| Thank You 19:44 - Nov 27 with 11194 views | UpTheDaleNotForSale |
Following on from Robbie Stockdale's interview after the Exeter City match (where he references the fact we have defeated multiple takeover attempts, and next weekend's FA Cup tie is an opportunity to reflect & celebrate where we are as a club), it feels like the right time to draw a line under the ongoing saga, thank a few people and reset ahead of 2022 and beyond.
To Andrew Kelly - thank you for making the right (but difficult) decision not to sell out to Morton House. We know that decision has come at great expense (financial, health and physical) but without your decision on that fateful Sunday, who knows where we would be now? Thank you.
To Col - we know you won't enjoy being singled out for a name check, but without your 'Open letter to AK' thread and the countless hours you have spent spearheading the campaign to save Dale (including having to have actual conversations with the likes of Andy Curran and Matt Southall), as well as your fantastic leadership of the Trust, we firmly believe we may still not have the club in safe hands today. Thank you.
To Cloughie (& the executors of the will), your legacy will live long in the folklore of the football club. The estate you left enabled the Trust to become the single biggest shareholder in the club, and on behalf of the fan base they will continue to work in the best interests of Dale. Thank you.
To Simon Gauge, and the new Board of Directors, thank you for stepping up to take over the reigns of a sinking ship, steadying it and setting it back on the right course. We wouldn't want to have to deal with the stuff you have (including threats and intimidation from certain parties, the rotting remains of a previous dictatorship, and a club that was being run into the ground) since taking over - rest assured you have the backing of the fanbase and we look forward to seeing the club flourish under your leadership. Special mention too to Graham Morris, Trevor Butterworth & John Smallwood who set the wheels in motion for you to take over the club. It would be amiss at this point to not mention the late, great David Kilpatrick. Alongside Mr Morris, one of the original ‘Overcoat Men’ — a role model of what custodianship of Dale looks like, and a true example for Simon Gauge et al to follow. Thank you.
To RochdaleAFC.com thank you for providing a platform for the brilliant work referenced elsewhere in this post. Despite repeated legal threats from various parties, you moderated the discussion diligently to ensure that all relevant information was, and still is, able to be viewed by any member of the public who is interested to know what has gone on, and just how close we came. Thank you.
To our shareholders — thank you to our original shareholders for fighting the proposals of the previous board to allow them carte blanche to sell the club to the highest bidder without (by their own admission) due diligence, and for supporting our new board in their determination to hold a new share issue, safeguarding the future of the club. & to our new shareholders — welcome to the club… your support (both financial and moral) means that our club is now owned by more than 500 individual fans, and means it will be substantially more difficult for any future people to try and gain a majority shareholding in Dale. Thank you.
To RAFCBLUE (plus Judd and all the others on here and across the internet) who spent hours and hours digging up information on anybody who was showing an interest in getting their hands on Dale - the information you provided has helped prevent a disaster - just as importantly, you've demonstrated to any future wannabes just what lengths Dale fans will go to in order to protect this club. Thank you.
To Fitzochris, a real fan of the club and fantastic journalist — thank you for continuing to report on matters of importance to Dale fans, for holding individuals within the club to account, and for your honesty and integrity with matters related to the previous board. Thank you.
To The Trust (board, members and supporters), under Col's leadership you have role modelled what a supporters' trust can do... we bought our 'This Is My Club' scarves today and wore them with pride. Thank you.
To Alexander Jarvis - thank you for essentially not being a great broker of football club sales. Without your intervention, it would've been a lot easier for Morton House / Matt Southall to take over this club. For the absolute comedy of errors - thank you.
To Tony Lloyd MP, Nancy Frostick and Matt Slater of the Athletic, Ian King of Football 365, the Price of Football podcast, and various other publications thank you for continuing to spread the word of our plight over the Summer. Thank you for giving a balanced view to the wider football family, and for helping to keep the spotlight on the aggressors of the hostile takeover who, before this Summer, were suspiciously absent from any online footprint. Thank you.
It would be wrong at this point to not highlight the challenges we faced from biased and inaccurate reporting, disappointingly in the main from the BBC, which could’ve done real damage to our attempts to protect the club, as well as reputational and financial damage to the club on a longer term basis. As much as we will forever remember the amazing work done by countless people, we will also not forget the lack of support from publications and politicians who sadly did not match their public values and commitments with actions and support. We won’t call them out here, but they know who they are and they can expect to be challenged in future when they claim to care about sports, and the lower leagues, in the North West.
To supporters up and down the land, but particularly Southend United, Charlton Athletic, Oldham Athletic and Swindon Town trusts who gave immeasurable amounts of support to our campaign, alongside information and contacts, without which we would’ve struggled to gain the traction that we did on social media and in the press. We are aware of the ongoing situation at Oldham, too, and will continue to support them however we can. If this Summer taught us one thing, it would be that when the chips are down the wider football family will come together to support one of our own.
& to the countless fans who supported in whatever way they could - be it expertise to the new board, expertise to the Up The Dale Not For Sale campaign, sharing social media content, contributing to share issues, driving around the NW finding existing shareholders, spreading the word at Dale games, chanting 'Up The Dale Not For Sale' at matches - anything at all over the past 7 or 8 months... Thank You
The problem with a post like this is that we always run the risk of missing key people out... obviously that is not our intention and we'll say again, to anybody who helped keep the wolves from the door - thank you.
Clearly Morton House are not going away forever - with a rumoured £1.2 million investment they will want to get that back. A c.23% share in Rochdale AFC is never going to be worth that, so there could always be an undercurrent of wondering what they will do to get that money back. The positive is that, following the brilliant recent share issue, their influence in Dale is severely diluted, and any attempt to get to 50+1% would be nigh on impossible. As a fanbase, we will continue to remain vigilant to safeguard our football club as a fan owned, sustainable community asset both now and in the future.
Now we have an opportunity to move forward with OUR club - a new, professional and committed board, young exciting manager, youthful and talented squad, and a fan base more united than at any other time in recent memory. Stockdale said next Sunday should be a celebration, and we agree.
Up The Dale - Not For Sale
[Post edited 29 Nov 2021 7:59]
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| Twitter : @DaleNotForSale
Facebook : facebook.com/upthedalenotforsale |
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| Thank You on 22:58 - Dec 2 with 1875 views | R17ALE |
| Thank You on 22:48 - Dec 2 by TalkingSutty |
It’s all very sad because he had a lot of good people who stayed loyal to him and fought his corner, unbeknown to them he was using the club for his own gain. When he was finally rumbled it soon became apparent that the club would be sold on his terms and not the fans/ shareholders, i believe some of his friends were shareholders. Those closest to him suffered the biggest disappointment, he was selling their club without consultation, what a way to treat your so called friends. A man without morals who goes through life manipulating and upsetting those who are close to him. Fan ownership was something that his ego could never allow to happen, he would rather the Club fell into the wrong hands and it very nearly did. [Post edited 2 Dec 2021 22:55]
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You're right. I was one of those, but when I saw the evidence, mainly from Judd, I changed sides and fought back.
What worries me is those still involved who still believe in Bottomley. They must be expelled. |  |
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| Thank You on 05:45 - Dec 3 with 1711 views | pioneer |
| Thank You on 22:58 - Dec 2 by R17ALE |
You're right. I was one of those, but when I saw the evidence, mainly from Judd, I changed sides and fought back.
What worries me is those still involved who still believe in Bottomley. They must be expelled. |
No witch hunts please. They should be judged on their performance in their positions not their beliefs or friends. |  | | |
| Thank You on 05:49 - Dec 3 with 1705 views | D_Alien |
| Thank You on 05:45 - Dec 3 by pioneer |
No witch hunts please. They should be judged on their performance in their positions not their beliefs or friends. |
I agree
But if recent 'reports' are anything to go by, they should be expelled based on their performance
Failing to keep sponsors onside is a disgrace, and not in keeping with the new spirit within the club
[Post edited 3 Dec 2021 5:51]
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| Thank You on 07:53 - Dec 3 with 1614 views | James1980 |
| Thank You on 05:49 - Dec 3 by D_Alien |
I agree
But if recent 'reports' are anything to go by, they should be expelled based on their performance
Failing to keep sponsors onside is a disgrace, and not in keeping with the new spirit within the club
[Post edited 3 Dec 2021 5:51]
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Which sponsor(s) are we at risk of losing? | |
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| Thank You on 09:11 - Dec 3 with 1531 views | TalkingSutty |
| Thank You on 18:30 - Dec 2 by davidab2202 |
Just to help out an ex pat I am a little at a loss as to just who does own all the shares that it was alleged changed hands(last I can recall the club claimed never to have been informed of any share dealings and before any shares are traded the club has to be informed??)
Do the Yanks still actually still own their shares? or anybody else for that matter.
Are the shares been hawked around by Curran and crew actually theirs to sell or are they just attempting to sell something they don't actually own in an attempt to raise money to pay off their commitment to" former " shareholders ?
Someone help me out |
Your post sums everything up perfectly, it’s a tangled web. The last i heard was that no share transactions had been approved by the club and the correct processes hadn’t been adhered to anyway, that is part of this prolonged investigation by the EFL, not sure if the FA are also involved in that or just looking at the homophobic comments made by Curran. There is very little the Club can do anyway.
Unless things have changed i thought that Morton House/ Curran/ Rose had pulled out of the process completely and wanted to off load ‘their shares’ at the earliest opportunity, they made a statement to that effect and informed the EFL of their decision. That was the end of any dealings with them I would have thought, they made their intentions clear publicly and ended their interest in the club. They then also informed the EFL that they wouldn’t be assisting them in their investigations.
Since then our Club has rightly moved on, new Directors and a supporter in the Boardroom and a new share issue which put much needed funds into the club. At this stage Morton House had sold a chunk of their shares to Matt Southall ‘allegedly’ and bizarrely he seemed to think that he could threaten the Boardroom into jumping to his tune, no idea why he thought that though?
Thankfully throughout all of this those running the club have kept their dignity and continue to put processes in place that will ensure the longevity of our club and protect it from hostile takeovers and those wishing to do the club harm. I think there are nearly 600 shareholders now with a financial stake in the Club and a Supporters Trust that has nearly tripled it’s membership in the last six months and greatly increased it’s shareholding. It’s now very difficult to envisage how anybody can expect to infiltrate the club without being invited in. Then you have the recent football governance report on top of everything else, if your business is hostile takeovers expect full on exposure and your name in every tabloid. Morton House publicly ended their interest in our club a few months ago so this no longer applies to them thankfully.
I can assure you that you aren’t the only one who is confused with everything but this is my own understanding of what’s gone on. 🤔 |  | | |
| Thank You on 11:46 - Dec 3 with 1404 views | D_Alien |
| Thank You on 07:53 - Dec 3 by James1980 |
Which sponsor(s) are we at risk of losing? |
Anyone who is simply ignored (apparently) after handing their money over | |
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| Thank You on 13:37 - Dec 3 with 1226 views | DaleiLama |
| Thank You on 11:46 - Dec 3 by D_Alien |
Anyone who is simply ignored (apparently) after handing their money over |
"Do we know who they are?"  |  |
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| Thank You on 16:27 - Dec 3 with 1065 views | James1980 |
| Thank You on 11:46 - Dec 3 by D_Alien |
Anyone who is simply ignored (apparently) after handing their money over |
I'd like to think any (apparent) ignoring is deeply regretted and won't be happening again. | |
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| Thank You on 16:34 - Dec 3 with 1057 views | kel |
My personal view is there’s a little bit of subtle stirring going on. I’m no fan of Frances since she randomly blocked me on Twitter having never even interacted with her, but I’ve noticed it in a few posts recently. |  | | |
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