Before you renew your membership

[Matabele]

For those that have yet to renew their membership, give a thought to making it a condition of your renewal that the club give us members substantive information on the buy-out of shares by Mr Penn.

Perhaps if we get a grass roots campaign going to extract this information which is being kept secret for no apparent reason, we'll have some luck.

 

[byso]

Well the information shouldn't be "secret". They ask people to give money to be members but they think it's acceptable to keep them in the dark on such an important issue.

I will certainly consider it Mata.

 

[Garts]

be nice to know but I treat my membership as a donation so I am not going to kick up a fuss about it not being disclosed, probably becuase I am way to lazy to do so.

Its not like I am investing my hard earned and expecting a return on it.

 

[Guest]

Penn's involvement is nothing more than bailing Manly out of their bad financial positon and has enabled them to cover their funding shortfall for a few more years.

I doubt that the club is going to gove out any info because of this.

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

This is a public company we are talking about and such a significant transaction should be disclosed ina much more transparent way.

I'll still be donating my $80 though.

 

[Corso_Pete]

From my point of view the involvment of Penn has given the football club members some actual power.

Whilst ever Delmege was the major shareholder it was apparent that he had the power of veto and was not afraid to use it. Now with 2 major and apparantley equal shareholders the effective power base is halved and there will need to be a consensus bteween Delmege & Penn before any major changes can be agreed on.

That is where I see where the voting club members now having power like we have never had before.

Whilst at the moment all things between Delmege and Penn are rosy with blue sky and flowers forming the backround of this harmonius partnership you just never know when the skies may turn stormy and the flowers in the field turn to weeds.

So where will the power be then? Penn wants to turn right, Delmege wants to turn left, so their votes on the board are effectivley negated. Do you not think the members will not then be lobbied for their board vote?

 

[Canteen Worker]

Good point Pete. I didn't write it but I was pleased that the major interest in the club is now spread over a wider base and therefore Max may not have such a great influence.

I hope we never see a repeat of the Monas fiasco of last year based on intervention outside the recruitment staff.

Financial stability, major focus and amenities etc should be the role of the board and the onfield performance is the responsibility of the coaching staff.

Never do I want to see the ownership scene of the NFL in the USA.

 

[Fluffy]

my membership will cover admission fees so by withholding it i will spend the same amount of money for less in return, ie no voting rights. Why would i want to do that?

 

[Ryan]

If someone invests a certain amount of money into the club, why SHOULD anyone be told how much? Why do we all really care? The positives are there for all to see in regard to ANYONE injecting cash into the club. That means a stronger foundation for the club, which makes me very, very happy.
All I REALLY care about in the end, is a competative, consistent football team ON the park.
This injection of cash somewhat ensures that.

PS:- If I win powerball, expect me to do the same as Penn !!!

 

[Fluffy]

Ryan have you heard of Fluffy Warringah football club, im sure you can buy millions worth of shares there

 

[ManlyBacker]

If someone invests a certain amount of money into the club, why SHOULD anyone be told how much? Why do we all really care? The positives are there for all to see in regard to ANYONE injecting cash into the club. That means a stronger foundation for the club, which makes me very, very happy.

Ryan, I am not going to agree with you on this. As members we are involved in the Sea Eagles corporation (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Limited) which holds the NRL licence for the team and operates the running the of the team in the Telstra Premiership. We are members of Manly-Warringah Rugby League Football Club Limited. Membership in the Football Club was previously heavily restricted and was difficult to gain except for those closely connected to the Club. Since 2004 membership was opened to the public and a large percentage of funds we subscribe to the Football Club are directed towards purchasing shares in Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Limited. This entity has suddenly had a change of ownership (approximately 80% controlled by Max Delmege and Scott Penn and by us members taking the balance of shares). Maybe the 2000 of us now invited to become more closely involved don't really have a big say but our money is being used and I don't see why we cannot be told what is going on. I find it very annoying to be treated like a mushroom and am at a loss to understand why this is so.

 

[Matabele]

Delmege still has a controlling interest doesn't he?

So Penn's involvement means little if it comes down to a difference of opinion. Delmege will just pull out his majority shareholding, just as he did with the Monaghan debacle.

Let's not forget the infamous trusty steed that so incensed one of the other current board members.

 

[Corso_Pete]

The media release quoted both Penn & Delmege owning "a little less than 40% each". I don't see that giving Delmege the controlling interest you mention. Don't confuse his sponsorship arrangements with his shareholding.

From where I sit unless Delmege & Penn have agreement with every decision that is to be made at board level the real power lies with the minority shareholders, the members.

If you care about this club and want the opportunity to be able to make a difference you would be foolish to not either renew or take out a membership package whilst ever the current shareholding arrangements are in place.

 

[Matabele]

The media release quoted both Penn & Delmege owning \"a little less than 40% each\". I don't see that giving Delmege the controlling interest you mention. Don't confuse his sponsorship arrangements with his shareholding.

From where I sit unless Delmege & Penn have agreement with every decision that is to be made at board level the real power lies with the minority shareholders, the members.

If you care about this club and want the opportunity to be able to make a difference you would be foolish to not either renew or take out a membership package whilst ever the current shareholding arrangements are in place.

I stand corrected. Thank you.

Seems as though my latest campaign hasn't grown legs as well, so I shall be renewing the four memberships held by my family tomorrow, and upgrading mine.

 

[Canteen Worker]

I am going to upgrade to Maroon and White - maybe tomorrow as well.

Two of the negative forces in the club to join on the same day.

 

[Corso_Pete]

I am going to upgrade to Maroon and White

How can this be an upgrade, and I am by no means being critical of you CW but rather it is something I have not come to grips with the current membership packages.

The M&W membership entitles you to GA admission to all home games plus the other gimmes. Assuming that includes entry to the SCG for the Parramatta match that means that your membership fee of $250.00 will actually save you $14.00 in admission costs alone, again assuming you would attend all home games as I am sure you do and will continue to do so.

So how does this help with the members purchasing back more shares in the club?

According to my mathmatics this means that from existing members like CW the football club will actually lose $94.00 in revenue based on what these members would have contributed to the club in 2005.

Of course this doesn't take into account the fact that the club have the use of your money for the majority of the season and will have the entry money regardless of wether you attend matches or not, but I suspect that most people who purchase any of the M&W package are more motivated by the fact that they are getting a season ticket than any other reason.

 

[Canteen Worker]

Fair comment Pete as I my 'suggested' uprgrade was based on what I may gain in savings over what I paid last year.

Bottom line is that I only get to around 7 home games and two or three home games near where I live - Telstra, Parra, Leichhardt are all much closer - and I think the club will end up making a touch of profit over me taking into account the $80. (Sadly I work a lot of weekends, still play competitive sport myself plus have very sporting kids and church commitments to juggle around my other religious affiliation with the Sea Eagles.)

I think people on this site made the suggestion last year that a package that offered more would get develop a larger member base in the long term. Diehards you you and me would happily give the $80 donationas well as turn up most weeks but others expect something more for their cash. As someone who has done some marketing - the idea is to get a larger group of people attached to the organisation and to build an affiliation that will grow and develop based on service etc. The commitment will hopefully grow over time and see cash spent in the Leagues club, on merchandising, on drink and food at the game etc

The fact that two years marketing only saw less than two thousand members, in a year that Manly had record crowds was saying something so I am glad the club is being proactive about trying to broaden the base. Last year there were less that 10 maroon and white supporters so I think this is a good idea. Will help the cash flow and should boost the crowd a tad!!!

 

[Corso_Pete]

As usual your response is reasoned, considered and informed. I agree that the previous attempts to sell the membership were not much short of abysmal and the membership uptake reflected that view.

I am certainly pleased that the club have taken a different tack to the marketing of the membership packages and we can be hopeful that there will be an overall gain to the both the numbers of members and also the amount of money that will flow through to the club to enable the members to regain a bigger percentage of the ownership.

 

[ManlyBacker]

... and also the amount of money that will flow through to the club to enable the members to regain a bigger percentage of the ownership.

The question is what percentage?
I was thinking about the purchase by Penn and maybe what happened was, and it makes sense to me, is that he didn't inject additional funds into the club but bought out some of Max's shares. "Penn Helps Eagles" is a better corporate controlled headline than "Mad Max bails out of Manly" !!!
Who the hell knows what the truth is.