snorbens_caleyman

Have just discovered that Seventy7 tried to buy Southend United in late 2022. The deal was fronted by a guy who seems to be a local-lad-made-good, Carl Reader, but money would have come, via Seventy7, from a Monaco-based pension fund. Reader admitted that the investors were interested in the land, the property, and the development potential, and not in the football club. The fans asked the same sort of questions that we have been asking. The deal fell through in early 2023 - it seems that the chairman Ron Martin simply refused to consider it or even talk to Reader & co. If you are interested, there are a couple of discussion on a Southend fan forum - look for responses from the front man "Carl Reader" or "Carl": https://www.shrimperzone.com/forums/threads/carl-reader-seventy7-ventures-want-to-acquire-the-club.111822/ https://www.shrimperzone.com/forums/threads/q-a-with-carl-reader.111823/ Martin finally closed the sale of the club last month - NOT to Seventy7 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cedxldzgyw7o

Which is surely the biggest, reddest flag of them all.

Courier headline: "Ketan Makwana says no changes at the top at Inverness Caley Thistle until he knows ‘what’s working, what’s not working’".

I think that your scenarios 1 and 3 are what is happening now. With 2 happening a short while down the line, with the excuse being that they have now calculated how much it will take to clear the club's debts, re-establish it as a football force, and - their main aim - redevelop the stadium and surrounding land. At which point the club will go into administration, then liquidation, leaving its assets, such as they are, in the hands of the Jersey investors Factortech. Who can then say to the Council: "Nice bit of land. Shame about the derelict stadium. Like us to sort it out for you?".

So even if he can't say how much money he will be investing, or where it's coming from - which doesn't instil confidence - surely he can tell us about the other phenomenal developments which (he says) he has been involved in? From the viewpoint of the ordinary fan, I'd say that he has done nothing right either. And that's basically what the Companies House records for all his companies suggest. Nothing really wrong, but nothing right either. An enigma.

I chanced across something today that he wrote about a Yeading and Hayes match. It was "we" this and "we" that, written as though he was the owner. And we all know how that turned out.

Presumably that includes the CEO, and the manager?

Only if he was looking for another job!

I have been wondering if our young team can last the full 90 minutes. Was going to say that it doesn't bode well for when the pitches become heavier during the winter. But then I remembered that 8 out of the 10 are artificial. So maybe it'll be another season when our away results are better than our home results...

And so we're top of the league 69% possession according to the BBC stats. How much of a crowd is there? (inside and outside the ground)

Makwana has two main things that he can do to allay concerns: 1) Publicly state some idea of how much money there is to invest in the club, and where it's coming from. He must have a business plan, so he must know. Yes I know that there are NDAs and confidential loans, but he surely must have given the Board some idea? A ballpark figure with assurance that it is rooted in reality would be helpful. 2) Publicly provide some examples of other successful developments that he has fronted. Not "been involved in", not "did some consultancy on", but "fronted" - where he has been the main man in making things happen. Until he does both of these, we are entitled to treat him, and the Board, with nothing but sceptism. And that's putting it politely!

"That will be “not just for the people of Inverness to enjoy but also for people who come and visit and give people a reason to come and visit Inverness” so as to “bring people into the environment and let people fall in love with football”. Well you won't get them to fall in love with it if they are playing to Ferguson's tactics “The other side is our background is in entertainment, leisure and sport. We have a phenomenal amount of expertise in building these types of eco-systems." FFS, does no one think of asking him to name a few examples??? There are so many fine words in what he says, without the faintest piece of evidence to suggest that any of it is true. I suppose he's attracted to the Longman because it's also full of garbage. File alongside Johnson's 40 new hospitals

I'd love to know what these "assets" are that he keeps banging on about "liquidising" to fund the deal. He didn't have any to speak of in his accounts as of 30 September last year. The Factortech fund specialises in short-term (<5 year) loans to SMEs (in this case Seventy7), secured on the SME's assets and on their receivables. So ICTFC's assets will be the security for the loan. I doubt very much if there are "receivables" - ie money owed to ICTFC - in the short term. But note that future transfer fees received, prize money, TV money, etc, could all go (via Seventy7) to Factortech if that's what's required to pay back the loan. The Factortech fund details are here: https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/64f7c0e377d181192992983c/6601ccf202de094025ac1a10_Factortech Cell A factsheet_22.03.24 PB (1).pdf If that doesn't work, go to https://www.factortech.com/ , scroll down and click on "factsheet" under "02 Jersey Longer Term Vehicle". You'll see that the target return, to Factortech and its investors, is 18%-20% pa. The management fee is 2% pa. The performance fee is 35% pa - not sure how this would be worked out - based on the increase in valuation of the business to which the loan has been made? So it's difficult to see how Makwana could make money out of this - and it shows that there will be plenty of money going into other people's pockets should the club ever be profitable. Now that I have thought about it, the Courier interview and the article quoted above are greatly disappointing. First of all, they could and should have gone to town on where the money is coming from - and how it gets paid back. I'd also have asked for details of other things that he is currently involved in, and of past involvements. If the reporter didn't feel capable of asking business questions, then he could have gone for the "human aspect" angle. "Why do you want to own a football club? Especially one more than 500 miles from your home? How often will we see you? How long are you in it for?". And the clincher: "Can you explain the offside rule?"

He basically says that he will set up a trade creditors' relief scheme by the end of August. And also pay all salaries at the end of August - money which he could lose if the deal doesn't go through. As to how much it's all worth: "There was only one area that he could not discuss and that was the total value of the deal and future investment because both sides have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) as lawyers pour over contracts." Basically, it doesn't tell us any more that we had already worked out, and the hard questions are either not asked or are ducked. There is at least a lack of the BS which you find on his website and social media. I may have more to say once I have read it more carefully....

At the back of my mind all through this has been the thought that the club's failure to engage more with the local community - especially in recent years - may have the consequence that few people in a position to do anything about this will actually lift a hand to do so. Yes I know that there are women's and youth teams, the Community Trust, and so on. But we've also upset local businesses with the concert company shambles, we're at loggerheads with the Council over the battery park, we were going to move the first team to Kelty.... Just how many would be bothered - would even notice - if the club disappeared?

That's basically how I feel about it, too. But, regardless of whether the ground is in the freeport area or not, I still have a nagging question. If that's what he (or his backers) want to do, why take over a loss-making football club with a stadium that would have to be rebuilt or bulldozed? There's plenty of empty land to the south-east with the same geographical advantages, apart from not having such a nice view of the bridge. Surely he could persuade the Council to make some of that available. Would it cost that much to instal new infrastructure - roads, water/sewage, power, etc? Would it really be cheaper to redevelop the stadium than start from scratch? I note that Hayes and Yeading FC is in west London, very close to the M4 running east-west, and very close to Heathrow airport. Extremely useful if you wanted to develop a new business other than the football club. Anyone know which other clubs - there should be five more - he has (supposedly) failed to take over?

That's more or less what I was thinking. What was the status of the land before the stadium was built? Apart from having a traveller camp on it. That reminds me, does Makwana know that his club comes with a curse on it?

How often will we see you at matches?

With a surgeon and a vet there, the question remains - why do we always have so many injuries? And, as I said earlier, what do they know about running businesses of the scale of Caley Thistle? I also note that Thomas is "Interim" Chairman, which probably means that he - and the others? - will be offski once Mr Phygital takes over.

How many of them ran/run businesses of the scale of Caley Thistle?

I wouldn't want to be sitting next to him when he gets phygital

Utterly brilliant takedown, but really just saying what we are all saying. Can we co-opt Zealand onto the board of the Supporters Trust? My wife tell me that to set up an equity fund, Makwana has to obtain a licence. He needs to pass exams to show that he has the knowledge to run such a fund. And he presumably also has to show a past record of financial success and probity - which might be a bit difficult!

Must get new specs. I read that as "Buckie up"!

"We were obviously much stronger in the second half. Sets us up well for the league.".

If only we played with a blockchain.