Dick Knights shares

[elbowpatches]

Yes it may have helped sell books but a lot of us exiles didn't know about the shares.

The guy is a marketing expert so it is a bit of a gimmick but should it all go through I'll be buying a small number of shares for my son as a keepsake. I'm well aware it will mean nothing in terms of having a say or getting a dividend. That isn't the point. There isn't really a point!

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Do we have to return that form to buy them?

 

[nicko31]

The potless pillocks ripoff money making scheme has been FOILED, that has MADE my day

I'm sure DK would a lot richer today if he'd stayed away from the Albion. Though I guess this post in only in jest..

 

[Ernest]

I'm sure DK would a lot richer today if he'd stayed away from the Albion. Though I guess this post in only in jest..

Doubt it as he TOOK money out of the club that could have bought PLAYERS or reduced PRICES. Dick Tight is UP there with the WORST chairman in FOOTBALL

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

If it were just a ploy to sell more books, why is he now saying he's going to ask the club whether any existing shareholder wants to buy the shares?

The proper way of going about it is to offer existing shareholders any shares in the club he wishes to dispose of. TB owns 93% of the shares. Existing shareholders won't want to pay full face value so the only way for DK to get £1 a share is to offer them to the fans. At the end of the day it was all a massive publicity stunt.

 

[nicko31]

Doubt it as he TOOK money out of the club that could have bought PLAYERS or reduced PRICES. Dick Tight is UP there with the WORST chairman in FOOTBALL

When Adrian Durham leaves the drive time slot, why don't you apply?

 

[smiler]

Heard we will hear something next week. The man from del monte has said no!

 

[BrianWade4]

I think the point that is missing is that if Tony Bloom ever sells to a rich, foreign billionaire, then the shares could be worth more than a £1. It's a capital investment

I am pretty confident Albion will be sold on in my lifetime (the next 50 years)

 

[Pondicherry]

Got an e-mail tonight from Mr Knight along with everyone else who wanted shares. The club is trying to block the sale.

Following the 28 day pre-emption period to existing shareholders regarding the proposed sale of some of my shares to yourself and other Albion supporters, I have now received the club’s response.

A letter from Robert Comer, the club Company Secretary, informs me that one un-named shareholder wishes to acquire the 100,000 £1 Ordinary Shares that I informed the club I wished to sell, at what he considers to be the ‘Fair Value’ of 1p per share.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions about the motives behind this derisory offer – bearing in mind there are 262 Albion fans happy to pay me one hundred times that amount for each of my shares i.e. the £1 price I paid for them – irrefutable evidence that there is an existing market at £1 for these shares.

More importantly, the move is clearly designed to stop you and the other supporters obtaining shares in the club.

I am saddened by this cynical use of a set of Articles of Association, which I helped to draft when I became Chairman – and written to protect the club against predators - now being deployed against myself and genuine Albion supporters who simply would like the opportunity to have a voice at the club’s AGM.

The club might claim that more shareholders means more administration and higher costs, but in this electronic digital age, servicing shareholders is efficient and very economic. All companies these days communicate with their shareholders via e-mail.

They might also argue that it isn’t necessary for supporters to hold shares – the club is very open with you anyway and plans to be even more so in the future. If so, why should the Board object to some more of our fans being formally represented as shareholders?

Let me remind you why I made the Share Invitation in my book in the first place. When I took over the Albion in 1997 from Archer, I pledged that no one person would ever have total control of the club again, but due to economic circumstances and his generosity, Tony Bloom now owns over 90% of the club.

There is no threat to the balance of power in the total of approx.100,000 shares that fans like yourself wish to buy – they represent 0.15% of the club group’s issued Share Capital.

But I believe that at the Albion, because of the unique role played by supporters in securing the club’s future, ordinary fans should be able to voice any concerns they may have at the club’s AGM, which as shareholders they would have the right to do.

When I met Tony on 7 December 2013, he told me he had no problem with the idea of some new club shareholders, provided the transfer was conducted via the correct club Articles procedure, which I have followed to the letter.

It would now appear the situation has changed. I have asked Robert Comer for the identity of the mystery would-be buyer at 1p per share, but this has not been forthcoming on the grounds that ‘the individual does not believe it either appropriate or necessary for the matter to be in the public domain’.

I can only assume it to be a member of the club’s Board, because I do not believe that any of the other existing shareholders would make such a low bid for my shares. If this person thinks he’s offered ‘Fair Value’, why is he so reluctant to reveal himself?

If I do not accept his 1p offer, the club will ask its auditors, Mazars, to produce their own calculation of a Fair Value – and I would have to sell the shares to the existing shareholder at that price. The alternative, Mr Comer informs me, is that the Board are prepared to give me 7 days, to 5 April, to withdraw my Notice of Intention to sell my shares.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Hhmmm

 

[herecomesaregular]

Only 262 Albion fans?

 

[Driver8]

Looks like that's that then.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Only 262 Albion fans?

It would appear that's 262 too many for someone.

 

[Beach Hut]

Did anyone really believe this ruse would actually work ?

It was a cynical ploy to sell more books, nothing more nothing less and sadly it appears 262 fans fell for it.

TB owns this club and rightly so given he had the money (thankfully) where others clearly did not. Cast your mind back to a stadium that would once only have two sides tells you the real story.

 

[ROSM]

Did anyone really believe this ruse would actually work ?

It was a cynical ploy to sell more books, nothing more nothing less and sadly it appears 262 fans fell for it.

TB owns this club and rightly so given he had the money (thankfully) where others clearly did not. Cast your mind back to a stadium that would once only have two sides tells you the real story.

The two sided stadium was planned when we were in div 3 (now league 2) and would still have had a capacity of 14k which at the time would have been the second biggest in that division. And was of course part of a plan to phase building. The plan changed as the Club got promoted to div 2 and then twice into div 1/championship

Apart from that, good point

 

[Beach Hut]

The two sided stadium was planned when we were in div 3 (now league 2) and would still have had a capacity of 14k which at the time would have been the second biggest in that division. And was of course part of a plan to phase building. The plan changed as the Club got promoted to div 2 and then twice into div 1/championship

Apart from that, good point

Clever however if you remember it was suddenly championed the full stadium would be built once TB was on board and it was let slip at a SOL meeting that one person would pay for everything.

 

[Questions]

The two sided stadium was planned when we were in div 3 (now league 2) and would still have had a capacity of 14k which at the time would have been the second biggest in that division. And was of course part of a plan to phase building. The plan changed as the Club got promoted to div 2 and then twice into div 1/championship

Apart from that, good point

Good old Uncle Dick and his plans. I remember them now.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Seems more than a little petty by the club.

 

[drew]

Master of spin!!

If his intention was to spread ownership why didn't he start the process when he sold the majority to TB? DK's mischief making hits the brakes and as Beach Hut said, it was just to help sell his book.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I think the point that is missing is that if Tony Bloom ever sells to a rich, foreign billionaire, then the shares could be worth more than a £1. It's a capital investment

I am pretty confident Albion will be sold on in my lifetime (the next 50 years)

Which company are these shares in? Thanks (in advance).