We all recognise that PNE is underfunded, our short comings appear to be a couple a million a year (dependant on attendances). Is it the chairmains fault ? No
The Chairmans job is to run the board, who in turn run the company that is PNE plc. Derek is not to blame for the lack of funding we all wish would arrrive on our doorstep tomorrow.
Derek and the board has broughts PNE along way, PNE are now an attractive proposition to investors who want to invest in football (crazy fools).
So lets support the Board and the club, show how much passion their is in this club and heopefully we can all tak this club forward.
Unite together and push PNE onto the Premiership.
In his role as Chairman, Deadly Shaw should be actively seeking out new investment, whether that's a person to take 100% control of the club or for someone to buy a 20-25% sake and then invest 5-10million in the form of loans as Hemmings has done in the past with a view of taking full control once the club reaches the Premiership.
How can we support a board which has such a bad relationship with the fans? Everytime he does an interview he contradicts something which he has said in the past and yet offers no alternatives or even a long term plan for the club.
Back in 1995 when the club went on the stockmarket it was a good idea at the time because it enabled the club to raise the funds needed to start building the ground and to invest in the first team. Without it we'd probably still be yo-yoing between the old division 3 & 4 with a ground similar in size to the one the Lasher are attempting to build.
In 2000 a second share issue was launched with the aim of raising the money within the club to fund the continued development of the ground and invest in the first team with a plan of reaching the premiership in three years.
How in 2000/01 season two things went very wrong.
Firstly, the share issue which was hoped would raise 4/5 million only brought in 1.5/2 million depending which source you read.///
Secondly, the club reached the play-offs that year and came within 90 minutes of attaining its three year plan in less than 12 months.
Now the expectation levels had been raised but the club realised that it didn't have the funds to go with those expectations. That's when Brian Grey upsticks because his role as chairman had become nigh on impossible in the financial circumstances.
Now, in the year 2009, when a potential investor looks at the club they don't just have to negotiate with Deadly Shaw but however many shareholders there are at PNE.
When Glazer tried to take over Man Utd it caused so much agro from the fans that some of the more hardcore even formed another club.
In 1995 shareholders paid something like £4 a share. Now the value is around 30% of that. To de-list, 90% of shareholders have to agree at a price to except. A potential new owner would try to get away with offering say 90pence a share.
Some would accept. Others would fight it. Either way a takeover can take years.
At Sheff Weds a group of fans (wednesdayites) owned 10% of the club. They had a long running dispute with the club which did neither side any good in the short term.
If people think things are bad at the moment in trying to get Shaw out of the hotseat, then we're in for a titanic struggle if the club stays solvent.
Another option is administration. 7-8 years ago, it was the easy option. Leicester did it in 2003, won promotion and moved to a new ground all in the same season. You can't get away with it now.
If the club went into administration then the shareholders would have no choice but to accept whatever offer they got for their shares.
But as Hemmings is the majority shareholder, it's in his best option to avoid administration as he would lose the millions he has loned to the club plus the potential millions he would recieve from the new investor for his shares.
To but it bluntly, the club is stuck between a rock and a hard place with no easy way out.
If it keeps going the way it is then the debt is going to continue to rise and attracting an investor is going to become harder and harder.
The easy option is Hemmings "gifts" the club £10 millions and wipes clear the debt.
That's easier said than done and if he was going to do it he'd have done it years ago before things got into the state they are in now.
But the thing that gets me is why Hemmings bought 29% of the club in the first place if he had no intention of taking over.
He's worth about £800 million so he's not daft but football isn't a business you're ever gonna make a profit from. It's a hobby investment. If he's not interested in playing the flamboyant owner like Bastard Uncle Jack was, or Dave Whelan is, then why did he invest?
On the one hand he's helped the club a great deal but on the other he's done more damage than Deadly Shaw has done because he's strung the club along to the point where either he repairs that string or lets it snap.
