Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST)

[Liam Liam Liam O]

 

Liam, I've taken your question away, I can definitely see the logic in what you're saying, if you bought a single £1500 investment then thats got to be easier to sell on than a £15,000 one, personally I dont see any reason (other than potential admin costs) as to why you wouldnt be able to sell it off in blocks ie sell 3 "shares" to reduce your investment to £10,500 and three new investors come into play with 3 lots of £1500 from yours.

 

I'll get back to you on that.

 

Bump

[johnnypd]

they emailed me to remind me to vote for joe on the X Factor....

[Guest Roger Kint]

they emailed me to remind me to vote for joe on the X Factor....

 

Thank God for that i was worried......

[Liam Liam Liam O]

 

Liam, I've taken your question away, I can definitely see the logic in what you're saying, if you bought a single £1500 investment then thats got to be easier to sell on than a £15,000 one, personally I dont see any reason (other than potential admin costs) as to why you wouldnt be able to sell it off in blocks ie sell 3 "shares" to reduce your investment to £10,500 and three new investors come into play with 3 lots of £1500 from yours.

 

I'll get back to you on that.

 

Bump

 

Bump again.  6 week campaign runs to this Monday I think?

[Rich]

The first stage of the "Yes We Can" campaign run by the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) with the aim of taking ownership of the club is now almost completed.

 

From its launch, the campaign has attracted widespread media attention and gained membership, while efforts have been focused on putting the building blocks in place that will be essential to any credible bid.

 

Next year will see further announcements regarding the progress of the bid and its associated business plans, together with the publication of a prospectus.

 

Along with continued support to the team both home and away, the level of interest in the "Yes We Can" campaign has also demonstrated to business and private investors that some credibility remains attached to this club - at least from the fanbase.

 

If you'd like to be kept informed of developments in 2010, click on the image below and sign up to support YWC.

 

That was the latest, from NUFC.com. Posted recently.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

The first stage of the "Yes We Can" campaign run by the Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) with the aim of taking ownership of the club is now almost completed.

 

From its launch, the campaign has attracted widespread media attention and gained membership, while efforts have been focused on putting the building blocks in place that will be essential to any credible bid.

 

Next year will see further announcements regarding the progress of the bid and its associated business plans, together with the publication of a prospectus.

 

Along with continued support to the team both home and away, the level of interest in the "Yes We Can" campaign has also demonstrated to business and private investors that some credibility remains attached to this club - at least from the fanbase.

 

If you'd like to be kept informed of developments in 2010, click on the image below and sign up to support YWC.

 

That was the latest, from NUFC.com. Posted recently.

 

Cheers

 

The reason given for the initial 6 week period was that it gave a concrete cut off point at which they'd be able to gauge their ability to make a bid, but ever since then it's gone awfully quiet.

 

We were promised 5 weeks ago that there would quickly be a load of information put in the public domain, for example this list of something like 20-30 IFAs who had already signed up to deal with queries people may have about investing, as well as details of the big players backing the bid, but unless I've missed them none of this information has been released either here or on the NUSC website.

[Rich]

The huge Alan Shearer shirt that last made an outing draped over the Angel of the North was unveiled yesterday at Castle Keep in Newcastle - the traditional entrance to the city - to mark the end of the first phase of the NUST Yes We Can campaign.

 

The campaign started with a bang with 40,000 e-mails sent to toon fans letting them know about how the campaign would work towards bringing interested parties in a fans led consortium to buy the club.

 

After 6 weeks of hard campaigning with roadshows, regular e-mail newsletters, stories about ‘local achievers’, 30,000 postcards distributed in pubs and clubs across the city and numerous meetings between the Trust and interested parties.

 

Yes We Can has also launched a number of collaborative events with charities including a single by the Steady Boys available on download by i tunes and in the shops in over Christmas. Its called Yes We Can – the terrace song and half the proceeds of the song go to the Royal British Legion.

 

Mark Jensen, Spokesperson and link with external partners for the Trust said ‘Its been a hard but rewarding 6 week campaign and we’ve made a fantastic start to what could be a real fans led buy out of the club. We now have in place all of our commercial partners and are all ready planning phase 2 of the campaign commencing 6 Jan 2010. Fans have been frustrated by the lack of visible progress but a lot has happened, relationships have been cemented and there is real and tangible interest from the city in what we’re doing. We’ll get one chance at doing this and we’ve a duty to make sure its correct and remember it took the Magpie group over 2 years to acquire control of the club. I can make this promise, the proposal we’re now working on with partners won’t take that long’.

 

Latest from NUST, today.

[Thespence]

The huge Alan Shearer shirt that last made an outing draped over the Angel of the North was unveiled yesterday at Castle Keep in Newcastle - the traditional entrance to the city - to mark the end of the first phase of the NUST Yes We Can campaign.

 

The campaign started with a bang with 40,000 e-mails sent to toon fans letting them know about how the campaign would work towards bringing interested parties in a fans led consortium to buy the club.

 

After 6 weeks of hard campaigning with roadshows, regular e-mail newsletters, stories about ‘local achievers’, 30,000 postcards distributed in pubs and clubs across the city and numerous meetings between the Trust and interested parties.

 

Yes We Can has also launched a number of collaborative events with charities including a single by the Steady Boys available on download by i tunes and in the shops in over Christmas. Its called Yes We Can – the terrace song and half the proceeds of the song go to the Royal British Legion.

 

Mark Jensen, Spokesperson and link with external partners for the Trust said ‘Its been a hard but rewarding 6 week campaign and we’ve made a fantastic start to what could be a real fans led buy out of the club. We now have in place all of our commercial partners and are all ready planning phase 2 of the campaign commencing 6 Jan 2010. Fans have been frustrated by the lack of visible progress but a lot has happened, relationships have been cemented and there is real and tangible interest from the city in what we’re doing. We’ll get one chance at doing this and we’ve a duty to make sure its correct and remember it took the Magpie group over 2 years to acquire control of the club. I can make this promise, the proposal we’re now working on with partners won’t take that long’.

 

Latest from NUST, today.

 

Just LLLO really.

[Rich]

He's got a point like, a lot was promised in the initial releases from the NUST, they have let things wane a great deal (at least from an online perspective).

 

I'm not living in Newcastle at the minute so can't say what the activity has been like around the town.

 

Suppose it wouldn't take much to get people's enthusiasm again, basically just some solid facts and figures about the progress that has been made and the backing NUST has in place. The more likely this all looks the more likely people are to throw their hats into the ring.

 

I'm certainly waiting with baited breath for some solid information, and there are a few others in my family who are prepared to invest as well.

[Mick]

They said they would give names of backers; they haven't so I can only guess that they don't have anything startling to announce.

[OzzieMandias]

The huge Alan Shearer shirt that last made an outing draped over the Angel of the North was unveiled yesterday at Castle Keep in Newcastle - the traditional entrance to the city - to mark the end of the first phase of the NUST Yes We Can campaign.

 

The campaign started with a bang with 40,000 e-mails sent to toon fans letting them know about how the campaign would work towards bringing interested parties in a fans led consortium to buy the club.

 

After 6 weeks of hard campaigning with roadshows, regular e-mail newsletters, stories about ‘local achievers’, 30,000 postcards distributed in pubs and clubs across the city and numerous meetings between the Trust and interested parties.

 

Yes We Can has also launched a number of collaborative events with charities including a single by the Steady Boys available on download by i tunes and in the shops in over Christmas. Its called Yes We Can – the terrace song and half the proceeds of the song go to the Royal British Legion.

 

Mark Jensen, Spokesperson and link with external partners for the Trust said ‘Its been a hard but rewarding 6 week campaign and we’ve made a fantastic start to what could be a real fans led buy out of the club. We now have in place all of our commercial partners and are all ready planning phase 2 of the campaign commencing 6 Jan 2010. Fans have been frustrated by the lack of visible progress but a lot has happened, relationships have been cemented and there is real and tangible interest from the city in what we’re doing. We’ll get one chance at doing this and we’ve a duty to make sure its correct and remember it took the Magpie group over 2 years to acquire control of the club. I can make this promise, the proposal we’re now working on with partners won’t take that long’.

 

Latest from NUST, today.

 

Started with a bang but ended with a whimper.

 

Where/who ARE the backers/partners? That really is the most important thing and without any information about that – leaving the suspicion that there aren't actually any backers/partners in place even though we were told they already had these relationships worked out at the start of their "six-week campaign" – the "bid" simply does not look credible. And where is the list of independent financial advisors that was supposedly to be announced in this same time period?

[alpal78]

Like many I was interested to see how this would pan out and even willing to throw in my support if it was workable but I always believed that this was a delusional effort by fans thinking that buying and running a football club is as easy as installing and playing Championship Manager 

[peasepud]

The initial phase of the proposed fans / business / city buyout of the club has now come to an end. The past 6 weeks has been all about getting the idea out there and giving fans the chance to register their interest in the idea of buying a stake in the club. NUST have continued the work with our professional partners behind the scenes to build a framework which will hopefully enable everybody to have the chance to buy a small part of Newcastle United.

 

Like many of you, we are all impatient to see things moving on. We understand that fans have been frustrated by the lack of visible progress, but a lot has happened,  relationships have been cemented ande there is real and tangible interest from the city in what we are doing. However, the full plan will only be unveiled when all the boxes are ticked because we know that everything has to be right as we’ll only get one chance at this. And remember it took the Magpie Group over 2 years to acquire control of the club - we can make one promise and that is that the proposal we are working on with partners won't take that long! In the January the campaign will pick up again and details will be put out into the public domain when it’s possible. The interest and support shown so far by the fans has been overwhelming but we would urge anybody who hasn’t already to visit www.nust.org.uk and register <http://www.nust.org.uk/yeswecanregister>  with the ‘Yes We Can’ campaign.

 

This doesn’t commit you to anything but will ensure you will receive updates as and when we have them, plus it means you will receive the prospectus as soon as it’s ready. Just as importantly the institutions and business people who are backing this scheme need to be shown that the Newcastle public have the appetite to play their part in buying the club. This will only work if fans have the desire to help shape the future of our great club so please register here if you haven’t already.

 

<http://www.nust.org.uk/yeswecanregister>

 

The Trust handed out 10,000 postcards to fans at the Swansea game and a further 10,000 at the Watford game and the end of phase one was marked by the hanging of the giant Shearer shirt - which once adorned the Angel of the North - being hung from the Castle Keep along with the Yes We Can Flag. Read article here http://www.nust.org.uk/iconic-shirt-draws-curtain-on-1-stage-of-yes-we-can-campaign

 

Finally I’d like to invite you to join us for the Trust’s very first Christmas party on Thursday 7th January, some light relief after the stresses of the festive period. On the night we will have entertainment provided by two stars of the comedy circuit that also happen to be big Newcastle fans - Gavin Webster and Simon Donald. Earlier this year they went down a storm at a Trust comedy night and tickets are sure to sell fast, so get in quick. The party will be at the Tyneside Irish centre on Gallowgate with doors opening at 7pm and the entertainment kicking off at 8pm. Tickets are only £6 each and can be ordered from our online store here <http://nust.bigcartel.com/>

or from behind the bar in the Strawberry.

 

I think its safe to say we've all been frustrated by what appears to be a lack of actual progress (none more so than me). Numerous times I've made promises on here, TT and a dozen other message boards stating that further info would be out soon. Trouble is, its fairly easy to come up with these plans but when the actual in-depth work starts then you start getting into the territory of solicitors, financial rules and such like. This has turned out to be an eye opener for us, being told you cant "release this info" or cant "do anything with that until object A of document X has been agreed" has gone against the ethos of the whole campaign and the Trust itself. That has been hard for us to work with but its what you would call a necessary evil, these are the people with the important experience and knowledge in these areas and what they say goes.

 

If only we'd known all this at the start then we would have been able to play out the six weeks differently and would have given everyone that view from the start. It is important though that everything is done properly, we will only get one chance at this, do it right and everything will come together, get it wrong and its all over, we cant ever attempt a fans buyout again because people will quite rightly look back at this one and say "it failed last time so its not worth trying".

 

So from me personally, thats an apology however it goes with what we were doing, we've not asked anyone to actually hand over any money yet, simply register to say you'd be interested to know more. This is what is used by the big backers and financial industries to decide how popular this is going to be and its chances of working. Already we have what we believe to be a high enough level of support but its important that we get as high a number as possible.

 

As soon as the full info is out (which will be in the next couple of weeks...honest  :-[) then I will get it out on here.

[TRon]

 

I think its safe to say we've all been frustrated by what appears to be a lack of actual progress (none more so than me). Numerous times I've made promises on here, TT and a dozen other message boards stating that further info would be out soon. Trouble is, its fairly easy to come up with these plans but when the actual in-depth work starts then you start getting into the territory of solicitors, financial rules and such like. This has turned out to be an eye opener for us, being told you cant "release this info" or cant "do anything with that until object A of document X has been agreed" has gone against the ethos of the whole campaign and the Trust itself. That has been hard for us to work with but its what you would call a necessary evil, these are the people with the important experience and knowledge in these areas and what they say goes.

 

If only we'd known all this at the start then we would have been able to play out the six weeks differently and would have given everyone that view from the start. It is important though that everything is done properly, we will only get one chance at this, do it right and everything will come together, get it wrong and its all over, we cant ever attempt a fans buyout again because people will quite rightly look back at this one and say "it failed last time so its not worth trying".

 

So from me personally, thats an apology however it goes with what we were doing, we've not asked anyone to actually hand over any money yet, simply register to say you'd be interested to know more. This is what is used by the big backers and financial industries to decide how popular this is going to be and its chances of working. Already we have what we believe to be a high enough level of support but its important that we get as high a number as possible.

 

As soon as the full info is out (which will be in the next couple of weeks...honest  :-[) then I will get it out on here.

 

Running a football club as a business is a lot less starightforward than the average layman thinks. It's one thing to buy pies from Greggs or drinks at the Irish Bar as an organised protest but the real difficulty will be convincing big financial players to come up with this expected backing as opposed to pledges of support in theory.

[Benwell Lad]

Newcastle is a city where rumours about our club circulate on an almost daily basis and there is always a "mole" or an "insider" passing information to the public domain about any impending business.

Strange that there has been nowt circulating about any of the "major institutions" backing this bid.

[peasepud]

Running a football club as a business is a lot less starightforward than the average layman thinks. It's one thing to buy pies from Greggs or drinks at the Irish Bar as an organised protest but the real difficulty will be convincing big financial players to come up with this expected backing as opposed to pledges of support in theory.

 

Nobody within the Trust thinks that running the club would be easy, its got to be one of the hardest businesses to get right. What I was getting at in the above is the amount of financial rules and stipulations which mean you cant even release information on these things until a thousand i's have been dotted and t's crossed. The model is still essentially the same model, its been refined and enhanced following feedback and ideas from other sources where we thought we'd be able to pull together some support and then release details of this aspect or mention of that backer turned out to be more difficult. Solicitors were onto it like a ton of bricks stating that nothing could be done until other things were in place.

 

As for the comment on "moles and insiders", how many of those have turned out to be true? how often have we been fed some info that has actually been legitimate? Simple fact of life in this instance is that only those who need to know, do so and none of those involved have any interest in leaking the info. Theres no Redheughs here, it does nobody involved any good in leaking stuff.

 

The fact that its running "beneath the radar" and not being played out in daily snippets of random bollocks from some "insider" should provide some comfort to those interested in this and go towards refuting the claims of those who say we're just a bunch of publicity hunters. If that was the case then we'd be putting out insiders with wild claims of "Microsoft and the Queen" backing it.

 

None of that is happening because people have their heads down getting on with the low level detail and final preparations.

[Thespence]

Newcastle is a city where rumours about our club circulate on an almost daily basis and there is always a "mole" or an "insider" passing information to the public domain about any impending business.

Strange that there has been nowt circulating about any of the "major institutions" backing this bid.

 

I have herd the "major institutions" in your area are not backing the bid as of yet but hey Ali from the Bengal Express can do what he wants with his money. There is no comment from Benwell Chippy & the owner of a well known Benwell taxi firm did night shift last night so was unavailable for comment.

[Benwell Lad]

Running a football club as a business is a lot less starightforward than the average layman thinks. It's one thing to buy pies from Greggs or drinks at the Irish Bar as an organised protest but the real difficulty will be convincing big financial players to come up with this expected backing as opposed to pledges of support in theory.

 

Nobody within the Trust thinks that running the club would be easy, its got to be one of the hardest businesses to get right. What I was getting at in the above is the amount of financial rules and stipulations which mean you cant even release information on these things until a thousand i's have been dotted and t's crossed. The model is still essentially the same model, its been refined and enhanced following feedback and ideas from other sources where we thought we'd be able to pull together some support and then release details of this aspect or mention of that backer turned out to be more difficult. Solicitors were onto it like a ton of bricks stating that nothing could be done until other things were in place.

 

As for the comment on "moles and insiders", how many of those have turned out to be true? how often have we been fed some info that has actually been legitimate? Simple fact of life in this instance is that only those who need to know, do so and none of those involved have any interest in leaking the info. Theres no Redheughs here, it does nobody involved any good in leaking stuff.

 

The fact that its running "beneath the radar" and not being played out in daily snippets of random bollocks from some "insider" should provide some comfort to those interested in this and go towards refuting the claims of those who say we're just a bunch of publicity hunters. If that was the case then we'd be putting out insiders with wild claims of "Microsoft and the Queen" backing it.

 

None of that is happening because people have their heads down getting on with the low level detail and final preparations.

 

Point taken about moles and insiders.

Most of it is normally way off the mark, I don't think anyone wants to hear rumours just for the sake of it but what I said was that in a small city like Newcastle where football is the No.1 topic of conversation it's unusual for nothing to be going around.

Credit to you for keeping the information concerning major backers under wraps until things are formalised.

 

Ironically when Ashley came to Newcastle the club started being a lot more secretive about transfer dealings etc. rather than playing it out on Sky television like the previous regime had. That policy extended into whatever sale negotiations took place and they were generally criticised for not being open enough with the media and fans.

 

One thing I'm sure your organisation will be learning is that it's a lot easier to sling mud from the outside than it is to conduct serious and meaningful business transactions.

Time will tell if you're up to the transition and I, like many others, eagerly await developments.

[Shayno]

I think they have missed the boat unfortunately

[Liam Liam Liam O]

The initial phase of the proposed fans / business / city buyout of the club has now come to an end. The past 6 weeks has been all about getting the idea out there and giving fans the chance to register their interest in the idea of buying a stake in the club. NUST have continued the work with our professional partners behind the scenes to build a framework which will hopefully enable everybody to have the chance to buy a small part of Newcastle United.

 

Like many of you, we are all impatient to see things moving on. We understand that fans have been frustrated by the lack of visible progress, but a lot has happened,  relationships have been cemented ande there is real and tangible interest from the city in what we are doing. However, the full plan will only be unveiled when all the boxes are ticked because we know that everything has to be right as well only get one chance at this. And remember it took the Magpie Group over 2 years to acquire control of the club - we can make one promise and that is that the proposal we are working on with partners won't take that long! In the January the campaign will pick up again and details will be put out into the public domain when its possible. The interest and support shown so far by the fans has been overwhelming but we would urge anybody who hasnt already to visit www.nust.org.uk and register <http://www.nust.org.uk/yeswecanregister>  with the Yes We Can campaign.

 

This doesnt commit you to anything but will ensure you will receive updates as and when we have them, plus it means you will receive the prospectus as soon as its ready. Just as importantly the institutions and business people who are backing this scheme need to be shown that the Newcastle public have the appetite to play their part in buying the club. This will only work if fans have the desire to help shape the future of our great club so please register here if you havent already.

 

<http://www.nust.org.uk/yeswecanregister>

 

The Trust handed out 10,000 postcards to fans at the Swansea game and a further 10,000 at the Watford game and the end of phase one was marked by the hanging of the giant Shearer shirt - which once adorned the Angel of the North - being hung from the Castle Keep along with the Yes We Can Flag. Read article here http://www.nust.org.uk/iconic-shirt-draws-curtain-on-1-stage-of-yes-we-can-campaign

 

Finally Id like to invite you to join us for the Trusts very first Christmas party on Thursday 7th January, some light relief after the stresses of the festive period. On the night we will have entertainment provided by two stars of the comedy circuit that also happen to be big Newcastle fans - Gavin Webster and Simon Donald. Earlier this year they went down a storm at a Trust comedy night and tickets are sure to sell fast, so get in quick. The party will be at the Tyneside Irish centre on Gallowgate with doors opening at 7pm and the entertainment kicking off at 8pm. Tickets are only £6 each and can be ordered from our online store here <http://nust.bigcartel.com/>

or from behind the bar in the Strawberry.

 

I think its safe to say we've all been frustrated by what appears to be a lack of actual progress (none more so than me). Numerous times I've made promises on here, TT and a dozen other message boards stating that further info would be out soon. Trouble is, its fairly easy to come up with these plans but when the actual in-depth work starts then you start getting into the territory of solicitors, financial rules and such like. This has turned out to be an eye opener for us, being told you cant "release this info" or cant "do anything with that until object A of document X has been agreed" has gone against the ethos of the whole campaign and the Trust itself. That has been hard for us to work with but its what you would call a necessary evil, these are the people with the important experience and knowledge in these areas and what they say goes.

 

If only we'd known all this at the start then we would have been able to play out the six weeks differently and would have given everyone that view from the start. It is important though that everything is done properly, we will only get one chance at this, do it right and everything will come together, get it wrong and its all over, we cant ever attempt a fans buyout again because people will quite rightly look back at this one and say "it failed last time so its not worth trying".

 

So from me personally, thats an apology however it goes with what we were doing, we've not asked anyone to actually hand over any money yet, simply register to say you'd be interested to know more. This is what is used by the big backers and financial industries to decide how popular this is going to be and its chances of working. Already we have what we believe to be a high enough level of support but its important that we get as high a number as possible.

 

As soon as the full info is out (which will be in the next couple of weeks...honest  :-[) then I will get it out on here.

 

Cheers for the update.

 

Look forward to reading the information in the new year.

[Dr.Spaceman]

Damn, what a shame...

[Frazzle]

[OzzieMandias]

Bit of an "Oh No We Can't" Campaign, then.

[Frazzle]

Not really...

 

No-one is saying that are they?  Apart from armchair critics.

[OzzieMandias]

I don't even own an armchair.