Albion Rovers 66th Annual General Meeting
The meeting was held at Cliftonhill on Thursday 29th November 2007 and all club directors save Neil Welsh were in
attendance.
Director Robert Watt chaired the meeting and after pausing to remember those no longer with us he read out apologies received from a couple of shareholders unable to attend.
The meeting was then handed over to chairman Frank Meade as item 1 on the agenda was to receive the accounts for year ended 30th June 2007.
After giving some background from previous years accounts Mr. Meade stated that the trading account had turned in a decent performance in difficult conditions. After briefing the shareholders as to the typical take at a home march he stated that turnover had increased by 11% and that administration costs had also increased but by a lesser percentage and that there was a tight control on expenditure.
The stadium was mentioned as a major source of the increased expenditure and a new cost incurred recently was that of stewarding which had previously been done in-house and due to new safety regulations had to be carried out by licensed operators. For the first time in many years the company incurred a small tax bill which when offset against previous years losses did not require payment.
Mr. Meade said that the club had a good relationship with the bank manager and that the club overdraft was within its limit and that the club could afford the associated costs. Some debt repayment not related to the overdraft was in hand and it was thought that by the end of the current financial year those would be cleared.
Loans from current and past directors were mentioned. The amount of income generated from takings at the turnstiles was 16% when including away ties in cups and just 12.4% when they're excluded.
SFL and SFA provided 41% of income and 23% from other commercial sources. The renewal of sponsorship by local company Reigart for two years was welcomed by Mr. Meade as the company have been main club sponsors for many years now. The remainder of the clubs income came from grants and donations.
Special mention of beCogent was made for their involvement in funding manager John McCormack full-time for two years to enable him to get involved in local schools as well as his duties at Cliftonhill. The feedback from schools has been very positive.
Wages as a percentage of income for the year stood at 28.6% which compares with the suggested financially viable maximum of 40% used to judge football teams throughout the UK.
It was stated that director John Cornfield was overseeing stewarding and that the club had divested itself of 2 vehicles during the year and that the cub minibus was now surplus to requirements and would be sold soon. The only club vehicle remaining shall be that of director/commercial manager Pat Rolink.
Training facilities at St. Andrews school in Coatbridge were shared with Dumbarton F.C. to reduce costs.
The floor was now opened to questions on the accounts.
Former director David Wright requested a breakdown of major items included under "other expenses". Things such as fees for having an ambulance attend matches etc. were detailed. He also queried other aspects of the accounts which led to a long debate about accounting measures which most in attendance struggled to get to grips with.
Loans from directors were discussed at length and the intention of the club to write some of these off from this years accounts was mentioned.
There followed item 2 on the agenda, the chairman's report.
Mr. Meade said that it had been a roller-coaster year for the club, reaching a cup semi-final, having a player (Scott Chaplain) voted 3rd division player of the year and turmoil surrounding the dismissal of manager Jim Chapman. Various community projects raising the clubs profile but not income were mentioned.
The inevitable coming of a "pyramid" scheme in the medium term was raised my the chairman and the need to be away from the possibility of losing league membership by being safely ensconced in the 2nd division or indeed higher by that time.
Mr. Meade went on to say that there were key decisions coming for shareholders in the near future. Quoting from" Champion Albion" written to commemorate winning of the 2nd division championship in 1988-1989 season regarding the lack of investment and growing unsuitability of the stadium for modern times it was pointed out that little as changed. With costs increasing and licensing becoming stricter something would have to be done sooner rather than later.
It was pointed out that the club could not gain an SFA licence while remaining at Cliftonhill due to a lack of necessary facilities. Mr. Meade did say that East Kilbride was not an option on the table.
The chairman emphasised that it would not be the board of directors who would decide about moving or redeveloping but the shareholders. The board shall be coming forward with recommendations.
The club intend to reorganised the share structure which at the moment has a nominal value of £6750. A large percentage of shares are dormant with the original owners having died or moved. One possible solution would be to cancel dormant shares and reissue them once legal processes have been followed.
The companies articles of association require modernisation as the current ones (probably unaltered since incorporation in 1919) are no longer fit for purpose.
The lack of available shares makes it difficult to appoint new directors as they're required to hold a minimum number of shares. An EGM around February is forecast for shareholders to tackle these issues. The chairman expressed the wish that shareholders would embrace change and forget nostalgia.
Item 3 on the agenda was re-election of directors. Chairman Frank Meade and director (and chairman of the supporters' trust) Lew McWilliam were unanimously backed.
Item 4 was A.O.C.B.
Questions from the floor were then invited.
Subjects such as the desirability of junior clubs which do not have anything like the same onerous safety requirements participating and benefiting equally from the Scottish Cup came up.
When asked if any board member desired a place on the SFA or SFL committees the answer was no.
The board were asked if North Lanarkshire Council were actively assisting in the possible move or redevelopment plans. It was stated that thy were indeed and that the club had regular constructive meetings with council officials and chiefs.
Share issues were discussed but it was stated by the directors that no formal share issue would be viable as a prospectus which is legally required would cost tens of thousands of pounds in fees to produce. If shares are issued minimum purchases of £500, £1000 or £5000 thresholds were mentioned as possibilities.
In response to a questioner suggesting that selling a part of the land at Cliftonhill in the meantime to support the club was not seen as a good idea by the board. This was due to previous plans to sell land at the Coatbridge end of the ground for development and move the pitch, floodlights etc. away from that end. The costs involved with that and the building of a new stand are seen as prohibitive. A plan to move to a new site (within Coatbridge) was seen as the likely solution. The club could get a fresh piece of land, most probably brownfield rather than greenfield build a stadium clear debt and retain some cash.
Asked about the existence of Albion Rovers Boys Club recently advertising for players the board stated that it was in no way connected with the club.