Paul Brooks
18th June 2005, 13:44
COMMITTEE MEETING
Saturday 7th May 2005
1.30 p.m to 2.30 p.m Upstairs at O’Brien’s, 22/23, Arndale Centre, Chester Road, Stretford, Manchester
To be followed by the
SU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
2.30 p.m to 4.00 p.m
COMMITTEE MEETING
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Present:
Nick Towle (Chair), Sean Bones, Matthew O’Brien, Jonathon Michie, Oliver Houston, Oli Winton, Julian Lord, Roger Brierley, Paul Brooks, Eric Halsall, Martyn Lucas, Margaret Orhan and Karen Matthews.
Apologies:
Apologies were received from Lynette Cawthra, Richard Stubbs and Tim Shaw
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The minutes of the previous meeting, held on Sunday 24th October 2004, were held to be a true record.
MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
COMMITTEE ROLES
Margaret gave the results of the election for Committee members for 2005/2006, which were as follows:
Ballot papers received 420
Ballot papers spoiled 4
ELECTION FOR COMMITTEE
Roger Brierley - 410 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Lynette Cawthra - 399 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Martyn Lucas - 385 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Tim Shaw - 367 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Helen Sadler - 319 votes - Elected 2005-2008
JD Deitch - 303 votes - Elected 2005-2007
Oli Winton - 301 votes - Elected 2005-2006
Karen has stood down as Finance Director and Julian Lord has been co-opted from the Committee, to the SU Board, to take her place. Karen therefore was co-opted onto the Committee, to serve for one year and stand for re-election in 2006.
TAKEOVER UPDATE
It was decided that this would be covered at the A.G.M, which immediately followed on from this Committee meeting.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Oliver wanted the recent statement about the proposed Boycott/March and its subsequent cancellation, which Nick posted on the SU website, to be made again at the AGM. He wanted it making plain why it was not any fault of SU that it had been announced and then called off. Because of the widespread confusion the whole episode had caused, he was convinced that a statement had to be made at the start of the meeting. This was agreed.
Action: NT
Oliver said that he would make an announcement at the AGM regarding the presence of the media and that he had compiled an album of press cuttings on Glazer and his efforts to take United over.
Nick gave a report on the wristband initiative, saying that it had been hoped that there would have been a box of them to distribute at the AGM and before the match. Unfortunately, this had not been possible. Carl North showed the meeting a sample of the finished product for members to see, telling everyone that the shipment has been held up at Chinese customs. He hoped to have a quantity delivered in time to sell before the Chelsea game on Tuesday 10th May. He reported that, whilst there had been a favourable initial response from various retail outlets, when the idea had reached corporate levels, each outlet had vetoed the whole idea. He will explore other avenues, talking to the Co-op, Welcome Break, Tesco and Woolworths.
Martyn and Duncan are organising a Sportsmen’s Dinner, at the Oldham Supporters Branch, in conjunction with SU. It is hoped that this initiative can be expanded to other similar events. To this end, they have talked to Ray Fisher, a contact within this field. It is thought that events such as this could be, potentially, very lucrative for SU.
Oli wants SU to do more with the London forum group and Eric would like the Committee to try again to get somewhere for members to meet prior to home games. This was agreed unanimously.
DATES AND VENUES OF FUTURE MEETINGS
The next Committee meeting will be before the first home game of next season. The date to be confirmed when the fixture list is published. The venue, probably to be O’Brien’s.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
WELCOME BY CHAIR AND APOLOGIES
PRESENT:
Nick Towle (Chair), Margaret Orhan, Sean Bones, Oliver Houston, Karen Matthews, Duncan Drasdo, Chris Small, Paul Neslany, Steve Senior, Dawn Senior, Julian Lord, Oli Winton, Paul Brooks, Warren Thorpe, Eric Halsall, Jonathan Michie, Andrew Walton, Roger Brierley, P.T. Walpole, A.R. Fairey, J.Paver, Barbara Prayle, Chris Grethe, Gary Todd, Darren Seamark, Sean Andrews, Rob Lucas, Darren Walker, Clive Fielding, Blaine Emmett, Phillip Hall, M.Hamer, P. Wilkins, Adam Moolna, Merrily Richie, H.Hyatt, Brian Pendlebury,Wayne Clark, Andew Pilkington, Steve Cooper, Michelle Brierley, Neil Davies, Peter Corscadden, Chris Hadfield, Sam Woodcock, D.Thompson, J.Goul, Rob Nugent, David Simpson, Paul Birch, T.Cummins, B.Carr, P.Sadler, R.Stott, G.Rumsam, C.Porter, J.McDermott, P.McDermott, A.Leigh, Nick Hodkinson, Tony Simmons, Matthew O’Brien, E.O’Kara, T.O’Kara, T.Shaw, G.Whittaker, Richard Stibbs, Sean Byrne, Reg Lord, W.Brayshaw, N.Tweddle, S.T. Buck, A.Griffiths, M.Beaumont, John Walker, S.D.Edge, M.Asbury.
The Chair, Nick Towle welcomed all the members to this the 6th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders United, telling everyone that SU had, in fact, much to thank Glazer for. This was because he had ensured that our membership had soared because of the threat he poses. Nick stressed that without SU, the whole Glazer situation would possibly have been all over and done with. We have given the plc Board the backing of over 27,000 members, turned the PR battle into a one-way street, won the support of people outside United, such as Sepp Blatter, M.P’s, Ministers, celebrities and many others more. We have also enlisted the support of City institutions and prominent advisors and made our campaign totally credible in the eyes of all who have any insight into the situation. He praised the fan’s resistance and unity and told the meeting that we have redrawn the map, paving the way for supporter power in the Premiership, as well as the League. Each and every member is deserving of praise, having sent out the message that the fans do care and are united. The campaign has been, so far, brilliant and will go down in history, win or lose. But that we are not going to lose.
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING/ MATTERS ARISING
The minutes of the previous meeting, held on Saturday 8th May 2004, were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.
RESOLUTIONS
The following resolutions were presented for consideration and approval.
(i) To approve the company’s annual accounts for the year ended 31st December 2004.
(ii) To reappoint the company’s accountant.
(iii) To re-elect Sean Bones as Vice-Chair, Karen Matthews as Finance Director and Margaret Orhan as Secretary, in accordance with the results of the members ballot.
(iv) To confirm the election of certain Committee Members to replace those who are due to retire this year, in accordance with the results of the members ballot.
(v) To confirm the election of the Fans’ Forum Representative, in accordance with the results of the members ballot.
(vi) THAT Shareholders United determines, under section 53 of the Industrial & Provident Societies Act, and that, subject to clause 2 below, the rules of the said society shall be those laid before this meeting, which, for the purpose of identification, are signed by the chairman of the meeting.
(vii) THAT the following three members of the society, namely Nick Towle, Oliver Houston and Karen Matthews be appointed, together with the secretary, to sign the said rules and to accept any alterations made by the Financial Services Authority without consulting the company.
Resolution (i) Nick reported on the operating profit, telling the meeting that this was solely due to the enormous increase in membership and donations. He promised that the money would be well spent, keeping United completely independent. He stressed that the SU Board was entirely voluntary and would keep it that way, but might, should the situation arise and the funds allow, employ individuals from time to time.
Eric Halsall made the point that the recent mailing of the Newsletter had cost over £10,000, so the profit margin was being used to good effect.
The resolution was unanimously approved.
Resolution (ii)
The resolution was unanimously approved
Resolution (iii) .Sean and Margaret were elected for a term of three years, but because Karen had stood down as Finance Director, prior to the meeting, Julian Lord had been co-opted onto the Board to replace her. He will serve for a term of one year and put himself forward for re-election in 2006.
The resolution was unanimously approved
Resolution (iv)
The resolution was unanimously approved
Section (v) Because Gary Hirst has decided that he no longer wishes to serve as FF Representative, a further election will take place, by the Committee members, to decide who will represent SU on the Fans’ Forum for the coming year.
The resolution was unanimously approved
Resolution (vi) Matthew O’Brien gave the reasoning behind the proposed conversion, explaining the things which would not change and those which would. Some of the things which would change were, SU being overseen by the FSA and SU’s ability to allow a Donations Trust account. Nick went through the various ways and different aspects of raising funds to buy shares. He stressed that we would keep the way in which SU is run and hopefully add the Investment Trust, in conjunction with Nomura), under the Manchester United Supporters Trust umbrella. There would be three levels at which United fans could contribute to the cause. He answered questions as to why the FSA would be involved, by saying that there would be accountability and `respectability`, that could shares in one level be transferred to another, by replying that once the new IT was up and running, ways would be found to enable this and as to what Nomura would get out of the IT, by saying that SU have to show that it can get a certain percentage of shares and that Nomura will be able to get a return on its investment. He emphasised that SU would make sure that our shares would not be put under threat. Nomura would also get enormous kudos by being associated with SU. He countered the accusation that the debt incurred by the IT would be as aggressive as that proposed by Glazer, by saying that, because the debt was a much smaller amount and would possibly be able to trade on the AIM exchange, it wasn’t. Lars from the Norwegian arm of SU wanted reassurances that SU wouldn’t simply disappear under the new IT. Oliver explained why this was not possible. To the query of where the value of the highest level of MUST would come from, Nick stated that SU would have work out with Nomura how this was to be facilitated, but that Nomura were behind the trust and in fact some of them were actually Reds. He finished by saying that the Trust will not take place unless all parties concerned are totally satisfied with it.
The timetable is that Kevin Jaquiss of Cobbetts solicitors will do the actual conversion, hopefully by the end of May, or early June.
The Resolution was unanimously approved.
Resolution (vii)
The resolution was unanimously approved.
REPORTS
CHAIR’S REPORT
Nick went through the timetable of the Glazer approaches, saying that each he tried SU had had a minor celebration, after his knock-back. The biggest celebration of all will come when he is got rid of for good. WE WILL WIN was his mantra for the meeting.
FINANCE
Nick referred to the annual accounts, which were available for members to see at the meeting and explained that, as Karen had stood down, the new Finance Director was not able to give a report. However he did wish to convey to Karen the thanks and appreciation of the whole organisation for her sterling work and tireless endeavour on behalf of SU.
PATRONS
Margaret reported on the growth of the Patrons list since last year. SU now has 26 Patrons, who have all done their bit to promote the name of SU, each in their own way, over the year. Notable amongst our new recruits is, of course Olé Gunnar Solksjær, who became the first serving United player to nail his colours to the mast and publicly join SU, when the Glazer threat became a concrete fact. She has done an interview with him for the next newsletter and said what a pleasure and a privilege it had been to meet him. Also SU now has the widow of Ray Woods, the Busby Babe, Elizabeth, as well as Ed. O’Brien, Mani, Mickey Thomas and Keith Bradley M.P. as Patrons, but Keith has, unfortunately, lost his seat in the General Election. She said that all Patrons would, within the week, receive a letter about the new trust and hoped that all, or most of them, would feel able to endorse it. She thought it had been a successful year as far as the Patrons raising the SU profile had been and hoped that it would continue.
RECRUITMENT
Sean enthusiastically reported that the last year had been incredible in the way that the membership had grown. He said that from a total of 8682 members at March 2004, there were 25876 in March 2005, resulting in a rise of nearly 300% over the year. SU continues to work with IMUSA, the fanzines and the Manchester United supporters groups up and down the country and around the world in the `Not For Sale` campaign. He stressed that our aims have been to protect and defend the club against predators like Malcolm Glazer and to build a significant supporter shareholding base at the club. He wanted to express SU’s heartfelt thanks to all the members for their continued support and for the hard work they have put in to build a friendly and passionate organisation. There have been immense pressures, but that we could all be proud of what had been achieved on the road to independence. He told the meeting that SU could have enormous influence with MU, with regard to ticket price increases for instance, should we get to 25% of the shareholding.
MEDIA
Oliver reported on how SU had come through the storm of the Glazer attack. He felt that the PR battle had been well and truly won by SU. Without a doubt Glazer’s PR machine has come off a resounding second best to SU’s passionate and truthful stance on the whole takeover battle. Most of the press have been very supportive, once SU pointed out the Glazer shortcomings and produced an album of press cuttings showing the timetable of events, from the first approach by Glazer, to the present time. He stated that most of the SU Board had fielded numerous questions, from both the written press and television and radio, with great success. From the media’s assumption, at the beginning, that United was as good as sold, to the present day, where the general consensus seems to be that Glazer has bitten off more than he can chew. Oliver praised all who had done their bit, when contacted by the media and paid particular compliments to Tanya, who has done such fantastic work on the website. He stressed how far SU had come since the Murdoch days and asked that everyone remain vigilant. He assured the meeting that SU will continue to fight for United’s independence, using all means that are legally possible
NEWSLETTER
Nick thanked Julian for such an improved magazine and mentioned that any member getting advertising would get up to 20% of the advertising fee brought in. It is essential that the magazine gets advertisers on board, to off-set the cost of printing and mailing. This will be a priority from now on.
FANS’ FORUM
Because Gary was absent from the meeting, his report was not read out, but made available for the members to read and retain. A copy of his report will be made available on the SU website.
WEBSITE/SHARE SCHEME
Duncan’s share scheme report has already been published on the website. He stated that, although SU’s share purchases are a drop in the MU share ocean, we are growing at an immense rate. He feels that we are close to `critical mass` point, which is a point where outsiders have confidence in SU and believe that we are a viable concern. He produced graphs showing the growth in both membership and shares purchased, from December 2000 to February 2005, which clearly illustrates just how much SU has grown. Over the last year there have been quite a few initiatives for growing the membership further, such as the SU stall on Sir Matt Busby way and the attendance by Board and Committee members at various Supporter Branch meetings, all of which have been very successful. The Branch meetings are viewed as a real growth area. Also, the office in the centre of Manchester has proved to be a winner. Duncan went on to say that the recruitment cards have worked quite well and fanzine adverts have been given to SU free of charge and that they have had a big impact. The plane, which flew over Old Tafford, carrying the SU/Not For Sale banner, caused much excitement and may be tried again at some future date. The other banners have been very effective, particularly the one on Sir Matt Busby Way. These have been produced by Chris O’Donnell at cost price, so a vote of thanks should go to him for that. Text messaging has been tried for the first time this year. Duncan continued by stating that referrals are the largest source of new members and he thought a prize should be given to the biggest recruiter, with the name perhaps being The Malcolm Glazer Prize, even possibly giving it for the first year straight to him, as he had proved the biggest incentive for people to join SU! Needless to say, this last statement was delivered with his tongue firmly in his cheek! Eric wanted a vote of thanks to all who had contributed to and helped with fitting out the office. All the furniture, most of the computers as well as the filing cabinets, fax machines etc have all been donated by members or well wishing Reds.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS/QUESTIONS
A lively discussion took place with members wanting to know what encouragement there had been from the plc, regarding the Nomura tie-up, to which the reply was that there had been none, because the Club was in an offer period, but that prior to that, they were making encouraging noises.
A member wanted to know what steps would be taken to prevent any further confusion over planned protest marches/boycotts in future. Nick told the meeting that things would be done better next time. He was adamant that SU did everything possible to keep things proper and that it was without our knowledge that it all went wrong. Sean gave the reasons behind why SU had reservations about the effectiveness of the boycott and that those reasons were communicated to IMUSA. Oliver explained why SU had begun to publicise the march and inform members about the IMUSA/Red Issue boycott initiative. He said that the next thing SU knew, RI had put out a statement that the whole thing was cancelled. Nevertheless, he felt that it has been a fantastic achievement to keep all the different fans’ groups together and whilst things may go wrong from time to time, it is important to keep the groups unified.
A member wanted to know if there was a leadership structure for the NFS campaign and if not, why not. The reply was that there wasn’t, because the campaign was dependent upon co-operation and goodwill. SU must carry on making the unity work.
The next questioner asked if there was any indication, from the parties involved, that a mistake had been made and that it wouldn’t happen again. Nick told the meeting that he couldn’t speak for others, but that SU would continue to work with every group available.
The last question was why SU had objected to the march as well as the boycott, to which Nick replied that we hadn’t. The march was cancelled at the same time as the boycott.
There being no further questions, the meeting ended.
Saturday 7th May 2005
1.30 p.m to 2.30 p.m Upstairs at O’Brien’s, 22/23, Arndale Centre, Chester Road, Stretford, Manchester
To be followed by the
SU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
2.30 p.m to 4.00 p.m
COMMITTEE MEETING
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Present:
Nick Towle (Chair), Sean Bones, Matthew O’Brien, Jonathon Michie, Oliver Houston, Oli Winton, Julian Lord, Roger Brierley, Paul Brooks, Eric Halsall, Martyn Lucas, Margaret Orhan and Karen Matthews.
Apologies:
Apologies were received from Lynette Cawthra, Richard Stubbs and Tim Shaw
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The minutes of the previous meeting, held on Sunday 24th October 2004, were held to be a true record.
MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
COMMITTEE ROLES
Margaret gave the results of the election for Committee members for 2005/2006, which were as follows:
Ballot papers received 420
Ballot papers spoiled 4
ELECTION FOR COMMITTEE
Roger Brierley - 410 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Lynette Cawthra - 399 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Martyn Lucas - 385 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Tim Shaw - 367 votes - Elected 2005-2008
Helen Sadler - 319 votes - Elected 2005-2008
JD Deitch - 303 votes - Elected 2005-2007
Oli Winton - 301 votes - Elected 2005-2006
Karen has stood down as Finance Director and Julian Lord has been co-opted from the Committee, to the SU Board, to take her place. Karen therefore was co-opted onto the Committee, to serve for one year and stand for re-election in 2006.
TAKEOVER UPDATE
It was decided that this would be covered at the A.G.M, which immediately followed on from this Committee meeting.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Oliver wanted the recent statement about the proposed Boycott/March and its subsequent cancellation, which Nick posted on the SU website, to be made again at the AGM. He wanted it making plain why it was not any fault of SU that it had been announced and then called off. Because of the widespread confusion the whole episode had caused, he was convinced that a statement had to be made at the start of the meeting. This was agreed.
Action: NT
Oliver said that he would make an announcement at the AGM regarding the presence of the media and that he had compiled an album of press cuttings on Glazer and his efforts to take United over.
Nick gave a report on the wristband initiative, saying that it had been hoped that there would have been a box of them to distribute at the AGM and before the match. Unfortunately, this had not been possible. Carl North showed the meeting a sample of the finished product for members to see, telling everyone that the shipment has been held up at Chinese customs. He hoped to have a quantity delivered in time to sell before the Chelsea game on Tuesday 10th May. He reported that, whilst there had been a favourable initial response from various retail outlets, when the idea had reached corporate levels, each outlet had vetoed the whole idea. He will explore other avenues, talking to the Co-op, Welcome Break, Tesco and Woolworths.
Martyn and Duncan are organising a Sportsmen’s Dinner, at the Oldham Supporters Branch, in conjunction with SU. It is hoped that this initiative can be expanded to other similar events. To this end, they have talked to Ray Fisher, a contact within this field. It is thought that events such as this could be, potentially, very lucrative for SU.
Oli wants SU to do more with the London forum group and Eric would like the Committee to try again to get somewhere for members to meet prior to home games. This was agreed unanimously.
DATES AND VENUES OF FUTURE MEETINGS
The next Committee meeting will be before the first home game of next season. The date to be confirmed when the fixture list is published. The venue, probably to be O’Brien’s.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
WELCOME BY CHAIR AND APOLOGIES
PRESENT:
Nick Towle (Chair), Margaret Orhan, Sean Bones, Oliver Houston, Karen Matthews, Duncan Drasdo, Chris Small, Paul Neslany, Steve Senior, Dawn Senior, Julian Lord, Oli Winton, Paul Brooks, Warren Thorpe, Eric Halsall, Jonathan Michie, Andrew Walton, Roger Brierley, P.T. Walpole, A.R. Fairey, J.Paver, Barbara Prayle, Chris Grethe, Gary Todd, Darren Seamark, Sean Andrews, Rob Lucas, Darren Walker, Clive Fielding, Blaine Emmett, Phillip Hall, M.Hamer, P. Wilkins, Adam Moolna, Merrily Richie, H.Hyatt, Brian Pendlebury,Wayne Clark, Andew Pilkington, Steve Cooper, Michelle Brierley, Neil Davies, Peter Corscadden, Chris Hadfield, Sam Woodcock, D.Thompson, J.Goul, Rob Nugent, David Simpson, Paul Birch, T.Cummins, B.Carr, P.Sadler, R.Stott, G.Rumsam, C.Porter, J.McDermott, P.McDermott, A.Leigh, Nick Hodkinson, Tony Simmons, Matthew O’Brien, E.O’Kara, T.O’Kara, T.Shaw, G.Whittaker, Richard Stibbs, Sean Byrne, Reg Lord, W.Brayshaw, N.Tweddle, S.T. Buck, A.Griffiths, M.Beaumont, John Walker, S.D.Edge, M.Asbury.
The Chair, Nick Towle welcomed all the members to this the 6th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders United, telling everyone that SU had, in fact, much to thank Glazer for. This was because he had ensured that our membership had soared because of the threat he poses. Nick stressed that without SU, the whole Glazer situation would possibly have been all over and done with. We have given the plc Board the backing of over 27,000 members, turned the PR battle into a one-way street, won the support of people outside United, such as Sepp Blatter, M.P’s, Ministers, celebrities and many others more. We have also enlisted the support of City institutions and prominent advisors and made our campaign totally credible in the eyes of all who have any insight into the situation. He praised the fan’s resistance and unity and told the meeting that we have redrawn the map, paving the way for supporter power in the Premiership, as well as the League. Each and every member is deserving of praise, having sent out the message that the fans do care and are united. The campaign has been, so far, brilliant and will go down in history, win or lose. But that we are not going to lose.
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING/ MATTERS ARISING
The minutes of the previous meeting, held on Saturday 8th May 2004, were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.
RESOLUTIONS
The following resolutions were presented for consideration and approval.
(i) To approve the company’s annual accounts for the year ended 31st December 2004.
(ii) To reappoint the company’s accountant.
(iii) To re-elect Sean Bones as Vice-Chair, Karen Matthews as Finance Director and Margaret Orhan as Secretary, in accordance with the results of the members ballot.
(iv) To confirm the election of certain Committee Members to replace those who are due to retire this year, in accordance with the results of the members ballot.
(v) To confirm the election of the Fans’ Forum Representative, in accordance with the results of the members ballot.
(vi) THAT Shareholders United determines, under section 53 of the Industrial & Provident Societies Act, and that, subject to clause 2 below, the rules of the said society shall be those laid before this meeting, which, for the purpose of identification, are signed by the chairman of the meeting.
(vii) THAT the following three members of the society, namely Nick Towle, Oliver Houston and Karen Matthews be appointed, together with the secretary, to sign the said rules and to accept any alterations made by the Financial Services Authority without consulting the company.
Resolution (i) Nick reported on the operating profit, telling the meeting that this was solely due to the enormous increase in membership and donations. He promised that the money would be well spent, keeping United completely independent. He stressed that the SU Board was entirely voluntary and would keep it that way, but might, should the situation arise and the funds allow, employ individuals from time to time.
Eric Halsall made the point that the recent mailing of the Newsletter had cost over £10,000, so the profit margin was being used to good effect.
The resolution was unanimously approved.
Resolution (ii)
The resolution was unanimously approved
Resolution (iii) .Sean and Margaret were elected for a term of three years, but because Karen had stood down as Finance Director, prior to the meeting, Julian Lord had been co-opted onto the Board to replace her. He will serve for a term of one year and put himself forward for re-election in 2006.
The resolution was unanimously approved
Resolution (iv)
The resolution was unanimously approved
Section (v) Because Gary Hirst has decided that he no longer wishes to serve as FF Representative, a further election will take place, by the Committee members, to decide who will represent SU on the Fans’ Forum for the coming year.
The resolution was unanimously approved
Resolution (vi) Matthew O’Brien gave the reasoning behind the proposed conversion, explaining the things which would not change and those which would. Some of the things which would change were, SU being overseen by the FSA and SU’s ability to allow a Donations Trust account. Nick went through the various ways and different aspects of raising funds to buy shares. He stressed that we would keep the way in which SU is run and hopefully add the Investment Trust, in conjunction with Nomura), under the Manchester United Supporters Trust umbrella. There would be three levels at which United fans could contribute to the cause. He answered questions as to why the FSA would be involved, by saying that there would be accountability and `respectability`, that could shares in one level be transferred to another, by replying that once the new IT was up and running, ways would be found to enable this and as to what Nomura would get out of the IT, by saying that SU have to show that it can get a certain percentage of shares and that Nomura will be able to get a return on its investment. He emphasised that SU would make sure that our shares would not be put under threat. Nomura would also get enormous kudos by being associated with SU. He countered the accusation that the debt incurred by the IT would be as aggressive as that proposed by Glazer, by saying that, because the debt was a much smaller amount and would possibly be able to trade on the AIM exchange, it wasn’t. Lars from the Norwegian arm of SU wanted reassurances that SU wouldn’t simply disappear under the new IT. Oliver explained why this was not possible. To the query of where the value of the highest level of MUST would come from, Nick stated that SU would have work out with Nomura how this was to be facilitated, but that Nomura were behind the trust and in fact some of them were actually Reds. He finished by saying that the Trust will not take place unless all parties concerned are totally satisfied with it.
The timetable is that Kevin Jaquiss of Cobbetts solicitors will do the actual conversion, hopefully by the end of May, or early June.
The Resolution was unanimously approved.
Resolution (vii)
The resolution was unanimously approved.
REPORTS
CHAIR’S REPORT
Nick went through the timetable of the Glazer approaches, saying that each he tried SU had had a minor celebration, after his knock-back. The biggest celebration of all will come when he is got rid of for good. WE WILL WIN was his mantra for the meeting.
FINANCE
Nick referred to the annual accounts, which were available for members to see at the meeting and explained that, as Karen had stood down, the new Finance Director was not able to give a report. However he did wish to convey to Karen the thanks and appreciation of the whole organisation for her sterling work and tireless endeavour on behalf of SU.
PATRONS
Margaret reported on the growth of the Patrons list since last year. SU now has 26 Patrons, who have all done their bit to promote the name of SU, each in their own way, over the year. Notable amongst our new recruits is, of course Olé Gunnar Solksjær, who became the first serving United player to nail his colours to the mast and publicly join SU, when the Glazer threat became a concrete fact. She has done an interview with him for the next newsletter and said what a pleasure and a privilege it had been to meet him. Also SU now has the widow of Ray Woods, the Busby Babe, Elizabeth, as well as Ed. O’Brien, Mani, Mickey Thomas and Keith Bradley M.P. as Patrons, but Keith has, unfortunately, lost his seat in the General Election. She said that all Patrons would, within the week, receive a letter about the new trust and hoped that all, or most of them, would feel able to endorse it. She thought it had been a successful year as far as the Patrons raising the SU profile had been and hoped that it would continue.
RECRUITMENT
Sean enthusiastically reported that the last year had been incredible in the way that the membership had grown. He said that from a total of 8682 members at March 2004, there were 25876 in March 2005, resulting in a rise of nearly 300% over the year. SU continues to work with IMUSA, the fanzines and the Manchester United supporters groups up and down the country and around the world in the `Not For Sale` campaign. He stressed that our aims have been to protect and defend the club against predators like Malcolm Glazer and to build a significant supporter shareholding base at the club. He wanted to express SU’s heartfelt thanks to all the members for their continued support and for the hard work they have put in to build a friendly and passionate organisation. There have been immense pressures, but that we could all be proud of what had been achieved on the road to independence. He told the meeting that SU could have enormous influence with MU, with regard to ticket price increases for instance, should we get to 25% of the shareholding.
MEDIA
Oliver reported on how SU had come through the storm of the Glazer attack. He felt that the PR battle had been well and truly won by SU. Without a doubt Glazer’s PR machine has come off a resounding second best to SU’s passionate and truthful stance on the whole takeover battle. Most of the press have been very supportive, once SU pointed out the Glazer shortcomings and produced an album of press cuttings showing the timetable of events, from the first approach by Glazer, to the present time. He stated that most of the SU Board had fielded numerous questions, from both the written press and television and radio, with great success. From the media’s assumption, at the beginning, that United was as good as sold, to the present day, where the general consensus seems to be that Glazer has bitten off more than he can chew. Oliver praised all who had done their bit, when contacted by the media and paid particular compliments to Tanya, who has done such fantastic work on the website. He stressed how far SU had come since the Murdoch days and asked that everyone remain vigilant. He assured the meeting that SU will continue to fight for United’s independence, using all means that are legally possible
NEWSLETTER
Nick thanked Julian for such an improved magazine and mentioned that any member getting advertising would get up to 20% of the advertising fee brought in. It is essential that the magazine gets advertisers on board, to off-set the cost of printing and mailing. This will be a priority from now on.
FANS’ FORUM
Because Gary was absent from the meeting, his report was not read out, but made available for the members to read and retain. A copy of his report will be made available on the SU website.
WEBSITE/SHARE SCHEME
Duncan’s share scheme report has already been published on the website. He stated that, although SU’s share purchases are a drop in the MU share ocean, we are growing at an immense rate. He feels that we are close to `critical mass` point, which is a point where outsiders have confidence in SU and believe that we are a viable concern. He produced graphs showing the growth in both membership and shares purchased, from December 2000 to February 2005, which clearly illustrates just how much SU has grown. Over the last year there have been quite a few initiatives for growing the membership further, such as the SU stall on Sir Matt Busby way and the attendance by Board and Committee members at various Supporter Branch meetings, all of which have been very successful. The Branch meetings are viewed as a real growth area. Also, the office in the centre of Manchester has proved to be a winner. Duncan went on to say that the recruitment cards have worked quite well and fanzine adverts have been given to SU free of charge and that they have had a big impact. The plane, which flew over Old Tafford, carrying the SU/Not For Sale banner, caused much excitement and may be tried again at some future date. The other banners have been very effective, particularly the one on Sir Matt Busby Way. These have been produced by Chris O’Donnell at cost price, so a vote of thanks should go to him for that. Text messaging has been tried for the first time this year. Duncan continued by stating that referrals are the largest source of new members and he thought a prize should be given to the biggest recruiter, with the name perhaps being The Malcolm Glazer Prize, even possibly giving it for the first year straight to him, as he had proved the biggest incentive for people to join SU! Needless to say, this last statement was delivered with his tongue firmly in his cheek! Eric wanted a vote of thanks to all who had contributed to and helped with fitting out the office. All the furniture, most of the computers as well as the filing cabinets, fax machines etc have all been donated by members or well wishing Reds.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS/QUESTIONS
A lively discussion took place with members wanting to know what encouragement there had been from the plc, regarding the Nomura tie-up, to which the reply was that there had been none, because the Club was in an offer period, but that prior to that, they were making encouraging noises.
A member wanted to know what steps would be taken to prevent any further confusion over planned protest marches/boycotts in future. Nick told the meeting that things would be done better next time. He was adamant that SU did everything possible to keep things proper and that it was without our knowledge that it all went wrong. Sean gave the reasons behind why SU had reservations about the effectiveness of the boycott and that those reasons were communicated to IMUSA. Oliver explained why SU had begun to publicise the march and inform members about the IMUSA/Red Issue boycott initiative. He said that the next thing SU knew, RI had put out a statement that the whole thing was cancelled. Nevertheless, he felt that it has been a fantastic achievement to keep all the different fans’ groups together and whilst things may go wrong from time to time, it is important to keep the groups unified.
A member wanted to know if there was a leadership structure for the NFS campaign and if not, why not. The reply was that there wasn’t, because the campaign was dependent upon co-operation and goodwill. SU must carry on making the unity work.
The next questioner asked if there was any indication, from the parties involved, that a mistake had been made and that it wouldn’t happen again. Nick told the meeting that he couldn’t speak for others, but that SU would continue to work with every group available.
The last question was why SU had objected to the march as well as the boycott, to which Nick replied that we hadn’t. The march was cancelled at the same time as the boycott.
There being no further questions, the meeting ended.