SLP today..........
Millwall could be in administration within days if club chairman John Berylson loses a crucial vote at a shareholder meeting on July 2.
The Den supremo has invested more than £10million in the club in the two years since he joined, starving off losses of more than £5million a year.
But all that could be at risk if he does not get the backing he needs to fight off biggest shareholder Graham Lacey.
The developer, who has refused to become a director, has put forward motions demanding shareholders be consulted about major board decisions.
"I have lost confidence in the board," he said in a letter to shareholders.
And there are fears the ballot is now being seen as a vote of confidence in Berylson.
Millwall Supporters Club chairman Bob Asprey said: "We need to back the chairman 100 per cent.
It has to be a possibility that he might resign if he doesn't win. If he did, the only way of us going into administration is another big investor. And that's when your mind goes blank.
Without a football team at The Den, the covenants which ban development on the land don't make a lot of sense.
A developer could then step in and take advantage of the huge value of the plot.
Mr Lacey's letter to shareholders has so few references to football, fans can be forgiven for thinking he is not interested in the playing side.
Whereas Mr Berylson's plans are clear and well documented, so we should back his vision."
Berylson's board has also received unexpected backing from Lewisham Mayor Sir Steve Bullock.
He said: "The current chairman and management team, in particular deputy executive chairman Heather Rabbatts, are people we have confidence in."
Lewisham Town Hall officers have been in talks with the club over redevelopment around The Den for more than two years.
Bullock's influence is crucial because Lewisham council own the freehold of the ground, so no development can take place without his office's approval.
Bullock added: "The board needs to be able to get on and do the job. I have great confidence in the people currently running the club in terms of how they are approaching the regeneration.
As a football fan I always get very nervous when shareholders, who one assumes have some feel for the club, seem to be doing things which are not really taking any account of that.
Anything which is a difficulty for the club is something we are concerned about.
The fans I have spoken to want to be reassured the regeneration does not put the stadium at risk.
Once reassured about that, they are keen on redevelopment. It can only be for the good of the club.
The council and myself are working very closely with the club on the regeneration, which is potentially very exciting for the area.
We want to see regeneration and jobs in the area. The club is a great asset to Lewisham."
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The proposal has caused concern for Millwall fans in the community who are not happy about the effect it would have in the area.The Draper family (pictured)commented: "There's nuffink wrong with this place.These council * *expletive deleted** can stick there re-gurgitation up there fat *expletive deleted*.Lewisham council was unavailable for comment.
As much as we all dislike them we don't want them going to the wall I mean what would we have to laugh at every week.
Plus I do have a few pals that support them.
Great though the laugh value would be any club going under, and especially one in London, is not going to help football in general.
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Maybe the value of land is worth more than the value of the club?
I wonder what the net asset value of Millwall is? Adding players, the ground, the empty trophy cabinet against the market capitalisation of the club, I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a healthy profit to be made in liquidating the club...
that's on top of it being very close to central london!
Hiya mate, playing the hill tomorrow with Mr P if you fancy it? about 3.30 tee off, BFR is invited but some I dont think he`ll show somehow I think he`ll use living in Germany as an excuse ;-)
As much as we all dislike them we don't want them going to the wall I mean what would we have to laugh at every week.
Plus I do have a few pals that support them.[/quote]
Agreed, a 15-point deduction would be enough :-)
One of the other key shareholders, is a well-known asset stripper / speculator. Fans don't trust him because he hasn't shown any interest in the club. The american has rules in place stating he can do what he likes, the speculator quite rightly says this isn't right or in the best interests of anyone, so has called a big EGM. Also raised a number of fair questions with regard to the board. Investors are being basically called to back one or t'other. Fans desperately urging investors to back the one who at least appears on the surface to care a little bit for the club. If the speculator wins, its thought the chairman will walk away and want his loans back. Club without him thought to go into admin pretty quickly.
All a terrible mess really. With the economy and housing market going the way it has in the past twelve months, no one is going to make anything out of the regen that they first hoped, all parties involved in the club are there purely for the regen, and its not clear exactly how much any of them care for the club. Currently covenants on the ground's land it must only be used for football, but those are very likely to be lifted if there was no football club there any more.
Funding's not yet confirmed for that leg of the new railway (it'd link the old East London tube line with the mainline right by The Den, with a station at Surrey Canal Road), but it'd definitely have an effect on land values.
As far as I can tell, the endgame for all this is Millwall playing at a "community stadium" in Southwark Park alongside Fisher Athletic, who have rich backers and have been playing at Dulwich Hamlet for a few years, supposedly waiting for their ground in Rotherhithe to be redeveloped.
That sounds pretty ominous...... you could almost say the writting is on the wall......
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Besides that I find golf marginally more interesting than watching paint dry.
If Millwall do go bankrupt I can see them coming out of it reasonably quickly, as any administrator would be able to sell the football club, however it looks like they may then end up with a situation similar to the one we found ourselves in during the early 80s - with club and ground being in different hands, and we all know how that ended up.
So...Millwall groundsharing with us anyone?
No fooking way!!!!
they only need a small ground anyway - even Selhurst would be too big for them!
send them to Dulwich Hamlet...
At least they have recently been in a cup final.
Its all a shame really...there have been rumblings for some time now that the den is within grasp of the property developers (or whatever guise) and it looks as though this is now surfacing. I for one would not like to see Millwall disappear and still look forward to the day when we revisit the den - but only a cup game.
Morts in the snow!
They'll merge with fisher withing 6 years....
They'll be fishing submerged within 7 years .....
No one likes us , no one likes us how very very very very true.
still maybe harry the Dog and The Ointment, billy the fish and sam the goat of the old CBL will have a wipe round.
Thanks for that. Doesn't seem good either way for them.
Maybe they could pay Paul Kelmsey rent to play at Selhurst.
ditto
same here.
a long, painful slide into oblivion.
Quite. Although I would actually love to see Crystal Palace go under for what they did to us off the field.