With the issues ongoing relating to the hostile takeover, we have provided a summary of the events that have happened so far and what are concerns are.
Concerns that we have:
- Supporters and the Club are 100% united in not wanting them anywhere near the Club
- Police involvement due to threats and intimidation to Club Directors
- Shareholders contacted using confidential information
- No links between Curran, Rose and Rochdale
- Lack of evidence of proof and source of funding
- Homophobic, offensive and aggressive language used in EFL meeting
- Andy Curran’s links with Swindon Town
- Concerns for the long-term health of the Football Club should the hostile takeover be approved
It has certainly been a turbulent summer at what has been traditionally one of the most stable football clubs in the English Football League. Rochdale AFC had been something of a benchmark among its peers on how a football club should be run. However, two years of a growing disconnect between the fans and the boardroom, in which the Board of Directors were actively trying to sell the club to an outside investor, has led us to this point.
Shareholders overwhelmingly showed their opposition to a plan by the Board at an EGM, which would have allowed them to sell the club to an investor without shareholder approval to the extent that the motion had to be withdrawn on the evening. Shareholders also then removed two directors from the Board – David Bottomley and Graham Rawlinson at an EGM proposed by the Supporters’ Trust.
Following the removal of the two directors, four new directors were appointed to the club, one of which came from the Supporters’ Trust. Simon Gauge was appointed as Chairman, and, despite the recent relegation, there was a genuine feeling of optimism among the fanbase. Gauge spoke about ensuring that the club remained a supporter-owned club and brought a personal touch that had been absent over the previous two years. Fans took to him straight away, and many supporters spoke about “having their club back”.
That feelgood factor lasted a matter of days. There were reports of individuals purchasing the shares from former directors, and there is evidence of a leaked email from an individual called Alexander Jarvis offering to purchase shares at an inflated price on behalf of two men called Andy Curran and Darrell Rose. Our calculations suggested that they had acquired around 42% of the shares.
Supporters were immediately concerned. Little was known about the two individuals looking to take over the club. Curran came with very little digital footprint, with no evidence online as to how he could afford to purchase a football club. More information was available on Rose, who had a history in second-hand cars and property.
The Trust reached out to Curran through Alexander Jarvis and sought a meeting with him to discuss our concerns and his plans for the club. The Trust were told that 44% of the shares had been purchased and it was expected that they would soon own a majority stake in the club, and that proof of funding had been provided to the EFL.
Curran was something of an enigma at the meeting, with seemingly many contradictions throughout. He spoke of no desire to get involved in the day-to-day running of the club and claimed to be happy for the existing Board of Directors to continue to run it. He stated his preference was to attend games, enjoy the football and have a few beers. He even spoke of a wish to attend games with his pet Rottweiler.
We learned on the evening that the shares were to be bought by a company called Morton House – a payroll company based in London owned by Darrell Rose and a woman called Denise Courtnell. Curran has no ownership of this company and has been quoted as saying his roll with Morton House is as a “consultant”.
We published a statement the day after the meeting on the Dale Trust website stating that Curran had purchased more than 40% of shares within the club and that proof of funding had been provided to the EFL. However, we were contacted the following day by the EFL stating that this was not the case at all – no shares had been purchased and they had received no such proof of funding.
This immediately flagged a number of concerns for ourselves, and further digging took place into those behind the hostile takeover. The more information that was uncovered, the greater the concern and it soon became clear that these were not the sort of people that you’d want to be the owners of any football club.
The Trust came out in opposition to the takeover in mid-July with a statement on our website detailing a large number of concerns, and how we felt that this would not be in the best interests of the club. It was decided to tackle the hostile takeover in a number of ways:
With Rochdale being the home of the co-operative, shareholders were contacted to try and form a co-operative majority against Curran/Rose. While not every shareholder could be contacted, there was a clear message that shareholders were not interested in selling to Curran/Rose at any price. As things stand, with the agreement in place to purchase 50,000 shares from Director Andrew Kelly, a co-operative shareholding of 50.7% is in place to provide a majority against any takeover attempt. During this time, there was a police report made regarding intimidation and threats made towards club directors in a bid to acquire their shares.
Furthermore, we were aware that Curran/Rose need approval from the EFL before they can be in a position to take over the club. We have been in constant dialogue with the EFL providing them with a significant amount of information relating to the hostile takeover and 50 questions that we feel that the EFL must answer if they consider Curran/Rose to be “fit and proper”. Failure to pass the Owners and Directors Test would be a considerable obstacle in their attempts to take over the club.
There are links to Swindon Town and the fiasco that has followed them over the past season. Curran stated that he was a non-executive director at Swindon Town, but he admitted that this was merely a way of bypassing the strict COVID regulations, so that he could watch his son Taylor play for them. However, Taylor’s time at Swindon was itself the subject of a number of allegations including who was responsible for paying his wages and the incredible number of times he was an unused substitute – 63 times. Ahead of his father’s meeting with the EFL, Taylor dropped two divisions to sign for Maidstone despite having two seasons remaining on his three-year contract.
The investigations into the hostile takeover attempt continued, and it transpired, in a leaked email, that Alexander Jarvis emailed a potential shareholder in a bid to purchase shares with an attachment of a Powerpoint that was used at the club’s AGM. The timestamp from the Powerpoint document showed that it had been modified three days after the AGM by former director and Dale CEO David Bottomley. It is not known how a document confidential to Rochdale AFC and its shareholders was in the hands of Alexander Jarvis. This was another example of concerns at how confidential information was used in relation to contacting shareholders.
Further emails from Jarvis have shed more light on the hostile takeover. One email to a potential shareholder talked about “seeing a healthy return on their investment”, whilst another offered £10,000 for information on those supporters behind the opposition to the takeover.
There are questions regarding the company being used to purchase the club – Morton House. They are listed as a payroll company that traditionally has a five-figure turnover, with various owners over the years. Their last accounts saw a huge increase in their accounts with over £4 million listed, but with £4 million owed to creditors within twelve months. We do not consider this to be proof of funding.
All these concerns, along with many more, have been provided in full to the EFL. The intention is to prove to the EFL that the Morton House hostile takeover of Rochdale AFC is not in the best interests of the football club, and there is sufficient concerns to prove that Curran/Rose/Morton House should not pass the EFL’s Owners and Directors Test that everyone has to take before becoming an owner of an EFL football club.
Curran, Jarvis and Rose met with the EFL via Zoom on Tuesday 20th July as part of the Owners and Directors Test. We know it was a “heated” meeting according to Alex Jarvis, and the club have since submitted a complaint to the FA over homophobic, offensive and threatening language that was used by Curran during the meeting. The Supporters’ Trust has complained to the EFL regarding this, who have informed us this was a matter for the FA.
Much more has been said in the public domain in recent weeks with a number of contradictory statements from Jarvis and Curran ranging from “no interest in Rochdale” to a “the deal is 100% still going ahead”. Much has been made of the Club’s long-term sustainability, with Curran and Rose trying to picture themselves as “rescuing” the club as the club would “run out of money before the end of the year”. This is not true, and the club’s financial plans have been approved by the EFL.
At this moment in time, we are awaiting news from the EFL. From the evidence that we have supplied them with so far, we do not see how the Owners and Directors Test can be passed by those behind the hostile takeover. We believe there are too many questions regarding the proof of funding, source of financing, suitability of those involved and links of involvement with Swindon Town for this to proceed.
We do not know when the EFL will make a decision, and they have given us little indication on how things are progressing.
One thing that has become abundantly clear throughout these last few weeks is that there is no appetite for this takeover from anyone connected with Rochdale AFC. We have received support from a number of sources including local MP’s and people within the football world in recent weeks.
The board, the shareholders and the supporters are completely united in not wanting anyone connected with Morton House anywhere near the club. It is well documented just how much opposition there is to this hostile takeover, and there has been not a single attempt made by Curran/Rose to try to address this. If the intentions were worthy and they were investing such a large amount of money in the football club, surely they’d make some sort of effort to get the fans on board?
This month will be the 100th anniversary of Rochdale AFC playing league football, and it’s very much our intention to be here for another 100 at least. It is vital that this hostile takeover is defeated to allow this club to get on with making on the field matters the priority.
How supporters can help
Monthly Donate for Shares – The Trust are taking monthly donations from supporters to increase the number of shares held by the Trust. We are not looking at raiding life savings, just supporters contributing the price of a pint or two per month. As things stand, 60 supporters have agreed to pledge on a monthly basis with a further 11 making one off payments. If you are interested, click here
Buy a T-Shirt to support the campaign – we have now taken the T-Shirts offline. Thanks to all those who bought one