Meeting with Ian Scobbie

Seadog Trust Chair Simon Cope, along with board members Ben Courtney and Sandra Troughton, met with Ian Scobbie on Thursday evening to discuss the future of football for Scarborough.  Supporters Club chair Stuart Canvin, and committee member Andy Standing were also in attendance.

Ian Scobbie (IS) was asked why he’d submitted an application to the North Riding FA. He said that this was because when he contacted the NRFA on Wednesday 6th June no application had been received. There was objection to this as IS knew that the Trust were submitting their application that week.

BACKGROUND TO THIS OBJECTION:

Following a meeting between Simon Cope (SC) and IS on Monday 4th June, SC had told IS that the Trust would be submitting a formal application that week. In the same meeting IS had indicated he was to have a meeting on Thursday 7th June with the Council. From this, IS would be able to give the Trust a strong indication as to which way the decision would go on Thursday 7th June. IS stated this was to give the Trust more time to complete the relevant application forms to register a new club with the North Riding FA and the Northern Counties East League. In respect of this kind offer by IS, SC discussed the Trust’s Plan B and how it was viable despite IS’s major concerns up to that point that it wasn’t. By Thursday 7th June when the Trust registered the proposed new club, they were informed by NRFA that there was already an application put forward for a football club in Scarborough. The applicants name for this alterative proposal was Ian Scobbie.

IS was then asked if he would now withdraw his application considering that the Trust had their application in place. He said he had 3 concerns that he needed satisfying and if they could he would consider withdrawing his application:

1. That the Supporters Club would have equal representation in the running of the new club.

2. That the Trust had tangible plans for returning to the Borough.

3. Be assured that the Trust could resist the urge for being ”bought out” by businessmen and the club returning to private ownership.

Replies:

1. The Trust is more than happy to include the SC in the running of the football club. Indeed, it was stressed that the more Supporters Club committee members on the Board of Seadog Trust, the better. The Trust has always regarded this as being the case. Whether this be by formal election or by co-opting, it did not matter. What was recognised was that Supporters Club committee members are very experienced at being involved in running a football club and their involvement would provide both credibility and a variety of skills. The problem highlighted was that Supporters Clubs are set up in such a way that they cannot hold shares. IS stated that this problem can be avoided and if, hypothetically, this was not the case would the Trust be willing to share ownership of a new club with the Supporters Club. All 3 Trust members present agreed that they would be more than happy for the SC to take this role in the new football club.

2. The Trust does have plans to return to the Borough. Principally canvassing the Council to purchase of the McCain, but the Trust also recognised that IS’s final plan submitted to the Council (linked with Pindar) was clearly his best yet and something that the Trust would also be interested in pursuing. Indeed, the possibility of the Trust running a football club independently while IS worked on developing a new ground in conjunction with Pindar Sports College generated interest on all sides. This was seen as a potential way forward and IS stated he would speak to the liquidator on Friday 22 June and email or telephone SC the same day.

3. The Trust aims to set up the new company as a Community Interest Company (CIC), protecting the community shareholding of the company but allowing external investment. This external investment does not allow that individual to take control.

IS agreed that these assurances ”ticked some boxes” however, he would think about it and speak to the liquidator on Friday 22 June and decide from there. He gave no indication that he would definitely retract his application. Also, as a creditor, IS stated that should the Trust pursue the route of canvassing the council to exercise their right of pre-emption (i.e. to purchase the McCain Stadium) he would put in a formal complaint and appeal on the grounds that the McCain Stadium had not been sold for its full market value.

Events of Friday 22nd June:

11am Ben Courtney (BC) telephoned Barry Wood (Secretary of NCEL) who confirmed that there was still no official application to join the NCEL from IS and IS had not requested an application form to be sent to him.

6pm BC contacts Barry Wood again, who confirms that IS telephoned him around 5pm requesting an application form for membership of NCEL; this was sent to him and will reach him on Saturday 23rd June. Barry stated that he informed IS that if this second application is submitted, the NCEL will not accept either - regardless of how well each applications are completed. Barry stated that he reiterated this message to make it clear that no club would be accepted.

By 10pm on Friday 22nd June no communication has been received from IS as had been agreed on Thursday 21st June.