I am sad a few people attracted the attention the wrong way, but I think there should be effort to try to give as much spotlight as possible to the majority of the people who were there to send a strong message. I don't know what is the right answer, I don't think anyone has £4b to spend on a football club right now, but I hope the real conversation is with the authorities to basically put some safety in place:
- 0 dividend allowed without any exception if for a FC, the net debt ratio is above 0%, meaning the gross debt has to be reduced by £455m right away
My hope is that this move forces the Glazers to sell up or float more equity to fund this
- For a FC, forbid the equities to be of different classes. No more class A/B BS, all shares have the same voting right, meaning that if they choose to float more equities to fund this net debt stuff, they need to be forced to share voting power as well, even if it's a backdrop for them
- Maybe force the FC to never allow any dividends until the FP&L has been validated through some specific stress testing scenarios, basically, if the FC is not profitable on its own, it should never be allowed to provide any dividend whatsoever. If they want some dividends, they need to make the club profitable.
The remaining 2 options are for me a little idealistic and maybe not realistic, but I would want:
- Forbid any LBO on a FC going forward. Right now, £265m were backed by the club assets. This needs to be paid back no matter what, by law, and even by force if needed.
- And a veto right for fans on major topics, that includes new competitions, transfers, budget. I don't care about 50% + 1 because nobody has £2b anyway. I just think fans should have representative that have to vote on some topics no matter what by law when it comes to a FC. Basically, enforce the idea that a FC is not a private company, and does not follow the same rules.
My worry is that most FC are actually not profitable, so it's probably a bit complicated to enforce some of the options above.
- 0 dividend allowed without any exception if for a FC, the net debt ratio is above 0%, meaning the gross debt has to be reduced by £455m right away
My hope is that this move forces the Glazers to sell up or float more equity to fund this
- For a FC, forbid the equities to be of different classes. No more class A/B BS, all shares have the same voting right, meaning that if they choose to float more equities to fund this net debt stuff, they need to be forced to share voting power as well, even if it's a backdrop for them
- Maybe force the FC to never allow any dividends until the FP&L has been validated through some specific stress testing scenarios, basically, if the FC is not profitable on its own, it should never be allowed to provide any dividend whatsoever. If they want some dividends, they need to make the club profitable.
The remaining 2 options are for me a little idealistic and maybe not realistic, but I would want:
- Forbid any LBO on a FC going forward. Right now, £265m were backed by the club assets. This needs to be paid back no matter what, by law, and even by force if needed.
- And a veto right for fans on major topics, that includes new competitions, transfers, budget. I don't care about 50% + 1 because nobody has £2b anyway. I just think fans should have representative that have to vote on some topics no matter what by law when it comes to a FC. Basically, enforce the idea that a FC is not a private company, and does not follow the same rules.
My worry is that most FC are actually not profitable, so it's probably a bit complicated to enforce some of the options above.