#ReclaimTheFaith

[Dick_Valentine]

 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

They're stacking up all these newspaper headlines aren't they? #agendaprintlads

[Dick_Valentine]

The old bill are hardly falling over themselves to apprehend any suspects of this ghastly crime are they? 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

10 minutes ago, Dick_Valentine said:

The old bill are hardly falling over themselves to apprehend any suspects of this ghastly crime are they? 

 

It's just so this scene eh?

 

 

[OAFC_ULTRA]

21 hours ago, Dick_Valentine said:

The old bill are hardly falling over themselves to apprehend any suspects of this ghastly crime are they? 

Perhaps  there is no crime, but our in-house detective is on case

[Monty Burns]

l fuckin hate leeds

[tGWB]

Rochdale, a very well run club historically yet now losing £23k a WEEK
last few years reliant on player sales but if those dry up theyre doomed

 

https://twitter.com/kieranmaguire/status/1227369820997505025?s=12

 

If we’re brutally honest, Lower League football is in tatters 

 

We’re a club in turmoil with a split fanbase at the very time everyone should be pulling together in the best interests of the club 

 

The OAFC Board, Brassbank, Trust Oldham , the FLG/OEC, PtB, for goodness sake, we have only 7 Home games left and then its the close season with little or no revenue coming in. 
Only you can collectively help mend our club and rally our fans 

 

[No Pyro No Party]

1 hour ago, tGWB said:

Rochdale, a very well run club historically yet now losing £23k a WEEK
last few years reliant on player sales but if those dry up theyre doomed

 

https://twitter.com/kieranmaguire/status/1227369820997505025?s=12

 

If we’re brutally honest, Lower League football is in tatters 

 

We’re a club in turmoil with a split fanbase at the very time everyone should be pulling together in the best interests of the club 

 

The OAFC Board, Brassbank, Trust Oldham , the FLG/OEC, PtB, for goodness sake, we have only 7 Home games left and then its the close season with little or no revenue coming in. 
Only you can collectively help mend our club and rally our fans 

 

 

Sadly that's the state of almost all clubs below the Premier League nowadays (and even some in it). PriceOfFootball does an amazing job of making fans aware of this.

 

Nobody is making a profit; there's a constant reliance on owners to foot the bill. Football clubs have become so unsustainable that I think you'd be naive to think over the next few years other teams won't drop out due to financial difficulties/collapse. We're the perfect example: decreasing/aging fan base, lacking players to flip for a profit, high wage bills, money going amiss, internal politics, land/ground owned by third party, a decade since we finished top-end of the table, etc.

 

I think as a whole, all lower league clubs need to take drastic action towards taking full or part ownership as well as steps towards purchasing their grounds - us included. PtB is fantastic but it's just a pressure group and the FLG, whoever they are, appear to be tackling mistrust and a lack of transparency with mistrust and a lack of transparency. Like almost all other clubs, we're just sat in the doctors waiting room waiting to be called up to see the next super rich owner who'll take us back to the Premier League. In the meantime, people are arguing about whether we should clap when we lose.

 

I'm only expanding on the Rochdale situation you quoted really but I feel every fan of a team in the EFL needs to stop waiting for an article to pop up in a national newspaper before they feel only then are they "part of the club." Everyone is in danger and it takes one disgruntled/careless owner nowadays to get them there - sadly they seem to be growing in number.

 

It was bound to happen as money speaks louder than words but I can't help feel there's a bitter sweet irony that we were one of the clubs wanting to break away and form the Premiership. I just can't see Latics surviving the next 5 years with the way the club and modern football is going.

[tGWB]

6 minutes ago, No Pyro No Party said:

I think as a whole, all lower league clubs need to take drastic action towards taking full or part ownership as well as steps towards purchasing their grounds - us included. PtB is fantastic but it's just a pressure group and the FLG, whoever they are, appear to be tackling mistrust and a lack of transparency with mistrust and a lack of transparency. Like almost all other clubs, we're just sat in the doctors waiting room waiting to be called up to see the next super rich owner who'll take us back to the Premier League. In the meantime, people are arguing about whether we should clap when we lose.

 

I'm only expanding on the Rochdale situation you quoted really but I feel every fan of a team in the EFL needs to stop waiting for an article to pop up in a national newspaper before they feel only then are they "part of the club." Everyone is in danger and it takes one disgruntled/careless owner nowadays to get them there - sadly they seem to be growing in number.

 

It was bound to happen as money speaks louder than words but I can't help feel there's a bitter sweet irony that we were one of the clubs wanting to break away and form the Premiership. I just can't see Latics surviving the next 5 years with the way the club and modern football is going.

 

Good post

 

Football outside the Premier League and Championship is on a life support machine

 

Inaction from the EFL regarding at least trying to change something is staggeringly bad, its like they're comfortable in watching a few more 'Burys' happen

 

Yesterdays game, with Latics having a 500 mile round trip to Exeter on a Tuesday night highlights the nonsense of the lower league structure

 

Why not at least try to make games more financially sensible for clubs and fans by merging League 1 & 2 into North & South.

Travel costs to both clubs and supporters would reduce and more localised games you would think are likely to increase attendances and with it £revenues

 

 

[adamoafc]

We have now received a response from the club in regards to the outstanding questions from our original Q&A. Please click the link below to read the full response #oafc #ReclaimTheFaith
 

http://PushTheBoundary.co.uk/meeting-with-mr-lemsagam-follow-up-12-02-2020

[latics22]

38 minutes ago, adamoafc said:

We have now received a response from the club in regards to the outstanding questions from our original Q&A. Please click the link below to read the full response #oafc #ReclaimTheFaith
 

http://PushTheBoundary.co.uk/meeting-with-mr-lemsagam-follow-up-12-02-2020

Slippery!

[tGWB]

Thanks for getting these questions answered

 

We need Home crowds of 6,000 to break even and our current run rate is c3,500 and reducing 
 

Only Plymouth and maybe Swindon will bring over 1,000 fans in our remaining Home fixtures so we are very much reliant on AL to continue funding our revenue shortfalls for the foreseeable future and we desperately need consistent improvements on the pitch to get anywhere near regular crowds of 6,000

[LaticMark]

"Q. Unless Abdallah purchases the ground, disputes with any landlord will continue to crop up every season, how does he intend to solve this? If the landlord isn’t Oldham Fans then it could end up in the hands of a landlord like those who own shops in high streets which are constantly closing.

 

A. No one, apart from the club, will/ can buy the stadium for the various legal reasons and the very bad structure of ownership created by the previous ownership. If the supporters foundation (aka Trust) comes up with a fan ownership proposal, I am sure the Board will consider and be supportive of it, but it has to be the supporters’ foundation and not any other self-proclaimed fan group with undeclared finances, backers, no transparency, and massive conflicts of interest."

 

Is it true that "no one, apart from the club, will / can buy the stadium"?

 

[adamoafc]

8 minutes ago, LaticMark said:

"Q. Unless Abdallah purchases the ground, disputes with any landlord will continue to crop up every season, how does he intend to solve this? If the landlord isn’t Oldham Fans then it could end up in the hands of a landlord like those who own shops in high streets which are constantly closing.

 

A. No one, apart from the club, will/ can buy the stadium for the various legal reasons and the very bad structure of ownership created by the previous ownership. If the supporters foundation (aka Trust) comes up with a fan ownership proposal, I am sure the Board will consider and be supportive of it, but it has to be the supporters’ foundation and not any other self-proclaimed fan group with undeclared finances, backers, no transparency, and massive conflicts of interest."

 

Is it true that "no one, apart from the club, will / can buy the stadium"?

 

Having read through the ACV I have found this from the Oldham Council Website;

 

While the owner cannot sell the property within six months, listing a community asset does not:

Guarantee that the local group can buy it or force the owner to sell it to them

Give local community groups and organisations a first right of refusal

Place any express restrictions on the owner’s use of the land or those to whom it is ultimately sold

Imply that public funding will be provided to purchase the asset

Instead the Community Right to Bid allows six months’ time for the community to consider any action.

 

Therefore unless something is found from the ongoing investigation then I do not believe this to be the correct. However we can get clarification on this.

[Latics and England]

14 minutes ago, adamoafc said:

Having read through the ACV I have found this from the Oldham Council Website;

 

While the owner cannot sell the property within six months, listing a community asset does not:

Guarantee that the local group can buy it or force the owner to sell it to them

Give local community groups and organisations a first right of refusal

Place any express restrictions on the owner’s use of the land or those to whom it is ultimately sold

Imply that public funding will be provided to purchase the asset

Instead the Community Right to Bid allows six months’ time for the community to consider any action.

 

Therefore unless something is found from the ongoing investigation then I do not believe this to be the correct. However we can get clarification on this.

 

They referred to “can/will”. I suspect that they were more referring to will. It is probably fair to say that nobody will purchase the ground whilst there is some ongoing concern over the legality of past transactions. Would you buy a house if someone else was claiming that they already owned it? Most people would wait for that to get settled before parting with their cash.

 

I was also drawn to the comments about AL converting loans into equity through the share allotments. They refer to the share issuance in 2018 which is indeed listed on Companies House as having taken place on 24/01/18. This was the issuance of 100 shares being 97 to AL and 3 to the Trust which doubled the share capital to a nominal £200. In the accounts for the year ended 30/03/18, however, this additional £100 share capital is missing from the balance sheet. There is also no increase in the share premium account. Based upon the comments in the response to PTB, share capital should have gone up by £100, the Share Premium Account should have gone up by £999,900 and Creditors (AL’s loan account) should have dropped by £1m (give or take £3 depending on how the Trust paid for their additional shares). I can only assume this to be an error but if there is a £1m increase to the share premium account floating around somewhere it is quite a big error.

 

Whilst taking on board Shahid’s comments about Accrington only submitting small company accounts to Companies House and not including a P&L, I think it is a push to refer to this as “same as us” considering we submitted abridged accounts with only a fraction of the information that Accy included. I may be wrong but I thought that Holt had also published a very detailed P&L elsewhere (maybe Twitter).

[adamoafc]

5 minutes ago, Latics and England said:

 

They referred to “can/will”. I suspect that they were more referring to will. It is probably fair to say that nobody will purchase the ground whilst there is some ongoing concern over the legality of past transactions. Would you buy a house if someone else was claiming that they already owned it? Most people would wait for that to get settled before parting with their cash.

 

I was also drawn to the comments about AL converting loans into equity through the share allotments. They refer to the share issuance in 2018 which is indeed listed on Companies House as having taken place on 24/01/18. This was the issuance of 100 shares being 97 to AL and 3 to the Trust which doubled the share capital to a nominal £200. In the accounts for the year ended 30/03/18, however, this additional £100 share capital is missing from the balance sheet. There is also no increase in the share premium account. Based upon the comments in the response to PTB, share capital should have gone up by £100, the Share Premium Account should have gone up by £999,900 and Creditors (AL’s loan account) should have dropped by £1m (give or take £3 depending on how the Trust paid for their additional shares). I can only assume this to be an error but if there is a £1m increase to the share premium account floating around somewhere it is quite a big error.

 

Whilst taking on board Shahid’s comments about Accrington only submitting small company accounts to Companies House and not including a P&L, I think it is a push to refer to this as “same as us” considering we submitted abridged accounts with only a fraction of the information that Accy included. I may be wrong but I thought that Holt had also published a very detailed P&L elsewhere (maybe Twitter).

Yes he has. He actually got Kieran Maguire to do a full review which was then published. Pretty much the same sort of thing we have requested from Kieran but at this time Shahed isn’t willing to provide that access. 

[al_bro]

Q. The 2017-2018 accounts suggested debt was reduced by £5.1 million. What does this relate to?

A. This reduction was mainly achieved by a combination of the following: the club paying down some long standing debt, debt written down as part of the purchase agreement, and following Tanvir and my involvement in the club, we carried out a creditor confirmation exercise and wrote down a number of items that were there incorrectly due to the accounts not being reconciled/ payments matched to invoices/ creditor accounts for years.

Who did the accounts for the previous regime? It seems like they were written without any proper records being kept to refer to.

Seems to me the 

[GlossopLatic]

10 hours ago, tGWB said:

Rochdale, a very well run club historically yet now losing £23k a WEEK
last few years reliant on player sales but if those dry up theyre doomed

 

https://twitter.com/kieranmaguire/status/1227369820997505025?s=12

 

If we’re brutally honest, Lower League football is in tatters 

 

We’re a club in turmoil with a split fanbase at the very time everyone should be pulling together in the best interests of the club 

 

The OAFC Board, Brassbank, Trust Oldham , the FLG/OEC, PtB, for goodness sake, we have only 7 Home games left and then its the close season with little or no revenue coming in. 
Only you can collectively help mend our club and rally our fans 

 

 

Looks like it was down to reduced revenue as they didnt have much of a cup run and by the looks of it an increase in COS which in football terms would likely be your players salaries. Id imagine that loss will be reduced this season.

[TheBigDog]

2 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Looks like it was down to reduced revenue as they didnt have much of a cup run and by the looks of it an increase in COS which in football terms would likely be your players salaries. Id imagine that loss will be reduced this season.

 

They have just sold Luke Matheson for £1 million so I think that the loss could be covered probably  

[Lee Sinnott]

I've taken Shahed's advice and checked out his LinkedIn page. Can anyone tell me what exactly is on there that tells us he is more than qualified to be the Financial Director of a professional football club, making so many key decisions...

[JohnnyPimp]

9 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said:

I've taken Shahed's advice and checked out his LinkedIn page. Can anyone tell me what exactly is on there that tells us he is more than qualified to be the Financial Director of a professional football club, making so many key decisions...

He worried me at the recent(ish) meeting with the fans that he didn’t know what fixed and floating charges were.

[Worcester Owl]

1 hour ago, Lee Sinnott said:

I've taken Shahed's advice and checked out his LinkedIn page. Can anyone tell me what exactly is on there that tells us he is more than qualified to be the Financial Director of a professional football club, making so many key decisions...

Fair point. He doesn't appear to have any professional accountancy qualifications - ACA, ACCA, CIPFA. I'm sure he would list them on there if he did have them.

 

Of course you can be an FD without being a qualified accountant, but - full disclosure as an ACA myself - I'd always prefer a numbers guy with a qualification to one without. Professional standards, etc. 

[GlossopLatic]

6 hours ago, Worcester Owl said:

Fair point. He doesn't appear to have any professional accountancy qualifications - ACA, ACCA, CIPFA. I'm sure he would list them on there if he did have them.

 

Of course you can be an FD without being a qualified accountant, but - full disclosure as an ACA myself - I'd always prefer a numbers guy with a qualification to one without. Professional standards, etc. 

 

He has on it that hes CIPFA qualified and his background appears to be much more in the public sector so hes made abit of a leap going into being a director in a limited company.

 

The fact he won't disclose information that other clubs clearly do is quite disappointing and it doesn't do anything to encourage trust between fans and owners. The answers he gave were very defensive. I wouldn't want to work for him or with him anyway.

 

[deyres42]

Tricky bollocks him, a lot of the shitty decisions (supporters coach, ticket office, Joe Royle Stand) have come about since he has been on the scene.

[latics22]

The longer they play cat and mouse and appear to be unwilling to share accounts the worse they look. Say the accounts are all good and this kieren guy has a look at them and says, yes AL has put significant money in and he has made saving here etc. People would give him some slack. Instead they dodge it, if u have nothing to hide, u share the accounts simple.