Wednesdayite

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Wednesdayite" is also a term commonly used to refer to any supporter of Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

Wednesdayite, the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Society is the largest independent supporters group for Sheffield Wednesday fans and the second largest shareholder in the club.

Contents

[edit] Profile

"Wednesdayite" is the trading name of Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Society Limited, an independent football supporters trust which owns 10.07% of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, making it one of the largest single shareholders of Sheffield Wednesday PLC.

As a democratic members' organisation, Wednesdayite's mission statement is:

"To act as responsible custodians over a meaningful shareholding in Sheffield Wednesday in order to develop and maintain a democratic, effective and influential role for Wednesday fans in the running of the Club and to strengthen the bonds between the Club and its community."

[1]

Wednesdayite have a number of schemes with the aim of benefiting Sheffield Wednesday and its community, including Coaching Schemes for local schools, Match day members bar, Away match coach transport, Match day car park, Smile tickets scheme - enabling people to attend football matches at Hillsborough that would not normally be able to attend, Schedule of events and more.[1]

Wednesdayite as an organisation are members of Supporters Direct,[2] a government-led trust initiative, and the Football Supporters Federation.

[edit] History

The organisation was originally set up in 2001. At the time, Sheffield Wednesday club directors Dave Allen, Keith Addy and Geoff Hulley bought an amount of shares in the club equal to 36.7% of the total share capital of Sheffield Wednesday PLC, from investment company Charterhouse.[3]

The purchase of more than 29.9% of any company triggers a mandatory bid for the remaining shares in company law,[4] however to avoid making such a bid, a portion of those shares equal to 9.46% of Sheffield Wednesday PLC were donated to the fledgeling fans' trust.[3]

In their previous incarnation as The Owls Trust the organisation angered the chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, Dave Allen, as well as many of the fans, with a perception of supporting a takeover bid by Ken Bates.[3] However, the organisation - in particular its chief executive John Hemmingham and chairman Jim Harrison - maintained that it was not supporting a takeover, but was supporting the principle of allowing potential investors, including Ken Bates, access to relevant documents in order to formulate an educated bid for the company. This feud resulted in the trust being evicted from their offices in Hillsborough.[5]

Hemmingham eventually quit in March 2005 when Bates took control of Yorkshire rivals Leeds and offered him a job as "Head of Membership Development". The move reportedly saw Hemmingham receive death threats,[6] and many fans believe that Hemmingham's actions vindicated Allen.

In light of previous perceptions of the organisation, The Owls Trust received a number of candidates for its board elections in May 2005 and once elected the new board rebranded the organisation to a much more fan-friendly name of 'Wednesdayite' in August 2005.[7] Jim Harrison was replaced at this same time as Chairman by Darryl Keys, a former merchant banker with responsibility for Sports Finance.

Since the rebranding the trust has massively grown in size, although they still attract a lot of controversy. Despite regular attempts to communicate with the club's directors (as dictated by the members who voted massively in favour of working with the current board)[8] many in that board are still hostile to Wednesdayite.

[edit] Shareholding and takeover talks

Whilst Wednesdayite's 10.07% shareholding is regarded as a valuable asset for a supporters' trust by the Government initiative, Supporters' Direct and their members trusts,[citation needed] it has courted a lot of controversy with the Sheffield Wednesday board and sections of fans.[citation needed]

In September 2005, the former Sheffield Wednesday Chairman, Dave Allen, offered to buy Wednesdayite's share of the club for around £330,000 (which would be put back into the playing squad budget). However Allen refused to address a Wednesdayite members' meeting to discuss this purchase and additionally it was not made clear how any ensuing Capital Gains Tax would be paid to the Inland Revenue, which would possibly leave the Supporters' Trust in tens of thousands of pounds' debt.[citation needed] Wednesdayite members democratically voted in favour of rejecting the offer.

Infamously, Allen claims to have increased this offer to £500,000 (from the initial £333,000), however no formal written offer was ever received by Wednesdayite and therefore no ballot of members took place regarding this offer.[citation needed]

In July 2007 Wednesdayite were accused in part of being responsible by Dave Allen for the collapse of a takeover by former Everton director Paul Gregg due to their 10.07% shareholding,[9] a claim which Wednesdayite deny. Since then, Wednesdayite have balloted both members and non-members to gauge opinion on their shareholding across the entire fanbase; and held a vote to decide if members would be willing to listen to offers from any new investor.

Members have now voted in favour of listening to any offers and Wednesdayite have on 2 October 2007 also pledged their shares to a scheme backed by the Sheffield Wednesday Shareholders Association to listen to any offers from new investors willing to achieve a 51% shareholding in the business.[citation needed]

On 13 February 2008, Wednesdayite Chairman Darryl Keys revealed that the group had been approached by different parties with regards to the processes involving the sale of their shareholding.[10] One of those parties was later revealed to be Geoff Sheard, who is rumoured to be fronting and brokering a multinational consortium and is said to be at an "advanced stage" in steps to buy the club.[11] Wednesdayite membership has significantly increased since the announcements with all members promised they will take part in any future potential vote deciding whether to sell the shares.[12]

[edit] Current directors

Wednesdayite operate on a democratic basis with directors voted onto the society board at an AGM each year. Directors work on a voluntary basis and do not draw any salary from the organisation. Likewise, directors will not benefit from any proceeds of sales, including the shareholding.

Current directors are:[13]

  • Darryl Keys (Chairman)
  • John Gath (Vice Chairman)
  • Graeme Cook
  • Paul Holmes
  • James Hargreaves
  • Diane Cockayne
  • Jeff Williams
  • Dave Barlow
  • Mark Braithwaite
  • Jessica Derrick
  • Lee Keys

[edit] Patrons

Like lots of similar societies and organisations, Wednesdayite have patrons, who currently include:[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Wednesdayite aims and objectives. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  2. ^ Supporters Direct Members. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  3. ^ a b c BBC News - Fans get stake in Owls. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  4. ^ The Takeover Panel Rules. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  5. ^ The Guardian - Down among the debt men. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  6. ^ Yorkshire Post - Owls fan's switch sparks death threats. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  7. ^ Indy Media. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  8. ^ Wednesdayite Survey Results. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  9. ^ BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  10. ^ Sporting Life. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  11. ^ Wednesdayite. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  12. ^ Wednesdayite. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  13. ^ Wednesdayite. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  14. ^ Wednesdayite. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links