the club's share structure and report back (by the end of August)! Never mind missing the deadline - 8 months on, the group hasn't even been set up.

After the AGM, I put myself forward to be a member of the group and received an acknowledgement of my interest. Since then - nothing. And no response by the Board to a follow up request asking for an update.

I recently discussed the issue with 2 Directors before matches. One said there had been a meeting with a solicitor and a group would soon be set up. The other said, worryingly, '....if we decide to set up a Shares Working Group.....'.  When I pointed out that the AGM required this, he appeared annoyed and said 'OK then, when we set up a Shares Working Group'. I was told the issue would be discussed at the Board meeting on 4 October. So was there any decision at that meeting about taking forward a SWG? We have yet to hear.

The Trust have not covered themselves in glory either. They arranged a Zoom meeting (at just 24 hours notice) in May to discuss nominating a Trust representative to the SWG. At the meeting, several people (without any prompting) suggested me as a representative. I said I was keen to be involved, but there needn't be just one Trust member - anyone who could contribute or was prepared to do the work should be considered. At the end of the meeting, the Chair said there were not enough people at the meeting to take a decision and all Trust members would be contacted for their views. An email was duly sent. Since then? Nothing. I have twice asked for an update and have received no response.

Of course the Trust are not the decisions makers here. It is up to the Club to get their act together. There are people on the Board who are genuine Rovers fans. There are others who just seem to enjoy the prestige of being a Director, don't want anything to change and would prefer if everybody else would just keep quiet. I was hoping the new Directors would shake things up a bit - there's no evidence of that so far, but I'm still hoping.

I really did not want to make this criticism public - I been a football club Director myself and know the pressures they can be under. But it is clear that certain Directors are either playing for time on a Shares Working Group, or would prefer to kill it off altogether.

It is one of the duties of Directors to act upon decisions taken at AGMs. Any Directors who don't want to do this should resign and let others take it on.

My understanding is that there has been two possibly three requests made by the secretary of the Supporters Trust offering that some of the members are willing/able to join a working group in the issue of shares. As yet no response has been received. I’m sure the secretary will continue to ask the same question, when a response is received it will be duly communicated. As you say the supporters trust are not decision makers and ultimately we need to be invited to the party on this matter.

[jimjam]

Oct 11, 2021 15:04:00 GMT rab said:

The club AGM in February decided that a Working Group of Directors and shareholders should be set up to look at the club's share structure and report back (by the end of August)! Never mind missing the deadline - 8 months on, the group hasn't even been set up.

After the AGM, I put myself forward to be a member of the group and received an acknowledgement of my interest. Since then - nothing. And no response by the Board to a follow up request asking for an update.

I recently discussed the issue with 2 Directors before matches. One said there had been a meeting with a solicitor and a group would soon be set up. The other said, worryingly, '....if we decide to set up a Shares Working Group.....'.  When I pointed out that the AGM required this, he appeared annoyed and said 'OK then, when we set up a Shares Working Group'. I was told the issue would be discussed at the Board meeting on 4 October. So was there any decision at that meeting about taking forward a SWG? We have yet to hear.

The Trust have not covered themselves in glory either. They arranged a Zoom meeting (at just 24 hours notice) in May to discuss nominating a Trust representative to the SWG. At the meeting, several people (without any prompting) suggested me as a representative. I said I was keen to be involved, but there needn't be just one Trust member - anyone who could contribute or was prepared to do the work should be considered. At the end of the meeting, the Chair said there were not enough people at the meeting to take a decision and all Trust members would be contacted for their views. An email was duly sent. Since then? Nothing. I have twice asked for an update and have received no response.

Of course the Trust are not the decision makers here. It is up to the Club to get their act together. There are people on the Board who are genuine Rovers fans. There are others who just seem to enjoy the prestige of being a Director, don't want anything to change and would prefer if everybody else would just keep quiet. I was hoping the new Directors would shake things up a bit - there's no evidence of that so far, but I'm still hoping.

I really did not want to make this criticism public - I've been a football club Director myself and know the pressures they can be under. But it is clear that certain Directors are either playing for time on a Shares Working Group, or would prefer to kill it off altogether.

It is one of the duties of Directors to act upon decisions taken at AGMs. Any Directors who don't want to do this should resign and let others take it on.

    This is an unacceptable situation, almost farcical. What is going on? The directors need to carry forward the AGM objectives or make way for people who will.
    

[mildrover]

Oct 11, 2021 15:04:00 GMT rab said:

The club AGM in February decided that a Working Group of Directors and shareholders should be set up to look at the club's share structure and report back (by the end of August)! Never mind missing the deadline - 8 months on, the group hasn't even been set up.

After the AGM, I put myself forward to be a member of the group and received an acknowledgement of my interest. Since then - nothing. And no response by the Board to a follow up request asking for an update.

I recently discussed the issue with 2 Directors before matches. One said there had been a meeting with a solicitor and a group would soon be set up. The other said, worryingly, '....if we decide to set up a Shares Working Group.....'.  When I pointed out that the AGM required this, he appeared annoyed and said 'OK then, when we set up a Shares Working Group'. I was told the issue would be discussed at the Board meeting on 4 October. So was there any decision at that meeting about taking forward a SWG? We have yet to hear.

The Trust have not covered themselves in glory either. They arranged a Zoom meeting (at just 24 hours notice) in May to discuss nominating a Trust representative to the SWG. At the meeting, several people (without any prompting) suggested me as a representative. I said I was keen to be involved, but there needn't be just one Trust member - anyone who could contribute or was prepared to do the work should be considered. At the end of the meeting, the Chair said there were not enough people at the meeting to take a decision and all Trust members would be contacted for their views. An email was duly sent. Since then? Nothing. I have twice asked for an update and have received no response.

Of course the Trust are not the decision makers here. It is up to the Club to get their act together. There are people on the Board who are genuine Rovers fans. There are others who just seem to enjoy the prestige of being a Director, don't want anything to change and would prefer if everybody else would just keep quiet. I was hoping the new Directors would shake things up a bit - there's no evidence of that so far, but I'm still hoping.

I really did not want to make this criticism public - I've been a football club Director myself and know the pressures they can be under. But it is clear that certain Directors are either playing for time on a Shares Working Group, or would prefer to kill it off altogether.

It is one of the duties of Directors to act upon decisions taken at AGMs. Any Directors who don't want to do this should resign and let others take it on.

It is concerning to read this Rab. One of the basic duties of the Board is to carry out actions agreed upon at AGMs. This is not the appropriate forum for the directors to respond but it is imperative they contact shareholders ASAP with an explanation as to why AGM motions seemingly haven’t been actioned. It is also discourteous at best that the supporters trust secretary has not had a reply to her messages to the BOD.

Ronnie

[hugh]

This is concerning and I do feel at the supporters trust meeting this should be placed on agenda for discussion. Bearing in mind the financial support provided to the club via requests from the board is a mechanism that could be paused until effective communication is resumed.