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Deadline Day As we are now only hours from the deadline set by the Administrator for bids to be submitted, I thought that an update would be in order to keep the membership informed of where we are now. On December 8th, I stated that TiL would welcome any approach from potential investors to discuss the fans' points of view regarding the future direction of LTFC. To date, we have had long and fruitful discussions with only one party who have approached TiL, LLSC and LTSC in an open and transparent manner.We are unaware of the final number of bids to be submitted but would have hoped that more potential investors would have been interested in the views of their future customers. As far as supporting a bid is concerned, we laid down some clear criteria that TiL would like to see any bid embrace. They were:
1) Where football and community are the main incentives for investment
2) Where operational transparency is maintained under a suitable level of corporate governance
3) Where financial management is put before blind ambition
4) Where a structured relationship with the fan base is embraced
5) Where the Club and community support each other
6) Where a renewed environment creates a passionate, fun and fair culture synonymous with a sporting business
In addition, any bid we are associated with:
a) must not be tied to a specific location for a new stadium,
b) must commit to an independent feasibility study to identify the best location for the new stadium - both for the long term future of the Club and commercially,
c) must ensure the fans are represented amongst the shareholders through a share allocation,
d) must not accept or contain any financial backing in the form of loans or debentures or anything secured on assets or income of the Club (so that the Club can never be held to ransom again or create additional debt),
e) should not have a holding company or, if one is needed for tax reasons, it must be open and transparent to all shareholders of the football club via independent audit (and not just the shareholders of the holding company as was the case with Jayten)
The decision on who is preferred is one stop along the way - the CVA has to be agreed and the Football League convinced but, whoever takes over the Club will undoubtedly have to re-structure the finances and it is inevitable that one, two or more players will be sold.We anticipate that this will be done in consultation with Kevin Blackwell and any future investors. The New Year has already seen some wonderful Town performances and yesterday's brilliant game was a great result on and off the pitch for Luton. We applaud the players, manager and staff who are still putting football first amid great uncertainty. We are, possibly, on the verge of a new era with exciting times ahead once more so let's hope for a good decision that unites us all again. Mr Guilfoyle knows our views and we hope that his decision results in us getting our club back. |
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