EVerything's in the timing

I know I'm the only person who seems to be even slightly interested in this, but as far as I can see the "smoking gun" in the whole Cullum takeover saga might be the board's decision on 18th October 2007 to increase the price of buying shares in the club from ?25 to ?30. The effect of this decison was to increase the amount all of us, including Mr & Mrs Wynn-Jones, would receive for our shares should a buyer appear.

If the rationale behind this decision has ever been given I've missed it and I'd be interested to hear it - because on the face of it, it's a strange one. Most of the club's value comes from the property it owns - yet at the time the decision was taken the credit crunch, which as Andrew Cullen has confirmed was in the club's thinking last year, was beginning to bite and
property values were falling. Another determinant of value - future income - was also looking shaky: at the time the decision was taken the football club was managerless, sat in the relegation zone, and had failed to score for 6 successive games. So the share price was increased.

Now there are 2 reasons why it appeared that none of this should actually make any difference:

1. Mrs Wynn-Jones's oft repeated remarks that she and her husband did not want or expect to get anything back from the money they had so generously sunk into the club.

Unfortunately the official club statement issued on 30th June suggests that in fact they would require Mr Cullum to buy all their shares (and at ?30 not ?25). They would also require their loans to the club to be repaid in full.

2. The timing didn't work at all. From Mr Cullum's account it has always appeared that his first contact with the club came on or after 4th November 2007 - although the dinner with Charles Clarke took place earlier. So the fact that having looked for a buyer for years and not found one, a potential buyer then turning up just a couple of weeks after the share price
increased in October could only be coincidence.

And then "Man in the Stands" had a chat with Mr Wynn-Jones. And discovered:

"The last and only time Michael met PC was in October".

I don't know about you but I'd be really reassured by a club statement confirming that Mr Wynn-Jones met Mr Cullum after 18th October 2007 and that therefore the board had no inkling of his interest in investing in the club, and therefore that played absolutely no part whatsoever in the decision to increase the price of shares.

Posted By: Reg Presley, Aug 20, 19:29:14