18th February 2009
Statement from the Board of Martyrs to the Cause
With reports of spiraling debts, staff being unpaid, the threat of games being unplayed and removal of utility services at Merthyr Tydfil FC, the board of Merthyr Tydfil FC Supporters Society Ltd (Martyrs to the Cause) have today issued the following statement.
The Board of Martyrs to the Cause are 100% committed to preserving football at it's current standard at Merthyr Tydfil FC. The Society however is unwilling to do service pressing debts for the current owner of the club at present for the following reasons;
1) The club has failed to supply or submit accounts since those filed to August 2006.
2) The club is unable to present the Society with levels of income, expenditure or debt.
3) The club has been unable to present a case to show that they have any plan to make the club work as a viable business in the short or long term.
We have re-affirmed our ambition to take on the ownership of the club and change it's constitution to that of a Community Club and to that means we have informed the club that the offer made to the club in a meeting on August 17th 2008 remains open to them. In that meeting, we presented an outline offer to the club, following initial discussions with our legal representatives, the key points of which were as follows:
Firstly Martyrs to the Cause would loan the Club the money (on an unsecured basis but via a legal agreement) needed immediately to meet pressing creditors.
Wyn Holloway’s shares in Merthyr Tydfil Football Club Limited would be immediately transferred to Martyrs to the Cause for no consideration, however we would be prepared to consider the transfer of a controlling stake in the company only, with certain guarantees – to be agreed.
All of this would take place with the simultaneous resignation of the existing directors (without compensation) with a new board appointed by the Trust, which it is expected would be the current board of the trust.
The new board would meet the Club's ongoing debts and commitments.Under the terms of the deal, what we believed to be substantial existing loans and credit from a number of sources, would continue to be guaranteed by the existing directors (as they are now). And as a sign of our intention to ensure eventual repayment of those loans, we proposed that the new board would make monthly goodwill payments in order to assist in the ongoing maintenance of those loans.
We also proposed that annual reviews of this arrangement would be factored in so progress can be monitored by all parties to their satisfaction.However, all of this was contingent on due diligence of the club’s most recent accounts. Martyrs to the Cause offered to assist – financially or otherwise – in releasing these accounts, and would also be willing to discuss providing assistance as part of any deal.We believe that this deal represents an opportunity for Wyn Holloway and the other directors of Merthyr Tydfil Football Club Ltd to be released from their current over-burdening commitments, which must cause significant stress to all of them.
In operating the club, we would be doing so as a team, alongside the fans as owners. We would also be advised by Supporters Direct, which has a great deal of expertise in this area, and which has already assisted with fifteen supporters trusts in taking over or restarting their clubs, four of which are in the Football League. The involvement of the supporters is critical to the future of this football club, and we believe that now is the time for us all to step up to the plate and return our club to its former glories. The board of Martyrs to the Cause is committed to our great club having a future, and that future being under the ownership and control of the supporters of Merthyr Tydfil Football Club.
END OF STATEMENT
