York City Supporters' Trust cite 6 breaches of 2006 takeover deal

The Trust’s 100 per cent ownership of the club was reduced to 25 per cent 12-and-a-half years ago when current club chairman Jason McGill’s Malton-based business JM Packaging became the 75 per cent shareholders, but Brown alleges certain conditions attached to the deal have been reneged upon.

In his opinion, they are 1) the presence of two Trust representatives on the club board; 2) the granting of a further charge on Bootham Crescent without Trust consent; 3) the cap on lending from JM Packaging exceeding the agreed £1.1million figure; 4) the lack of Trust agreement to a change of premises for the club from Bootham Crescent; 5) the absence of Trust consent for the sale of Bootham Crescent and 6) the provision of annual management accounts.

It is understood the club do not agree that any breaches have been made according to the terms of the agreement and Brown has stated that a nine-page letter, drafted by Trust solicitors that listed the supposed contraventions and asked for certain financial information he feels the supporters’ body are legally entitled to, was met with short shrift.

Speaking to a room of approximately 50 members at the Trust’s St Olave’s School-hosted AGM this evening, Brown said: “The response to the letter wasn’t positive and the best way to describe it is that they didn’t respond to any of the points raised and, basically, said they wouldn’t be giving us any information.

“But there have been six breaches of the 2006 agreement, which left the Trust with no choice to start to ask the right questions about that in the interests of the football club to protect its assets, the future and our voices as fans. In order to agree to give our consent to some of the matters, we also need to be given full information.

“We’re even prepared to meet in the middle and take a more lenient view on some things if we know the club has a good and solvent business plan going forward. None of us want to be where we are now - we could have just stuck to the game-plan from 2006, worked together and, then, maybe everything could have gone better, but the Trust has had to react to the position it finds itself in.

“We are standing up for the Trust’s rights and, if the club board wants to discredit the Trust, they are discrediting the club’s fan base too. The 2006 agreement was there for a reason and £30,000 wasn’t paid to solicitors to ignore it 13 years later, so we’re doing this for all the right reasons.

“We’re not just a small number of people who don’t like Jason McGill. We’re not that at all, but we’ve got no choice – it’s our duty.”

Brown went on to reveal that the Trust has received an answer to another letter it sent to the council detailing the 25 per cent minority shareholders’ rights to be party to agreements regarding the community stadium.

But he suggested that the council’s understanding of that obligation was contradictory, adding: “I have extremely grave concerns about what has come back from the council, but it wouldn’t be right to jump to any conclusions until we’ve had a proper look. We will have to go through it properly and decide where we go from there.

“What I can say is that the Trust were told in the past that the council had been told they were to deal with one representative from York City Football Club and that was Jason McGill.”

Brown added that his understanding of the change to a charge on Bootham Crescent related to the council and, if the equity left in the ground after its sale didn’t cover the £2million they are due, that could be paid back by introducing a precept on ticket sales.

The Press understands that such a mechanism would not be triggered, however, unless the club climb up the football pyramid to a certain level.

An accurate valuation of the ground is also still unknown, with the last quoted figure of £4.5million, made both in 2003 and 2012, the only estimate made public, as a 2016 City of York council price has never been disclosed due to commercial sensitivity. But Brown said: “We are reasonably happy that the club have engaged experts to negotiate the best deal.”

The Trust chairman insisted, meanwhile, that he has empathy for McGill’s position as the figurehead of a struggling club and avouched that he would still like to forge a more harmonious relationship between the two parties.

“If you are running a club autocratically and things take a turn for the worse, you become the target for some grief and I can understand, over time, that becomes wearing,” Brown reasoned. “From a Trust point of view, we would seek a structure to the club ownership and the way its run to break that cycle and I have sympathy with the club board and Jason McGill on a human level.

“But the only time there have been coming togethers have been when it comes to a matter of the Trust’s shares. In May 2018, I became Trust chairman and I have made three separate requests to meet with Jason and/or the club board and I have been told: ‘No, we won’t meet.’ “Previously, we have been told the only communication that would take place would be between solicitors. The Trust have been keen to talk through some issues but, if we are to build bridges, there has to be a joint effort on both sides.”

In other business, Brown revealed the Trust were not incurring any solicitor fees for legal services and that membership to the not-for-profit organisation would soon be switched online, outlining that £100,000 had probably been lost over the years due to the lack of an annual renewal system.

It was stated that membership had now risen to just over 1,000 members, which is still some way short of the peak figure of 2,000 in 2002.

Along with Brown, Richard Hall and Judith Lockwood were officially elected on to the Trust board on the evening, where they now join Martyn Jones and Sarah Stelling, with Sam Plaxton the secretary.

There are plans to stage another Legends’ game, meanwhile, after last summer’s event raised more than £4,000, including the sale of 200 Y-front style tops.

A drop in price for the £87 Bootham Crescent Farewell Celebration Dinner in June is set to be announced too and, while no guest speakers have been confirmed as yet for that event, it is hoped a leading football personality and a York City icon do the honours.

A Battle of the Bands fundraiser is also being planned for October.

* YORK City Football Club have this evening (Thursday) issued a response. The club statement reads: "York City Football Club considers it is wholly inappropriate to comment upon matters which the chairman of York City Supporters’ Trust is aware are the subject of lengthy correspondence initiated by an international firm of solicitors representing themselves.

"It is, however, noted that the Trust indicates they are not responsible for any legal fees in connection with the letters received, whilst the Football Club inevitably has to incur costs in defending aspects raised, which the chairman of the Trust should be well aware are incorrect."