SOO CALL TO ARMS

Friday 19 November 2010

JOINT STATEMENT FROM WEDNESDAYITE, TIME TO GO & THE SHAREHOLDERS' ASSOCIATION


Today, Sheffield Wednesday supporters and shareholders have joined forces to send a clear and unequivocal message to the club’s board of directors:

‘You have overseen a unprecedented decline in our club. You have become personally compromised. Go now before you are responsible for the death of SWFC.’

As the clock ticks towards the final chapter of the darkest period in our great club's history, frustration and anger grows amongst fans. The message is clear - investment must be completed. The alternative is that Sheffield Wednesday FC will cease to exist on December 1st.

If given the chance to succeed, current bids could see SWFC progress with new cash, new ideas and new faces at the helm. At least two parties have made offers reported as acceptable to the bank but, it seems, rejected by the loan note holders. In addition the board of SWFC have rejected a credible plan for help through supporter investment.

The fans demand to know why - and yet the club's silence is deafening.

As the posturing and jostling for position has unfolded over the last few days a dangerous and harmful conflict of interest has revealed itself at the heart of the investment process. It now seems clear that influential figures within the boardroom who should be considering all alternatives on equal merit have their own personal objectives. Furthermore, their presence in the boardroom throughout the investment process has put them in a position to influence the views of others whilst pursuing their own personal agendas.

Perhaps the most serious issue is the emergence of a consortium led by Mick Wright. Board members cannot carry out their fiduciary duty to secure the best available investment for the club if they are attempting to pursue and protect personal interests at the same time. If it is true that one or more of the current board are part of Mr Wright’s consortium, then we should be told. If one or more of the current board have been promised a role on Mr Wright’s board should his takeover succeed, we should be told.

We firmly believe the only reasonable course of action is for any Directors who are engaged in discussions around their own personal investments to immediately remove themselves from the decision-making process. For the avoidance of any doubt, and to protect their own integrity, we call upon them to resign their positions with immediate effect.

We also call upon Mr Wright to end his de facto, unratified occupation of a seat within the SWFC boardroom.

Wednesdayite, Time To Go and the Shareholders Association represent the fans of Sheffield Wednesday and speak for 24% of the club's shareholding. As such, we now insist the club admits an observer representing the fans to all SWFC board meetings from now until investment is completed. Only complete transparency can now remove all doubt about the efforts of the current Board to secure the right investment for the club.

As such, we are now both consulting with Supporters Direct and taking professional, specialist legal advice in relation to the issues raised above. In addition, we are also seeking answers to the question of whether the club has been and continues to trade insolvently - and whether the rejection of ANY viable investment proposal in favour of one that might appear in the future is acting both legally and in the interests of SWFC.
 
Investment that could lead to the rebirth of our club must not be ignored or rejected due to the personal interests of those responsible for the stewardship of SWFC. We expect and demand immediate actions from those who appear to have conflicting interests to remove any doubt about their responsibilities by withdrawing and allowing independent scrutiny of the negotiations taking place. If we receive no satisfactory response by the opening of business Monday 22nd November we see little option but to escalate our actions by all means open to us.

1 comment:

  1. Those board members should be ashamed of themselves, I keep asking myself why are they on the board of this football club, as they clearly could not give a F*&K about it!!

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