Planet Swans ArchivesTony Petty sounds like a man on his last legs at Swansea City. Free shares, players off the transfer list, fan’s board, next he’ll be inviting everyone round his house for tea and biscuits. All of these seem a bit like farewell gestures?
Today he announced the good news that Jason Smith and Roger Freestone are off the transfer list. Forgive me if I don’t start celebrating in the street but Roger Freestone last week refused to move to QPR and Smudger is not attracting interest and again has said he is happy to stay. So let me just get this right, two players with contracts that cannot be forced out have been told that they can stay. Which they both wanted to do. Gee, thanks Mr Petty.
Now onto the fan’s board. Or not as the case may be. Why, who, when and where? It isn’t going to happen. Two people have already turned it down and I don’t sit back waiting for the postman to bring my invitation every morning and I cannot imagine too many people do either. But it’s OK as he will open the books to whoever is on this ‘board’ and tell them what he wants them to hear, sorry I mean what is going on in the club. Yet again, thanks but no thanks.
Now onto the free shares. I am a cynical person so you have to say why? Yesterday’s offer of 1,000 shares has escalated today to 10,000. Mainly because he realised how crap 1,000 shares was when the total shareholding is over 43 million. 10,000 isn’t much better. If you work on the basis that Petty owns 99.15% of the total shares and he bought them for £1 then he is giving away around 0. 0002p to each season ticket holder.
I’m no legal expert on this so I ask a question. It seems as if the club may go into administration? If that is the case then would all these shareholders be classed as a creditor as far as that goes? You could argue that the shares are worth £280 for 10,000 based on McClure’s valuation of £1.4m (Ha!) so will people be queuing up for their share after the administrators have sold to someone else?
To be honest, as generous as it seems, I would refuse this offer if I was a shareholder. Petty has not got the best interests of the club at heart and if you heard him on HTV Wales tonight you would think that he was just about giving up “Even If I leave next week, they still have the shares” or put another way “I’m buggering off next week and I’m decreasing Mel Nurse’s total shares in the process by giving mine away” Cynical? Probably.
But where are these shares given any value? I believe that there are literally hundreds of people who own 1/43000000th of Swansea City by holding one share? They must have a value somewhere but what?
Mr Petty and his generousity? We don’t need it – the only gesture we need this bloke to make to us as fans of Swansea City is one of goodbye as he heads back to Australia.
My guess? When he flies out of the UK tomorrow, that will be the last that we see of him. Four weeks late but at least that would be it. Let’s hope I’m right this time.
