AGM

[Taylor Swift]

Who's going? Who's not?

 

To those who are going, do bring up the potential takeovers and report back here promptly. Thanks.

[Rob W]

FFS will just say "Under discussion ........ interested parties.......... confidentiality....... Stock Exchange......, F*** off scum"

 

 

 

[Guest nufc_geordie]

It's in bastard London anyway!!!

[Cronky]

I'll be going. I'm sure it'll be a bit more interesting than the last one I went to. Sure, I'll report back.

[womblemaster]

txt someone back at ur house so they can update the forum before end of the meeting

 

 

it will be in the news within 2 hrs if theres anything interesteing; the press will have spies there

[Guest kinaldo]

from nufc.com

 

AGM - nowt of note

 

As expected, a 35 minute AGM on Tuesday brought no major public revelations regarding the future of the club, with confirmation only that Belgravia talks were ongoing and that Polygon had informally looked at the books.   

 

Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall (in a non -speaking part) were both present, along with around 60 shareholders and their proxies.

 

From The Guardian, Tuesday:

 

Newcastle United hold their annual general meeting in the City of London this morning with the topic of a purported takeover topping the agenda. The club issued a statement on Friday denying an imminent purchase of the St James' Park club by the Polygon investment firm and said there was currently no process of due diligence under way.

 

The due diligence reference had some relevance as a potential rival to Polygon, the Belgravia Group, which Newcastle confirmed was in talks about a possible takeover as far back as August 21, had been said to have started due diligence soon after the initial August announcement was made. Belgravia has had its credibility questioned on Tyneside and has reacted to Newcastle's "carefully worded" statement by saying that it was not engaged in due diligence because its due diligence was complete. The company is satisfied with its audit and is now assessing if and when to bid for the club.

 

Should Belgravia walk away and no other purchaser step forward, Newcastle's chairman Freddy Shepherd will feel vindicated in his dismissive attitude towards a possible takeover, but Shepherd is still likely to have questions to answer this morning from shareholders concerning last year's £12m loss.

[Cronky]

Not a lot to report. Freddie was given an easier ride than I expected, but there were one or two points of interest.

 

He confirmed to a written question that Belgravia had started making enquiries in August, but had not yet made an offer.

 

I asked whether anyone else had shown any interest, and FS said that they get about ’10 enquiries a week’, and nearly all of them were unrealistic. This threw me a bit, but fortunately someone then asked if Polygon had shown an interest. He confirmed that they had, but that the accounts that they had seen were the same as were available to all members of the public, and that they were being treated no differently from other enquirers. For whatever reason, he was keen to downplay this whole issue.

 

Another thing that shone out was his hopes and expectations of Michael Owen. He seemed very proud of his capture, saying that he was Shearer’s replacement, and that ‘England’s No1 goalscorer’ would continue the Shearer tradition. It confirmed my impression that his understanding of the game is quite limited. I don’t think he understands how players blend as a team, and seems to pin his faith on individual star names.

 

Douglas Hall sat at one end of the table and said absolutely nothing. I’d been to an AGM previously and it was the same story. For the principal shareholder, that’s not good enough.

 

 

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

I thought you were a yank Bob?

 

 

and does no-one think to ask what the dick at the end of the table does?

[Cronky]

I thought you were a yank Bob?

 

 

and does no-one think to ask what the dick at the end of the table does?

 

There was a question about Douggie, but it wasn't phrased in quite that way. It was a written enquiry about the whole Gibraltar operation, and DH's role. The reply was that it was the base of 'Newcastle International', a sub-division that was set up to promote the club overseas, and that DH was very involved with this. I almost leapt to the conclusion that he was only jetting around the world, having a great time at the club's expense, but I'm sure that's not the case.

 

As for me being a Yank, why???

 

For info, I was born in Newcastle, but live in London.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

i'm thinking of bulivye

 

the whole cambridge first and last letters thing I guess 

[womblemaster]

For whatever reason, he was keen to downplay this whole issue.

 

 

 

because as soon as a takeover happens the sooner he has to pack his bags and leave.  Guess he dont fancy the idea of having his snout pulled out of the trough!

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Although I imagine he'll do alright out of it, he won't be giving his shares away!

[Dave]

Cheers bobyule.

[Northern Monkey]

Back page of the Times today, that George Caulkin (one of The Times' worst sports journos) did a piece on Shepherd and the takeover talk etc, following from the AGM.

 

Shepherd appeared to be questioning the validity of some of the interest recently. And, staggeringly, he seemed to be inferrig he was a better, more serious businessman than some of the 'big players' who have expressed an interest. Amazing.

[thedudeabides]

There's an interesting piece in True Faith about the AGM, well worth a read.

 

 

In particular, what a total and utter parasite Douglas Hall is on the club.

 

 

http://www.true-faith.co.uk/html/Features/2006AGM.htm

[Rob W]

you can remove the last 3 words of the second sentence TBH