Ok, so the post title is perhaps a little misleading, but it does lead me nicely into this blog, where I'll be taking a look at the BuyHibs group's proposal to, well, buy Hibs.
At the start of last week, BuyHibs emerged as a potential vehicle for Hibernian fans to crowd-fund the purchase of Hibernian Football Club from Sir Tom Farmer and take it into the hands of the support.
Fronted by (Sir) Pat Stanton (by some distance the greatest living Hibernian), along with former player Paul Kane, the group of business-folks put forward a proposal that would see Hibs fans contribute voluntary monthly payments to pay for the club and ultimately increase the spend afforded to the manager for players.
Previously, Paul Kane had fronted Forever Hibernian, whose mandate was to remove Rod Petrie from his position at the club, the general consensus amongst the vast majority of the support being that Mr Petrie's time is well and truly up. 'Kano' got as far as a meeting with the board and had his request for Petrie's exit knocked back, and my feeling is he was told to come back with a better offer. That better offer, it seems, is BuyHibs.
Positioning themselves as the credible alternative to the certain doom that would undoubtedly hit the club if Petrie remains anywhere near the vicinity of Easter Road, BuyHibs have certainly got the Hibs fans talking, however from what I can make out, very few people are taking them as seriously as they'd like. I would like to take them seriously, however I think their launch has had some fundamental flaws.
For a start, I have reservations about the timing of the launch. At a time when the football club is absolutely crying out for stability and unity, the BuyHibs campaign really couldn't have landed at a less opportune moment. In fact, a supporter survey that was conducted prior to the launch indicated that fan ownership was some way down the list of priorities for the Hibs fans - well behind getting a winning team on the pitch.
On the subject of the survey, BuyHibs have scored an own goal. There were in fact two surveys put out for completion, one sanctioned by Hibs themselves to see the appetite for fan ownership and different ownership models, and one that was positioned as an independent survey. However, it transpires the independent survey wasn't that independent at all, but rather was released by a BuyHibs member.
This apparent lack of transparency does nothing to build trust in BuyHibs, and when I reflect on the wording on the questions it seems clear to me that the questions were loaded to get the responses that BuyHibs wanted. Rather than having a neutral and inquisitive survey to gauge opinion and appetite for fan ownership, it was simply designed to get responses that supported the view that people wanted fan ownership. Even then, the responses weren't exactly overwhelmingly in support of that model.
The next issue I have is that there appears to be a sense that Sir Tom Farmer should simply hand the club over, either for nothing or for next to nothing. There has been talk of debt forgiveness or arrangements to be made with the banks to clear or substantially reduce the debt. At the same time, there is mention in BuyHibs' mandate that they will cap dividends at 10%, so my take on that is they think Sir Tom Farmer should take the hit, while the new guys get their money back. It doesn't sit right with me.
A Q&A produced on www.hibs.net sought to clear up the dividend issue but only succeeded in clouding it further, this isn't about a return on investment but instead a vehicle to attract a lender as it would ensure some return on the loan at a rate in line with business lending rates. That was the explanation, at least. To me what they are referring to is interest repayments, not a dividend.
There is also a chronic lack of detail into what the club would look like after the handover. Where are the projections and plans? How many people need to pledge how much money to make this work? What's the back-up plan if the pledges dry up post-purchase when we've committed to spending them already - this would be the case if, as they plan, the pledges were to form part of the manager's budget. If the pledges dropped and Hibs have committed that money as salary to players, or transfer fees, what happens then?
I also believe that Hibs have an excellent Chief Exec at the club already, in Leeann Dempster. She has restructured the club and put in place foundations that will hopefully address many of the failings of Petrie's time in charge. Hibs look as if they have the right people in the right places at the moment, and BuyHibs are not clear on what would happen with those people and those places should their purchase be successful.
The Hibs board also extended an invitation to sit down with BuyHibs and talk over the proposal, an invitation that was publicly declined by BuyHibs, who are holding out for a sit-down with Sir Tom Farmer instead. From the outside looking in, it seems a bizarre decision to refuse to meet the current board, and I can't help but think it makes any purchase less likely, rather than more.
I'm also concerned that despite dressing it up as fan ownership, because of the practicalities involved in getting everyone who 'owns' the club to agree on decisions on how to run the club etc, to your average 'pledger' they would see very little in the way of a benefit or difference to the current set-up. In fact, it'd be really similar just a lot more expensive. My season ticket at Easter Road is already amongst the most expensive in Scotland, so do I really need to be shelling out half of that again with no real gain?
So far, so critical. There are however some positives about the proposal. For a start, I give credit to these guys for doing something. Fan ownership is not an unattractive proposition, and having seen the early success of a similar scheme at Hearts, there are signs that it could work.
Getting the club back into the hands of the community is another big plus in principle, however in practise is it necessary? I don't think it's really important so long as it is part of the community, and an integral part at that. Hibernian can play a prominent role in that respect regardless of the ownership model.
I can't imagine the uptake on the pledges would be high, at a guess I doubt they'll have reached a thousand yet. It is early days though, and I'd hope that BuyHibs revise their plans and come back with a better proposition as time goes by, perhaps keeping their powder dry until the fate of the team has been decided this season would be a better idea. Certainly, if we're stuck in the Championship for another season the clamour for change at Board and Owner level amongst the support will be huge, and people's appetite for supporter ownership might just be at the right level to generate some real movement towards the BuyHibs model.
I'll hold off for the time being. I am still very cynical and dubious about it at this stage, however I wouldn't dismiss the idea in principle and I genuinely hope a serious and credible alternative to the current set-up emerges from all of this.
You can read more about BuyHibs at their website : http://www.buyhibs.org/
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