15 March 2023
Dear Mark,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us to update us on the situation. We are delighted that others have come forward who want to help the club. We would be willing to work with anybody and everybody with the means and vision to turn this club around.
However, we are increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress and ambiguity around next steps. You have had the comprehensive proposal/offer you requested from us for over 4 months, which of course included the identity of the people involved in this group at that point. We have drafted and signed the Non-Disclosure Agreements upon which you have insisted, even though it is hard to understand what sensitive commercial information we could be shown bearing in mind that, as fans, we already have a good understanding of how club finances work. We have arranged dates to discuss the offer in person - and even online - that have lapsed. We have answered your questions about our membership and governance. And yet our requests for access to the information we need to finalise an offer and start supporting the club with money and time continue to be ignored.
Meanwhile, it is our view that despite some positive recent results on the pitch, the mediumterm outlook for the club is unchanged. The mutually reinforcing depreciation of the club’s two remaining assets – its fanbase and its ground fund – continue apace. Despite the welcome recent update, based on our members’ relevant experience in property and planning we do not believe that the club should be relying on the council to do it a favour and make the ground search its priority, or that the best case for K’s can be made to stakeholders without women's or youth teams, among other community initiatives, being in place. In the short term we can only assume that a second season at a stadium far from Kingston with another survival budget is in the offing, further depleting our cash asset at a time where the actual cost of investing in a permanent home will only increase.
While we are all aligned on the final vision (which we believe every fan of Kingstonian shares), the members of KBH are profoundly concerned about the pace and urgency with which corrective action is being taken.
It is in this context that we wish to clarify the indicative parameters of our offer, first made to you on 10 November 2022, based on our progress to date:
We appreciate that, up to this point, you and the board may have seen our interest as a minority shareholder providing practical support. As you will see from the above, it is somewhat more serious and substantial than, and of a different nature to, other options you may be considering. We recognise and applaud the contribution that the board has made to saving and stabilising the club over the last 10 years. Our offer is intended to provide the 60th -minute fresh legs and tactical impetus required to take K’s back where we belong.
So you have a decision to make. If you are interested in proceeding we remain ready to act with urgency and are available immediately for the next phase of disclosure and due diligence. If you believe that the best interests of the football club are better served by continuing with the current trajectory of the club, or that recouping your historic financial interest is a priority that should hinder fresh investment, then clearly we will step away. We would then focus our time, money and expertise on alternative ways of supporting local football.
We request that a response on immediate arrangements for due diligence be made by Friday 24 March 2023.
Yours sincerely,
Kingston Bridge Holdings
On behalf of:
Alastair Akers
Henry Stannard
Ollie Steel
Taimour Lay
Gary Ekins
Neil Baker
Rupert Cane
Michael Cox
Jamie Cutteridge
Ali Kazemi
James Maw
Simon Murray
Jon Tolley