Chairman's Update
-
BevereeMaster
- Posts: 331
- Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 11:10 pm
The club always tries to make things sound good, so they could use this player to show they're signing someone who's proven in the National League South. They made sure to mention how many minutes he's played when they announced it.
-
DanielNotley
- Posts: 51
- Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2021 5:12 am
One thing what doesn't get me is why did the brothers come, invest a substantial amount of money into the club and now it seems they have walked away or taken a back seat?
Why, what's the next move for the club?
Why, what's the next move for the club?
-
EastTerracer
- Posts: 520
- Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:40 am
The brothers didn't bring much (if any) of their own money to the table. They raised £1.4m based on a Venture Capital FC / Real Ted Lasso yarn from a bunch of different characters through the ownership vehicle Ramayana Ventures. The brothers were good at self publicity but seemingly not so good at financial control as that money all seems to have been spent. By April 2024 they were seeking new funding but I can only assume that has not been successful or I'm sure we would have heard about it.DanielNotley wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2024 3:49 am One thing what doesn't get me is why did the brothers come, invest a substantial amount of money into the club and now it seems they have walked away or taken a back seat?
Why, what's the next move for the club?
The questions I have are whether the club can extricate itself from the Ramayana ownership if that vehicle is no longer putting money into the club ? Also why does it not revert to its previous identity (badge, naming etc) since Ramayana own trademarks on the assets adopted under their mismanagement.
https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmown ... 6&domain=1
-
BeaverWatcher
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:52 am
Ramayana is still the majority shareholder in the club and has the power to appoint and remove directors as it wishes. The sole directors of Ramayana are the brothers following Scott Forbes resignation on the 14th May.
The structure of Ramayana is that there are around 16000 shares which make up the voting rights, of which 200 are 'A' shares which have a 76% controlling interest. The company that owns that is Vaudeville Ventures Ltd. The sole directors and shareholders of that company are the brothers. The biggest 'B' shareholder with 8200 shares is a company called Vaudeville Bravo Ltd, there shareholding equates to around 12% of total Ramayana shares. The sole directors and shareholders of that company are the brothers. The next biggest 'B' shareholder is Thomas Garcia with 1077 which is around 1.5% of the share vote.
All this information is freely available on companies house and, whilst the board of the club has no direct Ramayana involvement, Ramayana still controls and owns the club in it's entirety. As it stands unless there is an opportunity to purchase Ramayana's shares they still have the controlling interest. What value would be placed on that I don't know but it is certainly more than the Trust could afford at this time. Even if they just wanted to get their original investment back £1.4 million that is a lot for a Step 2 club.
I also wouldn't expect that the investors would want to be in a position where they would let the club fail as it doesn't reflect well on them, so whilst playing budget may have been scaled back and other plans paused I think they will continue to fund the club, but to a more sustainable level.
The Trust having more members allows a greater voice to the club currently it is approaching 200, which is excellent for a club of our size, but more supporters joining gives a greater mandate. It also allows for more supporters to get involved in Trust activities such as fundraising, social events, community work etc. If you haven't joined up then it is just £10 per year, which is less than 2 pints on a match day when you think about it. You can sign up at www.thebeaverstrust.com.
The structure of Ramayana is that there are around 16000 shares which make up the voting rights, of which 200 are 'A' shares which have a 76% controlling interest. The company that owns that is Vaudeville Ventures Ltd. The sole directors and shareholders of that company are the brothers. The biggest 'B' shareholder with 8200 shares is a company called Vaudeville Bravo Ltd, there shareholding equates to around 12% of total Ramayana shares. The sole directors and shareholders of that company are the brothers. The next biggest 'B' shareholder is Thomas Garcia with 1077 which is around 1.5% of the share vote.
All this information is freely available on companies house and, whilst the board of the club has no direct Ramayana involvement, Ramayana still controls and owns the club in it's entirety. As it stands unless there is an opportunity to purchase Ramayana's shares they still have the controlling interest. What value would be placed on that I don't know but it is certainly more than the Trust could afford at this time. Even if they just wanted to get their original investment back £1.4 million that is a lot for a Step 2 club.
I also wouldn't expect that the investors would want to be in a position where they would let the club fail as it doesn't reflect well on them, so whilst playing budget may have been scaled back and other plans paused I think they will continue to fund the club, but to a more sustainable level.
The Trust having more members allows a greater voice to the club currently it is approaching 200, which is excellent for a club of our size, but more supporters joining gives a greater mandate. It also allows for more supporters to get involved in Trust activities such as fundraising, social events, community work etc. If you haven't joined up then it is just £10 per year, which is less than 2 pints on a match day when you think about it. You can sign up at www.thebeaverstrust.com.
Basically the brothers own the club. Who sold the club to them and why did they do it. When the club was sold did the seller expect more from the brothers of investment in the club that hasn't happened. Does the seller now regret the way things have turned out particularly concerning this new season. Did the seller have any reason to think that things would turned out any better than they have. Are the fans and supporters of Hampton and Richmond Borough Football Club entitled to know this information when all they do is contribute to the club is their time, energy, gate money and buying drinks and food at the bar.
-
Shepperton Supporter
- Posts: 2549
- Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:18 pm
Woking in trouble?
Club up for sale offers of £1 accepted !
An emergency loan of £600 k search for new owners / investors.
Wonder what this remind us of?
Club up for sale offers of £1 accepted !
An emergency loan of £600 k search for new owners / investors.
Wonder what this remind us of?
Was just listening to the interview on this on BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jbz58pShepperton Supporter wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2024 9:50 am Woking in trouble?
Club up for sale offers of £1 accepted !
An emergency loan of £600 k search for new owners / investors.
Wonder what this remind us of?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... 1y91pnyxno
The similarities are striking - although at Woking the owner, Drew Volpe, appears to have put a ton of his own money in.
-
EastTerracer
- Posts: 520
- Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:40 am
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire and Price of Football author described Volpe and Katz as "well-intentioned" but "naive" owners. Yes, sounds familiar.
Woking barely manages to go more than a couple of years without a financial crisis. The trouble is that they just can’t compete financially with the bigger ex league teams. Even so the owners seem to have spent a lot of money without much control which is just poor management. Anyway £1 to buy a NL club seems a bargain. Any takers?
Latest update: https://x.com/hamrichfc/status/18142729 ... JLl_yHWs2A
-
EastTerracer
- Posts: 520
- Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:40 am
Good that the Chairman's updates have continued. Not too much news in this one but useful nonetheless.