Supporters will be aware of developments over the past week regarding a possible takeover of the Football Club. We, as a Trust, do not believe this prospective takeover is in the best interest of the Club.
Much has happened over the past fortnight and, while we have updated our members twice during that period, it’s important we continue to bring you as much information as possible at this moment in time. Things are happening very quickly to the extent that even this communication might even be out of date by the time you’ve finished reading it.
We first became aware of the takeover interest two weeks ago, when it emerged that a Football Financier called Alex Jarvis had been contacting shareholders representing Andy Curran and Darrell Rose with a view to purchasing large shareholdings within the Football Club for the purpose of gaining a majority shareholding. We believe that some shareholders were informed by Jarvis that they had already acquired a majority shareholding in the Club, which was not true.
Our immediate response to hearing this news was to email the shareholders we have previously been in contact with in the run up to June’s EGM and warn them of what was developing. We believe Jarvis had been handed shareholders’ details that were confidential to the Football Club and not in the public domain, and this was being used to contact shareholders to purchase their shares.
Obviously, the names of Alex Jarvis, Andy Curran and Darrel Rose were new to us, as they have no previous links to our Football Club.
Andy Curran comes with very little digital footprint so far. For a man with sufficient wealth to purchase a Football Club, we could find very little information regarding his history other than one involvement with a construction company back in 2009. This raised several concerns to us in itself. The only other information that we had involved a link with Swindon Town FC last season, where his son was a member of the first-team squad.
Darrell Rose was been an easier person to track down. We know that he has a family-run car showroom in Worksop and is involved with a couple of housing companies. He, himself, didn’t flag up any immediate concerns.
Alex Jarvis is listed many times on the internet in relation to his previous deals, and one particular person that we have spoken to as part of our due diligence (who has had previous dealings with him) simply said to us: “Do not negotiate with Jarvis.” He has been involved in takeovers and attempted takeovers at Barnsley, Hull City, Peterborough and Woking. He is not expected to be part of any future involvement in the club, and his role is simply to try to acquire sufficient shareholding for Curran and Rose.
We emailed Jarvis on Saturday 3rd July asking for contact details for Andy Curran, with Curran himself emailing us back on Monday 5th, and we emailed back immediately expressing our views on the Football Club and any concerns that we as a Trust would have with regards to any prospective takeover. He replied with aims and plans for the Club, explaining what had gone on so far. A meeting was arranged for Tuesday 6th July.
A meeting took place on Tuesday as scheduled following an earlier meeting at the Club between Curran and Jarvis and the Board of Directors at the Football Club. The meeting was attended by Trust Chair Colin Cavanah and Trust member Richard Wild, lasting approximately an hour and a half.
During the meeting, we expressed a number of concerns about the prospective ownership model, the way in which the shares and information about them had been obtained, and the lack of information available regarding prospective new owners. As has been a stock phrase over recent months, we explained how lower league football has been haunted by the likes of Stewart Day in recent years and there was a need for transparency at every step of the way.
Curran explained to us that he had always been interested in football at a lower level. We were pleased that he didn’t just come out with promises of Championship football and beyond, as we have heard in previous weeks. He talked about sustainability for the Club and not over spending and he seemed to be on a very similar page to us.
He explained that he had no desire to personally be involved with the Club on a day-to-day basis and he was very happy to proceed with things at the Club as they currently are. He saw himself turning up on matchdays and treating it more as a social event, with those already in situ continuing with the running of the Club.
When questioned as to why so little information was available about him, he said that this was simply down to him being a very private person. He had made his money through a roofing business and housing, and since then he had preferred to be the money man behind ventures.
We explained how we felt it would be a real concern if we had an owner that fans knew next to little about, as we had seen over the past couple of years with a previous Chairman. Curran accepted what we had said, and agreed to be interviewed by a supporter who is a journalist and to take part in a podcast in an attempt to reassure supporters.
The Trust put out an update following this meeting. The purpose of this was to provide a platform to Curran, in much the same way that we had done with both Dan Altman and Chris Dunphy in previous months. We saw this as being an update to members reporting back on the meeting.
However, we were contacted by the EFL, through the Club, with regards to two lines that appeared in our statement, raising issues that related to shareholding and proof of funds. They stated that they felt they may need to issue a statement regarding this prospective takeover.
We had stated that Curran and Rose had purchased 42% of the shares at that moment in time. We now know this is not the case, and there hasn’t been a single share transfer form handed into the Club. Until this is done and approved, they do not currently own a single share in the Football Club. We amended our statement to state “agreed to purchase”.
The EFL also stated to us that the statement that Curran had provided proof of funds to the EFL was incorrect. We deleted this line.
We communicated a number of times with the EFL, stating our concerns and that we would be very happy should they choose to issue a statement. We asked them what the case was with regards to the Proof of Funding and the EFL stated that they had no evidence of any proof of funding being made available to them with regards to Curran and Rose’s takeover, and we published details of this on our website last Friday evening. To our knowledge, this situation has not changed.
We contacted Jarvis on Friday night who insisted that this information had been submitted to the Club, and it is the responsibility of the Club to pass these documents on to the EFL. We have spoken to the Club about this, who have said some details have been provided but nowhere near to the level of detail that should be expected in this situation, something Jarvis should have been aware of.
Following our talks with the EFL, we spent the weekend digging into as much information as we could find regarding Curran, Rose and the company being used to purchase the shares. Curran is not listed on Companies House as having any involvement with this company. We found a number of further concerns from publicly available information regarding the suitability of those wishing to take over at the Club and we have passed this information on to the EFL.
We have reached out to other Supporters’ Trusts, and information that we have received from our peers at Swindon Town has been passed on to the EFL as well. We are contacting the EFL on an almost daily basis to ensure that all necessary checks are investigated and that they are fully up to speed with the goings on. The attitude of the EFL is very supportive and they are appreciative of our efforts to keep them in the loop.
As things stand, we believe that Curran and Rose have made agreements to purchase the shares, but the share transfer forms have not been presented to the Club and, as such, the shares are not in the possession of either Curran or Rose or the organisation they propose to use to purchase the shares. We had made enquiries as to whether any money has actually changed hands but, at this moment, we cannot confirm this either way.
Despite claims they have made to individual shareholders, we do not believe that they have reached agreements to acquire over 42% of the Club. Of course, this does not rule out further share purchases that could take them above 50%, and there is a need to be vigilant to ensure this does not happen.
On the subject of proof of funding, the EFL Head of Governance, Ryan Hyde, wrote to us last Friday and confirmed that they “cannot find any evidence of the source and sufficiency of funding on behalf of the potential purchaser having been provided to us.”
The EFL rules of the Owners and Directors Test (Appendix 3) state in Rule 3.1 that for any Person proposing to acquire Control of a Club: the Person seeking control shall, as far in advance of the acquisition of Control as reasonably possible and in any event no later than 10 Normal Working Days prior to the date on which it is anticipated that such acquisition of Control will take place.
(i) submit to the League a duly completed Declaration in respect of each Person who will become a Relevant person upon the proposed acquisition of Control;
Having consulted with the EFL, we do not believe any person has either (a) contacted the EFL or (b) made the relevant proposal for acquisition of control.
There has been a great deal of work that has taken place over the past fortnight, arguably more so than at any other time in our history and this will continue until this is resolved. This is one of the most pivotal times in the history of the Club.
We have reached out to the Football Supporters Association, Rochdale MP Sir Tony Lloyd and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham for support with this.
We hope that in the next few days, we will be able to present to our members the outcome from some of the work that has taken place, and we will seek further member advice on this.
As always, the direction of the Trust will be guided by the members, so if you have any views on this that you would like to share with us, whether it is in support or against, please send them to info@daletrust.co.uk.
Furthermore, if you have any specific questions with regards to this, please send them as part of our new Q&A initiative to questions@daletrust.co.uk.
We will be writing again to members in the next few days with our next steps in fighting this and ensuring that the Club will never be put in such a position again.
We need all supporters to stand together as a Club at this moment in time. This isn’t a disagreement over the merits of a manager or a debate as to whether or not the Club is doing things right – this is the very future of the Club on the line. We’ve seen down at Bury just what can happen. That doesn’t happen here, we won’t let it. This time last week, I was convinced this was a fait accompli. A week on, I am convinced we can stop this and keep the Club in the hands of the supporters as it should be.
This is my Club. This is your Club. This is our Club!
—————————————————————————————————-
As you may be aware, the Trust has a limit of £3,000 on purchases it can make without members’ approval. With that in mind, we need your permission to purchase further shares in the Football Club should they become available. The unique circumstances of this current time means that we cannot give a specific figure on this but we will not pay above the face value of £2 for these shares. With that in mind, we have emailed all Trust members with a link to a poll. Votes will only be counted from those adult and exiled members who have signed up for the 2021-22 season. We will be asking for your name and address. Given the urgency, we will need all votes to be completed by Sunday 20th July 5pm.