The "missing pages" from the LTFC accounts
Since our leaflet drop last Saturday, we have had hundreds of messages and enquiries and we have had over 5000 unique hits to our website. We want the supporters to know the facts and we want them to tell us if they are happy or otherwise with our work. We are here to represent you and if the majority told us to stop, we would. At the current time, we are getting an overwhelmingly positive feedback. Here are some answers to questions that we have been asked about those missing pages.
Why aren't we more public and vocal in what is missing?
At the outset, in order to try to get the information from the Club, we confirmed that we would keep the information confidential until such point that the Club has had time to answer the questions/queries that we raise. That way we reassured the Club that we were not out to cause trouble for the sake of it. We know that some of our questions will have simple and straightforward/logical answers and so we felt it was professional to give the Club chance to answer before we went public. At the time we gave this commitment to the Club (May 07), we had no idea that the whole issue would drag out for as long as it has. We, too, are frustrated that we want to say things and be open, but we are tied by our commitment to the Club. We made the offer in the spirit of working with the Club and trying to sort out issues behind the scenes without a public and messy PR battle.
As you can probably sense, whilst we made the offer to the Club for what we believed were the right reasons, we now regret ever saying it! However, all of us on the TiL board believe it is honourable to stand by what we said and, hence, whether we like it or not, we will keep our word.
Information withheld by the Club:
1) Board Minutes - these will show how decisions were made at a time where we were losing more money than ever before. e.g. The Club claims this is the fault of 'previous management' but some 'previous management' still remain so what part, if any, did they play in the current situation? Who was responsible for key areas of the Club's activities? How was the sacking of Mike Newell handled and the resignation of Bill Tomlins? By whom, and when, was the J12 deal approved and on what basis? Were votes unanimous or split? etc (as we do not know what was discussed at board level, we are somewhat surmising what the minutes will show). We know, factually, that board meetings were held on approximately a monthly basis, so there will be minutes for us to view, but they have not been supplied at all.
2) Directors’ contracts that either have a 'compensation upon termination clause' or those that have more than 12 months still to run. (This would show us if Mr Tomlins, Mr Peter etc are entitled to any monies from the Club, and if any current directors are potentially on a big payday, and what duties the directors really have). Again, this is missing totally.
3) Register of charges and debenture holders - this shows if the Club have any debts secured on the business and at what date they have to be repaid. If there is money owed, how much and who to? Again, missing totally.
4) Certain financial pages from the statutory accounts. We cannot be too specific here as explaining the missing sections clearly shows why we are concerned and would lead people to add 2 and 2 (and they may get 5 and this would cause unnecessary rumours and allegations). In addition, it is remotely possible that the contents of the missing sections may not be controversial at all. However, we are left to wonder that if it is all above board, why not supply us with these sections?
Points 1-4 are all things we are legally entitled to under UK Company Law. The Club know that by not providing the information they are currently breaking the law. However, resolution can only be achieved by the club providing the information OR legal action and a court hearing. Bearing in mind the financial state of the Club, and the fact that we want to resolve these issues and then move on, we really are doing everything to avoid this latter course of action - it is not in the interests of anyone associated with the Club and damages the Club's reputation throughout the country.
However, this information is crucial for any shareholder in any company to truly understand its current trading position. We only want to understand that position as loss estimates vary as the accounts we have been supplied with give yet another figure for the losses (a figure that has never been stated by the Club before). When businesses increase their cost base, whilst at the same time lose income, and also do not truly know their level of losses, a recipe for disaster is being brewing.
When will TiL publish the findings?
As we have said, there could be plausible explanations to the reasons for the missing information and what it contains. We really hope that the alarm bells sounding in our ears are false. For five months we have been asking very clearly for this information. When the Club released its statement on 30 September 2007 saying it was all ready for collection, we thought that we were finally getting somewhere. Imagine our confusion when pages, documents and figures were missing completely and without explanation! We have been very clear with the Club throughout on exactly what we want access to, and this is the same as detailed in the Companies Act 2006 (the request letters are also on our website). It definitely doesn't help us to keep an open mind on the goings on at the Club, and it makes it very difficult to 'draw a line in the sand' when we have no idea where that line is!
We will keep trying to get the information. We would much prefer to publish a complete and proper report once we have this information - that is the only way in which we can give a balanced and true view. We do not want to scaremonger, but by the same token, we have a duty to members and non-members to get this information. In the entire fanbase, TiL is the only organisation that has a legal right to this information. We would fail in our duty if something bad happened and we had never bothered to ask the Club. Like so many supporters, we are getting very restless and we just want to resolve this and move on to better, positive things. However, it is becoming increasingly likely that we will have to publish a report without the missing information and we suspect that will only raise more questions, mistrust, concerns and confusion for many supporters. We have prepared a list of questions for the Club Board (on the limited information we have to date) and they have stated to us that after receipt they will attend a meeting with us to answer the questions (although we are realistic as they have said they will answer our questions/open the books/be open and transparent etc before on many occasions!). Once the Club have done this, we will publish our view. We would love to give a date or deadline, but this is totally in the hands of the Club. We have asked the Club for a meeting date and we are still waiting for a response.
We are also telling everyone that is interested, that when we publish our report we will respect all confidentialities. Therefore, we will not divulge numbers/specifics. However, the report will clearly show our analysis of the information and the subsequent opinion we put forward and the basis for this opinion.
We hope the supporter base respect that we are not trying to hide anything. We feel that if we alienate the Club by divulging information when we have said we will not, we will not be able to ensure a positive working relationship going forward. As every day goes by, we find this harder and harder, but we feel it is right to 'hang on in there'.
As ever, we will answer any questions supporters have as honestly as we can. You can email, or write to, us by following this link.
Kind regards
Liam Day
TiL Chairman  |