A sustainable future?

[GovanAllan 0]

http://www.RangersUnite.com could be the answer. I have registered my interest with them. It's at least worth having a read thro'. There are always Threads/Posts on these forums RM, GersNet crying out for Fan involvement.

In line with Max looking forward 5 years you could add £20M from Fan Membership.

 

Would rather they concentrated on getting the fans owning part of the club and a say on the board. Put my name in as well they have some good ideas.

[calscot 0]

Instead of membership, how about a share issue every year? For example you value the debt free club at say £20m and transfer that equity into £25 shares, then every year fans can buy one share each for £25 and each share gives you voting rights for which there is something significant to vote for every year to keep people interested.

 

If 80k people a year buy a share then after 10 years, the fans would own half the shares and more than half from year 11 on. The club would also have an investment of £2m per year which could be ring fenced as a transfer fund.

 

£25 is only just over £2 a month which many could afford and the amount is quite nice as a birthday/Christmas/Fathers day present.

 

At least this way you are getting something tangible for your money - a share in the club which should retain some value and can be sold or given away. You just need to put in covenants where nobody can own above a certain percentage of shares.

[Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0]

Instead of membership, how about a share issue every year? For example you value the debt free club at say £20m and transfer that equity into £25 shares, then every year fans can buy one share each for £25 and each share gives you voting rights for which there is something significant to vote for every year to keep people interested.

 

If 80k people a year buy a share then after 10 years, the fans would own half the shares and more than half from year 11 on. The club would also have an investment of £2m per year which could be ring fenced as a transfer fund.

 

£25 is only just over £2 a month which many could afford and the amount is quite nice as a birthday/Christmas/Fathers day present.

 

At least this way you are getting something tangible for your money - a share in the club which should retain some value and can be sold or given away. You just need to put in covenants where nobody can own above a certain percentage of shares.

 

Good idea mate. There are plenty of options available tbh. If we maintain a sensible wage structure and buying policy we can easily run our club at a great profit year in, year out

[johnnyk 158]

Another good idea. Why are these not looked into better by our club, surely we must have someone with good knowledge on things like this or can employ someone to make us money in such ways? If the fans know what they are getting back and they can also help the club I'm sure a lot would be interested.

[GovanAllan 0]

Instead of membership, how about a share issue every year? For example you value the debt free club at say £20m and transfer that equity into £25 shares, then every year fans can buy one share each for £25 and each share gives you voting rights for which there is something significant to vote for every year to keep people interested.

 

If 80k people a year buy a share then after 10 years, the fans would own half the shares and more than half from year 11 on. The club would also have an investment of £2m per year which could be ring fenced as a transfer fund.

 

£25 is only just over £2 a month which many could afford and the amount is quite nice as a birthday/Christmas/Fathers day present.

 

At least this way you are getting something tangible for your money - a share in the club which should retain some value and can be sold or given away. You just need to put in covenants where nobody can own above a certain percentage of shares.

 

Good idea Cal I like that one.

 

Only slight fly in the ointment would doing a share issue year on year not dilute the value of the existing shares? I'm not sure just asking.

[calscot 0]

Good idea Cal I like that one.

 

Only slight fly in the ointment would doing a share issue year on year not dilute the value of the existing shares? I'm not sure just asking.

 

The value of each share would go down every year unless the value of the club went up. So over time you'd lose money. However, you'd still own the shares and they still count for votes. But, that's still better for the fan than a membership fee that is worth nothing at the end of the year.

 

Not sure how you'd get round the fact that each subsequent year you would be paying £25 for a share that's worth less than £25 when the equity is divided by the number of shares. Perhaps you need to buy say 100 shares for £25 in the first year, and then the second year you may get say 110 shares etc. That way your voting power decreases with time if you don't keep renewing - which is probably a good thing.

[calscot 0]

PS The main thing is that the major shareholders' shares are diluted and the fans gain more percentage every year - unless the big guns match the fans share issue.

[craig 5,199]

PS The main thing is that the major shareholders' shares are diluted and the fans gain more percentage every year - unless the big guns match the fans share issue.

 

You would probably want the big guns to match it anyway, at least short to medium term, as it ensures (hopefully) excessive investment.

 

I like the idea too - somebody should put it to the owners. IN fact, something like this could have went out with the ST renewals, although I recognise that may not be the best time to do so.

 

One thing I would say though is that if you offer somebody shares in the club and you are guaranteed it will be used for either youth development, stadium repairs, transfer fund or even a "contingency fund" and you ask people to pay even, say, a fiver a month (so 60 quid a year) you would probably get a pretty large number of people signing up for it.

 

Just as an example, when I was home the other week I took my Mum grocery shopping and at the front door of Tesco's there were a couple of guys trying to get me to "sponsor training for a guide dog" - now, I usually listen to what folks have to say but dont always buy. However, this was a good cause, was only a 2 year commitment at 8 quid a month so I signed up. Now, had I been told it would cost me 200 quid to sponsor the training I would have had second thoughts but as it was "only" 8 quid a month I knew I could manage my cash around a couple of quid a week - it is only a pint a week after all (less than a pint in Bermuda to be fair...).

 

Point being is that you can actually charge even MORE than 25 quid a year for this but you let people pay it by direct debit - the only downside is that they probably wouldnt get their share certificate until such time as they had made the payment in full. But I dont think that would be a huge barrier either.

[Guest Dutchy]

It might also be a good idea to rely less on buying players, and become a selling club by encouraging youth to stick with us for at least 2-4 years and make a bigger profit from them when sold.

 

Of course, they'd mostly have to be Rangers fans, but if we could build a reputation for giving youth a chance, then it could be a very good future income stram as well.

[craig 5,199]

http://www.RangersUnite.com could be the answer. I have registered my interest with them. It's at least worth having a read thro'. There are always Threads/Posts on these forums RM, GersNet crying out for Fan involvement.

In line with Max looking forward 5 years you could add £20M from Fan Membership.

 

Question Re Rangers Unite : The 1st bullet point on each membership is "Season Ticket Holder: 10 Months Interest Free Option (If Viable)" - is this saying you need to be an ST holder or is it simply one of the "perks" that if you are an ST holder then you get interest free option ? I think it is the latter but am not sure.

 

Would be nice to have a layer of membership for overseas members too - not sure what benefit we could get except maybe a discount on the online season ticket that we currently pay $300 a year for - they may actually get an increase in members if they include that perk for overseas subscribers.