Clarification from Paul Barber on Dick Knight Selling his shares

[dejavuatbtn]

Do you mean 'old enough'? It's these kind of views that are the problem. Of course we all owe Dick massive gratitude, apart from the obvious 'comedy' posts I can't see any that deny that. Dick absolutely deserves to be Life President, absolutely deserves a bar named after him, absolutely deserves the overused term of Brighton legend. But for me he has let himself down with this book and opened a can of worms at a time when we are just getting over the bad publicity of the Poyet end. In my opinion he's shown a lack of class, especially the Brutus dig at Perry, baffling.

I don't disagree with you. My point was that poster BB was having a go at people on here who were around at the time and post from experience.
I don't think DK has helped his legacy of late, and given the JCLs a field day.

 

[London Irish]

But is there any other option, apart from taking the AFC Wimbledon/FC United of Manchester route? Swansea maybe, with their 20% ownership by their supporters' trust? The Portsmouth experiment will also be worth watching ...

Well that's the 64 000 question and if I knew the answer.....

But what you see at the Albion now is I think a very pronounced corporatised model - eg. the very high % of the stadium given over to corporate pricing, the downgrading of the community projects Knight was associated with.

I suspect there might be a more middle way between Bloom and Knight (is that Swansea?) but the Bloom fans are right to say their man is pursuing the more remorseless business logic of modern football - what I don't agree with is Attila's assertion that they are a prisoner of those forces, on the contrary, they are encouraging them and making life harder for the alternative models like Wimbledon and Pompey.

 

[Westdene Wonder]

Agreed Dick did step in to save the Albion but when delays occurred and he ran short of cash his ego did not allow him to step back and allow others to assist the club which almost led to us becoming a non-league club.
The fact that he will not allow the club to know the contents of his book indicates that there could well be items they would not be happy to encourage. I think his idea of selling shares to ensure no one individual can decide the Albions future is a good one and i hope these shares will be snapped up.

 

[Hungry Joe]

Hungry Joe and London Irish?

Haha, touche'

 

[Beach Hut]

I am out of the loop at the moment. I'm in Germany and haven't read the book. All I'm saying is that there are some pretty nasty comments about DK on here, and I'm surprised at them. I'm not actually taking sides either. Given the state of modern football TB's role was, is and will be utterly vital. The new adminstration are as keen to listen and act on initiatives and ideas as the old one was from my experience - the problems raised by many fans are to do with the way the game is going as a whole, not the way the Albion is being run. I think that within the constraints of that the current board are doing all they can do listen to us. It's up to each individual fan who feels uneasy with the way the game is going to decide whether their love for the Albion is greater than their dislike of the way the game is going. I have made that choice: I'm Brighton till I die. I think DK is doing his best, for good reasons, to try and ensure that we continue to have a say (we still do, absolutely) and TB and Paul Barber are doing their best to take the club forward within the constraints of the modern game while listening to and taking account of the views of us supporters. Now soundcheck, beer, gig

So what is the actual relevance you made to who did what to save the club, please tell us.

Or are you auditioning as an extra for this new Holywood blockbuster about to be filmed ?

 

[AZ Gull]

But what you see at the Albion now is I think a very pronounced corporatised model - eg. the very high % of the stadium given over to corporate pricing,

Can you explain this? I don't understand what you are referring to?

the downgrading of the community projects Knight was associated with.

Have any community projects been downgraded? I know the club wished for a change of focus, from the overseas activities to more locally-based options, but what exactly has been downgraded?

 

[A mex eyecan]

IF the club says 'no' then the only reason they will have to do so is to stop shares being owned by the common and garden fan - if this is the outcome then I will be very disappointed in the other shareholders and ultimately TB, the major share holder.

To be fair if the club says no then it's most likely for logistical reasons. If DK sell his shares to say 10000 people then every time the club has an AGM they have to send out 10000 letters, every time they club published accounts, they would have to send out 10000, as and when the club ever paid a dividend to shareholders (a big if mind you) and let's suppose that was a 5 percent payment they would have to send out 10000 cheques all made out for 5p.

It would be an administrative nightmare, let alone a complete waste of money and resources.


If Dick really wants to ensure the one person never owns all of the club then he could very simply transfer them into a trust where there would be trustees to oversee. That is of course if the club did not wan to exercise its rights to buy them back.

 

[Wozza]

I'm still upset that the book has TWO sub-titles.

 

[symyjym]

I'm just looking forward to Brutus's autobiography

 

[Bugs Hill]

I really cannot understand why so many on this thread are expressing such negative views of Dick Knight, and I can only assume that most were not around, or not interested, during those days when we were so uncertain of even the club’s existence. I will always be grateful for what Dick Knight did for this club, both in personal effort and in financing it up to the extent that he could afford, and probably beyond! – I have only met him a few times, when he used to join us all on the terraces at the last away game of the season, but always found him to be a great guy, and absolutely dedicated to the club.

Now he is in the situation where others have stepped in and built upon what he achieved, but he is left with shares which in monetary terms are worthless and cannot provide any form of dividends. Added to that, as a minority shareholder he has virtually no rights and few prospects of being able to sell his shares or to recover any of the money he has put in.

As has already been mentioned the Articles do contain pre-emption rights and he does have to offer them to existing shareholders before proposing to sell them to anyone else, but realistically if he were to circulate his offer to sell his shares to existing shareholders for £1 per share I cannot imagine there being much interest and the likelihood is that he would just be offered a derisory amount for them. Why then, shouldn’t he test the appetite from the fans to see if there is interest in buying them for £1 each, before offering them to the existing shareholders?

Much has been made of the fact that he apparently hadn’t told the club [Board?] of his intentions! – But why should he? He knows he has to give the existing shareholders the opportunity to buy, but surely it is far better to know if he has other options first.

Furthermore, as is common in Articles of Association, the Directors [not the shareholders] have the absolute right to decline to register any transfer of shares – this is provided for in general terms in Item 24(I) of the Articles, but Item 24(I)(c) gives specific rights to decline a transfer if the transactions involve more than 4 transferees.

So, in summary, Dick Knight can only sell his shares to fans for £1 per share, IF no existing shareholder is prepared to pay £1 per share AND the Directors agree to register the transfers.
- I can’t really see what is wrong with that!

[Re the book - I haven’t read it, so can’t comment.

 

[A mex eyecan]

I'm sure most people will always remember what DK did, without him and his merry men there would probably not be an Albion for us all to get uptight about. I just hope that whatever the reasons for his offer to the fans does not herald the start of a chain of events that makes it all go sour. Neither Dick nor the Albion deserve that.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The "et tu Brute?" comment needs to be put in context. DK attended a board meeting on a Monday morning in April 2009. The following day, at a private meeting with TB, DK was told "I want to take over as Chairman now". This hadn't been suggested at the previous day's board meeting, or discussed at all with DK. A week later, DK accepted TB's decision and told him so, at a further private meeting. The day after that, MP called on DK at home and revealed that he had known about TB's intentions before DK did. Given the years of close working relationships and personal friendship between the two men, DK felt "really let down".

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Plus, nobody in any walk of life, drops £120m and then lets the other bloke dictate terms of how and when ownership changes hands. It really is that simple.

Exactly this.

 

[Beach Hut]

The "et tu Brute?" comment needs to be put in context. DK attended a board meeting on a Monday morning in April 2009. The following day, at a private meeting with TB, DK was told "I want to take over as Chairman now". This hadn't been suggested at the previous day's board meeting, or discussed at all with DK. A week later, DK accepted TB's decision and told him so, at a further private meeting. The day after that, MP called on DK at home and revealed that he had known about TB's intentions before DK did. Given the years of close working relationships and personal friendship between the two men, DK felt "really let down".

Maybe he did feel let down, so what.

Clearly TB still needed MP ergo he told him directly prior to opening the negotiation to take over, let's all be clear pretty obvious way of doing business in my view.

Perhaps also he realised the potential of MP

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Do you get the impression that MP is as upset as some here are on his behalf?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Maybe he did feel let down, so what?

So this ... the book is an account of DK's experience.

If you just want an objective narrative, you're reading the wrong book.

 

[Mackenzie]

The "et tu Brute?" comment needs to be put in context. DK attended a board meeting on a Monday morning in April 2009. The following day, at a private meeting with TB, DK was told "I want to take over as Chairman now". This hadn't been suggested at the previous day's board meeting, or discussed at all with DK. A week later, DK accepted TB's decision and told him so, at a further private meeting. The day after that, MP called on DK at home and revealed that he had known about TB's intentions before DK did. Given the years of close working relationships and personal friendship between the two men, DK felt "really let down".

Perhaps TB needed the advice of a man he trusted. It was a big decision to go ahead with his investment.



I can understand why DK felt let down, but the order of events look pretty straight forward to me and not at all underhand.

 

[A mex eyecan]

The "et tu Brute?" comment needs to be put in context. DK attended a board meeting on a Monday morning in April 2009. The following day, at a private meeting with TB, DK was told "I want to take over as Chairman now". This hadn't been suggested at the previous day's board meeting, or discussed at all with DK. A week later, DK accepted TB's decision and told him so, at a further private meeting. The day after that, MP called on DK at home and revealed that he had known about TB's intentions before DK did. Given the years of close working relationships and personal friendship between the two men, DK felt "really let down".

But that is no different to any other business negotiations, all shareholders/directors will speak individually amongst themselves so they can either gain support from, or at least have a good understanding of support (or lack of support) from other influential parties. yes it's tough on some, but let's not think for one moment in time that Dick would not have had similar meets and conversations when trying to oust the bast4rds that had hold of the club before him.

I am not anti Dick, I think he deserves eternal gratitude.

 

[*Gullsworth*]

I really cannot understand why so many on this thread are expressing such negative views of Dick Knight, and I can only assume that most were not around, or not interested, during those days when we were so uncertain of even the club’s existence. I will always be grateful for what Dick Knight did for this club, both in personal effort and in financing it up to the extent that he could afford, and probably beyond! – I have only met him a few times, when he used to join us all on the terraces at the last away game of the season, but always found him to be a great guy, and absolutely dedicated to the club.

Now he is in the situation where others have stepped in and built upon what he achieved, but he is left with shares which in monetary terms are worthless and cannot provide any form of dividends. Added to that, as a minority shareholder he has virtually no rights and few prospects of being able to sell his shares or to recover any of the money he has put in.

As has already been mentioned the Articles do contain pre-emption rights and he does have to offer them to existing shareholders before proposing to sell them to anyone else, but realistically if he were to circulate his offer to sell his shares to existing shareholders for £1 per share I cannot imagine there being much interest and the likelihood is that he would just be offered a derisory amount for them. Why then, shouldn’t he test the appetite from the fans to see if there is interest in buying them for £1 each, before offering them to the existing shareholders?

Much has been made of the fact that he apparently hadn’t told the club [Board?] of his intentions! – But why should he? He knows he has to give the existing shareholders the opportunity to buy, but surely it is far better to know if he has other options first.

Furthermore, as is common in Articles of Association, the Directors [not the shareholders] have the absolute right to decline to register any transfer of shares – this is provided for in general terms in Item 24(I) of the Articles, but Item 24(I)(c) gives specific rights to decline a transfer if the transactions involve more than 4 transferees.

So, in summary, Dick Knight can only sell his shares to fans for £1 per share, IF no existing shareholder is prepared to pay £1 per share AND the Directors agree to register the transfers.
- I can’t really see what is wrong with that!

[Re the book - I haven’t read it, so can’t comment.

Agree with this. And its not the end of the world if he ruffles a few feathers in the process. He may have come across as someone with an axe to grind but that sits fine with me. He IMHO is entitled to, it wont bring the current regime tumbling down ( although no-one, Dick Knight included would wish this) but it may provoke further healthy debate on the club's current relationship with it's fans.
Its ironic Dick Knight's motives are questioned on a public forum where its contributors are often questioning the direction of the club, its relationship with the fans and comparing the pros and cons of supporting a club on the verge of collapse and the same club in times of rapid growth.
Dick Knight has concerns about the club in the same way as we all have. If he and the rest of us had not voiced our concerns over the years we would not be watching the club in its current healthy state today.
Hoorah for the Dick's of this world I say!

 

[Beach Hut]

So this ... the book is an account of DK's experience.

If you just want an objective narrative, you're reading the wrong book.

What?

Are you saying one persons memoirs is an objective view.....