On 25 March and 4 April the Trust held open meetings to explain its policies, plans, aims and objectives in the light of recent events at London Road.
The first meeting was at Ebeneezer's and after an introduction by Trust chairman Peter Lloyd there was a presentation by John Henson followed by a Q&A session. These included the following:
Q: How would someone buy out Barry Fry?
A: PL suggested there might be two possible methods. The first would be
for Barry Fry to sell his 'B' shares in PUHL (although PL thought this
could only be done with the approval of the other shareholders in
PUHL); the second would be for PUHL to sell its more than 99%
shareholding in PUFC.
Q: Had there been any developments regarding the ground?
A: Not as yet
Q: If the ground were to be sold to another party, would it have to be
offered to Peterborough City Council first?
A: Yes, it would.
Q: Had Colin Hill indicated that he is a seller?
A: Not as far as the Trust knew.
Q: Had the Trust made any overtures to PUHL?
A: No, because the ground issue was of secondary importance to that of
the football club.
Q: Was the Trust waiting for administration to happen?
A: PL said that the Trust had few resources of its own. It was urgently
raising funds to save the club, not simply to put money in Barry Fry's
pocket. In any event, it was simply not possible to pay him off, since
there were many more creditors who would be seeking repayment.
The second meeting was held at Charters and after an introduction by Trust director Barry Bennett and presentation by John Henson, there was a further Q&A session, including:
Q: Why wasn't the Trust more pro-active? Why did it have such a low
profile? What was it doing to unite the three fans groups?
A: JH confirmed that the Trust would support the other groups
initiatives. It recognised that all had to work together. Some trust
directors were members of all three organisations. With regard to media
profile, BB advised that this was changing rapidly with the recent
appointment of Paul Mitchell as Press Officer. He was now in touch with
local, regional and national media.
Q: Why was the Trust not actively promoting a Fry Out! campaign?
A: BB advised that it was simply not part of the Trust's agenda to
personalise the issue. individually, the directors might have their own
views on Mr Fry, but collectively the Board's only interest was the
long-term survival of the club.
Q: Why didn't the Trust make an offer for the club?
A: It was no good expecting the Trust to raise £600,000 and hand it
over to the owner, that would be unacceptable to our members. If the
club were for sale, the Trust would willingly inspect the books and
make a reasonable offer based on a full due diligence exercise. It was
common knowledge that the club was making a loss and gradually
increasing its indebtedness. Thus one would expect an offer to be
nominal in the knowledge that the purchaser would have to take over
considerable debts and come to suitable agreements with creditors and
directors. Although it was immensely frustrating there was not much
anyone could do to influence events unless or until the bank manager or
other creditors demanded immediate repayment.
Q: If the Trust took over PUFC, how would it run the club?
A: The Trust Board, which was of course democratically elected by the
members, would have to decide how it wanted to do this. It would have
help and advice from Supporters Direct and other trusts. There was no
template or textbook. It would depend to a large extent on the
circumstances in which the take-over took place and how much control
the Trust had.
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