A Hereford update - dodgy shares

[robf]

For me, Hereford has been THE story of the summer. Not because it's entertaining but because it's been so sad to see a fellow club ripped apart by its owners. I've heard so many sad stories from disillusioned/disenchanted fans that it reminds be of our MOLD days and I don't want anyone to have to suffer that sort of thing.

 

Anyhow, it could just be that the end is in sight... I really hope so!

 

The cast:

 

David Keyte (DK) former chairman and hate figure for the fans.

Tommy Agbomar (TA) current "owner" and majority shareholder. And another hate figure.

 

A brief update

 

You may not be totally aware of the situation at Hereford but the way the club intends to stay afloat is to take a CVA and pay off all its creditors (who are owed about £1.3m) that way. An application has been made and publicised. If the CVA doesn't happen then the club is likely to be wound up.

 

Reading the forums, I believe that NONE of the fans want the CVA to happen. They feel the new owners are at best not good for the club and at worst asset-strippers and ideally they now feel it's best for the club in its current guise to fold and for a new phoenix fans club to be born.

 

Anyhow, an astute person has noticed some significant flaws in Hereford's Articles of Association that could cast the current ownership into doubt. These have been passed onto the person nominated to manage the CVA application.

 

So what's the issue?

 

In an nutshell, it appears that former chairman Keyte issued himself with a load of shares when he wasn't legally entitled to under the club's Articles of Association. He then sold those shares to Agbomar to make Agbomar the majority shareholder.

 

It's now argued that Keyte's shares were illegal and therefore Agombar is not technically the club owner. Agombar is (by reputation) a somewhat scary character and Hereford fans are now speculating what he may do to keyte if this all proves to be correct.

 

Here's how a Hereford fan sums it up on the Bulls Banter forum:

 

So DK has engineered an illegal share issue that gave him the majority of shares in the company (i.e. 51%+) and sold that majority shareholding for £2 to some poor chump from Essex saddling said chump with £1.3m of debt some of which said chump has since paid off? That is pretty funny if true.

 

What next?

 

The fans hope that if this takeover deal is found to be illegal then the CVA cannot take place, the club will be wound-up. The ground is leased from the council who appear to be in favour of a fan-based club. It is therefore hoped that this will finally allow the supporters trust to set up a new Hereford side and for this sorry saga to end...

 

Here is another post on Bulls Banter which says much the same thing:

 

My guess is that if this is correct, TA will pull out - why would he want to spend further thousands on legal fees with no guarantee as to the outcome he is looking for? In this case, the charade will end, the 1939 business will fold and the leases revert to the council.

 

I would imagine TA would then pursue DK and SB by whatever means necessary to recover money he has spent in paying their debt for alleged phantom shares. After thinking he'd pulled a fast one, DK will be left with a rather large bill owing to a rather nasty man.

 

Trust will step in an reclaim Edgar Street for the football club and its fans. 2015-16 we start again.

 

There's a somewhat complex article about the illegal shares here:

 

http://bullsnews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/comments-about-herefords-proposed-cva.html

[Jacko51]

Issuing illegal shares? Is our Perry part of this scam?

[bookworm]

it's patently obvious that the so called directors aren't interested in the club only the leases of same which are owned by the council, thats why agombar and ano approached the council to transfer the leases to their own companies which was turned down by the council, nasty people about who spend time sniffing easy money out,hope the bulls come out of the mess intact.

[CAVALIER]

Fascinating. Any money in the pot here will go to Landsman in trying to work it all out. Very similar to what we had with folks doing what they want. Like the no directors/salary bit too. I wish them all the best.