Mackintosh on investment watch

October 11, 2006

Eastlands

CITY'S chief executive Alistair Mackintosh has reiterated his desire to bring fresh investment to the club.

And Mackintosh denied that the fact City's ground is leased off the council will put off any potentially interested parties.

Mackintosh told the club's website, www.mcfc.co.uk: éWe are always open to the idea of new, appropriate investment. We continue to look for appropriate parties that might contribute to this football club. Money is money, as long as it is from an appropriate individual who continues to be a custodian of this club, and who keeps in mind our links with the community and in particular our fan base.

éIt shows the strength of the Premier League at the moment that there is so much interest from outside.é

City have already taken out a é44million securitisation loan against the stadium - the club value the leasehold of the ground at around é150million. Mackintosh argued that the length of the lease on City's ground is a boost in the search for investment.

éAnyone looking at City will see that the ground is leased off the council, in the first instance, although once they start to understand the transaction they will see that ités a 250 year lease. Therefore it can be used as security, as we have done for securitisation. For all intents and purposes we have freehold ownership.

éIf someone was just looking at a football club as a property play, I donét think they would look at Manchester City as closely as other clubs. I donét want someone who wants to look at this football club as a property play, I want them looking at this as a football club. This is our home, I want it to be owned by Manchester City Football Club, not an external investor who wants to sell it on.é

What do you think? Have your say.

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Blue John, London (11/10/2006 at 16:10)

Hmmmm. When was this written? Three years ago? Perhaps 250k a year Mac could explain to us why anyone would want to invest in a business 60m in the red, cos I can't think of a reason.

ted knott, droylsden (11/10/2006 at 16:12)

Mackintosh seems to have a lot more to say than Wardle, I ask who really is Chairman? someone appears to want an easy life picking up dividends from his investment in may I add luxurious surroundings YES a very COSY workplace. More money for the coffers when Micah is sold on but if MCFC claim they aren't planning to cash in on another young player why dont they take away that certain clause in Micah's contract you know the line that affectively reads " you can move on if we get a big enough offer?" SMACKS OF VERY LITTLE AMBITION.

LMFAO, Real World (11/10/2006 at 16:33)

Hey Mackintosh

We're Peppered mate

Your Sacked

Do One

Chris, Chorlton (11/10/2006 at 16:36)

It sounds like they are looking for a 'custodian' to buy out the club in full, not just an investor. This explains the tight purse strings to try any raise the short term value of the club===Where is Wardle???

Number Six, The Village (11/10/2006 at 16:36)

Expect significant rise in surcharges to renew season tickets & other crafty little schemes to wring ever more quids out of the Blues faithfull then!

Mickey H, Stockport (11/10/2006 at 16:38)

Well I suppose that's an answer to my email then! I guess though, plenty of others must have written to him to warrant a press release. Credit to the fella for going public. Need to re-read to make sure I understand properly before writing to him again!!!

Mr Proactive, Shareholder (11/10/2006 at 16:42)

Sounds like he would back the Supporters Trust in the offing, if they raised sufficient monies to invest. Ollie any comments?

Chris, Northwich (11/10/2006 at 16:51)

can we please have some silverware soon? its been way too long!

Mickey H, Stockport (11/10/2006 at 16:54)

OK. On first reading, he has admitted he is failing in his objective of attracting investment into the club as he states he is still looking. It now seems (maybe rightly?) there are, albeit very noble ones, pre-conditions to being able to put money in the club. It seems though, the kind of pre-conditions being set are the same values as would possibly be held by a Supporters Trust - is that an invite between the lines then? Finally, it still doesn't sit well this ownership of the stadium malarky. "For all intents and purposes we have freehold ownership" - this is where my ignorance may come into play, but basically, if I guaranteed my landlord I would be his tenant for the next 250 years, I feel sure it would be illegal to borrow money with his house as security? I honestly don't see how it works, but it may be me - I can do finance, but I'm certainly no whizz at it, which explains why I'm still a peasant I suppose!

Ollie, Guernsey (11/10/2006 at 17:00)

Gents I will do a full response on the Supporters Trust blog but the indications do appear to be good. I must say that we have received a response from the club and been promised a full response by the end of this week. I am in London on Trust business on Friday and then in Manchester over the weekend again for Trust business and the Sheffield game. E-mail me on mcfcsupporters@hotmail.co.uk if you want to find out more.

Herr Lipp, Duisberg via Royston Vasey (11/10/2006 at 17:08)

i agree wholeheartedly with mackintosh that the leasing of our ground does not scare investors off. what does scare investors off is having a couple of muppets like you and wardle running the club as you demonstrated your amazing abilities to waste money during the keegan regime. if someone has got millions to invest then they`ve probably got a clever head on their shoulders so why would they pool their money with a couple of muppets like you two. the only way to attract new investment is for you two to step aside. has the penny dropped yet? no-one would trust you two with a piggy bank let alone millions of pounds.

Prestwich Blue, Manchester (11/10/2006 at 17:09)

This is incredible - we very clearly secured the loans on SEASON TICKET INCOME not the stadium! It says so in the accounts.

I recently said to someone that it sounded like he was reading something he didn't fully understand in Part 1 of the podcast. I was being sarcastic then but if he is saying that we secured the debt against the stadium then it looks like I was closer to the truth than I thought.

OB1, Transmancunia (11/10/2006 at 17:20)

Mickey H,
City don't need to own the stadium to raise debt against it because they can securitise debt against ticket sales at the stadium, which is exactly what they have done. City's income does not warrant taking on more debt so additional security is irrelevant anyway.

OB1, Transmancunia (11/10/2006 at 17:26)

Prestwich Blue,
What ever AMc's faults, he knows exactly what the debt is secured against. The quality of his explanation is another matter.

Colin, Always Blue, Hollingworth, Hyde (11/10/2006 at 17:28)

Hasn't his job for the last 2 1/2 years been to get investors to invest in our beloved club. He is a failure and if I had failed in my job as consistently over a 6 month period as he has over 30 months Im sure I would have been sacked by now. Get out and take your excuses with you. CTID

Terry, Levenshulme (11/10/2006 at 17:30)

oh don't worry Alistair, I do understand - the stadium revenues are already in hoc for the next 30 years so its desperately misleading to tout around a "¿¿150m stadium" as representing a source of short term value for an investor. Is there no end to the spin and general rubbish this guy comes out with ? Time to realise you're out of your depth and go. You are a disgrace McKintosh.

Prestwich Blue, Manchester (11/10/2006 at 17:31)

Herr Lipp - reading between the lines I sense that you are not wholly won over by Wardle & Mackintosh.

Phil The Blue, Northenden Manchester (11/10/2006 at 17:49)

Calling all City fans. At Stalybridge Celtic's ground on Saturday 4 November 3pm a North West Counties League match takes place. A small but very proud football club founded by a group of City fans in 1955 are playing an outfit called FC summat or other (I'd like to use a swear word but it would be inappropriate on the site). MAINE ROAD FC versus FC YERNITED. The match has been moved from Maine Road FC's Brantingham Road ground to accommodate Yernited's huge following!!!!!!!

Ernie, Scarborough (11/10/2006 at 17:49)

If the club did own the ground we would have the investors by now. As we don't own it what is there to invest in?

Chris, Hyde (11/10/2006 at 19:34)

Mr Mackintosh has been travelling the world for what seems like an age, on our finance, and has failed to attract any investment.
Point 1: Is he a good enough ambassador for the club to attract investment to what is potentially a club worthy of investment regardless of debt.
2. A strong chairperson is required to be at the helm to attract the business accumen that is badly needed. We don't have that in Mr Wardle.

Bring back Mr Bernstein a man respected and well known in the business world.
I would like to see Mr Macks expense record for his ongoing treck of futility, after all its our money he is spending.

Guy Debod, Hulme (11/10/2006 at 21:04)

The board are at present doing a good job, with City in the top half of the prem, the third largest attendence in england and the 16th largest in Europe and the 17th large turnover in Europe we look like a reasonable investment except for the debt which with their frugal spending and judicious selling is coming down steadily. City by rights should be in the last 16 of the Champions League every season, that's our/their selling point. I fully support the idea and philosophy of a supporters trust so stop whining and get behind the supporters who are active.
WE should own a stake in the future but we have to do a bit first...

Carl, Cambs (11/10/2006 at 22:21)

Ollie, checked out the supporteres trust blog today which made v. interesting reading - very well explained. The only thing I cannot seem to fathom is this...if our debt is a secured on future ticket sales or against the actual football stadium (as AM stated "for all intents and purposes") then why are city paying an extortionate interest rate 7.75% ??? Where did we get the loan from - did AM have a couple of weeks holiday sitting at home watching daytime TV and come across the Ocean finance adverts??? I understand that the security isn't based on something we currently own - but thought the interest rate was unbelievable.

BlueSince76, Manchester (11/10/2006 at 23:27)

Could someone please explain why the debt seems to not go down, despite several seasons in the premier league. Apparently, we are bottom of the spending league of Premiership clubs since 2003, making a profit on transfers of over 17m. So the old 65m debt minus 17m should be about 48m. If the board are capable, they should have made an operating profit, excluding transfers, so the debt should be low to mid 40s. Anyone want to be its reported at close to 60m? Wonder why they can't get investors?

Clive, Cairns (12/10/2006 at 00:09)

Whilst I like the idea of a Supporters Trust owning/running the club, would this really provide enough investment to make the club competitive, or would it just help to pay off the debt. I am sorry but I just can't see it. Please feel free to prove me wrong. CTID

European Dreamer, Wembley (Next Year - if it's finished) (12/10/2006 at 00:33)

Ted Knott, Droylsden.

Wardle doesn't get dividends. No shareholders get dividends as we haven't made a profit for years!!!

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