Post by Macmoish on Aug 17, 2010 6:26:01 GMT
Have to read more re Yeovil...Doubt it's good for the club!
Guardian/Matt Scott
Yeovil Town's land sale clouded by questions of value
• Yeovil set to separate property assets from football operation
• Shareholders not yet informed of value of any transactions
The land around Yeovil Town's Huish Park stadium is set to be hived off to a separate company. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Yeovil Town's shareholders have been asked to vote in favour of the separation of the club's property assets from its football operation. The thing is, only the director-shareholders really know what they are voting for.
In what appears to be a classic case of putting the cart before the horse, the chairman John Fry's letter to shareholders states: "After completion of the reorganisation, it is then intended that the freehold land at Huish Park will be purchased by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited at an arm's length valuation provided by an independent and qualified valuer."
There is no mention of who that valuer will be. There is no detail of precisely what land is being separated from the football business, although it does seem the stadium alone of the club's dozen-or-so acres of land will continue to belong to it. Still less is there mention of what the value of the transaction will be for the club.
And so, at a time when South Somerset District Council is talking about a £20m-plus "sport zone" development, possibly next door to Huish Park, the club will hand over its property assets for an unknown sum to a company 92%-owned by the Yeovil directors Norman Hayward and Fry.
The club declined to comment yesterday, but it makes little difference anyhow. Hayward and Fry own 92% of the football club, too, ensuring that it will go through whatever the other 8% say.
No cash-in for Hicks
When this column revealed last week that Tom Hicks's 50% shareholding in Liverpool is not held in the Hicks Sports Group, where all his other failing sports interests have resided, we suspected it had indeed once been there and was later removed. Proof was harder to find: HSG's website no longer functions and the apparent regulatory obligation to file an annual return in the US state of Delaware – where Liverpool's parent, Kop Investment LLC, is registered – has never been met in the three years of its operation. But the Liverpool fanzine Redandwhitekop had that proof, and contacted Digger with the evidence.
What is most interesting is that the HSG website detailed that Liverpool was one of its assets almost until 31 March last year, the date of Hicks's default on a scheduled interest payment on a $525m loan. This suggests Hicks was in fact taking action to preserve his stake in Liverpool from the indebtedness of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars, not the other way round. However this asset-shifting seems likely to prove futile: Hicks's interest in the Anfield club is undergoing a forced sale that, to the delight of Liverpool fans, could leave him with nothing.
Elleray flags up fixing
The former Premier League referee David Elleray is co-chairing a commission investigating allegations of match-fixing in the South African leagues. Elleray, who is chairman of the Football Association's referees' committee, has been drafted in by the judge Advocate Ishamel Semenya for the eight-day commission of inquiry that began yesterday. Although there is no power of subpoena, those involved in South African football will be strongarmed into appearing upon pain of a misconduct charge from the South African Football Association. If Elleray and Semenya uncover clear evidence of wrongdoing, they have made clear they will not shrink from recommending criminal proceedings.
Vale can blaze trail
Mike Newton, a New York-based former Oldham Athletic director who describes himself as a "trader", is reportedly preparing a bid for Port Vale. Cue gags about how the League Two club might now conquer the US where its celebrity fan Robbie Williams has famously failed.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/17/yeovil-town-land-sale
Guardian/Matt Scott
Yeovil Town's land sale clouded by questions of value
• Yeovil set to separate property assets from football operation
• Shareholders not yet informed of value of any transactions
The land around Yeovil Town's Huish Park stadium is set to be hived off to a separate company. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Yeovil Town's shareholders have been asked to vote in favour of the separation of the club's property assets from its football operation. The thing is, only the director-shareholders really know what they are voting for.
In what appears to be a classic case of putting the cart before the horse, the chairman John Fry's letter to shareholders states: "After completion of the reorganisation, it is then intended that the freehold land at Huish Park will be purchased by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited at an arm's length valuation provided by an independent and qualified valuer."
There is no mention of who that valuer will be. There is no detail of precisely what land is being separated from the football business, although it does seem the stadium alone of the club's dozen-or-so acres of land will continue to belong to it. Still less is there mention of what the value of the transaction will be for the club.
And so, at a time when South Somerset District Council is talking about a £20m-plus "sport zone" development, possibly next door to Huish Park, the club will hand over its property assets for an unknown sum to a company 92%-owned by the Yeovil directors Norman Hayward and Fry.
The club declined to comment yesterday, but it makes little difference anyhow. Hayward and Fry own 92% of the football club, too, ensuring that it will go through whatever the other 8% say.
No cash-in for Hicks
When this column revealed last week that Tom Hicks's 50% shareholding in Liverpool is not held in the Hicks Sports Group, where all his other failing sports interests have resided, we suspected it had indeed once been there and was later removed. Proof was harder to find: HSG's website no longer functions and the apparent regulatory obligation to file an annual return in the US state of Delaware – where Liverpool's parent, Kop Investment LLC, is registered – has never been met in the three years of its operation. But the Liverpool fanzine Redandwhitekop had that proof, and contacted Digger with the evidence.
What is most interesting is that the HSG website detailed that Liverpool was one of its assets almost until 31 March last year, the date of Hicks's default on a scheduled interest payment on a $525m loan. This suggests Hicks was in fact taking action to preserve his stake in Liverpool from the indebtedness of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars, not the other way round. However this asset-shifting seems likely to prove futile: Hicks's interest in the Anfield club is undergoing a forced sale that, to the delight of Liverpool fans, could leave him with nothing.
Elleray flags up fixing
The former Premier League referee David Elleray is co-chairing a commission investigating allegations of match-fixing in the South African leagues. Elleray, who is chairman of the Football Association's referees' committee, has been drafted in by the judge Advocate Ishamel Semenya for the eight-day commission of inquiry that began yesterday. Although there is no power of subpoena, those involved in South African football will be strongarmed into appearing upon pain of a misconduct charge from the South African Football Association. If Elleray and Semenya uncover clear evidence of wrongdoing, they have made clear they will not shrink from recommending criminal proceedings.
Vale can blaze trail
Mike Newton, a New York-based former Oldham Athletic director who describes himself as a "trader", is reportedly preparing a bid for Port Vale. Cue gags about how the League Two club might now conquer the US where its celebrity fan Robbie Williams has famously failed.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/17/yeovil-town-land-sale