Sold down the Swanny? (09.12.05)

FORMER Maidenhead United chairman Jon Swan came out fighting this week, determined to silence his critics and avoid being turned into a scapegoat.
As announced in the Advertiser last week, after 135 years as a members club, the Magpies are set to become Maidenhead United PLC, after a business consortium stepped in with a rescue package to save the debt-laden club.
However, this meant the members had to sign the club over to the new company, and will have no further say in the way it is run.
The move was seen as the only way out of a financial black hole, but has left many feeling dispossessed and angry with the former chairman, who they believe contributed to the crisis.
Swan has also been accused of being the anonymous insider who leaked information to the Maidenhead Advertiser two weeks ago, an accusation the paper can categorically deny.
One of Swan's chief critics is club committee member Pat McDonald, who said he was astonished Swan had not resigned at last week's extraordinary general meeting, as most of United's current debts were run up during his tenure as chairman.
He said: “The number we've been quoted is £194,000? That's a ludicrous amount of money to spend. And he (Swan) is not prepared to take responsibility.
“If Jon had been prepared to go I would have been prepared to keep my mouth shut.”
Much of that debt was taken on under the mistaken belief that a deal to sell the York Road ground to Tesco was imminent.
But a formal contract failed to materialise, leaving the club with no buyer and at the wrong end of a long line of credit.
Some might blame United's woes solely on the collapse of the deal, but McDonald claimed it was financial suicide to accumulate such debts without the safety net of a legally binding contract.
He said: “It was ludicrous to spend money we didn't have in the hope this deal would go through.
“The deal with Tesco was hugely complicated and these things are always likely to go wrong.
“I raised concerns about the deal but was told if Tescos wanted to do it, it would be done.
“Jon said he had a letter saying they would go ahead with the deal, but letters aren't worth a thing unless you have a legal contract."
Never one to shy away from a fight, Swan hit back, saying he was not prepared to be a sacrificial lamb.
As the head of the organisation he admitted he was partly responsible for the position in which the club found itself.
However, he refused to carry the can on his own, saying: "One of the things I said when I took over was that I would devolve responsibility to people, and that's what I've done.
“I have been quite happy to let people run various parts of the business.
“As far as the debts are concerned, there is a direct responsibility, and that lies with all the officers of the club. It's the officers who agreed the budget. Everyone was working together as a team
“And may I remind you, Pat McDonald is a committee member. So he has to take some responsibility too.”
On the matter of the failed ground sale, Swan added: “We made a commercial decision on the ground deal and it fell apart at the last moment. The officers took that decision as a group.
“Now it's all gone wrong people are walking away saying I was the one making all the decisions. I wasn't a despotic leader issuing instructions.”
Swan also claimed the move from a members club to a limited company would have happened at some point, saying the idea had already been put to the members in the past, and they had agreed to it.
He added: “We're playing a much higher level of football than at any time in the club's recent history.
“In the entire Conference there's only two members clubs, and we're one of them.
“At his level of football its too much of a risk for the club's members. They are jointly liable for the club's debts.”
McDonald conceded that the members may have opted to form a limited company in the future, but claimed they had now been forced into it.
He said: "The members only voted for the new company because they had no choice. They were presented with a fait accompli. I'm really angry.”
Stalwart Magpies fan and a former auditor at the club Chris Raine also contacted the Advertiser lamenting the demise of the members club.
As a fully paid-up member himself, Raine attended Thursday's EGM but was unhappy with the outcome.
He said: “I personally have no real problem with their (the new consortium) involvement, only with the high price we have had to pay in giving up any say in the future running of the club.
“I suggested at the beginning of the meeting that such an important decision should not be taken lightly and members be given more time to consider the proposals on offer and then vote at a future date.
“This suggestion was then dismissed by the officers with the support of most of the members in attendance."
He added: “Personally I think this as a very dark day for the club but let's hope when the new limited company is formed that the new directors are able to make a success of the club.
“It is just a shame that the supporters and members of the club won't have any say.”

A press release from the club on Wednesday omitted Swan's name from the list of officers who would be joining the board of the new company.
The statement read: “Today Maidenhead United Football Club have announced that Paul Carney, Ken Chandler and Bob Hussey have been nominated as the three football directors in the new Maidenhead United FC Limited.
“Una Loughrey assumes the role of chairman with immediate effect.”

Who’s who at the new Maidenhead United

UNA Loughrey (37) will become chairman of Maidenhead United PLC.
She will continue to work as a therapeutic study director with GlaxoSmithKline UK.

Peter Griffin (37) will become finance director of the new company.
He currently works as managing director of Pharmalink Consulting, from which he will be taking an open-ended sabbatical to concentrate on the club.

Suzanne Loughrey (32) will become business development director. She currently occupies a similar role at Pharmalink Consulting from which she will be taking a sabbatical.

Stephen Loughrey (35) will be the fourth shareholder in the PLC but will not be a director.

Former club officers Bob Hussey, Ken Chandler and Paul Carney will join the board to organise the footballing side of the club.