Yesterday marked the annual Saint for a Day competition hosted by the club at the ground. Our two raffle winners were Mark Syme and Ian Walker. Unfortunately Iain couldn't play due to an injury so his son Dean duly stepped up to the plate.
General SMiSA News
Saint for a Day 2016 is now on Sunday the 24th April at the Paisley 2021 Stadium and SMiSA have the No. 5 Home & Away strips to raffle off!
The day will consist of:
* Playing the game on the pitch at St Mirren Park.
* Wearing an official team strip which you will also get to keep after the game.
* The teams will be managed by St Mirren assistant manager David Farrell and first team player Jim Goodwin.
* Man of the Match Award for a player from each team.
The rules are as follows:
* Entries for our raffle will close on 2pm at Tuesday 19th and we'll announce winners that evening.
* You must be 18 years of age or over to both bid and take part in ‘Saint for a Day’.
* By bidding in the auction you are declaring that you (or the person you are bidding for) are fit and well to take part in this event. For even more info please see the official St Mirren site here http://www.saintmirren.net/pages/?p=54346
Fill in your details below and you'll be entered in to the raffle, please also complete the verification email you receive.
This statement is to inform you of important developments at the special general meeting of the trust tonight (Wednesday 30 March) after members voted to approve the terms of SMISA’s joint offer with former club director Gordon Scott for the majority shareholding in St Mirren.
Those terms had already been agreed in principle with the selling consortium, but the offer was conditional on SMISA members voting in favour of a number of clauses.
Tonight, members agreed to the following:
- To approve the terms of the joint Gordon Scott/SMISA conditional offer to the consortium for the majority shareholding of St Mirren, and authorise the SMISA committee to formalise that offer;
- For £20,000 of trust funds to be lodged with the selling consortium as part of a deposit on the deal in order for Gordon Scott/SMISA to secure a period of exclusivity as sole bidders. This deposit will be refundable should the deal not be completed;
- To authorise the SMISA committee to spend the necessary amount on legal fees (up to a maximum of £20,000) to ensure the trust’s interests are fully protected as part of the deal;
- To authorise the SMISA committee to progress a subscription-based fundraising model and to reach an agreement to secure the finance needed to complete the deal, conditional on the requisite number of pledges being reached.
The key points of the proposed deal are as follows:
- Gordon Scott and SMISA have offered to buy a 68% shareholding in the club from the selling consortium (made up of the shares held by the original consortium of five, plus those of several other shareholders with whom they are tied into legal agreements);
- If the deal is completed, Gordon will own a 50.1% shareholding in the club (including his current shareholding of 8%) and SMISA would own 29% (including the trust’s current shareholding of 3.4%);
- Gordon would become chairman of the club and the membership of SMISA will be able to elect a director on to the board of St Mirren;
- The two parties would have a legal agreement in place giving the trust exclusive option to buy Gordon’s shares within ten years at the price he pays now, creating a majority fan-owned St Mirren. The trust does not have to buy Gordon’s current 8% shareholding, only the shares bought now.
SMISA plans to borrow the money needed to complete stage one of the deal, to be paid back using a subscription model similar to the one successfully used by the Foundation of Hearts.
The committee now needs to finalise this model and produce a detailed business plan for lenders before any fundraising scheme can be launched. It was necessary to get approval from members before progressing this any further.
The next hurdle is for us to submit a loan application. If that is approved, we will start fundraising as soon as possible with a target of completing the takeover during the summer.
Members tonight approved in principle an outline of the model where the deal would only happen if at least 1,000 people join SMISA and pay a monthly direct debit at £12 per month.
Of that, £10 would be ring-fenced for the share purchase and £2 would be for the benefit of St Mirren, to be spent however the members wanted.
Our survey of fans last year showed 96% believed fan ownership would be a good model for St Mirren and 92% would consider contributing to it financially. That gave us the confidence to go forward with these plans.
The monthly subscription model will allow us to pay off the money needed for the initial purchase, then allow us to reach the total needed to buy out Gordon, while also building on the good work SMISA has done over the years to help financially support the club and its youth academy.
While we understand the prospect of the trust going into debt to finance the deal does raise legitimate questions, we would not do anything which would put the club at risk.
The finalised fundraising model will be designed in a way where the deal will only go ahead if we get enough pledges to give us a substantial built-in safety net over and above the loan repayments
We should be clear the proposed model does not deliver full fan ownership at the first stage – instead the club would be run by a board led by Gordon, albeit one containing representatives elected by the fans.
But by going into partnership with Gordon – a lifelong St Mirren fan, successful businessman and former club director – we believe we have found a sustainable way to take the club forward in the short term and deliver a healthy St Mirren into the hands of the fans over the long term.
The bottom line is if we don’t do this, someone else will, and nobody wants to see St Mirren fall into the hands of unscrupulous owners, as has happened elsewhere.
We want to be taking over the club now while it is in relative good health and not as other trusts have been – scrabbling to raise funds after it has all gone wrong.
When we entered this process a year ago our aim was to secure the best possible deal for the fans and let the fans decide if they want it, and that is all we are doing.
Tonight could be a momentous night in the long and proud 139-year-history of our club. We have just taken a major step closer to St Mirren being able to stay forever in the hands of the people who will care about it most...you, the fans.
Ultimately, the fans are the people who now have it in their power to decide whether that happens or not. All St Mirren fans will get the chance to make up their mind on the full detail before anything goes any further.
SMISA chairman George Adam said:
Those terms had already been agreed in principle with the selling consortium, but the offer was conditional on SMISA members voting in favour of a number of clauses.
Tonight, members agreed to the following:
- To approve the terms of the joint Gordon Scott/SMISA conditional offer to the consortium for the majority shareholding of St Mirren, and authorise the SMISA committee to formalise that offer;
- For £20,000 of trust funds to be lodged with the selling consortium as part of a deposit on the deal in order for Gordon Scott/SMISA to secure a period of exclusivity as sole bidders. This deposit will be refundable should the deal not be completed;
- To authorise the SMISA committee to spend the necessary amount on legal fees (up to a maximum of £20,000) to ensure the trust’s interests are fully protected as part of the deal;
- To authorise the SMISA committee to progress a subscription-based fundraising model and to reach an agreement to secure the finance needed to complete the deal, conditional on the requisite number of pledges being reached.
The key points of the proposed deal are as follows:
- Gordon Scott and SMISA have offered to buy a 68% shareholding in the club from the selling consortium (made up of the shares held by the original consortium of five, plus those of several other shareholders with whom they are tied into legal agreements);
- If the deal is completed, Gordon will own a 50.1% shareholding in the club (including his current shareholding of 8%) and SMISA would own 29% (including the trust’s current shareholding of 3.4%);
- Gordon would become chairman of the club and the membership of SMISA will be able to elect a director on to the board of St Mirren;
- The two parties would have a legal agreement in place giving the trust exclusive option to buy Gordon’s shares within ten years at the price he pays now, creating a majority fan-owned St Mirren. The trust does not have to buy Gordon’s current 8% shareholding, only the shares bought now.
SMISA plans to borrow the money needed to complete stage one of the deal, to be paid back using a subscription model similar to the one successfully used by the Foundation of Hearts.
The committee now needs to finalise this model and produce a detailed business plan for lenders before any fundraising scheme can be launched. It was necessary to get approval from members before progressing this any further.
The next hurdle is for us to submit a loan application. If that is approved, we will start fundraising as soon as possible with a target of completing the takeover during the summer.
Members tonight approved in principle an outline of the model where the deal would only happen if at least 1,000 people join SMISA and pay a monthly direct debit at £12 per month.
Of that, £10 would be ring-fenced for the share purchase and £2 would be for the benefit of St Mirren, to be spent however the members wanted.
Our survey of fans last year showed 96% believed fan ownership would be a good model for St Mirren and 92% would consider contributing to it financially. That gave us the confidence to go forward with these plans.
The monthly subscription model will allow us to pay off the money needed for the initial purchase, then allow us to reach the total needed to buy out Gordon, while also building on the good work SMISA has done over the years to help financially support the club and its youth academy.
While we understand the prospect of the trust going into debt to finance the deal does raise legitimate questions, we would not do anything which would put the club at risk.
The finalised fundraising model will be designed in a way where the deal will only go ahead if we get enough pledges to give us a substantial built-in safety net over and above the loan repayments
We should be clear the proposed model does not deliver full fan ownership at the first stage – instead the club would be run by a board led by Gordon, albeit one containing representatives elected by the fans.
But by going into partnership with Gordon – a lifelong St Mirren fan, successful businessman and former club director – we believe we have found a sustainable way to take the club forward in the short term and deliver a healthy St Mirren into the hands of the fans over the long term.
The bottom line is if we don’t do this, someone else will, and nobody wants to see St Mirren fall into the hands of unscrupulous owners, as has happened elsewhere.
We want to be taking over the club now while it is in relative good health and not as other trusts have been – scrabbling to raise funds after it has all gone wrong.
When we entered this process a year ago our aim was to secure the best possible deal for the fans and let the fans decide if they want it, and that is all we are doing.
Tonight could be a momentous night in the long and proud 139-year-history of our club. We have just taken a major step closer to St Mirren being able to stay forever in the hands of the people who will care about it most...you, the fans.
Ultimately, the fans are the people who now have it in their power to decide whether that happens or not. All St Mirren fans will get the chance to make up their mind on the full detail before anything goes any further.
SMISA chairman George Adam said:
Gordon Scott added:The current board deserve a huge amount of credit for the job they have done over the years but they have made it clear they want to move on, and one way or another, the club will be sold.
We have seen too many other Scottish clubs fall into the hands of owners who haven’t had the best interest of the club at heart over the years – if the fans back this deal and stay the distance they guarantee that could never happen to St Mirren.
My desire is to see us back where we belong at the top table of Scottish football and I firmly believe I can help achieve that, and then successfully deliver this club into the hands of the supporters.
St Mirren is a community club and if we take over we would continue to run it in the same prudent way it has been for the last 20 years.
It is also important, however, that we bring a new business dynamic to the club and fully empower the supporters to help take the club forward.
But this won't happen without the support of the fans. We have a wonderful chance to preserve the history and then form the future of our football club together. Let's not let the opportunity pass us by.
Dear Smisa member,
This email is official notification that a Special General Meeting for the SMISA membership will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 30 March in The Wynd Centre, School Wynd, Paisley.
As you will be aware, the trust has been working with former St Mirren director Gordon Scott over the past few months on a joint bid for the majority shareholding in SMFC held by the selling consortium.
The meeting has been called because there have been significant developments with the bid of late. We now need to update the membership on these and ask you to vote on how we go forward.
We are unable to go into any more detail at this time but full information will be provided on the night.
With that in mind it is crucial we get as many people there as possible to have their say on this vitally important issue for the future of our club.
If any member is unable to attend the meeting, they can nominate their proxy vote to another person, and that person does not need to be a member.
To register for a proxy in your absence please send an email to [email protected] no later than Monday 28 March, stating your name and the person you wish to attend and vote on your behalf.
We look forward to seeing you on the night
John White
SMISA secretary
This email is official notification that a Special General Meeting for the SMISA membership will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 30 March in The Wynd Centre, School Wynd, Paisley.
As you will be aware, the trust has been working with former St Mirren director Gordon Scott over the past few months on a joint bid for the majority shareholding in SMFC held by the selling consortium.
The meeting has been called because there have been significant developments with the bid of late. We now need to update the membership on these and ask you to vote on how we go forward.
We are unable to go into any more detail at this time but full information will be provided on the night.
With that in mind it is crucial we get as many people there as possible to have their say on this vitally important issue for the future of our club.
If any member is unable to attend the meeting, they can nominate their proxy vote to another person, and that person does not need to be a member.
To register for a proxy in your absence please send an email to [email protected] no later than Monday 28 March, stating your name and the person you wish to attend and vote on your behalf.
We look forward to seeing you on the night
John White
SMISA secretary
Video highlights of Q&A with Alex Rae and David Farrell by St. Mirren TV.
You may have spotted stories in the media today which reported the trust has made an offer for shares held in St Mirren. With this in mind, we wanted to bring members up to date on progress with our bid.
As you know, we have been working with former St Mirren director Gordon Scott with the aim of buying into the club. The basic structure of the proposed deal would see Gordon put up a substantial sum and SMiSA fundraising the rest from the supporters, with Gordon becoming chairman and main shareholder, and SMiSA getting a place on the board.
However there would be a legal agreement allowing us to buy Gordon out over the long term and thus achieve majority fan ownership of the club at some point in the future.
We have submitted a conditional proposal to the consortium, and would stress that one of the conditions is that nothing will be formalised without the approval of SMiSA members.
So if a deal was to be agreed in principle with the consortium, we would put the terms of that before our members and ask them to vote on whether we proceed. If the membership agreed, we would start fundraising, and the wider support would then have it in their power to make it happen.
As things stand, no agreement has been made with the consortium. However we remain in contact with them and look forward to maintaining a positive dialogue. We have been working on this process behind the scenes now for months and while it has gone on longer than we would have liked, that is because we are determined to do it right.
We believe that nobody will take better care of our club than you, the supporters, and that working with Gordon offers a sustainable route through which the fans can safeguard St Mirren’s future.
Ultimately we are negotiating on behalf of you, the supporters, and we take that responsibility seriously. We are only going to put a deal in front of the fans if we are confident it is robust and viable – at which point it would be your call what happens next.
We hope you appreciate that due to the sensitive nature of the discussions, we are unable to say any more than we have at present, however we will keep members updated where it is appropriate to do so.
The SMiSA committee
SMiSA featured in a recent public meeting which discussed how fan ownership might work for St. Mirren.
Committee member David Nicol joined a panel including Saints legend Tony Fitzpatrick in the Wynd Centre in Paisley for the event, hosted by the Renfrewshire branch of the Scottish Green Party under the banner of FansFirst.
Club chairman Stewart Gilmour had been due to appear at the event, but had to pull out.
Dave provided an update on trust activities and on the status of the ongoing discussions around a possible joint bid with former St. Mirren director Gordon Scott for the controlling interest in the club held by the consortium.
He also fielded several questions from Saints fans in the crowd about how the bid and a fan-owned St. Mirren might work, which led to some lively discussion.
Our thanks go to the organisers for inviting us to take part and to all the Saints fans who contributed on the night - should our proposed bid for the club move forward we would look to host similar events of our own in the future.
Updates on the campaign can be found on Twitter @PutFansFirst
We are conscious it has been a number of weeks since the last update to members on SMiSA’s joint offer with former St Mirren director Gordon Scott for the majority shareholding in the club.
We outlined what this would involve when we first made all members aware during the summer (http://www.smisa.net/news-archive/182-latest-on-smisa-gordon-scott-bid)
The SMiSA committee entered into this process because we believe no future owner would take better care of our club than you, the fans, and because Gordon’s involvement has opened up a route through which that could happen in a viable and sustainable way.
In the past couple of months the SMiSA committee and Gordon have had constructive ongoing dialogue with the consortium about how a deal might work, but to date no agreement has been reached.
When we started this process we knew it would not be easy for a small team of volunteers to pull off a deal of this size, and that has proven to be true.
A lot of work has and continues to go on behind the scenes to make sure our proposed model is robust and viable and to make sure we are getting appropriate professional help.
So far, we have been able to do so without having to dip into trust funds, however we wanted to notify members we now require to spend £2,000 on financial advice.
This money will allow an independent expert with top-level football boardroom experience to carry out a specific piece of work for us, and is coming via Supporters Direct, the football fan umbrella body of which the trust is a member.
This is money we feel will be well spent to help us get the best information possible about how a fan-run St Mirren might work – but given it is a significant sum we felt it was appropriate to make all members aware.
In the meantime, we appreciate your patience throughout what has been a complex process. We will continue to work away behind the scenes and will update the members as soon as there is any news to report.
The SMiSA Committee