This is a gasroom.co.uk post archived by chairboys.co.uk - est. 1995
GasMan
Summary and reports from Andy Harman meeting 23rd Jan 2019
2019-01-24 09:12:13
Around 150 people attended a meeting on the evening of Wednesday 23rd January 2019 to hear proposals by former Wanderers player Andy Harman for his investment in Wycombe Wanderers Football Club.
Harman presented an articulate proposal that suggested investing £3m over a 5 year period - £2m would be ear-marked the Club and £1m into setting-up and developing an independent Academy with links to WWFC.
Regarding ownership, Harman said the initial proposal was for a minority stake, with a view to taking a majority stake holding after 2 years. However, Harman did add that this wasn't necessarily a demand. As Harman is initially proposing a minority stake (less than 50%), approval from Legacy Members would not be required in the same manner as the majority shareholding proposal that has been suggested by the Trust Board.
If successful, Harman would be proposed as Chairman of the Football Club, with Ben Langdon likely to become CEO.
The newly proposed Academy would be headed by another former Wanderer, Ken Wilson (currently Elite Performance Scout for the Scottish FA for junior players).
Harman explained that Wilson, would help Paul Foley at WWSET to build on the great work they currently do. There would be added focus on scouting - processes, structure and technology to help the football management team.
Well-respected BBC Three Counties reporter Phil Catchpole was also in attendance at the meeting and later interview Harman for a news item broadcast on the morning of Thursday 24th January 2019.
The interview can be found via BBC Sounds at around 1 hour and 40 minutes into this clip.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06w83mt
Phil’s report from the meeting can also be found on his blog page.
Supporters have been offering their feedback to the proposals via social media and forums.
Former Trust Director Dale Jenkins gave a very comprehensive report of events on gasroom 2.0 where he also commented:
“Andrew Harman has been in conversation with members of the Trust Board for some time (over a year). No bid was tabled at that point but it was only when Harman was re-approached by a member of the ex-players association in November 2018 that he realised there might still be an option to table a bid should the American bid not be voted through.
Talks have since happened and a bid was tabled. Harman gave Trevor Stroud [Football Club and Trust Board Chairman] 48 hours to mull over this option and the fact that this was still rejected and to instead pursue the American proposal, tells you everything you need to know.”
Read more here: https://gasroom.org/discussion/4502/andrew-harman-bid-for-wwfc/p8
Legacy Members are due to meet on Monday 28th January 2019 to hear the finer details of the proposed bid from American duo Jim Collis and Bill Luby for a majority stake in the Club. The proposal requires a 75% majority of ALL Legacy Members (approximately 810 people) to be in favour for the proposal to be passed. Voting is expected to last for around 3 weeks with a further meeting being held and the vote declared by the Electoral Reform Services.
Club and Trust Chairman Trevor Stroud commenting on the voting process said: “As we are talking about selling a majority stake in the Club, 75% of the 810 Legacy Members have to vote in favour. The important message is a non-vote is a no vote and it would be criminal if apathy decided the future of our Football Club.”
This is a gasroom.co.uk post archived by chairboys.co.uk - est. 1995