Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

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Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby EarnockAccie » Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:02 am

Is it time for a regular organised demonstration at home games in the ground and outside afterwards?

Also, I think ASA need to get on with getting membership started. What is happening on that front?
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Top Cross » Sun Nov 07, 2021 5:45 pm

I've heard that accepting membership will start in "the coming weeks" but they've been saying that since July. If they can encourage people to get on board, it could be the right vehicle for us to press for change. I was a bit sceptical about the appetite for protest and action of the founders but the recent article makes me more hopeful.

I'm sure one of the lads will pop up in the thread with an update shortly.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Red and white hoops » Sun Nov 07, 2021 8:12 pm

I’d happily protest. Hopefully the press would pick up on organised civil protests too. So far there has been a few articles about this but no mention whatsoever of fans legitimate concerns over what is happening at our club.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Gav » Sun Nov 07, 2021 8:26 pm

There is talk of a protest. Hopefully announced soon.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby EarnockAccie » Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:44 pm

Gav wrote:There is talk of a protest. Hopefully announced soon.


Is there talk of membership?
Membership is critical.
We need a critical mass.
We need to be able to say how many fans ASA represents.
Membership is vital.
It needs to be expedited.
A big membership brings big credibility.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby smc4761 » Mon Nov 08, 2021 6:02 pm

Any action to get this snake oil salesman out of our club needs to be a co ordinated one. One group united, all with the same aim. We cannot hope to get shot if him before he completely destroys the club, if we break into splinter groups
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby EarnockAccie » Mon Nov 08, 2021 11:53 pm

smc4761 wrote:Any action to get this snake oil salesman out of our club needs to be a co ordinated one. One group united, all with the same aim. We cannot hope to get shot if him before he completely destroys the club, if we break into splinter groups


Spot on
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Dr Slippy » Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:32 am

smc4761 wrote:Any action to get this snake oil salesman out of our club needs to be a co ordinated one. One group united, all with the same aim. We cannot hope to get shot if him before he completely destroys the club, if we break into splinter groups


I’m all for McGowan moving on, but arranging protests without offering a credible alternative is futile. If McGowan were to step away(which I don’t believe he will), who will fill the void.
I am unaware of any benefactor with a soft spot for Accies waiting in the wings. I was always concerned what would happen when Ronnie’s time was up. Say what you like about him, Les & Alan, but they have given us 18 years of stability and relative success, albeit the joy of supporting Accies has been sucked out over the last 4 or 5 years.
Fan ownership is a complete non starter for Accies as we struggle to coordinate a reasonable number of supporters to turn up on a Saturday, let alone get a sizeable number to commit financially to the club.
I genuinely fear for the club, and I have no idea who these alleged potential buyers that have been mentioned by the club actually are.
What outsider is going to “invest” in the club, because any investor would want something back in return, and if you take the stadium out of the equation what are they actually buying.
I really don’t understand what a coordinated campaign of McGowan Out or Sack the Board will actually achieve without an idea of what replaces them.
I’m not disagreeing with the sentiment, but would be grateful if someone could explain what happens next.
I’m not trying to be deliberately negative as Accies have taken up my Saturdays for 49 years, and I hope we can continue to operate at a decent level in decades to come.
In spite of what some would have us believe, we don’t have a large dormant support who will suddenly return if & when McGowan bails out. Over the years at best we have had a hardcore 1500 or so & this is now down to less than 750, the only difference was that back in the day we could get a good one off gate of a few thousand for a big game, but these were never regulars.
I would be genuinely interested to hear some suggestions of what our supporters believe can realistically happen if McGowan was prepared to move on.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby TerracingTomas » Tue Nov 09, 2021 11:46 am

You make some fair points Slippy

“If McGowan were to step away(which I don’t believe he will), who will fill the void.”

For a start anyone would be a better bet than a talking donkey :oops: but I think you are quite correct in the belief that he has no intention of stepping away. However if the leaked nonsense in the the Sun and Record is to be believed first of all we were only a week away from a completed sale of the club. Didn’t happen and never a sniff of who was going to buy us which in this day and age is strange. Then we are told no the club won’t be for sale until the summer but there’s been interest from several parties including the Middle East. Apparently when they found out there was no dome their interest cooled. It’s all nonsense.

But let’s assume someone buys the football club nothing really changes. Mcgoofey is still running the stadium, still giving away the naming rights for peanuts if you rent office space, still selling advertising and sponsorship to start ups and he can say with a straight face I got out of the club. Nothing to do with me anymore their just another tenant.

As to the crowds coming back. I take your point. So much damage has been done to fan relationships that it will be a mammoth task to even get back to the 1500. But that’s where any deal requires the stadium and the club together with a football minded owner who I would hope put fan engagement and growth as a top priority in any proper business plan. A fans director elected via ASA. A fans trustee on the Community Trust elected via ASA, genuine fans involved in the club as volunteers running the shop for example. A boy can dream Dr Slippy.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby porcupine » Tue Nov 09, 2021 1:00 pm

And I'll repeat my post here which was on the other thread

Stevie Clarke wrote:
What's the £680,000 you refer to, TT? Is it the scam money, because STV reported it as £989,000?


TT is pretty close with his original figure. The Auditors of Hamilton Academical Football Club Ltd's Accounts @ June 2018 show a figure of £697257. Auditors quote about the vishing scam "This cannot be verified to any third party documentation".


How any person(s)would bid for, and do due diligence on, a set-up of four companies all intertwined and linked, is beyond most people. That's Edencrest Ltd, Deeka Ltd, HAFC Stadium Ltd, and Hamilton Academical Football Club Ltd. They do not all appear to have the same auditors to complicate matters. All these accounts are available to the public on-line at Companies House. Any investigative journalist might be able to unravel it all, but I wonder.

We will need to wait until around May of next year to see the Football Club's accounts to June 2021 for what they are worth. The 2020 accounts show the loan debt from the Government @ £1,151.000, which I've annualised on a 20 year repayment programme to be £57500 each year. starting in June 2022. The Football Club seems never to have received the (now lost) SLC rental income, but I stand corrected if I've misunderstood that from the various figures between the four company accounts. It seems clear, however, that the Football Club pay £60,000 rent to one of these other companies.

Take-over??

Can't see it happening.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby ASA » Fri Nov 12, 2021 10:39 am

EarnockAccie wrote:Is it time for a regular organised demonstration at home games in the ground and outside afterwards?

Also, I think ASA need to get on with getting membership started. What is happening on that front?


We are continuing to work on getting memberships organised as we agree that with clear backing from fans we are much stronger.

There has been numerous holdups with that that are unfortunately outwith our control but we are working hard on getting them sorted.

Any updates on memberships will be posted on AcciesWorld along with our social media.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Gav » Fri Nov 12, 2021 11:40 am

For the past few weeks, the ASA and SLO Committee have been working together on an open letter to the club. A lot of things have changed within this period, this has meant approaches have had to change week after week hence the delay in what we had hoped to put openly to the club. Now that we have clarity on the current situation and after reading the most recent statement by Colin McGowan we feel that the time for this letter is right and now we are able to include questions we fans feel need answered now the clubs situation is confirmed.

We have also been discussing within ourselves and with fans about a protest of some kind to highlight our distrust and anger towards the current regime. This is still in it's infancy and we are working on getting something organised. We are still encouraging anyone with any further ideas to come forward to ensure that we are all together on this going forward.

We hope the recent article in LanarkshireLive shows that we are far from content with the current situation within our club. We are in constant contact across the full fan base and want to clarify that we will continue to voice and emphasise the displeasure and discontent of the fans with our club at the moment.

Once we have more details to share, we will do so.

Thank you.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Dr Slippy » Fri Nov 12, 2021 12:51 pm

“I would be genuinely interested to hear some suggestions of what our supporters believe can realistically happen if McGowan was prepared to move on.”

It’s commendable people taking time to organise memberships, open letters to the club and protests, but I am unaware of anyone coming up with an answer of what they actually want to happen other than McGowan out.

Somebody would have to replace him in taking on the financial responsibility and day to day running of the club. Who is going to do that ?

In an ideal world I would love an Accies supporting benefactor to emerge who could acquire the football club and the stadium. I just don’t know if this person exists unfortunately.

It’s easy to go down the “Anybody but McGowan” route, but the football world is littered with out of the frying pan, into the fire scenarios. Do we really want some unknown individuals or groups from the US or Middle East to acquire Accies for God knows whatever reason ? That could be as bad as, or even worse than the status quo.

I don’t have the answers, and am not knocking people who are giving their time to try and do something, anything. However a strongly worded letter or a few dozen people waving banners or even a boycott is not going to make a blind bit of difference to McGowan.

As I said in my previous post the joy of supporting Accies has been sucked out over the last few years, and I admit it’s often habit more than anything that keeps me going. However like many others I will keep going regardless of whatever level the club ends up at.

So I would repeat my previous question, what do people want to happen and believe can practically happen if your wish was granted and McGowan left
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby FergiesBawls » Fri Nov 12, 2021 1:40 pm

I agree with Dr Slippy. It's not enough to be critical. Some alternative proposals need to be offered or at least suggested.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby TerracingTomas » Fri Nov 12, 2021 2:21 pm

It’s quite simple Slippy put the entire package up for sale and see who comes out the woodwork. Then consult the fans re the suitability of any prospective buyer while at the same time carrying out due diligence. But as the 3 businessmen have no intention of selling the prime real estate then we will never know if such a person exists.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Gav » Fri Nov 12, 2021 2:27 pm

We must be the only club whose owner and CEO has no interest in football hence why there is no investment in the team
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby glasgow accie » Fri Nov 12, 2021 2:29 pm

Dr Slippy wrote:“I would be genuinely interested to hear some suggestions of what our supporters believe can realistically happen if McGowan was prepared to move on.”

It’s commendable people taking time to organise memberships, open letters to the club and protests, but I am unaware of anyone coming up with an answer of what they actually want to happen other than McGowan out.

Somebody would have to replace him in taking on the financial responsibility and day to day running of the club. Who is going to do that ?

In an ideal world I would love an Accies supporting benefactor to emerge who could acquire the football club and the stadium. I just don’t know if this person exists unfortunately.

It’s easy to go down the “Anybody but McGowan” route, but the football world is littered with out of the frying pan, into the fire scenarios. Do we really want some unknown individuals or groups from the US or Middle East to acquire Accies for God knows whatever reason ? That could be as bad as, or even worse than the status quo.

I don’t have the answers, and am not knocking people who are giving their time to try and do something, anything. However a strongly worded letter or a few dozen people waving banners or even a boycott is not going to make a blind bit of difference to McGowan.

As I said in my previous post the joy of supporting Accies has been sucked out over the last few years, and I admit it’s often habit more than anything that keeps me going. However like many others I will keep going regardless of whatever level the club ends up at.

So I would repeat my previous question, what do people want to happen and believe can practically happen if your wish was granted and McGowan left



So the fans ( the lifeblood of the club ) should just sit on our hands and do nothing , because nobody has an alternative ??
Knowing something is wrong doesn’t necessarily mean you know what the correct answer is …
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Dr Slippy » Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:14 pm

TerracingTomas wrote:It’s quite simple Slippy put the entire package up for sale and see who comes out the woodwork. Then consult the fans re the suitability of any prospective buyer while at the same time carrying out due diligence. But as the 3 businessmen have no intention of selling the prime real estate then we will never know if such a person exists.


I would love to see the whole package openly for sale, and see who if anyone comes forward and can run Accies as a stand-alone, sustainable football club who spends what it brings in, no more no less.

The trouble is that to acquire the whole package would require spending several million pounds mainly due to the value of the stadium(I’ve no idea what that would be). McGowan is going to want the market value plus an unknown amount for the football club.

I wish I was wrong, but I just don’t think there will be a queue of desirable parties queuing up to buy.

“So the fans ( the lifeblood of the club ) should just sit on our hands and do nothing , because nobody has an alternative ??
Knowing something is wrong doesn’t necessarily mean you know what the correct answer is …”

I’m not knocking people for doing something, I’m just saying I believe protests will be ineffective without offering an alternative. I really would like nothing better than to be proved wrong as I’m sure I have invested as much time and money in Accies over the last 50 years as anyone on this board.

I just want to get back to enjoying my Saturday afternoons again at NDP without all the distractions.

Supporting Accies has always had its ups and downs, and I can handle that, but the feeling around the club at the moment is as bleak as the Cliftonhill/Firhill days.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby Top Cross » Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:47 pm

I agree with Dr Slippy, the sooner we can get back to "enjoying" our Saturdays, the better. I don't agree that protesting is futile; we need to draw attention to the situation the club is in, why we are unhappy with the way the current owners and board are running things and what our ideal future would look like. The bigger the noise we make, the more likely we will get the attention of people that may be able to help our cause. Even just getting more of our local community involved and local politicians will be a start but who knows, there may be some wealthy people out there with Hamilton connections looking for a new challenge and something to do with the spare millions sitting in their offshore accounts.
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Re: Colin McGowan - Get Out Of Our Club

Postby monkeybones » Fri Nov 12, 2021 11:12 pm

Correct... Just because there is no clear route out of this does not mean the supporters should do nothing. Nearly every protest movement in history has started without the final answer in place.

We need to get the message out there. Lets get organised.

This is a football club first and foremost
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