Show me the money – Jojar Dhinsa!
And so it came to pass that at 4.30pm on Sunday 5th December the ole sporting ‘agent’ JD himself had another of his pre take over ‘fan’s forums’.
Stuck in a hotel on a particularly wet and soul-less evening - this time the venue was at the Walsgrave Hilton, not Bangkok in location but more ‘banged to rights’ according to recent ‘impartial’ media hysteria – JD used the occasion to help flesh out the bones of his mission statement.
The guy whose apparent piss pot runeth over, but not into the direction of ‘Gerald McGinnity’ & his bored just yet, met a varied audience of Sky Blues supporters from the interested, the hopeful, to the damn right & forthright sceptical.
Crammed into a Hilton meeting room the initial 34 people swelled to just over 40 in the hour & a half of quite intensive questioning that followed.
Arranged at short notice by the volition GMK regular poster ‘Otis’, Mr Dhinse held honest court with a room that included a reporter from the CET, youngsters from the tenderest of years up to an 84-year-old veteran, webmasters from LAST & CovCity.com, Gary Mabbutt’s Knee Fanzine writer Joe Rukin & half the board from the Sky Blue Trust.
As an added bonus quite refreshingly there was a fair representation of 5 or 6 guys from Coventry’s far under encouraged Sky Blue Asian community including a young chap who looked around 10-14 years old.
Jojar opened the meeting thanking those that had had taken the time to attend, asked those present to turn off their mobiles & requested that any tape recorders should be declared & also turned off.
JD proposed that the room should ask questions in rotation going round the room from those standing round the outside to the lucky 16 who managed to get a seat, (which fortunately included my good self).
Mr Dhinse answered the first question, which requested a summary of the current situation. JD replied that his opening bid gambit was tabled last Tuesday. The intention was to make a formal initial monetary bid, however JD had received an anonymous telephone call, on the Saturday evening prior, which backed up previous assertions form other sources that the current debt was above that of the quoted £25m. As the bulk of the money that was to be invested was his personal wealth this prompted him to question that the conversation, & indeed the possible debt call, could either have been a trick, a potential ‘spanner in the works’ or actually true. His own lawyers had suggested as a result of this speculation & rumour it would be prudent that a legal arrangement & document be drafted which could be used if the quoted financial statement the Club had provided, was not a completely transparent picture of the true current financial standing of the Club.
A 30-minute conversation last Thursday with MM followed, where MM basic asked JD to ‘show him the money’.
On Friday night’s soccer phone in on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire MM indicated to his media puppies that he had written to JD, which at the time of the meeting JD had not yet received.
JD indicated that having looked over the accounts, an MBA in accountancy would have been insufficient to ascertain the true picture of the Club’s finances & that ‘All he wanted to know, is what he would be getting for his money’.
He went on to say that; ‘if it was crime to want to invest in Coventry, The City & it’s Football Club then I’m guilty of this but nothing more.’ Intriguingly he mentioned that like everyone he had ‘skeletons in his closet’, (without further elaboration), but he wanted to be careful as buying a football club was not like buying a tin of baked beans.
He was asked that if the debt was more like £40m would he still be interested, to which he answered yes, but he wanted to know ‘what he was buying into before he bought it, as a buyer beware, we just wanted to know what the real debt is’.
He was then asked who ‘we’ are, to which he replied that it was just him as the Eastern Europeans were only interested if the deal included the stadium which at the indication in writing from CCC Leader Ken Taylor was not on the cards.
Dhinse then talked about his upbringing in Coventry & that his business dealt abroad, his clients, money & business was ‘offshore’. The East Europeans are not interested if the deal was just for the football club & so his bid had to be altered to reflect that.
When asked if he had the money to buy the club he replied ‘yes of course’ & that he was doing 70% to put something back into Coventry & only 30% as a business as everyone knows you don’t make money out of football & that it was ‘near impossible to launder money in football’, hmmm.
When asked about Houllier he said that he had been introduced through another, (dark, mysterious & unnamed – my words), manager & that he had spoken with him briefly for 3 or 4 minutes at the Dorchester in London.
When pressed about Peter Reid he felt it inappropriate to comment further, but acknowledged that he was working in difficult circumstances with few resources & little money, however indications were that things were ‘not going right’ & that ‘what’s the point in having a Ferrari with no petrol in the tank’.
He was talking to another two managers ‘all the time’ which he had in mind to make a decision on ‘when the time was right’.
He was asked whether when he took over the club if there would be further money to invest in the squad. This seemed to be a pivotal question surrounding the current situation. He indicated that if all the money were spent in buying the club then there would be little point if it meant there was no money left over to invest in the squad. The current situation at the club was not of his own making & that he didn’t want to be paying for others mistakes, which indicated to me that some degree of flexibility would be needed to those who were looking to ‘recoup their investment’. Personally, I believe this to be the key point if the current creditors have the true best interests of the club at heart or whether its just cold cash.
JD indicated that he was ‘looking to do a deal’ with the directors & then ‘negotiate with the banks’.
He asked what his objectives were in taking over the club they are: 1). Stability 2). Leadership. 3). To have enough money to spend in the transfer window to get us to the play offs.
HW acknowledged he didn’t know the first thing about football & wasn’t even 100% certain on how the offside rule works but wants to own the club passionately.
The thing that is important to him, & I guess defines him from a few others, is that he appreciates that fans are not only supporters but they are also customers & that it was good to understand what your customers want – hence the consultations – he wants the fans ‘on board’ in their own board, nominated & elected by supporters, the chair of which would sit on the main board as a non executive director. (No mention of any £1m needed). He wants ‘a community club’ with an end to ‘them & us’ & to become ‘very close to his customers’ as it’s ‘the customers who pay the bills’. He acknowledged he won’t be able to please everyone but wanted to please as many people as possible.
Not only had the meeting been organised my fans but his participation in Friday’s BBC radio phone in had been prompted by supporters. JD phoned in & offered to speak one on one with MM but was advised that it was not possible.
JD then said again that he was not prepared to pay for others mistakes but he was prepared to work with those who could work with him. GR had put a lot of money into the club & that he would make a fair offer & will do the ‘best deal in the interests of the club, but would also do what is right for me’. It was all about working together in finding the right ‘palatable’ amount, however he wanted assurances before moving forward.
When asked what the situation was with the current board & would he retain anyone, he again reiterated that he ‘would work with anyone who would work with me & that sometimes you can work with people sometimes you can’t’, ‘it was like having a garden with weeds, sometimes to get a decent garden you had to remove all the weeds to get it to bloom’.
He was asked how much he was prepared to pay to buy the club, it quoted – after referring to Joe Rukin who had a copy of the published accounts at hand, that it had been quoted that the debt to the bank was £8m & £17m was owed to the directors & other creditors. He believed it would depend on whatever is asked & that he would make that figure public. Effectively it meant becoming the principle shareholder. The key would be ensuring a good relationship with everyone, particularly the banks.
He acknowledged that it was difficult to ascertain what is acceptable to current debtors as well as having & keeping sufficient resources to improve the position on the pitch.
JD was asked to expand on the ‘business proposition’ disclosed at the Allesley meeting, he said he couldn’t say too much, but it was football related, could be a £500m worldwide business, involved another premiership club & he had assigned funds to it already.
A question from the floor indicated that a timetable had been set with a detailed bid which was to be made by 23rd December, & that could that me met?
JD replied that although he had tried to be as transparent as possible, discussions had taken place that had not been disclosed by either party & he hoped announcements could be made soon. It had also been suggested that he ceased speaking with fans through websites, which was something he had yet to decide upon.
When asked on fans being able to buy shares he indicated this was a good idea as everyone benefited & as long as it was viable he would encourage it. When asked about the approximate 35 – 40 % of current unissued shares from the late 60’s he indicated that a possible bid for these could be forth coming depending on the outcome of other outstanding propositions that have & could be made. It was an option under consideration.
Queries were made as to whether MM draws a salary from the club, after a long discussion the answer was no, however after consulting the past accounts it could be interpreted the ‘income’ could be derived from interest on loans, it was unclear how much of the ‘£17m owed to directors’ was either interest or deferred interest & this was one of the points of basis for discussion & clarification. This caused consternation with some people in the room as it could have been interpreted as a slur, however after long discussion it was agreed that this debate had come from interpretation of the accounting methods used & how Craig Avon had been declared in various registers, sometimes seemingly conflictingly & the room was assured no slight had been made & that wages & salary were different from income & that further ‘clarification was required’.
Asked whether JD would purchase the club using all his own money, he said that an arrangement would be 50% his own funds as a gesture of goodwill & 50% finance investment.
Asked what his target was on the pitch, JD indicated the Premiership with 2 years, which he would be happy to start with, Silver ware within 5 & Europe beyond that.
When asked about contact with the club he re-iterated that there was more than has been admitted to date & that JD call MM more than the other way around.
JD stated, passionately, that ‘I will get this club – it may take some time – but I will overcome these obstacles.’
Asked if the club wanted to sell, JD indicated that MM was quoted over a year ago that if the ‘right person came along they would sell’.
An older gentleman in the audience then stated: ‘ Joe a lot of hope is being invested by supporters who want you to succeed, please don’t let us down’, others said, ‘you’re the only hope we have of getting back either to the Premiership or Wembley, don’t just do it for us do it for the youngsters’.
Joe admitted that seeing youngsters in the streets of Coventry in Man U, Chelsea & Arsenal shirts – despite liking Arsenal himself because of his admiration of Ian Wright – was not what he or any Sky Blues fan wanted to see. He admitted that he attended the Arsenal AGM & had been amazed that when every time Arsene Wenger spoke he was applauded & cheered. That’s what he wanted for us too.
Asked again if it was a sole bid from himself, he said yes, however if other options became available the backing was there.
Asked if he would be chairman he said no, that he was not the right person to lead the club on a day-to-day basis & that owning the club would not be his Full time job. All he was asking for was the opportunity & possibility to do this & that he wouldn’t let anyone down & he was committed to doing it.
He felt that ‘deep down MM was a god guy, however he interacts differently with different people in different situations’. The Chairman’s role was to be a protective parent to the club. He acknowledged that there had to be a degree of privacy in discussions & that some of the discussions he had had to date had not been disclosed.
I asked, tongue firmly in cheek, if successful whether consideration would be given to encouraging local media who were more impartial & open to fans expressing a wider range of opinion, without interruption & ‘informed comment’ where there listener ship could be validated as been representative of local people & listener ship figures higher than the current toadies who are much quicker to ‘let me finish before we had actually begun!’ I also asked JD to define what a venture capitalist was. From his response I think it’s fair to say he doesn’t comfortably fit into that category.
So at 6.30pm we retired.
I left feeling slightly better assured, but, & it’s a big butt, will the board want to play ball, as it seems the terms are possibly not either of their choosing or liking.
But to recall a few old sayings ‘any port in a storm’ or possibly ‘beggars can’t be choosers?’ is more apt.
One thing’s for sure, the status quo seems an unlikely option for anyone to want to follow.