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FC United co-owners' meeting report -18 February 2012

Despite torrential rain, over one hundred FC United co-owners turned up at the Bury Social Club on 18 February 2012. At last year’s AGM the Board made a commitment to hold two co-owners meetings in addition to the general meetings we have hold each year. Welcoming co-owners, FC board member Chris Hammond explained that the meeting was the first of its kind and would give co-owners the opportunity to have their say on a range of issues, including the latest developments on the new ground and community facility in Moston.

Plans for the ground were on display at the meeting and co-owners were given the opportunity and encouraged to comment on the plans, which were laid out at the back of the meeting room.

The meeting heard an update on the ground project from FC United general manager Andy Walsh and board member Adam Brown, who dealt with the latest developments on the financial side.

“We’ve shown what can be achieved???

Andy also took the opportunity to talk about the current state of the game, highlighting recent problems at Kettering, Portsmouth, Darlington and more recently Glasgow Rangers, which he said once again underlined the need for alternative models of football club ownership and demonstrated the reasons why FC United came into existence. “We recognised these problems back in 2005 and year on year it gets worse,??? said Andy. “We continue to learn from other supporter-owned clubs and other clubs are now looking at what we have achieved and are adapting our model. We can be proud of what we have done in establishing something different,??? he explained.

Andy said that co-owners sticking together showed what can be achieved. We might not be perfect, he said, but FC is showing that fans can make a real difference to the running of the game. Andy highlighted the work of the committed partners and consultants with whom FC was working on the Moston project and said that the club has been careful about what consultants we use because we wanted them to ‘get’ what we are about. A lot of time, effort and expertise has come from outside help, reflecting the wider commitment to FC and what we are trying to do.

Andy highlighted the progress that had been made since the community share scheme was launched. When we launched the scheme FC had less than 1700 adult co-owners; now we have more than 2,700. We’ve raised a magnificent £1.5 million in shares, 93% of our ambitious target, not included in that figure is £15k pledged in instalments plus a further £15k yet to be signed over from Ten Acres Lane. “We have come a long way and we should take pride in what we have achieved,??? Andy said.

No compromise on key areas of ground design

The meeting heard that the priorities set by co-owners during the consultations that led to the Ten Acres Lane ground design had been retained in the Moston development. There has been no compromise on the key areas of the creation of a large terrace behind the goal, a large function room and a mix of standing and seating at the side of the pitch. The board will be seeking a greater involvement from co-owners in the next stage of the development and while there might have to be some trade-offs in order to keep the project within budget, co-owners will have every opportunity to be involved as the plans are developed.

The meeting was also updated on the relationship with Manchester City Council, who have been tremendously supportive of the project. The reason for the council’s support is that they have already seen what a positive difference our community work is making in the areas in which we currently operate. Having witnessed the impact we have made without having a facility the council are keen to work with us to develop a community facility that will have a positive impact and make a lasting difference in Moston and North Manchester. Working in partnership with the council we have been able to access outside funding to go alongside council grant money and the £2m of funds raised by our own supporters.

Community shares – “we’re in touching distance of the target???

Board member Adam Brown gave co-owners an update on the financial side of the project and stressed that although we had done fantastically well to date, “We still need a final push to see us over the line to reach our £1.6m community share target and also the £250k target we have set for the Development Fund,??? said Adam. “Raising this money is absolutely critical in unlocking the grant funding that we need to finance the project, so we need one last push to help us do it,??? he said.

Adam told co-owners that we have achieved miracles in raising what we had in challenging economic times. “We have done fantastically well and we are almost there. If we get all our money in and the outside funding in place on time then we are looking at May/June this year to start building,??? he said. Adam reported that this would put us on target to be playing in the new ground by August 2013. “We’re so close now,??? he said.

Adam highlighted that all co-owners had a key role to play in helping us reach the target. He urged the meeting to think about who else they could speak to about buying shares. “If you’ve already invested, can you top up your investment? Just £75 extra from all current investors will see us over the line. We are in touching distance of doing something amazing – let’s get there!??? he said.

Questions answered

The meeting then had a break so that co-owners had the opportunity to view the ground plans at the back of the room. The plans were covered with post-it notes highlighting a range of requests and observations from co-owners, all of which will be fed through to the project team for consideration.

The meeting reconvened to hear a number of questions from the floor about a range of issues including plans and layout of the ground, the community shares and taxation, advertising and the new ground, community liaison in Moston and FC’s communications. All were answered by board members and the meeting ended at 12 noon to enable FC’s volunteers to set up the ground and stalls to prepare that afternoon’s match against Frickley.

Answers to the questions raised and the observations on the ground plans can be found on the members’ section of the official website.

The next FC co-owners’ meeting will be the general meeting on Thursday 19 April 2012. The notice and notes will be sent to co-owners at least 21 clear days before the date of the meeting.



First Posted ~ 16:26 Thu 1 Mar 2012
News ID ~ 4084
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021