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Having my letter back from Brummies share offer.

It clearly has speedway written all over it .

It seems that they didn't do their homework on this ,i beg to differ.

Looks like another scam ,little bit like the "go fund me" they did at start of last season ,when very little was spent on equipment. 

No share offer just pledge your money and be a friend of Birmingham speedway .

They got me in on false pretences. 

Being a share holder would have allowed us to see the books ,that's something only privileged for bspl people.

Also   many speedway clubs have  never shown a profit ,so whats the chance of getting a dividend paid out to ones self .

They say compaines house wont allow them to set up this type of share offer ....

Maybe they had put in the memorandum and articles of Association, something like we don't want  share holders  to be able to see the full accounts,or was it BSPL blocking this share offer.

 

 

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id put the letter on here but the file is to big ,this is what the letter has to say .

Firstly,can i thank you on behalf of the directors of Birmingham speedway 2022 Limited for expressing an interest in becoming a shareholder

and for support for the cluband us as new promotors. this is a very steep learning curve for us ,and we are under no illusions as to the task ahead if we are to try to make the club sustainable for the future.

Unfortunately ,as part of this learning curve ,it appears that we were not well advised on setting up the company and the offer of shares.We have said all along thats it was our intention to be honest with our supporters and ,after a query was raised ,we spoke to a Company Law expert who advised that ,legally, it is an offence to advertise share in a private limited company (which is how Birmingham speedway 2022 has been set up )for sale .If we went ahead we could finds ourselves forced into being wound up in to a public limited company ,which is not an appropriate path for us to go down.We are bitterly dissappointed by this as we very much wanted our supporters to be able to own a small part of the club,but we need to do everything above board and it is not worth jeapordising the safety of the club to go down this path .

Having said all that, your financial contribution is vitally important to us and we hope that you are still willing to be a stakeholder but as a "friend of Birmingham speedway" rather than a nominal shareholder.Anoffical list of stakeholders will be kept, acknowledgement made of your support in the programme(unless you would prefer to remain anonymous) and all theother benefits offered with the shareholding will remain  the same including a family ticket to pass on to a new group of people (including pits visits and meet the riders ),a weekly draw to watch races from centre green ,discounted End of season Presentation Nights tickets and invitation to meeting at end of season to discuss how things have gone .

Well thats the letter from the share offer 

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They have clearly jumped the gun with the initial announcement before getting proper advice.

The stakeholders idea is fine although perhaps a supporters trust with some restrictions on how the money can be spent would be the way forward 

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1 hour ago, noaksey said:

They have clearly jumped the gun with the initial announcement before getting proper advice.

The stakeholders idea is fine although perhaps a supporters trust with some restrictions on how the money can be spent would be the way forward 

I thought a Supporters Trust was the way they were going ?, for sure as a supporters Trust you can hold shares.

Edited by heathen52

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59 minutes ago, heathen52 said:

I thought a Supporters Trust was the way they were going ?, for sure as a supporters Trust you can hold shares.

You cant have a Trust for motor sport it's not allowed so you would have to call it something else or explain exactly what you are doing in your articles... Trust status gets you various Tax breaks however you cant use this Trust Status in England and Wales for motor sport... the "fun shares" or "stakeholder"  status are good ideas as long as the articles that go with the title explain exactly what your rights are...

You can also hold B C or D rated shares as part of a sharehold scheme that don't have to pay a dividend and can in the articles state you don't have voting rights either but things can get complicated so its definitely preferable to stick on the fun side of things...

Regards 

THJ 

Edited by TotallyHonestJohn
Missed oit word
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16 minutes ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

You cant have a Trust for motor sport

Of course you can.   All kinds of sports clubs have always had supporters' clubs/supporters trusts.  They're just a democratic not-for-profit organisation of fans.

Think what you're confused with is charitable trusts.  You can't get charity status for something encouraging participation in a dangerous sport.  To get charity status for a sporting organisation it has to show it is promoting positive health benefits and not risks to health.

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15 minutes ago, PotteringAround said:

Of course you can.   All kinds of sports clubs have always had supporters' clubs/supporters trusts.  They're just a democratic not-for-profit organisation of fans.

Think what you're confused with is charitable trusts.  You can't get charity status for something encouraging participation in a dangerous sport.  To get charity status for a sporting organisation it has to show it is promoting positive health benefits and not risks to health.

Honestly 

No you can't for Speedway and if I could be ars3d to go through it I would explain fully but I can't so believe what you want however we have been fully down this road with the Friends of Workington Speedway that was gonna be a Trust but ended up as a Supporters Club basically but the FOWS pumped thousands into Worky Speedway and became their largest sponsor after the promotion itself and the proposed Newcastle Supporters Trust that will probably end up a Newcasle Supporters Club but with a beefed up set of articles of association to make sure it's run a bit more proffesionally...

When you get bored over Christmas do your homework... you can't have a Trust inputting into a Speedway Team... and yes the confusion is in the name that's why you should stay away from it... the next one will be let's start a Debenture and that is another one that confuses the B'Jesus out of folk...

Regards 

THJ 

Edited by TotallyHonestJohn
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23 minutes ago, brianbuck said:

Personally, I don't see a great difference in being a shareholder to being a stakeholder, so it will make no difference to my wish to be a contributer. I've no desire to see details of accounts or look for, or expect any kind of dividend, so if others think they should, and prefer to opt out, then that is their perogative - and everyone should bear in mind the fact that Birmingham Speedway have not yet asked anyone to send them any money - so no one has been "conned."

Whilst we are all entitled to our opinions, in my view, the title of this topic is in itself offensive and should be changed. 

 

As always Brian you are the voice of commonsense and reason. 

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1 hour ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

Honestly 

No you can't for Speedway and if I could be ars3d to go through it I would explain fully but I can't so believe what you want however we have been fully down this road with the Friends of Workington Speedway that was gonna be a Trust but ended up as a Supporters Club basically but the FOWS pumped thousands into Worky Speedway and became their largest sponsor after the promotion itself and the proposed Newcastle Supporters Trust that will probably end up a Newcasle Supporters Club but with a beefed up set of articles of association to make sure it's run a bit more proffesionally...

When you get bored over Christmas do your homework... you can't have a Trust inputting into a Speedway Team... and yes the confusion is in the name that's why you should stay away from it... the next one will be let's start a Debenture and that is another one that confuses the B'Jesus out of folk...

Regards 

THJ 

Im surprised by what you have said as you are usually right, however down here we have the "Heathens Speedway Supporters Trust" who have been in existence for a number of years now, and while they are not set up to promote/run a Speedway Team they are there 100% to support any promotion that runs Speedway for the Heathens and have funds available as when and if ever a suitable piece of land is ever found, I know this for sure as I am a previous Vice Chairman which is why im surprised by your comments. Stay safe have a Merry Christmas and goodluck with whatever project you support for 2022, Im guessing its Northside ;).

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29 minutes ago, heathen52 said:

however down here we have the "Heathens Speedway Supporters Trust" who have been in existence for a number of years now, and while they are not set up to promote/run a Speedway Team they are there 100% to support any promotion that runs Speedway for the Heathens and have funds available as when and if ever a suitable piece of land is ever found, I know this for sure as I am a previous Vice Chairman which is why im surprised by your comments.

Exactly.   As I said, I would guess the confusion is with a "Charitable trust".   A trust promoting motorsport (like the Heathens Speedway Supporters Trust) could never have charity status, since the Charity Commission stipulate that a charity encouraging involvement in sport has to show it is promoting health benefits.   

 

Edited by PotteringAround
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1 hour ago, heathen52 said:

Im surprised by what you have said as you are usually right, however down here we have the "Heathens Speedway Supporters Trust" who have been in existence for a number of years now, and while they are not set up to promote/run a Speedway Team they are there 100% to support any promotion that runs Speedway for the Heathens and have funds available as when and if ever a suitable piece of land is ever found, I know this for sure as I am a previous Vice Chairman which is why im surprised by your comments. Stay safe have a Merry Christmas and goodluck with whatever project you support for 2022, Im guessing its Northside ;).

You now have to be very careful what you call things and it might be called a Trust however as @PotteringAround has correctly pointed out regards Charitable Status... what you don't have is a Trust in the legal sense of the word and if someone wanted to be really pedantic (Is there anyone out there in the Speedway world like that?) you could face a challenge... so you may call it a Trust however it isn't as it is a Trust in name only... its a minefield I have trudged through on many occasion and most recently in September this year and we were advisef that we should not even call it a Trust... look as I originally posted its complicated and comes with so much red tape its not worth calling a Supporters Club a Trust... which is basically what you have described....

Although I will give you this there is something comforting in calling it a Trust and it does sound more professional however I would strongly recommend getting the Clubs (your Trust) articles notarized as we now live in a very litigious society...

48 minutes ago, PotteringAround said:

Exactly.   As I said, I would guess the confusion is with a "Charitable trust".   A trust promoting motorsport (like the Heathens Speedway Supporters Trust) could never have charity status, since the Charity Commission stipulate that a charity encouraging involvement in sport has to show it is promoting health benefits.  

Correct and I have been led to believe you shouldn't even be using the word trust as the "Speedway" supporters club can't be one (a Trust) in the sphere in where it is being used... misrepresentation I believe... however if it is not being used for fraudulent purposes I personally can't see what the problem is... but I'm not a lawyer...

Although I am a member of a sporting trust for a local junior football team that has charitable status and is a Registered Trust.

Regards 

THJ 

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Hi all,

As the daughter of one of the directors, I am responding on behalf of the consortium at Birmingham Speedway with their approval and support.

First of all, a mistake was made; solicitors were consulted before the offer to buy shares was made. However, it was upon speaking to a different solicitor that we were made aware of potential issues to do with advertising shares. At this point, we took the decision to be honest and share this information with our supporters and potential investors. At the end of the day, we are a group of speedway enthusiasts who have invested a substantial amount of money with the sole intention of saving a club that we cherish; all that we can do in light of this error is offer our sincerest apologies and act to rectify the situation.

Regarding the GoFundMe of the previous season, I would like to remind readers that there is zero association between the consortium and the previous owners of the club - at that point, we too were fans pledging our money to support Birmingham Speedway.

It was made clear from the very beginning that there would never be any form of dividend from the shares as the club is being run as a non-profit organisation.

We cannot commit to publishing the books but it is our intention to be as transparent as possible about the club’s finances and to keep stakeholders informed as to how their investment has been spent. As it stands, no funds have been requested or transferred and nobody is under any obligation to do so.

Thank you for the ongoing support that many of you are offering, be it financial or otherwise. We will continue to do everything in our power to secure the future of our beloved club. Have a lovely Christmas.

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THJ The HSST were set up from the old Cradley Heathens supporters club, and were advised and guided by Supporters Direct then when HSST was formed we became a member of SD until the end of 2018 when SD merged https://www.thenews.coop/130902/sector/mutuals/supporters-direct-merge-football-supporters-federation/   with the FSF, and became more or less a Football focused organisation, HSST then continued on without being members of any organisation so maybe they now need to update who they are namewise and go back to being a Supporters Club which in essence is what they have always been but the thinking back in the day was that being a member of SD would bring them added benefits though Iv always wondered what they were.. Incidentally when I was a board member and HSST were members of SD we always had to submit our accounts to the FCA Iv no idea wether or not this is still the case. 

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