Correspondence circulated ahead of Saturday’s members AGM suggested it was going to be a fiery affair, but that didn’t prove to be the case amid calls for an end to infighting.
In the build-up to the gathering, long-serving directors from the fan group that own 50 per cent of the club wrote to members articulating concerns that centred around a belief that their share could be diluted.
They suggested this was the intention of businessmen Ray Wilson and Dermot Desmond who each own 25 per cent of the Hoops but did not put in money this year while members injected €800,000 to the coffers.
In response, Wilson and Desmond said that €800,000 would be accounted as a debt owing to the members club, while asserting they had no desire to create a situation where the fan stake fell below 50 per cent. They offered to update the shareholders agreement to ‘remove any such ambiguity or concern.’
This offer has effectively been taken up, with a working group put in place to agree wording that should remove a layer of suspicion that has hung in the air over a fraught period.
It’s understood there was a clause in the agreement that allowed the board to issue new shares in the event of a serious financial emergency but this clause will be taken out to ensure that in every scenario, the existing shareholders will have the power of veto over any future investment.
It emerged last week that the Black Knights, the company behind Bournemouth, expressed an interest in Rovers earlier this year but it came to nothing.
Rovers manager Stephen Bradley vented his frustration at the broader situation last week, while making it clear that he believed Wilson and Desmond were honourable men, describing Desmond as a ‘mentor’ in programme notes which made it clear where he stood.
The Rovers board is comprised of representatives from Wilson, Desmond and the members club board. Elections for the latter body were held on Saturday with James Nolan and Ciaran Kane, two signatories on the letter that flagged concerns about the other side of the ownership, both voted in. Ex-CEO Denis Donohoe took the other vacant seat.
Former club chairman Jonathan Roche, a hugely influential figure across the past two decades, especially with regard to the establishment of a training base in Roadstone, opted against standing again. It’s known that his relationship with Bradley has soured in recent years.
