Ray Winstone And Fan Group Buy Out

This blog ran a proposal yesterday for a fan buy out of the club as outlined below:

The proposal is simple. To raise the £100m necessary, 50,000 fans need to chip in £2,000 each to buy a single share in the club. 49% of the club is then given, free of charge, to an investor willing to commit a net £20m a year to purchasing players for each of the next 5 years, whilst funding the day to day running of the club.

How would the fans find 2k to buy their stake? Well on mortgage, this would cost no more than £8 per month! £8 a month to own a stake in the club and to save that club from imminent demise? I'm in!

And who would take the 49% stake? Well Sullivan seems to have something similar in mind and I'm sure there are wealthier investors than him who would be prepared to commit!

Pie in the sky? Well better pie in the sky than the piss in the wind that all the other offers seem to amount to!

Not surprisingly, others have raised objections, the most legitimate of which include who would lead the buy out and how would 50,000 fans agree on anything?

Let's deal with the second point first. The share purchased for £2,000 would be a non voting share as I envisage it, like preference shares. Who would make up the Board? Well, I would allow the preference share holders to initially vote on nominations put forward by a merchant bank appointed to represent their interests. That Board would then vote on replacements when necessary. Trevor Brooking would be a permanent member of the Board, if he would accept the position, and so would Tony Carr, as a reward for his outstanding contribution to the club. That would act as some sort of guarantee that the club's heritage and soul is represented at Board level. In time, they could be replaced by subsequent West Ham heroes.

The preference share would entitle the owner to a 20% discount on season ticket purchasers, meaning that the money would be recovered by true fans over a 10 year period. For the occasional fans, a 10% discount could apply to ticket purchases. All preference share holders would be entitled to attend events where they could meet the players and ask questions of the manager and Board.

Who would lead the buy out? Well we would need a high profile fan of the club. How about Ray Winstone? I am throwing down the challenge to him and all West Ham fans! Let's save the soul of the club we love!