Should I buy shares?

To me..
DK saved the Club 1997 and TB in 2005 both with help from directors, sponsors, politicians and fans.

DK is selling a book and is using marketing tricks. Not the first person in the world to do this. I don’t think anyone should feel upset about buying the book after what he has achieved for BHA.
I think the drama around his story is just helping that cause. Not much to see here really. I doubt the other directors are that bothered and also wish his book sells well.

DK…asking for his money? Well that’s fair enough but I don’t think he should or did expect his money back. I wouldn’t blame him for asking. However, I don’t think TB should give him his money.

I do wonder if DK does now feel left out the loop at board level, without the level of influence that he is use to. On one hand it feels like DK is a big boy who needs to manage his situation but on the other hand the board who we are indebted to are now in a second public spat with another Albion legend. Both of which seem to point finger at Barber!

So do I offer to buy shares? That way I can keep a closer eye on Barber or will I be creating an unnecessary burden on my club?

If you think you'll get a return on your investment then yes, otherwise no.

Following Derek Chapman's comments, I no longer consider it appropriate or in the long term interests of the club (or me!).

Discodoktor said:

That way I can keep a closer eye on Barber or will I be creating an unnecessary burden on my club?

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How will owning shares enable you to keep a closer eye on Barber? The only extra scrutiny that being a shareholder will get you is the right to attend the AGM. AGM's are split into two sections: the formal business of the meeting (appointing the auditors, re-appointing Directors, etc etc), which will be a foregone conclusion due to TB's 90%+ shareholding, and, optionally, a Q&A session to the Directors who are present from Shareholders. The Q&A session is already covered by the annual Fans Forum (which is broadcast live if you can't attend) and by innumerable Q&A sessions through the season held by Directors across the county and into London. Really, you won't get any extra scrutiny from being a shareholder - none at all.

Will it add to the admin costs? Yep, it will (assuming it actually happens - see later). As Barber says, it's hard to know how much extra it will cost, but cost more it undoubtedly will.

Will it happen anyway? There are some fairly significant hoops to jump through:

1) DK has to offer to them existing shareholders (via the club) before offering them to punters. Will he even do that? If, as some think, the whole thing is a ruse to sell more books &/or cause a bit of a shit storm at the club, he may feel that those purposes have already been served and he decides to hang on to his shares.

2) Existing Shareholders may decide to buy however many shares DK wants to sell. If they do, they get first call.

3) If the existing shareholders decide they don't want to buy the shares, the club's Directors can refuse to register the new shares if DK attempts to sell them to more than a small number of new shareholders. Typically, the Articles of Association will put a limit on the number of new shareholders that the Directors have to register of somewhere between 3 and 10-20. This clause is put in precisely to enable the Board to avoid the admin burden of having 1m shareholders each holding 1 share. So even, if DK sells the shares to new shareholders, it's possible the Board will decide not to register them. Obviously, this action would generate adverse publicity for the Board, but they may decide that would be less of an evil than having shed loads of shareholders.

So - there are some significant hoops to jump through yet before anyone buys a share off DK.

Is it a good financial investment? It's a loss-making business and predicted to remain so for the foreseeable future. It has net liabilities (loans etc outweigh the value of the assets). I'm not going to provide financial advice, but think it through.

To me, the only reason to buy shares is if you want the satisfaction of genuinely owning a (tiny, tiny, tiny) part of the club. I do get that as a motivation. Do bear in mind though, that there will be extra costs involved, so your ownership will, in a tiny way, reduce the playing budget.

For me, having a better team and minimising the hassle for the Directors is more important than the, admittedly attractive, possibility of owning a small piece of the club.

For those reasons, I'm out.

You shouldn't. But I should.

When DK stuck money in the club, for which we are all grateful, it was surely in the knowledge that it was a gift rather than an investment. So for him to be grumbling for 'only' getting £400,000 from TB, which was £400,000 more than the shares were worth, seems a bit harsh. We know Dick loves the Albion as much as we do, as does Derek Chapman, the Blooms and many others currently on the board.

Comparisons with Archer are irrelevant surely, Archer was an asset stripper, who wanted to use the Albion to line his pockets, and he still wrote off over £700,000 after getting his fingers burnt.

Is anyone considering buying shares? or is it something you wouldn't want to admit to?

Discodoktor said:

Is anyone considering buying shares? or is it something you wouldn't want to admit to?

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On the other threads I've seen lots say that they want to, and good luck to them.... it's very much a personal choice.

El Presidente said:

When DK stuck money in the club, for which we are all grateful, it was surely in the knowledge that it was a gift rather than an investment. So for him to be grumbling for 'only' getting £400,000 from TB, which was £400,000 more than the shares were worth, seems a bit harsh. We know Dick loves the Albion as much as we do, as does Derek Chapman, the Blooms and many others currently on the board.

Comparisons with Archer are irrelevant surely, Archer was an asset stripper, who wanted to use the Albion to line his pockets, and he still wrote off over £700,000 after getting his fingers burnt.

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This.

Discodoktor said:

I do wonder if DK does now feel left out the loop at board level, without the level of influence that he is use to. On one hand it feels like DK is a big boy who needs to manage his situation but on the other hand the board who we are indebted to are now in a second public spat with another Albion legend. Both of which seem to point finger at Barber!

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Eh?

So do I offer to buy shares? That way I can keep a closer eye on Barber or will I be creating an unnecessary burden on my club?

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WTF? Do me a favour. TB owns our club, and we are hugely in his debt. TB wants PB to help run the club, so PB has my support (although I will always disagree with him about safe standing).

I dont expect the few shares that I would buy would affect the running of the club or to have any significance other than me being able to say that I own a small part of my pride and joy , and it will definitely then be my club in the true sense of the word as it has been for 65+ years.

I will try and buy as many as possible (if allowed). Good investment long-term I reckon

Not wishing to tread on anybody toes but I believe that a limit of possibly 100 should be set to stop anybody making money on them eventually and they would go as DK wants to supporters not hopeful profiteers.

Pointless waste of time

I did consider buying a couple of shares but I'm not sure now, Nothing against giving DK a couple of quid back and it would be nice to be a minute share holder in the club I support. But if it's got the potential to cost the club money then it's a slap in the face for Tony Bloom and all he's done for us. As far as I can see the only win win situation would be to buy some shares and then give them to Tony Bloom as a thank you for all he's done for the club.

Buy

How do you apply to buy?

Dick may have a million shares to sell but realistically how many fans will express an interest to buy one or more shares ?